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Another Small Step

Posted on September 1, 2011 at 6:47 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals
I don't think Milwaukee is worried yet, but it's very nice to cut into their lead in two successive days rather than them expanding it.  The season isn't over just yet, it appears.

It wasn't necessarily the finest outing for Jake Westbrook on the mound, but he has to get the Hero because any time a pitcher drives in more than he allows, it's a good day.  Westbrook allowed three runs--would have been four if Ryan Braun could have stayed on his feet--in just five innings, but his grand slam had the Cards up by three when he left and they were able to tack on a couple more before his replacement made it to the mound.  I'm not sure that the bullpen from April or May would have made that lead feel secure, but the current version does.

Westbrook also bailed out David Freese with that slam.  Freese gets the Goat for some of the worst baserunning we've seen this season.  With Freese on second and Lance Berkman on first after both being plunked by Randy Wolf, Yadier Molina hits a deep ball that bounces off the bottom of the wall back over the head of the fielder.  Yet, inexplicably, Freese only goes partway to third (which makes sense) then winds up turning and going back to second.  By time he realizes that the ball is not caught, Molina's more than halfway to second, a base occupied by Berkman.  Molina is able to scramble back to first (barely) but the camera seemed to show him looking at Freese with a "what the heck, man" look.  (OK, probably a little stronger than that....)

That really looked like it was going to burn the Cardinals.  Ryan Theriot hit a groundball that Milwaukee went home with, getting the force.  (I was a bit surprised they didn't get the 6-2-3 double play, really.)  With Westbrook coming up, it looked like it was going to be a wasted inning.  Instead, Westbrook yanked the ball right down the line and the Cards had the lead.

Albert Pujols hit number 32 last night, but that was his only hit and his average is down to .286.  Between needing 14 BA points and 21 RBI, it looks like his streak is over.  Still not a bad year, obviously, but it's a bit sad that he won't hit those regular .300/100 RBI benchmarks.

Like I mentioned, great work out of Kyle McClellan, Marc Rzepczynski and Jason Motte.  While it does seem this pen can be combustible at times, there's still a lot of comfort with these guys as well.  The change in the pen during the season has been remarkable and while it still might not be considered a strength of the team, I don't think you can consider it a weakness any more.

Tony La Russa has juggled the rotation just a bit, flipping Edwin Jackson and Kyle Lohse.  It's probably for the best, because otherwise Jackson would have faced the Brewers four times in just at a month of being a Cardinal.  He probably wonders if there are any other teams in the league!  Plus Lohse getting extra rest can't be bad at all, the way his starts have gone lately.

Callups can start today, and the first wave is Brandon Dickson, today's starter, and Tony Cruz.  Bob has a great piece over at On The Outside Corner about who you can expect to see in the next couple of days, as Memphis wraps up their season.  We know Tyler Greene is coming and is expected to get a lot of playing time.  Figure Mark Hamilton will be up soon as well.  Nice to see the new blood in September and see what these guys can do as we get ready for a big offseason.

Dickson hasn't faced the Brewers yet, and hopefully the same malaise that strikes Cardinal hitters when they face a new pitcher will affect Milwaukee as well.  For the Brewers, it's Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo's been strong against the Cards this year, with a 2.77 ERA in two starts.  Then again, one of those starts was when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Hopefully it'll be more like his second start, when he gave up five runs in five innings.  Here are how the hitters have done against him:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Lance Berkman 28 21 7 1 0 0 3 7 8 .333 .500 .381 .881 0 0 1
Albert Pujols 27 22 9 1 0 2 6 4 3 .409 .481 .727 1.209 1 0 0
Yadier Molina 23 18 4 2 0 1 5 4 2 .222 .391 .500 .891 0 1 1
Ryan Theriot 18 15 5 1 0 0 1 3 3 .333 .444 .400 .844 0 0 0
Skip Schumaker 15 14 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 .214 .267 .357 .624 0 0 0
Matt Holliday 14 12 2 0 1 0 2 2 4 .167 .286 .333 .619 2 0 0
Rafael Furcal 10 8 3 0 0 1 1 2 1 .375 .500 .750 1.250 0 0 0
Jon Jay 9 8 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .125 .125 .125 .250 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
David Freese 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .200 .000 .200 0 0 1
Daniel Descalso 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .667 .500 1.167 0 0 0
Gerald Laird 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Corey Patterson 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .667 .000 .667 0 0 0
Allen Craig 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jaime Garcia 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .500 .000 .500 0 0 0
Edwin Jackson 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Kyle Lohse 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jake Westbrook 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Total 173 142 38 7 1 4 19 28 28 .268 .390 .415 .805 3 1 3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/1/2011.

There are some good numbers there. Let's hope they show up this afternoon! Be a great time to use a broom!


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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

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
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

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)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    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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