7 Game Series: 1999 Braves vs 2004 Cardinals

[BondsOverBabe]

Who wins? and how many games

[chicagowhitesox1173]

If i had to choose i'd pick the Cardinals in 6. Kind of a strange comparison. What made you pick these two teams?

[BondsOverBabe]

If i had to choose i'd pick the Cardinals in 6. Kind of a strange comparison. What made you pick these two teams?

They both won the NL

[BondsOverBabe]

If i had to choose i'd pick the Cardinals in 6. Kind of a strange comparison. What made you pick these two teams?

They both won the NL

[willshad]

It should have been the Mets in the World Series that year. They would have come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NLCS if not for Kenny Rogers. Damn him.

[BondsOverBabe]

It should have been the Mets in the World Series that year. They would have come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NLCS if not for Kenny Rogers. Damn him.

You're thinking of 2006 this is about the 2004 Cardinals

[chicagowhitesox1173]

They both won the NL

Yeah but so did alot of other NL teams. Are these the two best who didn't win a WS for you?

[Captain Cold Nose]

It should have been the Mets in the World Series that year. They would have come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NLCS if not for Kenny Rogers. Damn him.

I should have been 6'3" with a wicked slider.

[redban]

You're thinking of 2006 this is about the 2004 Cardinals

No.. the 1999 Braves played the Mets in the NLCS. ATL won the 1st 3 games, putting Mets behind 0-3. Mets then won the next two games to put it at 3-2.

In game 6, Kenny Rogers walked Brian Jordan with the bases-loaded in extra innings to end the series. Perhaps the most disappointing loss for a Met fan.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

the teams are very similar as far as league rankings in runs scored and runs allowed, as well as win %

STL has a few more star offensive players having big numbers while the Braves have the superior starting pitching, the Braves bullpen seems adequate but head case John Rocker is their closer

in post season the Braves did very well in the division series and despite posters here the mets were lucky not to be swept or lose in 5 games, the statements above are so typical of a football coach who says if we didn't lose those 3 close games we would have been 10-1 instead of 7-4 when he ALSO doesnt admit he was lucky to win 3 close games himself and could have been 4-7. Game 4 was a tight game for a long time then the Braves scored two in the top of the 8th to take a 2-1 lead only to see the Mets rally for 2 in the bottom of the 8th, they easily could have lost that game. Game 5 again was tied 2-2 for a lng extra inning game then the Braves took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 15th yet the Mets rallied again for 2 runs in the bottom of the 15th. In game six the Braves scored 5 in the first and led 7-3 after 6, this time the Mets rallied only to fall short. I think the better team won.

In the series the Braves got swept and three of the games were one sided.

The cards in 2004 easily beat the DOdgers with 5, 5 and 4 run wins in the ds. they were actually down 3-2 to houston and had to win an extra inning game 6 to get to game 7 which they won more easily.

in the series, the cards got crushed with their starters getting hammered all 4 games

In a short series anything could happen but I like the Braves and their starting pitching in this matchup

[Bothrops Atrox]

On paper, with a healthy Chris Carpenter, I think the Cards are a hair better. If I am not mistaken, 1999 was a down year for Glavine and Maddux for sure. Smoltz missed some time and Milwood was actually their bestt starter.

But on paper, any 7 game series between two 103-105 win teams is a total coin flip.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

^ Maddux 3.57 ERA would have been better than 4 of the 5 STL starters and Carpenter only beat him by a nose in a lot less innings
Glavine at 4.12 would have been better than 3 of the 5 STL starters

can't agree with you at all

the cards had 5 regular starters with somewhat less innings than the braves 4 regulars

here are their era's Braves starters in bold

2.68
3.19
3.46
3.57
3.71
4.12
4.16
4.18
4.72

really paints an ugly picture of the cards starters

and 1999 nl scored 5.00 runs per game vs 2004 4.64 - even worse for the cards

[Blackout]

cards with pujols

[Bothrops Atrox]

^ Maddux 3.57 ERA would have been better than 4 of the 5 STL starters and Carpenter only beat him by a nose in a lot less innings
Glavine at 4.12 would have been better than 3 of the 5 STL starters

can't agree with you at all

the cards had 5 regular starters with somewhat less innings than the braves 4 regulars

here are their era's Braves starters in bold

2.68
3.19
3.46
3.57
3.71
4.12
4.16
4.18
4.72

really paints an ugly picture of the cards starters

and 1999 nl scored 5.00 runs per game vs 2004 4.64 - even worse for the cards

I never even came close to saying that the Card's staff was better than the Braves; that would be stupid. I was saying that the 1999 Braves staff was not quite as dominating as the other Braves staffs, so the perception can't be the same as the 97 or 98 staffs vs. the Cards offense. Plus, for a staff that painted such an "ugly picture", they still managed to finish 2nd in ERA and 1st in RA. Of course the bullpen is included in that data too.

I don't know the gap between the staffs of the two years, but the the Cards offense (.64 runs better per game than average) and the Braves offense (.19 runs better per game than average) were a bit apart. How does that split compare to the pitching staff differences? With their defense and with a healthy staff, I think they are at least right there with the Braves with the B+ version of their staff + their good, but not great offense.

But really, who knows, both teams were great and like I said any 7 game series is a toss-up with two evenly matched teams.

[Los Bravos]

It should have been the Mets in the World Series that year. They would have come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NLCS if not for Kenny Rogers. Damn him.

Actually, if you read most Mets fanblogs, they've decided to pretend that the Mets won that series with Ventura's walkoff in G5 anyway, so maybe you should just go with that.

I should have been 6'3" with a wicked slider.

I am 6'3" but my slider blows.

In game 6, Kenny Rogers walked Brian Jordan with the bases-loaded in extra innings to end the series. Perhaps the most disappointing loss for a Met fan.

Andruw Jones, not BJ. I'll post the picture if you want :joking:

The Cards take this matchup, probably in 6.

Like I've said before, the '99 Braves were total overachievers. Galarraga out before the season started and battling for his life, Javy Lopez done for the seaon in late July, Glavine and Maddux (as noted by Matt) having relatively down years...that team was carried by Chipper Jones, Kevin Millwood and Brian Jordan.

If the Mets hadn't upset the Diamondbacks, Arizona would've been the NL pennant winner.