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The St. Louis Cardinals’ franchise has won 15 pennants and has nine World Series victories. Last season the Cardinals pushed for a postseason birth, but fell three games short of the division champion Chicago Cubs.
In the off-season the Cardinals looked to get that player that would push them over the hump and into the playoffs. They picked up free agents Jeff Suppan and Reggie Sanders. Management also traded oft-injured J.D. Drew and utility man Eli Marrero to the Atlanta Braves for pitchers Jason Marquis and Ray King.
The Cardinals are one of the scarier lineups in the league for opposing pitchers. In the 1-2 spots are second baseman Tony Womack and left fielder Ray Lankford. In the 3-4-5 spots are NL MVP runner up Albert Pujols, all star center fielder Jim Edmonds and slugging third baseman Scott Rolen. The trio accounted for 110 of the Cardinals home runs last season. Behind them are short stop Edgar Renteria, Sanders, and veteran catcher Mike Matheny. In 2003, the Cardinals were 2 nd in runs scored and 3 rd in home runs in the NL. The starting rotation consists of Matt Morris (11-8, 3.76 ERA), Woody Williams (18-9, 3.87 ERA), Jason Marquis (0-0, 5.53 ERA), Jeff Suppan (10-7, 3.57 ERA), and Chris Carpenter (4-5, 5.28 ERA). The bullpen will be manned by LHP Steve Kline, LHP Ray King, RHP Julian Tavarez, and right hander closer Jason Isringhausen.
Busch Stadium plays host to all of the St. Louis Cardinals home games. This 50,000 seat stadium has been the Cardinals home field since May 12, 1966 and has had 5 World Series played in it. The Cardinals averaged 35,930 fans every game giving them the 7 th highest home attendance in the major league. Busch Stadium was ranked 18 th out of 30 by a Page 2 column on espn.com.
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