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Why Do We Bother?Posted on August 20, 2011 at 9:19 AM We get excited (at least mildly) when the Cards win two of three against a Rockies team and look forward to the upcoming road trip, only to see them drop three of the first four.Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | St. Louis Cardinals We get excited (at least mildly) about a solid win in Pittsburgh and an off-day gain of 1/2 game on the Brewers, only to see the Cards come out and give away a win against their long-time rivals. We get excited (at least mildly) to see the offense put up four runs, including two big homers, in the first couple of innings, only to see them pack the bats away for the rest of the game. Not only did they not score, but they only got one hit the rest of the way, and that was lost on a botched hit and run. We get excited (at least mildly) about an Albert Pujols tear and start to think that he's going to hit that .300 plateau that we all want to see him hit, only to see him go 3-15 in a Pittsburgh park that he usually dominates and 0-2 in the first game at Wrigley. We get excited (more than mildly, I think, in the context of the game) about Jason Motte coming out of the bullpen and bailing Jaime Garcia out by getting a strikeout and a ground ball and keeping the score at 4-3, only to see the rest of the bullpen allow the game to be tied and then lost. We get excited (really mildly) about seeing if a different LOOGY will make a difference, only to see Arthur Rhodes do what Trever Miller and Brian Tallet often did before him, being unable to get out the one left-handed batter that he's come in to face. We get excited (at least mildly) to see Kyle McClellan move back into the bullpen and shore that weak spot up, only to see him allow his inherited runner to score and tie up the ballgame. (To be fair, I thought when I started the comment that McClellan had been weaker in the pen than the numbers seem to bear out. Batters do have an .815 OPS against him in relief, though that may be skewed one way or another by that rain-delayed Cincinnati game that he "relieved" in the first inning.) We get excited (at least mildly) about Octavio Dotel's performance since becoming a Redbird, only to see him come out and see him lose the game for the team by allowing two hits in the tenth. To be fair, though, Dotel's been pretty strong since he was acquired. He had the game in Milwaukee that he lost, of course, and this one, but other than that he's pretty much put up scoreless outings. You can't forget his great performance against Colorado when you start thinking about running him down. Anyway, Hero goes to Garcia because, if it wasn't for two outfield misplays that led to back-to-back triples, he probably wins that game by only allowing two runs. Motte's performance saved him from having both of those misplays bite the Cards. Goat goes to McClellan for giving up the lead before even getting an out. The question now isn't whether the Cards will win the division. That question's been answered, barring some sort of miraculous turnaround that would come out of nowhere. The question is, will the Cards be able to hang on to second place? Right now they are closer to the Pirates in fourth than they are the Brewers in first. They've got a nice five game lead on the Reds, but that's something to keep an eye on. I know that many people would say "second or last, no playoffs, no difference" but I disagree. I want to see the Cards do as well as possible, even though I wonder if the team did sink in the standings, whether some more radical changes would be made this offseason. I really don't figure that'd play into it, so let's see them as high in the standings as possible. Interesting article about this year's team MVP in the Post-Dispatch today. Lance Berkman is saying that he's gotten to the point in his career where he just wants to play for a contender and is happy with a one-year deal, and if contenders don't call he'll retire. He says he's loved St. Louis and would love to return, but realizes that there are a lot of things going on this offseason. For his part, John Mozeliak says that he plans to engage Berkman and his agent in talks before October. Could we see Berkman return? Most of us have pretty much ruled him out of the 2012 Cardinal discussion, figuring that he's played well enough to earn a big money multi-year deal somewhere. However, if all he says is true--and Berkman's comes across as the type that really means it--I could see the Cards bringing him back on a similar deal to what he got this year even if Albert Pujols returns. I hope they are able to--Berkman's been a joy to watch this year and has quickly become a favorite in St. Louis. Some other general links for you: --The Cardinals are assisting with a local group that helps veterans with some dementia problems. That's an incredibly wonderful way to use baseball, it would seem to me. The Cards have allowed the members to tour the stadium and see memorabilia from the past, hoping to help provoke past memories. That's the wonderful thing about baseball, how much the present ties in with the past. Kudos to the organization for doing something like this. --I've linked to articles by Chris Jaffe before and they are always quite enjoyable. This time, Chris has written about the 60th anniversary of Eddie Gaedel's famous walk. You'll also get to see what happened on August 19th in other years, including a strong game by former Cardinal Jim Edmonds. --You've seen reviews from Stadium Journey (or at least the links) in this space before. This time, instead of the minor league ones that we've seen before, they have a new review of Busch Stadium up. Head on over and check it out. --If you've not seen, the podcast is on iTunes now. If you still want to listen on line, bookmark cardinal70.podomatic.com. I recorded an interview with Dathan of Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Goodnight on Thursday and I hope to get everything edited this weekend and get it up. Cards have another afternoon game today before playing for the third week out of four on Sunday Night Baseball. Edwin Jackson, who until recently was pitching on the other side of the Second City, takes the ball. Here's what the little bears have done against him:
Matt Garza is on the other side. What the Cards have done against him:
All we can hope for the rest of the way is good baseball. Let go of the frustrations (easier said than done) and realize that there's only five and a half weeks left before the Cards go away for the winter, so we have to enjoy what we have.  Leave a comment 2 Comments2 Comments | Leave a commentLeave a comment |
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 HeroesMatt 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) GoatsMatt 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 FlightsHappy 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 |
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Great read! One of your finest posts. I hope that Berkman signs up again. But he really is a DH at this point, don't you think?
I don't think so. Berkman's played a serviceable outfield and, yesterday's misplay notwithstanding, hasn't been a liability like we expected. If he can stay in the shape he's in now, I don't see any problem with him playing another year in the OF.