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A Wrap And A Look Forward

Posted on October 7, 2009 at 6:48 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Los Angeles Dodgers | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals
It's been a busy week for me, with having to drive a hour and a half to an audit every morning.  (Usual commute to the office--8 minutes.)  So I've not had the chance to finish up the regular season and look at tonight's start of the NLDS.  Let me see if I can't do that extremely quickly.

Saturday: 5-4 Loss

Hero: Brendan Ryan.  Three for three, scored twice, drove in run.  Did have a baserunning glitch, but all in all, did as much as possible to bring home a win for the Cards.
Goat: Rick Ankiel.  No hits in four at-bats, struck out three times, left five men on.
Notes: Albert Pujols almost got the goat, also going 0-4 and left four men on.  Plus his normal aggressive defense failed the Cards in the decisive inning, as he was too far off the bag and wasn't able to get there before Kyle Lohse, causing neither of them to catch Julio Lugo's throw.  A catch ends the inning with the Cards on top.  Instead, Milwaukee took the lead they wouldn't relinquish.


Hero: David Freese.  Not only did he go two for three and drive in three runs after coming into the game, but he took on the challenge of making his professional catching debut when the Cards, who have three catchers on the roster, ran out of backstops.
Goat: Todd Wellemeyer.  The home run to Prince Fielder that put the Brewers ahead in the ninth was bad enough, but to allow two more runs in the 10th?  There's only so many comebacks a team has in them.
Notes: If nothing else, it was good to see this team battle back.  They kept getting down, but they never gave up.  Even in the ninth against Trevor Hoffman, they had good at bats, drawing walks and getting the tying run across.

The Cards slumped badly down the stretch, going 2-7 in their last nine, with the only wins being the clincher game pitched by Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter's offensive explosion game in Cincinnati.  While I don't think that stretch runs are necessarily indicative of post-season performance (unless you've had to win your way in), it's not the most comfortable feeling in the world to limp in like that.  Then again, that's about what the '06 team did, so who knows.

The slate is fresh today, though, for the opener of the NLDS.  If nothing else, the fact that the Dodgers didn't exactly tear it up the last couple of weeks should help Cardinal fans feel a little better.

There are a lot of keys for the Cardinals in this series, but here's what I think the biggest is: finding the ability to hit lefties.  The Dodgers will throw out two in the first two games, against St. Louis's biggest weapons in Carpenter and Wainwright.  If you've read my interview with Feeling Dodger Blue, you know that the bullpen is actually one of LA's biggest strengths.  The Cards can't afford to get into a battle of the bullpens.  That's a good way to wind up losing one of the Big Two's starts, games that the Cards are going to have to win to have a chance for the trophy.

So the Cardinals have to find a way to score some runs earlier in the ballgame behind the two aces.  If they can get a 3-0, 4-0 lead for them, odds are they'll take the games and be in great shape for the series.  If it gets to 0-0, 1-1 in the seventh, when Tony LaRussa's having to pinch-hit and get creative, there's a good chance the Dodger bullpen shuts them down and they come back to St. Louis behind the eight ball.

It's a late game tonight, Carpenter vs. Randy Wolf.  Good luck to the Redbirds!


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SMS_Mike | October 7, 2009 9:58 AM | Reply

I'm not sure I buy the Dodger bullpen is a strength. They've thrown more innings than any NL team other than San Diego, and their % of inherited runners who score is just barely above the league average (their rate - 29%, league average 30%).

Yes Sherril, Broxton, and Kuo are good, but beyond that they aren't.

Despite Franklin's recent woes, statistically our bullpen is better.

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Heroes
Lance 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)

Goats
Ryan 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%


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