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Just Enough

Posted on May 21, 2010 at 8:04 AM
Filed Under: Florida Marlins | Heroes and Goats | Los Angeles Angels | St. Louis Cardinals
The cliche is that, for good pitchers, you have to get to them early or you don't get to them at all.  Apparently Adam Wainwright, if you didn't know, is a good pitcher.

After the Marlins scored two in the first off of Wainwright, it kinda seemed like it was going to be another one of those days.  After all, with this offense, there was no telling when or how long it'd take them to come up with two runs to tie.

Turned out, it didn't take too long, with David Freese getting an RBI single in the first, then the offense tacking on three more in the second.  After that, the bats did their customary shutdown, but with Wainwright clicking on the mound, that's all they needed.

The game story at the Post-Dispatch sheds an encouraging light on the outing of Matt Holliday.  (And it's from Joe Strauss, whose picture you won't find next to optimistic in the dictionary.)  Holliday seems to finally be getting a bit comfortable at the plate.  Whether this is from Albert Pujols hitting behind him or it is just about the time he starts to warm up in a year (remember, he was hitting in Oakland before the trade last year), I don't know, but it bodes well for the Cardinals if he can get on track.

This seems to be a good time to mention a new app for your iPhone and iTouch.  If you are a Holliday fan, LMK has created an app that focuses completely on him.  You get news stories that he's in and pictures that pop up on the web with #7 in them.  LMK provided me a free copy of the app and I've tried it out.  If you are a big Holliday fan, it's probably worth the couple of bucks to download this.  As I look at it now, the news stream has stories from the Post-Dispatch, the New York Post, and Sports Illustrated, among others.  Plus, if you find an article you like, there's a feature to save it to a different tab so you can refer to it later if you want.  As I say, the only thing I got out of this was a free review app, so this isn't a paid endorsement.  Search for Holliday or LMK at the App Store and take a look.

Goat for the game goes to Joe Mather for his 0-4 day.  Even tried to bunt his way on once, which was original, but not successful.  Hopefully Colby Rasmus used his day off to get straightened out, as he's looked a little lost lately at the plate.

It can't be all that good that this incarnation of the Cardinals is actually producing less at this point in the season than last year's version did.  A team with Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel and Joe Thurston in the lineup scored more runs than this one with Holliday and an every-day Rasmus?  That just doesn't make logical sense.  If the law of averages holds, this team is going to explode soon, just because they'll have to have a big run to make it to their norms.

The Cardinals get another taste of interleague play as the Angels come into town.  If you've read this blog for very long, you know every year when this comes up I express my dislike of interleague play.  I have heard a few others in the media think that it's time has come and gone, but I'm sure that as long as Bud Selig is commissioner, it's going nowhere, and I'm doubtful his successor would look at it either.

Anytime the Angels come into Busch, my mind goes back to that 2002 series, the first time they were in town.  It's a different stadium now and very few players are the same, but the emotional impact of that series, with Jack Buck passing on the evening of what turned out to be Darryl Kile's final start, has stayed with St. Louis for these many years.  If they are still doing this in 25 years, I'm sure that's still the first thing I'll think of when the Angels and Cardinals get together.

Former Cardinal Joel Pineiro returns to his old stomping grounds.  I'm sure Pineiro wants to show that the Cardinals should have at least made an attempt to resign him last year, but with his results and Brad Penny's results this year, I don't think the Cards are that disappointed.  It'll be interesting to see if having Pineiro on staff the last three years gives the Cards a bit of an advantage in knowing what he'll throw.  Here's what he's done against the current Redbirds:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
Felipe Lopez 22 21 5 1 0 0 0 1 4 .238 .273 .286 .558 0 0 0 0 0
Albert Pujols 7 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .143 .143 .286 .429 0 0 0 0 1
Matt Holliday 5 5 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 .600 .600 1.000 1.600 0 0 0 0 0
Brad Penny 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Jason LaRue 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Total 37 36 9 4 0 0 2 1 5 .250 .270 .361 .631 0 0 0 0 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2010.

He hasn't faced too many of these guys, though Felipe Lopez has at least had a number of at-bats against him, even if they weren't anything special.  If Pineiro is getting the ball down tonight, it's going to be another quiet night for the bats.

Coincidentally, Penny is Pineiro's mound opponent tonight, so we'll get to see the decision in a microcosm.  Penny's had a little experience with the current Angel squad:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
Bobby Abreu 57 49 16 3 0 2 6 8 6 .327 .421 .510 .931 0 0 0 0 1
Juan Rivera 11 11 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 .182 .182 .273 .455 0 0 0 0 1
Torii Hunter 9 9 3 1 1 0 4 0 1 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
Kendry Morales 9 8 2 0 0 0 0 1 4 .250 .333 .250 .583 0 0 0 0 0
Mike Napoli 8 7 3 0 0 2 4 0 0 .429 .375 1.286 1.661 0 1 0 0 0
Erick Aybar 5 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 .600 .800 0 0 0 0 0
Hideki Matsui 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .250 .400 .250 .650 0 0 0 0 0
Kevin Frandsen 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .667 1.000 1 0 0 0 1
Howie Kendrick 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0 0 0
Joel Pineiro 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 1 0 0 0 0
Reggie Willits 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667 .500 1.167 0 0 0 0 0
Total 117 103 31 6 2 4 15 11 17 .301 .365 .515 .880 2 1 0 0 3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2010.

Bobby Abreu has done some work on Penny in the past, but that's the big bat he'll have to avoid.  Other than him and keeping the ball away from Mike Napoli, he can make this into a pitcher's duel.  With Penny's recent struggles, that'd be a good thing to see.


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Heroes
Lance Berkman (24)
Albert Pujols (19)
Matt Holliday (15)
Chris Carpenter (10)
Kyle Lohse (9)
Yadier Molina (9)
Ryan Theriot (8)
David Freese (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Jon Jay (7)
Jake Westbrook (6)
Allen Craig (5)
Kyle McClellan (5)
Colby Rasmus (5)
Edwin Jackson (4)
Skip Schumaker (4)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Gerald Laird (2)
Nick Punto (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Lance Lynn (1)

2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Ryan Theriot (12)
Albert Pujols (11)
Jake Westbrook (10)
David Freese (8)
Ryan Franklin (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Fernando Salas (7)
Kyle Lohse (6)
Kyle McClellan (6)
Colby Rasmus (6)
Skip Schumaker (6)
Miguel Batista (5)
Chris Carpenter (5)
Daniel Descalso (5)
Matt Holliday (5)
Jon Jay (5)
Jason Motte (5)
Allen Craig (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Tyler Greene (4)
Yadier Molina (4)
Lance Berkman (3)
Mitchell Boggs (3)
Gerald Laird (3)
Edwin Jackson (2)
Trever Miller (2)
Corey Patterson (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Maikel Cleto (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Octavio Dotel (1)
Mark Hamilton (1)
Lance Lynn (1)
Nick Punto (1)
Arthur Rhodes (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Raul Valdes (1)
PJ Walters (1)

2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2011)
    Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%)
    Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%)
    Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%)
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Derrick Goold 87.8%
    Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%)
    John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%)
    Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%)
    Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%)
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Jim Hayes 76.1%
    John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%)
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%)
    Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%)
    BJ Rains 70.4%
    Ricky Horton 69.1%
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%)
    Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%)
    Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%)
    Dan Lozano 58.7%
    Joe Strauss 57.5%
    Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%)

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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