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Recently in Heroes and Goats CategoryA Wild, Wild, Wild NightPosted on September 29, 2011 at 7:05 AM
Luke's X-Wing has sunk into the swamp and Yoda asks him to lift it out. LUKE: OK, I'll try. YODA: No. Do or do not. There is no try. Luke attempts to bring it out, but is unsuccessful. LUKE: You ask the impossible. Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the bog and sets it on dry land. LUKE: I don't, I don't believe it. YODA: That is why you fail.I didn't really give the Cardinals a chance when they were down 10.5 games as they held Social Media Night. Many of us spent that time lamenting this season, talking about how this would be the fourth in five years that held no postseason, and what that meant for this team and for Tony La Russa. Blogging plans for October included different ideas to alleviate the monotony of no baseball. I still didn't fully believe even after they swept the Braves in mid-September to pull within 4.5 games. It was better than alternatives, of course, but 4.5 still seemed pretty formidable. I remember thinking the sweep was nice, but I'd have been more excited if it had put them closer to 2.5 or so behind the Braves. I'm not sure I even was completely on board going into last night's game. This team so often pulled the football out from in front of us that, even with the cushion of only one of four options putting them out of the playoffs, I held my breath that it wouldn't happen. And now..... And now the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, a team left for dead earlier in the year, a team that set a National League record for double plays, a team with an Albert Pujols that had his long-running streaks snapped, this team is one of the four NL teams playing in October and have a reasonable chance of making it to the World Series. Seriously, Hollywood would have tossed this script as being written by a novice screenwriter with no idea how movies actually work. Nobody could suspend their disbelief that much. As for the game, it was a bit anti-climatic, but nobody in Cardinal Nation was complaining. Five runs in the first? The pitcher batting before he throws his first pitch? Yes, please. With Hero Chris Carpenter on the mound, a couple of runs was probably all the team needed, but giving him five runs was license to settle back and start plastering the clubhouse with plastic covers. The Cards tacked on more runs--Carpenter even got into it with an RBI single--but it was vintage Chris Carpenter that was the story. For a while, it looked like he had no-hit stuff and he did only give up two knocks. Eleven strikeouts in a complete game victory and he only threw 106 pitches. That, my friends, is what dominance looks like. Remember when we wondered if he was starting downhill earlier in the season? I'd say he's come back from that quite well. There were a lot of offensive stars last night as well. Allen Craig proved that even if Matt Holliday is out for the postseason (which sounds like a definite possibility), the offensive chores could be covered. Craig had two hits, including a home run late that pushed the lead out to 8-0. October could be Craig's coming out party as more people around baseball find out who he is. Two hits and three runs from David Freese was nice as well. If he had hit his first ball a little more to the left, it's a home run in the Crawford boxes rather than a double, but a double was just fine. It's nice to see the offense clicking together at the right time. Every starter had a hit. Carpenter threw a complete game shutout. I mean, where do you have to dig to find a Goat in this game? As much as I hate to, we'll give it to Albert Pujols, though this is more related to his work the last week or so than this game specifically. Remember that Albert got up to .305 and got to 98 RBI and we were sure the streak would continue. Instead, he spun out down the stretch, finished at .299 and only got one RBI last night. The .300-30-100 streak is history, just one home run shy of getting both of those marks. It might be the only flaw on the back of his baseball card, and it's not much of one. It's still sad to see those marks go by the wayside, though. Bill DeWitt commented that, while the Colby Rasmus trade wasn't popular, they aren't standing there without that deal. He's completely right, I think. We saw how important all those pieces (well, maybe not Corey Patterson) were coming down the stretch and especially into October. Marc Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel were a couple of the relievers La Russa would rely on heavily, and I think all of us feel more comfortable with Edwin Jackson in the postseason rotation. We gave John Mozeliak a lot of flak at the time about the deal and later we mocked the "win now" aspect when the Cards weren't winning in August, but the proof is in the results and Mozeliak deserves a lot of mea culpas there. It was also nice that pitching coach Dave Duncan got to be with the team last night. According to TLR, the team wanted him to be there at the end and they asked him to join them. It's good to know that his wife is doing well enough that he could make the trip. Wonder if he'll be able to do the postseason grind. The Cardinals get a couple of days off before facing Philadelphia on Saturday. Kyle Lohse was, of course, on the schedule to start the playoff game but I'm guessing he'll get skipped now that that game is no longer necessary. I'm thinking Jackson starts the first game, with Jaime Garcia in Game 2 and Carpenter in Game 3. We'll talk tomorrow about matchups and how this team could really go deep into October, but for right now, let's just enjoy one really, really wild night.  Tied For FirstPosted on September 28, 2011 at 6:34 AM
It's a phrase that Tony La Russa likes to use a lot. He may not want to say that Player A is the best, but he'll say he's "tied for first." Personally, if there's anyone out there that wants to start a Cardinal blog, "Tied For First" is a great title for it, in my opinion. Now, at least when it comes to the wild card, we can finally say that the Cards are tied for first.It sure didn't look like it was going to be that way. Jake Westbrook did his best Goat imitation, giving up five runs in less than three innings. With the score 5-0, it looked like the Cardinals, as has been their nature at times this year, had again fallen flat and missed an opportunity, as Atlanta was in the process of being stomped by the Phillies as well. However, the offense that had been dormant since the blown save against the Mets showed back up, and just in time. Immediately after allowing the Astros their runs, the Cards came back and tied the game in one inning, thanks to Skip Schumaker's bases-clearing double. I was wondering if they were able to be patient and start beating on Henry Sosa, and they finally did. When the parade of relievers started, you knew that the Cards had the advantage, and they eventually capitalized on it. We'll give Nick Punto the Hero tag for his four hit night, including a home run. (Ironically, in his first at bat I told my daughter it was unlikely he'd hit a home run since he had zero on the year. I'm doing just great with my "expert" analysis down the stretch.) He wasn't the only one that had a big night, though. Allen Craig came in for Matt Holliday and showed that there wasn't any drop off. Lance Berkman had three hits as he continued to torment his old team. Ryan Theriot had another big blow, a two-run triple that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night. Then there's the bullpen, who did an outstanding job all the way around last night. Mitchell Boggs stopped the bleeding that Westbrook caused. Marc Rzepczynski struggled some, loading the bases with nobody out, but got a big double play and allowed only the one run. Eduardo Sanchez, who hadn't pitched in the big leagues since June, came in and was dealing, striking out two of the four batters he faced. If he's back, that's going to be a big boost during potential postseason play. Fernando Salas and Octavio Dotel were solid, and Edwin Jackson even got a chance to pitch an inning, allowing a couple of hits but not letting them score. Possibly the only disappointment, save from Westbrook's implosion (and hey, aren't we glad we have him for another year?), was the fact that Albert Pujols went 1-6 with no RBI. His average is sitting right on .300, meaning he needs probably a couple of hits to keep that mark tonight. It looks like he'll come up short on the RBI side without a big blow tonight as well. He's four for 22 since getting to 98 RBI, which either means he's pressing or he hit the worst-timed slump possible. Of course, if he cracks a two-run homer in the first, we'd all be happy. (I tried this yesterday with no luck, so we'll try it again.) AP may also get another shot at the marks, as any wild-card play-in game would count toward the regular season statistics. When the bloggers, Twitterers, and other social media types gathered in St. Louis on August 25, we thought we were just going to get a chance to enjoy a baseball game and then start a relatively boring September. Instead, 30 games later the Cardinals have enjoyed a September for the ages, a September that will be talked about in Cardinal Nation for years to come, invoked anytime a team is on the fringes of a race. "It could happen," we'll say. "Remember 2011." That said, the example will hold much more punch if the Cards can finish the job. Erasing a 10.5 game deficit is nice, but if you lose out on the final day, it's probably more devastating than if you'd lost it somewhere in the middle of the month. There's no doubt, though, that if you had to pick one pitcher on this staff to pitch in a lose-and-go-home type game, it'd be Chris Carpenter. Carpenter has the big game experience and has the deserved reputation of being able to come up big when things are on the line. With Adam Wainwright on the shelf, there's no other option that's more appealing. Carpenter has been able to shut down the Astros in his career, though there are a few of these guys he's not faced yet. Here's what the numbers look like:
That said, they've got their own weapon going tonight in Brett Myers.
St. Louis is right now living the dream. Let's just hope they don't wake up until they are popping champagne corks this evening.  Filed Under: Atlanta Braves
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A Crushing BlowPosted on September 27, 2011 at 6:31 AM
The Atlanta Braves keep trying to give the wild card away. The St. Louis Cardinals just won't take it.Knowing that Philadelphia had already disposed of the Braves, the Cards rallied late in the game, but were unable to win it in regulation. That's always a problem on the road, where one bad pitch, one bloop hit, and you are done. Which is pretty much how it happened. Even though Octavio Dotel lost the game, I don't want to give him the Goat tag. He pitched a solid ninth and gave the Cardinals another chance, plus that leadoff double in the tenth wasn't his fault, Brian Bogusevic just fended off the pitch and happened to drop it where nobody was able to get to it. Now, if he's able to field a bunt, perhaps Dotel is able to get him at third, but once there's a runner on second and nobody out, it's very tough to keep him from scoring. I think you have to look at an offensive player for the Goat in this one. Time after time the Cardinals had their chances to get some runs and take control of the game, and time after time they failed to do so. I'll give the tag to Ryan Theriot for his double play in the fourth, plus his detrimental play in the ninth, not only being unable to advance Yadier Molina from second but, since Molina was running on contact and Theriot hit the ball right to the pitcher, he eliminated a great threat with Molina being thrown out at third. Then, somehow, Theriot was unable to steal second even though he had a decent jump and Mark Melancon threw a curveball. Still not sure how that happened. David Freese's double play with nobody out in the fifth was a tough thing to take as well, as the Cards got bases loaded in that inning and just scored one. A base hit in that situation might have made for a completely different story. There still were Heroes in the game, though, most notably Lance Berkman, who came through with a two-run double to tie the game in the eighth and keep some hope alive. With any luck, the Cards would have used that to go on and win, but they were just not able to do it. To add injury to insult, it looks like Rafael Furcal won't play again in the regular season after straining a hamstring. Furcal has probably been a bit overrated in his time here in St. Louis, but that's partly because of what he was replacing. I'm guessing Nick Punto will get the start at short the next two games. Albert Pujols had a number of chances last night to add to his 98 RBI, but he wasn't able to do so even though he went 2-5 to up his average to a bit over .301. I'm afraid this is going to be like 2007, when he came up just short of getting to 100 runs. I bet he winds up with just 99 this year. Now, I'd love for him to hit a two-run homer in the first tonight and prove me wrong, but that's just my gut feeling. The Cards have to put together a two-game winning streak and probably hope for a tiebreaker game now. The Phillies aren't starting Cole Hamels tomorrow after all, instead having a bullpen game where Hamels may appear in the middle of the game somewhere. That gives the Braves a big edge and you have to assume they'll win that one if you are the Redbirds. However, tonight Derek Lowe goes for the Braves and his season has been pretty dreadful. An ERA near 5 for the season and it's over 8 for the month of September. While he could come out and give a great performance, the odds are in Philadelphia's favor tonight, which means the Cards have no choice but to win this one if they want a chance at October. Jake Westbrook is on the mound for St. Louis and he's beaten the Astros twice this season. Here are the numbers:
Henry Sosa has never faced the Cardinals, which always brings up warning flags. He's been fairly mediocre in his nine starts, with an ERA approaching five (and over it for his September work). He walks almost as many as he strikes out and his September WHIP is 1.76, so if the Cardinals are patient, they can likely put a lot of runners on. Then again, they did that last night and see what it got them. The math is simple: win or go home. Two more games, two more wins and the Cards have a chance for more than 162 games. It's time to see if they can work that problem successfully.  Filed Under: Atlanta Braves
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Happy FlightPosted on September 26, 2011 at 6:29 AM
I probably should give up on the whole making proclamations thing. Every time I go to write the Cardinals off, they (and the Braves) give us a new reason to believe.Let's talk about Saturday's wild game first. Watching that ninth inning, it reminded me of something I said at Social Media Night last month, when the players were answering who had the most underrated pitch. Daniel Descalso answered with Carlos Marmol's slider, because "you never know exactly where it's going." I responded under my breath that neither does he, and that was borne out. Winning a game because the closer walked three guys with two out, forcing in a run, then letting the winning run score on a wild pitch? That starts to look a bit like destiny, doesn't it? The Hero of that game, as much as Matt Holliday's single was big and Ryan Theriot had a great eye to tie up the game, had to be Kyle Lohse. Lohse allowed a first-inning run, but that was it, going seven innings and striking out eight. In his four September starts, Lohse is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA, meaning the fact that he will start the tiebreaker game if one is necessary doesn't scare Cardinal fans at all. You have to give the bullpen some credit too. Just two days after the biggest meltdown in years, Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzepczynski, and Jason Motte combined for two hitless innings with three strikeouts. It's a good thing the pitching was so solid, because the offense sure wasn't going to keep them in the ballgame. A grand total of five hits, so Rafael Furcal gets the Goat for going 0-4 in the leadoff role. It's a good thing Albert Pujols pushed his batting average so far over .300, because after Saturday and Sunday, he needed all that he could get. Sunday's game again was an offensive struggle, as Randy Wells kept the Cardinals mainly in check. When your only run before the seventh comes on a sacrifice fly by the pitcher, it's not a hot day for the bats. However, if Rafael Furcal got to be the Goat on Saturday, there's no doubt he was a Hero on Sunday. His eighth-inning blast ignited the crowd, tightened up a Braves team that had already lost, and after Motte slammed the door hard on the Cubbies, put St. Louis one game behind the Braves with three games left to play. When John Mozeliak made the deal for Furcal, I don't think anyone expected six home runs out of him in the short time he was in St. Louis. (No one expected 10 errors, either, but that's a discussion we've already had.) If the Cardinals do go on to the postseason, that jolt will be one that is remembered for a long time to come. Of course, you don't get to that moment without Yadier Molina hitting his own home run in the seventh or Edwin Jackson continuing to dodge trouble through seven innings. Jackson continued to get fly ball after fly ball that continued to get deeper and deeper, but they stayed in the park and were usually caught, so he only gave up two runs over seven. The same bullpen guys from Saturday were used Sunday with the same results and the Cardinals were staying alive. Sadly, in what could have been his last home game in the Cardinal whites, Albert Pujols probably gets the Goat. His 0-4 dropped his average to right at .300 and he hit into another double play, though granted it was a ball that looked like a hit and Furcal got doubled off of second. Still, that wasn't want the fans were hoping for, but it didn't matter. They gave him standing ovations every time he came to the plate, encouraging him to stay in St. Louis. I'll write a post soon about why I think he will keep wearing the birds on the bat, if only so I can refer to it and not continue to outline it all winter long. So the Cards had a "happy flight", as their terminology has evolved this year, down to Houston after the game. The team was wearing Hawaiian shirts and staying pretty loose. Still, while many fans are excited about the Cards playing the worst team in baseball while the Braves are playing the best, there are reasons to be guarded. First off, though the Cardinals are doing better this month against teams that are sub-.500, they've struggled with them in the past. Couple that with Houston playing better ball recently and it's a trap series waiting to happen. The pitching matchups are as definitively in St. Louis's favor, either. The Cardinals face Wandy Rodriguez tonight, who has been a Cardinal killer in the past. If the good Jaime Garcia shows up, the Cards probably can hang in there, but it's a battle. Then, Tuesday night it's Jake Westbrook, who has been very frustrating down the stretch, against Henry Sosa, who is an unknown that could bedevil the Cards. If you get to Wednesday needing a win, though, you've got Chris Carpenter vs. Brett Myers, which does seem to tip in the Cardinals' direction. Secondly, while Philadelphia is not going to lay down for the Braves and they are obviously going to try to win this series, it's not going to hurt their feelings if they lose. They aren't going to send Cliff Lee out there for a complete game and they may try a couple of relievers in later innings as they try to decide on their postseason roster. Plus, if they lose the series and the Braves get in, Philadelphia starts off with either Milwaukee or Arizona. If they win the series and the Cardinals make it to the postseason, the Phillies host the only team that's beaten them in a season series this year and a team that just took three of four from them a couple of weeks ago. Who would you rather face? Just for reference, the pitching matchups in that series are Lee vs. Randall Delgado, Roy Oswalt vs. Derek Lowe, and Cole Hamels vs. Tim Hudson. If the Philadelphia offense can get going, the Phillies should be able to take that series and a sweep is even possible. While the Cards would rather be one up with three to play, they are in a solid position and the fact that the tiebreaker game is at Busch also helps them quite a bit. It's been a long time since the last series of the year meant much of anything to the Cards (2006, I'd say, and I don't know when before that) and it'll be fun to see how it comes out. Jaime Garcia, as noted, throws tonight in Houston. Here's what he's done against the 'Stros:
Wandy Rodriguez's numbers against the Cardinals:
The team that averaged over six runs a game against the Mets only scored a total of six runs against the Cubs, but they won both series. Hopefully the former team will show up the next three days. If nothing else, there's still meaningful baseball!  Filed Under: Atlanta Braves
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Requiem For A SeasonPosted on September 24, 2011 at 9:18 AM
If the Cards were going to lose, it almost seems fitting that they put all of the tropes of this season into one package.You want a good starting performance backed up by a sputtering offense? Chris Carpenter went out and threw seven one-run innings, but left the game unable to get a win. Carpenter again proved that, when it's a big game, you want him on the mound, but the offense just gave him no support, especially against a guy they had hit well in the past. Getting the Hero tag won't make up for anything, but it's the best I can do. What about iffy defense? There was an error by David Freese, though it didn't turn out to hurt the Cardinals in this case. Need double plays? The Cards hit into three of them, most notably a bases-loaded, one-out version by Ryan Theriot that ended a threat in the sixth after the Cubs had come back to tie it. Most crushing, though, was for the second straight night, the bullpen issues reared their heads again. Our Goat, Kyle McClellan, allowed a leadoff triple in the eighth and, after an intentional walk, grooved a strike to Alfonso Soriano to put a lot of nails in the coffin of the Cardinals' season. Since McClellan moved into the bullpen, he only has one blown save and last night's game was his first loss, but he's not been the shutdown guy we saw last year. A 4.50 ERA and having opponents slug almost .500 against you will do that. The question of what to do with McClellan might come up this offseason, as there's no room to move him into the rotation again. Really the only bright spot out of last night's game besides Carpenter was Yadier Molina getting three hits. Otherwise, it was a game that should have been familiar to Cardinal fans, though not one we've seen much of in the last few weeks. So now the Cardinals, courtesy of the Braves getting to Stephen Strasburg and beating the Nationals, find themselves three games behind in the wild card standings. If the Cards go 5-0, the Braves can go 2-3 and still tie for the wild card. The odds are not at all in St. Louis's favor here. Can it be done? Sure it can. But it seems like that blown save from Thursday may reverberate throughout the whole offseason. So any chance the Redbirds may have could rest on Kyle Lohse. Lohse goes today and has had some trouble with the Cubs in the past. (It seems he always pitches--and loses--to them on UCB Progressive Game Blog Day.) Here are his numbers:
He's opposed by Rodrigo Lopez. Lopez gave up five runs to St. Louis in 5.1 innings last time he faced them, so perhaps the offense can get on track. If nothing else, maybe Albert Pujols can get to his 100 RBI mark and we can keep vigil on his batting average these last few days. The numbers:
Afternoon start, while Atlanta is going at the same time and sending Brandon Beachy against Chein-Ming Wang for the Nationals. We'll see how we're feeling come early evening!  Sucker PunchPosted on September 23, 2011 at 10:03 AM
Before we get started, if you are looking for the Chicago YNOT, it's below. If you've not played before, go ahead and give it a shot!Of course, just about anything is preferable to talking about yesterday's game. I think I saw on Twitter it's the first time they'd coughed up a four-run lead in the ninth at home since 1998. Even with all the bullpen problems from this year, it just doesn't happen much. All the momentum, all the buzz, all the excitement took a major body blow yesterday afternoon. The Cards were just a couple of outs away from pulling within one game of Atlanta, with a very solid chance of tying them for the wild card today. The pressure was on the Braves, everything was going the Cardinals way. This was going to be a September long remembered. And then the ninth happened. The Goat tag is going to go to Jason Motte, because when it comes down to it he didn't get the job done. However, there's a lot of blame to go around in that ninth, starting with Tony La Russa. La Russa's idea that he wasn't going to let the Mets get back into it, that he was going for the closer in a four-run lead, just doesn't hold water for me. He didn't go get Motte after he'd loaded the bases, even though he'd thrown a lot of pitches and didn't look sharp. Which I guess if you are committed to him, waiting to see if he couldn't get a fly ball or a double play and pretty much get out of it. Still, sending Motte out there was pretty irresponsible. He'd thrown an inning and a third the night before (and gave up a run), he'd thrown 2/3 of an inning on Monday (ineffectively, giving up two runs and getting yanked) and he'd thrown again on Friday, giving up an unearned run. You have to go back over a week to have a clean outing from him. You've got a four run lead and a closer that's looking gassed--use the other arms. That'd been a great time to use Fernando Salas--even though Salas has been used some lately, he'd had a day off and his last two outings were clean. Salas had troubles in this one and got the blown save, but he came into a bases-loaded, one-out situation that was spiraling quickly out of control instead of starting off an inning. For that matter, Mitchell Boggs, the forgotten man in the bullpen, would have been a perfect choice. Have Motte or Salas warm up behind him if you don't trust him, but he's pitched once since Labor Day. Four runs shouldn't be a situation that you can't manage to stem, especially if you keep some of your bullets for later on. Remember, Boggs used to be a closer (OK, that was for like two days, but still) and has some pretty tolerable outings. He gives up a run a little more often than you'd like, but you have a four run lead. It's worth a chance there. Of course, if Rafael Furcal could catch a ball, we might not be having this conversation. I mentioned yesterday that he's playing like he's a double agent for the Braves, being that he started his career there. Save his leadoff double, nothing from yesterday did anything to sway that opinion. The whole reason Furcal is out there, the whole reason John Mozeliak traded for him, was the fact that he could play defense. Now he's made 10 errors as a Cardinal and has a fielding percentage of .957. Now, I know FP is about the most basic and not all that accurate way of measuring defense and his range factor per 9 for St. Louis is one of his highest in his career, but still, 10 errors? Ryan Theriot made 17, but in 91 games at short. Furcal has played 47. Furcal is an upgrade, of course, but lately he's been lacking at the one thing that he's got to be good at. You have to think that two botched plays in back to back days that lead to huge rallies for the other team will not go over well with the front office as they consider a Furcal extension. In fact, Mozeliak on the radio yesterday before the game indicated that, after the Lance Berkman signing (and more on that in a bit) they probably weren't going to do anything else until after the season. You can look at that and say that they don't want to interfere with this last week, but I think, being that they were very gung ho on an extension earlier in the month, that you can also read that as a waning of confidence in Furcal. There were good things in yesterday's game, of course. The Hero would be Allen Craig, I think. I thought his two run home run in the first was going to be the catalyst to a runaway game. It wasn't quite that way, though the Cards did score six and have chances for more, but I don't think any blame can be put on Craig's shoulders. Yadier Molina also had a big game, getting to a new high in RBI after putting two more in the stat sheet. Albert Pujols went deep for his only hit, getting him to 98 RBI. Just two more, and with his average still at .304, there's a good chance he'll hit his milestones. Can I tell you what I'm afraid of? Momentum is huge. You see it in all the sports, but here's the example from baseball. You've seen a team get down 9-2 early on, but they chip away, then they have a big sixth inning. A couple of runs score, they are down 9-7, with the bases loaded and one out. Everything is going their way and it looks like they are unstoppable. Then the batter raps into a double play. Everything drains out of the team and, even though they are just down two now instead of seven, their chance is gone and they wind up losing by that score or perhaps a couple of more. Everything turned on that one at-bat. Is that what happened yesterday? I don't know. I hope not. However, momentum is a crazy thing at times. A win in that one and the energy, the excitement, everything builds for tonight with Chris Carpenter going against the Cubs and the Braves having to deal with Stephen Strasburg. Now, even if those things go the Cards way, they are still one game out with just five more to play. It feels different, it feels harder, it feels like things have slipped through their fingers. I also am just not sure that the Cards can lose another one. If the Cards go 6-0, the Braves can go 4-2 for the tiebreaking game. That's tough for them when they face Philly and a Nationals team that has been difficult for them in the past. If the Cards go 5-1, the Braves can go 3-3, which seems much more doable. The Cards don't want that tiebreaker game anyway, because going into Philadelphia (if they won it) with your rotation a little out of kilter and the bullpen not rested isn't exactly the best recipe for success. A sweep of the Cubs this weekend with the Braves losing two of three and I'd feel a lot more comfortable, but I think the math just got a lot tougher with yesterday's loss. Now, the Cards could go easily 6-0 if they can bounce back. Having Carpenter on the mound tonight will help with the momentum, assuming he can have another one of his big games. The buzz and energy will be back if they can pull it back within one. The Cubs and Astros were long ago eliminated as relevant. There's a great chance they can put together that kind of run, but remember one thing. The Cards have only won 5 in a row once this year. Yesterday would have been the second time, and we see how that worked out. St. Louis made other news yesterday, of course, resigning Berkman to a one-year deal. A $12 million deal, which is probably less than he'd have gotten on the free agent market. I like the deal--I've enjoyed having Berkman on the team, but it doesn't lock the team up like the Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse deals have. If Berkman's resurgence this year was a temporary thing, the Cards can get out from under it after next season. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised for another one-year deal. That said, there were some on Twitter that expressed some discontent with this, saying that Allen Craig deserves a full-time slot. I can't argue much with that, as Craig has proven he can hit and is definitely worthy of being a starter in the big leagues. And, of course, if Albert walks this offseason, Craig would be the starter in right as Berkman would move to first, but I don't think any of us want to entertain Pujols somewhere else. Apparently, though, Mozeliak talked to Craig before the deal was announced and told him they expected to get him regular at-bats at first, left and right, with center and second up to the manager. If Tony's back next year, I think you'll see Craig on a regular basis, moving around the diamond like a souped-up Secret Weapon. Cubs are in town tonight. If you have to bounce back from a crushing defeat, it's good to have the ace on the hill. Here's Carpenter against the Cubbies:
Cards get to face Ryan Dempster. The numbers:
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