No Use Looking Back

Really not much to say about last night's game.  Though I'm sure that the Yadier Molina meltdown had to be fairly entertaining to watch.

Let's assign the nightly tags and be done with last night's game.  I'll give the Hero tag to Rick Ankiel, who hit another home run to briefly give the Cards the lead.  Another solo shot, though, which has been a bit of an issue with the Cardinals.  And as big of a part to the early success he's been, last night's Goat goes to Adam Wainwright.  He was nice to see him hang in there for six innings, but eight runs is a heck of a lot for this lineup to try to overcome.

The Cardinals played game 40 last night.  They went 13-7 in their first 20, 10-10 in the last half.  The next twenty will take the Cards through June 3 and a game in Washington.  They play 13 of those 20 at home, so they should be able to bounce back a little bit and hopefully post an over .500 record for that stretch.  If they can do that, say another 13-7 (with 7 games against the Pirates in that stretch, it should be possible), they'll definitely hang around the top of the NL Central.  Being within a couple of games at the beginning of June would be well beyond anyone's expectations for this team.

They start that run tonight against the Pirates at home in Busch.  Kyle Lohse is coming off of two terrible outings, so he needs to get out there and right the ship.  Chris Gomez has done some damage against him, but other than that he's been able to handle the Pirates fairly well in his career.  He's not faced the Pittsburgh team yet this season.

Going for the Bucs is Phil Dumatrait.  The Cards faced him back on April 24 in a game the Cardinals won 6-2.  He didn't start, but came in to the game in relief of Tom Gorzelanny and allowed 2 runs in two innings.  Limited exposure to Dumatrait for the Redbird, but they've liked what they've seen.  Especially Molina, assuming he's not sitting the bench after the tirade.

Get your YNOT picks in and a CardsClubhouse preview will probably go up this afternoon.

Also on the Network: √ See You Next Tuesday [Depressed Fan] √ The Goose Is Not Amused [Depressed Fan] √ Recycling Update, Other News and Notes [Beantown West] √ No Use Looking Back [C70 At The Bat] √ Human Growth Hormone: A History of... [Cobra Brigade] √ Jim Edmonds Coming to Chicago [Cobra Brigade] √ Carl Pavano vs. Kei Igawa [Depressed Fan] √ What is wrong with Horseracing? [Cobra Brigade]

Lineup Creativity, Part Deux

Earlier in the season, Tony LaRussa unveiled a fairly unique lineup, one that had Ludwick hitting leadoff.  He may have just topped himself.  Per Bernie:

Schumaker
Molina
Ankiel
Ludwick
Duncan
Glaus
Kennedy
Wainwright
Izturis

Yes, you read that right.  Yadier Molina, he of the blazing footspeed, the man slow enough to be caught by a glacier, is hitting in the second slot in the lineup.

It's a fascinating concept, though.  Obviously the lineup had to be juggled without Pujols in there.  You'd have expected, probably, Kennedy and Molina reversing roles.  So what is Tony thinking?

Well, we know that Molina hits Bush pretty well.  He's four for 10 with three home runs against the Milwaukee hurler.  He is hitting .301 on the season, .400 in May, though he hits lefties better than righties.  I would expect to see, if Schumaker does get on in front of Molina, some hit and runs put on.  LaRussa probably feels that Molina can handle the bat well enough to move runners over or get first-and-third with Ankiel coming up.  Molina has struck out only five times this season (which is even a better rate than Mr. Pujols) so there could be some action on the basepaths tonight.

Hopefully this one turns out better than the last jumbled lineup!

Splitting the Difference

The Cardinal teeter-totter continued this weekend.  After losing a game they should have won on Friday, they came back and won a game that, on paper, they probably should have lost Saturday.

With Ben Sheets on the mound, you know that runs are likely to be scarce.  So that meant that Chris Duncan's two-run home run was huge, pushing the Cardinal edge to 3-0.  Could play a lot of ifs there--without that home run, maybe Pineiro is handled differently, or maybe the Brewers win.  It was a big moment, though, so he gets Hero status for Saturday.

Our goat would likely have to be Kyle McClellan.  I know he was credited with his 12th hold in the game, but he walked in two runs that were credited to Pineiro's line, which brought it to a one-run game.  I would guess the book is out on McClellan, because his last couple of outings have been on the shaky side.  The league probably knows more about what to look for, what to lay off of, etc.

So, after taking the second game, the Cards stood about where you'd thought they would have after two games, one up, one down.  The pitching matchups looked fairly solid for them going forward as well.

Braden Looper limited the damage, but he didn't have his best stuff.  Ryan Braun made sure of that, smashing two home runs.  The biggest goat in this game was the Cardinal offense, since Jeff Suppan was laboring early on and they never took full advantage.  I know there's a lot of talk about Pujols's supposed misadventures on the base paths, but that seems a bit overblown to me.  He got picked off, which probably was a mistake.  But the second one, where he was thrown out at third, you see all the time and it works as a guarantee that the run will get in.  The throw gets cut off and redirected, and you can make sure the run gets in before you get tagged out.  The third one was just one of those things, because Glaus hit a bullet and that would have doubled up anyone.

And while it was nice to see Ludwick hit another home run and get the Cards a little closer, that doesn't quite make up for the three strikeouts he had before that.  I'd probably give Troy Glaus the Hero tag, for getting more hits in that game than he had in the entire month of May, and I guess Skip Schumaker the Goat tag, because if he'd been able to do a little more than the 0-4, it might have been a different story offensively. 

The Cards wrap the series tonight with Adam Wainwright going against David Bush.  In theory, you'd like their chances to end the road trip on a winning note and splitting the eight games, which is a minor victory.  Wainwright has done well against the Brewers, though he'll have to work carefully to Prince Fielder.   Wainwright defeated the Brewers on April 16, allowing two runs (one earned) in 7.2 innings.  That was another of Izzy's tightrope acts, as he allowed two in the ninth before closing it out.

Bush, though, has held his own against the Redbirds.  He pitched against the Cardinals on April 15, though, and gave up three runs in six innings in a 6-1 Cardinal win.  It's not surprising, though, that LaRussa picked today for Pujols to take a breather, since Bush has been pretty hard on him in the past. 

Another Stellar Izzy Outing

What's left to say?

Jason Isringhausen did it again.  For the third time this week, he took victory and turned it into defeat.  He has more blown saves (3) in May than saves (2).  His ERA is approaching 7.50.  How long will this go on?

Numerous comparisons are being made between this year and 2006, when he struggled for so long before his hip injury was finally diagnosed.  But on May 9, 2006, his ERA stood at 4.77 and he only had two blown saves.  He blew four in June on his way to 10 on the season.

Tonight's was particularly galling, when you note that he came in and had two outs before he threw his third pitch.  Then a single by J.J. Hardy, hitting .235 on the season.  A single by Gabe Kapler, a .279 hitter.  A walk to Jason Kendall, who was 3 for his last 16 and was 2 for 17 lifetime against Izzy.  After that, it was almost a fait accompli that he was either going to walk Rickie Weeks to force in a run or give up a hit to lose the game, and he did the latter.

If Izzy's smart, he'll avoid the game threads tonight, because there's a lot of skewering going on.

The problem is, there's a lot less of statistical backing to defend Izzy with now.  The post by Larry at VEB earlier this week really opened my eyes up.  I was hoping it was just a slump, but when you look at the data, it seems to be much more than that.  He's not getting the ball past people.  You need that in your closer, because otherwise swings become hits become losses.

He's given up 5 earned runs in 3.2 innings in May.  It's not getting better, it's getting worse.  Which is sad when you consider his April ERA was 6.00.  And while ERA doesn't tell the whole story most of the time, it's a pretty telling stat when your closer has one in this area.  And he started the year with seven scoreless innings!

With the Cubs winning today and with the Cardinals facing Ben Sheets tomorrow, they really needed this game.  And they should have had it as well.

There's a good bit of blame to go around, though.  The Cardinals only managed three runs, including two in a bases-loaded, no out situation.  Getting two was good, but there will still no outs after that.  A solid hit would have broken the game open, but instead it was a liner that doubled off Izturis and that was pretty much that.  The Cardinals have done a great job lately of jumping on the opposing team early.  What they've not figured out is how to keep building, to be able to score in the middle and late innings.

I think the Hero status should go to Albert Pujols, though.  That was a monster home run as part of his 2-3, one walk night.  37 straight games reaching base is a nice marker.  If he can get a couple more, it'll be the second-longest streak in the last few years.

Today (assuming you are not going to read this in the few minutes between now and midnight) the Cardinals have to come back and try to end their longest losing streak of the season against a pitcher that's as good as almost any out there.  Ben Sheets has a nice 4-0 record and a 2.29 ERA.  It's going to be a tall task.

In the past, though, the Cardinals have hit Sheets very well.  Pujols has a .403 average in 65 AB against him, with 4 home runs.  Chris Duncan should get off the bench, as he's got a couple of homers against Sheets as well.  Izturis might get the day off, though, with his 2-22 mark.  Since 2005, Sheets is 1-6 with an ERA over 4 against the Redbirds, according to the research I did for the CCH series preview.

Joel Pineiro goes for the Cardinals.  Only Jason Kendall has really seen him a lot, and he's only had minor success.  On paper, you'd think the Brewers would be heavy favorites, but if some personal histories hold up, this could be a closer game than you'd think.

The only question will be, who will close it out for St. Louis if it is?

Era Ending? Edmonds Exits

The Padres have released Jim Edmonds.

I don't think many of us really expected that when he was traded back in December.  Sure, the contract was up at the end of 2008, but he should be able to put together the semblance of a decent year.  Even last year, a down year by his standards, he stroked 12 homers and hit .250.

Apparently, that wasn't the case.  After a .178 average and the fact that San Diego is struggling, sitting in last place in the NL West, he now finds himself without work.

If this is it for the man nicknamed Hollywood and Jimmy Radio, he leaves with a career .286 mark, 363 HR and numerous Gold Gloves.  Is he a Hall of Famer?  That'll be for more knowledgeable people than I to determine.  I do know that he's a shoo in for the Cardinal Hall of Fame, though.

If you wanted to be slightly melodramatic, you could say he couldn't stand playing anywhere outside of St. Louis.  A movie script would have him coming back to the 'Lou, taking a bench role, then producing down the clutch for one last hurrah.  Unfortunately, this isn't a movie, and the Cards have too many outfielders as it is.  Though if he wanted to do some coaching, I'd think the door would always be open.

All this does make that trade in December look more and more like a huge steal for the Cardinals, what with David Freese moving up the prospect ranks.  Maybe Mozeliak knew more than we gave him credit for.

For now, though, I'll say what I said in December.  Thanks for the memories, Jimmy!

Slippery Slope

Two days ago, the Cardinals were on a three-game winning streak, had a 3 game lead in the Central, and were four outs away from pushing the lead up half a game and winning the series against the Rockies.

Now, the Cards have lost two in a row for the first time in two weeks (since their back to back losses to Milwaukee and Pittsburgh April 22-23), have a two game lead on the Cubs and face a Milwaukee team that would love to add to their misery.

It's starting to look like there was a reason Kyle Lohse was on the market as long as he was.  In his last two starts, his ERA has risen from 2.36 to 4.87.  15 earned runs in 10 innings will do that to a person.  Just a rough check on his peripherals from his last two starts compared to his first six.  (I've not figured out tables here yet, so bear with the presentation.)

             H/IP              K/BB            GB/FB       K/9
First 6    0.93              1.75               1.80         3.67
Last 2    1.70              0.57               1.75         3.60

He's giving up more hits and walks.  When your K rate is as low as that (and, again, thanks to Rockin' the Red for bringing that to my attention during the UCB project), you can't get out of those jams.  More and more wood is being put on the ball, which means more hits, which means he's more careful, which leads to more walks, which is just ugly.

BTW, where does he stand in the K/9 category, minimum 20 innings?  159th, just ahead of Matt Morris.  Heck, even Jamie Moyer is higher up on the list than he is.  You can pitch this way, but you've got to be very careful.

Ryan Ludwick gets the rare back-to-back Hero award for his two home run day.  If it wasn't for Ankiel's superhuman throwing abilities, he'd have a three-gamer going. In some regards, he was the offense in this series, at least the last three games.  9 for 13 with 6 extra base hits?  I don't care what hand the starter throws with tonight, he should be in the lineup.

Now the Cards have to regroup and see if they can't get back on the winning track against a fairly familiar opponent.  The Cards have already had five games against the Brewers, going to Milwaukee a couple weeks back (part of that last two-game losing streak mentioned above).  The Cards have won three of five, with the two losses wild extra-inning affairs, the first where they blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth and lost in the 10th, the second when they made a big comeback, played Pujols at second and lost in 12.  The Brewers have lost six in a row and ESPN's Accuscore has the Cards as a slight favorite tonight.

The Cardinals should be fairly familiar with tonight's starter.  Manny Parra has already pitched twice against the Redbirds, fashioning a 6.00 ERA and allowing 14 hits and 7 walks against them in nine innings, but has yet to factor into a decision.  On the whole, the Cardinals have done well against him, though Ludwick has the only home run.

St. Louis counters with Todd Wellemeyer, who actually has missed the Brewers so far this year.  Wellemeyer is basically a blank slate to the Brewers, as the person that has seen him most, Jason Kendall, has all of four plate appearances against him.

It's on the road, where the Cards aren't quite as dominant, but they should have a good chance of stopping the streak and getting back on track tonight.

From the Jaws of Victory

Just when you start thinking that Jason Isringhausen is back on the horse, it bucks him again.

Granted, some of last night can't be blamed on Izzy.  Kyle McClellan had a rough night in the nine pitches that he threw.  Albert Pujols possibly, maybe even probably should have caught the foul ball that would have had them out of the inning.  Randy Flores put the tying run on base.

But all that said, basically what the Cards asked from their closer was one out.  Get out of the eighth with the lead and things are much better.  You can start the ninth fresh and hopefully put up a nice Cardinal win.

He couldn't do that.  A weak single--one of the few balls this year that you say, "Rolen would have had that"--then a triple that scored the go-ahead run.  Tack on a walk after that and the Cards were lucky to go into the ninth just down one.

At least the Cardinals had a chance in the ninth.  Skip Schumaker got on and Miles almost worked a walk before flying out.  Don't know if it'd mattered, but it'd been nice to have two on and no outs.  Pujols stung the ball--that was two balls he smashed right at the left side of the infield on the night--but nothing doing.

Even with his game-ending strikeout, though, I think the Hero tag goes to Ryan Ludwick.  I loved what Adam Wainwright did, don't get me wrong.  It was a close one, but Ludwick pretty much was the offense last night, with his home run and two RBI. 

So instead of Wainwright getting a deserved win, instead of the Cards pushing their winning streak to four and their NL Central lead to 3.5, they have to regroup and try to win the series today.

Today's an afternoon affair, with a 2:05 start here in the middle of the country.  Kyle Lohse looks to put Saturday's atrocious outing behind him against Jorge de la Rosa, who can tell you all about a disastrous outing.

Lohse pitched well against the Rockies in the make-up season opener, throwing five scoreless innings and striking out three.  Again, Podsednik and Helton will be the key batters for him to watch. 

de la Rosa has faced a few of the Cardinals before.  He's been around as a reliever, facing most of the Cards when he was in either Milwaukee or Kansas City.  Still, there's not much of a book on him, so it'll be interesting to see what the Cards do with him.

It'll be a test to see if the Cards can bounce back.  So far this season, they've been able to do that.  Can they do it on the road after such a tough loss?  And if the game is close today, who gets the call for the save?

One Man Show

When I started naming a Hero every game, I never thought one of them could be a superhero.  But that's what Rick Ankiel looked like last night.

The home run was nice.  Even more so when Goat Ryan Franklin coughed up three runs (two charged to Looper) in the ninth, making the homer the winning margin.  But by itself, that wouldn't be enough.  Ryan Ludwick's 4-4 game or Looper's solid game into the ninth might have made the cut.

But those outfield assists elevated him into the rare air.  It was ironic (and indicated that they put their Top 10 together early) that the first throw wound up #3 on the top plays, because it was impressive but not nearly as much so as that second strike.  To be standing on the warning track and hit the third baseman on the fly, right where he can slap the tag on the runner, is mind-boggling.  A couple more like that and he'll have a nice golden glove to sit on his mantle at the end of the year.

It's plain to see that Rick has amazing talent.  Hopefully he'll continue to be able to hone it and be thought of as an outfielder rather than a former pitcher.

Very sad that Franklin got credit for a save last night, even though that's technically what he did.  Allowing back to back doubles that bring in three runs is not the way Cardinal fans want saves to be earned.  Franklin has a 2.12 ERA, but I'd like to see how many inherited runners he's allowed to score this year.  I've been very nervous when he's come into most ball games.

No matter, the Cardinals have already assured themselves of a series split and they get to throw their ace tonight in hopes of winning it.  Adam Wainwright pitched against the Rockies this year, but you won't find it in the record books as he threw in the season-opening rainout.  As I said first time around, the Rockies haven't seen Wainwright much.  If the rainout is any indication, though, he'll be fine.  He struggled early in that game, but part of that was excitement/nerves of Opening Day.

The Cardinals hope that Jeff Francis is as wild as he was in the rainout.  Historically he's been fairly tough on the Cards, though Troy Glaus has two homers against him and there are some small-sample-size good averages on the list.  This year's been kinda rough on Francis, especially at home where he has a 6.27 ERA.

If the Cardinals are able to solve the lefty for the second straight night, they'll be able to run their winning streak to four and keep that 2.5 game lead.  The good thing about this team is that they won't be satisfied with hitting 10 games over .500, they'll want to keep extending it.  A good chance they'll be able to do that tonight.

The Great One

With the great ones, you just know.  You just know when they are going to do something to win the game.

Albert Pujols, in case anyone reading was wondering, counts as one of the great ones.

I've noted before when it was just obvious he was going to hit a home run.  Last night was another one of those situations.  Seeing the lead that Pujols was getting off second and how long it was going to take the Rockies to field that grounder, I said to myself, "He's going to go home."

Now, granted, you can't be sure he's going to make it home.  We love Albert, but occasionally he gets crazy on the basepaths with his aggressiveness.  That said, he sometimes makes the wrong choice in his desire to win.  Not last night, though, as he seemed to totally shock the Rockies with his mad dash.  I mean, it's no Slaughter, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

There's our Hero.  The Goat tag has to settle on Chris Duncan, who had about the worst birthday you could imagine.  If the Cards hadn't played a night game on Sunday and then had to travel, I might suggest that he had his celebration already.  Two errors to give a lead back to the Rockies plus an 0-4, 2 K day is close to the definition of Goat.

Today's matchup is Braden Looper vs. Mark Redman.  Looper hasn't faced the Rockies much--another case where no one has 10 ABs against the Cardinal hurler--but he's shut them down when he has faced them.   He'll need to be very careful with Todd Helton, though, who has 2 home runs in 7 ABs against him, though the last of those was in 2003.

Redman has a few more data points in his report against Cardinal batters.  Troy Glaus might be looking forward to this, as he's put up a solid average in 21 AB.  And Albert Pujols has a homer and a .455 average in the 11 ABs he's had against Redman.

Cards push their lead to 2.5 games and, with a win tonight, can go 10 games over .500.  If last night proved anything, it's that this team will play a hard nine and never give up, not even on the road.  We'll see if there are more dramatics needed tonight.  If so, there's a good chance the great one will step up again.

Cards Win! Cards Win!

Let's take a quick look at the Heroes and Goats of the successful series against those Cubbies before moving on to the Rockies series that starts tonight.

Friday's game should have been a lot less stressful than it was.  I don't think anyone would argue that the latest Jason Isringhausen meltdown would give him Goat status again.  Allowing two runs in the ninth to a divisional rival, risking a game that was won, is not good at all.  And it raised worries that he's hurt again, which would be pretty bad for the Cardinals, though LaRussa would probably move Kyle McClellan into that role.  Honorable mentions: Troy Glaus (0-5, 2 K, 4 LOB) and Cesar Izturis (1-5, 1 K, 5 LOB).

When you win a game with a home run in the eleventh inning, you pretty much assure yourself of Hero status.  So, Skip Schumaker, congrats on being Friday's Hero!  Honorables: Yadier Molina (2-4, 2 RBI), Adam Wainwright (6.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 K).

Saturday's game was well-dissected by the United Cardinal Bloggers.  Kyle Lohse's rough inning plus the fact that Russ Springer couldn't stop the runners from scoring made for a tougher decision, but the starter gave up more and has to take a lot of the blame for that game.  Ugly results there.  On the Hero side, I'll go with Yadier Molina, with a 2-3, HR outing.

I got to watch a lot of last night's game, my first extended look at the Cardinals since Tuesday.  I will say I was a little surprised that LaRussa pulled Wellemeyer when he did, but with him reaching close to 100 pitches, I guess it wasn't much of a stretch at all.  McClellan looked good in his first inning, but the next thing I know the bases are loaded.  For the Cards to get out of that jam with only one run allowed was pretty impressive.  And it was great to see Izzy come back and be effective.

Our Hero, though, has to be Adam Kennedy.  Not only does go 2-2 with 2 walks and drive in the insurance run, but he's the headline of the Post-Dispatch, and who am I to argue with Joe Strauss?  Goat, I believe, would be Rick Ankiel, who went 0-3, left three on and at least twice popped up in the infield.  Rick's a streaky guy, but I hope he's not heading on the downside of his streaks now that the Cards are going on the road, a place where he's not hit much in his career.

So the Cards win the series against the Cubs, which gives you a nice warm glow even when first place isn't on the line, but is even better when it gives the Cardinals a 1.5 game lead in the NL Central.

Amidst all this, though, you have the news that Anthony Reyes has been sent down to Memphis.  Looks like Duncan and LaRussa have won this round.  Obviously, he was just being used as a mopup type pitcher, which gave him irregular work.  And this lack of work is blamed on him not being sharp.  Vicious cycle there.

I think Reyes can be a decent pitcher and I'd like to see him do it in St. Louis, but I think it's become obvious that if he's ever going to reach any potential, he's going to have to do it in a different organization.  As long as John Mozeliak isn't going to give him away--and rumor has it he hasn't been looking to so far--I think most in Cardinal Nation will accept a deal.

The Cardinals don't get a chance to savor the series win, though, because they head out on an eight-game road trip to Colorado and Milwaukee for the rare back-to-back four-game series.  I'm not sure the last time the Cards had that kind of road trip, but hopefully they'll play better than their 6-5 current road record.

Joel Pineiro is scheduled to go for the Cardinals, though his back has been bothering him and recently called-up Mike Parisi could go.  Assuming Pineiro is fine, though, the Rockies might be glad to see him.  He missed the season-opening series against this team, but in extremely limited action (only one person has more than 3 ABs against him), the Rockies hitters have been able to put the wood on the ball.  All of these appearances seem to have been in interleague play when Pineiro was with the Mariners and then the Red Sox and they have not seen him since his resurgence in the National League.

Ubaldo Jimenez goes for the Rockies.  He faced the Cardinals back in April, his only appearance against the team.  The Cardinals won that game 3-0 and Jimenez allowed three runs (and five walks, foreshadowing the coming trend) in five innings.  If he's that erratic tonight, the Cardinals might pull out another one.

UCB Game Blog: Post-Game

The pre-game post with all the links is below.  Thanks to all the bloggers that participated--it was a lot of fun to read through the different innings!

I didn't actually watch the game, being busy with various other duties (I could totally relate, to some degree, to the first inning being split between the game and family at Stan Musial's Stance!) but it sounds like a couple of blowups that, against lesser teams, the Cardinals might have been to escape from relatively unscathed snowballed against a potent Cubs offense.

I really was struck with what Bryan said in his sixth inning at Rockin' the Red about Lohse's low K rate.  I can definitely see that catching up with him as the competition level continues to rise.

Nice to see Yadi and Pujols go deep.  Glad that I swapped with Tom and didn't actually have to do the fourth inning as well!

All in all, I'd like to have seen a better game for us to blog, but it was fun nonetheless.  And now, time to start planning the next UCB event..........