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A Fire In The Belly

Posted on July 7, 2011 at 10:26 AM
Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks | Cincinnati Reds | Heroes and Goats | St. Louis Cardinals
Yes, the Cardinals lost last night.  However, the way they lost provides hope for the coming days.

That hope doesn't come from the starting pitching, of course.  Jake Westbrook had a terrible first inning, giving up five runs before getting an out.  He settled down some, allowing one run in the fourth and leaving with a runner on after one was out in the fifth.  That runner scored when Trever Miller proved yet again that he has no business pitching to righties (and pitching to lefties can be questionable, though he got both of them out in his appearance) by allowing a bomb to Scott Rolen.  Cards were down 8-0 after the fifth and appeared that they'd be done early.

The hope comes from the fact that this team stirred and rallied to tie the game on Hero Jon Jay's long ball in the ninth.  It seems like it's been a while since this team rallied from very far down (more than a run or so) to win a game, especially late in a game.  Early in the year they had a few games like that and, to be fair, they've won a lot of their games with early rallies or taking the lead and not getting behind, but it was just good to know that even a large lead like that wasn't insurmountable.

However, Goat Raul Valdes made the comeback moot.  While he walked two in the inning, he almost got away with it, having Ramon Hernandez at 0-2 with two outs.  Instead of wasting a pitch or at least attempting to get him to swing at a bad one, he laid one down the middle.  Hernandez doubled in a run and that was it.  With Nick Punto, Tony Cruz, and Daniel Descalso set for the bottom of the 13th, that was really a crushing blow.  Cruz did his part, but Jay got called out on an outside pitch for the final out.

Kudos also go out to Brandon Dickson.  Not only did he come into the game and two and a third innings of scoreless ball, he also got a hit at the beginning of that five-run seventh that pushed the Cards much closer.  His reward may be being sent to Memphis as the Cards need a spare reliever (and Bryan Augenstein apparently didn't play in the AAA extra-inning marathon), but he did a great job in showing that he deserves playing time in the bigs.

Of course, some of the focus was on the return of Albert Pujols to the lineup.  Pujols wasn't able to be extremely dramatic by winning the game with a long ball.  (In fact, some would snarkily say that he was obviously back since he hit into a double play in the ninth.)  Still, Pujols did get one hit and hit the ball sharply at other times.  It looked like he was going to have a double in the 12th before the right fielder chased it down.  In other words, I don't think there's a lot to worry about with Albert.  The power may not come until after the break, but he still looks good at the plate.  Something that Bruce Bochy might want to think about.

Eduardo Sanchez starts his rehab assignment at Springfield today with an eye toward being ready for the first series after the break in Cincinnati.  It's really getting exciting to see this team finally coming together with all the parts healthy.  I think they could get on a strong run in the second half, barring any more injuries.

Remember, the voting for the best All-Star moment is still going.  Let's get Stan some more recognition!

Cards open up a four-game set with the Diamondbacks tonight as Arizona stays away from their ballpark while it gets prepared for the All-Star Game.  Joe Saunders goes against Kyle McClellan.  The numbers are below.

Saunders vs. Cards:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Nick Punto 14 14 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .286 .286 .286 .571 0 0 0
Matt Holliday 9 8 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .125 .222 .125 .347 0 0 0
Ryan Theriot 9 7 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 .714 .778 .714 1.492 0 0 0
Total 32 29 10 0 0 0 0 3 2 .345 .406 .345 .751 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/7/2011.

With Saunders spending most of his time in the AL, many of the Cards haven't seen him. Ryan Theriot should be able to give a good scouting report, though. 

McClellan vs. Diamondbacks:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Chris Young 9 9 3 1 0 1 2 0 2 .333 .333 .778 1.111 0 0 0
Miguel Montero 8 6 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 .333 .500 .333 .833 0 0 0
Justin Upton 8 7 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .286 .375 .286 .661 0 0 0
Stephen Drew 6 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .200 .333 .400 .733 0 0 0
Kelly Johnson 6 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 .200 .333 .400 .733 0 0 0
Xavier Nady 6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Willie Bloomquist 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 .250 .250 .500 0 0 0
Juan Miranda 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667 .500 1.167 0 0 0
Zach Duke 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Gerardo Parra 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 0 0 0
Total 52 46 14 4 0 1 2 6 7 .304 .385 .457 .841 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/7/2011.

When you are already concerned about McClellan, these numbers don't help any.  I would like to see him get at least a quality start (six or more innings, three or fewer runs) to ease my mind.  At least the game is in Busch, which should help him out vs. Chase Field.  We'll see what happens!

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1 Comment | Leave a comment

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WilliaminMaine | July 7, 2011 11:27 AM | Reply

There was good news/bad news all the way around in that game. It was unfortunate to come all the way back and not win. But the Reds were lucky to win that one game of the series and look to be in trouble. The Cards still have a great chance to win this thing.

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Heroes
Carlos Beltran (5)
Matt Holliday (4)
Jon Jay (4)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Matt Carpenter (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Shelby Miller (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Allen Craig (2)
Pete Kozma (2)
Lance Lynn (2)
Edward Mujica (2)
Jake Westbrook (2)
Joe Kelly (1)
Tyler Lyons (1)
Seth Maness (1)
Trevor Rosenthal (1)
Ty Wigginton (1)

2012 Top Hero: Matt Holliday (17)
2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
David Freese (5)
Jon Jay (5)
Joe Kelly (4)
Mitchell Boggs (3)
Matt Carpenter (3)
Allen Craig (3)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Pete Kozma (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
Matt Carpenter (2)
Lance Lynn (2)
Carlos Beltran (1)
Matt Holliday (1)
Seth Maness (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Adam Wainwright (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2012 Top Goat: Rafael Furcal (11)
2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2013)
Yadier Molina 96.2% (up 8.8%)
Chris Carpenter 89.8% (down 0.3%)
Derrick Goold 89.1% (up 6.3%)
Matt Holliday 88.4% (up 0.9%)
Allen Craig 88.3%
Adam Wainwright 88.2% (down 3.7%)
Jose Oquendo 87.1% (up 2.4%)
Jason Motte 86.9%
John Mozeliak 86.5% (up 1.1%)
United Cardinal Bloggers 85.2% (up 6.3%)
Bill DeWitt 85.1% (up 5.3%)
Mike Shannon 85.1% (down 0.2%)
John Rooney 84.5% (up 3.0%)
Mike Matheny 84.4% (up 3.3%)
David Freese 82.9% (down 2.6%)
Jon Jay 81.8% (up 10.7%)
Lance Berkman 80.6% (down 8.0%)
Jenifer Langosch 79.5%
Lance Lynn 79.5%
Dan McLaughlin 76.0% (up 8.0%)
Jim Hayes 73.0% (up 1.1%)
Ricky Horton 65.5% (down 2.0%)
Jaime Garcia 64.1%
Albert Pujols 59.2% (up 4.3%)
Ballpark Village 58.3%
Joe Strauss 54.3% (down 13.4%)

2012
Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

2011
Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
Matthew Leach 85.5%
Pop Warner 76.7%
Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
John Vuch 68.9%
Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
Dan Lozano 58.7%

2009
Rick Ankiel 83.9%
Chris Duncan 69.1%


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