The St. Louis Cardinals have failed all six times to sweep three-game series this season, but almost always come close.
One by-product of the 2010 St. Louis Cardinals having put together just one winning streak of more than three games is the odd circumstance of them not having a single three-game series sweep* during their first 69 games.
Six times this season, the Cardinals have taken the first two games of a three-game set, only to lose the final contest each time. In a most interesting angle, St. Louis fell exactly one run short in five of those six game threes. (In all other one-run games this season, the Cardinals are 11-9.)
Another oddity is that three of the six series were within a ten-day period in April and the other three have been during June, with none occurring in May. The most recent four occurred at home, including both series in the just-concluded homestand – against the Seattle Mariners mid-week and the Oakland A’s last weekend.
Cardinals going for three-game sweep, 2010
Opponent | G1 win | Score | G2 win | Score | G3 loss | Score |
at CIN | 4/5/2010 | 11-6 | 4/7/2010 | 6-3 | 4/8/2010 | 1-2 |
at MIL | 4/9/2010 | 5-4 | 4/10/2010 | 7-1 | 4/11/2010 | 7-8 |
HOU | 4/12/2010 | 5-0 | 4/14/2010 | 2-1 | 4/15/2010 | 1-5 |
MIL | 6/4/2010 | 8-0 | 6/5/2010 | 5-4 | 6/6/2010 | 3-4 |
SEA | 6/14/2010 | 9-3 | 6/15/2010 | 4-2 | 6/16/2010 | 1-2 |
OAK | 6/18/2010 | 6-4 | 6/19/2010 | 4-3 | 6/20/2010 | 2-3 |
Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for the above table.
* As part of their season-long five-game winning streak, the Cardinals did sweep the Atlanta Braves out of town in four straight from April 26-29.
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.