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Playing Pepper 2010: Colorado Rockies

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.
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Postseason Playing Pepper: Colorado Rockies

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.   Continue Reading

Clinching Doesn't Solve Everything

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 Hold

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.

Rock Bottom

So possibly the worst four game series in the history of the Cardinals came to a close yesterday not with a bang, because that seems impossible for the team right now, but with the expected whimper.  Without Brendan Ryan, it likely would have been another shutout against a team that, even on a five game winning streak, still sits last in the NL West.

The listlessness of the game actually makes it hard to find a Goat.  Brad Thompson was serviceable as the starter, even if Tony La Russa didn't let him linger around long.  Chris Perez allowed a run in his inning after the Cards had cut the lead to two, but it really was just window dressing.  As I've often pointed out, the Cards have rallied from three or more runs down only twice this year, so once it got to 4-1, you had to feel like it was about over, even with the extra run scored by the Birds.  Maybe that's why we should go with Jason Motte, who gave the Rockies their three run bulge.

Being a day game, I was actually able to follow the game on Fox Sports Midwest's live blog, via Twitter discussions, and on the CardsClubhouse game thread as well as listening to John Rooney and Mike Shannon on XM Radio.  Reading the comments and discussions, you can tell that Cardinal Nation is very frustrated.  The expectations for Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel are about as low as possible.  People are worried about the pitching staff.  All in all, the natives are restless.

It may be one of the reasons that Bill DeWitt came out and said, yes, we can take on payroll if the situation is right.  While the cynics in Cardinal Nation will say something along the lines of talk is cheap, I think it's an encouraging thing.  Usually the talk is about containing payroll, being able to stretch just a bit.  I think that with attendance being so above what they had projected, there's a good chance a significant amount could be added.  Whether it will or not is a totally different topic, but I think that if a trade isn't made, it's because the two teams couldn't match up, not because the Cards wouldn't take on the contract.

I do hope that John Mozeliak is working the phones pretty hard, though.  The only reason the Cards are still in contention is the fact that the pitching staff had that amazing run in the latter part of May.  Lose a couple of those games, which could have easily happened given the lack of offense, and the Cards are closer to five games out now.  Resting on the "we're 2.5 games out" laurel isn't going to hack it much longer, because it doesn't take long for 2.5 to get to 6 to get to 10.

I think, more than anything, the team needs a mental boost, the knowledge that the club is working for them as well as them working for the club.  I know that a lot of teams are still counting themselves in contention and therefore aren't necessarily willing to part with much, but even a small deal now that leaves you bullets for one closer to the end of July might work from the reinforcement end of things.

Speaking of reinforcement, Khalil Greene is on his way to Memphis to start his rehab assignment.  I honestly didn't expect to see him back in the news so early and wonder if he's really ready for this.  He's saying the right things, the club's saying the right things, and maybe a few days away from the game, with counseling and potentially medication, really did get him on the road to recovery.  You have to hope so, if only for his sake.  Plus if he can get back to an average season for him, that'll help the offense right there.

Tonight, the big club takes the field in Florida while the front office looks to the future.  Chris Carpenter takes to the mound hoping to stop the losing that has gone on since his last outing.  The Marlins basically haven't seen Carpenter before, so they could be in for a long night.  (If, for some reason, Carpenter gets touched up, the wailing and gnashing of teeth in Cardinal Nation goes up 50% tonight.)  Josh Johnson has a touch more experience with the Cards, who have hit him in the limited exposure.  Albert Pujols even has a home run off of him, something that'd be great to see tonight as well.

My guess for the lineup tonight:

Schumaker 4
Ankiel 9
Pujols 3
Rasmus 8
Ludwick 7
Molina 2
Greene 5
Carpenter 1
Ryan 6

I was suggesting Colby Rasmus in that cleanup slot yesterday, and TLR has indicated that, while initially opposed to it, he's coming around to thinking it couldn't be any worse.  Expect to see Colby in that slot tonight.

The front office will be drafting tonight, with no real indications on who they will take.  I know little about the draft--though I hear that Strasburg kid is pretty good, wonder where he'll go--so check out Derrick Goold's wrapup on some possible picks and, of course, keep it tuned to Future Redbirds as they follow and discuss this evening.  I understand you can follow it on Twitter as well, which is pretty neat.  I'd check out some of the MLB Network coverage if I had the station, but you've heard that rant before.

You'd like to think that if the Cards could bust out in a game, maybe they'd get something going.  It'd just be nice to see some crooked numbers for once, though.

Do We Have To Talk About It?

Putrid.  Pathetic.  Despair-causing.  Ugly.  Pick your negative adjective and you could apply it to the three games this weekend against the Rockies.  When your opponent scores more in one inning (9) than you do in three games (7), you could be in a slump.  When your opponent scores more in its lowest scoring game than you have in a week and a half, you are in a slump.

At least Friday was a decent game that the final score disguised as a blowout.  Adam Wainwright, while not as dominant as he's been at times this year, did well enough to keep the Cards in the game.  Take that back, he did well enough to keep a normal offense in the game.  When he left with the score 3-1, there was a strong chance the game was over anyway.  That didn't give Dennys Reyes and Jason Motte and Jess Todd the right to go blow things out of proportion, however.  Sure, the Cards scored a few runs late with homers by Yadier Molina and Ryan Ludwick, but you have to figure by that time, with that lead, Rockie pitchers are just putting it in there, letting people hit it to get out of the innings. 

Speaking of Jess Todd, I've not had this explained to my satisfaction yet.  The Cardinals designate Blaine Boyer so they can bring up Todd.  They add Todd to the 40 man roster and start his arbitration clock.  They go through all of that, then send him back down the next day for Blake Hawksworth?  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see Hawksworth get a call up as well, but it seems ridiculous to go through all of that with Todd for a couple of innings.  Unless there's some sort of trade showcasing going on (and neither of them really passed that test, did they?) it doesn't make sense.

Saturday was another listless, unexciting game as the Cardinals continued to hit Aaron Cook's pitches into the ground and Ian Stewart kept hitting pitches out of the park.  Four hits won't win many games, though at least one of them was a Rick Ankiel home run.  Still, with the way this team is performing, when an opponent reaches a lead of three or more, it's basically over.  Which makes it depressing when that happens in the fourth.  You could probably pick numerous Goats, but Todd Wellemeyer giving up six runs, including two homers to Stewart, will do the trick.

At least on Sunday the Cardinals had a lead for a while before the bullpen, again, was less fireproof than fire starter.  Sunday also had the novelty of Albert Pujols driving in two runners on a sacrifice fly.  (Just when you think you've seen it all out of the guy.....)  But the game again boiled down to not enough offense (only Colby Rasmus and Pujols, and AP didn't do anything after that rare sac fly) and an explosion in the pitching staff, this time by Kyle McClellan.

It's getting to the point where, as a fan, you throw up your hands and wonder what is going to go wrong now.  At least earlier in the season, there was great pitching giving the Cardinals a chance to win and distracting from the offensive woes.  I don't mind 3-2 games or 2-0 games if the Cardinals are winning them.  It's just tough to stomach two runs or less on a regular basis when the pitching staff is giving up four or five.

If Bernie Mikalsz is to be believed (and there's not really any reason he shouldn't be, save the fact he likes to stir things up occasionally), the clubhouse is starting to have the same doubts and frustrations.  I'm not to the level of suggesting John Mozeliak package the farm for anybody, but I do hope he's being creative.  Someone suggested Ryan Zimmerman, though the odds of the Nats moving him are almost zero.  Still, things like that, thoughts not necessarily being hashed and rehashed in the marketplace of ideas, are more likely to improve this team than the ones being batted about.

If getting smacked around by a last place team wasn't enough, today we get Brad Thompson back on the mound against an old acquaintance.  I wouldn't say friend, because Jason Marquis frustrated a lot of people when he was in St. Louis.  I was one of his early defenders, saying he hadn't been as bad as his detractors claimed.  By the end of his tenure, though, there wasn't much left to defend.

Still, because he's a former Cardinal, you know he's going to wind up handcuffing this already anemic offensive production.  He has a pretty decent history against most of these Redbirds, though the maligned outfield has done damage against him, which hopefully won't tempt Tony La Russa to sit Rasmus tonight, even though Chris Duncan is .300 with a HR, Ankiel is .400 (in five at bats) and Ludwick is .333 (in six at-bats).  St. Louis was able to get to him last time they faced him, so maybe Marquis won't be able to get revenge this afternoon.

Thompson, on the other hand, doesn't have good numbers against the Rockies. Nobody's taken him deep, but they put the runners on.  He actually has a career ERA of 1.50 against Colorado, but there's no way to tell how many inherited runners might have scored in those games (at least, not where I'm looking).

It's an afternoon tilt, so maybe the bats will warm up.  Otherwise, it's going to be a frustrating Monday and a long flight to Florida.

A friend of mine works for the Cardinals and suggested I pass along this deal if anyone is interested.  You can see the Cards take on the Giants from the Legends Club for $70, which is apparently 30% off the regular price.  If interested, click here and check it out.  The coupon code is INSIDER.

All You Need Is Carp (And Albert)

Get an MVP and a Cy Young together and what do you get?  A victory, at least these days for the Cardinals.

Playing Pepper 2009: Colorado Rockies

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same.  I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posted them five questions.  This is the result.  You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

Some of the most memorable Cardinals of the past decade have come from Colorado.  Darryl Kile's recapturing of his form after leaving the Mile High City of Denver, coupled with his untimely passing, left an indelible mark on Cardinal Nation.  Larry Walker's last at-bats, after being a Colorado icon, came in pennant race form in St. Louis.  Even utility man Aaron Miles, now off to Chicago, wore the purple before the red.

I got with Mark of the now-defunct Bad Altitude to see if the humidor is still working and if Todd Helton is still a fan favorite.

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Let's Go Out And Beat The Mets

It's always nice to beat the Mets.  Whether it's because you remember the '80s (where's the sports version of VH1's show?  Imagine talking about Mets/Cardinals, Hershiser's scoreless streak, the split season strike stuff.  Maybe when MLB gets their own channel off the ground we'll see things like this), because there's always something good about beating the "big city", or because you are friends with Met fans, taking down the team from New York puts a spring in your step.  (Sorry, Loge13!)

Last night's game (and, as a side note, it was good to finally see the Redbirds on TV again!) reminded me of that old quote about the owner whose idea of a good season was when his team was up 10 games at Memorial Day and slowly pulled away.  The Cards scored early and then, in a reversal of basically their whole season, continued to add on.

I wanted to give the Hero to Chris Duncan for finally showing some pop.  You could also give it to Mark Mulder for a scoreless inning (more on him later).  But seven innings, 0 ER against a potent offense that has given you fits before?  How do you go against Kyle Lohse?  A great performance and hopefully one that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

The Goat is between two 0-4 batters (the only two position players not to get a hit), but since Schumaker did get a walk and score a run, Brendan Ryan takes the title again.

So Mulder finally got into a game and showed that, perhaps, the new arm slot hype has some basis.  Sure, it was about as low-leverage as innings come, but he didn't give up a run, threw strikes, had good velocity.  It'll be interesting to see how he's used in the days and weeks to come and how long his success holds up.  If he continues to get people out, do they start to stretch him out some to take over a starting role later in the season?

Looks like Wainwright is aiming for a mid-July return.  Hard to get too excited, though, with the way injuries work with the Cardinals.

And apparently the Cards are looking at Holliday and Fuentes from the Rockies.  I wouldn't mind them, especially Holliday.  I can't imagine St. Louis will be able to pull it off, though, without damaging the minors, something they need to be careful about doing.

Today's starters: Todd Wellemeyer (vs. Mets here) against Tony Armas Jr. (vs. Cardinals here).

Slippery Slope

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also on the Network: √ Playing Pepper 2010: Oakland Athletics [C70 At The Bat] √ Book Review: Joe Cronin, A Life In Baseball [C70 At The Bat] √ Happy Birthday, Loge 13 [Loge 13] √ Things to Read: 3/11 [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ The Farm Team to Watch [El Lefty Malo] √ Wounded Birds [C70 At The Bat] √ Julius Peppers Continues Being a Great Quote [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Things to Read: 3/10 [Tremendous Upside Potential]