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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 Leave a Comment

Fun At The Old Ballpark

Posted 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!

Playing Pepper 2010: Philadelphia Phillies

Posted on March 11, 2010 at 10:11 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.

Philadelphia Phillies
2009 Finish: 93-69, first in NL East, lost in the World Series

It's a good time to be a Phillies fan. An organization that spent so long trying to return and win a championship has now been to the Series two years in a row and, on paper, looks primed for a three-peat.

There are some quality Phillies blogs in the BBA and I was lucky enough to round up Bill from Crashburn Alley, Max from Fire Eric Bruntlett and Scott from Phils Baseball to expound upon this team and what 2010 looks like for them.

Filed Under: Philadelphia Phillies | Playing Pepper Leave a Comment

Postseason Playing Pepper: Philadelphia Phillies

Posted on October 2, 2009 at 11:44 PM

If you were reading this blog before this season started, you may remember a series I did called "Playing Pepper", where I asked five questions of a blogger covering each major league team. With the season coming to a close, I thought I'd tap into the talents of the newly formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance and ask five new questions of the bloggers covering the postseason teams.

First up, the Philadelphia Phillies. I posed the following questions to Bill of Crashburn Alley and estebomb of Fire Eric Bruntlett. Get to know the NL East champs from the people that follow them daily!

C70: What is the Phillies' strength going into October?

FEB: The Phillies' strength going into October is their offense. They have a stacked lineup and when it's on it's unstoppable.

CA: Simply put, their hitting. Their pitching has essentially remained the same as last year in terms of performance, Brad Lidge aside. Both their fielding and base running has also regressed, but they're tops in the league in hitting. Their 1-6 in the lineup is as feared as any in baseball.

They have eight players with double-digit HR totals and can make it nine if Carlos Ruiz can hit one more before the season ends. Four players have 90+ RBI and four have scored 100+ runs for the first time since the 1932 Phillies.

C70: What worries you about the team?

CA: The bullpen. I like that Ryan Madson has essentially become the de facto closer. That should have been the decision four months ago. However, Brett Myers, Scott Eyre, and J.C. Romero have all spent time on the D.L. and Chan Ho Park -- the Phils' most valuable reliever this year -- is hoping to be ready by NLDS Game 1 but no one will be surprised if he doesn't come back by then.

Even with Madson covering the ninth inning, the Phillies are still going to be relying on Lidge, Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey, and Tyler Walker for important outs late in the game, which isn't really something a World Series contending team should feel comfortable about doing.

FEB: The bullpen really worries me. Between the injuries and struggles in general it's been the Phillies' weak spot throughout the year. Brad Lidge has been terrible, Ryan Madson has been maddeningly inconsistent. Chan Ho Park was the team's best reliever this season and he went down near the end of the season (should be back soon).

Filed Under: Baseball Bloggers Alliance | Philadelphia Phillies | Playing Pepper Leave a Comment

Pitching, Anyone?

Posted on July 27, 2009 at 8:56 AM

While there's not a whole lot to take out of this weekend, at least the offense seems to be improved. Not necessarily to the levels of Philadelphia, though, which may haunt us in October. Quick recap:

Friday (8-1 win)
Hero: Matt Holliday. Let's get the guy on the board straight off. Just making the extra effort to play in the game after the deal was impressive enough, but four for five with a run and an RBI and a stolen base? That's filling up the box score.

Goat: It's a tough call, because nobody had a real bad night. I guess I'll go with Brendan Ryan, since he left four men on, though he did have a hit in his four at bats.

Notes: Nice to see the bats really working. Rick Ankiel went three for four, Julio Lugo made his debut with a triple and a homer, and things were all well and good in Cardinal Nation.

Saturday (14-6 loss)
Hero: Rick Ankiel. Whatever has gotten into Rick, I hope it sticks. Not only did he go three for five with, at the time, the tiebreaking home run, he made a couple of spectacular catches, including one that robbed Jayson Werth of a home run. He was the star of the game until the bottom of the sixth.

Goat: Jason Motte. He and Josh Kinney proved that the bullpen is best in small doses. With Kyle Lohse struggling through the first and not being able to go past four innings, the bullpen got overexposed in a big way. Motte has got to figure out how to keep the gopher balls to a minimum. Was there much surprise when Shane Victorino followed up Jimmy Rollins's grand slam with a homer of his own?

Notes: You know when Tony LaRussa saw Lohse have to leave early, he was wanting his 13th pitcher back. Especially when he knew who was supposed to start on Sunday.

Sunday (9-2 loss)
Hero: Mark DeRosa. Two for four with a HR. The new guys were all right this weekend.

Goat: Todd Wellemeyer. As if the combination of him and Philly's lineup and ballpark weren't obviously explosive. I'm really surprised he hung around and kept the team in the game as long as he did.

Notes: The Cubs take over first place. This is not a good thing.

The Cardinals proved that they still are a little off of the level that the Phillies are at. Of course, it could have been a different series if Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright had pitched, but it's not like the Cards faced Cole Hamels, either. The upcoming series with the Dodgers at home will be another true test.

The farm system took another hit this weekend as Jess Todd was sent to Cleveland to finish the Mark DeRosa deal. I indicated at the time that I had concerns about who was going to complete the trade and those worries were justified, apparently. Todd's absence was sorely noted this weekend as the bullpen started imploding. It does explain why Todd hadn't been promoted since the deal even with his stellar AAA season. The Razorback in me really hates to see him go as well!

Needless to say, a farm system that had started rebuilding itself, positioning itself as a top 10 system, has been devastated in the past few weeks. It's really gotten Future Redbirds a little glum, to no surprise.

With the Cardinals apparently in win-now mode, there is no reason or justification for letting Todd Wellemeyer have another start. I'm not real convinced you can put him in the bullpen either. I'd like to see some small move for a real fifth starter, but as much as the farm system has already given up, I can't believe there are too many more bullets there. You don't need a fifth starter in the postseason, but as tight as the NL Central is, you sure may need a tolerable one to get there.

Blake Hawksworth made a quick return to the majors. While I know he allowed a long ball as well yesterday, I don't think you'd have found many people that wouldn't have rather seen him start than Wellemeyer. Apparently TLR has stated that Wellemeyer will get the ball for the first game in the Houston series. I sincerely hope that's just a smokescreen. You can't afford to hand a game to a team that, as of right now, is just a game or so behind you in the standings and could easily be ahead of you by time you meet.

Is it about time to say Albert is slumping again? While he's still getting his hits here and there, he's not gone yard since the 17th. We all know he reads this blog, so we'll see if he can stoke the fire tonight.

I was starting to wonder if this Holliday trade had cut Colby Rasmus out of the picture. Some people wouldn't put it past Tony to play Ankiel ahead of Rasmus, even if it wasn't justified. So I was at least partly relieved to hear that there was an injury issue involved instead. Rasmus is doing better, but with Ankiel's reviving bat, it could become a tough call on who to play. Rasmus should still get the majority of the time.

You have to figure the Cardinals are done dealing, really, unless they can get something for Troy Glaus. With Holliday in left and him still not able to throw across the diamond, it's a tough situation for him. He might be a nice bat off of the bench, especially if he replaces Joe Thurston, but could he stay sharp just getting pinch hitting appearances on a semi-regular basis?

You also have to guess, with Lugo around, we won't be seeing much more of Khalil Greene. Though Brian Barden is still up, I believe, so I guess those two could swap spots. Right now, though, the roster calculus is pretty set, especially if the team expands back to 13 pitchers.

Cardinals take on the first-place Dodgers in Busch starting tonight. Four game set, the first on ESPN. Chris Carpenter gets back on the mound facing Randy Wolf. Carp's had good numbers against Los Angeles, holding them as a whole under .200. Of course, Manny Ramirez has been able to solve Carpenter somewhat, tagging him for two home runs.

Wolf, on the other hand, hasn't been quite as stingy with the Cardinals. While Pujols has never gone yard against him, he does own a .357 average against the starter. Holliday has done OK against him as well, including a home run.

The Cards really have to make some hay at home. They can't let the Cubs start to pull away, because if they get ahead and then get healthy, they may be uncatchable. And that's an untenable position to be in.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Los Angeles Dodgers | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Cards Beat Nationals, Tie Mother Nature

Posted on July 24, 2009 at 8:01 AM

Sometimes the elements just won't be denied.

The Cardinals, playing a one game series in Washington to make up a rainout from early May, dodged the raindrops last night and sat through rain delays before giving up and taking the 4-1, six inning win. At least Mother Nature doesn't have a line in the NL Central standings.

The Hero of the game has to be Adam Wainwright, getting credit for a complete game. It was really big that he was able to come back after the first rain delay, making sure that his start wasn't wasted and that his bullpen wasn't taxed.

Another positive sight was Rick Ankiel smashing a home run. There are least a few signs that maybe, just maybe, Ankiel is starting to come out of his season-long slump. The last seven days have seen him put up a .286 average with a double and a home run. Compare that to the seven before, where he hit .063. Before this last "hot streak", his last extra base hit was June 28. If his bat is returning for the stretch drive, that's a huge thing for the Cardinals.

Colby Rasmus gets the Goat tag for last night. Zero for three with five left on is a tough night, especially out of the two hole. At least the rain kept him from making it worse--he was at bat when the second rain delay was called.

This time of year, what happens off the field is sometimes more intriguing that the actual games. Yesterday the rumor continued to persist that the Cards were close to trading Brett Wallace for Matt Holliday. You know what I think of that. Most everyone I have heard from was outraged by the idea.

Not so much Post-Dispatch columnist Brian Burwell, who advocates making the trade. Burwell's contention is that Holliday makes the Cards almost a lock for the World Series. I'm really not sure how you can figure that one out. Holliday's not a top level hitter. He's good, but he's not a person that can carry a team. Burwell says don't worry about tomorrow, do it today. Which is a darn good way to make sure that, when Albert Pujols's contract is up, the Cards are a middle division team that won't be able to resign him.

There's talk that the Cardinals want Oakland to pay Wallace's signing bonus. (Is that repay to the Cards? Surely he's already received it?) There's also talk that this deal really isn't that close to happening, which makes me feel better.

Cards head to Philadelphia today. Joel Pineiro goes for the 'Birds. Pineiro hasn't faced the Phillies this year and hasn't faced them just a ton in his career. They've held their own against the Cardinal hurler, though nobody has taken him yard.

J.A. Happ goes for the Phillies. Happ has put together a very solid season for Philadelphia and, though he hasn't faced the Cardinals this year, he did pretty good against them in his one outing last year. Could be another tough game for the Cardinals as they kick off this stretch against division leaders Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals | Washington Nationals Comments (1)

What's Wrong With Wainwright?

Posted on May 6, 2009 at 9:47 AM

If there was one constant expected in this 2009 season, it was that Adam Wainwright would be the rock of the rotation. He'd stop the losing streaks, give a solid outing every time out, and generally be the joy of the rotation. After six starts this year, though, he's not quite been there. The question is, why not?

I don't have any answers to that, but I wanted to see if it really has been that bad. I mean, Wainwright did go into last night's game with a 3-0 record and a 2.76 ERA. What more can you expect out of him, huh?

Still, watching him, you know there's been problems. He's walked 20 batters this year against only 30 strikeouts. Batters are hitting him for a .274 average and reaching base 36% of the time. Some of his problems might come from the fact he has a .327 BABIP, but that's not extremely high.

For comparison's sake, in his first six starts of 2008, he was also 3-1, but he had a 2.60 ERA, a BA against of .207 and an OBP against of .256. Even if you mark that down to a fast start, you wouldn't expect the numbers to increase as much as they have.

Another way to look at it is game scores. A Bill James invention, game scores are used to note how dominant a pitcher is. Last year in the span we are talking about, Wainwright had only one game score that was under 60, and that was a 51. This year, Wainwright has only hit 60 twice (exactly 60, even, not over it) and has three starts that were below 50, including last night's 29.

On Twitter last night, Matthew Leach opined that he liked this start more than some of Wainwright's other, nominally more successful starts because he didn't walk batters. He did only walk two, including a unintentional-intentional pass to Ryan Howard with two outs in the fifth which was completely justifiable, if moot when the next batter, Jayson Werth, went yard to land another punch on the Cards' comeback. If he's going to throw strikes (something I believe we all want to see), they definitely need to be better than the ones he threw last night.

Last night's game felt like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill. Just when the Cards would look like they were coming back, the pitching staff would give up more runs and make the boulder roll back down. When they were able to rally to 4-3 after home runs by Hero Ryan Ludwick and Yadier Molina, I thought they had a chance, but those hopes were pretty much dashed by Werth's blast.

So the Cardinals finally lose their 10th game of the season and have now lost three in a row with Pittsburgh coming in tonight. Mitchell Boggs goes up against Zach Duke.

The Pirates haven't seen Boggs before (well, Brandon Moss has, but that's it), but the Cardinals are well acquainted with Duke. I believe he will be the first pitcher St. Louis has seen twice in 2009, as he gave up three runs (one earned) in 6 1/3 in the season-opening series, getting a 7-4 win against Todd Wellemeyer. In his career, he's struggled some against the Cardinals, though he's usually kept them in the yard. Duke seems to have recaptured some of that promise that he had early in his career, as he sports a 2.21 ERA coming into tonight's game.

Various other things. It looks like Rick Ankiel won't be out for an extended period of time. Thank goodness that crash didn't happen at Wrigley, because I'm thinking the padding was better on Ankiel's head than bricks would have been. While he's OK now, as it happened, Ankiel wasn't quite as sanguine about what was going on.

Krylon is running a sports trivia contest and the winner gets tickets to the World Series. Head over here and try your luck!

Jay from Riding the Pine hasn't done a lot of blogging lately, but did want me to mention that he's got a forum for St. Louis autograph hunters, no matter the sport. If that's one of your interests, head on over there and see if you can make some connections.

Finally, it's Wednesday, and you know that means UCB Radio Hour. I'll be hosting it tonight as most of the regulars are out of pocket, so tune in and call in with questions or comments to try to keep the dead air to a minimum. Tonight's featured blog is Baseball Digest and we'll be talking to Andrea at the top of the show. Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (3)

Catching Up With The Cardinals

Posted on May 5, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Hello, my name is Cardinal70. You might remember me from such posts as Reading The T-Shirts and Casey In Today's Baseball......

OK, maybe it's not been that long, but it's been a while since I've had a chance to write about the Cardinals. Since we have a week's worth of games, I'm not going to sit down and talk about all of them. We'll just hit the Heroes and Goats and then look at the overview and what's coming next.

Monday at Atlanta (Win 3-2)
Hero: Joel Pineiro
Goat: Albert Pujols
Notes: Normally Brendan Ryan's 0 for 4 would have given him the Goat tag, but his spectacular defense in this game spares him. Pujols was 1-5 but left 6 men on, something that could have easily haunted the Cards.

Tuesday at Atlanta (Loss 2-1)
Hero: Yadier Molina
Goat: Kyle McClellan
Notes: Kyle Lohse had an outstanding game, but he did walk four, which is why Molina got the nod.

Wednesday at Atlanta (Win 5-3)
Hero: Ryan Franklin
Goat: Colby Rasmus
Notes: The closer doesn't get the Hero tag very often, so since he went four outs, I'll give it to him. Adam Wainwright would have been in line but five walks is not good at all.

Thursday at Washington (Win 9-4)
Hero: Albert Pujols
Goat: Joe Thurston
Notes: Nice to see Tyler Greene make his debut, even though it came at the expense of Ryan heading to the DL.

Friday at Washington (Win 6-2)
Hero: Albert Pujols
Goat: Skip Schumaker
Notes: Albert's two extra runs gave him the slightest of nods over Chris Duncan.

Saturday at Washington (Loss 6-1)
Hero: Colby Rasmus
Goat: Chris Duncan
Notes: Duncan's 0 for 4 was bad enough, but the error didn't help matters. I just missed watching Colby's homer, sitting down to the computer and catching it on Twitter.

Sunday at Washington, rained out

Monday vs. Philadelphia (Loss 6-1)
Hero: Joe Thurston
Goat: Kyle Lohse
Notes: If he's not using the HBP as an excuse, then I can't either. But I do think that had to have some effect. And a Cardinal starter has to be fully healthy to even have a chance against Ryan Howard.

So that brings us to the present. After the jump, more talk and looking forward to tonight's game.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Atlanta Braves | Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals | Washington Nationals Leave a Comment

Splitting The Cardinal Weekend

Posted on March 16, 2009 at 9:14 AM

A win and a loss this weekend. While neither were all that dramatic, they are worth taking a look at.

The best part about Saturday's game against the Braves was that it was on KSDK and those games get put on a station down here, so I got to get my first look at the 2009 Cardinals. The fact that they pulled out a win was nice as well.

Adam Wainwright worried me early in the game. He was giving up a lot of hits, though he did a good job of keeping runs off the board. He settled down later in the game and you'll take five innings, one earned run any day of the week.

The bullpen did good work as well. It was interesting to see Josh Kinney come in to get the save. He really looked good doing it. That slider can be a deadly weapon when its on. Right now, I think I'm fine with any of the young guns, including Kinney, closing down games.

Even though I'm not a big fan, I've got to admit Ryan Franklin has had a good spring as well. He gave up just one hit in two innings and lowered his spring ERA to 1.50. If he can keep that going forward, he wouldn't be as nerve-wracking in the ninth. I'm not sure that he can, though I figure he'll get some save opportunities early in the year. I think Tony La Russa is really looking forward to some mixing and matching in that closer role.

Looking at the hitters, Skip Schumaker had another good day at the plate, going two for three and making no errors at second. In fact, the only error of the game came from Brendan Ryan when he came in for Skip on an easy ball that he just didn't take enough care with. He was too worried about ending the game to keep his eye on it. I'd be surprised if La Russa didn't notice. Not something you want to do when you are fighting for a slot.

There wasn't much else that happened, but watching it definitely got me fired up for another season. Just three more weeks!

Sunday's game was another good day for the pitching staff, though the offense didn't do a lot. Khalil Greene had a couple of hits, keeping his strong spring going. Brendan Ryan made up for that error on Saturday by driving in the only run of the game.

On the mound, though, the Cards shone, for the most part. Kyle Lohse gave up an early home run, but pitched five innings and didn't allow any more to cross the plate. He struck out five as well, which helped. You figure you are going to get some value out of Lohse this year and possibly next year. The end of the contract, though, is where there is going to be some pain.

Adam Ottovino might have learned something playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. He struck out the side in his appearance, which is something he's got the talent to do more of. I think that if he can get his stuff under control (which is what he started doing some last year, I believe) he can be a pretty good prospect and someone to keep an eye on.

The only bad outing came from Jess Todd. One inning plus, two hits and, unfortunately, two walks. Sounds like it was an off day for Todd, who's been pretty effective this spring and could be one of the first callups from Memphis this year.

More cuts should be coming this week with an eye toward the 25 man roster. A lot of the questions going into camp have been answered in the affirmative. The most difficult cuts may be in the bullpen. If all three young guns are carried, plus the two lefties and then five starters, that leaves two slots available. Figuring out exactly who takes those positions may be a lot of what is decided this week.

Chris Duncan pulled down a 69.5% rating from 45 voters over the weekend. I gave Chris a 70, because while I'm not a huge fan of his off-field persona and his defense is pretty iffy sometimes, he can definitely hit when he's healthy and is an asset to the team. I think he's proven that to some degree this spring.

We'll be doing this for another week, unless there is huge demand for more (or to quit early). Today, we go back to the broadcast booth and ask your opinion about John Rooney. He's sitting in Jack's chair, though obviously no one could replace the master. Is he a worthy successor? Does he drive you nuts? Leave your percentage approval in the comments!

Filed Under: Approval Ratings | Atlanta Braves | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (3)

Playing Pepper 2009: Philadelphia Phillies

Posted on February 12, 2009 at 3:30 PM

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.

A long drought of suffering was wiped out last October as the Phillies finally took another World Series title. It didn't quite have the same impact nationally as the Red Sox in 2004 or the White Sox in 2005, but it still was quite a wonderful time for the Philadelphia fans after 28 years.

Those Philly fans can be on the rough side (as the Cardinals saw when they went into the Vet with JD Drew and Scott Rolen) but one man's insanity is another man's passion.

Bill from Crashburn Alley is one of those passionate fans and I asked him about what the 2009 season means and how the bullpen will stack up. Programming note: this exchange happened before Ryan Howard signed his recent three-year extension.

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Filed Under: Philadelphia Phillies | Playing Pepper Comments (1)

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