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Enjoying The Moments

Posted on September 7, 2011 at 6:49 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals
While the divisional race and, for the most part, the wild card race are well out of hand for the Redbirds, it's come down to just enjoying the games as a singular entity, without context or worry about what it means for the rest of the season.

For example, Kyle Lohse got the Hero tag by throwing six scoreless innings.  It may have helped that he'd had extra rest, but at least with this late in the season we don't have to worry about Tony La Russa suddenly trying some sort of seven-man rotation so that Lohse and Jaime Garcia only pitch every eighth day or anything like that.  Lohse was effective enough, working out of jams and not allowing the Brewers to score.

The Brewers did get on board against the bullpen, though, which would probably bring up a number of concerns if it wasn't for the situation the Cards are in.  Kyle McClellan gave up one earned run, but that was in part because Jon Jay wasn't able to run down a ball that, at least according to the Twitter mentions I read, he should have been able to get.  Jason Motte, who in typical Tony La Russa fashion is not the closer, just apparently the guy that pitches the ninth when the Cards are ahead, got hit a little more regularly than we are used to seeing, allowing his first run in over 26 innings before getting a double play ball on another pitch that was sharply hit.

Do we worry about the bullpen, though?  Probably not.  McClellan has some good overall numbers as a reliever, but he's allowed runs in his last three outings and has a 4.77 ERA in his last ten outings.  Overwork?  Too many innings this year and he's tiring?  No telling.  Something to think about in the offseason as they try to figure out his role, but nothing that is going to make a difference this season.

A rough night for David Freese, who went 0-3, struck out twice, and made an error.  That saves Albert Pujols from getting the Goat tag, as he also went 0-3 with a double play, but at least did walk once.  Albert now sits at .293 with 20 games left.  Fox Sports Midwest needs some sort of Breaking News graphic as they recalculate his average after every at-bat.  Maybe some cool, exciting music to go with it.

What will be watched pretty closely, at least by a certain segment of the fan base, is the usage of Rafael Furcal and Tyler Greene.  The organization has said that they want to bring Furcal back, but they've also said that they want to play Greene a lot down the stretch to see what he can do.  Most everyone would select Greene over Furcal if he can hit, since Greene's been reported to be solid defensively (something he didn't necessarily show in his earlier trips this year, however) and would come much cheaper than Furcal, with the upside that comes from being 27 instead of 34.

How that tension will play out will be interesting.  Last night, with all the callups in St. Louis and available, Furcal got the start and played the whole game.  Greene got into the game, but only as a pinch runner.  Will things be different today?  We'll have to see when the lineups come out.  I've been persuaded that Greene needs the everyday job to settle down and relax at the bigs, so I'd be all for giving him the next three weeks and seeing what comes out of it.

Last night also marked the debut of Adron Chambers, as he also pinch-ran.  It's nice to see anyone get his name officially put on the roster of Major League Players and you could tell Chambers was excited to be there.  One of the benefits of being out of it in September is getting to see moments like that.  (Just imagine how crazy the place would be if Shelby Miller made his debut this month!  Not going to happen, of course, but it'd be the Cardinals version of Strasmus, I think.)

John Maracek Tweeted a fascinating stat yesterday.  Did you know that Furcal, who has been with the team just five weeks, had 19 more at-bats with the Cards before last night than Nick Punto, who was a cause of major discussion when he signed this offseason?  It doesn't seem that long ago that we were breaking that move down, deciding whether it made sense or was a good fit, but with all of Punto's injuries, it's like he's never been there.

Also, there was a lot of talk yesterday about the Cards whining about the shadows at Busch Stadium.  There was some validity to it, though (at least this time, though the larger aspect of the Cards appearing to be complainers on a regular basis still holds) and the club will move those times next season.  If nothing else, you have to keep Albert happy before he signs that contract, but I do think they realized that it was a very difficult situation for players.  

Cards try to win the series tonight and keep that deficit at less than double digits.  Great matchup on the mound as Chris Carpenter takes on Zach Greinke.  Carp's numbers against these Brewers:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Jerry Hairston 30 28 6 1 0 0 1 0 2 .214 .233 .250 .483 0 1 0
Prince Fielder 28 23 7 0 0 2 4 4 8 .304 .429 .565 .994 1 1 1
Craig Counsell 25 22 6 0 0 0 1 2 1 .273 .333 .273 .606 0 0 1
Casey McGehee 24 22 6 2 0 0 3 2 6 .273 .333 .364 .697 0 0 1
Nyjer Morgan 21 20 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 .150 .150 .200 .350 0 0 1
Ryan Braun 18 18 4 0 0 1 2 0 6 .222 .222 .389 .611 0 0 0
Corey Hart 18 17 5 1 0 1 4 1 7 .294 .333 .529 .863 0 0 0
Mark Kotsay 11 10 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 .300 .364 .400 .764 0 0 2
Yuniesky Betancourt 7 6 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .667 .714 .667 1.381 0 0 0
Jonathan Lucroy 7 7 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .143 .143 .143 .286 0 0 0
Randy Wolf 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .200 .200 .200 .400 0 0 0
George Kottaras 5 4 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 .250 .200 .250 .450 0 0 0
Yovani Gallardo 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .250 .000 .250 0 0 0
Zack Greinke 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Total 208 189 49 6 0 4 23 12 38 .259 .307 .354 .662 1 2 6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/7/2011.

He's done a pretty good job overall against them. He's going to have to be much sharper than he was on Friday night, though. 

Greinke against the Cards:
 
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Gerald Laird 20 20 6 1 0 0 0 0 3 .300 .300 .350 .650 0 0 0
Albert Pujols 18 15 4 2 0 0 0 3 2 .267 .389 .400 .789 0 0 1
Skip Schumaker 13 13 5 1 0 0 0 0 2 .385 .385 .462 .846 0 0 1
Matt Holliday 10 9 4 0 0 2 3 1 0 .444 .500 1.111 1.611 0 0 0
Yadier Molina 9 9 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 .444 .444 .556 1.000 0 0 0
Lance Berkman 6 6 2 0 0 1 1 0 4 .333 .333 .833 1.167 0 0 0
David Freese 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .200 .333 .200 .533 0 0 0
Jon Jay 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Corey Patterson 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .250 .250 .250 .500 0 0 0
Ryan Theriot 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Daniel Descalso 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0
Rafael Furcal 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Total 107 102 29 6 0 3 6 5 20 .284 .318 .431 .749 0 0 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/7/2011.

The Cardinals have been able to hit him in the past. He did beat the Birds last time out at the beginning of August, allowing only two runs in six innings.

Just three weeks left.  Enjoy the game before it goes away.  Winter is coming.

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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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