Page Not Found
include() [<a href='function.include'>function.include</a>]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration
 
|
Sponsor
Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule. Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines Slots Galore Casino Tournaments Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified. Subscribe RSS Feed
Archives
Players
Categories
Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets. With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials! |
Recently in Colorado Rockies CategoryTwo Outta Three Ain't EnoughPosted on August 15, 2011 at 6:48 AM
For all intents and purposes, it was a successful weekend. The Cards won a series against a Colorado team that, while not a contender, still had some thump and a dangerous edge. For their trouble, the Cards dropped to five games behind Milwaukee when they wouldn't lose to the Pirates. (A really frustrating weekend for Pirates fans, as they lost 1-0 on Saturday and then were leading 1-0 in the eighth on Sunday before things came unraveled with a wild pitch on a strikeout. I can't imagine the headache people like Pat at WHYGAVS must have from beating on walls these last couple of days.)Of course, the Cards were able to shave a game off by beating the Brewers themselves on Thursday, keeping them from sweeping their way through St. Louis. Let's see what the last few games have looked like. Thursday (5-2 win vs. Milwaukee) Hero: You could go with either of the pillars of the team, I think, but I'll go with Albert Pujols, if for no other reason than he made sure Chris Carpenter's great start wasn't wasted. Pujols went 4-4 with a home run and finally showed some life against the Cards' main competitor, after struggling most of the year. He tied the game up in the first with a home run and that was all Carp needed. Goat: Allen Craig. In his second start after returning from his knee problems, Craig didn't look all that good, going 0-4 with a strikeout. In fact, through Sunday Craig hasn't gotten a hit since he returned from the DL, proving the difference between AAA (where he had started to look ready) and the bigs. Notes: Carpenter shook off his rough first inning to go eight strong. He did allow 10 hits--something more common lately, as more of the swings against him are finding holes--but was able to work around that and give the Cards the win that they had to have. Rafael Furcal had an unexpected leadoff home run, showing that St. Louis must agree with him. He's hit two in the red uniform after hitting just one for the Dodgers. Also, it was nice to see the Cards turn four double plays instead of hitting into four. It's not something that happens all that often. Friday (6-1 win vs. Colorado) Hero: Kyle Lohse. Lohse has struggled so much lately, though part of his innings issue has been that his slot in the lineup has come up when there were runners on and a pinch hitter was called for. (I was afraid that was going to happen in this game, as around the fifth he came up with runners on, but Tony La Russa let him stay in the game this time around.) Perhaps benefiting from the extra rest gained by being pushed back in the rotation, Lohse got into the seven for the first time in a long while, allowing only one run and four hits. The Cardinals are going to need for Lohse to have more outings like that if they are going to chase down Milwaukee. Goat: Yadier Molina. Not only was he 0-3 and not only did he hit into a double play, but Molina only saw six pitches in the game. A little more patience might have helped him out some there. Notes: Another multiple-hit game for Albert as he pushes toward that .300 mark. Lance Berkman had the polar opposite game than Molina had, getting one hit and then walking three times. David Freese had a big game as well, helping break the game open in the sixth with two RBI. Saturday (6-1 loss vs. Colorado) Hero: Marc Rzepczynski. With the offense pretty inept (six hits scattered throughout the lineup) and the starting pitcher ineffective, the tag falls to a reliever that held the line. I've been complaining somewhat about Rzepczynski's usage, thinking he could be much more than a LOOGY (and he was sold as more than that during the Colby Rasmus trade justification), Apparently TLR has been holding back because he has to have a LOOGY and Scrabble was the only one that fit the bill. With Arthur Rhodes now on the team, that frees up Zep to be used in bigger roles, and he proved he can do that with three scoreless innings. It'll be interesting to see how he's used going forward. Goat: Jaime Garcia. What is it about Colorado? Garcia was pummeled out in Coors and left in to take a beating. Since Garcia has been so good at home, you'd have thought the tables were going to be turned in this game. Instead, Garcia allows a three-run home run to Carlos Gonzalez and then two more runs in the fifth, ending his night. While the offense surely didn't help him out (if they can get a run or two, would things have been different?), Garcia can't afford many more of these games if the team is going to stay in the hunt. Notes: Perhaps we should have seen this coming as Colorado threw a pitcher the Cards hadn't seen before. Jason Hammel had an ERA over 5 as well coming into that contest, so all the ingredients were in place for a shutdown of the offense. Albert did go 0-3 but drew a walk, which is key as he said he's been too impatient at the plate this season. Sunday (6-2 win vs. Colorado) Hero: Octavio Dotel. He was named player of the game last night on ESPN and they nailed it. Dotel came into the game in the top of the seventh. Kyle McClellan had allowed hits to two of the three batters he faced and Rhodes, apparently reading the manual Trever Miller left behind, walked the left-handed batter he was supposed to get out. So bases loaded, one out, and Dotel strikes out Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton to end the threat. Then he strikes out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth as well, turning the game over to Fernando Salas for the ninth. A huge lift for the team. Goat: Jon Jay. Rafael Furcal also went 0-fer, but he turned in a spectacular double play. Jay went 0-5 with two strikeouts, though he did play some solid defense of his own. Jay has continued to struggle after the Rasmus trade much like he did after the Ryan Ludwick trade of last season. If he isn't able to turn it around some by the end of the campaign, will the Cardinals look for another outfielder in the offseason, relegating Jay to the fourth slot again? Notes: Albert went 3-4, raising his average to .288 (a season high) and smashing--almost literally--his 29th home run, a rocket that was the longest home run in Busch Stadium III history. Freese went 2-3 with a double, Molina had three hits, and the offense was able to get runners on most of the night, even if they had trouble getting them in after the four-run first. Edwin Jackson, who took a long time to throw just five and a third innings, left last night's game with what was termed a "severe hamstring cramp". While the bullpen filled in admirably for him, most notably Dotel and Jason Motte, we'll have to wait and see if Jackson is going to miss a start. He was pitching a solid if slow game before he left, so it'd be nice if he didn't have to miss any time, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was skipped once in the rotation. Not sure if they'd move McClellan back for a game or one of La Russa's famous bullpen games, but I doubt they'd bring up anyone for just one start. Before I get to the preview of today's game, a few links. I mentioned earlier this season about Stadium Journey and how they were doing writeups of all the different stadiums around the country. They've moved on to the Cardinal affiliate in Palm Beach, who play in the spring training home of the Cards, Roger Dean Stadium. Be sure to check that out if you are planning a trip or if you are just interested in some of the stadiums the baby birds play in. Also, this weekend I took the plunge and started my own personal podcast. I've not been able to get it into iTunes yet (I have an idea what the problem is, but if that's the case it might be a while before I can), but you can listen to it over at a blog dedicated to it, called Conversations With C70. Couple of notes on that. One, that's my daughter introducing the show this week. Not sure if that'll be a permanent thing or not, but it was fun. Two, I'd really like to hear what you thing, what works, what doesn't. I'm looking forward to doing a test run with a guest very soon to see how much the quality improves when it's not just me. Finally, if you are a blogger and you'd like to record a promo similar to what Tara did in this one, please let me know. I want to get a lot of those so I can reuse, mix and match, and always be able to fill the normal structural gaps that I'm going to have in the setup of the show. Cardinal blogger or no (yeah, I'm looking at you, WilliaminMaine), I'd be glad to have you. All you have to do is call a number and record a message. How easy is that? Email me and I'll get you the info. Cards head off to Pittsburgh for a series that isn't nearly as chock full of excitement as the last time that they went there. With the Pirates falling off back to more expected levels (they are now fourth, seven games under .500 and 13 games out), it's not the battle of first place teams that it was just a month ago. That said, the Cards need to go into Pittsburgh and play at the level they usually do at PNC Park. Milwaukee gets the Dodgers while they are playing the Pirates, so it's a chance to maybe make up a game or so if they can sweep. Jake Westbrook goes for the Cardinals tonight, hoping to give them another solid outing and have the offense pick him up. The numbers:
Pirates counter with James McDonald, who pitched a very good game against the Birds a couple years back with the Dodgers. Here's what he's done:
Cards need to go 5-1 this week against the Pirates and the Cubs. They are completely capable of doing that. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.  Filed Under: Colorado Rockies
| Heroes and Goats
| Milwaukee Brewers
| Pittsburgh Pirates
| St. Louis Cardinals
Comments (1)
It's No HollidayPosted on June 2, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Sorry for the delay in posting. Between the holiday weekend and some back trouble, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down and write up anything. You know what that means--catchup time. Let's see what's been happening.Friday (10-3 win at Colorado) Hero: Colby Rasmus. 4-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI and two triples. Talk about filling up a box score! Goat: Jake Westbrook. Only five innings and allowed three runs, though that was enough to get a win. Just that most everyone else had a better day. Notes: Lots of fun offensive numbers in this one. Allen Craig, Albert Pujols, Tyler Greene, Jon Jay, and Ryan Theriot all had two hits, with Greene doing it after he subbed in for Craig. Great work by the bullpen as well, throwing scoreless innings and making sure Colorado didn't get back into the game. Saturday (15-4 loss at Colorado) Hero: Jon Jay. Three hits in a game that was never close. Still, it was good to see the bat working. Goat: Jaime Garcia. What can you say about Garcia's outing? He never had anything, giving up six runs in the first and not improving beyond that. It was 2-0 before any out was recorded and 5-0 before the second out, the pitcher bunting, was recorded. For whatever reason, he obviously was not the normal Jaime Garcia. Which meant a lot of questioning when Tony La Russa left him out there to take a beating. Sure, you hate to burn through a bullpen but at that time Ryan Franklin hadn't pitched in eight days. Miguel Batista had gone two the night before so he was probably out, but it still seemed like you could have removed Garcia perhaps after the double to lead off the fourth and been fine. I'm sure the fact that Garcia went 1-2-3 in the third factored into them leaving him out there a bit longer, thinking maybe he could get through it. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Notes: Franklin pitched a very good game. No matter that it was well out of hand when he came in, he still threw 2.2 innings without allowing a run or many baserunners at all, which seems to be a positive sign for him. Tony Cruz went 2 for 3 after coming in on the double-switch that took out Garcia and Theriot continued his hit streak with a couple of knocks. Sunday (4-3 win at Colorado) Hero: Jon Jay. His home run in the first set the tone and, while the Cardinals tried to fritter that lead away, they never completely did. Goat: Albert Pujols. 0-4 again with a strikeout and little to show for his day. Notes: Fernando Salas made it very interesting, but was able to keep his save streak alive. Kyle Lohse pitched another very good game, seeming to run into a wall in the seventh but otherwise being as dominant as we've come to expect this year. Eduardo Sanchez did a very good job of holding the Rockies at bay until Salas came in. Monday (7-3 loss vs. San Francisco) Hero: Albert Pujols. He's not gotten many of these this year, but he had two hits and drove in two of the three runs, plus smashed a home run. There wasn't a lot to like about this game, but his performance was one of them. Goat: Kyle McClellan. OK, apparently he hurt himself in the first inning. When you are a pitcher, you've really got to be careful about being Mr. Tough Guy. Let them know you are hurting. Perhaps they'd have sent him back out there anyway, not knowing how bad it was. Allowing seven runs (two home runs) in four innings, though, is not helping the team. Notes: Good work out of the bullpen, even if they were very erratic. Batista walked the bases loaded, but got out of it. Brian Tallet, Jason Motte and Trever Miller did a great job keeping the game as close as it was, but the Cards just couldn't come back against Madison Bumgarner. Tuesday (4-3 win vs. San Francisco) Hero: Albert Pujols. 2-3 with a walk, plus an RBI double that got the winning rally on track. Goat: Colby Rasmus. 0-4 with a strikeout and made the second out in the eighth, an out that could have easily jeopardized the rally. Notes: Great to see the team come from behind like this. While we've seen more of that this year, it feels like it's been a while. To do it against a bullpen as good as San Francisco's is even more impressive. Great effort by Skip Schumaker to beat out that infield hit that broke the tie and, even though he made it interesting, Salas slammed the door. Chris Carpenter pitched a solid game, striking out eight, but he let his pitch count get too high. He wasn't getting the easy ground balls that mark a Carpenter start and had to leave after five innings. Carpenter can still pitch and pitch effectively, but he's just not as dominant as he was. There is still plenty of value in that arm, though. Franklin was great in his appearance, striking out the side then getting the win with the late rally. Wednesday (7-5 loss in 11 vs. San Francisco) Hero: Allen Craig. His two-run, pinch-hit home run off of Tim Lincecum should have made the difference. It's pretty obvious Craig is hitting lights out right now. His last, interrupted at-bat didn't do anything to diminish that for me. Goat: Fernando Salas. It was going to happen eventually, especially with people noting that he was 10-for-10 in save chances. That said, you really didn't want to see it last night. The Cards had Lincecum beaten. They got five runs off of the Giants ace, something that just doesn't happen often. You need to win those games and they almost did. Tough time for Salas to prove human, though looking through these boxscores you can see he's been getting hit some recently. Notes: Ryan Franklin got a lot of abuse on Twitter last night as, again, he took a Cardinal loss. While I've never been a huge Franklin fan, I've got to defend him somewhat for that one. He goes eight days without pitching, then throws 2.2 scoreless innings in Colorado. He comes back three days later, throws a scoreless inning with three strikeouts. Then he comes back the next day and throws another scoreless inning before getting touched in the 11th for two runs after two were out. There was no one else in the pen, really. Motte was unavailable and you had the two lefties, but you hate to use them for any length of time (and, honestly, there's no guarantee they'd have been better.) I didn't care for the insurance run scoring, but Franklin did the best he could. If Freddy Sanchez doesn't foul off a few pitches, maybe Franklin gets him out and we're not talking about this. All in all, my point is that this is going to happen from time to time, but it wasn't like it was the combustible Franklin of old out there. The injury bug does strike as Kyle McClellan and Matt Holliday go on the DL. McClellan went on last night with Lance Lynn getting the call for today's start (more on that in a bit) while Holliday won't go on the DL until today, which is a little strange in and of itself. Let's really look at this Holliday situation. He hurts himself May 18 vs. Houston. He DHs against Kansas City and apparently the club goes with the "aggressive approach" and keeps him off the DL, trying to work it out on their own. He pinch walks May 28th, ruining any chance of backdating him. He plays May 30, starting and going 1 for 4 but still obviously having some issues. He pinch-hits Tuesday night and strikes out. Now, when he'd just be eligible to come off the DL if they'd done that originally, he goes on the disabled list. Who deserves the blame here? I'm sure that Holliday comes in for some of it, most likely telling them that he would be OK soon, that he didn't want to miss time, etc. However, we've seen this pattern way too often with the Cardinal staff. It's been better the last year or so, but the "wait forever, then DL them" move was patented by the Cards back in the early part of the last decade. Even when the decision is made, it can't be done traditionally. Instead of examining Holliday early enough to get someone here from Memphis, they wait and say he'll go on the DL today. Being that Memphis is actually at home, not in the far reaches of the PCL, it wouldn't have been that much trouble to get someone here, you don't figure, unless it's not going to be a player that has been coming up, like Mark Hamilton, but rather someone that they need to add to the 40-man roster. Will it matter? Probably not. The Cards did have an extra-inning game last night and in theory another bat would have been nice, but they didn't burn through everyone and it's just as likely whomever got called up would have still been on the bench in the 11th. Still, it's just an awkward situation all the way around. Then you have the McClellan bit. The move is straightforward enough--Lance Lynn has pitched fairly well at Memphis and did well in the spring, so you'd expect him to be the first up in this situation--but instead of sliding Lynn right into the rotation where McClellan was, he's pitching today on three days rest and bumping everyone back a day for more rest. Interesting way to make your debut. EDIT: The Cardinal Twitter feed just announced that, along with Lynn, Maikel Cleto will be joining the team. This means 13 pitchers at a time when the offense really could use a boost. I would guess they plan to send Lynn down after the game and bring up a bat, but you really never know with this group. As most of you know, Cleto was the hard-throwing but wild righthander that we got back from Seattle for Brendan Ryan. Most of us thought it was a giveaway, but Cleto has moved up the chain and now will be a Cardinal, at least for a while. All-Star voting has been announced with Pujols, Holliday, Lance Berkman in the starting lineup at the moment and Yadier Molina in the running. I have zero problem with the fan vote, even if they "get it wrong". It's the fan's game, let them see who they want to see. The problem is making anything ride on this exhibition game. Tonight, it's Lynn vs. Jonathan Sanchez. Here's his numbers against the Redbirds:
 Filed Under: Colorado Rockies
| Heroes and Goats
| San Francisco Giants
| St. Louis Cardinals
Comments (2)
Playing Pepper 2011: Colorado RockiesPosted on March 4, 2011 at 11:58 PM
Two years ago, I started a series I called Playing Pepper, where I asked questions of bloggers of each major league team about the season to come. Not only was that informative and entertaining, it led to the spawning of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. With spring training coming up, it's time to get back into shape by again playing a little pepper. Colorado Rockies (83-79, 9 GB and third in the NL West) For such a relatively young franchise (18 years--can it really have been that long), the Rockies have made their mark on baseball history and baseball storytelling in so many different ways. There was the high altitude, then the fact that it was tempered by the humidor. You've had the expensive contracts of Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle, as well as Rocktober a few years back. Now, the Rockies are no longer laughingstocks, but aren't quite runaway favorites in their division either. I exchanged emails with David Martin, Colorado BBA Chapter president and writer at Rockies Review about the 2011 version of the team. You can follow David's blog on Facebook, by the way. After the jump, some thoughts about possibly the best pitcher in Colorado's history. Familiarity Breeds ContemptPosted on October 19, 2010 at 9:30 AM
As we discussed yesterday, Tony La Russa made it official and rejoined the Cardinals for a 16th year. Let's be honest, though--there is a 2012 option on the contract and I'd say it's 95% certain that option will get exercised.TLR stands 125 games behind John McGraw. I don't think anyone expects less than a .500 record out of the core that the Cardinals have right now. Assume he wins 85 games in 2011, that means he is just 40 games behind McGraw and the title of "winningest manager that never owned his team". While I know that La Russa isn't about personal records, leaving that challenge out there seems unlikely to me. I figure he'll be back for 2012 as a final swan song. While the Cardinals indicated that most of the coaching staff would be offered contracts for next year in the coming week, one person that won't be returning is bullpen coach Marty Mason, who apparently expressed his opinions a bit too loudly, forcefully and often. You know how, when you get chummy with a boss or someone above you on the corporate ladder, sometimes you start forgetting that they are the ones in control and not exactly your best bud that you can complain about work with over a couple of drinks? That's the way Mason is coming off in these reports. Obviously, I don't know anything first hand, but it sounds like he got comfortable in St. Louis, figuring he'd been there so long that he could talk about the organization however he wanted. Finally, John Mozeliak had enough and, in this theory, he was looking to exert some power and shake things up anyway, so Mason made it easy for him. I think this was Mo's way of saying, "Look, I know the old guard and the new guard are still sniping and they've been doing this for a while. While you don't have to like it, you've got to live with it. I'm tired of the griping and we're going to get more on the same page around here." 'Course, that could be completely projecting from having two kids. Brian Walton gives a credible thought process to the fact that Mark McGwire won't be coming back either. Most fans were expecting this, being that the offense seemed to have troubles, but being that McGwire was criticizing some things like the over-reliance on video that fans were also complaining about, I don't know if the problem was all him. The offense also might have looked a little better if they could have run the bases well, something that is not in McGwire's area. I have no problems with him returning, really, but having new triplets at home can definitely change the outlook on things. While I've got a moment, let's wrap up the final Colorado series quickly so we can name the 2010 Hero and Goat. Thursday (6-1 win) Hero: Chris Carpenter. A great complete game in his last start, showing that he's still healthy and still can be a huge part of this team next year. Goat: Allen Craig. Only starter with no hits on the evening. Notes: Matt Pagnozzi got two hits, further adding to the notion that Bryan Anderson won't be a Cardinal come spring training in my mind. Friday (3-0 win) Hero: Jake Westbrook. I don't know if he'll be back or not, but if not, he finished his Cardinal career in style. Nine strikeouts and no runs in 7.2 innings. Goat: Albert Pujols. That 0-4 really hurt his chances to continue leading the team in hitting, and in hindsight, one hit in this game would have done it. Notes: Trever Miller perhaps should have gotten the Hero tag, getting out Carlos Gonzalez (bad wrist might have helped, but still) with the bases loaded in the eighth to preserve the game. Good to see Craig with a couple of hits as well. Saturday (1-0 win in 11) Hero: Matt Holliday. Two of the four hits, drove in the winning run. Goat: Daniel Descalso. He and Colby Rasmus both went 0-4 with two strikeouts, so we'll pick on the new guy. Notes: A stellar game by Kyle Lohse has well. His command wasn't completely there, with four walks, but if that's any indication of what we can get some of the time out of the '11 Lohse, maybe that contract won't be quite as bad after all. Sunday (6-1 win) Hero: Brendan Ryan. I've given him a lot of grief this year, but his 2-4 got him up to .223, which is much better than most of us thought around the All-Star Break. Goat: Matt Holliday. Earlier in the season, there was no way that the team wins with an 0-fer from him and Pujols in the same game. Did they learn too late how to win without the big guys? Notes: Two hits again for Pagnozzi. When Anderson doesn't even get into the final "let's play everyone" game, that's a sign. Which means that not only does Albert Pujols have to relinquish his team batting crown, but for the first time he's not the undisputed Hero of the team either, as he and Holliday tied with 24 nods. Ryan gets the down side, with 14 Goat tags. Remember, we've got Bill DeWitt III at 5 PM today and Matthew Leach tomorrow night! Join us! Two Series, Then A BreakPosted on July 12, 2010 at 11:14 AM
I can hear you saying, "Break? You've been gone?" Sorry, but the work schedule hasn't left me much time for getting my thoughts down here, which was probably good after that Colorado series. Let's H&G it and see where we stand.Tuesday (12-9 loss at Colorado) Hero: Matt Holliday. Three-run homer should have been the icing on the cake. Goat: Ryan Franklin. Pretty obvious. Dennys Reyes gets consideration. Notes: No, we aren't talking about this game anymore. Wednesday (8-7 loss at Colorado) Hero: Matt Holliday. Two home runs in a game. Again, should have taken care of it. Goat: Trever Miller. If he gets his out, maybe it's a different story. Jason Motte is a close runner-up. Notes: These two games are the difference between momentum and excitement at the break and just a general optimistic feeling. Thursday (4-2 loss at Colorado) Hero: Jon Jay. Two for three and kept the game alive in the ninth. Goat: Chris Carpenter. When you are going up against Ubaldo Jimenez, you can't afford to be at less than your best in the first. Notes: More about Carpenter in a bit. Friday (8-0 win at Houston) Hero: Adam Wainwright. Love his toughness and the quote that Norris was going to tie if he threw a shutout. That's why he's going to be a top pitcher for a long time to come. Goat: Yadier Molina. Another 0-4 in a half-season that has become depressingly full of them. Notes: Liked seeing Holliday and Albert Pujols going yard in the same game. Just about makes you think there is offense in this team after all! Saturday (4-1 loss at Houston) Hero: Albert Pujols. Two for four and just missed a home run. Goat: Tyler Greene. 0-3 and his first inning miscue didn't help Jeff Suppan's cause any. Notes: And just when you think the offense is back..... Sunday (4-2 win at Houston) Hero: Matt Holliday. Will he be Player of the Week again? Goat: Nick Stavinoha. 0-3 and his tumbling dive trick in the first didn't work this time. Notes: Nice to see Blake Hawksworth battle out of his first inning troubles and get into a better groove and the bullpen did a great job as well. As always, more at Baseball Digest when that post goes up. I feel better about the Cardinals after Sunday than I would have if they'd lost that game. A 1-5 record on that road trip and a two game gap in the standings would have me really despairing whether this team can come together. A series win against Houston--even as weak as they are--and only being a game behind the Reds makes me think that maybe there can be some good come of all of this. The bats were working this week, but I think this team goes only as far as the rotation takes it. Having Hawksworth and Suppan in the back of the rotation can't be good for long term success. Right now it seems like the Cardinals are focusing on the offensive side of the equation, as the Blue Jays scouts were in Houston and Joe Strauss thinks the teams might be talking about Alex Gonzalez. However, either Brad Penny or Kyle Lohse (or, preferably, both) is going to have to make a successful comeback and soon or the pitching situation may spiral out of control. Gonzalez is definitely having a powerful year and his .250 average would be miles ahead of what the Cardinals are currently getting in their middle infield situation. He's posting the highest OPS of his career this year and, most importantly, would come cheap in the payroll department, with only roughly half of the $2.75 million for this year necessary. There's an option for 2011, but even that's just at $2.5 million. Apparently, Toronto has liked Brendan Ryan in the past and, being that Ryan is now looking like he might be just a little longer-lived and slightly-better version of the Stubby Clapp/Joe McEwing/Bo Hart middle infield mold, I wouldn't be opposed to that. Ryan is a great guy and I love seeing him goof around on the Fox Sports Midwest videos, but with him being out of options, he isn't going to get to play much here, I don't think. Of course, this means that in 2012 he'll be a thorn in the Cardinals' side when he's playing in Cincinnati. Still, they have to be looking for some sort of pitching option. Cliff Lee was never a serious consideration, as much as I'd have liked to see it. I don't think they could get Roy Oswalt and I don't know if Dan Haren's contract status is a major issue. Still, something has to be done on that front. There will definitely have to be something done if Carpenter can't get back to form. Duncan says that it's just a mechanical thing, not an injury, but remember that Dizzy Dean altered his mechanics when he broke his toe and that subsequently sent him on the path out of the game. Not that Carp is to that level, just saying that non-arm injuries can lead to problems as well. Then again, most of Carp's problems in the last game were in the first inning, which seems to have been a trend on the road trip. Got to watch some of the Futures Game yesterday, but got pulled away before the Cardinal prospects made their entrance. Sounds like Eduardo Sanchez did well, but Shelby Miller was a bit better. Also sounds like some adjustments Miller has made have been working out, so we'll see if he has a strong second half. A few links to wrap up this rambling and I'll try to be better about writing, though this week might not be the time! --Bill Dewitt gives his opinion on the state of the team. Since he writes the checks, it's an important one. Not much here save the fact that there is payroll flexibility and apparently the Post-Dispatch is going to make the Musial statue an issue this summer. --Bernie Miklasz compares Pujols to LeBron James. Just hopefully it's not that close of a comparison. --More Hardball talks about the Molina brothers. --Do your planning now. Ozzie Smith will be at the Cards' A ball affiliate, Quad Cities, on August 22nd to do some speaking. Speaking of Ozzie, be sure to keep an eye on both Redbird Rants and Cards Diaspora for interviews with the Hall of Famer. (And you can always relive one of my personal highlights, his appearance on a special UCB Radio Hour last year!) --Finally, you have to check out i70baseball as it has its grand opening today. Bill and the gang have put together a sharp looking site full of great content. Go ahead and bookmark it!
Filed Under: Colorado Rockies
| Heroes and Goats
| Houston Astros
| St. Louis Cardinals
Leave a Comment
Up And Down WeekendPosted on July 5, 2010 at 9:35 PM
OK, let's hit the game highlights, such as they were. I've had to take some motion sickness medicine, because this team seems to stop and start like the kids in their first day of driver's ed. More writeups about the games can be found in my weekly Baseball Digest column.Wednesday (4-2 loss to Arizona) Hero: Skip Schumaker. 2-5 and a couple of steals back in his leadoff slot. Goat: Albert Pujols. Lots of people were iffy in this game, but the big guy had his chance with bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, but couldn't get the hit that might have tied up the ball game or changed the trajectory of it. Notes: Problem with Jeff Suppan is he takes a long time to work when he's got runners on and he didn't have a perfect inning in this one. The whole "too much video" theme gets hit again, as the Cards struggle with a guy that was pitching AA his last time out. Thursday (4-1 loss to Milwaukee) Hero: Blake Hawksworth. Seven strikeouts and only three runs in six innings. For a guy coming out of the pen, basically, that's solid work. Goat: Brendan Ryan. Really doesn't need to ever be in the leadoff slot. 0-4 again there. Notes: Pujols home runs are always nice, but it seems like save the two-HR game against Arizona, they've not necessarily come at the times we'd most like to see them. Friday (5-0 win over Milwaukee) Hero: Jaime Garcia. Talk about bouncing back. A team that's already seen him and whispers that the league was catching up to him, so he throws seven innings of three-hit ball. The team really needed to see that. Goat: Albert Pujols. 0-3, though he did get an RBI. Thankfully that two-on, nobody out situation in the first, where he wrapped into a double play, didn't come back to haunt the team like it so often would have. Notes: Great night for Felipe Lopez as well, with three hits in the leadoff slot. Saturday (12-5 loss to Milwaukee) Hero: Jason LaRue. He didn't start the game, but went three for three with a home run. Much better than most of the rest of the crew. Goat: Chris Carpenter. I don't know if the arm was bothering him or what, but from the first batter of the game, when Rickie Weeks took him deep, he wasn't in sync and never got that way. We don't see games like that out of Carp unless he's hurt, usually, so hopefully it's just the welt on the arm that was throwing him off. Notes: Another long ball by Pujols and a two-hit night from Lopez in the leadoff role. Sunday (7-1 win over Milwaukee) Hero: Adam Wainwright. Not only did he throw the complete game, he put it out of reach with a bases-clearing double. What more can you ask for? Goat: Matt Holliday. 0-3, two strikeouts, including one with two on and one out in the third, when the game was still close. Notes: There's some devotion by Yadier Molina, who was with his wife as she delivered their daughter that morning and still in uniform for the game that afternoon. I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on the roster moves that have happened since last we spoke. It was good to see they finally realized there were enough pitchers on the roster and swapped Fernando Salas for Tyler Greene. Greene may not be a world-beater, but as miserable as Brendan Ryan has been lately, Greene deserves a fair shot at regular playing time. Also, the Cards finally placed Ryan Ludwick on the DL and recalled Jon Jay, who is already making an impact. There's no reason why he shouldn't play almost every day while Ludwick is out, which may not be terribly long since they were able to backdate the DL stint. Both Jay and Greene, if they play well enough, could be more significant trade material in the coming weeks. Finally, the All-Star rosters have been announced and, even with the disappointments that many fans have felt about this team this year, they still placed five guys there, with a chance for Garcia to fill in for an injury (like Yovani Gallardo). Obviously, even with a "down season", Albert Pujols deserves to go and Adam Wainwright has stepped up big this year, so he's a lock. Matt Holliday has come around and is a fine selection as well. I'm not sure when Molina got such devotion from the general fan base, because if it wasn't for them he'd not have gone out to Anaheim. I love to see him play out there, but his bat has been so weak that his top notch defense still can't cover it. Carpenter is a good selection as well, though as erratic (for him) as he's been, I almost expected Garcia to go in his place. Still, it's good to have a lot of guys to watch next Tuesday. Hopefully they can finally break this losing streak to the AL. Tomorrow (or today, depending when you read this), the club skips Suppan in the rotation to send out Blake Hawksworth against the Rockies. I think that's probably a smart move, because if Soup's not getting the grounders, he could get beaten around pretty good in Coors. At least Hawksworth has somewhat of a strikeout pitch, so maybe he can limit any damage. The Cardinals will face Jeff Francis, a lefty who has battled back through arm trouble. Throw out all the numbers that he's accumulated this year--he's a lefty, which means he's got a strong chance to shut the team down. We'll see if that happens!
Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks
| Colorado Rockies
| Heroes and Goats
| St. Louis Cardinals
Comments (2)
Playing Pepper 2010: Colorado RockiesPosted on February 27, 2010 at 10:20 AM
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. Colorado Rockies 2009 Finish: 92-70, second in the NL West, NL Wild Card, lost in NLDS I recently received my copy of Baseball Prospectus 2010 and read through the Rockies section, finding some glowing words about the current management of the team and how they've learned to play without worrying as much about the ballpark. David Martin writes for the blog Rockies Review and he took the time to go over the Playing Pepper Ten. Continue Reading Postseason Playing Pepper: Colorado RockiesPosted on October 6, 2009 at 10:58 PM
If you were reading this blog before this season started, you may remember a series I did called "Playing Pepper", where I asked five questions of a blogger covering each major league team. With the season coming to a close, I thought I'd tap into the talents of the newly formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance and ask five new questions of the bloggers covering the postseason teams. The Rockies had a rush this season, coming from way back to almost take the NL West title, before settling for the wild card. David from Rockies Review and Miles from Inside the Humidor let us know what's going on with the rare air team. C70: What is the Rockies' strength going into October? ITH: The Rockies strength this year going into October is pitching, with Cook, Jimenez, and De La Rosa. But even stronger than the pitching in my belief is management, Jim Tracy's ability to manage the game and remove guys when things are not going well or substituting the right guys to gain an advantage. His trust in his team shows and he allows them to play the game and they knowledge of his support is evident. So I would say the real strength is Jim Tracy.
RR: The Rockies strength going into October is their depth. They scored the second most runs in the league, yet didn't have a single player with more than 92 RBI's (Troy Tulowitzki). They have four starters in the outfield, meaning one will always be ready on the bench if needed, and Ryan Spilborghs as their fifth outfielder who is pretty formidable. Their defense is also a strength. Clint Barmes and Troy Tulowitzki are possibly the best middle infield combo in the league. They have great range and great arms. With the extra outfielders, plus the addition of Jason Giambi, the Rockies have no shortage of talent. C70: What worries you about the team? RR: If there is a spot on the Rockies team that is worrisome it is their strikeouts. This team does way too much striking out. In fact, in 2009 they set a club record for strike outs. With runners on base this team struggles to move the runner over and play small ball. While they lead the league in sacrifice flies, they seem to leave runners on base all the time do to the extreme number of K's. ITH: Right now the biggest worry is Jason Marquis, but also I worry about consistency at the plate. Can the offense consistently produce runs and not leave 8-10 men on base? Clinching Doesn't Solve EverythingPosted on September 28, 2009 at 10:44 AM
The Cardinals were able to lock up the NL Central this weekend. They weren't able to lock down worries about the postseason, however.The clincher was nice and you have to give all credit to Adam Wainwright. 130 pitches and he's still able to strike out batters to keep the St. Louis lead in the eighth. Chris Carpenter says that locked down the Cy Young for him. While I'm still fairly sure Tim Lincecum is going to have a say in that still, getting to 19 wins with the supporting numbers he has for a postseason team is going to be a hard resume to overlook. A game like Saturday's, with everyone in baseball looking at him, may have put him over the top. I was on Twitter at the end of the game and expressed strong relief after Ryan Ludwick's home run gave the Cards a three-run cushion. Not only was it a big hit for a team that doesn't seem to be able to get them all that often, but it meant that Ryan Franklin didn't work with just a one-run lead. That became vital when he allowed a runner to get to third in the ninth before locking everything down. Give credit to Jason LaRue as well. Only in there because Yadier Molina had been injured during the game, LaRue cranks the home run that broke the tie and put Wainwright in the driver's seat. After getting the lead back, there was no way Wainwright wanted to give it up again, which leads to the reasoning behind 130 pitches. Tough night for Joe Thurston, though, as he was hitless in his two at-bats before being replaced by Mark DeRosa and he made an error that led to one of the runs against Wainwright. You don't want to say that they took Sunday's game less seriously than others, but the lineup was a little on the wacky side, even for Tony LaRussa. I'm sure Tyler Greene was a little worried about playing outfield for the first time ever. It was a way to get him and David Freese into the lineup, though, which is a good thing. Albert Pujols set an assist record for first basemen and drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double in the third, accounting for all the Cardinal runs. That gets him the Hero tag, doesn't it? Normally, it would, but striking out later with the bases loaded (exactly how many times did this team have the bases loaded yesterday? At least three that I know of, some with less than two outs, and only once could they get runs in) as well as the error on Eric Young's grounder (which was really inexplicable. It just popped right out of the glove) and the baserunning at the end of the game takes away from his overall performance. I understand his reasoning, somewhat, in taking off on contact. And indeed, if Clint Barmes doesn't make that spectacular play, AP's on third with a tie game and one out. That said, that ball was almost caught by the outfielder, and Julio Lugo really needed to be tagging up instead of so far off the bag. I was excited at the time because I was sure that tumbling catch at least allowed Lugo to score, but no such luck. Anyway, let's give the Hero tag to Kyle Lohse. It wasn't a dominating performance by any means, though it might have looked a little different without Albert's error, but it was a servicable outing with no major blowups. Lohse kept a good hitting lineup in check in their own park, which may help in getting him to the #4 slot in the postseason rotation and moving John Smoltz to the pen. I'd expect they'd want to see him throw one more time, though that would be against the Brewers at home. On the down side, Ryan Ludwick has to be the Goat. No hits, three strikeouts, five left on. If he'd just been able to put that ball a little farther away in the ninth..... Over the weekend, there was a little more information about Wagner Mateo out there. Turns out his eyes are weak even with the contacts--without them they are exceptionally bad. Mateo might get a contract from someone and I hope that he does, but I can see--no pun intended--why the organziation decided to cover itself in this situation. There's an interesting article about the Molina brothers over at CBS Sports. Too bad that it appears Bengie won't be making it in this season. It'd be nice to have them all in the playoff hunt after losing their father. The Cardinals have an off day today, then spend time in the Queen City before heading home to wrap the season. Hopefully they can use these out of it teams to get things kick started for the real work yet to come. Party On HoldPosted on September 26, 2009 at 9:15 AM
All the Cardinals needed was a win. A win to head to October. A win, and Chris Carpenter was on the mound. It was all set up for a perfectly appropriate ending.However, someone forgot to either tell the offense or the Rockies, depending on who was more at fault. It's a problem when the Rockies score in the first and you wonder if that's going to be enough to win the game. It's a bigger problem when it just about was, if it wasn't for Ryan Ludwick's solo home run in the seventh. For all the talk about this vaunted offense, it can sputter just about as easily and as often as the cobbled-together May version. Carpenter wasn't quite as sharp as he normally is, walking three batters, but still did only allow the one run. It was interesting to hear him talk about the different slope on the playing mound than the bullpen mound. Wonder if that was intentional by the Rockies ground crew or just a slight different that he happened to notice. How this will affect his Cy Young candidacy remains to be seen. On the plus side, he did throw seven innings of one-run ball and he's not getting run support. On the other, it was another game that his team lost, so some voters may dock him for that. It wasn't the best of homecomings for Matt Holliday. He did get one two-out single with no one one, but left five on during the game, not including the double play he hit into in the eighth when the Cardinals had probably their best chance of taking the lead. Speaking of Holliday, there's no contract talks going on, as John Mozeliak insists they'll wait until the team is done playing. By now, there's probably not any reason not to do that, especially since you don't want a distracted player in October. So the Cardinals have yet to beat the Rockies this season, having been swept in a four game series earlier in the year which kick-started Colorado's run to postseason contention. Adam Wainwright tries to stop that streak tonight. Wainwright got the loss in his earlier meeting with the team in purple, allowing three runs (two earned) in six innings. That was before he was Adam Wainwright, though. It's hard to remember now that he struggled a little in April and May. If he hadn't, they'd already have his name on the Cy. Historically, Wainwright's been pretty tough on the Rockies hitters, though. If he keeps getting ground balls tonight, the Cards should be in pretty good shape. Opposing him is Ubaldo Jimenez. In the UCB's recent interview with Viva El Birdos founder and Colorado resident Larry Borowsky, Jimenez was tabbed as a key to a postseason matchup with the Birds and the Rox. So getting a win against him tonight could give some positive feedback toward postseason thoughts. Jimenez did a pretty good job against the Cards in his one outing against them in 2009, going seven strong and only allowing two runs. St. Louis hasn't done just a whole heck of a lot against him in his career either, so it could be another close and late game tonight. Might be a moot point, though, because the Giants and Cubs play this afternoon. So the Cards may be in the playoffs before they even take the field. Right now, I'll take it anyway it wants to come!
Browse past entries in the Colorado Rockies category by date |
  Search
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book! • Pick up the limited print edition • Free Best Sports Blogs ebook United Cardinal Bloggers
Honorary member: Obviously, You're Not a Golfer Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Other Cardinal Blogs
Recommended Cardinal ForumOther Cardinal Sites
General Baseball Blogs/Sites
Find more sold out tickets
 HeroesLance Berkman (24) Albert Pujols (19) Matt Holliday (15) Chris Carpenter (10) Kyle Lohse (9) Yadier Molina (9) Ryan Theriot (8) David Freese (7) Jaime Garcia (7) Jon Jay (7) Jake Westbrook (6) Allen Craig (5) Kyle McClellan (5) Colby Rasmus (5) Edwin Jackson (4) Skip Schumaker (4) Daniel Descalso (3) Rafael Furcal (2) Gerald Laird (2) Nick Punto (2) Marc Rzepczynski (2) Fernando Salas (2) Mitchell Boggs (1) Daniel Descalso (1) Lance Lynn (1) 2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24) 2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28) 2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25) GoatsRyan Theriot (12) Albert Pujols (11) Jake Westbrook (10) David Freese (8) Ryan Franklin (7) Jaime Garcia (7) Fernando Salas (7) Kyle Lohse (6) Kyle McClellan (6) Colby Rasmus (6) Skip Schumaker (6) Miguel Batista (5) Chris Carpenter (5) Daniel Descalso (5) Matt Holliday (5) Jon Jay (5) Jason Motte (5) Allen Craig (4) Rafael Furcal (4) Tyler Greene (4) Yadier Molina (4) Lance Berkman (3) Mitchell Boggs (3) Gerald Laird (3) Edwin Jackson (2) Trever Miller (2) Corey Patterson (2) Marc Rzepczynski (2) Matt Carpenter (1) Maikel Cleto (1) Tony Cruz (1) Octavio Dotel (1) Mark Hamilton (1) Lance Lynn (1) Nick Punto (1) Arthur Rhodes (1) Eduardo Sanchez (1) Raul Valdes (1) PJ Walters (1) 2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14) 2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13) 2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13) Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2011)Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%) Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%) Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%) Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%) Derrick Goold 87.8% Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%) Matthew Leach 85.5% Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%) John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%) Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%) Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%) Pop Warner 76.7% Jim Hayes 76.1% John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%) Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%) Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%) Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%) BJ Rains 70.4% Ricky Horton 69.1% John Vuch 68.9% Jeff Luhnow 66.4% Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%) Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%) Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%) Dan Lozano 58.7% Joe Strauss 57.5% Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%) 2009 Rick Ankiel 83.9% Chris Duncan 69.1% Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets? TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets. Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets. Referrals |
