Written by DRang Monday, 04 January 2010 00:00 Being born about 2 hours away from St. Louis and growing up a die-hard St. Louis Cardinal fan, it is my privilege to bring to you the Cardinal All Decade team. The decade was a great success for the Redbirds as they appeared in the playoffs 7 times and won the 2006 World Championship. I will never forget Adam Wainwright's emotional celebration as he fanned the final batter of the series and brought a World Championship back to St. Louis for the first time since 1982. Here is the St. Louis Cardinal All Decade Team. Comments are always welcome! C - Yadier Molina Yadier Molina has proved to be one of the best defensive catchers in baseball since arriving in the major leagues with St. Louis halfway through the 2004 season. He has an All-Star game appearance in 2009, won Gold Gloves in 2008 and 2009, and was an instrumental cog in the 2006 St. Louis Cardinal World Championship team. Even though Yadier is not known for his offense, he has posted batting averages of .304 and .293 the past two seasons. 1B - Albert Pujols Albert Pujols is probably the Major League Baseball player of the decade, so this choice was easy. Pujols took the majors by storm when he arrived in 2001, winning the Rookie of Year honors. Throughout the decade , Pujols has been named to eight All-Star teams, won three MVP awards, and posted a decade line of .334 average, 387 doubles, 336 home runs, 1,112 runs batted in, and posted a decade OPS of 1.055. He is currently the active leader in batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS, and second in on base percentage with a .427 OBP. Truly, Pujols is already one of the all-time greats and even a better person with his charity work in the St. Louis community. 2B - Fernando Vina Fernando Vina was a regular at second base in the early part of the decade with four successful years from 2000-2003. He won Gold Gloves in '01 and '02 and had 620+ at bats in those seasons as well. He was able to find a number of ways to get on base, including getting hit by 79 pitches over the four year span. He even led the league with 28 hit by pitches in 2000. It should be noted that Vina has also done a nice job working as an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight. SS - Edgar Renteria Even though David Eckstein was a vital cog in the 2006 World Championship team, Edgar Renteria was a great offensive threat and played solid defense for the Cardinals from 2000-2005. Three times an All-Star with St. Louis, he also was a Silver Slugger for the shortstop position in 2000, 2002, and 2003. Renteria was a key piece to the 2004 team that had the best record in baseball before eventually losing to Boston in the World Series. 3B - Scott Rolen Scott Rolen came to St. Louis via a trade from the Phillies and represented the Cardinals in four straight All-Star games from 2003 to 2006. Rolen has been talked about as one of the greatest defensive third baseman of all time and won the 2002 Silver Slugger award for a third baseman. Rolen's best offensive season came in 2004 when he hit .314 with 34 bombs and 124 runs batted in. LF - Albert Pujols Since no stands out at the position and Matt Holliday only played half a season, Pujols deserves two spots on the All Decade Team. The versatile Pujols played left in 2002 and 2003 and put up his usual monster numbers while roaming the St. Louis outfield at the time. With names like Ray Lankford (great in the 90s), Reggie Sanders, Chris Duncan, So Taguchi, etc, there is no one to really choose from, and if we really wanted, we could devote this whole article to King Albert. CF - Jim Edmonds Jim Edmonds is an easy choice for the centerfield spot based on his superb defense and solid offense. His hayday was from 2000-2005 where he went to three All-Star games and won six Gold Gloves. Jimmy Edmonds was a vital cog to the 2004 team that won the NL, and his best offensive campaign came that season when he hit .300 wth 42 bombs and drove in 111 runs. Edmonds will always be remembered for his spectacular catches while roaming centerfield for the Redbirds. RF - Ryan Ludwick Ludwick is a feel good story since coming to St. Louis late in the decade. Always tapped with potential, Ludwick was injury prone throughout his minor and major league careers. However, he burst onto the scene late in 2007, and his 2008 season was tremendous. Ludwick posted a 37-homer, 113-RBI season leading to him being selected to the All Star game, received MVP votes, and won a Silver Slugger award. SP (RH) - Chris Carpenter Chris Carpenter has been a stalwart in the St. Louis rotation when healthy since the 2004 season posting a 68-24 record with a 2.91 ERA and miniscule 1.07 WHIP. He won 21 games in 2005 earning him the Cy Young award. From 2004 to 2006, "Carp" won 51 games for the Cards and hurled 13 complete games with seven shutouts. After finishing a stellar 2009 season, Carpenter finished second in the Cy Young voting after going 17-4. SP (LH) - Mark Mulder Since no other lefty starters stand out for the All-Decade team, I will cringe a little and give Mark Mulder the nod. Mulder had a very good 2005 season where he posted a 16-win campaign with a sub-3.70 ERA. Injuries derailed his baseball career and he never was the pitcher the Cards thought they were getting when they gave up Danny Haren to the Athletics. RP - Adam Wainwright Adam Wainwright was a force from the pen in 2006 as a set-up man and took his great skills into the playoffs and closed out the NLCS and World Series on strikeouts of Carlos Beltran and Brandon Inge respectfully. Wainwright has now moved to the rotation and had loads of success as a starter and carries one of the best arms in the NL. CL - Jason Isringhausen "Izzy" finished off many games for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2002-2008. He came to the Redbirds from Oakland and had six seasons of 30+ saves with him recording 47 in 2004. Even though he drove St. Louis fans crazy at times with constant late-inning drama, Jason Isringhausen was a force at the end of games and saved 217 wins this decade. http://is.gd/5MkeM --

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