THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: As the Phillies head to their second consecutive World Series it raises the question, “What does Philadelphia have that the Cardinals do not?”

DERRICK GOOLD
Where to begin? How about where the difference is the greatest? The lineup. The Phillies have one of the deepest, one of the most power-packed and actually one of the most underrated lineups in baseball. Chase Utley may be the most complete lefthanded-hitter in the National League. Ryan Howard, Mr. September to the locals, is a power threat that is emerging as a Mr. October. Jimmy Rollins is a former MVP (Matt Holliday was robbed!) and a switch-hitting speed threat. And if the number of elite hitters doesn’t reveal the gulch between the depth of the Phillies’ lineup and the Cardinals’ lineup, consider Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth are complementary hitters in that lineup — and would be linchpins of the Cardinals.

Too much of the Cardinals lineup is isolated around one bat swinging well. His name: Albert Pujols. The Phillies have many players who can spark a rally, continue a rally or invent a rally on their own. They don’t need three hits to score one run. They often need one hit to score three runs. It’s easy to take potshots at the studio they call a ballpark and acknowledge that it adds to the Phillies’ power threat. But here’s the thing: Take away the power, and the Phillies still have the balance and depth to bombard teams anywhere else, too. The Cardinals just don’t have that many dimensions to their offense.

BERNIE MIKLASZ
The Phillies had a much deeper and stronger lineup. If you go by combined onbase + slugging percentage (OPS), the Phillies have the edge over the Cardinals at six of the eight positions. (We’re not counting the pitchers’ batting performances in this statistical breakdown). The only spots where the Cardinals had the better OPS than the Phillies this season were first base and shortstop. The Phillies ranked in the top 5 in the NL in OPS at six positions, and were No. 1 in the league at second base and right field. Their outfielders, overall, were No. 1. They were No. 2 in OPS at center field and fourth in OPS in left field. The Cardinals lagged terribly in the position-by-position OPS rankings at third base (15th), center field (13th) and right field (12th) and were mediocre in left field (8th) and second base (8th). St. Louis outfielders overall were 12th among 16 NL outfields with a .743 OPS — or 108 points less than the OPS generated by the Phillies’ outfield.

The Phillies also led the NL in slugging percentage and had a lot more danger in their lineup from top to bottom, finishing with nearly 100 more extra-base hits than the Cardinals.

Finally, there was a huge disparity between the teams in their batting performance against LH pitching. The Phillies were the league’s second-best team in OPS vs. LH (.787) and the Cardinals finished last in OPS vs. LH (.674).

RICK HUMMEL
The one thing the Phillies have that the Cardinals don’t have is damage up and down their lineup, from No. 1, where Jimmy Rollins hit 21 homers, to No. 8, where Carlos Ruiz has been a postseason star. Also, they seem to be better hitters with men in scoring position.

JEFF GORDON
Run production! That lineup wears out pitchers. There is danger everywhere. How many at bats would Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel, Joe Thurston, Khalil Greene, Troy Glaus, et al, have earned in that group? Fans clamor for a one big hitter to protect Albert, but the challenge is to assemble a dangerous attack, one through eight. The Cards can move in that direction, even without Holliday, by weeding all their .230 hitters off the roster.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Power, speed, offensive depth, better left-right balance in the order and better defense. The Cardinals pitching is a little better on the whole but not by all that much.

The Phillies hit 40 percent more home runs (224 to 160) than the Cardinals, plus they stole 59 percent more bases (119 to 75), walked 12 percent more often (589 to 528) and they had a higher OPS (.781 to .747). In fact, Philly ranked 1st in the NL in OPS and HR while finishing 2nd in steals. They had four 30 home run guys this year (Howard, Utley, Werth and Ibanez) compared to one for the Cards (Pujols), which pretty much paints the picture for you.

In fact, 7 of their 8 “everyday players” reached double digits in home runs (Rollins had 21 as the leadoff man) and the only guy who missed out, catcher Carlos Ruiz, hit 9 homers despite missing 55 games.

The Cardinals had a strong team, one whose pitching carried them over the course of the long 162 game season, but the Phillies have a dynamic, explosive team and one that is better suited for a playoff run.

THE WATERCOOLER

Today’s Round Two question is one I posed to a number of All-Stars just moments ago. Here’s what they had to say about El Hombre.

QUESTION: Do you think Albert Pujols has a chance to win the Triple Crown this season?

RYAN BRAUN, OF, BREWERS

If anybody can do it, Albert can. I just marvel at his consistency. I think he’s the best player in baseball. He’s like Barry Bonds in the regard that he often only sees one pitch to really hit, and you see what he does with it. I would say it’s fun to compete against him, but it seems like he always comes out on top. He’s just remarkably consistent at putting the barrel on the ball.

SHANE VICTORINO, OF, PHILLIES

I don’t second-guess it at all. He hits for power, drives in runs and hits for average. Albert is definitely a guy that does it all. And with him it’s not just hitting … he does everything else great, too. He doesn’t run a lot, but he plays great defense, obviously. Albert does it all.

JUSTIN UPTON, OF, DIAMONDBACKS

Yeah. Of course. That dude’s unbelievable. I’ll watch the Cardinals games in our clubhouse just to watch him bat. The way he approaches the game is just incredible. Of course he could win the Triple Crown. He’s the best.

JONATHAN BROXTON, CLOSER, DODGERS

No doubt he could win it. The way he swings the bat is unbelievable, hitting whatever he wants to. As a pitcher, you have to be more careful with him. Especially if you’re like me and are put out there in the ninth inning up by one run. I’m not going to let him beat me. I’ll put him on base and pitch to the next guy. If we’re up by two I might challenge him … but I’m going to be very, very careful.

ADRIAN GONZALEZ, 1B, PADRES

Albert’s a guy who’s very capable (of the Triple Crown.) Very few guys will get that kind of opportunity EVERY year. The question is if opposing pitchers will give him enough to hit to get his home runs and RBIs. But if anybody can do it, it’s Albert. He’s just a great hitter.

BRAD HAWPE, OF, ROCKIES

Albert is definitely capable. He’s the toughest in the game. An amazing talent and freak athlete. Watching him from afar I’m definitely a fan … until he plays the Rockies. Watching him reminds me of how Bonds used to always get pitched around, too. But it just took one pitch and he’d kill it. Just like Albert.

FRANCISCO CORDERO, CLOSER, REDS

His chances are great. He’s got the numbers already. He’s leading the majors, not just the National League, in home runs and RBIs and is in the top 10 in batting average. When facing him as a pitcher, there’s no way to attack a hitter like Albert. You just have to make a pitch. You can’t really pitch around him because then you get tired, make a mistake and he hits a homer. You just have to make the pitch.

AND I SAVED MY FAVORITE ANSWER FOR LAST …

ORLANDO HUDSON, 2B, DODGERS

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! His chances at the Triple Crown for the next ten years are good. Damn good. Woo! That dude is unbelievable. He comes up and I say, “Where’s he gonna hit it out? Left field, right field, center field. He can do it all. Woo, man. He’s that player. All I can say is, “wow!”

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: There are two spots remaining for the All-Star teams, one from the AL and one from the NL, and both will decided by online fan voting. The candidates for the AL are Ian Kinsler, Brandon Inge, Chone Figgins, Adam Lind and Carlos Pena. For the NL it’s Pablo Sandoval, Shane Victorino, Matt Kemp, Mark Reynolds and Christian Guzman. Who would you vote for in each league?

RICK HUMMEL
The 33rd player should be the last player into the game, but should be versatile enough to play more than one position. In the American League, that clearly is Chone Figgins, who can play infield or outfield. Not as easy in the National League, but Cristian Guzman, normally a shortstop, played third base quite well in extra innings in last year’s All-Star Game.

JEFF GORDON
For purely selfish reasons, I’d go with Kinsler, the Mizzou guy, and Pablo Sandoval. We need to get Kung Fu Panda at the Midsummer Classic. Not only can the Panda play, his infectious enthusiasm would help everybody have ever more fun. The All-Star Game is supposed to be fun, after all. He would be the player most likely to give us a John Kruk moment.

REID LAYMANCE
In the AL, I’ll take Chone Figgins because I like the way he plays and because colleague Roger Hensley says Chone will do an Ozzie Smith-style back flip on his way out to the field. In the NL, it’s Shane Victorino because we need the state of Hawaii to be represented here. He’s a true big-league “braddah” as the Hawaiian broadcasters call him.

LUKE THOMPSON
As far as the NL goes, this one’s pretty easy. Pablo Sandoval is fifth in the majors in batting average, and all four guys ahead of him were voted in as All-Star starters. In fact, the only reason I can see that Sandoval was left off in the first place is because the fans know David Wright a lot better (Sandoval is better in almost every offensive category) and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman had to fill the quota for the woeful Nationals.

In the AL, Kinsler hasn’t been able to hit for average since April, so it looks like a two-man race between Brandon Inge and Adam Lind. As much as I dislike the DH, I’m going to give the nod to Lind, who has the best balance of power and average and had an incredible June (.360, 7 HRs), even as the Blue Jays fell back to reality in the AL East.