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The Frustration Continues

Posted on August 16, 2010 at 8:11 AM

Remember when I said that Cardinal fans should caution against getting too high off of that Cincinnati series? Unfortunately, this 2010 team is becoming predictably frustrating. Let's look at the series.

Friday (6-3 win)

Hero: Albert Pujols. Three hits, including a home run, and scored three runs. AP pretty much did it all.

Goat: Brendan Ryan. Not the best of weekends for Ryan, as he apparently has started on the downward slope of his roller coaster season.

Notes: Save for that first inning, Jake Westbrook had a good game and is showing that he's shoring up the rotation. That's not a game that the Redbirds win if Jeff Suppan or Blake Hawksworth start, I don't think.

Saturday (3-2 loss)

Hero: Jon Jay. Two for three, including a run, in a game that didn't have a lot of offense.

Goat: Brendan Ryan. Both he and Colby Rasmus popped up bunts in the late innings, but the difference was Rasmus shouldn't have been bunting. If that was his call, I'd give him the Goat tag. I don't think that it was.

Notes: A tough loss, especially with Cincinnati winning. Obviously you can't win all of them, but when the tying run is on second with nobody out, it feels like a game that should have gone to St. Louis the way they'd been playing.

Sunday (9-7 loss)

Hero: Felipe Lopez. A two-run pinch-hit single in the wild ninth.

Goat: Kyle Lohse. More discussion in a bit, but not getting through the fourth is not the way you wanted to see him come back.

Notes: Great for Stephen Hill to smash a home run in his first game. It was also good to see the team not give up, especially after the big bats were taken out of the game.

Lohse's start was promising, at least in the beginning. He gave up the long balls to Derrick Lee, but the Cardinals hardly figured him out all weekend. Lee came in hot and if Lohse had been able to limit it to just those mistakes, we'd be a much happier fan base this morning.

Even the beginning of the fourth wasn't too bad, as the first two hits weren't liners, but just out of reach of the infielders. After that is when it got ugly, with balls getting hit hard and even Ryan Dempster getting in on the action.

What does this mean, long-term? Well, if Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia and Westbrook can continue pitching well, not a whole lot. Lohse is the fifth starter and you have to figure he'll be better than what the Cards had been running out there in that slot. If not, rosters expand in three weeks. With the off days this week, Lohse might only have two, maybe three starts before that time, when more experimentation can be done.

I do think Lohse will be better than he showed yesterday. Hopes for him getting closer to 2008, though, might be too much to ask for.

Also interesting to see Allen Craig get some time at third base yesterday. He made an error in his only chance, but it doesn't sound like it was his fault. The Craig at third campaign had a lot of supporters across the internet and it makes a lot of sense with the personnel the team has at the moment. With Lopez struggling, getting Craig some at-bats isn't as hard to do when you can put him there. Of course, Craig still needs to do something with those opportunities, as he's been pretty quiet since his outburst during the eight game winning streak.

The article also mentions that the Cardinals are looking at Brandon Inge. If they can get Inge (assuming he clears waivers) for a AA prospect or something, I'm all for it. Inge isn't anything special, but he does have some pop and can play 3B pretty well. With David Freese out for the year, it'd be a good move, especially since it frees up Lopez to go back to that utility/supersub role that seemed to sit well with him earlier in the year.

Something that Tony La Russa was saying this weekend, both in relation to Craig and to Stephen Hill, kinda stuck with me and not in the best way. TLR kept referring to their situations as "not being fair." It's not fair to try out Craig at third, even though he has more experience there than some of the other moves La Russa has made in the past. It's not fair for Hill to get a start in the big leagues, even if it means Yadier Molina's legs fall off.

Last I checked, life ain't fair. Like I said, Craig's played some third. It's not like you are taking an outfielder and sticking him there with no preparation. It's not like he has to completely learn on the fly on the big stage. He's got experience there and he's got to be hungry for more at-bats.

The same for Hill. Is his development going to be irreparably ruined by giving Molina a day off? If so, why haven't you gone ahead, now that there's not the time crunch there was earlier in the week, and swapped him out for Matt Pagnozzi or Bryan Anderson? I'm not saying Hill is going to be an instant jolt or even do anything positive, but there's no reason to run Molina down to the bone when you do have someone that can legitimately catch.

There are two days off this week, so I'm guessing Hill will stay around, sit on the bench, maybe get to pinch hit once or twice. I'm not pushing for a start due to those rest days, but without them, I think the club would have to do something and Hill is as good as any other option.

Today is the signing deadline for the players drafted in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft. It looks like the Cards will lock up their second pick, Jordan Swagerty. The big fish, Zack Cox and Austin Wilson, are still out there, though. Per Jim Callis's Twitter feed, it looks like Wilson will get away, though Cox will likely sign. Better than nothing, though I was really hoping they'd pull off the upset and get Wilson permanently into Cardinal red.

Going to be a long week with two days of no baseball, plus an afternoon game on Wednesday. You can spend your time perusing the Cardinal blogosphere, of course, and get much more insight than you can reading me, or you can check out Baseball Digest and read my weekly column over there. We'll talk about the Brewers tomorrow!

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A Cautionary Note

Posted on August 13, 2010 at 9:37 AM

I've been thinking about this topic for a bit, but before I could write about it Brian Burwell, for once, beat me to it. There's been a lot of optimism out of the sweep of Cincinnati, as well there should be. However, I'm not sure we can say this team has turned the corner and the division is ours just yet.

This team has fooled us in the past, showing fire and life, just to then slide back down the division. An eight game winning streak followed by losing four out of five. A stretch where the offense puts up 6+ runs followed by a run-scoring drought. How can we be sure this week is any different?

Sure, every part of the team seemed to be working during their trip in Cincinnati. Were they more focused because of where they are in the season, something that might linger? Or were they focused on beating Brandon Phillips? Rage passes and if that was their fuel, they'll be running on empty soon.

The Cardinals were also able to throw both of their aces and their Rookie of the Year candidate at the Reds. Can the team continue to click with Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse on the hill? The starting pitcher can set the tone for the game, so if Lohse comes in and gets behind hitters, what is that going to do for the team as a whole?

It really did look like the Cardinal team that we've been expecting in Cincinnati, but being that I've proclaimed corners turned before, I want to see how they do in this homestand against the Cubs, the Brewers and the Giants before I get really excited.

Cards face a young pitcher they've never faced before when the Cubs send Thomas Diamond to the mound tonight. Diamond, who was part of the vaunted DVD trio of himself, Edison Volquez and John Danks a few years ago in the Texas Rangers system, hasn't had the success of his counterparts. He's only had two starts in the bigs, and while he struck out 10 Brewers in his debut, Cincinnati roughed him up the last time he was out there. Anything the Reds can do the Cards can do better, right?

Jake Westbrook again tries for his first Cardinal win. He's pitched very well in both of his starts, with more strikeouts than usual for him. Whether Dave Duncan has tweaked his delivery (which would be the first time Duncan's had a pitcher strike out more) or there is some unfamiliarity with him from National League hitters. Either way, it's not likely to last, but it is nice while it does. I'm sure he'll enjoy being part of his first Cards/Cubs game, as well.

We'll see starting tonight if that team that appeared in Cincinnati got on the plane for St. Louis. If that's the case, the next seven weeks could be a lot of fun.

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A Weekend In Chicago

Posted on July 26, 2010 at 2:15 PM

You know, one loss doesn't necessarily take the excitement out of a winning streak. Three straight losses, including two to the Cubs? That'll do it. Quick look at the three games:

Friday (5-0 loss)

Hero: Jon Jay. One for two with two walks. In a game where the Cards don't score, it wasn't his fault.

Goat: Jeff Suppan. It wasn't all his fault. Soriano should have never come up with a runner on in the fifth; Skip Schumaker should have been able to turn that double play. The wind-blown popup that fell between Suppan and Jason LaRue should have been caught. That said, he did give up three home runs, including a leadoff shot. Not exactly the best way to kick off a game.

Notes: The defense was very sloppy in this one, as I said. When the Post-Dispatch hints that perhaps the team didn't play very hard, it's not a good game. Good to see PJ Walters, albeit briefly, come in and have a quality game. Of course, that didn't do him much good since he was sent to Memphis right afterwards.

Saturday (6-5 loss)

Hero: It should go to Tyler Greene. Two hits, two RBI, scored a run....but that double play with two on and one out in the eighth is tough to swallow. So, because of that and because I've been so rough on him, I'll give it to Brendan Ryan. Two hits, plus reached on a fielder's choice due to an error. I think those trade rumors got to Ryan, because he played much better this weekend than he's been playing.

Goat: Blake Hawksworth. Six runs (five earned) in just over four innings isn't going to win a lot of ballgames. True, two of those runs scored when Mitchell Boggs wild-pitched them home, which turned out to be the deciding factor in the game, but they shouldn't have been on in the first place.

Notes: It was good to at least see some fight in the team, never giving up and continuing to work its way back. That doesn't always happens, as was shown Friday. Another two hit day for Jay with a double, which is now my non-creative nickname for him, Double Jay.

Sunday (4-3 win in 11)

Hero: Felipe Lopez. If nothing else, that might be the coolest bat flip ever. That said, kudos to Skip Schumaker for his four for four night. Be nice to see his bat going as well.

Goat: Yadier Molina. That double play in the 10th could have been a killer. Then again, it'd have been nice if Matt Holliday could have score on Schumaker's hit as well.

Notes: Another important home run for Albert Pujols. This isn't going to be any sort of career year for him--I'm almost convinced he'll ruin his streak by hitting .298 or something--but he'll still be 30/100/100 runs and that's pretty good for a bad year.

The Cardinals do at least salvage the end of that series and, with the Mets, Pirates and Astros coming up, they have a chance to put some distance between them and Cincinnati before they go Great American Ballpark two weeks from tonight.

When they go to GAB, though, they'll likely do it without The Man From Houston. John Mozeliak downplayed a lot the chances of getting Roy Oswalt, and everything that I read across the internets seems to point in the same direction. While if it was up to the player he'd have been in St. Louis yesterday--word is he was talking to an unnamed Cardinal player before Oswalt's start on Saturday--he doesn't necessarily have the last word. Houston's demands are on the extravagant side and, as I noted months ago, dealing within the division means they are asking for even more.

Jayson Stark this morning indicated that Drayton McLane has to be able to brag that he won the deal, which means that the Cardinals are in trouble. If it was more about salary relief, I think that the two clubs could match up. Jon Jay and others not named Shelby Miller could work if the Cardinals are taking on a large chunk of the payroll. If that's not the motivation, though, I don't see it happening. It sounds to me that Philadelphia is working to get him but I'm not sure that Oswalt will approve the deal. I expect we'll see him in a Houston jersey when they come to town next week.

As for other options, I don't know what they'd be. The team will be closely watching Kyle Lohse's rehab start tonight in Memphis. If Lohse looks strong, chances are the pressure is off somewhat for a quick move. If something happens to him or he gets beat around the yard, Mozeliak may be working the phones a little harder. I'm not sure what he'd come up with, as there's not been really any linking between the Cardinals and anyone but Oswalt, but you have to figure he has a few irons in the fire, even if none of them are red hot yet.

There was other Cardinal-related news this weekend as Whitey Herzog made it into the Hall of Fame and his #24 will be retired by the Cardinals on Saturday. As a fan that grew up under Whitey's tenure with the club, I say it's an honor well deserved. No one else defined a decade like he did with his strategy and tactics. Congrats to the White Rat! Here in a few years, he'll be joined by the current Cardinal manager and there will be a long discussion about who the best manager was.

No game tonight, unless you are monitoring Memphis. Albert's on David Letterman tonight, so be sure to catch that. Derrick Goold has been posting pictures on Twitter of the outside of the studio where Albert is going to do a little hitting. Don't know if he gets the interview inside first or that's all he'll be doing, but he can ask his hitting coach for some tips.

If you didn't catch it, the schedule for some guest bloggers during my vacation is below. Check it out and please support them over the next week!

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Streak Stopped, Talk Just Starting

Posted on July 23, 2010 at 9:42 AM

You know that, when Cole Hamels is pitching against your team, you are going to likely have a long night (or, in this case, afternoon). However, I'm not sure you expect it to be that long.

However, this loss was different than most of the other losses this season--the Cards just got beat. They have a whole lot of situations where they threatened. When you only get one hit, you are pretty lucky to get into the 11th with a chance to win. I believe I saw where it was the first road one-hit, 11 inning game since 1900. That's dicing it up pretty slim, but you get the idea--when it's historic, there's not a lot you can say about it.

Being that there wasn't just a whole lot of offense, you probably give the Hero tag to Adam Wainwright again. Six scoreless and, while he wasn't as sharp as he's been in the past, he still made the pitches he needed to make to get out of jams. It was pretty obvious early that one run would be enough to win this thing, and Wainwright made sure not to give up that run.

I thought it'd be interesting to compare the Wagonmaker's numbers to those of the other pitchers most likely to be mentioned in the Cy Young voting. I've never quite figured out tables on here, but here are the numbers.

Wainwright: 14-5, 1.94 ERA in 148.1 innings, 136 K, 1.00 WHIP

Josh Johnson: 10-3, 1.61 ERA in 134.1 innings, 141 K, 0.97 WHIP

Ubaldo Jimenez: 15-1, 2.38 ERA in 132.1 innings, 118 K, 1.07 WHIP

Roy Halladay: 10-8, 2.40 ERA in 154 innings, 131 K, 1.06 WHIP

Tim Lincecum: 10-4, 3.18 ERA in 130.1 innings, 138 K, 1.27 WHIP

Looking at that, the first thing that stands out is that Lincecum's Cy streak is probably over, because it's going to be very tough for him to pass up all those guys in the second half of the season. The second thing is that, to me, it's a two-man race for the most part. Jimenez does have the gaudy record, but he's slumped lately and that's the only thing he has on Wainwright or Johnson, and Waino's almost right there in wins anyway.

On the downside yesterday, I wanted to go with Aaron Miles, whose defensive maneuvering added pitches to Wainwright's total, but I don't think you can avoid Kyle McClellan. When you give up the game-winner, you are often going to be the Goat. Matthew Leach had some amazing stats up on Twitter yesterday, showing that McClellan has very good numbers in games where he comes in ahead or behind, even one-run affairs, but he's given up as many home runs in tie games as any other type of game in about a third of the at-bats. Don't know what it is, but maybe Tony La Russa should keep him on the bench in those situations for a bit.

The buzz continues to swirl, though, about Roy Oswalt. He still wants to play for St. Louis, St. Louis still wants him. But matching up Houston's demands against St. Louis's resources may be a difficult task. There's a lot of thought that the option is not going to be exercised, that Oswalt wants out of Houston and will drop that if it makes a deal happen.

Since St. Louis reportedly offered two young players from their current major league roster, it's fun to speculate who they were. You figure one of the was either Jon Jay or Allen Craig, that's a given. The Cardinals need to free up some room in the outfield and that's the logical way of doing it. The second is a little more up in the air. You'd think it'd probably be someone like Blake Hawksworth, perhaps McClellan (though I'd be very surprised if so), but what if they offered Brendan Ryan in that trade? It'd probably more likely be Tyler Greene, but if Houston had thoughts that Ryan's offense would come back around, that'd have to be at least an intriguing notion.

To throw another log on the fire, apparently the Diamondbacks are now committed to moving Dan Haren before the deadline, and the Cardinals at least have their hand in on those discussions. Again, I don't know how it works into the payroll and I don't see how the Cards have the prospects to get him, but it'll lead to some interesting talk. Many people seem to prefer Haren to Oswalt, and while I like both, Arizona is going to have to come off their demands for him if they plan to move him.

Cards and Cubs match up this afternoon. Cardinals send out Jeff Suppan, Cubs Randy Wells. As you remember, last time the Cards faced Wells in Wrigley on a Friday afternoon, he didn't get a single out. You have to figure he'll be better this time, but the offense really is going to have to be active today if they are going to start a new winning streak with Suppan on the mound.

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Cardinal Blogger Shuts Up, Cardinal Offense Heats Up

Posted on June 2, 2010 at 11:00 AM

I sincerely hope there's not a correlation, but since I last regularly blogged last week, the Cards have scored seven runs in all but two games, the first one I missed and the one of the UCB Progressive Game Blog, which I participated in. If the Cardinals don't score runs tonight, I might have to take a month off.

You can read a description of some of these games in my weekly Baseball Digest column, so let's summarize before talking about Kyle Lohse's surgery and its implications, the return of Aaron Miles (say what?) and the Memphis shuttle.

Wednesday (Padres 2, Cardinals 1 in 10)

Hero: Skip Schumaker. Two hits, including a two-out double in the ninth that kept the game alive, and scored the only run.

Goat: Matt Holliday. 0-6 with two strikeouts.

Notes: At least they rallied. They could have easily given up in the ninth and taken another 1-0 loss, but this team never does lay down and almost always makes the ninth interesting.

Thursday (Cardinals 8, Padres 3)

Hero: Brendan Ryan. Great to see him have a big day with four hits, including a home run. That seemed to key the offense.

Goat: Blake Hawksworth. On a day when almost everything went right, when you give up three runs in a inning plus, you get the tag even when it didn't make much difference in the game.

Notes: Not sure exactly what magic they found here, but glad that this wasn't a one-time thing. Albert Pujols went yard and almost did twice, so he seems to be finding his stroke.

Friday (Cardinals 7, Cubs 1)

Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Two extra base hits, including a home run that made it serious.

Goat: Skip Schumaker. Both he and Brendan Ryan were 0-4, so you really could flip a coin here.

Notes: As I noted in my Baseball Digest column, this was the epitome of the Cardinals' feast or famine outlook. They score five runs before they get a single out (forcing a change in pitchers), then don't score again until the ninth.

Saturday (Cubs 5, Cardinals 0)

Hero: Matt Holliday. The only person that kept Carlos Silva from threatening to no-hit the club.

Goat: Colby Rasmus. 0-3 with three strikeouts and an error. Pretty much a day you'd like to forget.

Notes: Not a terrible job by Adam Ottavino in his major league debut, though six walks is well on the high side. We'll see if he's got better command in Milwaukee this weekend after some of the first start jitters are gone.

Sunday (Cardinals 9, Cubs 1)

Hero: Albert Pujols. The man is back. His second three home run game in Wrigley.

Goat: Yadier Molina. 0-5 on a day when most everyone was getting on base one way or another.

Notes: Adam Wainwright continues to be a stud. I don't think there's any doubt he's the ace of the club now. Great to get a series win in Chicago as well!

Monday (Cardinals 12, Reds 4)

Hero: Jaime Garcia. Not only did he pitch effectively, coming back after the rain delay and settling in, but he also was 2-2 with a key walk at the plate.

Goat: Man, talk about a game without a Goat. All the starters got hits and almost all of them got RBI as well. The relief pitchers were very effective. I guess we give Yadier Molina another one because he "only" got a hit and a walk in five plate appearances. But I don't feel good about it.

Notes: Just a great way to spend a holiday. It was a little surprising that Garcia came back after the rain delay, but it didn't seem to bother him too much after that first inning back. Loved seeing the offense just click for a day.

Tuesday (Reds 9, Cardinals 8)

Hero: Colby Rasmus. Hated seeing the strikeout in the eighth, but he'd done enough by then to get the tag, with three hits including an early game-tying home run in the first.

Goat: I was going to go with PJ Walters when he allowed a two-out, two-run single after looking to escape a bases-loaded jam unscathed. However, Dennys Reyes went and topped that. After the Cards get a lead, he immediately comes in and allows two runs (well, Hawksworth allowed a sac fly and the run was scored to Reyes, but the point holds). The worst part of this is that he couldn't get out Joey Votto and Jay Bruce in that span, both of whom are the type of lefties he is supposed to shut down.

Notes: If this offense is going to stick around, you'll never be able to quite count them out. Even as the game got later, I kept expecting them to put that tying and go-ahead run across and, while they weren't able to, they kept getting chances and sooner or later, chances pay off.

It was interesting to read the PD story today about Tony LaRussa letting Jon Jay try to win the game. Jay has started to really come around and it's interesting that he is still here after Allan Craig and Joe Mather have been sent down. When you read through LaRussa's reasoning, it completely makes sense that you don't bunt Jay there. Besides, sac bunts are overrated, right? You wouldn't expect Jay to necessarily be doubled up, though that's what happened.

I had to do a double take when I saw Aaron Miles in the dugout last night. I really thought that the signing of Miles would be one of those depth issues, that if two or three or ten people got hurt, Miles would be available. Yet yesterday saw him called up in exchange for Allen Craig.

Can't say I'm thrilled with that, since I was one that figured we'd gotten all we could out of Miles and had no problem with him signing with Chicago. Since then he's hit .185 and been traded/released by three teams. I guess he's an OK bench guy, but if he starts more than once a week, the team's in trouble.

The first time I wrote this post, this section had a nice discussion of the Lohse injury and the pitching possibilities on the market. Since that didn't get kept, it'll be another post soon. I know you are devastated, but I hope you can hold out.

Cards and Reds tonight for first. Sam LeCure goes for the Reds, and he's one that the Cards haven't seen before. Then again, he's only got one big league start so nobody's seen him before. He didn't get rocked his first time out (which may give the Cards an edge, since they always get dominated by pitchers they don't know but the rest of the league kills) so we'll have to see how that pans out.

If it is a pitcher's duel, the Cards at least have an adequate weapon. Chris Carpenter usually does pretty well against Cincinnati:

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	IBB	HBP	GDP
Ramon Hernandez	28	27	4	1	0	0	2	1	5	.148	.179	.185	.364	0	0	0	1
Brandon Phillips	26	24	4	2	0	0	5	1	4	.167	.200	.250	.450	1	0	0	2
Orlando Cabrera	21	21	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.143	.143	.143	.286	0	0	0	1
Scott Rolen	19	16	4	1	0	1	2	1	4	.250	.368	.500	.868	0	1	2	1
Miguel Cairo	17	15	4	1	1	0	2	1	4	.267	.353	.467	.820	0	0	1	0
Aaron Harang	16	16	1	0	0	0	1	0	5	.063	.063	.063	.125	0	0	0	0
Joey Votto	14	13	6	0	0	1	1	1	4	.462	.500	.692	1.192	0	0	0	0
Jay Bruce	13	13	2	0	1	0	1	0	3	.154	.154	.308	.462	0	0	0	0
Laynce Nix	12	11	2	0	0	1	1	1	2	.182	.250	.455	.705	0	0	0	0
Drew Stubbs	6	6	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.500	.833	0	0	0	0
Jonny Gomes	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0
Corky Miller	4	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	0	0	0
Bronson Arroyo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0					1	0	0	0
Micah Owings	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	2.000	3.000	0	0	0	0
Total	183	171	33	7	2	3	15	6	39	.193	.233	.310	.543	3	1	3	5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/2/2010.

Not much luck for these guys against Carp. Plus he's faced the Reds twice this year and has a 1.39 ERA to show for it. Could be third time's a charm, especially since the Reds are hitting well, but I don't know that I'd gamble on that.

Couple of notes:

--I'll be on the Baseball Digest LIVE show around 11:30 Central time in my role as head of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. I'll be talking about the BBA and probably the Cardinals as well.

--Speaking of the BBA, one of the great bloggers from that organization is taking a baseball trip around the majors, seeing every stadium. He recently was at Busch and you should read what he had to say. If you've not read his other entries, they are well worth your time.

--Tonight is also the weekly UCB Radio Hour. Tonight I'm flying solo, though scheduled to appear with me is Shawn from Chttp://fanhuddle.com/cincinnatireds/incinnati Reds Blog to talk about the NL Central race. I'll need some callers tonight, so join me from 9:30 to 10:30 Central at 646-929-1758!

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Cincinnati Reds | San Diego Padres | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

UCB Progressive Game Blog: Ninth Inning

Posted on May 29, 2010 at 10:59 PM

When you look at the calendar and pick out a game to do for this type of project, you never know what kind of game you are going to get. A triumphant blowout for the good guys? A nailbiter into the ninth? None of the above?

At least the good part about bringing up the rear in a game like this is that there's not much to discuss. Justin will be discussing/has discussed the eighth inning and the rest of the UCB has taken their cracks at their portions of the game. So it's time to take a look at the ninth of today's loss to the Cubs.

One of the good things about this team is that, so often, they've made a game of things in the ninth. No matter how dismal and dreary the offense has been during the game, they so often seem to be able to get the tying or winning run to the plate in the end, even if they don't get them in. No game is ever quite a foregone conclusion.

Every game, of course, save the game I have the ninth to write about. Today, the Cardinals went down like they had a plane to catch, even though it was just the middle of the series.

The Cubs replace their multi-million dollar setup man, Carlos Zambrano, with Jeff Stevens, a rookie making his third appearance this year. As we know, the Cardinals often struggle against pitchers they've never seen before, and this game was no different.

Even though the team trailed 5-0, they were set up in the lineup to at least make some noise. The same players that jumped on Randy Wells for five runs in the first yesterday were up again in the ninth, starting with the new leadoff hitter, Felipe Lopez.

Lopez, however, is unable to get anything going, striking out looking. Next up is Ryan Ludwick, who keeps the futility working by grounding to third. With no one on and a five run lead, you'd think that Stevens would feel comfortable challenging Albert Pujols, but perhaps mindful of keeping the shutout intact, Pujols draws the walk.

It was noted earlier in the week that Matt Holliday has only driven in Pujols twice this year. While that may be a bit outdated, the premise holds. People are tending to get on for Pujols, but when people do put AP on, Holliday is not making them pay, at least not as of yet. Today fits in with that, as he flies out to right to end the game.

After scoring five runs before one out was made in this series, the Cardinals are just a Ludwick home run shy of going 18 actual innings without a run. The offense that we thought was coming around after the getaway game in San Diego and the beginning of the series opener in Wrigley may still be as elusive as it has been most of the month.

Travis at Fredbird Follys has the wrapup of today's game and reminds us of one important, elemental truth: at least we still aren't the Cubs.

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United Cardinal Bloggers Announce Third Annual Progressive Game Blog

Posted on May 28, 2010 at 8:45 AM

The United Cardinal Bloggers would like to announce their third annual progressive game blog, set to cover Saturday's game against the Chicago Cubs.

Each blogger will be responsible for one inning of this Saturday's matchup. The blogger will not only describe the action, but use that as a jumping off point for other related tangents. Each blogger will link to the one before and after to form a circular chain that will encompass nine innings of baseball.

This progressive dinner version of game blogging will span numerous platforms, writing styles and locations and can be seen as an anthology of Cardinal blogging thought. A pre-game post will set the stage and then the action moves through the other blogs, wrapping up back at the beginning for a post-game thought. (Note that these will not be live postings, but should be up Saturday evening or early Sunday.)

See the game through various perspectives. Get a taste of Cardinal Nation!

The United Cardinal Bloggers would also like to encourage other bloggers or media members to highlight this project when they can.

The order of the participating blogs is as follows:

Pre-Game: United Cardinal Bloggers

First: Baseball Digest

Second: Fungoes

Third: Stan Musial's Stance

Fourth: Pitchers Hit Eighth

Fifth: The Cardinal Virtue

Sixth: Redbird Rants

Seventh: Cardinal Diamond Diaries

Eighth: Intangiball

Ninth: C70 At The Bat

Extras/Wrap-up: Fredbird Follys

In 2008, the inaugural progressive game blog, the first of its kind as far as the UCB can determine, covered the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs facing off. The pregame post of that one can be found here, along with links to all participating blogs. Last year, a game between St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals were covered. The 2010 game will be the first that will not feature Kyle Lohse pitching, as he was shelled by the Cubs two years back and pitched a solid game last year, though was hit in the forearm with a pitch, the repercussions of which are still felt today.

The United Cardinal Bloggers is an collaboration between roughly 35 blogs that focus on the Cardinals. Members participate in coordinated projects throughout the year. The UCB also hosts a weekly internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio talking about the Cards.

All questions about this project can be directed to Daniel Shoptaw at cardinal70@gmail.com or can be found at www.unitedcardinalbloggers.com.

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers Leave a Comment

Playing Pepper 2010: Chicago Cubs

Posted on February 24, 2010 at 4:37 PM

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball. I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by. That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist. Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set. Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order, but things may change depending on responses.

Chicago Cubs
2009 Finish: 83-78, second in the NL Central

Ah, the Cubs. As Cardinal fans, we not-so-secretly revel in their lack of success and count the days before the inevitable fall (or earlier) implosion. The rivalry between the two teams enlivens the season, especially when the Cardinals are on the up side.

However, the Cubs were more dangerous in the decade past than most any other and they look to stop that epic streak this year. Brian from Bullpen Brian put partisanship aside and took on the Playing Pepper Ten. (He also published my answers from a Cardinal point of view, if you want to take a look at them.)
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Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Playing Pepper Leave a Comment

Razor Thin Margins

Posted on September 21, 2009 at 9:48 AM

If Ryan Ludwick hits a fly ball, the Cards would have won three straight games against the Cubs in the ninth inning. What a weekend series, huh? Let's recap:

Friday (3-2 win)
Hero: Matt Holliday. Walk-offs in your first game in the Cards/Cubs rivalry will do that.
Goat: Albert Pujols. Don't expect the only guy that's hitless to be him, but there you have it.
Notes: John Smoltz had his second straight rough beginning to a game, then settled in. However, when this offense isn't clicking, you really run a risk by putting them in a hole. They can come back, but there's no guarantee that they will. Plus, does that bode ill for Smoltz coming out of the pen in the playoffs, if he does?....Nice to see a sharp Kyle McClellan. Having him on track could be a huge thing, especially if Ryan Franklin continues to stumble.

Saturday (2-1 win)
Hero: Brendan Ryan. Even if he got an assist on his home run, he still drove in the only two runs of the game with three hits.
Goat: Ryan Franklin. Before his first pitch, I was really thinking Tony LaRussa needed to leave in Chris Carpenter. Carp threw 101 pitches and wasn't showing signs of tiring. I'd have rather had him start the inning, at least, before moving to Franklin. And for his blown save and ruination of Carp's great day, he gets the win. Baseball's not always just. LaRussa's not worried about him yet, but I'm not nearly as confident in him as I was just a month ago.
Notes: Carpenter was dealing. Getting that win might have bumped him to the front of the Cy Young race, though there's no doubt the outing as a whole helped a lot....when your #2 and #3 hitters don't get a hit, you know it's going to be a low-scoring game. Ryan Dempster was on almost as much as Carpenter was, which made for a memorable game.

Sunday (6-3 loss in 11)
Hero: Adam Wainwright. If he'd gotten a better turn on the double play, he might have left the game with it tied. Just looking at some of the games he has lost this season, with some decent run support in those games, he'd already have 20 locked up. Another special outing that shows why you can't necessarily name the "ace" of the Cardinal staff.
Goat: Mitchell Boggs. I hate to give it to him because the game never should have gotten there, but not only does he give up the winning home run, but puts more runners on after that.
Notes: If anyone really should get the Goat, it's Tony LaRussa. Bunting Mark DeRosa in the ninth inning just didn't make sense on any level. If he's successful, then they walk Pujols. Even if he hits into a DP, that means Pujols bats. Take your chances, see if you can't put another runner on or even put runners on the corners with nobody out. (They'd have still walked AP, but at least then even a DP--unless it goes home--would score the winning run.) When you have such a weapon as Pujols, you want to make sure he hits in a situation like that. Don't give the other team a reason to take the bat out of his hands.

You can argue about that play in the ninth all day, though. I don't know how much of a comparison you can make to the one in the sixth when the Cubs forced Brendan Ryan to throw the ball away trying to turn two. (He should have eaten it and not done a double pump.) I don't know if the Cub runner was as far out as Holliday was in the ninth or not. After watching Ludwick scramble to the base after Derek Lee missed the tag, though, it was pretty heart-rending to have that kind of call decide the game. But if it's the rules, it's the rules, and you can't argue, in my mind, terribly much about it. It was preordained, anyway, since the ESPN guys had just finished talking about how Ludwick had the highest fly ball to ground ball ratio in the bigs. After that, how could he NOT hit a grounder?

Coming out of the weekend, though, the Cards are still within 4 games of clinching the division. While it was nice to think, briefly, that it was at 2, winning two out of three against Chicago is a good thing, especially with the solid pitching they faced this weekend. It's not the ideal result, surely, and it'd been nice to see them score a bit more often, but you can take it and like it.

After working on my Top 7 prospects for Friday and getting them published, the news comes out that Wagner Mateo has some sort of vision problem and it could be to the point that he'll never play for anyone. You can read the Future Redbirds discussion on this over here, but you have to feel pretty bad for Mateo if it is true and it is a degenerative condition. Having vision problems at 16? And having a dream (and a possible fortune) taken away at the same time? That'd be pretty bad for anyone, especially someone in this situation.

Cardinals head down to Houston tonight, with the chance to clinch while they are down there. (The Cubs get to go to their home away from home in Milwaukee, but the Brew Crew did just beat them twice last week.) Kyle Lohse continues to try to show that he can do something for this team. Lohse has had a season to forget, especially on the injury front, but he still has time to look sharp and take that fourth starter role. He's had reasonable success in the past against the Houston hitters, but if he's not on the top of his game this one could be out of control fast.

Not only because of Lohse, of course, but because the Cardinals get the rare good fortune of facing Wandy Rodriguez. On the list of Cardinal killers, Rodriguez is right up there. After Pujols belted a home run of Jeff Suppan the last time the Cards were in Milwaukee, Rodriguez moved to the active leader in most ABs against AP without El Hombre going yard. Heck, it was just his last game against Wandy that Pujols finally got an extra-base hit off of the guy. If Lohse doesn't have it early, this could be a long night.

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (2)

Been A Long Time

Posted on July 20, 2009 at 9:59 AM

For all of those patiently waiting for a new entry, wait no longer. I have returned! For all of those that didn't actually realize I was gone, ignore that intro. Lots has happened since the last entry, so I'll try to hit the highlights. This could be a long one, so settle in.

First off, I want to talk a little about FanFest. I'm sad to report that, save for going in the media entrance and getting the media packet, I didn't do much with my media credentials. If I had been there for two days or hadn't already planned to be there with my family, I think I probably would have done things differently, but as it was I spent the time going around with my wife and kids seeing all there was to see.

Hopefully many of you in the reading audience got to go to the extravaganza. If not, you missed out on a really neat and interesting experience. I enjoyed looking at the recreations of all the Cardinal Hall of Famers plaques and seeing the huge timeline of Cardinal history. Being able to see a World Series trophy, MVP plaques, and other awards was incredible as well.

There were so many things to see and do. My son enjoyed the little kids area upstairs, getting to hit off a tee and drive little cars. He wouldn't wait in line for many things, but he and I did the third-to-home dash, which was a blast. (Save the fact I forgot my shorts were a little loose, so I was hitching them up halfway through the dash!)

All in all, FanFest was a great experience. Though, amazingly, not the highlight of that day....

Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks | Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (3)

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