Kansas City Royals Archives (C70 At The Bat)

Recently in Kansas City Royals Category

While the Cat is away...

Posted on July 30, 2010 at 1:07 AM

As you ran down your bookmarks this morning and clicked on C70 At The Bat, I'm sure you had no idea what you were about to find.

Hello, my name is Bill Ivie and I am the Executive Editor of i70baseball.com, a Baseball Digest affiliate site dedicated to all things Cardinals and Royals related. I also work for BaseballDigest.com and can be found regularly on Blog Talk Radio hosting the United Cardinal Blogger Radio Hour as well as my own I-70 Baseball Radio.

Wait...where you going? I promise, you are in the right place. Don't leave just yet.

Now that introductions are over, let me explain.

Daniel, your normally gracious host, has gone on vacation. In an effort to ensure that his fans, both of you, would not be bored this week without him, he left the keys in the care of some faithful friends and bloggers that promised to provide some ~~crap for you to read~~ great content that will keep you from missing Daniel too awful much.

It is more than a pleasure for most of us to help out Daniel and we can only hope that you are pleased with what we bring.

What should we talk about this morning, you ask? Well...

I Can't Even Feel Frustrated Anymore

This team is not serious, are they? I sit down every day and read about how the team under performs, fails to deliver, and how everyone seems completely surprised by this. I do not think you can be surprised by this anymore. The only surprise I get everyday is when I get up in the morning and do not see a headline that begins with "Cardinals Trade For" in the Post Dispatch.

Seriously, people, this is no longer a surprise. This team is struggling offensively and has all season long. Do we need pitching help to get to October? Yes. Suppan and Hawksworth are not going to cut it. But the bigger need here is to produce runs.

It is a simple rule in sports. To win, you must score more than the other guy. To outscore your opponent you must first score. The 2010 roster of guys wearing the Birds on the Bat have been shut out 10 times this season as of today. That equals the total for 2009. They were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since the first half of this decade. I would love to see a rotation for the next few years that consisted of Carpenter, Wainwright and Oswalt, but it does not fix the obvious problem. This team needs help producing runs.

More than that, this team needs a shake-up. The trade deadline is just under two days at this point. If this team is to produce the World Series that we were all crowing about at the beginning of the year, changes need to be made. I think most players, within reason, should be available. Can we grab a known commodity for Colby Rasmus? Then do it. Does Skip Schumaker have a future on another club that can bring us a solid run producer? The deal should be done. Can we get a solid return for the rights to golden child Shelby Miller? Then ship him away. I would much rather be writing a column three years from now about how we traded the great Shelby Miller for a trophy in 2010 then finish this season writing about how we let the 11th Championship in team history get away because we would not part with a player that has yet to prove himself.

Tune in for the rest of the week as we hijack this site and bring you some commentary from different voices. Do everyone that writes a favor and visit the site that they come from. I promise, before Daniel returns (and kills all of us), you will find a few new additions to your daily bookmarks because of it. I will see you again on Thursday.

Have a great weekend and, as always, thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Cardinal Nation | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers Leave a Comment

Mea Culpas

Posted on June 28, 2010 at 11:48 AM

While taking my regular weekend sabbatical from blogging, I got to thinking about some of the posts that I've written this week and I realized I've strayed a little bit from what the general tone of this blog usually is.

Back in my very first entry, before I swapped Wordpress for Blogs By Fans or started up the United Cardinal Bloggers, I wrote the following:

"I root for the Cardinals and typically give them and management the benefit of the doubt. I'll criticize when necessary, but I'm not big on general bashing."

While I don't think my posts have been bashing per se, I don't think I've been giving management enough of the benefit of the doubt. Look, the number of moves that have gone toward veterans and away from younger players is not necessarily a philosophy that most of us on the internet would espouse. When you see things like that, one straw on top of another, it becomes difficult to keep any optimism about the moves.

Fact is, though, management has more information and insight on these things than we do, especially people like me sitting a state away and watching a few innings and reading some articles on a daily basis. There's a reason they think that Blake Hawksworth should start, that signing Jeff Suppan is a good idea. And, honestly, most often they are right, or at least are right for a while.

Criticism is fine and good, but kudos are due when it pans out and, so far, most everything has at least not blown up in their faces.

Let's get to the last four games before talking about the team in general. Apparently I should have never said anything about not having pitching woes with Adam Wainwright on the hill. I had no idea I was such a powerful jinx.

Waino seems to be having a little trouble settling into games. For the year, his first 15 pitches have been hit at a .305 clip. His only run against Oakland was allowed in the first inning. Seattle got him for two in the first. In fact, you'd have to go back to his complete game shutout against the Brewers to find a game where he didn't allow at least one run--and usually more than one--in the first frame.

He gave up three in Toronto and then allowed two more in his shortest outing since Sept. 13, 2008 against Pittsburgh. Not what you want to see out of Wainwright and not what you expect to see out of him. We'll see if he's able to dodge that first inning bullet against Arizona on Tuesday.

Tough to find a Hero in a game where the team is shutout on five hits, so we'll give it to Fernando Salas. He threw two scoreless innings at a time when the pen needed a little extra boost and, though he did allow four baserunners in that time, he worked out of trouble.

How is it not possible, though, that this juggernaut that we as fans thought we had going into the season has yet to sweep a three game series? They got the four gamer against the Braves back in April (part of their season-long five game winning streak) and took a short two-gamer against the Nationals, but that's it. When you go for the sweep with Wainwright on the mound and don't get it, you start to wonder just how snake bit you are.

Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks | Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | Toronto Blue Jays Leave a Comment

Playing Pepper 2010: Kansas City Royals

Posted on March 3, 2010 at 10:16 PM

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball. I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by. That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist. Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set. Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order, but things may change depending on responses.

Kansas City Royals
2009 Finish: 65-97, tied fourth in AL Central

It's tough being a Royals fan. One of my best friends has followed Kansas City for as long as I can remember and it never ends well. There are those brief glimpses, such as 2003, but then things fall apart. The process starts again, but it never seems to end.

That said, the Royals are well represented in the BBA, both in number and in quality. Sit back and enjoy as Nick from Broken Bat Single, Wally from Kings of Kauffman, Jeff from Royally Speaking and Brian from Royals Kingdom look forward to 2010 with their beloved squad.

Filed Under: Kansas City Royals | Playing Pepper Comments (1)

Where Have These Bats Been?

Posted on June 22, 2009 at 9:47 AM

The On The Run people were probably pretty busy this weekend as the Cards really got serious in Kansas City.

When the Cards wind up scoring 29 runs in the three game set, there are a lot of offensive heroes. Let's break down the series game by game.

Friday, while you have to love what Khalil Greene did in his first game back, smacking two extra-base hits, I think I want to give the Hero tag to Ryan Ludwick for making Kansas City pay for walking Albert Pujols. Ludwick's grand slam may have helped lead to Pujols's big weekend, as it made KC gun-shy about walking him.

Add on to the fact that Pujols drove in two runs anyway early in the game, Skip Schumaker went three for four, Colby Rasmus four for five and Rick Ankiel even went yard and suffice it to say it was a great Friday night in Kansas City.

Finding a downside is pretty tough, but Chris Duncan did go 0-4 with two strikeouts and three left on base. That and Tyler Greene's hitless night could be overlooked, though, when you have everyone else clicking.

Saturday wasn't quite as explosive, but still was more offense than we have been used to seeing out of the Cardinals. With Chris Carpenter on the mound, it's not like they needed a ton of it, anyway. Carpenter was, well, Carpenter, and he pretty much had to be until the Cards put up a couple in the sixth then tagged Royals relief pitching in the ninth.

Pujols went yard again. He's been on such a tear since I hinted he was slumping. (You're welcome.) Khalil Greene went yard for the second straight day, helping provide a lot of that ninth-inning insurance. Yadier Molina and Ludwick had two hits and Ryan Franklin continued his All-Star year (he has to go, right? 17 saves and an ERA of 1.00?) with another save of longer than one inning.

I love this quote from Royals pitcher Brian Bannister:

"And when he gets in the batter's box, if you pray, then you start praying. And if you don't pray, you think about starting."

About the only downside to that game, besides the inexplicable decision by Fox not to return to it after the rain delayed the start, instead leaving us in this area with Detroit and Milwaukee (which was nice, being that the Brewers lost and the Cards moved into first), was the fact that Rasmus went 0-4.

Then we get to Sunday's game. Pujols. Need we say more?

Actually, apparently we do, since now we know that Pujols called his shot on Sunday, a story that is making the rounds. Not that he would hit a home run next time up. Not that he'd hit it to center field, but that he'd hit the Royals HOF, which he did. In case you ever wondered just how special that guy is..... Perhaps Bernie Mikalsz is right, Pujols needs to be walked all the time. Just hope people don't actually start doing that.

So, besides hitting a called-shot grand slam, he follows up with another solo shot after driving in two runs in the first inning. Not hard to find a hero in that one, though you have to also like Khalil going deep yet again and Duncan and Ankiel getting two hits.

The downside was Adam Wainwright. I know he got the win. I know he got 8 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter. But eight hits and two homers? Five runs? Not exactly what we need to see out of the "co-ace".

You have to think Pujols was also very happy to help Tony LaRussa win his 2500th game. Can you imagine that we'll ever see this again? TLR started managing so young and has never taken a full year off. The one year he was fired, he had another job within weeks. He left Oakland in an offseason and was in St. Louis by the next opening day. 30 straight years, basically, and having very good ball clubs in that span as well.

He's 263 wins from second place. Figure that he gets another 43 wins (just a guess--I could easily see them winning more) by the end of this year, he sits 220 behind John McGraw. That's just three more solid years. Would he stick around that long, especially since he'd have the best player in baseball on his team? You'd like to think so.

The key now is to see if this offensive renassiance can be carried into the new Citi Field. Todd Wellemeyer goes tonight, which is always a gamble. His numbers against the Mets don't inspire a lot of confidence either, as David Wright (.700) is probably looking forward to getting jump-started.

The Mets counter with Tim Redding, who hasn't exactly been a Cardinal killer in his career either. Albert's got a home run off of him before and, the way he's swinging the bat now, Redding might want to be very concerned.

Most of you know that last week, I had the chance to interview Ozzie Smith. In the same contact, the opportunity to interview Bruce Sutter was extended. Being that Sutter was gone from St. Louis before I really got started following the Cards (and wanting to spread the wealth, as it were), I put this out to the other UCB members. Mike at Stan Musial's Stance jumped at the chance, so you will be able to hear him talk to Sutter tomorrow morning on Blog Talk Radio at 10:30 Central. It should be a great listen!

Also, a note of remembrance that today is the 7th anniversary of Darryl Kile's tragic passing. The anniversary of Jack Buck's passing last week slipped past me and, honestly, Kile's might have as well without a Facebook status reminder. So hard to believe that much time has passed.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Finishing Up With Detroit

Posted on June 19, 2009 at 8:48 AM

You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have a series win, a series win.

What's up with Adam Wainwright getting so much run support lately? The Cards bust out 13 for him in Florida, then follow that up with 11 against the Tigers. There's a lot of possible Heroes in that game. Albert Pujols hit #23, taking over the major league lead in home runs. Chris Duncan had three hits, including a home run. However, like Jeff Gordon wrote, the game may have turned on Yadier Molina's first-inning at-bat. Molina battled and battled, then dropped the two-run single into left and the Cards were bursting Justin Verlander's invincible bubble. It was interesting, though, that later in the game Molina got a taste of his own medicine, getting picked off first by the catcher.

On the flip side, it's tough to come up with a Goat, but I guess you go with Colby Rasmus. One hit in five at bats is OK, but he struck out twice and left four on, so in a game where everything was clicking, that's enough to slap the tag on you.

So the Cardinal offense has shown that it can turn up on occasion and that it's a pretty fearsome thing when it is completely clicking. The problem is, it doesn't click on those cylinders very often. I don't know how many times this week I've looked up, seen Rick Ankiel at the plate with runners on, and assumed a strikeout, an assumption that was usually fulfilled in the next few moments.

Wednesday's game, though, showed that even with reasonable offense, the Cards can win. Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molina both had three hits, Molina with a home run that started the scoring, Rasmus with two hits (including a triple) that drove in a run. It was nice to see a solid outing by Todd Wellemeyer as well, though as we noted on the UCB Radio Hour, Wellemeyer can do that, but you don't know anymore that he can do it consistently.

On the down side, Kyle McClellan did give up a run in his over an inning of work, but it didn't tie the game, so I'll go with Joe Thurston, who went 0-4 and left two on base. There weren't a lot of negative performances to choose from, however.

Thursday, the Cards had a chance for a sweep and to maybe quiet the local talk about not taking Rick Porcello a couple of years ago. However, neither of those happened as the Cards lost a game that, statistically, was over in the first and Porcello was able to work out of jams to put up a solid line.

It's tough to know who to put the Goat tag on. Thurston's error in the first led aided in the four-run inning, a gap that the Cards have only come back from once this year. Given the way the team tried to battle back, though, I think you have to give the Goat tag to Jason Motte for serving up back-to-back home runs in the eighth, turning a one-run game into a three-run bulge. I'm guessing Fernando Rodney wouldn't have been in the game in the ninth with one run, but seeing the Cards load the bases really made you wish it was still 4-3.

On the plus side, Duncan had an RBI, Molina had two hits, but let's go with Tyler Greene, who had a double among his two hits and drove in a run. The offense wasn't spectacular last night, but it was respectable. You also have to credit Joel Pineiro for pitching a very good game after the first inning, a first that wasn't completely his fault.

The Cardinals made some moves yesterday. One was pretty expected, bringing Khalil Greene back. However, the flip side of that was not Blake Hawksworth going down, which was rumored earlier in the week, but PJ Walters. Nice to see Hawksworth getting a chance to hang around. The other side of this was sending down Nick Stavinoha and bringing back up Josh Kinney, because we can't bear to be without 13 pitchers nowadays.

Kinney seems to have made strides in Memphis, so I look forward to seeing him back here in the bigs. Greene is going to cause a lot of debate until he proves he's mentally healthy and is back to hitting. It seems like a very quick turnaround for someone with his mental condition, though it may be that something flipped a switch for him or there was some medication he could take that would help ease his anxiety. I expect he'll be starting tonight vs. Kansas City so we'll start seeing whether this is the case.

The Cards head across state this weekend for a rematch with the Royals. Again, the Cardinals miss Zach Greinke, though that's not quite the relief that it was last time around. The series opens with Kyle Davies, who did a solid job against the Cardinals in the last series, allowing only two runs in six innings. However, that was during that extremely good stretch of pitching and so the Cardinals won that game 5-0. None of the Cardinals have seen him all that often, though there are some good numbers in there.

The Cardinals counter with Brad Thompson. I've been pretty vocal that I'm not a huge Thompson fan anymore, but he's definitely done the job since being pressed into service. His 2.93 June ERA, though, is really weighed down by the zero earned in six innings in his last start. Whether that is the trend now that he's getting used to the rotation or a fluke still remains to be seen. He's really going to have to watch Mark Teahen, but the rest of the Royals haven't been that tough on him.

Should be an interesting series. There have been some TV changes to the schedule which affect this series. Saturday's game was planned for FSMW, but has been picked up as a Fox Game of the Week. Other changes include the July 23 makeup game against the Nationals will be on FSMW, the August 1 game against Houston has been taken off the Fox Game of the Week schedule, given to FSMW, and has a time change to 6:15. Finally, the Saturday, October 3 game (the next to last game of the year) has moved from FSMW to KSDK.

Enjoy the weekend!

Filed Under: Detroit Tigers | Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Pitching Is A Wonderful Thing

Posted on May 25, 2009 at 10:33 PM

How things have changed. It used to be, just a week ago, where if the starting pitchers gave up only three runs in seven innings, plans were drawn up for a parade. Now, that's pretty shoddy work, at least in context.

We've already talked about Saturday's game as the wrapup to the UCB progressive blog project. Let's look back at Friday and Sunday as well as Monday's heartbreaker.

You had to figure that, if anyone was going to break up the string of good pitching, it'd be Todd Wellemeyer on Friday. Wellemeyer has struggled so often this year and, even when he's been going good, it's not been necessarily to the level that Joel Pineiro, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright took it to this week. Wellemeyer stepped up to the challenge, though, and you have to like that. Seeing all those zeros this week was a sight for sore eyes.

You could flip a coin on the Goat, which is not surprising as sputtering as the offense has been. Chris Duncan went 0-3, struck out once and left five on, but he did get a walk. Colby Rasmus went 0-4, struck out once and left three as he continued his dry spell. The Goat, though, goes to Jason LaRue, who also went 0-4, but struck out three times and left two on. Surprising the Cards plated five when you look at these three, isn't it?

So the Cards roll into Sunday with outstanding performances by all five of their starters. I mean, when you've only given up two runs total in five games? That's crazy talk, but it's the good kind of crazy.

I don't know how to express my disappointment when the Royals were able to score in the first inning. Don't they read the script? Don't they know the opponent isn't supposed to get on the board until the 6th at the earliest?

Sadly, they skipped the rest of the script as well, which says no matter how bad the Cards hit, they score more than you do. Joel Pineiro pitched a very good game, a game that normally he would have won. I almost gave the Hero tag to Yadier Molina for his 1-4, RBI, run day, until I realized that Pineiro not only pitched well, but went 2-3 with an RBI. Rick Ankiel might have gotten consideration, but striking out twice with two runners on doesn't help the cause.

On the negative side, I think you probably give it to Colby Rasmus again. I'm a huge Rasmus fan, but 1-4 (which, granted, is better than a lot of days for him) doesn't help cancel out the mental error in the seventh which led to the game-winning run.

Still, the Cards were able to take two out of three from a tough Kansas City team and get into a first place tie over the weekend. I've seen much worse from the Redbirds, so you'd have to take it.

Monday's game was a masterpiece from both sides, save the fact that the Cards didn't win. Chris Carpenter....what can you say? Really? I mean, was anyone really surprised that he was perfect into the seventh? The guy could throw a perfect game every time out and I think I wouldn't be shocked. Now 23 innings without an earned run allowed this season. As the commentators noted during the game, he didn't even look like he was working hard. 93 pitches in eight innings. There's no doubt he could have finished it off if necessary.

Of course, Yovani Gallardo is a tough one as well. You knew it'd be a great pitching duel going into the game, but a double no-hitter into the sixth? That was unexpected. Then again, as stagnant as this offense is, it shouldn't have been a surprise that a pitcher like Gallardo was shutting them down. Kudos to Brendan Ryan for hustling hard and breaking up the no-hitter, so that they lost theirs before Carp lost his.

The Cards never had much of a chance in the game, either. Two on a couple of times, but they were always with two outs and people like Chris Duncan up, whom you were pretty sure weren't going to get the hit that was needed (though Duncan did give a ball a ride there in the late goings that about got me excited). A lot of ofers in this one, but you have to give the Goat tag to someone that didn't play the whole game. The error by Brian Barden pretty much spelled doom for the Redbirds. I almost thought Kyle McClellan was going to get out of it, but Bill Hall got the bat on a pitch and that was that.

That takes care of the on-the-field stuff. What about off the field?

Well, as noted above, Rick Ankiel came off the DL this weekend. That wasn't completely surprising, though all the talk had been that it might be another week, that Ryan Ludwick might come off first. What was surprising, at least to me, was that Tyler Greene was sent down to make room for him, not Nick Stavinoha or Brad Thompson.

So, just a week after it looked like he might get a starting job in the majors, he's farmed out because he needs to play. A fascinating turn of events and one that I frankly don't understand. I'm sure that it means that Khalil Greene could be close to coming back. But is he going to be playing regularly before this weekend, with Ludwick's return? Khalil got two at bats in the Kansas City series and didn't start against Milwaukee. So exactly how close is he?

The other rationale was that there are options at the major league level, presumably meaning Khalil, Joe Thurston and Barden. However, it's not like any of them were showing the offensive spark that Tyler Greene was showing. The month of May shows Thurston batting .180 with three RBI (though he does have nine walks) and Barden at .146 with one RBI (and only two walks). These are the guys you want to keep running out there? Really?

I'm not saying that Tyler Greene was the answer to the offensive puzzle, but a .273 average with two homers and three RBI in the same span is worth keeping around, even if he does have 10 K to only two walks.

With the offensive shortfall, the Nation's eyes look to Brett Wallace, who is still hitting pretty well in Memphis (.342 with one HR) even though the last four games have seen him on a two for 17 skid. According to the latest reports, John Mozeliak will be checking on Troy Glaus next week to get an update on his condition. If Glaus looks to be out this year, Wallace should get consideration for a call up. I don't know that he will, but he should.

Let's look at Tuesday's game, matching Adam Wainwright and Jeff Suppan. Hey, haven't we seen this one before? I hope the sequel is better. Wainwright's got good career numbers against the Brew Crew, but Suppan has owned his old team since his departure, going 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA since he signed with the Brewers after the World Series run in '06. Ironically, a lot of the Cardinals hit Suppan at a decent clip, but he's apparently able to work around the damage. If Wainwright comes out like he has since he corrected his flaw and starting featuring his fastball, it could be another scoreless pitching duel.

Little housekeeping. First off, MVN is running a mock draft. You can check it out here and see who Future Redbirds founder Erik Manning took for the Birds.

Also, you can find an interview with Brendan Ryan and Nick Stavinoha over here at Bleacher Report. Nice look at a couple of the young Cardinals and the impact they are making on the team.

Finally, this Wednesday's UCB Radio Hour will have a special guest. Rob Rains, who has written numerous books about the Cardinals and has a new book out on Tony LaRussa, will be joining us to talk about that book, his work with the Cardinals, and anything else we can think to ask him about. If you have some questions, leave 'em in the comments!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

UCB Progressive Game Blog: Wrapup

Posted on May 23, 2009 at 4:26 PM

(Be sure to see the ninth inning here and a list of all the participating blogs can be found over here.)

So the Cards continue their amazing pitching run, posting another 5-0 win against the Royals. The On The Run people can breathe easier for another day, as the Cards have now gone two weeks without hitting the serious number.

Kyle Lohse will get the nod as the Hero of the game, as so many of the starters have done this time around. Eight innings, no runs, four hits, six strikeouts. As I wrote in the pre-game post, Lohse had a terrible start to last May and turned it around in his fourth start. Could it be that history will repeat itself?

The starters' ERA for the last five games is a minuscule 0.25. Heck, the total staff has only allowed two runs in that span for a 0.40 ERA. Most of us have seen this before, but it's when we are playing Playstation. This is the best stretch of pitching since 1973, according to the post-game show on FSN. While this can't last forever, count me as one that wants to see it run as long as possible. If Joel Pineiro can give another performance like his last outing tomorrow, then you get back to Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.....

If it wasn't for Lohse's presence on the mound, Skip Schumaker might have gotten the call with two hits, including a home run. Or maybe Nick Stavinoha, who again put the first runs for the Cards on the board and gave the starter something to work with.

The goat will have to be Colby Rasmus. An 0-5 day with four left on is tough to deal with, even though three of those were left in the last inning when he came up with two outs. He did get an RBI when he was robbed on a great play by the Royals second baseman, so it wasn't a total loss.

As they said at Viva El Birdos this week, dominating starting pitching gives us as fans a boost more than some good hitting performances. If you are like me, the first time the Cards give up a run before the sixth inning, you are tempted to write off the game as a waste. Logically, we know it can't keep up indefinitely. Doesn't mean that we won't get a little disappointed when the 0 comes off the board.

So the Cards wait to see if Milwaukee will lose tonight and, if so, they'll move into a tie for first in the NL Central. Amazing what a week of winning will do for a team, huh? Tomorrow, Pineiro tries to keep it going against Brian Bannister.

Thanks to all the blogs that participated and to all that read our descriptions!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers Leave a Comment

Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

Posted on May 22, 2009 at 8:21 AM

There's nothing quite like a sweep of the Cubs to kick off a long weekend. Or, really, any weekend!

I think it is safe to say that Adam Wainwright is back. I've always taken the "found a flaw" comments with a grain of salt, but Wainwright has shown much more command and consistency since those comments. Which means the NL Central has to be worried now that Chris Carpenter and Wainwright are running back to back in the rotation.

As much as I'd like to give the Hero tag to Albert Pujols for taking the I, not out of team, but out of Big Mac, it has to be Wainwright, doesn't it? He capped an amazing series for Cardinal starters by getting two outs in the ninth and allowing only one run on five hits and, again most importantly, only one walk. The increased command of the strike zone that Wainwright has shown in the last two games is the biggest reason that I feel confident this correction is lasting.

Pujols does seem to be shaking out of the slump he's been in. The mammoth home run in the first, which was a great kick start to the game, and he had three extra base hits in the series. He always seems to play pretty well against Kansas City, so hopefully he'll continue to mash this weekend.

Nice to see Colby Rasmus get another RBI. It's interesting that he leads the team with 12 RBI this month. With Rick Ankiel still not back (now on a day-to-day type of evaluation, it sounds like), Rasmus has continued to earn his keep and apparently has won center field as well, with LaRussa saying Ankiel will go to right on his return.

Another tough night for Yadier Molina. Zero for four with two left on. I don't think hitting in the fourth slot is agreeing with him.

Something I noticed last night, I believe it was, was Ankiel sitting next to Khalil Greene in the dugout. You have to think that if there's anyone on the team that can identify with Greene's mental state, it would be Ankiel. Maybe he can help get Khalil on track.

Bernie Mikalsz has a few notes up about LaRussa's lineups and the upcoming Kansas City series. I admit, I was one that wasn't sure about last night's lineup, but it worked out. Whether it would have if someone like Wellemeyer had been on the mound, I don't know. Nice to see the tip to UCB member Pip in there. (Pip is the author of the blog Fungoes.)

So the Cards ride this momentum into a showdown with the other surprising story in the state. Kansas City has slacked off some, but is still right in contention in the AL Central. The Cardinals are three games better than them in the standings and are a game closer to first, but KC has always been a tough obstacle for St. Louis to get over, even when they aren't any good.

The first game has Todd Wellemeyer going up against Kyle Davies. Wellemeyer, of course, was a Royal before being put on waivers and coming to St. Louis to restart his career. Todalion (that's his Twitter handle, even if he doesn't use it much) hasn't faced the Royal hitters much, but when he has, he's been dominant. Only David DeJesus and Mark Teahen even have a hit off of him. With Wellemeyer's struggles this year, either this is just what the doctor ordered or those career numbers are going to spike upwards.

Davies has about as much experience against the Cards as Wellemeyer does the Royals and the success rate is close as well. No one has gone yard against him and Skip Schumaker is the only one with two hits against him.

A reminder that the UCB Progressive Game Blog will be based on tomorrow's game against the Royals. You can see the rundown of which blogs are taking which innings over at our official site. Plan on doing some reading this weekend as you see the game in a whole different way!

Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers Leave a Comment

Playing Pepper 2009: Kansas City Royals

Posted on February 18, 2009 at 11:30 AM

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

The Royals, to Cardinal fans, often seem like that cousin that you just don't acknowledge that much. They live on the other side of the state, they are in a different division, and their recent history hasn't been as stellar as St. Louis's. Like a family reunion, you see them twice a year and then you go your separate ways.

However, there's possibly something building in Kansas City. I talked to Jeff of Royally Speaking and asked him about management and some of the young stars the Royals are producing.
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Kansas City Royals | Playing Pepper Leave a Comment

Always Good To Be Back

Posted on June 30, 2008 at 10:07 AM

Before I do anything, I've got to give major thanks/props/kudos/whatever the kids are saying these days to Mike for filling in for me. I really appreciate him filling in and keeping things running while I was up in Reds country. It was great yesterday to get into Arkansas and be able to easily find Mike and John on the radio. I listened to the last couple of innings and knew I was home again.

I'll catch up the Hero/Goat leaderboard soon with Mike's selections, but let's take a look at the last two wins by the Cardinals, insuring a winning homestand.

Saturday, looks like the hero was Rick Ankiel with a two-run homer. Mitchell Boggs was in the discussion, though four walks was a little on the high side. Good to see him get a solid game in, though, especially with the state of the pitching staff. Goatishly, you'd probably look at Brendon Ryan, who went 0-4 and left four on base.

Sunday, it's a surprise hero in Jason LaRue. A home run, a triple, and four RBI, plus getting the best of a collision at the plate? Gotta give him the award (wind-aided), even with an AP two-for-five, HR day. (Sounds like he would have had two homers on a different day, with the wind holding one up at the track.) In my mind, the goat has to go to Braden Looper, because when you know the bullpen needs some rest, to go out there and not get through the fourth is a terrible thing.

Last year it was a little busy during my Ohio trip. Sorting through, it looks like there were a few things that happened the last 10 days as well:

Jason Isringhausen looks like he's going on the DL, then doesn't. Pretty decent outing yesterday against the Royals, save the back-to-back doubles.
Yadier Molina returned from his concussion.
Cesar Izturis goes on the DL, exposing the weakness of the middle infield.
Mark Mulder gets activated and put in the bullpen, but doesn't pitch. And, apparently, there's not a lot of confidence in him since apparently Brad Thompson is returning because "we need innings."
To make room for Thompson, Nick Stavinoha goes back down after being promoted during the week. Wish I could have seen him play.
And, last but not least, El Hombre returns, with Randy Flores going on the DL. And obviously Pujols didn't forget how to hit in his time off.

The Cards return to Busch today (their road trip just perfectly coincided with mine) and take on the so-far disappointing New York Mets for the first time this year. The Mets sit a game under .500 and in third place in the NL East, though that's only 3 games out of the top spot. The Cards continue their run of missing ace pitchers as they won't see Santana in this four game series.

Kyle Lohse goes for the Redbirds, looking for his tenth win of the season. There are a couple of Mets that are excited about renewing acquaintances. Walk Beltran every time up, Kyle. And as hot as Delgado has been, think about it with him as well.

John Maine goes for the Metropolitians. The Cards haven't seen a lot of him, though Pujols has liked what he has seen. (Both of those home runs were in a game in 2006, though.) Maine's most famous game against St. Louis was probably Game 6 of the 2006 NLCS, where he kept the Mets alive and set the stage for a classic.

This is a big series for the Cards. Winning this one against a quality (if scuffling) opponent would give them a lot of momentum for the weekend series against the Cubs.

Filed Under: Baseball | Heroes and Goats | Kansas City Royals | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (2)

Also on the Network:

√ The Hybrid: College Football Is Back, Fools [Tremendous Upside Potential]

√ "It Didn't Look Like They Wanted To Come Out And Beat Us" [C70 At The Bat]

√ Cardinals Keep Destroying Hope [C70 At The Bat]

√ Jay Cutler Is Dating Kristin Cavallari: A Gratuitous Photo Gallery [Tremendous Upside Potential]

√ White Sox Acquire Manny Ramirez: A Roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential]

√ Cardinals Hit Rock Bottom, Break Out Jackhammers [C70 At The Bat]

√ Another Lost Cardinal Weekend [C70 At The Bat]

√ Glenn Beck, The Big Hurt, And Suh Killed A Guy: Your Extra Juicy Monday Roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential]