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Cardinal Comeback Continues

Posted on July 20, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals
This winning stuff is fun, isn't it?  A lot more exciting to watch, a lot less griping and complaining.  I think even if the Cards had lost yesterday, the afterglow of the Dodger series might have tempered a little bit of the angst.  Like I said in my last post, it seems like a shift has occurred with the squad.

I'm sure that most of you have played Monopoly at some point in your life.  You know when your opponent has Boardwalk and Park Place, perhaps with houses or a hotel on it, you just hold your breath when you are on that side of the board?  Then you roll a six and you dart pass both of them, landing on Go and seeing a stretch where most of the properties are yours?  That's what winning both a Jeff Suppan start and a Blake Hawksworth start feels like for me.  No losses there, and then you are lined up for the big three. (Though I'm starting to have some reservations about Jaime Garcia, but I digress.)

You have to give Hawksworth some credit.  The first inning was miserable, but he hung in there, limited the damage, got the double play when he needed it, and kept the team in the ball game.  Again, you don't want him and Suppan both in the mix, but if the Cardinals went out and got, say, a Jake Westbrook, I think you could easily make the case for keeping him and waiving Soup.

How good is it to see an Albert Pujols home run, especially at a time when it was really needed?  I don't know when the last time AP hit a long ball that came at a decisive point in the game.  His last five home runs, before last night:

#21--at Houston, Cards up 6-0 in the 9th (2-run shot)
#20--vs. Milwaukee, Cards down 11-2 in the 5th (solo blast)
#19--vs. Milwaukee, Cards down  3-0 in the 7th (solo)
#18--at Arizona, Cards up 2-0 in the 5th (2-run)
#17--at Arizona, Cards tied 0-0 in the 3rd (2-run)

Both of those Arizona home runs were pretty important, so I guess June 29th would be the answer to that semi-rhetorical question.  Hopefully it won't be another three weeks before he gets another big one.

I don't think anyone in Cardinal Nation wasn't smiling when they saw or heard Allen Craig hit his first major league home run last night.  Craig's last couple of days are either a nice fluke or he's starting to get adjusted to the big leagues.  Since he's always hit in the minors, there's no reason to think that he's completely out of line with these outings.  Good to see that average up to .167, since it was sitting at .050 not that long ago.

Of course, with his play, the great results Jon Jay has given, and the fact that Ryan Ludwick is supposed to go make a couple of rehab starts and hopefully be back this weekend, the outfield is a large part of the discussion among Cardinal fans right now.  Honestly, I expect one of Jay or Craig to be moved in whatever pitching deal that John Mozeliak makes.  I can't say that I'm all that excited about the possibility of getting Westbrook, but being that he seems to fit all the criteria (especially in the "will be a free agent" box), it might be another year of swapping with Cleveland.  So the Indians can be St. Louis north with Chris Perez and Jess Todd already there and perhaps an outfielder joining them.

Downside of last night was again Colby Rasmus.  He didn't strike out, which is a positive, but still went 0-4.  He's starting to look like a Jim Edmonds-type of streaky hitter, so maybe he'll get on the upward swing soon.

Pitching isn't the only thing that the Cardinals are looking for, of course.  The middle infield has been an issue and the idea of moving Felipe Lopez into that mix when David Freese comes back might have taken a setback with the news that Freese broke his toe working out.  Hopefully that won't set him back any more, but it's still not what you want to hear.

The infielders know that their jobs are really up for grabs, as indicated by the story on Skip Schumaker in the Post-Dispatch.  Schumaker has been playing better of late--that play he made to rob Rafael Furcal on Saturday was top-notch--and I don't think he'd catch the brunt of any playing time issues.  Would the Cards trade him?  I'd be surprised, but stranger things have happened.

Cards and Phillies tangle again tonight.  When soft-tossing lefty is found in the dictionary, it says "see Jamie Moyer".  If anyone is going to slow down this resurgence of the Cardinals, it just might be him.  Albert is just 2 for 10 off of him and the person that has faced him the most, Felipe Lopez, has five hits in 27 at-bats.  (Hint: that's not good, though he does have a home run against him.)  Randy Winn may get a shot with his 4 for 10, one HR career mark against the ageless one.

Chris Carpenter goes out to prove that last time around was the start of a trend, not part of his up and down season.  He's had some success against Philadelphia, holding the current bunch to a .250 average.  Ryan Howard and Jason Werth have limited exposure to him, but both have gone yard in their three at-bats.

Should be another good one.  Looking forward to seeing just how far this Cardinal train can go!


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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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