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A Weekend In Chicago

Posted on July 26, 2010 at 2:15 PM
Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals
You know, one loss doesn't necessarily take the excitement out of a winning streak.  Three straight losses, including two to the Cubs?  That'll do it.  Quick look at the three games:

Friday (5-0 loss)
Hero: Jon Jay.  One for two with two walks.  In a game where the Cards don't score, it wasn't his fault.
Goat: Jeff Suppan.  It wasn't all his fault.  Soriano should have never come up with a runner on in the fifth; Skip Schumaker should have been able to turn that double play.  The wind-blown popup that fell between Suppan and Jason LaRue should have been caught.  That said, he did give up three home runs, including a leadoff shot.  Not exactly the best way to kick off a game.
Notes: The defense was very sloppy in this one, as I said.  When the Post-Dispatch hints that perhaps the team didn't play very hard, it's not a good game.  Good to see PJ Walters, albeit briefly, come in and have a quality game.  Of course, that didn't do him much good since he was sent to Memphis right afterwards.

Saturday (6-5 loss)
Hero: It should go to Tyler Greene.  Two hits, two RBI, scored a run....but that double play with two on and one out in the eighth is tough to swallow.  So, because of that and because I've been so rough on him, I'll give it to Brendan Ryan.  Two hits, plus reached on a fielder's choice due to an error.  I think those trade rumors got to Ryan, because he played much better this weekend than he's been playing.
Goat: Blake Hawksworth.  Six runs (five earned) in just over four innings isn't going to win a lot of ballgames.  True, two of those runs scored when Mitchell Boggs wild-pitched them home, which turned out to be the deciding factor in the game, but they shouldn't have been on in the first place.
Notes: It was good to at least see some fight in the team, never giving up and continuing to work its way back.  That doesn't always happens, as was shown Friday.  Another two hit day for Jay with a double, which is now my non-creative nickname for him, Double Jay.

Sunday (4-3 win in 11)
Hero: Felipe Lopez.  If nothing else, that might be the coolest bat flip ever.  That said, kudos to Skip Schumaker for his four for four night.  Be nice to see his bat going as well.
Goat: Yadier Molina.  That double play in the 10th could have been a killer.  Then again, it'd have been nice if Matt Holliday could have score on Schumaker's hit as well.
Notes: Another important home run for Albert Pujols.  This isn't going to be any sort of career year for him--I'm almost convinced he'll ruin his streak by hitting .298 or something--but he'll still be 30/100/100 runs and that's pretty good for a bad year.

The Cardinals do at least salvage the end of that series and, with the Mets, Pirates and Astros coming up, they have a chance to put some distance between them and Cincinnati before they go Great American Ballpark two weeks from tonight.

When they go to GAB, though, they'll likely do it without The Man From Houston.  John Mozeliak downplayed a lot the chances of getting Roy Oswalt, and everything that I read across the internets seems to point in the same direction.  While if it was up to the player he'd have been in St. Louis yesterday--word is he was talking to an unnamed Cardinal player before Oswalt's start on Saturday--he doesn't necessarily have the last word.  Houston's demands are on the extravagant side and, as I noted months ago, dealing within the division means they are asking for even more.

Jayson Stark this morning indicated that Drayton McLane has to be able to brag that he won the deal, which means that the Cardinals are in trouble.  If it was more about salary relief, I think that the two clubs could match up.  Jon Jay and others not named Shelby Miller could work if the Cardinals are taking on a large chunk of the payroll.  If that's not the motivation, though, I don't see it happening.  It sounds to me that Philadelphia is working to get him but I'm not sure that Oswalt will approve the deal.  I expect we'll see him in a Houston jersey when they come to town next week.

As for other options, I don't know what they'd be.  The team will be closely watching Kyle Lohse's rehab start tonight in Memphis.  If Lohse looks strong, chances are the pressure is off somewhat for a quick move.  If something happens to him or he gets beat around the yard, Mozeliak may be working the phones a little harder.  I'm not sure what he'd come up with, as there's not been really any linking between the Cardinals and anyone but Oswalt, but you have to figure he has a few irons in the fire, even if none of them are red hot yet.

There was other Cardinal-related news this weekend as Whitey Herzog made it into the Hall of Fame and his #24 will be retired by the Cardinals on Saturday.  As a fan that grew up under Whitey's tenure with the club, I say it's an honor well deserved.  No one else defined a decade like he did with his strategy and tactics.  Congrats to the White Rat!  Here in a few years, he'll be joined by the current Cardinal manager and there will be a long discussion about who the best manager was.

No game tonight, unless you are monitoring Memphis.  Albert's on David Letterman tonight, so be sure to catch that.  Derrick Goold has been posting pictures on Twitter of the outside of the studio where Albert is going to do a little hitting.  Don't know if he gets the interview inside first or that's all he'll be doing, but he can ask his hitting coach for some tips.

If you didn't catch it, the schedule for some guest bloggers during my vacation is below.  Check it out and please support them over the next week!


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Heroes
Lance Berkman (24)
Albert Pujols (19)
Matt Holliday (15)
Chris Carpenter (10)
Kyle Lohse (9)
Yadier Molina (9)
Ryan Theriot (8)
David Freese (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Jon Jay (7)
Jake Westbrook (6)
Allen Craig (5)
Kyle McClellan (5)
Colby Rasmus (5)
Edwin Jackson (4)
Skip Schumaker (4)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Gerald Laird (2)
Nick Punto (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Lance Lynn (1)

2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Ryan Theriot (12)
Albert Pujols (11)
Jake Westbrook (10)
David Freese (8)
Ryan Franklin (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Fernando Salas (7)
Kyle Lohse (6)
Kyle McClellan (6)
Colby Rasmus (6)
Skip Schumaker (6)
Miguel Batista (5)
Chris Carpenter (5)
Daniel Descalso (5)
Matt Holliday (5)
Jon Jay (5)
Jason Motte (5)
Allen Craig (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Tyler Greene (4)
Yadier Molina (4)
Lance Berkman (3)
Mitchell Boggs (3)
Gerald Laird (3)
Edwin Jackson (2)
Trever Miller (2)
Corey Patterson (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Maikel Cleto (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Octavio Dotel (1)
Mark Hamilton (1)
Lance Lynn (1)
Nick Punto (1)
Arthur Rhodes (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Raul Valdes (1)
PJ Walters (1)

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 2011)
    Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%)
    Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%)
    Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%)
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Derrick Goold 87.8%
    Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%)
    John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%)
    Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%)
    Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%)
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Jim Hayes 76.1%
    John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%)
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%)
    Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%)
    BJ Rains 70.4%
    Ricky Horton 69.1%
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%)
    Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%)
    Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%)
    Dan Lozano 58.7%
    Joe Strauss 57.5%
    Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%)

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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