The Rays Tank: Cards Collapse, Giants Reach World Series

The Giants are going to the World Series in no small part to their pitching, which shut down the Cardinals offense once again and somehow got the game of their lives out of Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong in games five and six. Every break went their way in game seven, including one of the strangest hits you'll ever see courtesy of Hunter Pence, one of the stranger players you'll ever see. Also, Marco Scutaro hit nearly .500 for the series. That'll do.

St. Louis scored 18 runs through the first four games but managed just one over the final three. Being dominated by Matt Cain is understandable, but one of the best offenses in baseball was shut down by a 35 year old journeyman in Vogelsong and a Barry freaking Zito. Matt Holliday was 5-25 in the series, Allen Craig 3-24, and David Freese 5-26. The only players that hit for the Cardinals were Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina.

The Cardinals pitching isn't blameless. In games 5-7 no Cardinal starter pitched more than four innings. Lance Lynn was ineffective in anything more than a long relief role, Chris Carpenter finally looked like someone who missed most of the season with shoulder issues, and Kyle Lohse turned back into Kyle Lohse.

As for any ex-Rays making it to the World Series I count only Aubrey Huff, Joaquin Benoit and Delmon Young. Am I missing anyone?

Links:

-More on Scutaro's amazing series which netted him the NLCS MVP.

-Among Buster Olney's list ($) of 10 players set to hit it big in free agency are two Rays: Joel Peralta, B.J. Upton. Peralta had a great season and will no doubt draw bigger offers elsewhere, but he's really enjoyed his time with the Rays, so maybe he'd take a discount to stay.

-Cardinals fans are having some issues coping with losing a 3-1 series lead. They let it out via Twitter, and it wasn't pretty.