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Dear Cards: You Win

Posted on August 26, 2010 at 8:16 AM

Dear Cardinals,

This is to inform you that, due to your maddeningly inconsistent play, your inability to beat bad teams regularly, and your amazing ability to tease with late inning rallies that fall short or winning streaks that are then followed by losing streaks, that I'm stepping back from this pennant race. More power to you, but I don't think I can go up and down like this for another month.

Look at this week, for example. After falling to three and a half behind those Reds, you go out and dominate the first game against a team that, frankly, you should dominate against. All well and good, especially when the Reds lost anyway. The upward climb was going well with a three game winning streak.

Then the car reached the top and started downward. A frustrating loss with Adam Wainwright on the hill with a 2-0 lead was mitigated somewhat by the Reds also falling and Albert Pujols being one batting point away from a Triple Crown. It wasn't much, but it was something. A team that is serious about contending, though, doesn't lose a series to Pittsburgh, especially when they are trying to make up ground on a leader.

Yet that's exactly what happened with last night's performance. The Pirates started a guy that had an ERA close to the mark of the beast, which might have been appropriate since he then went out and bedeviled the team last night. A guy that had walked six last time he faced St. Louis wound up pitching six three-hit, scoreless innings, with only two walks in there.

Finding a Hero in last night's game is tough. Felipe Lopez did get a home run that broke up the shutout, but much-maligned Aaron Miles came in as a pinch hitter and went two for two, driving in the last run in the ninth. Which is indicative of the bigger problem; you know you are struggling when Miles is the best part of a game.

Even the consolation prize of a possible Triple Crown took a hit, with Albert Pujols having a rare 0-4 game. Coupled with Joey Votto going off against the Giants, AP is now back seven points in the batting race, slipping to third behind Carlos Gonzalez.

How can a team that is this talented, who was supposed to be comfortably ahead in the division right now, have a series where their star says, "We didn't play to win the series and they did"? How is it even possible that you don't roll into Pittsburgh, take at least two of three if not sweep and then look to Washington?

Derrick Goold has done the math on how hard it will be for the Cards to overcome 3.5 games this late in the season. However, even thinking about a sustained tear for this team seems implausible at best. At the end of April, they stood 15-8 and three games up in the division. Since then, 53-48, never getting too high, seeming to pull out of tailspins. To think that this team is suddenly going to play .600 ball over the next month seems, well, inconceivable. And yes, I do know what that word means.

So I'm done. I'm not done being a fan or watching games, nothing like that. I enjoy the baseball and will miss it significantly when it's gone in the coming days. I'll still cheer and hope they win, but I am going to do my best to not worry about the pennant races, not get caught up in wins or losses. Just try to enjoy the game, as the Cardinal Diamond Diaries ladies have suggested.

Besides, I can already see how this season is going to pan out. About late September, this team will finally put on a run. Cincinnati will falter somewhat, so it will come down to the last day with a chance for the Cardinals to tie for the division and force a playoff. They'll have the tying run on base in the ninth....and fall short. It seems to be the way of things this year.

I hope that with Chris Carpenter on the mound, who shut down Washington earlier in the year, going against Jordan Zimmerman, a talented young pitcher but one who is still adjusting from coming back from surgery, that the team will play to win tonight. Cincinnati doesn't play, so we can pick up the half-game....which is something I won't be worrying about tonight.

Really. Promise. Maybe.

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

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Posted on August 25, 2010 at 8:20 AM

On the face of it, it wasn't a terrible loss. Most discussion of the next 10 games had the Cardinals going 8-2 if they wanted to make a run, so they haven't ruined that. Cincinnati lost and so did Philadelphia, so they stayed right where they were in regards to the postseason.

And yet.....

It was a very bad loss. If the Cardinals are going to make a serious run at October and making up these deficits, they can't lose with Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright on the hill, especially to inferior opponents. They just can't do it. They have to win those games and then see what they can do with Jaime Garcia, Jake Westbrook or Kyle Lohse on the mound.

With Matt Holliday staking Wainwright to that 2-0 lead in the first, I thought that things were well in hand. However--and this is my fault, because I should have known this--I wasn't thinking that they wouldn't score again until one of their patented fall-just-short rallies in the ninth.

Even if I had, though, I'd have thought things were OK, because giving Wainwright a lead is just about as sure of a thing as there is in baseball. Granted, I wasn't aware of his over 5 ERA at PNC and I didn't remember that ugly game last year where he lost his quality start streak in Pittsburgh by giving up something like five runs in four innings. But it's Wainwright, the Cy Young candidate. Surely he can hold things together.

With rookies Jose Tabata and Neil Walker doing the majority of the damage off of Wainwright (combined 4-6 with two runs and all four RBI), you wonder if not having a good enough book on them came back to haunt the Wagonmaker. With the preparation that these guys do with Dave Duncan and all the charts and graphs, having a couple of talented guys that you've not seen (or seen much) and that don't have a big body of work in the majors might have led to some of the results last night.

Even with that, though, this game turned on two coaching decisions. The first was letting Tabata steal in the seventh. I was going back and forth putting the kids to bed during the inning last night and, until reading the recaps, was completely impressed Tabata had scored from first on that ball, not realizing that he'd been on second at the time. Matthew Leach covered that decision on his blog last night, and I agree with him: they should have held Tabata on. I understand the logic, but you have to trust that either Wainwright will pitch Walker in a way that he won't ground the ball there or that the fielders will be able to get to it. Because the way it worked out, you got the worst of both worlds--Tabata went to second and Walker got the hit anyway. That run proved huge, but you knew at the time that even a one-run lead would be a problem, while two might be insurmountable.

And will all of that, the Cards still had a chance to at least tie up the game in the ninth. Of course, no matter what the opponent's lead is, they always seem to have that opportunity. An RBI single by Jon Jay put two on with one out and Albert Pujols at the plate. (Side note, Brendan Ryan gets the goat for going 0-4 in the leadoff role. The ninth would have been a great place for him to at least draw a walk or something.) Pujols got his third hit of the night off the glove of Ronny Cedano. Randy Winn turns the corner and....gets held up by Jose Oquendo.

Now, I can again understand where Oquendo was coming from. You hate to make an out at the plate in that situation. However, I'd have sent Winn like there was no tomorrow, for a couple of reasons:

1) Cedano still hadn't gotten to the ball when Winn reached third. Winn would have been at least a quarter of the way down the line, with full momentum, while Cedano would have had to plant and throw a strike, then have Doumit put the tag on Winn. It seems to me that the Cards had the advantage there. Make the other team make the play.

2) Look at the resulting situation. Bases loaded, one out. However, as we know, Holliday has struggled at times in that situation, including recently. All it takes is one ground ball and the game is over. If Holliday gets out without getting the run in (as he did with a first-pitch weak popup), then your fifth place hitter is Felipe Lopez. Which, being that you just need a base hit in that situation, isn't terrible, but it's not like Lopez has been lighting it up anyway. There's a strong chance that you aren't going to get anything out of that situation, a chance that sadly came to fruition.

Too bad not everyone is like Pujols. If it'd been him coming from second, he'd have ignored the sign and gone anyway. Then again, if everyone was like Pujols, it'd have been a 25-0 game and it wouldn't have mattered.

If St. Louis wins that game, they are 1.5 out of the division title and tied with Philadelphia and San Francisco for the wild card. Instead, they still have that larger deficit to climb over and one less game in which to do it in. Games like this are why the odds of them having a nice playoff berth are getting longer and longer.

On the positive side, Pujols's three hits puts him just a point (well, actually, .692 of a point) behind Joey Votto (who didn't play last night) in the batting race, which means he's thatclose to leading all the Triple Crown categories. If Votto plays today, he'll face Madison Bumgarner, who we saw last week stifling Cardinal hitters, while AP gets Daniel McCutchen. Of course, both of them are hoping that Omar Infante will take a few days off or going into a big slump, because if he triggers the plate appearance threshold, he's 20+ points ahead of both of them in the batting race. Infante went 1-4 last night leading off for the Braves, dropping him to .349. You'd hate to see a guy with (right now) 140 less AB than Pujols and 100 less than Votto deny either of them the Triple Crown on that kind of technicality, but it may well happen.

You have to wonder by now if Fernando Salas ever bothers unpacking, whether he's here or in Memphis. I mean, it'd be a hassle to get home, get things unpacked, and then get sent right back out. He's flown around 7,000 miles with his callups, but he never lets it bother him on the mound, at least. Salas got his most recent callup when Dennys Reyes was placed on the disabled list yesterday. Reyes's stint was backdated to August 16, so that means that he can come off the DL right before rosters expand. Which means that Salas might get one more trip to Memphis (and a return flight to St. Louis) before it's all said and done.

In other news, the Post-Dispatch panel (and, while I love that they added VEB founder Larry Borowsky to the mix, they really could use a blogger or two in there, couldn't they?) discussed whether they believe Tony La Russa will return for the 2011 season. I have maintained during the year that he and Dave Duncan seem to be checking off their bucket list, so the possibility that he won't return seems pretty strong to me. If this team misses the playoffs, he may decide that, with this much talent (an MVP, a Cy Young and a ROY candidate), there may need to be a shakeup for it to really step up. While I have no doubt that TLR is still very competitive, it is his 31st summer as a manager, not to mention those few seasons as a player. It's got to get wearing at times. I really won't be surprised either way, whether he stays or goes.

Also, Ozzie Smith was at the Cards' minor league affiliate Quad Cities and spoke to the crowd for a while. He mentioned that he's getting the bug again and might like to get back into baseball. I'm not sure exactly how that'd work. I mean, Ozzie Smith coaching fielding? He could do some, but so much of what he did was instinct and reactions. I know he worked hard at it, but you know it is, sometimes the great ones have trouble really translating what they could do to what they can teach. Still, if Ozzie's going to be working somewhere, it better be with the Cardinals. (Which opens up the whole TLR thing again, but let's not go there.)

Tonight, Jake Westbrook goes for the Cards against Daniel McCutchen. Westbrook, not surprisingly, hasn't faced Pittsburgh this year. Hopefully he can give another performance in line with what he's done since coming to St. Louis, 2-3 runs in 6-7 innings. McCutchen is having a terrible year (6.65 ERA) but was (of course) tolerable against the Cardinals in his only appearance against them this season, allowing four runs (three earned) in just under six innings. 'Course, he walked 6, so maybe patience is the key tonight.

The Reds play this afternoon, so St. Louis and Albert will already know what they need to do. (Pujols may be the Triple Crown leader if Votto doesn't have a big day.) After the game, check out Bill and Justin from i70baseball as they host the UCB Radio Hour at 9:30 Central. Tonight, they have a number of guests scheduled, including author Rob Rains, so be sure to check it out!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (1)

Pujols In The City

Posted on August 24, 2010 at 8:22 AM

I think that, if I were the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, I would petition Major League Baseball to make sure that the Cardinals never came to Pittsburgh in August. It'd be bad enough to face Albert Pujols in his own park in the month that he's always hitting, but to have him come to PNC Park is just asking for a beating.

I couldn't help but laugh after his first at-bat. You hate to see a pitcher leave with an injury that early, but especially when the first two batters have reached. A lot of times, that can kill momentum as the new pitcher warms up as much as he likes, plus has his own new rhythm.

So Pujols waits through the delay....and then sends the first pitch over the wall. No taking one to get timing, no waiting to see what the guy has, just first pitch boom. He didn't even expect to swing, but his instincts and reactions are such that he just did it automatically, with the results we've come to expect.

After his 3-5 night, he's at .319, four points behind Joey Votto (and a point behind Martin Prado) in the batting race. He's got a lead in the other two categories, so with him facing Paul Maholm, Votto going against Jonathan Sanchez and Prado getting Jorge De La Rosa (in Colorado), that order could shift around tonight. Be interesting to see if AP could get on top of all the Triple Crown categories, at least for a day or so.

It was another night where finding a Goat was a tough thing, but with Felipe Lopez being the only starter without a hit, I put him in there, even though he did draw two walks. I was pretty surprised to see him hitting in the fifth slot, though.

It was very good to see quality results from Kyle Lohse last night. I'm not sure that he'd have put up a line like that against many teams, but if confidence is something he's needing, facing the Pirates can only help. He gave up a few fly balls that were a little worrisome in the first couple of innings before allowing his two-run homer in the sixth, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. He should be facing Washington next time out, so that will likely be another situation where he could gain a little momentum.

I was actually afraid I'd seen this game before for a while. I remember a game against Pittsburgh I believe last year, when Ian Snell allowed four runs before getting an out, then held the line the rest of the way and Pittsburgh came back to win. I was glad to see the offense didn't completely shut down after getting that early lead, especially since it wasn't Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright on the mound. Lohse probably needed that extra cushion.

The injury news off the field is piling up as well, both good and bad. The good is that Jason Motte is just about ready to go out on a short rehab assignment. With the minors ending here in a week or so, it can't be a long one, but likely Motte doesn't need much. Having him back in the pen will be a good thing, though the relievers haven't struggled much lately.

The bad (at least in theory) is that Dennys Reyes isn't doing well and that Colby Rasmus is still days away from returning. Reyes has been so iffy this season anyway when coming into LOOGY situations that not having him available hasn't been the disaster that it might have been last year. Maybe some rest will have him be more effective for October, if the Cardinals make it.

Rasmus is a different story. More and more the "JD Drew" rumblings are coming to the surface. Not that anyone doubts that he's hurt at all, don't misunderstand. But it seems like it's tough for Rasmus to play a full season and, with Ryan Ludwick gone, the Cards really need his healthy bat in the lineup. You'd hate to see him get into the doghouse like Drew did, but it seems like a strong possibility.

Cardinals get to send Adam Wainwright to the hill tonight, which is usually a wonderful thing to watch. Pirates put out Paul Maholm, who has been a problem for St. Louis in the past. This year, not so much, as in the one game he started against the Cardinals, he gave up six runs (four earned) in three and a third. If it's another night like that for Maholm, Pujols might get to #400 and the Cards might be able to cut another game off that NL Central deficit. Here's hoping!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Series Preview: Pirates at Cardinals

Posted on July 30, 2010 at 3:44 PM

Hello Cardinals fans! I'm Brian from RaiseTheJollyRoger.com, your friendly Pirates blog way down there at the bottom of the standings. Since Daniel's away, he asked me to put together a quick series preview for this weekend's three-game set between the Bucs and Cards, so here goes:

Pirates' probable starters:

When Jeff Karstens is your team's most consistent, reliable starter, you know your rotation's got problems. Things are looking up around the rest of the team, but the starters are a mess at the moment. Anyway, Karstens--tonight's starter--has been decent of late, throwing strikes, being aggressive, and getting plenty of quick outs, but that aggressiveness combined with average stuff and control usually yields a big homer or two per start. The same pretty much goes for Zach Duke, Sunday's starter. To be fair, Duke's been better since the All-Star break, but he's a perennial league-leader in hits allowed for a reason.

Daniel McCutchen, Saturday's likely starter, will be called up to replace Brad Lincoln--a prospect who disappointed early on after good showing in the minor leagues. D-Cutch is not quite as good as the team's other McCutchen, as he's sporting a 1-4, 8.58 mark for a reason. The Bucs were hopeful that he could be a serviceable fifth starter, and well, he isn't. If he gets out of the third inning tomorrow, I'll be surprised.

What to watch:

The Pirates and Cards have only played three times so far this year, so you probably don't know much about the Bucs' young guns. The top of the lineup should be around for many years to come; you'll remember Andrew McCutchen, of course, but Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, and most importantly Pedro Alvarez are all relatively new to the scene.

Tabata is a very young outfielder that was acquired via trade with the Yankees a few years ago, and he's looked very solid at the plate and seems to be a very encouraging leadoff or #2 hitter. Walker, a Pittsburgh native, was a top draft pick many years ago but disappointed in the minors until this season. Since discovering he could play second base, the Pirates have been playing Neil every day and, well, he's been quite the improvement over Aki Iwamura. Walker's incredible line of .306/.341/.469 is sure to come down a bit, but he's established himself as a solid part of the club for the foreseeable future. Lastly, Alvarez is the highly touted savior draft-choice that the Pirates have so desperately needed for the last 17 years. Since breaking into the majors in June, he's been OK--striking out a lot as expected and not getting on base as much as we'd like, but the power is most definitely there.

They may not be lighting the world on fire yet, but take a close look at these three youngsters (along with late-inning relievers Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan) as they'll hopefully emerge into key pieces of a team that can contend with the Cards in a few years. Now if only we could get some starting pitching...

Series outlook:

The Bucs have been playing better since the break, but they will face a really tough test this weekend keeping St. Louis off the scoreboard and dealing with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. The Pirates are also absolutely miserable on the road, despite coming off a series win at Coors Field. I'd be happy if they manage to take one of the three games.

Filed Under: Pittsburgh Pirates Leave a Comment

A Little Concern, A Little Relief

Posted on May 10, 2010 at 11:25 AM

Let's do the quick recap of the Pittsburgh series before we talk about what came out of it.

Friday (4-3 win)

Hero: Yadier Molina. Smart thinking in the eighth to tag out the right runner, game winning double in the ninth for his fourth hit. Man does it all.

Goat: Ryan Franklin. All of the relievers were up for this, but when you are the closer, you can't come in and let the tying run score on a wild pitch. You just can't.

Notes: Jason Motte gets no one out. Trever Miller gets a wild double play, then hits two batters. Games against Pittsburgh shouldn't be this dramatic. At least Matt Holliday had four hits, even if he did overslide home and deny the Cards another run.

Saturday (2-0 loss)

Hero: Jaime Garcia. His pitch count was a bit elevated and he allowed a few extra hits, but still, one run in six innings with seven strikeouts deserves more than what he got.

Goat: Skip Schumaker. Nobody really stood out--lots of eh performances--but when the leadoff guy goes o-fer, it breaks all ties.

Notes: What can you say about this game? If you want to worry about the Cardinal offense, this was Exhibit A.

Sunday (11-4 win)

Hero: Nick Stavinoha. Lots of good offensive lines in this one, but Stavinoha drove in two and went 1-3, just a slight bit better than some others.

Goat: Brendan Ryan. Did get a hit, but his error with two outs in the ninth didn't help Blake Hawksworth out any.

Notes: Good to see things get clicking, but Pittsburgh helped out a lot with eight walks.

In my last entry, I professed to be a little less concerned about the lack of scoring that the Cardinals have shown. After this last series, and notwithstanding the outpouring from yesterday, I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should worry a bit more.

When this team goes into Pittsburgh, it almost always dominates. Granted, the Pirates don't have Ian Snell to kick around anymore, but it's never been limited to one pitcher. While they did have a couple of double-digit hit games, I still think that, against a team like the Pirates, they should have gotten more than four on Friday and definitely shouldn't have been shut out on Saturday.

If you want to be positive, though, they did win a series with minimal contributions from Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. Holliday broke out a little with four hits on Friday, then sat the next couple of days while dealing with his injured groin. After today's day off, he'll have had three days of rest, which hopefully will be enough. Albert had a hitting streak snapped in the first game, then was pitched around much of the rest of the series. For more on this, check out Pitchers Hit Eighth's contribution to Baseball Digest today.

So should the team be concerned? I think so. I don't think it's panic or anything like that, but there should be some thought given to why this is happening and what to do about hitting with runners in scoring position. That said, this drought somewhat corresponds with a lack of home runs (none since last Monday). If a couple of these hits this week had been long balls, we might be singing a different tune.

We aren't to the fire McGwire stage nor is the team in any danger of losing the NL Central, but it's definitely something that we don't want getting worse. With Houston and Cincinnati this week, the bats should be working. If they aren't, this time next week may be time for some more drastic measures.

My contribution to Baseball Digest will be up this afternoon and I'm your co-host (with Justin from Intangiball) on this week's UCB Radio Hour, where we'll be joined by James from Astros County to talk about that series. I'll probably have some exchange with James up here at the blog this week as well. Enjoy the off day!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (1)

Button Pushing

Posted on May 6, 2010 at 10:07 PM

On Twitter during today's game, I had the following exchange with Post-Dispatch scribe Joe Strauss:

Strauss: Cardinals have so far scored 11 runs in 7 games against best two teams they've faced, SF and PHA. #stlcards

C70: #stlcards have only given up 21 runs in their 7 games with SF and PHA as well. Not as good, but wouldn't check for falling sky.

Strauss: Yeah, Cards go 2-5 while allowing 21 runs in 7 games to SF and PHA. Don't suffocate with your head in the sand. #stlcards

Perhaps Twitter isn't the best place to make this point, with its 140 characters and all. I'm sure that Strauss is not the person to make the point with, as I believe "curmudgeon," along with other words that might not be as polite, has been associated with him in the past. And maybe I do have the rose-colored glasses on (though I don't think so). Bear with me a bit and let me try to get my thinking out, then we'll get into the game recap.

OK, so here's what I'm thinking. The Cardinals faced top of the line pitching in both of those series, played both of them on the road, and easily could have come out with at least a 3-4 record if not better. Save for Kyle Kendrick beating them (and continuing whatever magic he's had against them in his career), the Cards went up against Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay. How many teams--good teams--would go 0-5 on a run like that?

If it's so terrible that the Cardinals just scored 12 runs (they got another one after this exchange) in that span of time, how much better is it really that the other teams averaged less than a run and a half more? I mean, is 22 runs in 7 games a dominant offense? There was great pitching all around in those series, which means your opportunities are a lot smaller in number.

Is the RISP situation a concern? Sure it is. Does it mean that the Cards just got manhandled in this series or the San Francisco one, as another one of Strauss's Tweets implied? Not at all. In fact, I think the mere fact that they have the opportunity to have bad RISP numbers is a good thing.

Let me see if I can explain this. (A lot of this is sitting in my head, but I'm not sure it's flowing through the fingers.) Take today's game for example. The Cards got 10 runners on (7 hits, three walks) in 7 innings against arguably the best pitcher in the NL. For comparison, here's the rest of Halladay's game log:

at Washington, 8 OB/7 innings

at Houston, 7/9

vs. Florida, 8/8

at Atlanta, 6/9

at San Francisco, 10/7

vs. NY Mets 4/9

So the Cardinals put as many runners on against Halladay (including his season high in walks) as anyone else has this season save San Fran, who actually beat him that night. Eventually, you put enough runners on, you will get a hit that drives in a run. Two runs (again, save the 5 he gave up in SF) was tied for the most he'd given up this year. The man had given up 4 runs total (with the caveat) before today. For an offense that was missing Ryan Ludwick and Yadier Molina, especially, that's not that bad.

The Cards aren't getting blown out (today's loss was their biggest of the year and one of the only times they didn't have a chance to tie in the ninth) and they are competing with just about everyone. If the Cards win the Wainwright start (which they could have), they split with a top notch contender. In May, isn't that all you can ask for?

I'm not saying it wasn't a disappointing series. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to see a few fewer double plays. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see Matt Holliday get rolling. What I am saying is that this isn't the end of the world and the suggestion that maybe the Cardinals are pretenders, fattening up on the dregs of the NL Central, is a completely overblown and fairly ludicrous idea.

Besides that fact, when do you draw the line and give a little credit to the pitchers? When Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright strikes a guy out with two on and two out, or Jaime Garcia coaxes a double play, we say, "Look at that guy, some great pitching there." But if Holliday or Skip Schumaker or Jon Jay flies out with two on or raps into a double play, we have paroxysms of angst, wondering why they can't get the big hit. Look, when you are facing Lincecum and Cain and Halladay, you are lucky to get any hit. When you've already got guys on, the odds of a pitcher of that caliber making a mistake or leaving a pitch to hit out there are a lot lower than when you are facing....well, Kyle Lohse. There's got to be some recognition that the Cards have faced some very excellent hurlers. They've had problems with mediocre ones at times, I understand that, but in this seven game small sample size, the quality of pitching overshadows a lot.

I really would like to get some feedback on this one. Am I completely in left field? Am I being too much of a homer? I try to be positive without being unrealistic, but maybe I've stepped out too far on that side of the scale.

Anyway, really not much to say about this game. Once Kyle Lohse had allowed a three run shot in the first inning, it was pretty much over. The Cardinals continued to battle, but it never got any better.

Give some credit to Skip Schumaker, who had a walk and two hits, including a leadoff single that made the first become pretty interesting before a Pujols double play. It was nice to see Pujols extend his modest hitting streak with an RBI single later in the game that crept the Cardinals a little closer.

Rough day for Tyler Greene, who made two errors, and Matt Holliday, who ended an inning twice with a ground out and struck out with the bases loaded. (I will say that pitch he struck out on was a pretty nasty one from Halladay.) Holliday has got to figure out a way to get on track, though, or pitchers won't be so concerned with him and the walks to Pujols will be effective deterrents.

A little interesting note before looking at tomorrow night's game with Pittsburgh. The Cardinals have the top rated telecasts in baseball, at least for April. Congrats to our friends at Fox Sports Midwest for that honor!

Chris Carpenter goes up against Zach Duke in PNC Park tomorrow night. Let's see what Carp's done against the Pirates.

	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	GDP
Ryan Doumit	17	16	5	2	2	2	1	3	.313	.353	.813	1.165	0	0
Ronny Cedeno	15	15	3	1	1	1	0	1	.200	.200	.467	.667	0	1
Ramon Vazquez	8	7	4	0	0	1	1	1	.571	.625	.571	1.196	0	0
Ryan Church	6	6	1	0	0	0	0	1	.167	.167	.167	.333	0	0
Garrett Jones	4	4	1	0	1	1	0	0	.250	.250	1.000	1.250	0	0
Andy LaRoche	4	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.250	.000	.250	0	0
Andrew McCutchen	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Lastings Milledge	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.250	.500	0	0
Steven Pearce	4	4	1	0	0	1	0	1	.250	.250	.250	.500	0	0
Delwyn Young	4	4	2	1	0	1	0	1	.500	.500	.750	1.250	0	0
Zach Duke	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Paul Maholm	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	0
Ross Ohlendorf	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Total	76	72	18	4	4	8	3	10	.250	.280	.472	.752	1	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/6/2010.

The Pirates have done a little more against him than I was expecting. Ryan Doumit especially has been a killer with those two home runs. It'll be interesting to see how Carp goes after him tomorrow night.

Zach Duke is one of those guys that has done well at times against St. Louis. Overall, though....

	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Albert Pujols	37	34	16	4	3	4	3	1	.471	.514	.853	1.366	0	0	2	0	3
Yadier Molina	32	26	8	1	0	4	2	1	.308	.387	.346	.733	1	1	1	2	2
Ryan Ludwick	20	18	6	0	1	1	1	1	.333	.368	.500	.868	0	0	0	0	0
Matt Holliday	16	13	6	1	1	4	2	1	.462	.500	.769	1.269	0	1	0	0	0
Felipe Lopez	16	16	3	0	0	1	0	2	.188	.188	.188	.375	0	0	0	0	1
Brendan Ryan	15	14	2	0	0	1	0	2	.143	.133	.143	.276	0	1	0	0	0
Colby Rasmus	10	8	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.200	.000	.200	0	0	0	1	0
Skip Schumaker	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Jason LaRue	6	6	2	1	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.500	.833	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Carpenter	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
David Freese	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Kyle Lohse	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	0	0	0	0
Joe Mather	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Mitchell Boggs	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Adam Wainwright	2	2	1	1	0	2	0	0	.500	.500	1.000	1.500	0	0	0	0	1
Total	175	157	46	8	5	17	9	14	.293	.337	.439	.777	2	3	3	3	7

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/6/2010.

It's not Ian Snell, but Pujols won't mind seeing Duke come in. Then again, the way he hits in Pittsburgh, he won't mind seeing anyone on that mound. It might be a good night for Holliday to get back on track as well. A lot of ills for this team have been cured in Pittsburgh in the past. We'll see if that's something that continues this season.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Playing Pepper 2010: Pittsburgh Pirates

Posted on March 15, 2010 at 11:24 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.

Pittsburgh Pirates
2009 Finish: 62-99, fifth in the NL Central

It's been a long time since there was much in Pittsburgh to cheer about. Over a decade and a half of losing seasons will wear on you, I'd imagine.

Still, there are glimmers that, perhaps, Pittsburgh's day as an automatic doormat are over. I got in touch with Pat from Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? to give us a look at the Bucs and their 2010 season.

Filed Under: Pittsburgh Pirates | Playing Pepper Comments (1)

Big Weekend, Big Innings, Big Players

Posted on September 8, 2009 at 8:13 AM

In case you haven't noticed--and judging by the comments, you haven't--I took a long holiday weekend and wasn't able to work my way back to the blogging platform. I may have watched more of the Cardinals than I have in a while, though, which was great. So let's recap the last, well, almost week.

Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (10-3 win)
Hero: Skip Schumaker. A nice 4-4 with a couple of runs and a couple of RBI? Talk about doing it all!
Goat: It's tough to have a Goat in a game where the team puts up 10 runs, even if Chris Carpenter didn't have his normal spectacular outing. That said, Mark DeRosa went 0-4, so that's where we'll go.
Notes: So nice to see that offense really click. It's a tough task to go down this lineup when everyone is dialed in. Heck, there was even a good game out of Rick Ankiel, so you know things are going the Cards way! A nice outing by Jason Motte as well, as he struck out five in two innings. If he can get to being a shutdown option, the post-season bullpen is even stronger.

Thursday vs. Milwaukee (4-3 loss)
Hero: Julio Lugo. He led off the game with a home run as one of his three hits. He also mixed in a double in there and looked sharp all the way around.
Goat: Albert Pujols. Doesn't happen often, but he couldn't come through with the bases loaded in the seventh (which hardly ever happens this year), then had a chance in the ninth to at least tie it up and struck out to end the game. Don't worry, though, he'll wind up on the plus side before this entry is done.
Notes: Tough game to lose, especially with an early two-run lead handed to John Smoltz. You knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up what he'd done so far in Cardinal red, though he pretty much did for the first five innings. He'll be in the rotation for a while now, so we'll get to continue to evaluate his results.

Friday at Pittsburgh (14-7 win)
Hero: Ryan Ludwick. Five for five, two home runs, two doubles. Even with Pujols's go-ahead three-run shot, it's hard to go against that line of work.
Goat: Adam Wainwright. Talk about a terrible innings. Everything that could go wrong for Wainwright in the fifth seemed to do so. It was nice that AP bailed him out and got him a win, especially after so many tough-luck losses this year, but that wasn't the Wainwright we know and love.
Notes: Apparently everyone was big on football season starting, since they put up a football score. (I'll rant about that in a bit.) We got to see the return of Todd Wellemeyer as well, but it wasn't necessarily all we wanted to see. A scoreless frame, but two walks. You could be generous and chalk that up to some rust. We'll have to see when he gets another opportunity.

Saturday at Pittsburgh (2-1 win in 10)
Hero: Albert Pujols. Hit the game-winner, get the tag.
Goat: Rick Ankiel. Most of the offense didn't show up, but Ankiel was the worst, striking out three times in his hitless four ABs.
Notes: Mitchell Boggs had his best game as a pro. Of course, with Kyle Lohse returning, it might have been his last start (though he probably will get one later in the month as Tony LaRussa starts getting the rotation lined up for post-season). Nice to see Blake Hawksworth not only coming in to a close game but being able to work out of a bases-loaded situation. I think he's earned his October ticket as well.

Sunday at Pittsburgh (6-5 loss)
Hero: Rick Ankiel. Most days, Rick's bomb would have been cause for joyous celebration long into the evening. Unfortunately, this time it lasted less than half an hour.
Goat: Ryan Franklin. Blown saves happen. However, there are some worriesome tendencies in this second half that are a little scary for the postseason.
Notes: One bad inning for Joel Pineiro spoiled his chance to add to the win total. However, all day he seemed to be getting pitches up more than he does when he's going well and that will eventually bite you. Motte came into this one also and pitched well again. In his last five outings, he's allowed no runs, pitched 6.1 innings, struck out 9 and walked two. These are definitely encouraging signs.

Monday at Milwaukee (3-0 win)
Hero: Chris Carpenter. He tightened up the Cy Young race again by throwing a one-hit shutout. He seems to like holidays in Milwaukee!
Goat: Ryan Ludwick. An 0 for 4 with two strikeouts isn't exactly the way you want to spend your Labor Day.
Notes: Albert Pujols again comes through, doubling in two when first base was open. I know Matt Holliday had great numbers against Milwaukee, but you really want to pitch to AP with the game on the line? You have to know that runs are going to be pretty scarce with Carp on the hill. Whatever, it works for us!

So the Cards open today with a magic number of Ken Boyer and a solid 11 1/2 game lead on those Cubbies. However, this puts us just one tick closer to the end of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike postseason baseball, obviously. I want to see the Cardinals playing in October every year. That said, regular season baseball, in my book, is usually more likeable than postseason baseball. I realize I could be the only person in the world that thinks that, but hear me out.

I'm a nervous kind of person. October baseball often finds me flipping channels, not necessarily able to handle the stress of a possible unfortunate outcome. I will watch the game, then head to another channel for a moment or two before coming back to the game. (This is how I missed the Bartman play in '03, because I couldn't quite handle watching the Cubs go to the World Series. Also was away from the TV in '05 with Pujols and Lidge for similar reasons.) So the stress level of watching the game goes way up for me once the regular season closes.

Besides the fact that what I love about the regular season is its consistency, its daily grind. You always know that there's a game tomorrow and it takes you throughout the year. Playoff baseball has big gaps, is covered by announcers and media that have no clue about your team and are not the voices you've heard all year (unless you listen in on the radio, of course), and stops and starts depending on how the teams do.

Of course, if the Cardinals win the whole thing by routing teams, it's the greatest time in the world.

So Franklin blew the save on Sunday and in a fairly efficient manner. Without the sacrifice that might have gone dreadfully wrong for the Cards if AP had been just a little slower to second base, Franklin wouldn't have retired a batter. The public reasoning is that he needed some rest, that Saturday's long save got to him. Hopefully this is true, but he's been walking people at a much higher clip lately, which can cause some fatigue as well. The Cards need him to be reliable (and able to go whenever) in the post-season to make it very far, so losing some games now with Motte or Boggs or whomever in the ninth will have to be an acceptable tradeoff.

As mentioned above, Lohse looks to return Saturday against the Braves. Since the five-man rotation is staying in place, John Smoltz will likely miss going against his own team, since Wainwright will go tomorrow, Pineiro the first game of the Braves series, and Carpenter the last. So while it'd have been a nice story to see Smoltz take on Atlanta, it's probably nice for him not to have to worry about it.

Smoltz faces Manny Parra today in a rematch of that 4-3 loss from last Thursday. Parra always seems to be one of those that cause the Cardinals trouble, though St. Louis has had some good numbers in the past. Last year, the Cards would get on him early, but not be able to add on and the Brewers would come back. You know, kinda like they did last week. They'll need to keep pushing tonight to make sure the bullpen can be managed correctly.

Smoltz has a lot of data against the Brew Crew as well, but one guy he hasn't faced much is Casey McGhee, who is quickly moving up the "Cardinals Killers" list. Let's see if the Cards can't keep him in check.

Should be another fun game as the Cards try to add to that winning series streak!

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Milwaukee Brewers | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (2)

Using The Brooms

Posted on August 10, 2009 at 8:06 AM

Nice to see the Cardinals finally get a sweep, even if it was against a team they should have swept and even if they had a little trouble in doing it. Let's take a look at the highlights of this weekend's series against Pittsburgh.

Friday (6-4 win)
Hero: Matt Holliday. An early two-run homer that you'd expect would have been enough for Chris Carpenter (but wasn't), then singling and working his way around the bases to score the go-ahead run.
Goat: Chris Carpenter. Hard to believe it's possible, but Carp had the rare off game Friday. And he still pitched eight innings and got the win.
Notes: Albert Pujols showed his stripes when dealing with the injured fan....Holliday, Mark DeRosa and Julio Lugo all had a hit in the game, though Lugo got picked off in the first on a terrible play.

Saturday (5-3 win)
Hero: Adam Wainwright. He didn't go as deep into the game as he has been, but still pitched a great one, allowing only one run in just shy of seven innings.
Goat: Jason Motte. When is it going to click for Motte? He can have a good outing, but it's pretty rare when he doesn't give up at least one long ball.
Notes: Pujols came up with the bases loaded again and got to 100 RBI.

Sunday (7-3 win)
Hero: Skip Schumaker. His pinch-hit HR gave the Cards the lead, which they then tacked on to.
Goat: Colby Rasmus. One of the only players not to get a hit in the game.
Notes: Joel Pineiro struggled early, but kept the Cards in the game....Kyle McClellan had a nice 1.2 innings to lock it down.

Coupled with the Cubs struggling against the Rockies, the Cardinals go into their homestand up two games in the NL Central. With the Reds and Padres on the docket this week (compared to the Cubs hosting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), St. Louis has a chance to push that lead out a little further and give themselves some breathing room.

Fans, though, aren't sure that the team is giving it their all when Todd Wellemeyer is supposed to take the mound on Tuesday. On the face of it, it is a strange decision. Yes, Mitchell Boggs struggled at AAA last time out, but he's been pretty good. If we are making decisions based on one game, Wellemeyer would be far, far away from this team by now. I'd still like to see Blake Hawksworth take the mound, though Tony LaRussa's assertion that he's too important to the bullpen does have some merit.

This has to be Wellemeyer's last chance, though. If he can't contain a Reds lineup that is pretty weak, especially if Scott Rolen misses out on his return to Busch (and it looks like he will), then he's not going to be able to get the job done against anyone. Hopefully this won't cost the Cards a lot to find out.

Kyle Lohse gets back on the mound tonight for the Redbirds. It's a good thing Cincinnati is so down right now, because the Cards throw Lohse, who is pretty questionable right now with his results, and Wellemeyer at them. This could be a dangerous series for the Cardinals if the Reds offense gets on track.

Lohse has had some issues with his former team. He especially needs to be careful with Laynce Nix, who has peppered him pretty hard in the past. He's had trouble with them this year, giving up seven runs in six innings when the Cards were in Cincy in May, then allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings when they were in St. Louis in June before leaving with the forearm injury that put him on the DL.

Opposing St. Louis will be Johnny Cueto. The Cardinals hit him hard last year, which is reflected in his career numbers. (You have to figure Rick Ankiel will be in the starting lineup tonight.) Cueto has been struggling lately, but he's owned St. Louis this year, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA against them. Maybe his recent issues will continue to be present tonight, because otherwise it might be a tough one.

If you are in the mood for a raffle, head over to Baseball Reflections. They are giving away some baseball keychains from Wholesalekeychains.com.

Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Leave a Comment

Talking Cardinal Baseball

Posted on August 7, 2009 at 7:34 AM

Hello?

Oh, hey. How are you?

Really? Brad Thompson got suspended? I didn't see the pitch, but I know that Tony LaRussa wasn't happy with him...

Oh, by MLB. Well, while you never want to see pitches around the head area, I just wonder what the modern game would think of Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale. Heck, they called Sal Maglie "The Barber" because of his close shaves.

No, I'm not saying that I think pitchers should be free to continually barrage hitters with beanballs, but I do think at times MLB has gone too far in the other way and doesn't let the players police the game the way they did back in the 50s and 60s.

You're right. That's the only time Thompson and Gibson will be in the same sentence. If the Cards had to lose someone for three games, at least it wasn't a vital cog. Heck, this might make the team better.

Pittsburgh.

Chris Carpenter.

No doubt. Having Carpenter on the mound every fifth day has been a treasure for Cardinal fans. I love knowing that he's going to take the mound, because almost without exception, you are looking at seven, eight innings of great baseball.

Yeah, with him leading the league in ERA and Adam Wainwright up there in wins, it's a heck of a punch for a short playoff series, isn't it? Assuming they get there, of course.

Well, there is that Chicago team.

When you stop laughing....

OK, really....

Seriously, as much as I relish Completely Useless By September, as it stands right now the Cubs are percentage points in first. We'll see how long that lasts, but remember that Chicago was the odds-on favorite to win this division for a reason. I hope the Cards can pull away from them, but I'm not sure that it won't go down to late September.

You do have to like their chances of at least staying technically tied for first tonight. Carp's got 10 wins in 12 career starts against the Pirates, who have taken just about every semblance of major league talent and sent it elsewhere in another rebuilding attempt.

Can I name any of the Pirates that'll be starting tonight?

Well, there's....um, well, Andy LaRoche is still there. Ryan Doumit. Not a whole lot of others that I can mention. Those that have been around, though, haven't hit Carp with any regularity.

Right, who does?

Paul Maholm.

Yeah. He has been tough on the Cards in the past. He's had a rough year, though, and the Cards only saw him at the beginning of April, so maybe they'll be able to light him up.

Well, he's no Ian Snell, but Albert Pujols likes to face him. Hitting .526 with a long ball. You add that to the way AP is swinging the last couple of days and how much he usually hits in Pittsburgh, and I'd expect a two hit night with a good chance of a homer.

OK, fine, I do expect that most every night. But I think this time the stats actually back it up.

Looking forward to it is well. Any last words? You mean, besides apologies to Bob Newhart?

Yeah, don't ask me why I went that route. Friday, up early, bad combination. It's no bus driver school, I'll admit that.

Oh, yeah, final thoughts. The Cards are in good shape, with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati next up. The Cubs have to be a little concerned about winning every day, because St. Louis just might. And throwing Carpenter and Wainwright at Pittsburgh is like using a sledgehammer on a fly, but whatever gets the job done. Should be a fun weekend!

Filed Under: Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals Comments (4)

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