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Getting Serious Helps Cleanse The Palate

Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:33 AM
Filed Under: Arizona Diamondbacks | Heroes and Goats | San Francisco Giants | St. Louis Cardinals
If I'd written much this weekend, it would have been a depressing take on the state of the Cardinals today.  Thankfully, Sunday came along and raised our spirits somewhat.  Let's take a quick look at the San Francisco series.

Friday--Lost 5-4 (12)
Hero: Ryan Theriot.  Not only did he get a couple of hits, he had a great at-bat in the ninth to drive in what looked to be the game winning run.  Based on some of the comments I saw on Twitter and around the internet this weekend, Theriot raised his stock significantly in the eyes of Cardinal fans.

Goat: Ryan Franklin, as he blew his second save of the year.  This one probably was even more painful than Opening Day, since the team had rallied in a fashion they hadn't shown so far this season and had put up their highest run total to this point.  More about Franklin later.

It wasn't the best outing by Jake Westbrook, not making it through the sixth while giving up three earned runs.  I really hope he settles in soon, because I'm getting a little concerned that a lot of his success last season was people in the NL not knowing him, and that deficiency has been corrected.  Hopefully that was not the case.

Couple of interesting things out of this game.  One, very interesting to see Allen Craig playing as part of a five-man infield late in the game.  Worked out very well as he speared the line drive and started the 7-2-5 out.  If nothing else, that saved the game for a little while.

Also want to give major kudos to Bryan Augenstein.  Here you are, with minimal experience in the bigs, runner on third after a double and a wild pitch.  He gets two outs (one of which was the Craig play, which leads to the phrase "grounded into a fielder's choice to left field" in the play by play), but then Tony La Russa orders the bases loaded with two intentional walks.  

While I understand the rationale on that, I'm always a little leery when that happens.  You may get the matchup you want, there's absolutely no room for error, so the pitcher has to come at the hitter a little more than usual.  So often when this happens, it seems the player gets a hit or draws a walk, allowing a run to score that might not have necessarily happened if the strategy hadn't been employed.

And, in fact, Augenstein started Mark DeRosa with a ball, seeming to confirm my fears.  However, he battled back and got DeRosa looking on strike three.  My estimation of Augenstein went way up and it looks like maybe spring wasn't a complete mirage.  We'll see how long he can keep it going, but right now I don't worry too much when he gets called into a game.

Finally, this game still might be going if Albert Pujols doesn't drop the third out of the 12th inning.  Given that extra chance, the Giants won the game.  Just exactly what is wrong with Pujols?  Or is there anything?  More on that in a bit as well.


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Saturday--Lost 3-2
Hero: Jaime Garcia looked ridiculously dominant to me watching the game Saturday evening.  He was moving his pitches around, pitching quickly, really just having his way with the batters for a while.  I was thinking that was no-hit stuff before he allowed one in the fourth.

He didn't go as deep into the game as many of us expected.  While it seemed La Russa was pushing for an extra run, Matthew Leach reported on his blog that it was more that he thought Garcia had had enough, that he looked different in the last couple of innings.

I'm not going to argue with the skipper, as obviously he was paying more attention to the game than I was, being miles away and playing on Twitter at the same time.  Looking at the play by play, he struck out the side in the fifth, though did hit Pat Burrell with a curveball that slipped out of his hand and gave up a base hit to Miguel Tejada and gave up just one hit (though also a wild pitch) in the sixth.  He might have been slipping some, but he was still getting good results.  Again, I'm not arguing, but I'd have probably left him in another inning, though having a runner on third and one out makes it tough not to pinch-hit there the way the offense has been struggling.

Goat: Sorry, but I've got to go with Ryan Franklin again.  There's debate on whether Colby Rasmus should have caught that last ball (we'll get to that in a bit) but there's no doubt that Franklin had two outs and nobody on, then all of the sudden it's two on and a 3-2 pitch coming to Tejada, meaning the runners are off on the pitch.  There's just no reason for a closer to get into that situation.

There was a lot of talk on Twitter when Fox Sports Midwest put up their "Hero of the Game" as Rasmus before the last out.  As I said last night on Gateway to Baseball Heaven, I know why they do that.  The sponsor wants their name on the telecast, not the postgame show, because the ratings are higher there.  In blowout games, it's not an issue.  However, when it comes down to the last pitch, it can really come back to bite you.  Ask the big FOX about that, being that the 2005 NLCS Game 5 Player of the Game got a bit overshadowed when his team wound up losing.

What did happen on that last play?  To me, it looked like there was some sort of communication issue with Jon Jay.  There were many things I was thinking about writing in relation to this play, but the upside sometimes to waiting a while to blog is that someone does it much better than I ever could.  If you've not read Bob's post over at On The Outside Corner about this, do so.  He sums up all the points in a convincing manner and I really have nothing to add to that.

Nice to see a good outing by Miguel Batista, plus it may have had an added benefit. Christine has promised a short poem in honor of The Poet every time he pitches, so either follow her on Twitter or check out Aaron Miles' Fastball to see if she can keep it up!

Sunday--Win 6-1

Finally, the Cardinal bats get serious.  It was a long time in coming and I'm sure the On The Run people don't mind that they finally have to pay out some 25 cent drinks.  As we discussed last night, it may not be a coincidence that Matt Holliday returned from the appendectomy yesterday and the offense lit up.

Hero: David Freese, who did his best to stir the offensive pot by gathering three hits, including a double and the fourth Cardinal home run of the year, and three RBI.  Having anyone get that kind of game out there is a blessed relief to Cardinal fans, but it helps that it was Freese as he continues to show that there's a lot of talent there.

On the flip side, the Goat had to be Albert Pujols with an 0-5 day.  This has been an season to forget so far for Pujols, with an average under .150, no power and two errors already.  In the chat room last night Angela pointed out some stats from Leach, showing that AP has had stretches like this and then comes out and tears up the place, but this is easily his worst start ever to a season.  

Is there anything more to it than a slump at the wrong time?  Probably not.  Bill said last night that he didn't think Pujols looked right, and there could be something to that, something that has fouled him up.  Hopefully it's not an injury or anything like that, though.  We've also see Albert hit a few balls to the deepest part of parks, once in St. Louis and once this weekend in San Francisco, where if he'd been able to pull them a bit they might have had a different result.  Hopefully the good hitting environment in Arizona will wake up his bat.

Kyle Lohse continues to show that he is returning from his injury with a vengance, giving up just one run in eight innings yesterday.  With him, Chris Carpenter, and Garcia rolling along, even if Kyle McClellan hits a bump and Westbrook doesn't completely straighten out (though he'll need to do more than he's done so far), the team should be find from the mound.

The articles today make it pretty clear that Franklin is staying the closer.  As rough as this start has been, it's hard to argue that because there's no clear choice on who to replace him.  Would you take Fernando Salas?  Jason Motte? Mitchell Boggs?  Motte normally would be the one expected to take the reins, but his struggles in the spring and this season--he's given up a run in each of his outings--don't inspire you with confidence.  Boggs had the back injury in spring training, which probably means the team is going to continue to be easy with him.  He has had good numbers his last two outings, though.  And, of course, Salas is in the minors at the moment.  I like Salas as a middle relief guy, but I'm not sure about him closing games.

If Franklin continues to struggle and Boggs proves he's healthy, I gotta think that's the move that gets made.  This team can't afford to be losing pitching performances like the one Garcia turned in Saturday night.

There was good news for Albert Pujols this weekend: he was featured on 60 Minutes, which was the best part of his 2011 season per Bernie Miklasz.  If you missed it, it can be watched here.  I thought it was pretty nice and I had my son watch it with me, but if you are a Cardinal fan, there's little there you don't know and I had expected a little more of his faith to be involved in the story, instead of just a passing mention.  All in all, though, it's a nice piece.

Pete Kozma is going to Memphis.  Kozma's probably never going to get over that stigma of being a first-rounder instead of Rick Porcello (even if Porcello's not quite as impressive as he originally seemed to be) but it's good to see him finally make it to AAA.  With a good season there, he could be in line to battle for a reserve spot next year in St. Louis.

Finally, this weekend brought the sad news that Stan Musial is battling Alzheimer's Disease. I don't think it's a big surprise--Stan's getting up there in age and hasn't seemed to be completely himself during his recent public appearances receiving the Medal of Freedom and then again Opening Day.  The smile's still there and it was great to see him pantomiming his old swing, but it was not quite the same life and vitality.  He's 90 years old, so we knew days like these were coming.  Sadly, it doesn't make it any better.  As always, all our best to Stan and his family.

Let's take a look at tonight's matchup.  First, Kyle McClellan vs. the Diamondbacks:

PAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSIBBHBPGDP
Xavier Nady662000000.333.333.333.667000
Chris Young662001202.333.333.8331.167000
Miguel Montero542000011.500.600.5001.100000
Justin Upton551000000.200.200.200.400000
Stephen Drew321100010.500.6671.0001.667000
Kelly Johnson320000011.000.333.000.333000
Willie Bloomquist110000000.000.000.000.000000
Gerardo Parra1111000001.0001.0002.0003.000000
Total30279201234.333.400.519.919000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/11/2011.

As we'll say with pretty much ever McClellan start this season, always a small sample size since he's never faced these guys as a starter.  They've been able to get to him in the past and he indicated Arizona has been a tough place for him to get his pitches to respond, so we'll see if he can work on that tonight.

Barry Enright vs. the Cardinals:
 
PAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSIBBHBPGDP
Ryan Theriot771100001.143.143.286.429001
Matt Holliday321010111.500.6671.5002.167000
Albert Pujols331000000.333.333.333.667000
Colby Rasmus330000002.000.000.000.000000
Skip Schumaker331000000.333.333.333.667000
Total19184110114.222.263.389.652001
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/11/2011.

Enright, being only in his second year, hasn't faced the Redbirds much either.  He's one of those middling pitchers that shut down the Cards a lot last year.  So far there's not been much to shut down this year.  Maybe yesterday's action will carry over and there will be a lot of runs for St. Louis tonight.  We'll have to wait and see!
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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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