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Recently in New York Mets CategoryDoing It The Hard WayPosted on July 29, 2010 at 8:07 AM
When I turned on the game a little late last night, I was well-pleased to see that the Cards had already been serious, putting up six in the top of the inning. And even though Jaime Garcia allowed two runs of his own in the bottom of the frame, I figured the Cards were well on their way to a routine victory.What I should have realized is, for the 2010 Cardinals, nothing is routine. A meltdown by the bullpen in the eighth gave the Mets the tie, but the Cardinals were able to pull out an 8-7 win with an Albert Pujols single in the 13th. Maybe the next time Garcia and Johan Santana match up, the teams can get it done in regulation. Pujols played the latter innings with a calf muscle that was bothering him, as evidenced by him pulling up on a grounder to first and not breaking up a double play. Between that and the long flyout that he had in the first inning, a ball he felt like he hit harder than many in his career, it was shaping up to be a very frustrating night. Still, he hung in there and got the base hit when the Cards needed it. A 3-7 night got him up to .298, so a good game this afternoon and he'll be back over .300. Also good to see Matt Holliday go deep and for the Cardinals to put together a solid rally against a top pitcher, especially with two outs. Garcia had a solid base hit in that inning with the bases loaded (it's almost mind-boggling that they walked Brendan Ryan to get to him) and, save for his first inning, had another very good outing. I was hearing on ESPN Radio yesterday afternoon that he was the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year, so it's nice to see that he's getting recognition outside the Gateway City. The Goat, in my mind, is Dennys Reyes. I know Tony La Russa has his reasons for the move, but with the ineffectiveness of Reyes against lefthanders, I don't think I'd have brought him into the game last night with a 7-5 lead. You only needed one out in the eighth, so I think I'd have used Ryan Franklin for the save. Reyes walked his first batter and gave up a two run single to the next, forcing TLR to then bring in Kyle McClellan. That seemed risky to me as well, knowing McClellan's history in tie games, but it worked out. Taking stock of the Redbirds, it's pretty clear they could use another starter, some more effective lefthanded relief (though I will say Trever Miller pitched a good game last night, going two innings and allowing just a hit), and a middle infielder than can hit. That's a lot to ask for, especially since there aren't a lot of chips to trade. In fact, there seems a distinct possibility that no trade will get done at all. This really wouldn't surprise me any. Save for Roy Oswalt, I wasn't sure who the Cardinals might get, and it seems that Oswalt is headed to Philadelphia now. There's been no talk that the Diamondbacks are willing to move Stephen Drew, so I'm not sure who would be out there that'd help out in the middle infield. The Cards were briefly linked to Miguel Tejada yesterday, but sadly he's not even that much of a step up from what the Redbirds currently have. So it may be hold the line, wait for Kyle Lohse and David Freese to get healthy, and hope that the team finds some sort of consistency. It's a plan. Maybe not the best plan, but it may be the best possible plan. Today, it's a matchup of pitchers that, if you are in public relations, you promote the hitters. Blake Hawksworth goes for the Cardinals, which means that a night after running through a lot of the bullpen, they'll probably be needed again today. Yesterday, the Cardinals sent down Fernando Salas and brought up Mike MacDougal, who got the win in the game last night. They can't bring Salas back for 10 days, so I don't know if they have any more procedural moves they can make or if they'll just limp by. Hawksworth may have to take one for the team if he gets behind early, which could be ugly. The Mets send out R.A. Dickey. Dickey is having probably his career year, with an ERA around two and a half and a K/BB rate around 3. The knuckleballer hasn't been getting support, but the way the Mets play at home (and the Cardinals play on the road), he may not need much. Could be a tough one today. Don't forget that, starting tomorrow, guest bloggers take over this space for a week. Tomorrow you have Bill in the morning and Brian previewing the Pittsburgh series in the afternoon. Hope you make them feel welcome and comment often on their posts. Then, when you've gotten in that habit, you can comment on mine when I return!
Frustration RevistedPosted on July 28, 2010 at 8:47 AM
I thought this was behind us.Whatever corner the Cardinals turned after the All-Star break, they've turned another one or two and seem to be back where they started from--a frustrating team that can't get anything going. And when the big gun has an off night, you know things aren't going your way. I guess you could see it coming, though. There was a lot of talk about the return of Adam Wainwright to New York for the first time since the '06 Series. There was also the possibility that he could set the record for best ERA ever in the month of July. With enough hype and focus, it seems like things come crashing down, which is what happened last night. Sounds like Waino just couldn't get comfortable last night, and I guess nights like that are going to happen. They aren't anything to distress over, save the fact that it means the Cards have now lost four out of five since their eight-game winning streak and there's a good possibility they'll lose this NY series as well. Jaime Garcia goes tonight, which is good, but then Blake Hawksworth is Thursday and you never feel completely confident when it's not one of the big three on the mound. There wasn't much to write home about with the offense, either. Albert Pujols went 0-5 and dropped his average to .297. I'm still about 50% certain that AP's streak ends this year and he doesn't hit .300. If he does read this blog, maybe that'll get him fired up, but he's not looked quite himself at all this season. He's still putting up good numbers, but if the year ended today, would you necessarily give him the team MVP award? When Brendan Ryan is the hero of the game, odds are it wasn't a great offensive night. Ryan, though, went 2-4 and got that average back up over .200, which is pretty impressive since just three days ago it was around .185. He's been streaky all year, though--getting up to over .200, then slumping off. He was at .220 at the middle of June, then tailed off. Still, that's his third multi-hit game, all coming since that trade rumor of him to Houston came out. Maybe that lit a fire under him. There doesn't seem to be much stirring on the trade front, here just four days before the deadline. John Mozeliak went on record as saying they don't want a band-aid solution in the middle infield, so that would seem to rule out much of a deal there, though I guess they could still target Stephen Drew if the Diamondbacks are willing to move him. They might get a innings-eater type of pitcher, but it doesn't sound like anything too exciting. The best news out of the whole thing is that they are pretty close to signing Seth Blair, their second pick (first of the supplemental round) in this most recent draft. Blair isn't the most exciting name that people are looking at--Zack Cox and Austin Wilson fit that bill--but he's still a very good arm and it's always good to have young pitching in the minors. I think we are seeing the results of what happens when you don't have that right now. The newest Sports Illustrated comes out today and Stan Musial graces the cover. I am very interested in reading the article, especially since it is written by the great Joe Posnanski. It's unfathomable to me that this is the seventh Musial cover but the first that he hasn't had to share with someone. Then again, that seems to be Musial's lot in life on the national stage, always sharing, always being overshadowed. Baseball is going to lose a lot when he goes. Cards and Mets try it again tonight. Jaime Garcia goes against the Mets for the second time this year, both times on national television. Hopefully this time he doesn't have to wait 13 innings after he leaves the game to see how it turns out. He's facing off against Hisanori Takahashi, who also pitched in that 20 inning game as a reliever. He's gone back and forth between the rotation and the pen, but last time out allowed two runs in seven innings against the Dodgers. Could be another long night for the bats. It's Wednesday, which means United Cardinal Blogger Radio Hour! Tune in tonight to hear me talk with Dave Doyle from The Mets Report about the series, what the Mets need to do, and how long until they start talking about The Curse of Yadier Molina. Always appreciate having callers, so if you are around from 9:30 to 10:30 Central tonight, listen in or call in at 646-929-1758!
Gaining On The Off DayPosted on July 27, 2010 at 8:56 AM
The Cardinals hit the Big Apple yesterday. They saw the sites (Ryan Franklin went to the Statue of Liberty with his family, according to the official Cardinal Twitter feed), made some appearances (more on Albert Pujols in a bit) and picked up a half-game on the Reds when Milwaukee beat them 3-2. In other words, just a fine day over all.Stayed up and watched Pujols on David Letterman last night. It was interesting to see him out of his normal environment, as it were. He seemed to be trying to hide his nervousness, but overall came off well, talking about some of the Mets players and his son playing baseball and wearing him out before games. Then he went out and hit some dingers. Well, maybe not dingers, but he did show his batting eye, not swinging at a lot of Denis Leary's junk. He got plunked once and made like he was charging the mound, which was great. (BTW, while Dave is batting, you can see intrepid St. Louis reporter Derrick Goold taking pictures. He's in the grey shirt and shorts.) The odds of Roy Oswalt continue to dim, as now he has come out and said that location isn't a big deal, meaning Philadelphia is, at least publicly, still in the mix. He also has stated that the option for 2012 needs to be picked up, though some of the money can be deferred. That could be another draw back for the club. Bernie Miklasz thinks it was a good thing that John Mozeliak stated that the Cardinals probably couldn't get him and that he didn't think there'd be a deal. The thought is that Houston may come down on their demands if people start backing off. That's a possibility, because having an unhappy Oswalt in the Houston clubhouse after the deadline may be a problem, not only for this year but for the years to come. Houston could still deal him in the offseason, but you'd figure they'd get more for him right now. From what I hear on Twitter, there's not any plans to move him before his start Friday in Houston. I think about the only way St. Louis will get him is if 1) Houston decides he has to be dealt at all costs and 2) Philadelphia falls out of the race this week or decides to go in a different direction. I don't know if either of those will come to play. For the record, Matthew Leach doesn't expect the club to get him either. Which may mean that the reinforcements may have to come from within. The first step on that path was taken last night, as Kyle Lohse made his first rehab start for Memphis. The results were pretty strong (3 IP, 3K, 0 BB, 2 R, only one earned) and Lohse reported none of the swelling/pain issues that he'd been having prior to surgery. It very rarely pays to be optimistic about a return to health of a Cardinal, especially a pitcher--just look at Brad Penny--but I feel that if Lohse is recovered, he can get to something approaching 2008 levels. Which would be a huge boost for the back of the rotation. Further dampening any big trade talk was last night's performance by Shelby Miller. Miller went seven innings, allowing only three hits. If the front office was iffy on his potential, if they were thinking that he might not pan out and so they should ship him off, that kind of dominance would make them think twice. Miller has had some exciting peripherals this season, so it'd be a shame to lose him and I think the Cardinals are going to be very, very hesitant to put him in any kind of deal. A couple of links for you. First off, More Hardball has a look at Double J (yes, I'm going to keep using that until it sticks or someone tells me not to) on their blog today. I think they overestimate Jay just a bit, but it's nice to see him getting a little attention. You have to figure he's one of the biggest trade chips the Cardinals have. Also, keep an eye out over at Mets Gazette today. I answered some questions for them about the Cardinals and the upcoming series this weekend for my fellow BBA member. I expect they'll be up later this morning. Cards get the Mets tonight, looking to put together another winning streak. Adam Wainwright pitching in New York, even if it's a different stadium, brings this memory to our minds. You think Carlos Beltran might ask for the night off? Jonathan Niese goes for the Mets. He looks to be having a good year, and in his career he's thrown 1.2 scoreless innings at the Redbirds. Could be a good matchup. We'll see if Dave passed along any hitting tips to Albert last night!
Looking For Some BatsPosted on April 19, 2010 at 11:10 AM
Whatever you may think of this weekend series against the Mets, one thing is certain: it was definitely memorable.While Saturday's game will be the most talked-about of the three contests, being the type of guy I am I have to go in order. Besides, Friday's game had a lot of the same components as Saturday, just with a better (and shorter) ending. Friday's Hero was, of course, Felipe Lopez for smashing the grand slam that, eventually, the Cardinals needed every bit of. It was an unexpected jolt of offense against a Mets team that was shutting down the Cards in every aspect. Probably the more important story line that came out of that game, though, was the re-emergence, if you will, of Chris Carpenter. After giving up five home runs in his first two outings, and looking very bad against the Brewers last Sunday, there wasn't really concern in Cardinal Nation, more like general unease. Is there something wrong with Carp? Is the magic gone? Carpenter stopped a lot of that talk before it got started, allowing just one unearned run and four hits over seven innings. While the Mets offense has its problems as well, as we saw Saturday, it was still a legitimate effort and one that eased the minds of a lot of St. Louis fans. It's good to know that we can still trust that, every five days, the Cardinals are going to get a great pitching performance and have a strong chance to win. (That's a misleading statement, though. With a rotation ERA that stands at 2.09 now, EVERY day the Cardinals are getting a great pitching performance and have a strong chance to win. Which is an awesome feeling.) On the down side Friday, Ryan Franklin again stirred up the embers of the negative talk directed his way. Franklin had been efficient in his last outing, so when Fox Sports Midwest analyst Al Hrbrosky started talking about how they'd found a flaw in his delivery and they'd fixed it, I could believe that. Until three of the first four batters reached base, that is. Franklin eventually gave up two-thirds of the three-run lead he was staked to, but finally locked the door. While the bullpen performed spectacularly on Saturday, the doubts are still there on some of these guys. Then you have Saturday. You feel like any game that goes 20 innings, you should give out two Heroes and two Goats, since you basically played two games and then some. I should probably dedicate a whole entry to that game, to the ins and outs, to the questionable decisions made by Tony La Russa, to the highs and lows and just general craziness. Then Nick goes out and does it better than I could anyway, so you get spared some of that. Still, after the jump, we'll get into a little discussion about one of the games that will definitely be remembered from this year for a long time to come. Continue ReadingFiled Under: Arizona Diamondbacks
| Heroes and Goats
| New York Mets
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Two Up, One DownPosted 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:
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:
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
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Dealing With The "Rumor"Posted on March 16, 2010 at 8:05 AM
I guess not surprisingly, the biggest thing coming out of Cardinals camp yesterday was a Seinfeldian discussion about nothing.Look, no one took that "trade rumor" involving Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard the least bit seriously. No one thought that it might happen, that the teams really had talked about it, etc. I think most everyone realized that, at best, it was a trial balloon floated within the Philadelphia organization. However, everyone had to comment about it, and especially Tony La Russa seemed to be a bit worked up about it. I half expected everyone to just laugh it off and go about their business, but TLR really was disgusted and aggravated about the whole thing. Perhaps he's getting an inkling about how the contract situation with AP could be a distraction during the year. I don't think it will be--Albert's said he's not talking during the season and John Mozeliak said emphatically yesterday that he wouldn't be traded--but when you go through 162 games, things get brought up, rehashed, etc. Of course, the easiest way for this whole thing to be resolved would be to have Albert instruct his agents to get something done before spring training is over. That's about the only way he's not going to have to at least listen to numerous contract questions throughout this year and possibly next. He's right, though, once the process gets going, it could only take a day or so to get it lined out. I'm not completely ruling out a new deal before the start of the season, though if the Cards haven't tendered an official proposal yet, then it's a lot less likely. Albert's staying and there's no news on the contract. So what else happened yesterday? Well, Brad Penny got hit hard and that's not a figure of speech. Besides the fact that he got plunked a couple of times--hopefully this won't affect him, like it did with Kyle Lohse last year--he didn't have his best outing. It was tolerable, of course, and the Cardinals were in line to win the game until a blown save in the bottom of the ninth, but hopefully he can improve on that in his next outing. He should have three more starts in the spring, so this would be the time to see him build toward the season. A few more players were sent over to the minor league camp, but Shelby Miller has stayed with the big leaguers. The Cards must like what they see out of him right now. Since he pitched Sunday, he'd be roughly in line to go again Friday in relief, so we'll see if he sticks around to get another appearance in a spring training game. Being as Friday is a split-squad day, I'm sure that he will see some time in one of them, then be sent down. This has to be much more than he expected this spring, since he wasn't even invited to big league camp until after it opened. It is starting to sound like Allen Craig just might shake his John Gall status and get a legitimate shot at the big league bench this year. The fact that he continues to hit at such a high level doesn't hurt him a bit. Could we see a bench of Jason LaRue, Julio Lugo, Allen Craig, Joe Mather and Tyler Greene? It'd be on the young side, but it'd be pretty intriguing and give Tony a lot to work with for his lineup manipulations. Today's two members of the Cardinal Approval Ratings are Dave Duncan and Ryan Franklin. Last year, Duncan wound up with an 84.2% mark and then went out and had two Cy Young candidates and a pitching staff that, on the whole, was very successful. So this year, he moves on up to 87%. Looks like about four 100s and a low of 50 out of the 67 that cast an opinion. Franklin wasn't on the list last year. Why should he have been? This time last year he looked like he'd be just another middle reliever. Instead, he stepped in and had a strong year as a closer, at least until the last month. Still, when the 66 votes were tallied, he managed a 69.7% mark as many people still don't trust him in that role (and I include myself in that category). No 100s for the man with the funky beard, so his ranged from a high of 90 to a low of 6. Cardinals get Washington again today, this time without Stephen Strasburg. Hopefully they'll be able to have the same kind of success they had Sunday. If nothing else, they may get plenty of taking practice.
Filed Under: Approval Ratings
| New York Mets
| Philadelphia Phillies
| St. Louis Cardinals
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Fun At The Old BallparkPosted on March 15, 2010 at 8:11 AM
The Cardinals seem to have righted the ship and are moving in a positive direction, winning both games of the weekend. Before we talk about that, though, let's discuss the topic making the rounds: Buster Olney's report of a Albert Pujols/Ryan Howard trade.First off, the Olney report is probably accurate, because when you read it, all it says was that Philadelphia might have had some sort of internal conversation about this. I completely believe that. I figure a lot of teams talk about what they'd give for AP, especially now that he's in the latter part of his contract. I doubt that it ever made it to the level of formal offer, though. If you want a great rejection of this deal (from a Phillies fan, no less), look over at Crashburn Alley. You can also check out Mike at Stan Musial's Stance. To go along with what they've said, let me make just a couple more points. One, the Cardinals are willing to commit crazy amounts of money to Albert Pujols and Albert Pujols only. If, for some reason, Pujols was to walk, I don't think they'd spend 75% of that money on another player, which is probably what they'd have to do to keep Howard. John Mozeliak would be much more likely to go for a team-wide upgrade, if possible, than to try to sink so much into one player. Secondly, if the Cardinals were going to trade AP (and this also ties somewhat into number one), they'd more likely try to get 2-3 young, under team control top prospects from someone than a straight-up swap of first basemen. The team would need the youth infusion and the way to manage payroll, since attendance would noticeably drop, I believe, with a Pujols trade. The best thing about this rumor (and it's probably just the first in a long line) is that it gives both sides more momentum to get a deal done, if only to stop these crazy things. Now to the on-the-field stuff. I was able to catch portions of the Cardinals' win over Houston on Saturday, thanks to it being on KSDK. It was hard to get a real good judge on things, since I was running in and out of the room and the wind looked like it was blowing quite strongly. However, it was good to see Pujols get a couple of hits, Rich Hill do OK (though I did find Rick Horton's comment about him not repeating his delivery interesting) and Ryan Ludwick go yard. Looking forward to watching a bit more this weekend.
Sunday was remarkable, of course, because of who was starting against St. Louis. Stephen Strasburg drew raves from Tony La Russa, so you have to figure he was pretty darn good. The Cards got a couple of singles off of him, but that was it. Thankfully, the rest of the Washington squad was, shall we say, a little more...erratic. I don't care what the conditions, 11 walks seems a bit excessive. Shelby Miller got into the game as well, a little less hyped than the other first-round pick. Still, that's two scoreless innings for Miller, though he's had to work out of trouble both times. I can't imagine him starting at AA, but I wouldn't be surprised if his positive impression this spring would help him jump there with a good start at A ball. The Cards have put together a little run and have started to look more like a real team again. (Of course, the record has to look better than the Nationals' 0-10.) They take on the Mets again today, so we'll see if they can keep the wins coming. There was a really interesting article about Colby Rasmus in the Post-Dispatch. The physical aspects of last season were fairly well documented and his overcoming of that was one reason I expected a big season from him this year. However, to add in the family turmoil as well as the clubhouse that, for some reason, isn't quite welcoming for the rooks, and it's surprising he did as well as he did last year. Even with the relative youth of some of that clubhouse, you have to figure it's dominated by La Russa and Pujols. And while I don't think they go out of their way to harass first-year players or anything of that nature, and I'm sure they are willing to help when asked, you know that kind of atmosphere has to be pretty intimidating. The expectations are high for anyone that wears Cardinal red, and if you aren't sure you can make them, it could cause some tension. Rasmus makes a point to say that he thinks it has made him stronger and thankfully he and his dad are reconciled. He may not be completely comfortable in a veteran clubhouse yet, but he's getting there. Which is why, if you still haven't drafted yet, you just might want Colby Jack for your fantasy baseball team. I promised I'd start releasing the Cardinal Approval Ratings today, so let's get the first couple out of the way. Chris Carpenter wasn't on last year's ballot, but it's not surprising that Cardinal Nation is right fond of the guy. 67 ballots were turned in and everyone registered an opinion on the ace of the staff. Carp registered at 93.6%, a unsurprising but strong showing. A quick glance shows more than ten 100s and a low score of 75. Bill DeWitt was on last year's ballot, because you always have to get a feel for what people think of ownership. Before the '09 season, DeWitt rated a 80.2% mark. So, after a season where he opened up to get Matt Holliday and others plus allowed John Mozeliak to sign Shelby Miller, where does he rank with the 64 people that expressed an opinion? 83.0%. A couple of 100s for him and a low of 60 when you toss out the strange (in my mind, at least) outlier of 25. We'll do a couple more tomorrow, so come back for them! Filed Under: Approval Ratings
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| New York Mets
| Philadelphia Phillies
| St. Louis Cardinals
| Washington Nationals
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Playing Pepper 2010: New York MetsPosted on March 10, 2010 at 2:41 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---ah, who are we kidding, we'll get them up when we get them up. New York Mets 2009 Finish: 70-92, fourth in NL East It's possible that I'll wind up being hurt before finishing this entry. That would be par for the course for anything related to the Mets from last year. If it could go wrong, it did, if a player could get hurt, he would. 2009 was a terrible year for a team just a swing away from the World Series just three years previous. Call it the curse of Yadier Molina. However, there are still tons of Mets fans willing to stick it out another year. So read on to see what Steve from The Eddie Kranepool Society, Phil from Hoops Approved, Dave from The Mets Report and Kerel from On The Black had to say about 2010. Continue Reading Still Just Spring TrainingPosted on March 6, 2010 at 9:37 AM
At least there was a reason.Brad Penny was one of the most intriguing names brought into St. Louis during the offseason. A lot of us were interested to see what this guy, who had been a very successful pitcher in the past, could do with Dave Duncan's tutelage. So seeing the results yesterday would be a little worriesome, if there wasn't a reason. It's hard to remember sometimes that spring training is just that, training. In the regular season, you don't go into a game saying, "Let's see, my sinker needs work, I'm going to keep throwing that no matter what happens." Pitchers play with pitches, trying to see what they need to do to get them sharp and ready. So, as much as I'd like to, I've got to resist drawing any conclusions out of yesterday's results. As I say that, though, I'll take that back. There is one conclusion I think you can make: Lance Lynn wants to make a run at this roster. Lynn threw three perfect innings and so far has been the best pitcher of the spring. (Sure, it's only been two games, but have you seen those two games?) I still expect he'll wind up in Springfield or Memphis, but we thought that about Kyle McClellan a few years back as well. The Cardinals are looking for a long relief guy, especially if McClellan makes the rotation, so Lynn is making sure his name is on that list. Cards take on the Marlins today (something we say often during spring training) and the lineup is out there. Felipe Lopez makes his debut, Albert Pujols plays in his second straight game, and Colby Rasmus bats cleanup. The game is on KTRS today, so tune in and get your first taste of John Rooney and Mike Shannon. Speaking of our announcers, if you look on the right side of this blog (a little ways down the page), you'll see last year's Cardinal Approval Ratings. Last year, I picked a person a day and everyone posted their rating here, on CardsClubhouse, or at Viva El Birdos. This year, I'm doing it a little differently. You can find a form with everyone right over here. Fill it out and I'll announce the results on a daily basis after the voting closes on March 12. Have fun! Filed Under: Approval Ratings
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Stumbling Out Of The GatePosted on March 5, 2010 at 7:56 AM
Well, that wasn't the way Cardinal fans wanted to see things get started.OK, let's put in the usual disclaimers. It was a spring training game. Most of the regulars weren't in there, and you can't take a lot away from one game, especially the first of the year. So I'm not drawing any conclusions from this game, just to make that perfectly clear. About the only thing you might be able to take out of that contest is that Charlie Zink isn't going to be going north with the team, but we knew that already. Francisco Samuel didn't look all that good either, though I believe command's been an issue with him in the past. Nice to see Adam Ottovino have a decent game, though his command apparently wasn't all there either. Out of those that actually are going to be on the 2010 Cardinals, Ryan Ludwick gave some positive signs, with a double and a home run. It took a while last year for him to get going, so perhaps working with Mark McGwire (who noticed a mechanical issue early in camp) has had some results already. It was surprising to see the defense be so shaky. Again, there were a lot of people in that game that won't even sniff St. Louis and conditions in Florida are notoriously tough at times, but you still hate to see Colby Rasmus lose the first ball hit to him in the sun. On the battle front, Joe Mather chipped in two hits, which has to help his standing somewhat. He was charged with an error, though it doesn't sound like it was entirely his fault (couldn't catch a throw by Rasmus, which may have been him, Rasmus, or the wind). It's early, but I think Tony LaRussa has Mather mentally penciled in for the bench, with the possibility of Mather playing his way out of it. So far, that's not happening. Today the Cards face the Mets again, this time at home, and start Brad Penny. Many of us here in Cardinal Nation have been very interested to see Penny in a competitive game. The big bats will be in the lineup for the Cardinals today, as Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina make their debuts. With more of a regular look to the lineup, hopefully it will be a more professional game, at least until the subs come in. Before I wrap this up, I wanted to comment on the GM rankings put out by Sports Illustrated. John Mozeliak was ranked 18th. To which I say, really? It seems to me that the rankings were a bit of a hodgepodge. You've got Andrew Friedman of the Rays on top. I can go with that. Built up a young team, developed them into a contender. Sure. Then you've got Theo Epstein of the BoSox. Again, solid pick. Even though he's got a budget that can absorb a lot of things (and again, thanks for Julio Lugo and John Smoltz, guys!), they have done a good job of making the smart moves. Third you have Brian Cashman. Wow, the top three GMs just happen to be in the AL East. Hmm, shocking. Cashman is a fine GM, don't get me wrong, but he also presides over a payroll that is roughly $200 million. How much of a true test is that? Then you have the Marlins' GM, which makes some sense, I guess, in that they've also made a couple of trades, built a farm system, and have been competitive at least. So, even if you disagree, it's about results with the top four. Results would seem to be the best way to go about measuring something like this, so that's fine. I think I'd have done a little differently, but sure, that's our measuring stick. So at number five we have....Jack Zduriencik? The Seattle GM was the darling of the offseason, it's true, but have we seen any results out of that yet? It seems like he's getting ranked up here solely by reputation of his "baseball mind" instead of what he's been able to produce. His offseason looked good, but this isn't a ranking of offseasons. Jon Daniels at 8? Yeah, Texas has some young guys coming up, but do you remember Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young for Adam Eaton? That trade alone has to knock you down into the latter half. There's not necessarily been a lot of return from that Mark Teixeira trade either. Then they put our old friend Walt Jocketty 14th, while saying it's tough to know how good of a GM he was since Albert Pujols, TLR and Dave Duncan were on the squad. Seriously? You are going there? Because it's darn tough to see how good Brian Cashman is when he's signed huge free agents and been able to put an All-Star at every position. All that to say that I believe Mozeliak is woefully underrated on this list. In less than three years on the job, he's moved a third baseman everyone knew he had to trade and got back quality in return, moved an outfielder and made a smart decision on which minor leaguer to get back, pulled the trade for the most coveted bat on the market and then played hardball to get him signed, gotten freebies from overstuffed payrolls (again, thanks Boston!) that have turned out extremely well. There's not much that Mo's done in his tenure that has blown up in his face, which is more than a lot of guys ahead of him on that list can say. Honestly, Mo has to be in the top 10, I think, and possibly knocking on the door of the top five. If he can keep Albert in St. Louis, though, we'll all rank him #1 in our hearts!
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