The Cardinals have one weak ass line-up!

It’s only one game, so I’m not going to jump all over the Cards for their one run performance opening day. But when the line-up flashed during the bottom of the first on ESPN last night, I was left saying to myself €œwhat crap, these guys will be lucky to win 75 games.€ And I’ll pretty much stick by that.

The Cardinals were and still are my 2007 disappointment team and the line-up that they trotted out Sunday night only reaffirms my position. To face the facts, the Cardinals stunk up the joint late last season, snuck into the playoffs, and got hot for a couple of weeks. That’s it. It’s not a great ballclub.

Here’s last nights’ starting line-up, 1 through 8.

1. David Eckstein is a decent lead-off man, but nothing spectacular. Over-rated as per playoff norms.
2. Preston Wilson is a bum. I have no idea why he’s hitting in the two hole! Last season he had a .307 OBP and struck out 121 times vs 29 walks. Certainly not a prototypical two hole hitter. I guess he’ll allow Eckstein to run, as he’ll be taking a lot of pitches. And by taking, I mean swinging and missing.
3. Pujols. From what I hear, this guy’s pretty good.
4. Scott Rolen isn’t a bad player. But can he really be counted on to play a full year? Nope.
5. Yadier Molina hitting in the five hole is downright pitiful. Yeah, he had a hot couple of weeks in the postseason. But in just a shade under 1000 career Abs, he has the following line – .238/.291/.342 for a stellar .632 OPS. If I’m an opposing pitcher, I’ll pitch around Rolen everyday of the week to get at this bum.
6. Jimmy Edmonds has seen a drop in production in each of the past three seasons. Coincidentally, his games played has also dropped in each of the past three seasons. He’s just not going to stay healthy, and his bats slowing. He should be the five hitter.
7. So Taguchi is another all glove, no bat type of Cardinal. Nothing wrong with that from a middle infielder or a catcher but I want a little production from a corner outfielder. His god awful .686 OPS is all I need to write.
8. Another over-rated playoff hero, Adam Kennedy is a decent 8 or 9 hitter in any line-up. The sad fact? Well, he could produce better than Wilson in the two hole. He could also produce better than Molina in the five hole. When your bottom of the order guy can improve upon those spots in the order, your team’s in trouble.

Yep, this line-up sucks and it’s going to have a hard time scoring runs. Sure, this was the vs LH line-up but Chris Duncan isn’t going to solve this mess by himself. Couple this with a questionable starting pitching staff (loss of the steady Suppan, and unpredictable young arms) and the Cardinals can forget repeating their World Series victory. Hell, they’ll be lucky to make .500.