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Recently in Cincinnati Reds CategoryGaining On The Off DayPosted on July 27, 2010 at 8:56 AM
The Cardinals hit the Big Apple yesterday. They saw the sites (Ryan Franklin went to the Statue of Liberty with his family, according to the official Cardinal Twitter feed), made some appearances (more on Albert Pujols in a bit) and picked up a half-game on the Reds when Milwaukee beat them 3-2. In other words, just a fine day over all.Stayed up and watched Pujols on David Letterman last night. It was interesting to see him out of his normal environment, as it were. He seemed to be trying to hide his nervousness, but overall came off well, talking about some of the Mets players and his son playing baseball and wearing him out before games. Then he went out and hit some dingers. Well, maybe not dingers, but he did show his batting eye, not swinging at a lot of Denis Leary's junk. He got plunked once and made like he was charging the mound, which was great. (BTW, while Dave is batting, you can see intrepid St. Louis reporter Derrick Goold taking pictures. He's in the grey shirt and shorts.) The odds of Roy Oswalt continue to dim, as now he has come out and said that location isn't a big deal, meaning Philadelphia is, at least publicly, still in the mix. He also has stated that the option for 2012 needs to be picked up, though some of the money can be deferred. That could be another draw back for the club. Bernie Miklasz thinks it was a good thing that John Mozeliak stated that the Cardinals probably couldn't get him and that he didn't think there'd be a deal. The thought is that Houston may come down on their demands if people start backing off. That's a possibility, because having an unhappy Oswalt in the Houston clubhouse after the deadline may be a problem, not only for this year but for the years to come. Houston could still deal him in the offseason, but you'd figure they'd get more for him right now. From what I hear on Twitter, there's not any plans to move him before his start Friday in Houston. I think about the only way St. Louis will get him is if 1) Houston decides he has to be dealt at all costs and 2) Philadelphia falls out of the race this week or decides to go in a different direction. I don't know if either of those will come to play. For the record, Matthew Leach doesn't expect the club to get him either. Which may mean that the reinforcements may have to come from within. The first step on that path was taken last night, as Kyle Lohse made his first rehab start for Memphis. The results were pretty strong (3 IP, 3K, 0 BB, 2 R, only one earned) and Lohse reported none of the swelling/pain issues that he'd been having prior to surgery. It very rarely pays to be optimistic about a return to health of a Cardinal, especially a pitcher--just look at Brad Penny--but I feel that if Lohse is recovered, he can get to something approaching 2008 levels. Which would be a huge boost for the back of the rotation. Further dampening any big trade talk was last night's performance by Shelby Miller. Miller went seven innings, allowing only three hits. If the front office was iffy on his potential, if they were thinking that he might not pan out and so they should ship him off, that kind of dominance would make them think twice. Miller has had some exciting peripherals this season, so it'd be a shame to lose him and I think the Cardinals are going to be very, very hesitant to put him in any kind of deal. A couple of links for you. First off, More Hardball has a look at Double J (yes, I'm going to keep using that until it sticks or someone tells me not to) on their blog today. I think they overestimate Jay just a bit, but it's nice to see him getting a little attention. You have to figure he's one of the biggest trade chips the Cardinals have. Also, keep an eye out over at Mets Gazette today. I answered some questions for them about the Cardinals and the upcoming series this weekend for my fellow BBA member. I expect they'll be up later this morning. Cards get the Mets tonight, looking to put together another winning streak. Adam Wainwright pitching in New York, even if it's a different stadium, brings this memory to our minds. You think Carlos Beltran might ask for the night off? Jonathan Niese goes for the Mets. He looks to be having a good year, and in his career he's thrown 1.2 scoreless innings at the Redbirds. Could be a good matchup. We'll see if Dave passed along any hitting tips to Albert last night!
First Place AgainPosted on June 3, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Well, the offense wasn't strong last night, but since the Cardinals were able to put together enough runs to win, I'll take that as an indication that it's OK for me to stay with this blogging thing. (I was going to anyway, but it's nice to know there's no correlation.)It was good to see a version of Chris Carpenter that was closer to the vintage version. It looked like it could be another semi-rocky evening when Orlando Cabrera doubled to lead off the game, but Carpenter settled down from there, getting a rare line-out double play to get out of that scenario and then getting another rare play, Scott Rolen being hit with a batted ball, to stay out of trouble in the seventh. While those unusual plays helped, there wasn't much else that Carp needed. He's owned the Reds for some time now, which might be important this year. The two teams have already gotten 12 of their 18 games out of the way and don't match up again until the second week of August. We'll have to see if the two teams are still so close when their next series comes around. I don't see any reason why they won't be. After hearing about Colby Rasmus and his new contacts, I was hoping I wouldn't have to tag him as a Goat anytime soon, but an 0-4 day will do that. Still, he looks better at the plate and isn't striking out quite as much. I look forward to seeing what he'll do this weekend versus Milwaukee. Some intriguing minor league news coming out last night. The Cardinals have dipped into the Dominican again and given a $1.5 million bonus to Carlos Matias, a righthanded pitcher. Reading about this guy's arsenal makes you get excited. A fastball at 97+ with movement plus a breaking pitch? Outstanding. He's only been a pitcher a couple of years and still has some developing to do, but it sounds like in the best case scenario, in a few years you have a rotation headed up by Adam Wainwright but filled out with Shelby Miller and Matias for a powerful force for good. Cards have an off day before hosting Milwaukee. Gives you time to listen to Shawn and I talk about the Reds on last night's UCB Radio Hour!
Cardinal Blogger Shuts Up, Cardinal Offense Heats UpPosted 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:
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
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Second RatePosted on May 17, 2010 at 8:07 AM
After the sweep by the Astros, the Cardinals needed a series win to stay ahead of the Reds in the division standings. It didn't happen.Friday (4-3 win) Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Three hits, including a two-run home run that proved to be the difference. Goat: Ryan Franklin. Didn't blow the save, but he did his darndest. Thankfully the team turned a double play behind him to end the game, otherwise they probably go extras. Notes: Ludwick and Albert Pujols hit their first home runs since late April, seemingly a good sign for the offense. Jaime Garcia continues to be amazing. He's not faced any team twice yet, so we'll have to see how the league adjusts to him, but he keeps just mowing down hitters and showing maturity and poise beyond his rookie status. The bullpen (save Franklin) also did a very nice job in this one. Saturday (4-3 loss) Hero: Skip Schumaker. He drove in the first run with a sac fly, then had a wonderful piece of hitting in the ninth to bring the Cards within a run. He took the low pitch from Francisco Cordero right back up the middle, not trying to do too much. Really nice work. If Joe Mather's ball had been just a bit farther from the outfielder or the throws hadn't been perfect, he'd have scored the tying run as well. Goat: Adam Wainwright. Waino was bound to have a night like this, even as I start to come around to the idea that he's the ace of the team, with Chris Carpenter a strong runner up. Just didn't have the curve working as well as normal and it showed, especially on the hanger to Jonny Gomes that tied the ball game up. Notes: Should have known the Cards would have trouble with Mike Leake, since they'd never seen him before. Good to see Colby Rasmus go deep--again, his first home run since late April--but the offense continued to struggle as it has for three weeks or so now. Really did like the look of those 1947 uniforms. I couldn't believe people on the FSMW text poll preferred the powder blues to those classy look. What has happened to Cardinal Nation? Sunday (7-2 loss) Hero: Jason LaRue. Two hits, including a home run. Goat: Brad Penny. Penny's results have been sliding the last few games, though it's been overshadowed with how good he was at the beginning of the season. He labored all day long on Sunday, finally adding salt to the wound by allowing a bases-loaded single to Bronson Arroyo, who was in the process of shutting the offense down (like we've not heard that one before). Notes: Dusty Baker walked Pujols intentionally in the first. It worked out, of course, when Matt Holliday bounced into a double play. Until the people behind him catch fire, the odds of Pujols hitting in a key situation are nil, even though he's been more impatient and not quite Pujolsian for a month or so now. If anyone wondered if Cincinnati was for real, this weekend proved that they are. You look up and down their lineup and they have a solid offense, one that seems to be clicking. Their pitching staff is solid as well. If the Reds fade, and I'm not sure that they will, you have to figure it'll be August or so. The Cardinals are going to have a fight on their hands. That is, of course, if the Cardinals are going to be in that mix. This is the first time they've been out of first since the end of last July. How they respond that that this week, against some tough opponents in Washington, Florida, and the Angels, may give us a little indication of how this season is going to go. The offense is going to have to get clicking. Opponents think Pujols isn't comfortable (and they are glad for that). Mark McGwire thinks the players need to trust their abilities. Whatever needs to happen, hopefully we'll see it start happening soon. The starting pitching, showing some signs of wear, can't keep this team afloat forever. The slump has cost him his job, at least regularly. Brendan Ryan is now the utility guy, not the starting shortstop. With Felipe Lopez about to come off the DL (and how important was THAT move now?), it looks like we'll see a lot more of Lopez at short or a mix of Lopez and Tyler Greene. Have we overestimated what Ryan is? When he first came up, I thought he was going to be another in a long line of Stubby Clapp/Joe McEwing/Bo Hart-type players. He surprised me a lot last year and I revised my opinion accordingly. However, looking at his career numbers, it's hard to see if there's a pattern or not, due to more limited usage in his first couple of years. He had a strong debut season in '07, slipped in '08, was great in '09. Then we have 2010. He's made almost as many errors this year (7) as he did all of last year (8). Most of his fielding numbers are down, though he's still an asset there. It's just when the bat is as befuddling as his is, defense can't completely carry you. A .162 average is something you see from a starter in the second week of the season, not the seventh. You hope that he'll get it going, though sporadic playing time and defensive substitutions don't necessarily lend themselves to working out slumps. Maybe he'll show something in the cages and get an extended trial again. Otherwise, his star may have burned brightly, but quickly. Cards get a two game set with the Nationals kicked off tonight. Normally, that's not a big deal, but Washington sits tied for second in the NL East, four games behind the Phillies. In fact, after the recent swoon by the Redbirds, Washington is only one game worse in the standings than St. Louis. Adding to the degree of difficulty, Kyle Lohse goes for the Cardinals. We know how Lohse has struggled at times this season, though he has had flashes of, well, at least goodness. How's he done against these National hitters?
Cardinals get to face Craig Stammen. Stammen's numbers are pretty bad, but that's the kind of pitcher that can be kryptonite to this team.
Big news in Nationals camp is that their first-round pick from last year is coming to the bigs in time for this series. No, not that guy, their stud reliever from that draft, Drew Storen. It's going to be interesting to see if he gets into this series. He's supposed to be a dominant arm in the pen and I'd like to get a look at him, especially if the Cardinals are well ahead. Cards need to start righting the ship. While the rest of the NL Central is quite a ways below them in the standings, the Reds were at one time as well. Things can spiral quickly if they aren't nipped in the bud. My weekly article will be up at Baseball Digest later on today and I recorded some thoughts for Redbirds of a Feather this weekend, though last I checked Freddie hadn't uploaded the weekend podcast yet.
Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds
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Laying An EggPosted on May 14, 2010 at 10:23 AM
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or been thrown into some big glowing light on a remote island. My work schedule has made it tough to blog this week and the Cardinals' play has keep the motivation to blog down as well. Let's take a quick look at the Houston series (such as it was) before discussing.Tuesday (6-3 loss) Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Three hits, two runs, one RBI. Goat: Brendan Ryan. Even though I think Brad Penny should have probably been able to get the third out of the inning anyway, he wasn't hit all that hard and Ryan did make two errors plus have another hitless game. Notes: Jason Motte had been looking a bit sharper, but two home runs in one inning will erase that pretty quickly. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday both had a chance to get the Cards back in it in the seventh, but had weak groundouts. Wednesday (9-6 loss) Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Too bad everyone couldn't hit the Astros like Luddy! Goat: Kyle Lohse. Sure, Brendan Ryan made another key error. But did you see the pitches that Lohse made after that? After the Cards had gotten the second out of the inning at third on the sac bunt, I still felt like they were going to allow at least one run. Seems like it happens way too often. Lohse, however, just laid some pitches in there. They may have been unearned in the scorebook, but not so much in reality. Notes: Give the Cards credit, they never think they are out of it. Down 9-1, they came back and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth. Lance Berkman had two home runs coming into this series, then hit HR on back to back nights. Thursday (4-1 loss) Hero: Matt Holliday. Two hits and the only RBI. Goat: Chris Carpenter. That home run to Hunter Pence was a killer, especially when there were two outs. One run is bad enough in that game, four runs is basically insurmountable. Notes: Last time out, an unearned run. This time, an earned run. They are slowly figuring out Bud Norris! In 2013 they are going to just own him. Seriously, though, what is up with the Cards and Norris? It's one thing to be dominated regularly by a great pitcher. It's one thing to be beaten regularly by an average pitcher. But to find it this tough to score against a guy the league tees off on? They've seen him enough so newness shouldn't be that much of an issue. Colby Rasmus thinks he's getting a little lucky. Which, besides the fact that it probably violates the unwritten rules of pitcher respect, may have a little bit of truth to it. It could be that when Norris regresses to the mean against the Cardinals, it's going to happen in a big way. It could be he has an idea on how to pitch to this team, however. It could be that he was dipped in some mystical power, so that whomever he faced in his first career start would be the team he could beat for years. Who knows? For such a potent, power-packed team, the Cards have now gone 84 innings without a home run. You have to back it up 13 more innings until you find a home run by a regular, which was David Freese in the second inning of Sunday's game. (Against the Reds, whom the Cardinals face starting tonight.) Pujols hasn't gone yard since April 25. Holliday? April 19. It's not like the Cardinals are completely impotent if they aren't going yard. They scored six against Houston without a homer, 11 against the Pirates without one. They are still generating some runs, just not enough. The key hits, the hits that break a game open or complete a comeback, just aren't there. Justin and I discussed this on the UCB Radio Hour this week. There's a lot of "it's early" talk still going around, and I can subscribe to that to a point. However, as the investment commercials say, past results are not indicative of future performance. You figure that things will start swinging upwards soon so that these guys will get back on their career track, but there's no guarantee. Which really leads to the question of how much credit or blame Mark McGwire gets in this whole thing. As I said Wednesday, McGwire really shouldn't be a problem for Skip Schumaker, since he was the one that got Skip going in the first place. But is he causing Brendan Ryan to think too much or to get away from what he's been doing? On the whole, save for the really spectacular ones like Dave Duncan, I think coaches get a little too much credit and a little too much blame for things. So I don't want to go assigning fault to McGwire when it could just be people out of sync or running into some good pitching causing a slump. It's something to keep an eye on, though, as he continues to integrate himself into the organization. The Cardinals have to be concerned after being swept by a last-place team. (Good news, last time that Houston swept in St. Louis, it was 2004 and we know how that season went for St. Louis. Then again, Houston was a lot better in 2004 as well.) Not only being swept, but allowing 19 runs to a team that had only scored 85 coming in and allowing four homers to an offense that has been punchless most of the year. Cincinnati isn't going to let them off the hook, either. A loss tonight and the Cards are out of first place for the first time this year. Jaime Garcia is a good one to have on the hill when you need a win, that's true. Interestingly, even though the Cards already have six games under their belt with the Reds, Garcia hasn't pitched in any of them. He'll definitely need to be keeping the ball down tonight in the launching pad that the Great American Ball Park can be. Aaron Harang goes for the Reds. The Cards have gotten to him in the two starts they've faced Harang. Four runs (three earned) in just over five innings on opening day in Cincinnati, then three runs in six innings in St. Louis last week, including that Freese home run. Harang's a guy that the Cards have seen a lot of over the years. If they are going to get out of their slump, this would be a strong candidate for the job. One blurb before I sign off here. As many of you know, I'm involved with the great baseball site Seamheads. After seeing the success of the BBA Baseball Talk podcast (which has some ties to the UCB Radio Hour), they've started up their own show called What's On Second. Good baseball talk there, especially about the history of the game. The first show focuses on Ernie Harwell and Robin Roberts, so be sure to check it out. Cardinals really need a win tonight. I look for the bats to get going and just hope the bullpen can keep the lead handed to it. I'm sure Ryan Franklin would like to pitch again someday!
Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds
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Redbirds Roll Through WeekendPosted on May 3, 2010 at 8:12 AM
It was a very busy weekend for me, but the Cardinals did a lot of working as well. By now you know all about the games, but let's take a quick look at Thursday through Sunday to get our Heroes and our Goats. (If you want a more in-depth look, my Week that Was column will be up at Baseball Digest soon.) Thursday (Cardinals 10, Braves 4) Hero: David Freese. Six RBI as a rookie had never been done before. A wonderful game all the way around for the third baseman. Goat: Skip Schumaker. 0-5 in the leadoff slot on a day when the team scores 10 is not exactly a resume enhancer. Notes: Colby Rasmus had a solid game as well, with two hits and two walks and four runs scored...nice to see Tyler Greene go yard as well....Adam Wainwright might not have had his best stuff, but I still wonder if the results had been different if he had been in a closer game. Not that he was pitching to the score, but that has to allow you to experiment a little bit. Friday (Reds 3, Cardinals 2) Hero: Matt Holliday. Two hits and drove in the two Cardinal runs. Goat: Colby Rasmus. Not completely for the 0-4, but more for the strikeout in the eighth with runners on second and third and nobody out. Almost anything would have tied the game up, but a strikeout allowed for a walk of Yadier Molina to set up the double play possibility, which Mr. Freese then hit into. Notes: Freese probably should have gotten the goat, what with his double play and getting picked off of second the inning before....Brad Penny was not as dominant as he has been, but you wonder how much the weather affected that, especially since it was raining during the inning the Reds took the lead. Saturday (Cardinals 6, Reds 3) Hero: Skip Schumaker. Scored the first tie-breaking run, then drove in the second tie-breaking run. Good day for the Schu-man. Goat: Dennys Reyes. Blake Hawksworth may have put them on, but Reyes was unable to do anything with the hitters he faced, blowing Kyle Lohse's chance at his first win. Notes: Lohse looked like he did figure something out in his Atlanta start, allowing just one run over seven innings....I was pretty surprised when the Reds still pitched to Pujols in the seventh after Schumaker "stole" second, but I'm glad that they did....Freese hit another home run, just part of his big weekend. Sunday (Cardinals 6, Reds 0) Hero: Chris Carpenter. Two hits in seven innings and the fastball is back. You know the rest of the NL just groaned a little bit. Goat: Yadier Molina. 0-4 with a passed ball. Notes: Pujols had a big three-run double to break the game open...another home run by Freese, who could be NL Player of the Week...wonder if Rasmus is slumping a bit, another two strikeout, zero hit day for him. After that weekend, the Cards remain on top of the NL Central, a big 4 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs, who had to have a big weekend just to get to .500. You hate to say anything, but this has the possibility of being one of the least dramatic pennant races in a long while. Just for reference's sake, the 2004 team (that won 105 games and the division by 13) was at .500 and 2.5 games back at this point, while the 2005 team (100 wins, won by 11) was 17-8 and led the division by 5. So maybe Fox Sports Midwest should be taking a look at the fifth anniversary of the 2005 team as well as the 1982 and 2000 teams! This upcoming series, though, will provide the truest test so far of the quality of this club. Before the season started, it was my opinion (as well as many others) that the two best teams on paper were St. Louis and Philadelphia. Not much has changed that assessment so far, though the Mets have made the NL East a much more interesting race than expected. Still, it's going to be great to get the measure of both sides during the four game set that starts tonight. Jaime Garcia goes for the Cardinals against Joe Blanton for the Phillies. Here's Garcia's limited exposure to the Philadelphia squad:
When I was planning this entry, I thought that Cole Hamels was scheduled for the opener. Instead, the Phillies are going to go with Joe Blanton and I can't get to B-R to pull up another table. Suffice it to say that, as bad as the Hamels numbers were, Blanton has to be an improvement, especially since he's not pitched yet this season. Besides, I think it works much better for St. Louis to match up Wainwright with Hamels instead of Garcia. Mike Lynch, who is the head guy at Seamheads, where I also contribute, wanted to pass along this tragic story. Stories like this make me hug my son and daughter just a little tighter, knowing just how fragile life really is. If you feel moved to contribute, there's a spot over at Seamheads to do just that.
YNOT is up over at CardsClubhouse, if you are one that likes to play that. Looking forward to a great week of baseball! Filed Under: Atlanta Braves
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Making ApplesaucePosted on April 9, 2010 at 7:52 AM
Yesterday's game must have been a nice ripe apple, because Motte made sauce out of it.While in some respects it's true, as Matthew Leach Tweeted yesterday after the game, that the reason they lost isn't because of Jason Motte, but the most immediate reasoning is that he threw six fastballs in relatively the same place to a fastball hitter. While I've thought that Motte could be a closer at times (and noticed the Sports Illustrated baseball preview made the suggestion he should), the caveat is that he has to develop another pitch. It's been said that major league hitters could time bullets if you kept firing them at the plate. Continuing to just throw fastball after fastball, even at great speeds, isn't going to get the job done. Dusty Baker was quoted after the game as saying, "Frankly, I was surprised he threw him another fastball." This is why Dusty sometimes gets derided in the sabermetric/informed crowd, because Dusty, EVERYBODY knew he was going to throw another fastball. Right now, though, there's not much option but to ride out Motte and Ryan Franklin, because there aren't solid replacements ready and waiting. To be fair, this is just the third game of the season and things can change quickly, so perhaps it's a little overreaction. However, when you factor in how often Motte gave up long balls last year and how Franklin looked down the stretch, there's a larger sample size to deal with and it doesn't look all that good. The Post-Dispatch story makes the point: Starters so far this year for St. Louis have given up five runs in 20 innings. The relievers have given up six runs (five earned) in 6.1 innings. For all the Cardinals did against the soft underbelly of the Reds bullpen, it easily could be that turnabout is fair play. You really have to tip your cap to Bronson Arroyo, though. I watched some of that game at lunch and listened to more at work and his pitches were really moving and keeping the Cardinal hitters off balance. Of course, the fact that he was pretty motivated against the Redbirds didn't hurt a bit, I don't expect. It's possible Scott Rolen was up for the game as well, as he made some spectacular plays over at third, just like the Rolen we knew and loved. On the very positive side for St. Louis, Brad Penny threw a gem. If this is what the Cards are going to get out of Penny on a consistent basis, this rotation is going to challenge last year's for the number of great games the team gets out of them. I mentioned that one thing I wanted to look for was if Penny was getting ground balls. He retired 13 batters in that manner yesterday, coupled with four strikeouts, so I'd say that the Duncan philosophy has taken root. Matt Holliday went yard, so early returns on that contract are going well. Skip Schumaker came around a little bit by getting a couple of hits on a day where hits were rare, so maybe he'll start becoming more of a factor. (Hits were rare is an understatement--these are the only two guys that got any!) Now the team has to shake that off and move on to Milwaukee. At least the schedule gives us a fine chance to see how the Cards stack up against some of the potential problems in the division. Kyle Lohse goes this evening in his first start of the season. He's already got a lot to live up to, following these first three starters. It seemed like everything that could go wrong last year for Lohse did, so if he can come out tonight, throw a quality start, and not get injured or have some sort of flukiness happen to him, perhaps we can more reasonably expect something closer to 2008 than 2009 from him.
Dave Bush goes for the Brewers. Here are his numbers against the current Redbird squad:
The odds of another pitching duel tonight are pretty slim. Hopefully the Cardinals' relentless attack from the first two games makes the trip to Milwaukee also.
Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds
| Heroes and Goats
| Milwaukee Brewers
| St. Louis Cardinals
Comments (2)
Just Two GamesPosted on April 8, 2010 at 8:01 AM
Just two games. Just two games.It's sometimes hard to stay focused on the here and now when the team has played so well in all facets these first two days. Your mind start wandering to big summer leads and a postseason appearance. It's hard to realize that things will change in the next 160 games, at least in some manner. All that said, the Cardinals looked very sharp again last night, with only the bullpen (again) a source of any nitpicking. While in the past, St. Louis might have scored some runs early and then been silent the rest of the day, last night they again added on late, feasting on the soft underbelly of the opponent's bullpen. I was just reading Sports Illustrated's baseball preview where it pointed out that the Yankees last year outscored their opponents by only 10 runs in the first five innings, but by 152 thereafter. Good teams get to those weaker pitchers, and so far St. Louis is looking like they'll be a good team. I will give the Hero tag to Adam Wainwright, who got through his rough spring and flipped his go switch in time for last night's game. The pitch that Orlando Cabrera hit out of the park looked like a darn good pitch, a pitch well inside that Cabrera was just able to turn on. Without that, the Reds wouldn't have scored on him, and as it was he only gave up three hits. However, I want to make special note of the season Colby Rasmus is having so far. He's being patient at the plate, with three walks, he's got a double and a home run, and he's playing solid defense. A lot of us thought he'd be the Cardinals' breakout guy and so far, we are looking pretty smart. Give some kudos as well to Ryan Ludwick. Making not one but two nice catches in the ninth inning will get you some Hero cred any day of the week. The Goat selection will be Brendan Ryan for his 0-4 day. The top of the lineup is two for 18 so far this season, which makes this offensive consistency even more impressive. If Ryan and Skip Schumaker start hitting, this could be a lot of fun. Ryan Franklin was in play for that Goat tag also, though. His outing started well, getting ground balls, but after the one Scott Rolen hit off his foot, the balls started flying into the outfield, causing the great catches by Ludwick. If those balls drop, that's a much tighter game that the team deserved after a day like that. Early game today, as the first pitch will be before noon St. Louis time. Brad Penny is going today and hopes to get a boost. As with most Cardinal pitchers, look for the ground balls. If he starts off getting a lot of grounders, it'll be be a good day.
Lots of good numbers for the Cardinals against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo. You wonder if Felipe Lopez will be starting at third today, given his history above. We know that Jason LaRue is going today, which isn't because he can hit Arroyo (doesn't look like he can) but because it's a day game after a night game and the Cards have talked about resting Yadier Molina more this season. Only other Cardinal news floating around is that the team has swapped starts for Jaime Garcia and Chris Carpenter. Garcia, who was to go on Sunday night on ESPN, has been moved to Saturday so as to alleviate some pressure. Of course, it's still televised on Fox Saturday, but it's not the only game in town. I think it might be a little overthinking (and we discussed this last night on the UCB Radio Hour), but whatever works. Very early start today. Cards go for the early sweep and then get ready for Milwaukee! The Real Work BeginsPosted on April 7, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Opening Day is a great time, a wonderful time of spectacle, of renewal, of pomp and circumstance. Today, however, it's time for unadorned baseball.The story in the Post-Dispatch this morning is talking about the bullpen trying to figure out its roles. Obviously Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes are pretty secure with what they are supposed to do, but the rest of them are a little more unsettled. Which is to say nothing about Ryan Franklin, who unsettles the rest of us. It seems possible, reading that story, that Kyle McClellan, far from being a starter, might get a chance in the ninth if Franklin still falters. Obviously, you can't take a lot from the first day (though tell that to Jason Motte, who lost his closer role in one day last year), but it does seem like something they'd be considering. I don't know if I'd have more confidence in McClellan than Franklin, but I hope Franklin pitches well enough that it's a moot point. The Globe-Democrat features a story on something that's not usually been an issue in St. Louis, finding playing time for the backups. It was interesting to read that Joe Mather learned how to be a bench guy from Aaron Miles, so maybe there's a little something to the "veteran leadership" label. Never thought much about the bench guys having to be like relievers, getting loose and prepared in the middle innings because they might be needed. Nice little insight to the game. Tonight, Adam Wainwright goes for the Cardinals against Johnny Cueto of the Reds. Let's take a look at the charts, see how they've done in the past. Continue ReadingAn Explosive StartPosted on April 6, 2010 at 8:18 AM
Now that's a heck of a way to start a season!Those that look for omens in the tea leaves had to be excited about Albert Pujols--yes, the Hero of yesterday's contest--going yard in his first at-bat. That has to portend a strong season, doesn't it? (Ignore those people that talk about Tuffy Rhodes' three-homer Opening Day, because obviously things are different when it happens to the Cardinals.) Pujols also went yard twice in the '06 opener, and look how that season turned out. What was really wonderful to see was the offense already clicking. I'm not sure if there was something in the air yesterday, since there were four long balls by St. Louis and two by the Reds (which would have been three except for Colby Rasmus), but seeing the offense click on so many levels was gratifying to see. It wasn't get people on for Albert, everyone had a hand in it. Give some credit to Rasmus for a great game as well. If Albert hadn't been quite as locked in, Colby would have gotten the Hero tag for sure, since he did it all. He showed patience with a walk, took one out of the yard, drove in another one later and made a spectacular catch. What else can you ask for out of the guy? It makes all of us who expected a big season out of him feel pretty good about ourselves as well. Well, except Skip Schumaker, who went 0-5 in the leadoff slot, continuing what had been a weak spring. Skip is going to have to put up some offense to stay in that slot, because while most of the offense is working, it's still very, very good to have people on for Albert. If it hadn't been for that big ninth inning (and wasn't it nice to see the Cardinals scoring all the way through a game, rather than just one big inning and going quiet the rest of the way?), Ryan Franklin probably would have pulled the Goat tag. I saw the 6-4 score going into the ninth and really got worried, and Franklin's performance didn't help me feel better about the next time he comes into a game.
Really, the bullpen concerns on the whole weren't alleviated at all with yesterday's outing. It's somewhat hard to judge, since for the most part they were pitching with solid leads, but you would still like to see zeros put up on a day like that. Jason Motte and Franklin especially need to turn in some better games this week before we really start getting worried. If you want to read a good plus/minus breakdown of yesterday's game, check out the newest UCB blog, Redbird Insider. Blake's done a great job of hitting the high points of yesterday's opener. Off day today, unfortunately, so we'll pick it up tomorrow talking about Adam Wainwright's first start of the season.
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