Blogs By FansC70 At The Bat
Sponsor


Cardinals_WideSkyscraper.jpg

Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.

Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines


Slots Galore Casino Tournaments

Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets

Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified.

Subscribe
RSS Feed

Archives

Players

Categories


Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets.

With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials!

Sucker Punch

Posted on September 23, 2011 at 10:03 AM
Filed Under: Atlanta Braves | Heroes and Goats | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals
Before we get started, if you are looking for the Chicago YNOT, it's below.  If you've not played before, go ahead and give it a shot!

Of course, just about anything is preferable to talking about yesterday's game.  I think I saw on Twitter it's the first time they'd coughed up a four-run lead in the ninth at home since 1998.  Even with all the bullpen problems from this year, it just doesn't happen much.

All the momentum, all the buzz, all the excitement took a major body blow yesterday afternoon. The Cards were just a couple of outs away from pulling within one game of Atlanta, with a very solid chance of tying them for the wild card today.  The pressure was on the Braves, everything was going the Cardinals way.  This was going to be a September long remembered.

And then the ninth happened.

The Goat tag is going to go to Jason Motte, because when it comes down to it he didn't get the job done.  However, there's a lot of blame to go around in that ninth, starting with Tony La Russa.    La Russa's idea that he wasn't going to let the Mets get back into it, that he was going for the closer in a four-run lead, just doesn't hold water for me.  He didn't go get Motte after he'd loaded the bases, even though he'd thrown a lot of pitches and didn't look sharp.  Which I guess if you are committed to him, waiting to see if he couldn't get a fly ball or a double play and pretty much get out of it.

Still, sending Motte out there was pretty irresponsible.  He'd thrown an inning and a third the night before (and gave up a run), he'd thrown 2/3 of an inning on Monday (ineffectively, giving up two runs and getting yanked) and he'd thrown again on Friday, giving up an unearned run.  You have to go back over a week to have a clean outing from him.  You've got a four run lead and a closer that's looking gassed--use the other arms.  That'd been a great time to use Fernando Salas--even though Salas has been used some lately, he'd had a day off and his last two outings were clean.  Salas had troubles in this one and got the blown save, but he came into a bases-loaded, one-out situation that was spiraling quickly out of control instead of starting off an inning.

For that matter, Mitchell Boggs, the forgotten man in the bullpen, would have been a perfect choice.  Have Motte or Salas warm up behind him if you don't trust him, but he's pitched once since Labor Day.  Four runs shouldn't be a situation that you can't manage to stem, especially if you keep some of your bullets for later on.  Remember, Boggs used to be a closer (OK, that was for like two days, but still) and has some pretty tolerable outings.  He gives up a run a little more often than you'd like, but you have a four run lead.  It's worth a chance there.

Of course, if Rafael Furcal could catch a ball, we might not be having this conversation.  I mentioned yesterday that he's playing like he's a double agent for the Braves, being that he started his career there.  Save his leadoff double, nothing from yesterday did anything to sway that opinion.  The whole reason Furcal is out there, the whole reason John Mozeliak traded for him, was the fact that he could play defense.  Now he's made 10 errors as a Cardinal and has a fielding percentage of .957.  Now, I know FP is about the most basic and not all that accurate way of measuring defense and his range factor per 9 for St. Louis is one of his highest in his career, but still, 10 errors?  Ryan Theriot made 17, but in 91 games at short.  Furcal has played 47.  Furcal is an upgrade, of course, but lately he's been lacking at the one thing that he's got to be good at.

You have to think that two botched plays in back to back days that lead to huge rallies for the other team will not go over well with the front office as they consider a Furcal extension.  In fact, Mozeliak on the radio yesterday before the game indicated that, after the Lance Berkman signing (and more on that in a bit) they probably weren't going to do anything else until after the season.  You can look at that and say that they don't want to interfere with this last week, but I think, being that they were very gung ho on an extension earlier in the month, that you can also read that as a waning of confidence in Furcal.

There were good things in yesterday's game, of course.  The Hero would be Allen Craig, I think.  I thought his two run home run in the first was going to be the catalyst to a runaway game.  It wasn't quite that way, though the Cards did score six and have chances for more, but I don't think any blame can be put on Craig's shoulders.  Yadier Molina also had a big game, getting to a new high in RBI after putting two more in the stat sheet.  Albert Pujols went deep for his only hit, getting him to 98 RBI.  Just two more, and with his average still at .304, there's a good chance he'll hit his milestones.

Can I tell you what I'm afraid of?  Momentum is huge.  You see it in all the sports, but here's the example from baseball.  You've seen a team get down 9-2 early on, but they chip away, then they have a big sixth inning.  A couple of runs score, they are down 9-7, with the bases loaded and one out.  Everything is going their way and it looks like they are unstoppable.

Then the batter raps into a double play.  Everything drains out of the team and, even though they are just down two now instead of seven, their chance is gone and they wind up losing by that score or perhaps a couple of more.  Everything turned on that one at-bat.

Is that what happened yesterday?  I don't know.  I hope not.  However, momentum is a crazy thing at times.  A win in that one and the energy, the excitement, everything builds for tonight with Chris Carpenter going against the Cubs and the Braves having to deal with Stephen Strasburg.  Now, even if those things go the Cards way, they are still one game out with just five more to play.  It feels different, it feels harder, it feels like things have slipped through their fingers.

I also am just not sure that the Cards can lose another one.  If the Cards go 6-0, the Braves can go 4-2 for the tiebreaking game.  That's tough for them when they face Philly and a Nationals team that has been difficult for them in the past.  If the Cards go 5-1, the Braves can go 3-3, which seems much more doable.

The Cards don't want that tiebreaker game anyway, because going into Philadelphia (if they won it) with your rotation a little out of kilter and the bullpen not rested isn't exactly the best recipe for success.  A sweep of the Cubs this weekend with the Braves losing two of three and I'd feel a lot more comfortable, but I think the math just got a lot tougher with yesterday's loss.

Now, the Cards could go easily 6-0 if they can bounce back.  Having Carpenter on the mound tonight will help with the momentum, assuming he can have another one of his big games.  The buzz and energy will be back if they can pull it back within one.  The Cubs and Astros were long ago eliminated as relevant.  There's a great chance they can put together that kind of run, but remember one thing.  The Cards have only won 5 in a row once this year.  Yesterday would have been the second time, and we see how that worked out.

St. Louis made other news yesterday, of course, resigning Berkman to a one-year deal.  A $12 million deal, which is probably less than he'd have gotten on the free agent market.  I like the deal--I've enjoyed having Berkman on the team, but it doesn't lock the team up like the Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse deals have.  If Berkman's resurgence this year was a temporary thing, the Cards can get out from under it after next season.  If it wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised for another one-year deal.

That said, there were some on Twitter that expressed some discontent with this, saying that Allen Craig deserves a full-time slot.  I can't argue much with that, as Craig has proven he can hit and is definitely worthy of being a starter in the big leagues.  And, of course, if Albert walks this offseason, Craig would be the starter in right as Berkman would move to first, but I don't think any of us want to entertain Pujols somewhere else.  Apparently, though, Mozeliak talked to Craig before the deal was announced and told him they expected to get him regular at-bats at first, left and right, with center and second up to the manager.  If Tony's back next year, I think you'll see Craig on a regular basis, moving around the diamond like a souped-up Secret Weapon.

Cubs are in town tonight.  If you have to bounce back from a crushing defeat, it's good to have the ace on the hill.  Here's Carpenter against the Cubbies:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Aramis Ramirez 70 68 25 6 0 2 10 2 9 .368 .386 .544 .930 0 0 4
Alfonso Soriano 49 45 14 1 0 2 7 3 10 .311 .367 .467 .834 1 1 2
Marlon Byrd 27 26 10 1 0 0 1 0 4 .385 .407 .423 .830 0 1 0
Starlin Castro 20 18 7 1 0 0 2 2 1 .389 .450 .444 .894 0 0 1
Blake DeWitt 18 17 3 3 0 0 1 0 3 .176 .167 .353 .520 0 0 0
Koyie Hill 18 18 4 2 0 0 1 0 5 .222 .222 .333 .556 0 0 0
Tyler Colvin 15 15 3 0 0 2 4 0 7 .200 .200 .600 .800 0 0 0
Ryan Dempster 13 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Geovany Soto 13 12 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .250 .308 .250 .558 0 0 2
Darwin Barney 11 11 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .455 .455 .455 .909 0 0 0
Carlos Pena 8 7 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .286 .250 .286 .536 0 0 0
Reed Johnson 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jeff Baker 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250 .250 .500 0 0 0
Casey Coleman 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Kerry Wood 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
James Russell 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 278 264 77 14 0 6 27 8 47 .292 .315 .413 .728 1 2 9
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/23/2011.

Wow, I didn't realize how much trouble the Cub hitters have given Carp in the past. Hope that he can corral them tonight. 

Cards get to face Ryan Dempster. The numbers:
 
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Lance Berkman 75 61 17 1 0 6 15 14 19 .279 .413 .590 1.003 0 0 1
Albert Pujols 64 52 17 3 0 7 14 11 1 .327 .438 .788 1.226 2 0 2
Rafael Furcal 48 39 6 3 0 0 1 9 11 .154 .313 .231 .543 0 0 0
Skip Schumaker 47 46 19 3 0 0 5 1 7 .413 .426 .478 .904 0 0 0
Yadier Molina 41 34 11 2 0 0 0 5 1 .324 .410 .382 .793 1 0 3
Matt Holliday 21 21 6 0 0 0 1 0 4 .286 .286 .286 .571 0 0 1
Corey Patterson 17 17 5 2 0 0 1 0 1 .294 .294 .412 .706 0 0 1
Jon Jay 15 13 3 0 1 0 0 1 4 .231 .286 .385 .670 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 13 12 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 .167 .167 .250 .417 0 0 0
David Freese 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 .333 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0
Daniel Descalso 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .600 .500 1.100 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
Ryan Theriot 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0
Octavio Dotel 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 .000 .500 .000 .500 0 0 0
Jaime Garcia 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Edwin Jackson 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Nick Punto 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jake Westbrook 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Gerald Laird 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 374 325 92 17 1 13 39 43 62 .283 .366 .462 .827 3 0 8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/23/2011.

Dempster's had his issues as well. As you can see, Berkman and Pujols have taken him yard a lot. I noticed one of the beat writers on Twitter saying they expected a break for Furcal tonight and, given those numbers, I'd think it's a darn good possibility. 

Could be a fun one this evening. It's a must-win, so let's see the Cards win it!


Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta


Leave a comment




Leave a comment




Cardinals_MediumRectangle.jpg

UCB_11_trans_dark_sm.png

Search



BallHyped Best Sports Blogs Book
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book!
• Pick up the limited print edition
• Free Best Sports Blogs ebook 


United Cardinal Bloggers

FRIENDS OF THE UCB


Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Open in Mobile App 

And check out the UCB Network over at LockerDome!
lockerdome-share_63x63.png
  



Other Cardinal Blogs

Recommended Cardinal Forum

Other Cardinal Sites

General Baseball Blogs/Sites



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%


    Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets?  TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets.

    Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets.

    Referrals