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"It Didn't Look Like They Wanted To Come Out And Beat Us"

Posted on September 2, 2010 at 8:10 AM

I think the title of this post says it all. When a player on the opposing team questions the desire, there's little else to say about the 2010 Cardinals.

That was Geoff Blum's quote to MLB.com after yesterday's game. "It didn't look like they wanted to come out and beat us at all." We talked about this some last night on the UCB Radio Hour (by the way, really great show--listen on Blog Talk Radio or iTunes when you get the chance) and Mike made the suggestion that it was the last game of a 10 day road trip, that there may have been some "get this over with mentality". I understand what he's saying, but I don't think I agree with it. Or, more precisely, think that shouldn't have been it.

First off, I'm not sure that Blum was talking just about yesterday, but perhaps about the whole series. But even if he was just referring to the game Wednesday, it still shouldn't have been an issue. This team is out there supposedly playing for their playoff lives. This is the organization that patented "play a hard nine". Even if the NL Central is out of reach now (and, being that the Cards are just as close to third place as they are to first, I think that's a darn safe assumption), you still have the wild card and, with the pitching this team has, you never know what could happen if you get into the playoffs.

"They didn't want to come out and beat us at all."

Those are just not words I ever expected to be applied to a Tony La Russa team and it just may be more evidence that, after fourteen years, it's time for some sort of change. Even in '07 and '08, with a team dealing with injuries and trying to find itself, they played hard and hung around in the race. This team? It just doesn't seem to have the energy to go out and play, at least until the late innings when they try to make a rally. Even that, though, has been lacking some in the last few days.

Rick Horton mentioned this yesterday on the broadcast: "The score is 4-2, but it feels like 20-2." There's no faith in a rally by this team. There are a lot of places you can put blame, but as we discussed last night on the show it really seems to come down to the offense. There are holes in the lineup--when Colby Rasmus is not healthy and hitting #5, there's not much after Matt Holliday--and that keeps the team from sustaining rallies. It's a far cry from what we thought we had at the beginning of the season, when you looked at the lineup and thought that, at any time, you could sustain a rally from any point in the lineup.

Yesterday's game was more of the same. We saw the two-run home run by Matt Holliday in the first and thought that maybe something was going to happen. Without that swing, though, the Cards would have been shut out for the third straight day. They had chances, loading the bases twice, but never got anyone in. The most devastating whiff was getting Jeff Suppan and Skip Schumaker on with no one out and 2-3-4 coming up, but not scoring.

Albert Pujols went 0-4 and 0-13 over the past two games, so I think we can stop following the Triple Crown for him as well, since he's down to fifth in BA, 16 points back, and even now trails in RBI by two. September may not have much of anything interesting in it.

Jeff Suppan returned yesterday and the results were fairly predictable. He was able to stay out of damage, for the most part, until the fifth when he allowed Hunter Pence's three-run shot. If he gets Pence out, do the Cards win? Perhaps--the bullpen was strong yesterday--but it would have had that feel of "when is the other shoe going to drop" throughout the whole game.

Tony La Russa said it: "We stunk the whole trip." Unfortunately, save for their good record at home and the fact that a majority of the games left are at Busch, there's not much reason to think that September won't have that reek of failure along with it.

Now, of course, the Cards will go out, sweep the Reds, and make us even more frustrated with this road trip. No game today, 7:15 start tomorrow. Things have to get better. If nothing else, hopefully they can win more games than they lose in September and send us into the winter with a few positive memories.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Cardinals Keep Destroying Hope

Posted on September 1, 2010 at 8:22 AM

I wonder if any of his old friends in Cincinnati have called Adam Dunn and said thanks for the help.

Since his home run on Saturday, the Cards have scored a total of two runs in 31 innings. Since that moment, this team his hitting .152 against staffs that are on second-division teams. Since that moment, they've lost three games in the standings and now stand seven games back. Even the wild card doesn't provide a lot of hope, as they are four back there and have to pass two teams.

You can see an interview with John Mozeliak over at Fox Sports Midwest and, honestly, he sounds as befuddled as all the rest of us. How does this happen? How does a team with contenders for three major awards slide this far back? How can this offense gush at times and then dry up like the Sahara? Derrick Goold notes in today's game story that it took fourteen years before a Tony La Russa-led Cardinal team was shut out in back to back nights. Now, it's happened twice in five weeks.

I'm reading the Twitter and, yes, I see that Houston had a 3.32 ERA for the month of August, which was third in the league. I know that they've improved and are playing better baseball than perhaps their record showed. The Cardinals are, in theory, in a pennant race, though. You have to manage more than five hits over two games, don't you? I mean, don't you?

You can give a Hero and a Goat out for last night, if you want--Chris Carpenter probably gets the former, even though it wasn't his best outing, and Colby Rasmus's two strikeouts give him the edge for the latter over the rest of the 0-fer group--but it's hard to single any one person out.

It's possibly the most frustrating time to be a Cards fan since, well, September of 2006. The team was weak in '07, but they were able to hang around the race, and at least the '07 and '08 teams had some injury cover, where you could at least say, "if so and so were healthy, things might be different." This year, sure, they lost David Freese, but is that the difference in the team? They lost Kyle Lohse for a while and Brad Penny for longer, and those did hurt some, but even without those guys, they stayed on top or within striking distance.

I've been a La Russa fan a long time. I think that he's one of the best managers out there and I don't worry as much about his lineup switches or his Parade of a Thousand Relievers. However, I really think that it is time for a change.

It seems like so often, good teams don't wither way, they just grow stale. That's what this team is--stale. Nothing seems to change them from their plodding ways, not the pitcher hitting eighth, not a change in leadoff guys, not even shaving their heads. At most, they lift themselves out of their malaise for a bit and play inspired baseball (as they did in Cincinnati), then slump back into the realm of mediocrity. This team has too much talent for that.

The old adage says that you can't fire all the players, so you fire the manager. In the Cardinals' case, that may be true. Most of these players are going to be here next year. The only really tradeable guy was Ryan Ludwick, who has already been moved. They will have to get a starter for the rotation, but Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia and Loshe are not moving (or not movable). The lineup isn't likely to look much different either, with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Yadier Molina guaranteed to return and Rasmus should be in that group. With his late-season revival Brendan Ryan isn't likely to be moved, though he's not a lock.

If you figure Jon Jay or Allen Craig have a place on this team and David Freese probably retakes third base, that only leaves Skip Schumaker at second to replace, and it isn't like there will be a lot of top notch second baseman on the free agent market this winter.

So the 2011 team is likely to look a lot like the 2010 team. Which means that, if TLR can't get results out of them this year, it may be time to see if someone else can. Fourteen years is like a geologic era in baseball. In 1996, Ozzie Smith was still playing, Roger Maris and Hank Aaron were still the home run kings, nobody was talking about steroids, and Tampa Bay and Arizona didn't even have teams. Heck, people still bought newspapers at that time!

I honestly think that TLR will take a look this offseason, realize that things aren't getting better, and decide to walk away. He's been doing this for 32 summers now without a break, so maybe he finally decides that he wants to do some more things at home, see the family, work on ARF, etc.

I'm not sure ownership is strong enough to say enough is enough and not offer Tony a chance to come back. They've always been big fans of his and I think if he asks, he has the job again next season. I'm just not sure that he's going to ask. He's accomplished a lot in this game and I think the Cards should retire #10 in the future, but right now, I think it's time.

Cards aren't calling many up today--Nick Stavinoha and Matt Pagnozzi, while activating Dennys Reyes and Jeff Suppan--as Memphis is actually still in a race. Don't know who we will see, other than Craig, when the run ends for the Memphis Redbirds. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a peek at Lance Lynn, who has come on strong at the end of the season for the AAA squad.

Suppan goes today against Nelson Figueroa. The bullpen figures to get some work in, as Suppan wasn't getting deep into games before he was hurt, so coming off the DL he'll be lucky to go five. It's not exactly the guy you want out there when you've lost four in a row, but since they keep losing games Carpenter and Wainwright start, maybe they can win a Suppan start. Afternoon game, so there should be a chat at Fox Sports Midwest.

Let's see if the Redbirds can give us something good to talk about tonight on the UCB Radio Hour. It's retro night as Mike from Stan Musial's Stance joins me in a pairing straight out of...earlier this year. Tune in as we talk TLR, this team, Social Media Night, and how many different ways you can say "frustrating"!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Cardinals Hit Rock Bottom, Break Out Jackhammers

Posted on August 31, 2010 at 8:27 AM

You know, just once, it'd be nice to have an upbeat, positive day. I guess last Monday, with the big win over the Pirates, would count as one of those. However, since sweeping the Reds 20 days ago, those kind of days have been few and far between.

Before the game yesterday, the Cardinals gathered together and, in an act of camaraderie that in movies would have led to a eight-game winning streak and taking over the division lead, all shaved their heads. I'm sure that they were light and loose and ready to play. Unfortunately, this group of players with a heavy Christian emphasis in their leaders apparently missed the Bible story of Sampson. The Cards haven't had a lot of oomph lately, but cutting their hair apparently took it all away.

You know yesterday that I mentioned I thought J.A. Happ had done well against St. Louis? Apparently that J.A. Happ actually showed up. A two-hit (or a different word if you are the official site headline writers) shutout? Wow. Just when you thought things really couldn't get any worse.

Since the offense didn't show up, I'll have to give the Hero tag to Jake Westbrook, who pitched much better than it turned out for him. He allowed a first-inning run on a ball that was just fair and allowed his third run in the seventh on a double play ball. He pitched well enough to win and, if the team had actually packed their bats for Houston, he might have.

How do you pick just one goat when all but two of the batters wind up hitless? I'll go with Skip Schumaker, because he was the leadoff guy, but I don't feel great about it. Pretty much throw a dart and you are likely to hit someone that would qualify for this.

The only semi-positive news to come out of yesterday was that Colby Rasmus indicates that one, he has no problem with Tony La Russa and two, he's done a little bit of maturing while he's been sitting and watching baseball these last couple of weeks. Rasmus has to be back next year and he probably does need to take a step toward really maximizing his potential. If TLR decides to return, he and Colby really have to get along, so it's good to hear that, at least publically, things are going OK.

Triple Crown update: Albert Pujols is now eight points behind Carlos Gonzalez, still two home runs up on Adam Dunn and just one RBI up on Joey Votto. If AP has a September like last year, though, he won't be in the top five of many of these categories at the end of the year, so hopefully he'll continue to be locked in.

Chris Carpenter goes against Wandy Rodriguez tonight. Carp's been OK against Houston this year (1-1, 3.52, 8K/6BB in 15.1 innings) while the Cards seem to have finally figured out Rodriguez (1-2, 6.06, 9K/6BB in 16.1 innings). However, knowing how Rodriguez has shut them down before, I'm thinking all bets are off on this one. At this point, you have to just sit back and see which team shows up. Hopefully they can clear away some of the depression by having a solid game in all aspects.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Another Lost Cardinal Weekend

Posted on August 30, 2010 at 6:55 AM

What is left to say about this team? We are using up all the possible words to describe what we are seeing out of this team that, on paper, is one of the most talented ever to play in St. Louis but, on the field, has a frustrating inability to not put bad teams away. That'd be annoying if they were up 5 games in the division. Since they are now 5 games down, it is potentially fatal. A quick recap:

Friday (4-2 win)

Hero: Matt Holliday. 2-4 with a home run that turned out to be pretty big when Ryan Franklin danced through the ninth.

Goat: Felipe Lopez. 0-3 with two strikeouts sitting in the middle of the lineup keeps the engine sputtering.

Notes: Jaime Garcia didn't pitch as well as he did last time out, of course, but was able to make the pitches he needed to get out of his jams. He might not have been able to do that against lesser teams, perhaps, but the rest of the staff couldn't do it against this lesser team.

Saturday (14-5 loss)

Hero: Skip Schumaker. In a game that didn't have much redeeming value, his two hits and a run stand out.

Goat: Pick one. I guess the most glaring is Kyle Lohse for not only allowing eight runs, but to have squandered the 3-0 lead he was handed plus the 5-5 tie the Cards rallied for. The home run to Adam Dunn really put the nail in the coffin.

Notes: I'm guessing since rosters are about to expand they won't cut him, but will we see Mike MacDougal in anything but a lopsided game or as the last pitcher out of the pen? I hope not.

Sunday (4-2 loss)

Hero: Pedro Feliz. 2-4 and a home run, which allowed the Cardinals again to have a game where the tying run comes to the plate in the ninth.

Goat: Adam Wainwright. Waino continues to put a dent in his possible Cy Young season by not only being unable to gain his 18th win, but to lose against such inferior teams. Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and now Washington have beaten him his last three times out, and his ERA in that span is 5.21. Not the best time for him to hit the wall.

Notes: Jon Jay seems to be cooling off, as expected. An 0-7 in the extra inning game and another 0-fer here. Did have a home run this weekend, though, so he's got that going for him. Fernando Salas is a definite keeper. I think he and Mitchell Boggs were the only bullpen members not affected by the meltdowns this weekend.

As always, more descriptive recaps of the games over in my weekly Baseball Digest column, if you can bear to go through it.

We aren't tracking the pennant race here, but it does bear noting that the Cards are now five games behind the Reds and three out in the wild card. After these last two series and knowing that Houston has a 7-5 season advantage on us, it really seems like September may be just playing out the string.

Which means, of course, that there is much more time for the palace intrigue between Tony La Russa and Colby Rasmus. Rasmus was scheduled to play in yesterday's game, so much so that KPLR listed him in the starting lineup and Jay Randolph was completely thrown off by the fact that Aaron Miles was hitting where Jon Jay was supposed to be. (Really, it doesn't take much to throw Randolph off. I'm going to be pretty glad that all the games are on FSMW next season.)

Apparently, TLR decided to scratch Rasmus due to an abundance of caution. He said something about wanting to give him another day, didn't want him to get dehydrated or anything of that nature. Which is all well and good....if they had moved the game from a night game to a day game all of the sudden. Last I checked, though, people have been planning for that 1:35 EDT start since, oh, the beginning of the season.

So what really is going on in the clubhouse? A very good discussion on that topic is over at Viva El Birdos. I hope that there is less there than we fans are making out of it, but anyone that's read Three Nights In August knows what La Russa thought about JD Drew. If the fans are starting to do a little comparison of those two, is the manager as well? Is it possible that that previous relationship is coloring the current one?

Back in 2007 and 2008, when the manager was seemingly incompatible with the young star, I argued that you keep the youngster and let go of the manager. I was wrong then, as Anthony Reyes hasn't panned out in Cleveland any more than he did in St. Louis. However, I'm not swerving from that course in this instance. Not only is Rasmus more established than Reyes ever was, you have to wonder if La Russa is losing the clubhouse. If so, there's no reason to stick with him over a guy that you really have to have in the long run, if only from a payroll point of view.

Not only were the Cardinals' October chances hurt this weekend, but so were Albert Pujols's Triple Crown chances. After getting as close as one point in the batting race, today finds AP sitting six points out of the batting race, now trailing Carlos Gonzalez. (That's not including the specter of Omar Infante, who is at .341 and creeping closer to eligibility.) Albert is also only two RBI ahead of Joey Votto, as the two battle it out.

Of course, Pujols isn't thinking much about it and won't do a lot of discussing of it, but you wonder if either that or the fact that the team is struggling again is starting to weigh on him. He has six strikeouts in his last five games, which would not be notable given his "struggles" in that department this year, but during his hot streak, he's been making significant contact. The first 19 games of August, he struck out only four times. If he's falling out of "the zone", it could make it very difficult for him to win any of the TC categories, much less all of them.

While it wasn't the best of weekend for Pujols on the field, off the field provided probably one of the highlights of his life. Much was made out of AP and TLR being a part of Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington this weekend. I never worried much about it, one because TLR emphasized they were told it would be non-political, which it seems to have turned out to be, and frankly because I'm on that side of the spectrum anyway. (Shocking, I know, to find a conservative on the Internet!)

I hope that everyone, whatever their political beliefs, can acknowledge that the Cardinal representation at the rally was done well and non-politically. Here's a video of both of them and politics never comes up. From what I understand, it was more a religious rally than anything and, as such, there's no doubt that Pujols belonged there.

The Cardinals finish up this road trip by going to Houston for three games. As mentioned above, Houston has been a thorn in the side of the Redbirds all year long. We should have known this was going to be a frustrating year when the Cardinals became the first team to lose to them, or when Houston swept them in St. Louis is mid-May. In other words, expect a sweep is out of the question and hoping for a series win may just be a long shot.

Jake Westbrook goes for the Cardinals. In his words, he's been "consistently mediocre" since coming over from Cleveland. Given whom he was replacing in the rotation, mediocre was a step up. Still, it'd be nice to see him come out and give a strong performance for once. Especially since the Redbirds go up against J.A. Happ, who I thought was someone that had shut the Cards down a lot in the past, but he gave up five runs in six innings last year and seven runs in the only inning he's faced the team this year. Maybe this is a more favorable game than I thought.

On a final note, I've mentioned before the Social Media night that the Cardinals are having on September 16. As someone that does the blogging and the Facebook and the Twitter, it's of course of interest to me. While it's not to the level of other major league teams, who have had dedicated nights for their bloggers and at times have given them press credentials to cover the ball game from the press box, it was a first step. Could have been bigger, but it was definitely good to see the Cardinals going in that direction.

Matt Sebek, writing over at Joe Sports Fan's new abode, has put together an open letter to the Cardinals, suggesting that they should have expanded their panel to include more non-traditional media members. I'm flattered to have been included on Matt's list, though basically anyone else on that list would be much more interesting to listen to than myself!

Cards and Houston tonight at 7:05. If you want the perspective from the other side, remember friend of the blog Astros County for your Houston needs.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals | Washington Nationals Comments (4)

Setting up this three-game series with the 2011 Astros

Posted on August 2, 2010 at 4:18 PM

Okay, Cardinals fans. This is your friendly Astros blog, Astros County, checking in for a preview of this three-game series between us.

This is obviously a new-look Astros team that you're seeing. No Roy Oswalt in the dugout for the first time since 2001. No Lance Berkman on the field since 1999. Wandy Rodriguez is the longest-tenured Astro. And that sound you hear? It's the death rattle of my youth.

Yes, a new leaf has turned over in Houston, and what we expected to find under said leaf was a bunch of moss and dead bugs. Maybe a maggot, or two. Instead, the Astros are 3-0 since trading Oswalt, and have a five-game winning streak. Oddly enough, the last time the Astros had a winning streak longer than five games, it was September 2008 and it included a three-game sweep over you, friends. But we're not here to talk about the past (see what we did there? Bam!)

But let's look at how things have changed. Though we are currently enjoying a 5-4 edge in the season series, this is a much different team. The first time we rumbled in 2010 was April 12. There were five players in the lineup that day that are not in the lineup now, and that doesn't include Berkman - who was on the DL. Shortstop Tommy Manzella got hurt about a month ago, and is still a couple of weeks away from returning. Boston traded us SS Angel Sanchez for the services of catcher Kevin Cash. Geoff Blum famously hurt his elbow putting on his shirt, and is rehabbing in Double-A, where I think we all would prefer he stay. Pedro Feliz lost his job to rookie Chris Johnson. Kaz Matsui lost his job to Jeff Keppinger. Humberto Quintero lost his (and J.R. Towles') job to rookie Jason Castro. And you probably are well aware that your former #1 prospect, Brett Wallace, is now the starting first baseman in place of (wheezing) Yankee Lance Berkman (/wheezing).

So now the Astros are basically starting four rookies, and have lowered the average age of the everyday lineup by 35.7 years (approximately).

Make no mistake, this is the early stages of a rebuilding project. Minor-leaguers are making their way up, older minor-leaguers are being moved out, and the Astros hope to see the fruits of the 2008/2009 drafts in the upper-reaches of the minors, or on the 25-man roster itself, within the next 12 months.

But this is about the next three games, and all of Reds Nation fleetingly becoming Astros fans. In Game 1, you'll see new ace Brett Myers. He has famously gone at least six innings in all 21 of his starts this season, and was rewarded yesterday with a two (potentially three) year deal worth a guaranteed $21 million. How will he respond? Myers has a career 6-3 record against you, with a 4.55 ERA / 1.44 WHIP in 16 games (14 starts). This year, however, he's 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA / 1.00 WHIP in three starts, allowing four earned runs in 21 innings. Against teams he's faced more than once, that ERA/WHIP/K:BB ratio is second only two the throttling he's given the Cubs in three starts.

Tuesday night you'll find yourselves trying to learn how to hit Bud Norris, who inexplicably owns you, to the tune of a 4-1 record, 1.60 ERA / 1.04 WHIP. He is 5-9 against every other team he's ever faced. The trick to hitting Norris is to just let him get behind early in the count. When the batter is ahead of him, he allows a slash line of .344/.532/.506. When he's ahead, however, that drops to .155/.171/.247.

And then Wednesday you get to face the newest Astro pitcher, J.A. Happ - who ridiculously combines his initials into one syllable. Not sure what to expect from him, though we'll take the 6IP, 2H/0ER performance he turned in for his Astros debut against Milwaukee. In two starts against St. Louis, he's 0-1 with a 5.11 ERA / 1.54 WHIP.

For our offense, you'll find that we don't score much, and generally need our pitchers to throw like it's Game 7 in order to win.

3B Chris Johnson is hitting .341, and since getting called up with Jason Castro, he's hitting .364/.398/.573. Which is obviously an upgrade over Pedro Feliz' wildest dreams. Jeff Keppinger is also enjoying a career year, hitting .291/.354/.407, and has been in the #3 spot in the lineup since Berkman's trade.

And of course, you probably already know about Brett Wallace. After his first career Major-League hit yesterday, he got a standing ovation from the tens of people in the stands at Minute Maid. Real sweet moment.

So what does this series have to offer? Good pitching matchups, and on-the-job training for the 2011 Astros. Honestly, I'm not real concerned with these so-called "Wins and Losses" until next year. How's that for downplaying the real possibility we could get the crap kicked out of us?

Get your Astros ammunition, I mean, news at www.astroscounty.com.

Filed Under: Baseball Bloggers Alliance | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (2)

A Weekend In Chicago

Posted on July 26, 2010 at 2:15 PM

You know, one loss doesn't necessarily take the excitement out of a winning streak. Three straight losses, including two to the Cubs? That'll do it. Quick look at the three games:

Friday (5-0 loss)

Hero: Jon Jay. One for two with two walks. In a game where the Cards don't score, it wasn't his fault.

Goat: Jeff Suppan. It wasn't all his fault. Soriano should have never come up with a runner on in the fifth; Skip Schumaker should have been able to turn that double play. The wind-blown popup that fell between Suppan and Jason LaRue should have been caught. That said, he did give up three home runs, including a leadoff shot. Not exactly the best way to kick off a game.

Notes: The defense was very sloppy in this one, as I said. When the Post-Dispatch hints that perhaps the team didn't play very hard, it's not a good game. Good to see PJ Walters, albeit briefly, come in and have a quality game. Of course, that didn't do him much good since he was sent to Memphis right afterwards.

Saturday (6-5 loss)

Hero: It should go to Tyler Greene. Two hits, two RBI, scored a run....but that double play with two on and one out in the eighth is tough to swallow. So, because of that and because I've been so rough on him, I'll give it to Brendan Ryan. Two hits, plus reached on a fielder's choice due to an error. I think those trade rumors got to Ryan, because he played much better this weekend than he's been playing.

Goat: Blake Hawksworth. Six runs (five earned) in just over four innings isn't going to win a lot of ballgames. True, two of those runs scored when Mitchell Boggs wild-pitched them home, which turned out to be the deciding factor in the game, but they shouldn't have been on in the first place.

Notes: It was good to at least see some fight in the team, never giving up and continuing to work its way back. That doesn't always happens, as was shown Friday. Another two hit day for Jay with a double, which is now my non-creative nickname for him, Double Jay.

Sunday (4-3 win in 11)

Hero: Felipe Lopez. If nothing else, that might be the coolest bat flip ever. That said, kudos to Skip Schumaker for his four for four night. Be nice to see his bat going as well.

Goat: Yadier Molina. That double play in the 10th could have been a killer. Then again, it'd have been nice if Matt Holliday could have score on Schumaker's hit as well.

Notes: Another important home run for Albert Pujols. This isn't going to be any sort of career year for him--I'm almost convinced he'll ruin his streak by hitting .298 or something--but he'll still be 30/100/100 runs and that's pretty good for a bad year.

The Cardinals do at least salvage the end of that series and, with the Mets, Pirates and Astros coming up, they have a chance to put some distance between them and Cincinnati before they go Great American Ballpark two weeks from tonight.

When they go to GAB, though, they'll likely do it without The Man From Houston. John Mozeliak downplayed a lot the chances of getting Roy Oswalt, and everything that I read across the internets seems to point in the same direction. While if it was up to the player he'd have been in St. Louis yesterday--word is he was talking to an unnamed Cardinal player before Oswalt's start on Saturday--he doesn't necessarily have the last word. Houston's demands are on the extravagant side and, as I noted months ago, dealing within the division means they are asking for even more.

Jayson Stark this morning indicated that Drayton McLane has to be able to brag that he won the deal, which means that the Cardinals are in trouble. If it was more about salary relief, I think that the two clubs could match up. Jon Jay and others not named Shelby Miller could work if the Cardinals are taking on a large chunk of the payroll. If that's not the motivation, though, I don't see it happening. It sounds to me that Philadelphia is working to get him but I'm not sure that Oswalt will approve the deal. I expect we'll see him in a Houston jersey when they come to town next week.

As for other options, I don't know what they'd be. The team will be closely watching Kyle Lohse's rehab start tonight in Memphis. If Lohse looks strong, chances are the pressure is off somewhat for a quick move. If something happens to him or he gets beat around the yard, Mozeliak may be working the phones a little harder. I'm not sure what he'd come up with, as there's not been really any linking between the Cardinals and anyone but Oswalt, but you have to figure he has a few irons in the fire, even if none of them are red hot yet.

There was other Cardinal-related news this weekend as Whitey Herzog made it into the Hall of Fame and his #24 will be retired by the Cardinals on Saturday. As a fan that grew up under Whitey's tenure with the club, I say it's an honor well deserved. No one else defined a decade like he did with his strategy and tactics. Congrats to the White Rat! Here in a few years, he'll be joined by the current Cardinal manager and there will be a long discussion about who the best manager was.

No game tonight, unless you are monitoring Memphis. Albert's on David Letterman tonight, so be sure to catch that. Derrick Goold has been posting pictures on Twitter of the outside of the studio where Albert is going to do a little hitting. Don't know if he gets the interview inside first or that's all he'll be doing, but he can ask his hitting coach for some tips.

If you didn't catch it, the schedule for some guest bloggers during my vacation is below. Check it out and please support them over the next week!

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Two Series, Then A Break

Posted 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

Laying An Egg

Posted on May 14, 2010 at 10:23 AM

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or been thrown into some big glowing light on a remote island. My work schedule has made it tough to blog this week and the Cardinals' play has keep the motivation to blog down as well. Let's take a quick look at the Houston series (such as it was) before discussing.

Tuesday (6-3 loss)

Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Three hits, two runs, one RBI.

Goat: Brendan Ryan. Even though I think Brad Penny should have probably been able to get the third out of the inning anyway, he wasn't hit all that hard and Ryan did make two errors plus have another hitless game.

Notes: Jason Motte had been looking a bit sharper, but two home runs in one inning will erase that pretty quickly. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday both had a chance to get the Cards back in it in the seventh, but had weak groundouts.

Wednesday (9-6 loss)

Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Too bad everyone couldn't hit the Astros like Luddy!

Goat: Kyle Lohse. Sure, Brendan Ryan made another key error. But did you see the pitches that Lohse made after that? After the Cards had gotten the second out of the inning at third on the sac bunt, I still felt like they were going to allow at least one run. Seems like it happens way too often. Lohse, however, just laid some pitches in there. They may have been unearned in the scorebook, but not so much in reality.

Notes: Give the Cards credit, they never think they are out of it. Down 9-1, they came back and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth. Lance Berkman had two home runs coming into this series, then hit HR on back to back nights.

Thursday (4-1 loss)

Hero: Matt Holliday. Two hits and the only RBI.

Goat: Chris Carpenter. That home run to Hunter Pence was a killer, especially when there were two outs. One run is bad enough in that game, four runs is basically insurmountable.

Notes: Last time out, an unearned run. This time, an earned run. They are slowly figuring out Bud Norris! In 2013 they are going to just own him.

Seriously, though, what is up with the Cards and Norris? It's one thing to be dominated regularly by a great pitcher. It's one thing to be beaten regularly by an average pitcher. But to find it this tough to score against a guy the league tees off on? They've seen him enough so newness shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Colby Rasmus thinks he's getting a little lucky. Which, besides the fact that it probably violates the unwritten rules of pitcher respect, may have a little bit of truth to it. It could be that when Norris regresses to the mean against the Cardinals, it's going to happen in a big way. It could be he has an idea on how to pitch to this team, however. It could be that he was dipped in some mystical power, so that whomever he faced in his first career start would be the team he could beat for years. Who knows?

For such a potent, power-packed team, the Cards have now gone 84 innings without a home run. You have to back it up 13 more innings until you find a home run by a regular, which was David Freese in the second inning of Sunday's game. (Against the Reds, whom the Cardinals face starting tonight.) Pujols hasn't gone yard since April 25. Holliday? April 19.

It's not like the Cardinals are completely impotent if they aren't going yard. They scored six against Houston without a homer, 11 against the Pirates without one. They are still generating some runs, just not enough. The key hits, the hits that break a game open or complete a comeback, just aren't there.

Justin and I discussed this on the UCB Radio Hour this week. There's a lot of "it's early" talk still going around, and I can subscribe to that to a point. However, as the investment commercials say, past results are not indicative of future performance. You figure that things will start swinging upwards soon so that these guys will get back on their career track, but there's no guarantee.

Which really leads to the question of how much credit or blame Mark McGwire gets in this whole thing. As I said Wednesday, McGwire really shouldn't be a problem for Skip Schumaker, since he was the one that got Skip going in the first place. But is he causing Brendan Ryan to think too much or to get away from what he's been doing?

On the whole, save for the really spectacular ones like Dave Duncan, I think coaches get a little too much credit and a little too much blame for things. So I don't want to go assigning fault to McGwire when it could just be people out of sync or running into some good pitching causing a slump. It's something to keep an eye on, though, as he continues to integrate himself into the organization.

The Cardinals have to be concerned after being swept by a last-place team. (Good news, last time that Houston swept in St. Louis, it was 2004 and we know how that season went for St. Louis. Then again, Houston was a lot better in 2004 as well.) Not only being swept, but allowing 19 runs to a team that had only scored 85 coming in and allowing four homers to an offense that has been punchless most of the year.

Cincinnati isn't going to let them off the hook, either. A loss tonight and the Cards are out of first place for the first time this year. Jaime Garcia is a good one to have on the hill when you need a win, that's true. Interestingly, even though the Cards already have six games under their belt with the Reds, Garcia hasn't pitched in any of them. He'll definitely need to be keeping the ball down tonight in the launching pad that the Great American Ball Park can be.

Aaron Harang goes for the Reds. The Cards have gotten to him in the two starts they've faced Harang. Four runs (three earned) in just over five innings on opening day in Cincinnati, then three runs in six innings in St. Louis last week, including that Freese home run. Harang's a guy that the Cards have seen a lot of over the years. If they are going to get out of their slump, this would be a strong candidate for the job.

One blurb before I sign off here. As many of you know, I'm involved with the great baseball site Seamheads. After seeing the success of the BBA Baseball Talk podcast (which has some ties to the UCB Radio Hour), they've started up their own show called What's On Second. Good baseball talk there, especially about the history of the game. The first show focuses on Ernie Harwell and Robin Roberts, so be sure to check it out.

Cardinals really need a win tonight. I look for the bats to get going and just hope the bullpen can keep the lead handed to it. I'm sure Ryan Franklin would like to pitch again someday!

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds | Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Words From An Astros Fan

Posted on May 11, 2010 at 6:58 PM

Last year in my Playing Pepper series, I got to know James from Astros County, who was one of the first bloggers to join up with my Baseball Bloggers Alliance. We thought it'd be great to do something each time the Astros and Cards met up and we have fun with that last season. We missed connections on the first series between the teams in 2010, but we've righted the ship this time. Below are some comments and thoughts on this series from him, and you can find my comments at his blog today. James will also be on tomorrow night's UCB Radio Hour, as he mentions below. So sit back and get the view from the other side.

Well, well. This is embarrassing. I appreciate Daniel giving up some space to listen to the deranged musings of an masochistic Astros fan, and I'm looking forward to bringing my exasperation to you Cardinals fans live tomorrow night for the UCB Radio Hour.

Unlike certain hitting coaches who shall remain nameless, I am here to talk about the past, and it ain't pretty. The Astros are 8-12 in their last ten games, and 2-8 in their last ten. Those two wins were walk-offs - Carlos Lee's FIRST home run of the year on May 5 against the Diamondbacks, and Hunter Pence's double in the 11th against the Padres on Sunday.

The Astros didn't play last night, so this will be the first game since that Pence's win, and the Astros are hoping to carry some momentum and use that game as a turning point for what is increasingly looking like a lost season. Of course, that's difficult to do against the Cardinals, who are 9.5 games up on the Astros, but at least the pitching matchups are somewhat favorable.

The Astros will send Brett Myers to the mound to face your Brad Penny. Myers has been a bright spot in the rotation, coming in as a #3 and looking more like a #2 (in a good way), as Wandy Rodriguez has struggled this season. These two squared off on April 14, with Penny outdueling Myers for a 2-1 win, but that marked something of a new Brett Myers for us in Houston. Since that game, he has given up 11 earned runs in 27 innings, striking out 19 and walking eight.

Then it's the aforementioned Wandy, who couldn't have asked for a better matchup with Kyle Lohse, and Thursday will see Cardinal-killer Bud Norris run up against Chris Carpenter. Somehow Norris has a career 5.49 ERA, but is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA against your Cardinals. Norris can strike out batters, but it seems like his confidence gets rattled after giving up a baserunner - which isn't good for a guy with a 1.97 WHIP.

The big problem - as I'm sure you already know - is the Astros offense, which is flat-out depressing. In their last ten games, the Astros have scored 17 runs. We had a guy on Twitter let us know that - before Sunday's 4-run explosion - the Houston Dynamo (our MLS team) had scored 11 goals in eight games, while the Astros had scored 11 runs in their previous eight games. It's not good when your offense is being compared unfavorably to a soccer team.

And chief among these problems is the triumvirate of Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Hunter Pence. Even after Sunday, in which they combined for a 7x14 day, Berkman is hitting .194/.296/.355; Lee is hitting .207/.246/.302; and Pence is hitting .231/.252/.343. Michael Bourn is our slugging leader - yeah, you read that right, at .367, and has the highest OPS at .733 - by about 80 points. So things are bleak in Houston, and aren't likely to get better for quite some time.

The big news of the week was when Berkman said he's willing to waive his no-trade clause if it meant helping the Astros get some prospects in the system (and send him to a contender. So it's not like he's saying he'd go to the Royals to help the Astros). Most fans, for the first time, are willing to come to terms with the impending loss of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman. Carlos Lee talked openly about retirement on a day that he struck out looking as the winning run to end the game, so we were kind of hoping he'd wait to quit until after that AB, but that's the state of the Astros right now. Everyone wants out, and so do we.

So good luck. I hope you give Pujols his $50 million a year, and screw your budget for the next ten years. It's bleak here, what do you want from me? Give me a shout tomorrow night.

Filed Under: Baseball Bloggers Alliance | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Two Up, One Down

Posted on April 16, 2010 at 7:48 AM

It's all about patterns. The Cardinals, in the early going, have alternated day games and night games. So far, they've kept up a two win, one loss pattern with their series as well.

I'm not exactly sure what kinda mojo Bud Norris has when he faced the Cardinals, but if he could figure out how to do that with the other teams, we'd be talking about a first-ballot Hall of Famer. For the third straight time, he fried the Cardinal bats, giving up only an unearned run. His career ERA against the Cardinals is 0.00. I figure this is one of those situations where, after they finally get a book on him, they'll start teeing off, but I don't know how long that book takes to write.

It's too bad Kyle Lohse ran up against that kind of pitching, because he had a very good game himself. Two runs in seven innings usually gets you the win. Instead, a loss goes on his ledger, again indicating why wins and losses just aren't the best way to evaluate a pitcher.

Can we talk about the starting rotation for a moment? I've continued to maintain that it'd be tough to see a run like we did last year, where every starter was giving up two runs or less in their start for about 10 days. Which continues to prove that there's a reason people don't pay me for my analysis. The Cardinal rotation right now has a 2.59 ERA after ten games (I know the P-D story says 2.90, but I think they double-counted Lohse's runs from yesterday), and that includes Carpenter's blowup in Milwaukee. Take that out, and you are looking at an even 2.00 for starter ERA.

We'll have to see if they can keep it up throughout the year. Obviously they aren't going to stay in the 2.00 range, but we know what Carpenter and Wainwright can do and Brad Penny has a successful pedigree. If Lohse can stay on the right path--and remember, he was strong last April as well before the injuries and everything started happening to him--and Jaime Garcia can prove that he's a big league pitcher, it could be another mound summer in St. Louis.

I probably should give the Hero to Lohse, but I want instead to honor David Freese. Freese had two of the Cardinals' six hits and drove in the only run. Freese looks to be settling into third base, which is great considering that most people (including myself) just thought the team was giving Jim Edmonds away to the Padres a few years back. This has the possibility to turn into one of John Mozeliak's best trades.

We look to the bullpen again for the Goat. I know most everyone will say that the offense was the reason that they lost that game, that if they could have put up runs the bullpen wouldn't have been an issue. That's true, but they didn't, and even at that they were one run down with two chances left. Guys like Pujols and Holliday could have tied the game on one swing. Instead, Mitchell Boggs let the Astros put the game away with more runs in one inning than they'd scored in a lot of games up to that point. The bullpen is still an issue, but it's one of the few issues the team has, assuming the offense gets back to running.

Other notables: Bryan Anderson got his first major league at-bat. He's in the history books now and he'll always be able to say he was a big leaguer. He took a good swing on the ball and hopefully we'll see more of him in the next couple of weeks. You also have to take note that Jason Motte through a perfect inning and a third, getting a strikeout in there to boot. If he gets straightened out, that pen because a lot more palatable.

Chris Carpenter is on the mound tonight against the New York Metropolitans. Career numbers:

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	HBP	GDP
Jason Bay	29	26	2	0	0	1	2	3	12	.077	.172	.192	.365	0	0	0	0
Luis Castillo	28	23	7	1	1	0	0	2	0	.304	.360	.435	.795	3	0	0	1
Henry Blanco	15	14	3	0	0	0	2	1	4	.214	.267	.214	.481	0	0	0	0
Gary Matthews	14	12	6	1	0	0	3	1	1	.500	.500	.583	1.083	0	1	0	1
Fernando Tatis	11	11	1	0	0	0	2	0	3	.091	.091	.091	.182	0	0	0	0
Jeff Francoeur	10	10	3	0	0	1	2	0	2	.300	.300	.600	.900	0	0	0	1
David Wright	9	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.222	.222	.222	.444	0	0	0	0
Jose Reyes	7	6	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.167	.286	.167	.452	0	0	0	0
Rod Barajas	5	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.400	.400	.600	1.000	0	0	0	0
Alex Cora	5	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.400	.250	.650	0	0	1	0
Oliver Perez	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250	.250	.500	0	0	0	0
Omir Santos	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0
Nelson Figueroa	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0
Johan Santana	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0
Total	144	131	29	3	1	2	11	8	30	.221	.270	.305	.575	3	1	1	3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2010.

Carp's done a pretty good job with this crew in the past. Hopefully he keeps the ball down and in the park. Another night of long balls and there are going to be a lot of worried people in Cardinal Nation.

The Mets run out Oliver Perez. Perez was a thorn in the Cardinals' side during the 2006 NLCS, but here are his numbers in the regular season against the current Redbird hitters:

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	HBP
Albert Pujols	33	28	11	4	1	3	9	4	3	.393	.485	.929	1.413	0	0	1
Felipe Lopez	27	22	7	0	0	1	4	3	8	.318	.407	.455	.862	0	1	1
Jason LaRue	23	21	4	0	1	2	6	2	10	.190	.261	.571	.832	0	0	0
Yadier Molina	20	18	7	2	0	1	3	2	0	.389	.450	.667	1.117	0	0	0
Matt Holliday	19	16	2	0	0	1	4	3	4	.125	.263	.313	.576	0	0	0
Brad Penny	8	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Chris Carpenter	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	0	0
Ryan Ludwick	6	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167	.167	.167	.333	0	0	0
Brendan Ryan	6	4	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.250	.500	.250	.750	0	0	0
Kyle Lohse	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Total	150	130	33	6	2	8	26	16	40	.254	.342	.515	.858	1	1	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2010.

Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina have done well against Perez in the past, so perhaps they can jump start an offense that has been fairly dormant since the home opener.

This is my first weekend that I don't have to work, so don't expect blog entries tomorrow or Sunday. They might happen, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Should be a fun series with the Mets, though. It's a series the Cardinals should win, but there's still some danger to the Mets. They may be down, but they still have talent that can come back to bite you. You can read my answers to Mets blogger Kerel from On The Black in preparation for the three games over here. Enjoy the game, everyone!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

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