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Two And A Half Men

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 6:50 AM
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats | New York Mets | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals
I had to get around early yesterday to go to continuing education.  I appreciate the Cards making sure that I could still use that headline today.

Last night's game was one that probably will make it onto the Game of the Year nominations for the November Cardinal Blogger Awards, but before we get there, let's take a quick look at the end of the Philadelphia series.

Monday (4-3 win)
Hero: No doubt it's Kyle Lohse.  I said a number of times, most notably on Gateway to Baseball Heaven Sunday, that the Lohse vs. Roy Halladay matchup was just one you didn't want to see.  While that's still true, Lohse pitched an outstanding game while the Cards were able to get to Halladay early.  Lohse got into the eighth and just allowed one unearned run, working out of at least one situation that wasn't all his doing.  He may not be able to be this great all the time, but it's a wonderful sight when he is.

Goat: Jason Motte.  Coming on the heels of his blown save against the Phillies, having Motte come into a three-run lead and almost give it away was a very scary thing to see.  If the Cards are going to be able to keep this run going, they need Motte to be on top of his game.  He was able to get a little rest last night, so maybe the Cards can get another non-save win tonight and give him more of a breather.

Notes: Lance Berkman had a huge night, getting the home run early and driving in another run later one.  Rafael Furcal may have set the tone, though, getting a leadoff double on the first pitch and scoring the first run.  Furcal also went three for four, which is a great thing to see.

On to last night's game.  While some may have had more dramatic moments, I'm giving the Hero tag to Albert Pujols.  He had four hits, getting his season average up to .304.   He drove in a run, giving him 97 RBI.  He stole a key base, which allowed him to tie the score when Berkman singled him and Craig in.  He had the hit with two outs that started the big seventh-inning rally.  All in all, it's a reminder that he still is the best player in baseball and a great way to kick off what potentially could be his last home stand in Cardinal red.

You also have to give credit to Ryan Theriot, who came in as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded and two down in the seventh.  His double gave the Cards the lead, one they never relinquished.  Adron Chambers' bases-loaded triple was a wonderful thing to see as well.  Chambers hasn't had a lot of at-bats, but he's making the most of them when he gets a chance.

If you are looking for a Goat, you'd have to go with Edwin Jackson.  We've been talking about how consistent he's been in St. Louis, how he's only had that one bad start.  Well, now you can make it two.  He was bailed out by the offense, but it would have been devastating to this team to have come out and lost this game, which is what it looked like when he quickly put them in a 4-0 hole.  Five earned runs in five innings isn't what you want to see when you are trying to chase down another team.

Also, Kyle McClellan allowed yet another run, which was really tough since the Cards had just tied it up.  September has not been kind to McClellan, as he's put up a 6.75 ERA while his BAA has been .226 and his BABIP has been .136.  Which means when he's getting hit, he's getting hit hard, allowing four home runs in eight innings.  That said, he is 2-0 this month, so you figure it out.

The wild card deficit stays at 2.5 games since the Braves cleaned up against the Marlins.  I said earlier this month that the Cards could only lose three more games.  They've lost just twice since then and they have a schedule that, with the way they are playing, may allow them to go 7-1 over the rest of it.  If that's the case, the Braves will be feeling the heat.  The Cards have upped their playoff chances to 16.9% (or 18.3%, depending on who you believe)--still not exceptionally strong, but much better than the 2% or so they were a couple of weeks back.

The team seems relaxed and playing like they are having fun.  I don't think a month to six weeks ago that they would have been able to come back last night.  They were too often dropping games just like that, games after a high and against a team they should have beaten.  The beginning of last night's game started to look like that, but thankfully the rest of the game didn't.

Tonight, the Braves send out Derek Lowe against Javier Vazquez.  Lowe gave up six runs in 2.1 innings against the Mets last time out but beat the Fish by allowing just two in six last time he faced them, back in early August.  Looking at Lowe's numbers, he's either going to be pretty good or really bad, not a lot of in-between with him.  Vazquez is having a pretty solid year and is coming off of a shutout of the Nationals.  Interestingly, for the fact that the two teams are in the same division, Vazquez hasn't faced the Braves this year.  I'd think the way things are going for the Atlanta squad that this could be a tough one for them.

The Cards will have to take care of their own game, though, and it could be a bit tough as well.  The Mets are throwing a rookie named Chris Schwinden.  In talking with Steve Keane on Episode 4 of Conversations With C70, he seemed pretty high on the kid after his ML debut.  Schwinden's only made two starts, both of five innings, and he struggled with the Braves but did OK against the Nationals.  A rookie pitcher that the Cards haven't seen before could be trouble, though at least he's not likely to go too deep and the Cards could again get into the Mets bullpen.

St. Louis trots out Jaime Garcia.  Anytime Garcia starts against the Mets, that 20-inning game of last season comes to mind.  He hasn't faced the Mets this year, but here are the career numbers:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Jose Reyes 6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
David Wright 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .200 .333 .200 .533 0 0 0
Angel Pagan 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .600 .750 1.350 0 0 0
Jason Bay 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Chris Capuano 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Ronny Paulino 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 25 23 5 1 0 0 0 2 7 .217 .280 .261 .541 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/21/2011.

Lots of players unfamiliar with Garcia as well. However, Garcia is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP this month, so if he keeps pitching like that, this could be another Cardinal winner.  We'll have to wait and see, but it's fun to go into this last week of the season still hanging on every pitch!

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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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