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Cardinals Head To Houston

Posted on April 26, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Filed Under: Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals
I can't remember the last time a simple April series against a non-contender had so many different storylines, at least for the beginning of the series.

Of course, the overarching one is that Lance Berkman is returning to his roots.  After spending all but a couple of months of his career in a Houston uniform, he comes back to Minute Maid Park as a visitor for the first time.  Houston fans are trying to come to grips with what this means and how they are supposed to feel about it.  

I don't know that Cardinal fans have had quite that kind of situation lately.  Perhaps the first time Matt Morris pitched against the team would have been a good analogy, since Morris, like Berkman, was brought up through the organization and was the face of the franchise for a while.  While the Cardinals have had other fan favorites return (such as Ryan Ludwick most recently), none of them quite hit the level that Berkman did for Houston.

That said, Card fans should have some sympathy for our Houston brethren in this matter.  It might be this time next year when Albert Pujols comes into Busch as a visitor, and while it won't be completely the same situation, some of the same emotions that Astro fans are dealing with would be present for St. Louis fans as well.

Even past that, though, there are other things to watch for.  This is a great opportunity to see how much different the 2011 team is than last year's version.  We all know how the Cardinals struggled against sub-.500 teams last year, teams that they should have beaten on a regular basis.  Can they turn that around this year?  They've already done a fairly good job of that, beating teams like Arizona and Washington, but this will be a good test for them, especially coming off the high off winning the series against the Reds.

Then, tonight, it's Bud Norris.  The man, the myth, the legend.  A player that apparently got to choose which team he would beat to the exclusion of all others and, for some unknown reason, picked St. Louis.  

Here are the numbers offensively that the Cardinals have put up against Norris.

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Matt Holliday 19 19 5 1 0 2 5 0 3 .263 .263 .632 .895 0 0 0
Albert Pujols 19 17 4 2 0 0 1 2 3 .235 .316 .353 .669 1 0 0
Colby Rasmus 18 16 4 2 0 1 1 2 5 .250 .333 .563 .896 0 0 0
Yadier Molina 16 14 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .286 .375 .286 .661 0 1 1
Ryan Theriot 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 .286 .286 .571 0 0 0
Tyler Greene 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 .333 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0
David Freese 5 5 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 .200 .200 .200 .400 0 0 0
Jon Jay 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jaime Garcia 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Kyle Lohse 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 1.000 1.500 0 0 0
Total 100 93 24 7 0 3 8 5 21 .258 .303 .430 .733 1 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/26/2011.

As you can see, there are just not great results there.  That said, this is the line Norris has put up against the Cards in his last two outings against them:

13.2 IP, 14 H, 9 ER, 10 K, 3 BB, 5.93 ERA

Those two games were actually significant as well.  The first was the July 9th game in Houston where Adam Wainwright pitched eight scoreless innings and said afterwards that Norris "wasn't going to beat me", that he was determined not to lose to him again.  The second was an 18-4 win for the Astros in St. Louis on August 3, which was actually a matchup of Norris versus his opponent for tonight, Jaime Garcia.  (Also, the Diamond Diaries girls were at that one, so we completely blame it all on them.)

The way the offense has been going this season, I feel a bit more confident that Norris won't handcuff the team as he has in the past.  Then again, that also may be determined with how Albert Pujols's hamstring is doing.  The team reports no concerns about it, but there's also a possibility he sits tonight or longer.  While Pujols hasn't necessarily had strong numbers against Norris, taking a piece out of this lineup can throw things out of balance, as we saw with Matt Holliday's absence earlier in the month.

Here's what Garcia's done against the Astros:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Jason Bourgeois 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0
Matt Downs 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667 .500 1.167 0 0 0
Chris Johnson 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .500 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0
Carlos Lee 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 .667 1.333 0 0 0
Hunter Pence 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Angel Sanchez 3 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 .667 .667 1.000 1.667 0 0 0
Bud Norris 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Bill Hall 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000 0 0 0
Jason Michaels 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 0 0 0
Total 22 20 10 2 0 1 6 1 4 .500 .500 .750 1.250 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/26/2011.

Not a lot there and all of these results are from that August 3 game where everyone teed off.  It was an off-game in Garcia's stellar rookie year and he will be looking to balance that out somewhat with a much stronger outing this evening.

Matthew Leach has up a good article about how the offense has been much more patient and "selectively aggressive" this year.  They are swinging at strikes and letting balls go, which is a great approach to have at the plate.  Aggressiveness is fine, as long as you don't get yourself out while you are doing it.  What Leach doesn't address in the column is how much, if any, of that is coming from Mark McGwire?  With another year under his belt and with some different personnel, could it be that some of the lessons he was preaching last year are finally taking root?

Don't forget that you can play in the Houston YNOT until first pitch tonight.  Should be a fun one in Texas--looking forward to it!

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1 Comments

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Chris | April 26, 2011 12:04 PM | Reply

I totally forgot that I saw Norris pitch on Aug. 3. The only pitcher I remember from that night is Aaron Miles!

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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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