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Sink or Swim

Posted on June 3, 2011 at 10:20 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | San Francisco Giants | St. Louis Cardinals
Well, when half of last year's Memphis team is on the field, it's not quite surprising that the Cards lost their first series since early April.  However, I don't think any of us were expecting it to happen the way that it did.

You hate to hang the Goat tag on a guy making his major league debut, but Maikel Cleto really didn't do the team any favors out there last night.  Sure, he was nervous, and the rap on him has always been big arm, no control, but two walks, a double, and two home runs, with just one out mixed in?  Ouch.  He did settle in some after that, getting two strikeouts to end that inning and throwing a perfect eighth, but the damage was pretty much done. 

I will say that it seemed that the fans at the stadium were booing Cleto after the second home run.  If so, I really think that was uncalled for.  I'm not a big booing proponent anyway, so perhaps I'm biased, but it's his first game.  Are we really that much of an instant gratification society now?  You can complain to your neighbor that Tony La Russa should go out and get him or talk about how he isn't ready yet, but booing?

The only reason the game even became somewhat close after that inning by Cleto was because of last night's Hero, Colby Rasmus.  He tripled in two early, pushing the Cards out to a 3-0 lead, but then cut the gap to 10-7 when he tied on a grand slam in the seventh.  Huge night for Colby and hopefully we'll see more of those with Matt Holliday sitting out.

Lance Lynn pitched better than his box-score line.  Personally, I'm shocked, shocked to find the defense was an issue behind Lynn last night.  By time I turned on the game, he was already out, but reading the Tweets and the game descriptions, it sounds like he could have easily gotten out of that game with a couple less runs.  Plus, Trever Miller let one of Lynn's runner score, so he might have gotten by with a little help from his friends, if he had gotten any of that help.

Lance Berkman didn't play last night.  In fact, he didn't even pinch-hit, with Tony La Russa sending up Jake Westbrook in the eighth instead of the Puma.  Is Berkman hurt or was just Tony playing the odds, hoping to use him when there was a runner on base?  Seems kinda nuts to send up a pitcher when there are only five outs to go, because that seems to really accelerate the possibility you won't have any runners on to use Berkman.  Two runs in the ninth meant it didn't matter either way, but it still was strange.  I know Berkman's not been on fire lately, but it seemed a better idea than Westbrook.

There were some good moments.  Albert Pujols had two hits and is hitting .296 over his last seven days.  He's still not punishing the ball--only two extra base hits in that time span--but it's something.  Better than the Pujols we've had most of the year, at least.  Also, Allen Craig had another couple of hits, plus he got to play the entire game, though that was probably because he started in the outfield.  Plus Ryan Theriot continued his hitting streak, which is a nice little oddity to keep track of.

After the game, there was a bit of roster juggling, with Pete Kozma being sent to Memphis, and another, as yet undetermined (but if I take long enough writing this post, we'll probably find out) bat coming up.  Joe Strauss is intimating that Matt Carpenter will be added to the 40-man roster and promoted, but there's nothing official to that yet.  Lynn is going to get to stay, it seems, and get at least another start.  With off days, Kyle McClellan might be ready before Lynn needs to make a third, but we'll have to wait and see.

Cardinals/Cubs is always fun, even if the Cubs come in struggling and banged up.  Here's what the matchup looks like for tonight.  First, Jaime Garcia vs. Chicago:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Darwin Barney 7 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143 .143 .143 .286 0 0 0
Aramis Ramirez 7 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 .286 .286 .429 .714 0 0 0
Starlin Castro 4 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250 .500 .750 0 0 0
Tyler Colvin 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .333 .000 .333 0 1 0
Carlos Pena 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .333 .000 .333 0 0 1
Jeff Samardzija 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Geovany Soto 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 0 0 0
Rodrigo Lopez 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Kosuke Fukudome 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 33 30 7 2 0 0 2 2 4 .233 .303 .300 .603 0 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/3/2011.

They've not seen him a lot and he's had their number, it looks like.  Hopefully he can keep Starlin Castro down, as he really was a force the last time the two teams met.

Ryan Dempster vs. St. Louis:
 
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Lance Berkman 69 55 14 1 0 4 9 14 17 .255 .406 .491 .897 0 0 1
Albert Pujols 58 47 15 2 0 6 12 10 1 .319 .431 .745 1.176 2 0 2
Skip Schumaker 41 40 18 3 0 0 5 1 5 .450 .463 .525 .988 0 0 0
Yadier Molina 35 29 8 1 0 0 0 4 1 .276 .364 .310 .674 1 0 3
Chris Carpenter 13 12 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 .167 .167 .250 .417 0 0 0
Jon Jay 9 9 1 0 1 0 0 0 4 .111 .111 .333 .444 0 0 0
Colby Rasmus 9 8 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 .125 .222 .250 .472 0 0 0
Kyle Lohse 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Allen Craig 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 242 208 59 9 1 10 26 30 37 .284 .372 .481 .853 3 0 6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/3/2011.

Hopefully Berkman's not too hurt to play tonight, as he's had a decent amount of success against Dempster.  You'll see Skip at second with those numbers, perhaps at the expense of Craig if Berkman can go.

Got to talk with the guys from Pitchers Hit Eighth yesterday and it was a lot of fun.  You can hear our banter and deep discussions on their 2.0 podcast, up now.  Give it a listen!

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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (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)
Jason Motte (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (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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