As the jackhammer pounded down, breaking off pieces of the most potent lineup in the National League — a catcher here, the shortstop there — the players on the St. Louis Cardinals were perplexed. How could they tear apart something that had been so good?
"We all say that," left fielder Reggie Sanders said with a laugh.
This was unprecedented, even in a baseball world where stability lasts as long as a hotel keycard. The Cardinals had built a miniature dynasty in the National League Central by holding their most valuable pieces together, not by shipping them off. Players fell in love, free agents never willingly left. It was, after all, the place where Mark McGwire was sent for half a season and liked it so much he stayed around for another 196 home runs.
But something strange happened in the weeks after the Cardinals laid waste to the rest of the National League last year. Money happened. Mike Matheny, the catcher, got $10.5 million from the San Francisco Giants. Edgar Renteria, the shortstop, received $40 million from the Boston Red Sox. And Tony Womack, the second baseman, took $4 million from George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.
Suddenly the team erected on power and the most basic fundamental of all successful clubs — great defense up the middle — found itself without its catcher, shortstop and second baseman.
Such defections are supposed to matter. National League champions don't lose a third of their lineup, the heart of their defense and improve. But already a fourth of the way into this year, the Cardinals, who play the Nationals in a three-game series that begins in St. Louis tonight, have the league's best record and lead everybody in runs, hits and RBI. If this is what disintegration is like, let everybody suffer the same fate.
"One of the things you have to understand is you have to forget about what happened in 2004," Sanders said. "In spring training, there were a lot of reminders about what we lost. But it's not about the past, it's about what we do now."
Sanders said this late one morning last week as the Cardinals were about to play the Phillies. He leaned back in his clubhouse chair; on one side of him was the new second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, who is hitting .321. To the other side was the new shortstop, David Eckstein, who is batting .299. Across the room was the new catcher Yadier Molina, who has thrown out two-thirds of the runners who have tried to steal against him.
Already the Cardinals' clubhouse was abuzz with activity, filled with players even though most of them were not required to report for another 30 minutes. Across the field, in the Phillies' clubhouse, the room was barren.
Maybe this is the difference between four division titles in five years and the rest of the league.
"Everybody gets along with everybody," outfielder John Mabry said, looking around the room. "There's no me or I, there's we. The one special thing about this team is there are a lot of stars [Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen], but they're great. They're not selfish."
Just outside the clubhouse, on the other side of a small hallway, the manager, Tony La Russa, was sequestered in his office with the winner of the last three NFC East Division titles. Andy Reid, the Philadelphia Eagles' coach, had dropped by. They had been talking for close to a half-hour; they were not to be disturbed.
Winning is everywhere around the Cardinals. Eckstein, the new shortstop, won the World Series with the Angels three years ago. Sanders has played in three of the last five World Series. Mark Mulder, the starting pitcher acquired in a December trade with Oakland, has been part of a team that has won 90 games each of the last five seasons.
"It all starts with the players and the attitude of the players," Sanders said. "Attitude is everything, it really is. This is a group that has the right attitude. It starts with management and it trickles down to Tony and it trickles down to the stars and it trickles down to so-and-so."
Asked how this is discernable given that he has played for several teams that had the so-called right attitude, he smiled.
"It's by the way you walk, the way you carry yourself and the way you play," he said. "It shows."
The Nationals, sliding out of contention in the National League East, have the misfortune of running into a Cardinals machine that has won 12 of its last 17 games. And to realize just how impressive that figure is, remember most of this was accomplished without Rolen, the third baseman who underwent surgery on his left shoulder after running into Dodgers first baseman Hee-Seop Choi. At the time the injury seemed devastating. But the Cardinals slipped Scott Seabol and Abraham Nuñez in his place and kept right on going.
After a while, if you hang out in the St. Louis clubhouse long enough, the players all start sounding alike. They talk about intangibles like togetherness and efficiency. Their answers about what is going right are so similar, they almost become a mantra.
"We've got guys who know how to play the game the right way," said pitcher Jason Marquis, who like many of his teammates came from a winning organization, in this case Atlanta.
"We have guys who have one focus: to remain fundamentally sound and win ballgames," Sanders said.
When Marquis was asked if he sees a similarity in this clubhouse to the Braves, he looked around and seemed to ponder the inquiry.
"I think this one is a little looser than Atlanta — it's just different personalities," he finally said.
They are starting to put together an Atlanta-like run. Their only blemish so far in the new millennium is a third-place finish, three games out of first, in 2003. Otherwise the string of division banners keeps getting longer. And barring a total collapse this year, it's hard to imagine the Cardinals not winning the Central again. Really, there is no challenge, lest a charge by a Milwaukee team with a 23-23 record now stands as a challenge.
In another month, they will have Rolen back and the lineup that was supposed to be so severely damaged by the winter defections should be back together. With Mulder suddenly anchoring a rotation that includes Marquis, Chris Carpenter and Matt Morris, they could be built for even a better postseason run than last year.
