Astros-Cardinals rivalry

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The St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros rivalry began before the existence of the Astros because the Cards had a minor league team in Houston called the Buffaloes from the 1920s until 1961. Since the second realignment in 1994, Houston and St. Louis have been together in the National League Central Division. There have been exciting divisional races between the two teams in 1996, 2001, 2004, and 2005.

1 Darryl Kile
2 Recent History
3 New Directions
4 References

[edit] Darryl Kile

One notable ballplayer who played for both the Astros and Cardinals was Darryl Kile. He helped lead the Astros to a .500 record (81-81) record in 1992, winning records in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996, and a NL Central title in 1997. After the his disastrous tenure with the Rockies, Kile landed in St. Louis helping the Cardinals get to the NLCS in 2000, playoffs in 2001, and contributing to the Cardinals' success in 2002 before his untimely death on June 22, 2002. Both the Cardinals and Astros have honored Darryl Kile with in their respective ballparks since his death. Both teams annually present the Darryl Kile (Good Guy) Award to the player on each team who best exemplifies Kile's characteristics of "a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man."

[edit] Recent History

The Rivalry between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals was re-kindled in 2004 when the Astros acquired Carlos Beltran during midseason and stormed back to finish 2nd in their division and win the wildcard. Then, the Astros defeated the Atlanta Braves in 5 games in the division series but succumbed to the Cardinals in 7 games after winning Game 5 in Houston by a walk-off home run by Jeff Kent.

In 2005, however they met again in the Championship Series and the Astros had the upper-hand in the series leading 3 to 1. But, in Game 5 the Astros, thanks to Lance Berkman's go ahead home run in the 8th but in the 9th, Brad Lidge gave up the famed home run to Albert Pujols and the Cardinals would prevail in game 5. The Astros did win Game 6 and would go on to win their first ever pennant in franchise history and move on to the World Series but was swept by the Chicago White Sox. The Cardinals lead the all-time series 331-294 but the two teams have only been division rivals since 1994 making the rivalry series record 104-101 Cardinals lead.

In 2006, the Astros released OF Preston Wilson due to lack of playing time, and the Cardinals signed him for the rest of the 2006 season. The Astros missed the playoffs although they won 10 of their last 12 games, including a four game sweep of the Cards, and erased what had been an 8 1/2 game lead to finish 1 1/2 games behind the eventual World Champion Cardinals. ^[1] On July 9, 2006, the Cardinals played against the Astros in Houston, TX on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in front of a prime-time audience. The game was back and forth throughout the game with the Astros tying the game 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth. The game went into the 12th inning tied until Brad Lidge hit David Eckstein with a pitch, gave up a single to So Taguchi, and then, getting Pujols and Rolen out. The stage was set for Aaron Miles, who was pinch-hitting for pitcher Braden Looper. A wild pitch by Lidge moved runners up into scoring position; Miles hit a double to left scoring Eckstein and Taguchi. That was all the Cardinals needed as the Astros went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 12th inning to seal a 7-5 win. ^[2]

[edit] New Directions

Astros

In November 2007, Ed Wade, who is the new Astros general manager, made drastic changes to the Astros roster bringing in OF Michael Bourn, RHP Geoff Geary, 3B Mike Costanzo in exchange for RHP Brad Lidge and SS Eric Bruntlett.

On November 30, the Astros and 2B Kazuo Matsui finalized a $16.5 million, three-year contract.

On December 12, the Astros traded OF Luke Scott, RHP Matt Albers, RHP Dennis Sarfate, LHP Troy Patton, and minor-league 3B Mike Costanzo, to the Baltimore Orioles for SS Miguel Tejada.

On December 14, the Astros traded INF Chris Burke, RHP Juan Gutierrez, RHP Chad Qualls to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Jose Valverde.

On December 27, the Astros came to terms on a deal with All-star, Gold Glove winner Darin Erstad.

On January 9, 2008, the Astros signed RHP Mike DeJean, RHP Carlos Hines, OF Victor Diaz, C J.R. House and 1B Lance Niekro to Minor League contracts with invitations to Spring Training; Invited SS Tommy Manzella and LHP Josh Muecke to Spring Training.

On January 29, they signed RHP Brian Moehler and IF/OF David Newhan to Minor League contracts with invitations to Spring Training.

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Cardinals

On November 19, 2007, the Cards signed C Jason LaRue to a one-year contract

On November 30, they signed INF Cesar Izturis to a one-year contract.

On December 5, the Cardinals released OF So Taguchi and OF John Rodriguez.

On December 6, they selected OF Brian Barton in the Rule 5 Draft.

On December 12, they signed LHP Ron Flores and C Mark Johnson to Minor League contracts with invitations to Spring Training; Re-signed RHP Hugo Castellanos and 3B Rico Washington to Minor League contracts with invitations to Spring Training; Tendered one-year contracts to RHP Todd Wellemeyer, C Yadier Molina, and OF Rick Ankiel; Did not tender a 2008 contract to IF Aaron Miles, making him a free agent.

On December 15, they traded OF Jim Edmonds to the Padres for Minor League 3B David Freese.

On December 18, the Cardinals signed free agent IF D'Angelo Jimenez to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training.

On January 3, 2008, the Cardinals signed RHP Matt Clement to a one-year contract with a club option for 2009.

On January 4, they signed IF Aaron Miles to a one-year contract.

On January 14, the Cards acquired 3B Troy Glaus from the Blue Jays for 3B Scott Rolen.

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With these deals on both sides, the Astros-Cardinals rivalry will be fun and interesting to watch in the 2008 season and beyond.^{[dubious – discuss]}