Mirror images: In many ways, Cards, Giants are very much alike
ST. LOUIS -- Hogging the NL pennants since 2009 and strong pitching staffs aren't all the Cardinals and Giants have in common. From their rabid fans to the way they've built their teams to the type of players they put on the field, the NLCS participants are as similar as any two teams in the majors.
If you think that's overstatement, take a look at these nine similarities entering Saturday's Game 1 (8:07 p.m. ET, FOX):
Both favor substance over style. Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter explains this best:
"You look at their team and it's not a bunch of flashy superstar names, but a bunch of guys who really know how to play the game of baseball. They've got guys who grind out at-bats, put the ball in play and play good defense -- pretty much the same qualities that we have. ... It's two teams full of really good baseball players. There are a lot of similarities, and I think that's exactly the reason we're both in this position."
To Carpenter's point about putting the ball in play, the Cardinals struck out less than any NL team while the Giants finished with the fifth fewest strikeouts. About their defense: The Cardinals allowed the second-fewest unearned runs in the NL, the Giants tied for fourth fewest. As a scout said Thursday, "Neither team is going to hurt itself defensively."
All-world catchers. The Cards' Yadier Molina and the Giants' Buster Posey might not be flashy but are considered stars within the game. Posey has a chance of finishing third in NL MVP voting, which is where Molina ended up in 2013.
Home cooking. Only two teams counted attendance of 40,000 for every home game this season, and they weren't the Yankees and Dodgers. They were the Cardinals and Giants. The Giants are working on a sellout streak of 326 regular-season games, but the Cardinals actually filled more of their home seats this season. Busch Stadium played to 99.4 percent capacity and AT&T Park to 99.2 percent, according to ESPN.com's attendance report. And as Carpenter pointed out, the fans do more than just show up. "Two smart fan bases," he said.
Tradition. Both clubs do an excellent job of bridging the past with today. Look for Willie Mays and Willie McCovey to be front and center in San Francisco next week, kind of like Bob Gibson and Ozzie Smith were among the former Cardinals on display at Busch this week.
Don't think today's players are not touched by the way their teams treat history.
"We see it when guys come into town for reunions of the World Series (champions)," Cards outfielder Jon Jay said. "That's a cool thing you point out to a young guy. Like, 'Hey man, that should be us 20 years from now. We're old with our families and coming back to St. Louis to celebrate a world championship.' That's what it's about."
Homegrown success. Seventeen of the 25 players on the Cardinals' roster for the first round were drafted and developed by the club, the most of any playoff club. Though the Giants' farm system rarely earns top marks from the industry, they counted 14 homegrown players on their 25-man, including Ryan Vogelsong and Travis Ishikawa, both of whom left the organization and came back. The Giants' infield and battery for Game 1 all were acquired and developed by the club.
Red Sox reinforcements. After helping Boston win the World Series last year, Jake Peavy and John Lackey were moved this summer from the sinking Sox. Peavy turned his season around after being reunited in San Francisco with Bruce Bochy, who managed him in San Diego. Peavy went 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA and then won Game 1 of the Division Series. Lackey, another bulldog right-hander, went 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA for the Cardinals before saving his best effort for a Game 3 victory over the Dodgers.
There's a chance the former teammates could start against each other in Game 3. Lackey already has been named to start for the Cardinals. Bochy hasn't announced his starters after Game 1, but statspass.com lists Peavy as the Giants' starter for Sunday's Game 2.
Rookie second basemen. Kolten Wong is a lefty hitter who was taken in the first round of the 2011 draft. So is the Giants' Joe Panik. Panik, out of St. Johns, was drafted just seven spots after Wong, who was the 22nd pick out of Hawaii. Wong went into spring training with a starting job his to lose, while Panik got his chance because of an injury to Marco Scutaro. Panik made the most of it, hitting .305 in 73 games after being called up June 21.
Lefty sluggers at first. Matt Adams, 6-foot-3 and north of 250 pounds, doesn't look much like wiry 6-5 Brandon Belt, but they're more similar than they appear. Both were drafted in 2009, both hit from the left side and both delivered huge homers in the NLDS. Belt's 18th-inning blast at Washington decided Game 2; Adams' three-run shot off Clayton Kershaw won decisive Game 4 for the Cardinals. Belt is considered a superior fielder, while Adams has a better swing, a scout said.
Watch the Missouri Lottery Cardinals Live postgame show on FOX Sports Midwest after every St. Louis Cardinals postseason game.
Former catchers in the dugout. Mike Matheny, 44, won four Gold Gloves in a 13-year playing career spent mostly as a regular in the lineup. Bochy, 59, never played more than 63 games in a season in his nine-year career as a backup.
Both have made their marks as managers. Bochy has won two World Series, is the winningest active manager and is well on the way to landing in Cooperstown. Matheny is one of only five managers in history to guide his team to the postseason in each of his first three seasons.
In 2012, his rookie season as a manager, Matheny's Cardinals took a three-games-to-one lead over Bochy's Giants in the NLCS but lost in seven games. Barry Zito shut down the Cardinals into the eighth inning in a Game 5 win that turned momentum in San Francisco's side.
"That's one of those you never forget, especially because we were in such good position," Matheny said. "It wasn't from a lack of effort, concentration or intensity. We got outplayed. Now we are excited about an opportunity to have a different outcome. I look for a hard-fought series on both sides.
"You have two teams that have a lot of respect for each other and how we go about our business."
And by now you should agree, two teams as alike as any in the game.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
