2006 St. Louis Cardinals season

MLB yearly infobox
name = St. Louis Cardinals
season = 2006
misc = World Series Champions

current league = National League
y1 = 1892
division = Central Division
y2 = 1994
Uniform logo =
ballpark = Busch Stadium
y4 = 2006
city = St. Louis, Missouri
y5 = 1882
owners = Bill DeWitt
managers = Tony La Russa
television = FSN Midwest
(Joe Buck,Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky)
KPLR
(Ricky Horton, Bob Carpenter, Rich Gould)
radio = KTRS
(Mike Shannon, John Rooney)
espntn = stl
brtn = STL|

The St. Louis Cardinals 2006 season started out with a bang, as the team raced out to a 31-16 record by late May. Momentum would be slowed by injuries, as starting pitcher Mark Mulder was lost for the year, while center fielder Jim Edmonds and shortstop David Eckstein missed large amounts of playing time in the second half. Poor performance from several key players also hampered the team: starting pitcher Jason Marquis compiled a 6.02 ERA, starting pitcher Sidney Ponson was cut due to ineffectiveness, closer Jason Isringhausen blew ten saves before undergoing season-ending hip surgery in September, and catcher Yadier Molina had a poor offensive year, batting .216.

All this led to a difficult season after that quick start, one that included two eight-game losing streaks (the longest such streaks for the franchise since 1988) and a seven-game losing streak, losing months in June, August and September, and an 83-78 record, the worst for the Cardinals since the 1999 team finished 75-86. However, that record was good enough to finish first in a weak National League Central division, and the Cardinals made the playoffs for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Once the playoffs began, the lightly-regarded Cardinals surprised baseball fans everywhere by beating the San Diego Padres in the Division Series, beating the New York Mets in the NLCS, and beating the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series four games to one, winning the tenth, and probably most unlikely, World Series championship in franchise history.

Following the season, the Cardinals ended a 19-year association with KPLR and returned to KSDK-NBC Channel 5 for the first time since 1987.

Regular season

eason standings

Roster

Starting pitchers

References

External links

*2006 Cardinals [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/TSLN02006.htm home page] and [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/VSLN02006.htm game log] at Retrosheet
*2006 [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/TSLN12006.htm Division Series] , [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/TSLN22006.htm League Championship Series] , and [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/TSLN32006.htm World Series] at Retrosheet
* [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=stl Official website] of the St. Louis Cardinals
*2006 Cardinals [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/2006.shtml statistics] (including links to postseason statistics) at Baseball Reference
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2006&t=SLN 2006 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]