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Treading Water In A Rapidly Filling Pool

Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:49 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | Philadelphia Phillies | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals
The Cards won yesterday, which is always a good thing, no matter the situation.  However, with the Marlins unable to hold a late lead, the Braves also won.  Which means the Cards are still 4.5 back and another day has been marked off the calendar.  (If for some reason you are still looking at the divisional race, the Brewers did lose, but they are still up 5.5.)  That means that even though the Cards won, they really lost.

The Cardinals have 13 games left, the Braves 12.  Even if the Braves just break even, the Cards have to go 11-2 just to tie them, and the Braves are a better than .500 team, so odds are they'll play that way down the stretch.  There just really isn't enough time left on the calendar for the Cards to make this comeback, at least not without some sort of epic collapse by the Atlanta squad, like seeing them go 2-10 over the next two weeks.

The task is even harder because Matt Holliday is out for at least 4-5 days and likely the rest of the season with tendon inflammation in his hand.  You have to be impressed with the numbers that Holliday has put up this year, because he's done them around just about every possible thing that could go wrong with him.  The man got a moth in his ear, for cryin' out loud.  What other kind of omen do you need?

So it wasn't that yesterday's win wasn't important--anything that keeps you alive this time of year is a good thing--it's just that it probably didn't have the import that some of us would like for it to have had.  Edwin Jackson gets the Hero for pitching another solid game, giving up two but pitching into the seventh.  The rotation is full for next year and it's likely Jackson is going to command a pretty good salary this offseason, but I find myself wishing there was a slot for him to be with the Cards in 2012.  Then again, we saw what happened last year, when Jake Westbrook pitched well enough down the stretch to get a contract offer from the Cards.  It hasn't turned out all that well for St. Louis, though Westbrook has had some success.

Liked what Marc Rzepczynski did yesterday as well, bouncing back from his last rough outing to strike out all three batters he faced.  I find myself cheering for Rzep for some reason, perhaps just so that the Cards will have something good going forward from the Colby Rasmus trade.  Not really sure, but there you have it.

Rough day for Skip Schumaker.  0-3 with a strikeout and only saw seven pitches all day.  Patience was not on the menu for Skip yesterday, it doesn't appear.

Cards are off today and they've already reached Philadelphia.  In fact, apparently they've done the rookie hazing thing, though it seems to extend to those with three years or less in the bigs.  Honestly, I thought the Cards didn't do that and was kinda glad that they didn't, having more respect for those coming up.  That said, it probably does aid in a loose clubhouse.

Probably won't get a post up tomorrow, save the UCB's annual Top 7 Prospect list, so let's go ahead and look at Friday's pitching matchups.  Jaime Garcia goes for the Redbirds, and here's what he's done against the Phils:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Ryan Howard 12 12 2 0 0 1 1 0 6 .167 .167 .417 .583 0 0 0
Hunter Pence 12 12 3 1 1 1 2 0 3 .250 .250 .750 1.000 0 0 0
Placido Polanco 10 8 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 .125 .200 .125 .325 0 0 0
Jimmy Rollins 8 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 .125 .125 .250 0 0 0
Shane Victorino 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .286 .286 .286 .571 0 0 0
Ben Francisco 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Carlos Ruiz 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 .000 .500 .000 .500 0 0 0
Joe Blanton 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 1
Chase Utley 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .400 .000 .400 0 1 0
Michael Martinez 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
John Mayberry 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Wilson Valdez 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0
Raul Ibanez 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Roy Oswalt 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 85 77 14 2 1 2 4 5 17 .182 .238 .312 .550 0 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/15/2011.

Garcia's done a fine job of keeping the potent lineup in check. Not sure how often Garcia's faced them in Philadelphia rather than St. Louis, but hopefully he can keep that going. A win in the opener against the Phillies would be a huge boost for the Redbirds. 

They have to go up against Vance Worley, this year's sensation that may (but probably won't) bump Roy Oswalt out of the postseason rotation. Worley hasn't faced any of the Cardinals yet, a red flag if ever there was one, and has posted an 11-2, 2.92 season so far. 

This one will be a tough one for the Cards. They win it, perhaps thinking about a strong run to the finish isn't quite so impossible after all.

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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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