Good day to you…

I wanted to follow up on a theme that I initiated in last Sunday’s column, when I mentioned the Cardinals’ dominant success in the NL since the start of the 2000 season.

With the Cardinals on the verge of clinching their 7th spot in the postseason in the last 10 seasons, it’s an appropriate time to pause and reflect on the great run of baseball we’ve seen in St. Louis.

We all tend to get caught up in the daily drama of lineup decisions, strategy calls, roster moves, payroll fluctuations, flash controversies, etc. That’s baseball. But at times it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture: the consistent and sustained success of this winning organization. Like anyone else, I do my share of complaining and second-guessing. But I don’t take this era for granted.

The Cardinals are easily the NL’s Team of the Decade.

(OK, I know some of you insist that the ‘decade’ began in 2001. Whatever. For accounting purposes, I’m going to go back to the start of 2000.)

No National League team has come close to matching the Cardinals’ level of achievement.

Anyway, let’s go to the standings.

Through Thursday night, here’s the list of wins by NL teams since the start of the 2000 season:

1. STL  911 (.566 winning pct.)

2. ATL  888 (.552)

3. LAD 859 (.533)

4. SF   849 (.528)

5. PHIL  846 (.526)

6. HOU  829 (.515)

7. NYM  810 (.503)

8. FLA  806 (.501)

9. CHI  803 (.499)

10.   AZ  801 (.497)

11.  SD  765 (.474)

12.  COL  763 (.473)

13.  CINN 745 (.462)

14.  MIL  736 (.457)

15.  MTL-WASH  704 (.438)

16.  PITT   675 (.420)

What about postseason wins?

1. STL  33

2. AZ  14

3. NYM  14

4. HOU 13

5. SF  12

6.  ATL  11

-T   FLA 11

-T. PHIL 11

9. COL  7

10.  CHI  6

11.  LAD  5

12. MIL  1

-T   SD  1

The Cardinals are qualifying for the postseason for the seventh time this decade. In the National League, Atlanta is second with six playoff trips - but none since 2004 2005. (The Braves, however, are still alive in this season’s NL wildcard race.)

Back to the regular season. The Cardinals have won more games in the NL because they’ve been the most consistent in their combination of pitching and hitting. From 2000-2009 they rank third in the NL in run prevention and are second in runs scored. Their starting pitchers have had the 5th best ERA, and their bullpen has had the third-best ERA, and the hitters are 2nd in the NL in runs per game (4.97), onbase percentage and slugging percentage.

Defense has also been a positive factor; the Cardinals from 2000-2009 are 5th in the NL in fielding percentage, and only six NL teams have allowed fewer unearned runs. It’s probably better than that, actually. Cardinals pitchers rank 11th in the NL in Fielding Independent ERA since the start of the 2000 season, so in theory they’re receiving a quality assistance from their defense. Which is true, given the ground-ball philosophy of pitching coach Dave Duncan.

During the Aughts, the Cardinals have controlled and whupped up on the NL Central. In regular-season play they’ve won 82 more games than Houston, 108 more than Chicago, 166 more than Cincinnati, 175 more than Milwaukee, and 236 more than the Pirates.

Since Tony La Russa became manager in 1996, the five other NL Central teams have employed 24 full-time managers and nine interim skippers for a total of 33.

That continuity has been a plus.

Say what you want about La Russa, but he’s been one of the few high-profile constants in the organization during this time. The others are PC  Dave Duncan, chairman Bill DeWitt and, of course, Albert Pujols — who began his career in 2001.

Just for kicks, since I’m into lists today, here are a few quickies for ya.

Cardinals leaders in the Aughts, and to save time I’ll use last names only:

Games: Pujols 1390, Edmonds 1,105, Renteria 749.

Runs: Pujols 1,067,  Edmonds 690,  Rolen 429

Hits: Pujols 1,707, Edmonds 1,033,  Renteria  812

HR: Pujols 366,  Edmonds 241,  Rolen 111

RBI: Pujols 1,106, Edmonds 713,  Rolen 453

* AVG: Pujols .334, Polanco .303, Schumaker .301  (* min. 1,000 plate appearances)

* OBP: Pujols .427,  Edmonds .393,  Drew .384  (* min. 1,000 plate appearances)

* SLG: Pujols .629, Edmonds .555, Ludwick .520  (* min. 1,000 plate appearances)

Game Winning RBI: Pujols 169, Edmonds 87, Rolen 59

Go-Ahead RBI: Pujols 283,  Edmonds 159,  Rolen 98

Steals: Renteria 111, Pujols 59,  Vina 48

Extra Base Hits: Pujols 764, Edmonds 486, Rolen 297

Runs Created: Pujols 1,239, Edmonds 744, Rolen 430

Innings Pitched: Morris 1046.2, Carpenter 847.1 , Wainwright 630

Shutouts: Carpenter 8, Morris 7

Complete Games: Carpenter 16, Morris 13, Kile 7

Wins: Morris 82, Carpenter 67, Wainwright 45, Williams 45, Suppan 44

* Starter ERA: Carpenter 2.95, Wainwright 3.14, Williams 3.52  (* min. 80 starts)

* Starter Win Pct: Carpenter .736, Williams .682,  Wainwright .652 (* min 80 starts)

Saves: Isringhausen 217, Franklin 55, Veres 48

Save Pct: Isringhausen 85.1, Veres 76.2, Franklin 75.3

If I think of anything else later, I’ll throw it in there…

Thanks for reading, and I had to rush this one… so pardon my typos and I’ll try to do a cleanup later.

-Bernie