Krause: World Series features two worthy foes, but give Cards a slight edge

I wish I could say I had any sense at all about who?s going to win this World Series, but I don?t.The Red Sox fan in me — the one who speaks to my subconscious after years of having my hopes dashed by some of the most bizarre events ever to take place in a baseball game — says the Cardinals. But the quasi-objective person who saw this team all summer play the game right, and bounce back from some pretty deflating defeats, feels as if the Sox have at least one more surprise in them.So it?s just a question of hitting a 50-50 shot. And, as they say at the track, if you can?t hit the 50-50s, you probably shouldn?t be here.But since you asked …The St. Louis Cardinals present a few challenges the Detroit Tigers could not, and that?s a little scary. For starters, they appear to be in shape. The Sox will not be able to count on any Prince Fielder/Miguel Cabrera baserunning blunders (in fairness to Miggy, he was playing with a pretty bad groin injury; but what was Fielder?s excuse?).And the Cards may not be running fools, but they?re less likely to play station-to-station baseball than the Tigers were. If one of their guys hits a sure double off the wall with the bases loaded, for example, three runs will score and the batter will be on second (unlike two runners home, Fielder on third, and Victor Martinez on first).Also, St. Louis has a bullpen of pitchers who can actually, you know, pitch. There will be no piling up the pitch count to get a crack at a staff of relief pitchers who couldn?t even get Mario Mendoza himself out.Truth be told, that?s how the Red Sox won the pennant. They beat the Detroit bullpen twice; scored one run off Justin Verlander; and knocked Anibal Sanchez around. They couldn?t solve Max Scherzer either time he pitched, and it was only Tiger manager Jim Leyland?s quick hook that saved them, both last Sunday and this past Saturday.But before you throw your hands up in despair, bear in mind that the Red Sox have won 97 regular-season games, and seven more (thus far) in the post-season … and they weren?t all against teams with beer-league softball players and rag-armed relievers. So it isn?t as if they?re going to be overmatched.Actually, it?s quite the opposite. The Cardinals are a very good team, but — like the Sox — don?t have a lineup full of players who put the Fear of the Lord in you. There are no Miggys (who, healthy, might have won the ALCS all by himself for all we know). They have Carlos Beltran, one of the game?s all-time clutch post-season performers; a very good leadoff hitter in Matt Carpenter, a catcher (Yadier Molina) who can throw out runners, and first baseman Matt Adams, who?s due to come back from an injury that has kept him out of the post-season until now.This will be the best team the Red Sox have faced this season … and vice versa. The Red Sox will be the best team the Cardinals have faced. With all the Sox have to contend with, the Cardinals will have to deal with a very opportunistic team that — by and large — has accepted every gift the opposition has furnished them with gratitude. Nobody?s suggesting the Cardinals will be in a gift-giving mood (they play very good defense), but the Red Sox will make you pay for even the slightest mistake.Their pitching staff may not look as sexy, maybe, as some others, but they get the job done. Manager John Farrell may have had to cobble a bullpen together, but cobble he has. The results in the post-season speak for themselves. They have a good mix of veterans and youth, especially if Xander Bogaerts continues to play like he?s been in the league five years.If the Cardinals do have an advantage, it?ll show itself in St. Louis, where the Red Sox will have to sit either Mike Napoli or David Ortiz (most likely Napoli). The last two times the Sox were in the Series, this wasn?t as much of an issue because a) Ortiz was younger and less likely to wear down if asked to play the field; and b) he had Manny Ramirez in the lineup. In 2013, he needs Napol