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Major League Baseball: Matt Holliday confident Cards can contend without ace Chris Carpenter

The six-time All-Star said highly regarded pitchers Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller and Trevor Rosenthal can help offset the loss of injured Carpenter.

By Michael Baldwin | Published: February 12, 2013 Comment on this article

Despite losing pitching ace Chris Carpenter to a shoulder injury, the Cardinals can be a viable World Series contender, according to St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday.

photo - FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2012, file photo, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter sits in the dugout after being taken out of the game during the fifth inning of Game 2 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco. Carpenter is unlikely to pitch for the Cardinals this season and his career may be over because of a nerve injury that kept him out most of last year, general manager John Mozeliak said Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) ORG XMIT: NY158

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2012, file photo, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter sits in the dugout after being taken out of the game during the fifth inning of Game 2 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco. Carpenter is unlikely to pitch for the Cardinals this season and his career may be over because of a nerve injury that kept him out most of last year, general manager John Mozeliak said Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) ORG XMIT: NY158

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“I've never been around such an amazing competitor, leader that he is,” Holliday said. “Losing Carp is a huge punch. But at the same time we didn't have him last year until the last two or three weeks of the season.”

Last season, the Cardinals staged a dramatic rally in Game 5 to win a division series against the Washington Nationals before being eliminated by San Francisco in seven games in the National League Championship Series.

The previous season, the Cardinals won the world championship, rallying in Game 6 against Texas to force a Game 7, which St. Louis won.

“It's really been a dream come true,” Holliday said. “With all the adversity we had last year to make it as far as we did with a new manager, without Albert Pujols, for us to be one game away from the World Series, it was a lot of fun.”

Holliday, a six-time All-Star, is confident highly regarded young pitchers such as Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller and Trevor Rosenthal can help offset losing Carpenter.

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