Likely there aren’t many St. Louis Cardinals fans anywhere that are not aware of the satisfying, slump-breaking three-game sweep the club applied to the visiting Chicago Cubs this Tuesday through Thursday.
The wins were secured by superb pitching, as the Cardinals’ staff, led by starters Joel Pineiro, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright and fortified by the bullpen, allowed the Cubbies just two runs in total over the 27 innings of baseball.
With the help of statman Tom Orf, we can put that team pitching feat into its proper perspective. During the last 30 years, only once prior to this week had the Cardinals stopped the Cubs offense so consistently over at least three games.
From April 20 through 22, 1981, Bob Forsch, Andy Rincon and the late Lary Sorensen and their pen mates held the Chicagoans to a single run in the three home games. The latter two spun complete-game shutouts while Forsch, like Carpenter this week, went five innings.
Overall, such a three-game period of Cardinals dominance (opponents scoring two total runs or fewer) has now occurred 17 times in the three decades since 1979. In addition to the 1981 Chicago set, the Cards have allowed just one run three other times, but have not strung together three consecutive scoreless games.
Only five times during such a streak did the Cardinals hold their opponent to two runs or fewer only to lose the game. They were shut out each time. Ten of the 17 were against the same club during the same series, while the others included two different opponents.
Here are the 13 three-game streaks since 1979, listed from most recent to oldest.
| Game | Date | Home/away | Opponent | StL runs | Opp runs | StL W/L | Pitcher | |
| 39 | 5/19/2009 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 3 | 0 | W | Piniero |
| 40 | 5/20/2009 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 2 | 1 | W | Carpenter |
| 41 | 5/21/2009 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 3 | 1 | W | Wainwright |
| 95 | 7/21/2006 | at | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 2 | 0 | W | Suppan |
| 96 | 7/22/2006 | at | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 6 | 1 | W | Weaver |
| 97 | 7/23/2006 | at | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 6 | 1 | W | Marquis |
| 142 | 9/9/2001 | vs | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 8 | 1 | W | Mathews, T.J. |
| 143 | 9/10/2001 | at | Milwaukee | Brewers | 8 | 0 | W | Kile |
| 144 | 9/17/2001 | vs | Milwaukee | Brewers | 2 | 1 | W | Smith, Bud |
| 137 | 9/3/2001 | at | San Diego | Padres | 4 | 0 | W | Smith, Bud |
| 138 | 9/4/2001 | at | San Diego | Padres | 6 | 1 | W | Morris |
| 139 | 9/5/2001 | at | San Diego | Padres | 2 | 0 | W | Williams |
| 80 | 6/30/1997 | vs | Minnesota | Twins | 2 | 1 | W | Morris |
| 81 | 7/1/1997 | vs | Minnesota | Twins | 2 | 0 | W | Stottlemyre |
| 82 | 7/2/1997 | vs | Minnesota | Twins | 2 | 1 | W | Petkovsek |
| 16 | 4/24/1991 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 0 | 1 | L | DeLeon |
| 17 | 4/26/1991 | vs | Montreal | Expos | 4 | 0 | W | Smith, Bryn |
| 18 | 4/27/1991 | vs | Montreal | Expos | 2 | 1 | W | Hill |
| 98 | 7/26/1989 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 2 | 0 | W | DeLeon |
| 99 | 7/28/1989 | at | Montreal | Expos | 2 | 0 | W | Power |
| 100 | 7/29/1989 | at | Montreal | Expos | 0 | 2 | L | Hill |
| 56 | 6/8/1989 | at | Montreal | Expos | 7 | 2 | W | DiPino |
| 57 | 6/9/1989 | at | Chicago | Cubs | 1 | 0 | W | DeLeon |
| 58 | 6/10/1989 | at | Chicago | Cubs | 6 | 0 | W | Magrane |
| 118 | 8/16/1988 | vs | Houston | Astros | 3 | 0 | W | Terry |
| 119 | 8/17/1988 | vs | Houston | Astros | 0 | 1 | L | Magrane |
| 120 | 8/18/1988 | vs | Houston | Astros | 2 | 1 | W | Forsch |
| 113 | 8/10/1988 | at | Philadelphia | Phillies | 1 | 0 | W | Tudor |
| 114 | 8/11/1988 | at | Philadelphia | Phillies | 0 | 1 | L | Costello |
| 115 | 8/12/1988 | at | Chicago | Cubs | 4 | 0 | W | Magrane |
| 76 | 7/3/1987 | at | Atlanta | Braves | 9 | 1 | W | Forsch |
| 77 | 7/4/1987 | at | Atlanta | Braves | 3 | 0 | W | Cox |
| 78 | 7/5/1987 | at | Atlanta | Braves | 4 | 1 | W | Mathews, Greg |
| 120 | 8/24/1985 | at | Atlanta | Braves | 7 | 0 | W | Forsch |
| 121 | 8/25/1985 | at | Atlanta | Braves | 5 | 2 | W | Kepshire |
| 122 | 8/26/1985 | at | Cincinnati | Reds | 3 | 0 | W | Cox |
| 151 | 9/19/1984 | vs | Montreal | Expos | 1 | 0 | W | Cox |
| 152 | 9/20/1984 | vs | Montreal | Expos | 3 | 2 | W | LaPoint |
| 153 | 9/21/1984 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 8 | 0 | W | Kepshire |
Now, the pressure is really on Friday starter Todd Wellemeyer (pictured) as he faces his former Kansas City Royals teammates. Only twice during the last 30 years have the Cardinals gone four games in a row yielding a total of two runs or fewer. If Wellemeyer and his mates can blank the Royals at Busch Stadium Friday night, they would join this list.
The two four-game streaks follow, along with an overlapping pair of three-game streaks of two runs or fewer allowed which occurred in 1982.
| Game | Date | Home/away | Opponent | StL runs | Opp runs | StL W/L | Pitcher | |
| 119 | 8/19/1983 | vs | Houston | Astros | 2 | 0 | W | LaPoint |
| 120 | 8/20/1983 | vs | Houston | Astros | 3 | 0 | W | Stuper |
| 121 | 8/21/1983 | vs | Houston | Astros | 5 | 2 | W | Cox |
| 122 | 8/23/1983 | vs | Atlanta | Braves | 7 | 0 | W | Andujar |
| 142 | 9/13/1982 | at | Philadelphia | Phillies | 0 | 2 | L | Forsch |
| 143 | 9/14/1982 | at | Philadelphia | Phillies | 2 | 0 | W | Stuper |
| 144 | 9/15/1982 | at | Philadelphia | Phillies | 8 | 0 | W | Andujar |
| 146 | 9/17/1982 | at | New York | Mets | 7 | 1 | W | Sutter |
| 7 | 4/20/1981 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 6 | 1 | W | Forsch |
| 8 | 4/21/1981 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 8 | 0 | W | Rincon |
| 9 | 4/22/1981 | vs | Chicago | Cubs | 3 | 0 | W | Sorensen |
| 10 | 4/25/1981 | at | Pittsburgh | Pirates | 5 | 1 | W | Shirley |
In a final oddity, just once over the last 30 years did the Cardinals put together a five-game stretch during which two three-game sets of two runs or fewer overlapped by just one game. No matter how you count it, three shutouts in five days, separated by a pair of two-run games is very, very impressive!
| Game | Date | Home/away | Opponent | StL runs | Opp runs | StL W/L | Pitcher | |
| 126 | 8/28/1992 | vs | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 1 | 0 | W | Clark |
| 127 | 8/29/1992 | vs | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 3 | 2 | W | Olivares |
| 128 | 8/30/1992 | vs | Los Angeles | Dodgers | 3 | 0 | W | Cormier |
| 129 | 8/31/1992 | vs | San Diego | Padres | 6 | 2 | W | Tewksbury |
| 130 | 9/1/1992 | vs | San Diego | Padres | 2 | 0 | W | Osborne |
In terms of individual pitchers, Bob Forsch is the champion of this subset of stats with five wins gained during such a streak. They occurred in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988. Danny Cox had four victories, also during the 1980’s.
Of the 17 streaks, four have occurred in this decade, with only three during the 1990’s. The other ten were during the glory years of the 1980’s.
During the last 30 years, the Cards have yet to hold their opponent to two runs or fewer in total over five games. Is that too much to ask? It is up to Wellemeyer, Saturday’s starter Kyle Lohse and perhaps the bullpen.
KC tends to bring something unusual to the table. I look for them to score 5 runs. Question is, can we score 6. Wellemeyer hasn’t looked physically well to me recently. If he is all lathered up with shoulder hunched, he will get smacked.
Welly looks relaxed, loose in the first. He has a haircut it looks like.
The Cubs are flat offensively, so it may not have just been brilliant pitching. Aramis Ramirez is injured. Derrek Lee needs an operation and is a shadow of his past self. Sweet Lou is thinking of moving Soriano back to 2B, so as to stick Hoffpauir out in LF, to get more punch in the lineup. Lou is resourceful. He can squeeze a bit more out of those sorry Cubbies.
Rookies T Greene, Sugar Shane Robinson, and Stavinoha collectively have 80 at bats and are credited with a grand sum of zero walks. They are going to need to learn more discipline in the majors.
Welly is looking good if he can get out of this 7th. Walk and a hit. He’s gone. All of the Cardinals Halo team look like they got haircuts.
Its a good win. The rotation seems to be rounding into good form. The bullpen is good. The offense is short-handed, without Glaus, K Greene, Luddy, and Ankiel, but if we pick up wins, it can pick up later.
Awful prescient of you Brian. Nice read.
Welle and Co. did their job tonight. It’s all on Lohse to grab that brass ring. Who would’ve thought that Joel Pineiro would start such an impressive streak?
You just have to be excited about this team’s chances. Things are starting to come together for the pitching staff. Motte looked like a million bucks after Miller took care of his guy. Something contagious seems to be running through the clubhouse.
Thanks, Chris.
Streaks are surely a part of the game. Just this month these same Royals followed six consecutive wins with an equal number of losses. The Cardinals already had the May defeats covered, so it seems the right time for a bunch of victories…
KC didn’t look as good as expected……good. They should have a big day against tomorrow’s starter. Carpenter must of brought the pheromone of success. Hope Lohse can still smell it in the morning.
Lohse and Perez came through on Saturday. Brian, you certainly look like quite the seer. How about giving me tonight’s California Super Lotto Plus numbers. I could use a few mill and would give you a handsome finders’ fee.
Impressive run, no matter who the opponents are. What will these five guys do the second time around?
It was the haircuts.