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Cardinals short hops 10/25/2004 1:03 AM ETBy John Schlegel / MLB.com
BOSTON -- The catch phrase "See you in St. Louis" probably never sounded so sweet to the 2004 Cardinals, who left the unfriendly confines of Fenway Park late Sunday night with a two-game deficit in the World Series.
Well, at least it hasn't sounded that good since last week, when the Cardinals went home after a rough trip to Houston and wrapped up the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium.
With those two victories, the Cardinals ran their home record to 6-0 this postseason, so they'd obviously like to keep that streak rolling. The flip side is they're now 1-6 on the road in October.
Vitals check
A look at key statistics through Game 2 of the World Series.
Team stats
| Digits |
Trend |
The Deal |
| ERA |
9.00 |
 |
Game 2 not as bad as Game 1, but still ... |
| BA |
.239 |
|
two hits in an inning perhaps? Didn't
happen Sunday |
| Runs |
11 |
|
just two Sunday. So much for the Slugfest
Series |
| Errors |
1 |
 |
defense hasn't really helped so far |
Who's hot?
| Player |
Digits |
Trend |
The Deal |
| Albert Pujols |
3-for-7 (.429), 2 2B, 1 R |
 |
back to driving the ball like only Sir
Albert can |
Who's not?
| Player |
Digits |
Trend |
The Deal |
| Matt Morris |
4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP |
|
gutty performance, but his own worst enemy |
Behind the numbers
The Red Sox committed four errors for the second straight night, but this time the Cardinals didn't take advantage. Only one of the four errors Sunday even remotely helped lead to a run for the Cardinals, whereas
St. Louis scored in every inning that included an error in Game 1.
Frozen moment
Edgar Renteria's tremendous 12-pitch at-bat to start the game looked like a good omen, but he apparently didn't wear down Curt Schilling much with it and the Cardinals didn't leap on the Sox ace that inning -- or any other, for that matter.
Second guess
After 32 starts, Jason Marquis has been a pinch-runner and a relief pitcher so far. After 25 pitches under postseason duress, a Game 4 start seems like a stretch.
It takes three
The Cardinals were masters of the two-out hit earlier this October, but the two-out knocks knocked them out of Game 2. All six of Boston's runs scored with two outs, which reflected a little on both the Cardinals' pitching and the Sox hitters.
It takes four
Home teams which have taken a 2-0 lead have won the Series on 28 of 33 occasions. In fact, it has been 23 years since a team has recovered from that deficit, when the Dodgers came back on the Yankees in the 1981 Series. But the magic of Busch Stadium and the sea of
Cardinal red awaits.
Last word
"I said, 'Matt, you've given us enough. It's crazy to go any farther.'" -- Tony La Russa, on his words for Morris after he pulled the starter out of Game 2
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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