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Recently in San Francisco Giants CategorySink or SwimPosted on June 3, 2011 at 10:20 AM
Well, when half of last year's Memphis team is on the field, it's not quite surprising that the Cards lost their first series since early April. However, I don't think any of us were expecting it to happen the way that it did. You hate to hang the Goat tag on a guy making his major league debut, but Maikel Cleto really didn't do the team any favors out there last night. Sure, he was nervous, and the rap on him has always been big arm, no control, but two walks, a double, and two home runs, with just one out mixed in? Ouch. He did settle in some after that, getting two strikeouts to end that inning and throwing a perfect eighth, but the damage was pretty much done. I will say that it seemed that the fans at the stadium were booing Cleto after the second home run. If so, I really think that was uncalled for. I'm not a big booing proponent anyway, so perhaps I'm biased, but it's his first game. Are we really that much of an instant gratification society now? You can complain to your neighbor that Tony La Russa should go out and get him or talk about how he isn't ready yet, but booing? Lance Lynn pitched better than his box-score line. Personally, I'm shocked, shocked to find the defense was an issue behind Lynn last night. By time I turned on the game, he was already out, but reading the Tweets and the game descriptions, it sounds like he could have easily gotten out of that game with a couple less runs. Plus, Trever Miller let one of Lynn's runner score, so he might have gotten by with a little help from his friends, if he had gotten any of that help. Lance Berkman didn't play last night. In fact, he didn't even pinch-hit, with Tony La Russa sending up Jake Westbrook in the eighth instead of the Puma. Is Berkman hurt or was just Tony playing the odds, hoping to use him when there was a runner on base? Seems kinda nuts to send up a pitcher when there are only five outs to go, because that seems to really accelerate the possibility you won't have any runners on to use Berkman. Two runs in the ninth meant it didn't matter either way, but it still was strange. I know Berkman's not been on fire lately, but it seemed a better idea than Westbrook. There were some good moments. Albert Pujols had two hits and is hitting .296 over his last seven days. He's still not punishing the ball--only two extra base hits in that time span--but it's something. Better than the Pujols we've had most of the year, at least. Also, Allen Craig had another couple of hits, plus he got to play the entire game, though that was probably because he started in the outfield. Plus Ryan Theriot continued his hitting streak, which is a nice little oddity to keep track of. After the game, there was a bit of roster juggling, with Pete Kozma being sent to Memphis, and another, as yet undetermined (but if I take long enough writing this post, we'll probably find out) bat coming up. Joe Strauss is intimating that Matt Carpenter will be added to the 40-man roster and promoted, but there's nothing official to that yet. Lynn is going to get to stay, it seems, and get at least another start. With off days, Kyle McClellan might be ready before Lynn needs to make a third, but we'll have to wait and see. Cardinals/Cubs is always fun, even if the Cubs come in struggling and banged up. Here's what the matchup looks like for tonight. First, Jaime Garcia vs. Chicago:
They've not seen him a lot and he's had their number, it looks like. Hopefully he can keep Starlin Castro down, as he really was a force the last time the two teams met.
Got to talk with the guys from Pitchers Hit Eighth yesterday and it was a lot of fun. You can hear our banter and deep discussions on their 2.0 podcast, up now. Give it a listen!  It's No HollidayPosted on June 2, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Sorry for the delay in posting. Between the holiday weekend and some back trouble, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down and write up anything. You know what that means--catchup time. Let's see what's been happening.Friday (10-3 win at Colorado) Hero: Colby Rasmus. 4-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI and two triples. Talk about filling up a box score! Goat: Jake Westbrook. Only five innings and allowed three runs, though that was enough to get a win. Just that most everyone else had a better day. Notes: Lots of fun offensive numbers in this one. Allen Craig, Albert Pujols, Tyler Greene, Jon Jay, and Ryan Theriot all had two hits, with Greene doing it after he subbed in for Craig. Great work by the bullpen as well, throwing scoreless innings and making sure Colorado didn't get back into the game. Saturday (15-4 loss at Colorado) Hero: Jon Jay. Three hits in a game that was never close. Still, it was good to see the bat working. Goat: Jaime Garcia. What can you say about Garcia's outing? He never had anything, giving up six runs in the first and not improving beyond that. It was 2-0 before any out was recorded and 5-0 before the second out, the pitcher bunting, was recorded. For whatever reason, he obviously was not the normal Jaime Garcia. Which meant a lot of questioning when Tony La Russa left him out there to take a beating. Sure, you hate to burn through a bullpen but at that time Ryan Franklin hadn't pitched in eight days. Miguel Batista had gone two the night before so he was probably out, but it still seemed like you could have removed Garcia perhaps after the double to lead off the fourth and been fine. I'm sure the fact that Garcia went 1-2-3 in the third factored into them leaving him out there a bit longer, thinking maybe he could get through it. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Notes: Franklin pitched a very good game. No matter that it was well out of hand when he came in, he still threw 2.2 innings without allowing a run or many baserunners at all, which seems to be a positive sign for him. Tony Cruz went 2 for 3 after coming in on the double-switch that took out Garcia and Theriot continued his hit streak with a couple of knocks. Sunday (4-3 win at Colorado) Hero: Jon Jay. His home run in the first set the tone and, while the Cardinals tried to fritter that lead away, they never completely did. Goat: Albert Pujols. 0-4 again with a strikeout and little to show for his day. Notes: Fernando Salas made it very interesting, but was able to keep his save streak alive. Kyle Lohse pitched another very good game, seeming to run into a wall in the seventh but otherwise being as dominant as we've come to expect this year. Eduardo Sanchez did a very good job of holding the Rockies at bay until Salas came in. Monday (7-3 loss vs. San Francisco) Hero: Albert Pujols. He's not gotten many of these this year, but he had two hits and drove in two of the three runs, plus smashed a home run. There wasn't a lot to like about this game, but his performance was one of them. Goat: Kyle McClellan. OK, apparently he hurt himself in the first inning. When you are a pitcher, you've really got to be careful about being Mr. Tough Guy. Let them know you are hurting. Perhaps they'd have sent him back out there anyway, not knowing how bad it was. Allowing seven runs (two home runs) in four innings, though, is not helping the team. Notes: Good work out of the bullpen, even if they were very erratic. Batista walked the bases loaded, but got out of it. Brian Tallet, Jason Motte and Trever Miller did a great job keeping the game as close as it was, but the Cards just couldn't come back against Madison Bumgarner. Tuesday (4-3 win vs. San Francisco) Hero: Albert Pujols. 2-3 with a walk, plus an RBI double that got the winning rally on track. Goat: Colby Rasmus. 0-4 with a strikeout and made the second out in the eighth, an out that could have easily jeopardized the rally. Notes: Great to see the team come from behind like this. While we've seen more of that this year, it feels like it's been a while. To do it against a bullpen as good as San Francisco's is even more impressive. Great effort by Skip Schumaker to beat out that infield hit that broke the tie and, even though he made it interesting, Salas slammed the door. Chris Carpenter pitched a solid game, striking out eight, but he let his pitch count get too high. He wasn't getting the easy ground balls that mark a Carpenter start and had to leave after five innings. Carpenter can still pitch and pitch effectively, but he's just not as dominant as he was. There is still plenty of value in that arm, though. Franklin was great in his appearance, striking out the side then getting the win with the late rally. Wednesday (7-5 loss in 11 vs. San Francisco) Hero: Allen Craig. His two-run, pinch-hit home run off of Tim Lincecum should have made the difference. It's pretty obvious Craig is hitting lights out right now. His last, interrupted at-bat didn't do anything to diminish that for me. Goat: Fernando Salas. It was going to happen eventually, especially with people noting that he was 10-for-10 in save chances. That said, you really didn't want to see it last night. The Cards had Lincecum beaten. They got five runs off of the Giants ace, something that just doesn't happen often. You need to win those games and they almost did. Tough time for Salas to prove human, though looking through these boxscores you can see he's been getting hit some recently. Notes: Ryan Franklin got a lot of abuse on Twitter last night as, again, he took a Cardinal loss. While I've never been a huge Franklin fan, I've got to defend him somewhat for that one. He goes eight days without pitching, then throws 2.2 scoreless innings in Colorado. He comes back three days later, throws a scoreless inning with three strikeouts. Then he comes back the next day and throws another scoreless inning before getting touched in the 11th for two runs after two were out. There was no one else in the pen, really. Motte was unavailable and you had the two lefties, but you hate to use them for any length of time (and, honestly, there's no guarantee they'd have been better.) I didn't care for the insurance run scoring, but Franklin did the best he could. If Freddy Sanchez doesn't foul off a few pitches, maybe Franklin gets him out and we're not talking about this. All in all, my point is that this is going to happen from time to time, but it wasn't like it was the combustible Franklin of old out there. The injury bug does strike as Kyle McClellan and Matt Holliday go on the DL. McClellan went on last night with Lance Lynn getting the call for today's start (more on that in a bit) while Holliday won't go on the DL until today, which is a little strange in and of itself. Let's really look at this Holliday situation. He hurts himself May 18 vs. Houston. He DHs against Kansas City and apparently the club goes with the "aggressive approach" and keeps him off the DL, trying to work it out on their own. He pinch walks May 28th, ruining any chance of backdating him. He plays May 30, starting and going 1 for 4 but still obviously having some issues. He pinch-hits Tuesday night and strikes out. Now, when he'd just be eligible to come off the DL if they'd done that originally, he goes on the disabled list. Who deserves the blame here? I'm sure that Holliday comes in for some of it, most likely telling them that he would be OK soon, that he didn't want to miss time, etc. However, we've seen this pattern way too often with the Cardinal staff. It's been better the last year or so, but the "wait forever, then DL them" move was patented by the Cards back in the early part of the last decade. Even when the decision is made, it can't be done traditionally. Instead of examining Holliday early enough to get someone here from Memphis, they wait and say he'll go on the DL today. Being that Memphis is actually at home, not in the far reaches of the PCL, it wouldn't have been that much trouble to get someone here, you don't figure, unless it's not going to be a player that has been coming up, like Mark Hamilton, but rather someone that they need to add to the 40-man roster. Will it matter? Probably not. The Cards did have an extra-inning game last night and in theory another bat would have been nice, but they didn't burn through everyone and it's just as likely whomever got called up would have still been on the bench in the 11th. Still, it's just an awkward situation all the way around. Then you have the McClellan bit. The move is straightforward enough--Lance Lynn has pitched fairly well at Memphis and did well in the spring, so you'd expect him to be the first up in this situation--but instead of sliding Lynn right into the rotation where McClellan was, he's pitching today on three days rest and bumping everyone back a day for more rest. Interesting way to make your debut. EDIT: The Cardinal Twitter feed just announced that, along with Lynn, Maikel Cleto will be joining the team. This means 13 pitchers at a time when the offense really could use a boost. I would guess they plan to send Lynn down after the game and bring up a bat, but you really never know with this group. As most of you know, Cleto was the hard-throwing but wild righthander that we got back from Seattle for Brendan Ryan. Most of us thought it was a giveaway, but Cleto has moved up the chain and now will be a Cardinal, at least for a while. All-Star voting has been announced with Pujols, Holliday, Lance Berkman in the starting lineup at the moment and Yadier Molina in the running. I have zero problem with the fan vote, even if they "get it wrong". It's the fan's game, let them see who they want to see. The problem is making anything ride on this exhibition game. Tonight, it's Lynn vs. Jonathan Sanchez. Here's his numbers against the Redbirds:
 Filed Under: Colorado Rockies
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Talking Giants With Snow Woulda Had ItPosted on May 29, 2011 at 10:58 PM
Part of the great benefits of being involved with the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is the opportunity to talk to fans of the opposing teams. Earlier this month Maiya and Britt of Snow Woulda Had It! reached out to the membership offering to do Q&A swaps. With the Giants coming into Busch tomorrow, I swapped some e-mails with them. You'll see my answers to their Cardinal questions on their site soon, but after the jump you can find the five questions I sent to them and their responses, getting you ready for the series. Thanks to both of them for their great answers! Continue ReadingGetting Serious Helps Cleanse The PalatePosted on April 11, 2011 at 10:33 AM
If I'd written much this weekend, it would have been a depressing take on the state of the Cardinals today. Thankfully, Sunday came along and raised our spirits somewhat. Let's take a quick look at the San Francisco series. Hero: Ryan Theriot. Not only did he get a couple of hits, he had a great at-bat in the ninth to drive in what looked to be the game winning run. Based on some of the comments I saw on Twitter and around the internet this weekend, Theriot raised his stock significantly in the eyes of Cardinal fans. Goat: Ryan Franklin, as he blew his second save of the year. This one probably was even more painful than Opening Day, since the team had rallied in a fashion they hadn't shown so far this season and had put up their highest run total to this point. More about Franklin later. Continue ReadingIt wasn't the best outing by Jake Westbrook, not making it through the sixth while giving up three earned runs. I really hope he settles in soon, because I'm getting a little concerned that a lot of his success last season was people in the NL not knowing him, and that deficiency has been corrected. Hopefully that was not the case. Couple of interesting things out of this game. One, very interesting to see Allen Craig playing as part of a five-man infield late in the game. Worked out very well as he speared the line drive and started the 7-2-5 out. If nothing else, that saved the game for a little while. Also want to give major kudos to Bryan Augenstein. Here you are, with minimal experience in the bigs, runner on third after a double and a wild pitch. He gets two outs (one of which was the Craig play, which leads to the phrase "grounded into a fielder's choice to left field" in the play by play), but then Tony La Russa orders the bases loaded with two intentional walks. While I understand the rationale on that, I'm always a little leery when that happens. You may get the matchup you want, there's absolutely no room for error, so the pitcher has to come at the hitter a little more than usual. So often when this happens, it seems the player gets a hit or draws a walk, allowing a run to score that might not have necessarily happened if the strategy hadn't been employed. And, in fact, Augenstein started Mark DeRosa with a ball, seeming to confirm my fears. However, he battled back and got DeRosa looking on strike three. My estimation of Augenstein went way up and it looks like maybe spring wasn't a complete mirage. We'll see how long he can keep it going, but right now I don't worry too much when he gets called into a game. Finally, this game still might be going if Albert Pujols doesn't drop the third out of the 12th inning. Given that extra chance, the Giants won the game. Just exactly what is wrong with Pujols? Or is there anything? More on that in a bit as well.  Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks
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Off Day BreatherPosted on April 8, 2011 at 9:30 AM
No wins or losses for the Cardinals yesterday, just the flight from the heart of the country to the West Coast. No word on whether Matt Holliday will be playing while he's out there, but I expect that he'll at least try to get into the cage some soon, perhaps even today. It's a 10-game road trip that may test the Cardinals somewhat, especially if Holliday isn't available until close to the end of it. The road wasn't all that good to them last year, but perhaps that will be different in 2011. There was a rumor last year at the Social Media Night that 60 Minutes was going to be doing a feature on Albert Pujols. This Sunday, that comes to fruition as the CBS news magazine airs a story on the first baseman, complete with an interview and following him to the Dominican to see his off-field efforts. You can see a short clip over here and it will follow the final round of the Masters, so be sure to keep your eyes open or set your DVR. Allen Craig has been picking up the slack with Matt Holliday out. Interesting how he did so much work with Mark McGwire in the offseason. We saw good results out of other players McGwire worked with outside of the structure of an official hitting coach, such as Skip Schumaker, but those results didn't necessarily translate to when McGwire was with them on a daily basis. So far, Craig has avoided that problem (if there is one) and looks to make the bench a much stronger place, either because he's in it or he's taking the place of one of the starters. For a while there it seemed Allen Craig was person non grata in the organization (a role that seems now reserved for Bryan Anderson) but he's taken his opportunity and seized upon it, so much so that he will likely be a key piece in the post-2011 landscape for the Redbirds. Today, in the Giants' home opener, Jake Westbrook takes the mound against Jonathan Sanchez. Here's what Westbrook has done against those guys in the orange and black:
Being that Westbrook has spent most of his time in the American League, it's not a surprise that those that have faced him the most are AL retreads. Many of the young stars haven't seen him that much yet, though if Westbrook's command is like it was on Saturday, it won't matter, they'll hit him anyway. A good start out of Westbrook would go a long way toward relieving some concerns Cardinal fans have about him.
I hope to get part two of the UCB weekend story up this afternoon, so check back for that. Part one can be found below this post. Also, the plan is to move this blog to a new server this weekend. Should be late on Saturday and likely won't cause any disruption for anyone reading it, but in case something goes wrong, you'll know why. Enjoy your weekend!
Playing Pepper 2011: San Francisco GiantsPosted on March 17, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Two years ago, I started a series I called Playing Pepper, where I asked questions of bloggers of each major league team about the season to come. Not only was that informative and entertaining, it led to the spawning of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. With spring training coming up, it's time to get back into shape by again playing a little pepper. San Francisco Giants (92-70, 2 GA and first in the NL West; won World Series) You've heard it said that pitching and defense wins championships. San Francisco is sure glad that it does. With an offense that wasn't anyone idea of a powerhouse but with a rotation that defined the term, the Giants won their first World Series since they moved out to San Francisco. That rotation stayed intact, which means that a repeat is always a possibility. Interestingly, San Fran was one of the least represented BBA chapters until about the middle of last year, when one joined and then a flood followed. Which means I've got a load of great Giants writers for this version of Playing Pepper. Dave writes the blog Ranting On, which you'd think would be a more common blog name. No Twitter or Facebook, so to see what Dave is ranting on, you've got to hit the blog. M.C. O'Connor has a blog called Raising Matt Cain, one that he has been keeping up since 2007. He's seen his pitcher grow up into a full fledged ace, which has to bring a tear to the eye. You can find him on Facebook as well as on Twitter. Rory Paap not only has Paapfly.com, where he's been since 2009, but also has recently started writing at The Hardball Times. He has the Twitter and the Facebook accounts you have come to expect. The Crazy Crabbers was the blog that started the influx of Giant blogs into the BBA. Scott Willis writes over there, keeping track of all that happens in Giants Nation. You can, of course, find him on Twitter and on Facebook. Troy is the San Francisco Chapter's president and puts his thoughts down at 22gigantes. Twitter, Facebook. Richard Dyer is found over at The Giants Cove, opining on the G-Men. Gotta go over there to find him, though. Connor has got to be one of the youngest members of the BBA, writing The Giants Report in between doing his high school homework. That doesn't keep him from writing or Tweeting good stuff, though! Last but not least, you know that neat little BBA app that you might have on your iPhone or Droid? Yeah, Julian was in charge of getting that done. He also writes over at Splashing Pumpkins and can be found Tweeting and Facebooking. This group tackles the by-now-familiar questions after the jump! Continue ReadingHave The Cardinals Bounced?Posted on August 23, 2010 at 8:55 AM
The weekend started with an internet furor over a Cardinal trade. It ended with a lot more optimism after a stellar pitching performance. In between, well, it's possible that the Cardinals hit rock bottom and bounced. A quick recap:Friday (6-3 loss) Hero: Albert Pujols. 2-4 with a home run on a night where there wasn't a whole lot of offense. Goat: Matt Holliday. One hit, but a late DP and grounding out as the tying run in the ninth doesn't help matters. Note: Again with the late inning, get-your-hopes-up-then-dash-them rallies. Sometimes, it's just better to go out 1-2-3 if you can't get the job done. Saturday (5-1 win) Hero: Pedro Feliz. For all the talk about his acquisition (more on that in a bit), he did have a pretty solid weekend. It's a tiny sample size, but again, for one day a 2-4, 2 RBI game isn't bad at all. Goat: Skip Schumaker. Not a good day from the leadoff slot, as he went 0-4. Notes: Chris Carpenter stepped up when he needed to. After Pujols said there was "no tomorrow", the team looked better and Carpenter was a big reason why. Sunday (9-0 win) Hero: Jaime Garcia. Wow, just wow. When I saw that Garcia was still in at the end of Sunday's game, I was pretty impressed. When I saw that it took just 89 pitches, I was blown away. A guy that has had trouble with his command, who has struggled to get into the seventh at times, just cruised to his first career shutout. If he's back to this level, the Cards might be able to do something. Also, I think he was ticked that on Baseball Tonight Saturday, the panel mentioned Buster Posey and Jason Heyward (really? Heyward? Talk about hype vs. results....) but completely overlooked him. No longer. Goat: Matt Holliday. Not one of the more serious Goats, but since every starter got a hit and Garcia was the only pitcher, someone had to do it. Holliday did only have one hit in five at-bats and did not draw a walk. Notes: Another strong day for Jon Jay with three hits. He's done well at other spots in the lineup, but he really thrives in the two slot. Nice to see Allen Craig get another home run and Brendan Ryan do well in a rare start in the leadoff role. That increased confidence is really working for Ryan, who has finally become, if not someone you want to see at the plate, at least not an automatic out anymore. As always, you can read more about the last week, including this weekend's games, in my weekly column over at Baseball Digest. So, again, we reach the point in our reflections where we try to take some sort of meaning or significance out of the last few games. This Cardinals team is ridiculously mercurial. They win eight in a row, we're sure they've found a gear and will take off, then they lose four in a row. They take over first place, then lose five in a row. You can never guess where this team is going. You'd like to say that they've reached their low point and are on their way up. Getting 4 1/2 games out of the divisional race had to be some sort of wakeup call for this team, as evidenced by Pujols's comments about having to win games because it is getting late. With a week of games against Pittsburgh and Washington, you'd think that they'd be able to pile up some wins if that's the case. However, I think by now we've all come to the conclusion that you don't predict what this team is going to do, because that's about the time they'll do the opposite. A brief note on Pedro Feliz. I was with the majority that really didn't care for this move. I mean, Feliz wasn't even starting for Houston, so that should give you some indication of how bad things had gotten for him. He's had some brief flashes of offense in his career, but nothing major. While I don't expect David Carpenter will ever be a major star, he still was showing some potential in the minors. It just didn't seem like a move that needed to be made, especially with Tyler Greene playing the position in Memphis. I realize that the glove work would be an improvement over what the Cards have now, but adding another black hole to the already inconsistent offense just didn't seem to make sense. At least the Redbirds got one good weekend out of Feliz, though, which is more than most thought would happen. If there's some small adjustment that gets him to league average over the next six weeks, maybe it'll pan out. I still don't think I'd have done it, but it's done, so we have to hope for the best. Speaking of hoping for the best, Kyle Lohse goes for St. Louis tonight against Pittsburgh and Ross Ohlendorf. Lohse is trying to put the last start behind him and not do too much in this outing. Going against Pittsburgh does tend to make that an easier proposition. Ohlendorf's record (1-10) is disastrous, but he's posted a sub-4 ERA, so as always wins and losses don't tell the entire story. He actually hasn't faced St. Louis this year, but he's been strong against them in the past, fashioning a 2.77 ERA in 26 innings over the last three years. With Cincinnati out in San Francisco and facing that solid pitching staff, this is the time for the Cards to make up ground. (Plus, with Pujols going to Pittsburgh and Joey Votto going to San Francisco, it's at least possible AP to make up the seven points in batting average that separates him from the Triple Crown. Wouldn't that be an interesting thing....) A week of 6 PM starts begins tonight!
Pitchin' On The Dock Of The BayPosted on April 26, 2010 at 7:49 AM
You knew, just looking at the matchups, two things about this weekend's series. One, it was going to be darn tough for the Cardinals to keep their streak of not losing a series alive. The second was that if anyone scored, it was going to be a fairly impressive accomplishment.Sometimes when you think you have a handle on a series, it turns around and surprises you. This time, not so much. The Giants scored all of six runs this weekend--and won two out of three games. The Cardinals scored three runs, which normally would provoke questions about the offense (and to some degree still does), but really wasn't unexpected. So the two teams combined to score fewer runs in the entire series than the Astros scored by themselves on Sunday. It was that kind of weekend. Jaime Garcia continues to draw the toughest the other team has to offer. It's one of the downsides to that early season flip of him and Chris Carpenter due to the unwillingness to have Garcia pitch in the first ESPN Sunday Night game. I say downside, but it's not affected Garcia anywhere but in the win column. He beat Yovani Gallardo and arguably outpitched Johan Santana in the beginnings of that 20-inning game. While he didn't outpitch Tim Lincecum--that's a tough thing to do--he did pitch a solid game without his best stuff. He walked three and gave up seven hits, yet if the defense had been a little better behind him, he might have gotten out of there with only two runs allowed. He becomes more and more impressive every time out and it's be interesting to see what he does on Wednesday versus his first non-ace, Braves pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. More kudos go his way for getting his first major league hit off of such a dominating starter. The Hero of that game, though, was probably Yadier Molina, for providing the little offense St. Louis could muster against Big Time Timmy Jim. Two of the eight hits and the only RBI. Lincecum gave the Cards a few chances, but Molina was the only one to capitalize on any of them. It's a little tough to separate out a Goat, but we'll give it to David Freese for an 0-4 with a strikeout. I wanted to lean toward Brendan Ryan, due to his error that helped lead to a run, but in the long run it's doubtful that run made all the difference in the game. I wasn't able to see much of the next two games, which is a shame because I do like to see good pitching. Adam Wainwright has proven that last year wasn't necessarily a career year, just a level that he can attain on a regular basis. After four starts, he's 3-1 with a 1.69 ERA and two complete games. Waino is going to be the team workhorse for a while, though, and is understandably supplanting Carp as the de facto team ace. He should be just hitting his prime at 28, so hopefully we have a lot of years left of seeing that big curveball and more deep-game outings. I think you probably go and give the Goat to Albert Pujols on this one. Pujols hasn't seemed right, especially this week, so to go 0-4 with a called strikeout (that, granted, was at least questionable from his point of view) and a key double play is just not what the team is used to out of Pujols. Now, given the results of Sunday, it's possible that he's starting to stir out of it, which is good news for us and bad news for the pitchers of the National League. Sunday, Brad Penny was, well, insert your own Penny/money pun here. A lot of us weren't sure what we had with him, but I think a 0.96 ERA has given us reason to think that, even though he can't keep that up all year, odds are he's going to be above-average as a third starter. With Garcia being well above average as a #5, if Kyle Lohse gets going to be an average #4 (which is well within his capabilities), this rotation is going to be the best in baseball. Pujols did get back into the groove against Matt Cain, whom he's now 8 for 12 against. Always good to get a little extra BP when you are struggling, especially since those results counted. His first-inning homer was all that Penny needed and perhaps may be a omen for how many games will be won this summer. Tough to find a Goat in this one. Lots of similar performances, as the hits were pretty evenly spaced throughout the lineup, save for Pujols's three. I guess we'll give this one to Matt Holliday, who went 0-4 with a strikeout. Because the Cardinals are winning, sitting 2 1/2 ahead of the Cubs and the only NL Central team that actually is above .500, attention can be paid to some of the smaller issues on the club, such as the St. Louis bench. Nick Stavinoha, Joe Mather, and Allen Craig aren't exactly picking splinters out of their posterior, but that's more to do with the quality of major league dugouts than it is their playing time. It's a tough dilemma for them, because how do you stay sharp and really get into a rhythm when you may only play once a week, if that, and pinch hit here and there. (And don't get me started on Bryan Anderson.) Tony La Russa hasn't shown much of his famous propensity for lineup swapping and creative playing schedules. It's tough to do with guys like Holliday, Rasmus, and Ryan Ludwick that have proven they should be out there most every day. David Freese is doing well enough that they can't even crack third, because even if Freese is out, Felipe Lopez is probably in. It makes me wonder if there won't be some other move made here soon when Jason LaRue returns this week and Anderson goes back to Memphis. Might Craig go with him and Tyler Greene come up? Especially if Lopez's arm is still barking at him, I wouldn't be surprised at such an insurance move. The Cardinals get to return home tonight and face a Braves team that is struggling, sitting at the bottom of the NL East. The pitching they face in this series won't nearly be as tough as they faced in San Francisco, and with Cincinnati (and Aaron Harang and Homer Bailey) coming in afterwards, if we aren't talking about a good offensive week for this club, there may be deeper problems than we think. Tonight the Cardinals face probably the best starter they will see all week in Tim Hudson. Hudson has a solid 1-1, 2.38 record so far this season and hit his only career home run in Busch Stadium. Here's what he's done against the current Redbirds:
Kyle Lohse looked terrible last time out, but he has had some solid work at times this year as well. Here's what he's done against the Braves:
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