The Aughts Part 4: 2003

Written by: Bill Ivie on 1st January 2010

The Aughts Part 4: 2003 | read this item

The year was 2003. In February, upon re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded, killing all seven astronauts on board. The US Army, during a joining attack with Great Britain against Iraq, would find and apprehend the former President of that country, Saddam Heusein. Michael Jackson is arrested for, and later acquitted of, charges of child molestation. And then, there was baseball…

The Cardinals were facing a new season with many of the same faces. The team was still reeling from the losses it experienced the year before and 2003 would expose many of those missing pieces, more from a leadership role than from the statistics they would provide.

Speaking of leaders, for the fourth season of this decade, Mike Mattheny would assume his role behind the plate and in the role of “field general”. Tino Martinez would assume the role of first baseman and further alienate himself from the city by hitting .273 with 15 home runs and 69 RBI. The city would not embrace Martinez and would start to boo him as many fans realized that Mark McGwire was outperforming these numbers in half as many games. Fernando Vina, Edgar Renteria and Scott Rolen would round on the infield, despite Vina being hurt for most of the season and yielding to Bo Hart, a young product of the farm system. Meanwhile, Rolen and Renteria would both post 100 RBI seasons, with 104 and 100 respectively.

In the outfield, it became “business as usual” for the decade. The combination of JD Drew, Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols would hold down the three positions once again. While Edmonds would hit 39 Home Runs and post 89 RBI, it was Albert Pujols that simply seemed to steal the show once again. Albert would put up a .359 Batting Average, hit 43 home runs and 124 RBI, finishing second in MVP voting and winning his first batting title of his career.

It was the rotation that seemed to suffer when it came to 2003. Matt Morris seemed to be a shell of his former self, whether just from the baseball Gods or from the loss of Darryl Kile, most fans would debate for a long time. Woody Williams would post a record of 18-9 this year, but received little support from the rest of the rotation. Isringhausen would continue to close games, though the opportunities were few and far between, only yielding 22 saves.

The Cardinals would finish the season with 85 wins and 77 losses and miss the postseason for the first time this decade.

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Topics: Albert Pujols, Astronauts, Batting Average, Bo Hart, Child Molestation, Darryl Kile, Edgar Renteria, Fernando Vina, First Baseman, Home Runs, JD Drew, Jim Edmonds, Leadership Role, Mark McGwire, Matt Morris, Missing Pieces, outfield, Rbi, Scott Rolen, Space Shuttle Columbia, Tino Martinez, Us Army, Woody Williams