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Bringing Winning Back

Posted on June 20, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Apparently, I'm just not supposed to be on the wrong side of the Mississippi when it's baseball season.  The Cards went out and dropped the seven games I missed while spending time in Ohio, yet won two dramatic ones when I was back ensconced in my home this weekend.  Let's do the wrapup of the last half of the week, then get into some of the more current topics.  Remember, I didn't watch much of any of these games (even this weekend was sporadic) so if I'm completely off base, be sure to let me know in the comments.


Hero: Jon Jay.  Two of the team's three hits, and since nobody walked in the game, it was pretty much all that the Cards could muster.

Goat: Ryan Franklin.  Kyle McClellan didn't pitch all that well, but Franklin made sure there was no rally to be had, completely blowing up with four earned in his inning and a third.

Notes: McClellan had some defensive problems behind him, including two errors from Albert Pujols at third base, and was limited in his pitch count in his first start off the disabled list.  Hopefully he'll be stronger tomorrow against the Phillies.


Hero: Yadier Molina. His home run in the ninth gave the team some hope, pushing it to extra innings.

Goat: Fernando Salas. Salas gave up the game-losing long ball.  While Danny Espinosa has a number of homers this year, he's a guy that you probably should be able to get when the game is on the line.

Notes: The team rallied, which was nice to see.  Homers by Pujols and Molina erased the deficit, but they never could get over the top.  A strong game from Matt Holliday as well in his first game back from the land of the injured.


Hero: Lance Berkman. Only one hit, but a big one as he drove in three of the four runs.

Goat: Albert Pujols. No hits for Albert (though he drew a walk) and had the error that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Notes: Tough game for Chris Carpenter to lose, apparently.  Lots of raves over how he pitched, but he did allow 10 hits.  I know one of the major tenants of modern sabermetrics is that a pitcher has no control of where the ball is hit or if it falls for a hit, but still, that's a lot of dinks and dribblers.  Still, I didn't see that one and it may have been that he was much more effective than the stat line indicates.


Hero: Matt Holliday. Game winning home run in the eighth will do that for a guy.

Goat: Jake Westbrook. There wasn't an obvious goat in this one.  Westbrook did well, but that last home run to Alex Gordon almost added to the losing streak.

Notes: Great work by Colby Rasmus to get on base in the eighth against a lefty.  Good night for Ryan Theriot as well, with two hits in the leadoff slot.  Bullpen did a very solid job as well, with Salas coming in and locking things down.


Hero: Skip Schumaker. Game winning home run in the ninth will do that for a guy.

Goat: Fernando Salas.  Giving up a game tying home run to Alcides Escobar?  I know Escobar's been hot, but he's not a home run hitter.  Salas couldn't hit his target at all in that at-bat and finally paid the price.

Notes: Pujols was having a stellar day until he had to leave (and we'll get to that).  Andrew Brown had a nice day also, with a couple of hits and two RBI.  Jaime Garcia was inefficient, though he left with a lead.  The problem is he left with one out in the sixth, which left a lot of innings for the bullpen.  I want to talk some more about the pitching, but that may have to wait until tomorrow's post.

In the last week, there have been a lot of roster moves. To sum them up, besides the activations of McClellan and Holliday, Tyler Greene, Mark Hamilton, Lance Lynn, Matt Carpenter have been sent down to Memphis, while Maikel Cleto and Pete Kozma have come back up.  The Cards are back to the 13 pitcher roster makeup, but with the starters not going deep in games, it's more of a necessity now that it was last time.

Now we get to the really big story.  Pujols left yesterday's game with a wrist injury after being run into by Wilson Betemit.  I didn't see that play, being out at my parents and following the US Open with my father, but noted on the box score that Pujols had gone out of the game.  As Bernie Miklasz writes, it was a very scary moment.  I'm sure so many people flashed back to Scott Rolen and Hee Seop Choi and we know how bad that situation was.  Right now, the positive news is that it looks like it's just a sprain, though there will be more evaluation done today to see how severe it is.

The Cards are in a better position to replace Pujols's production than in some years, with Holliday continuing to hit and having Berkman slide into the first base slot.  That said, Pujols has brought the mystique back, causing pitchers to focus on how they are pitching and who they want to beat them.  A little bit of that swagger, that intimidation, is gone without Pujols.

You hope it's a mild thing, where he can miss the Philadelphia series and have no lingering effects.  Even a 15-day DL stint would be better than him playing through it with sapped power and the potential for a long-term issue.  However, it's not broken, so we have to be thankful for that and hope the team can come together and play good baseball for however long he's off the field.

Speaking of injured players (which we've done a lot this season), it looks like the Cards may be getting a bit healthy.  David Freese will be playing for Memphis starting tonight and Nick Punto will be playing in Springfield this week.  Both hope to be ready next Monday and could really help out the team, especially if Pujols is out for an extended period of time.  It'd be nice to see this team at fairly full strength, wouldn't it?

Off-day today, so we'll take a look at the opener of the Philly series tomorrow.  Thanks to all of those that so capably filled in while I was gone and I hope you aren't disappointed by the downgrade in quality today!


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Doing My Part

Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:28 AM
In my travels, I have noted that those that wear the Cardinal have not tasted victory since I crossed over the mighty river.  So I have brought my banner down from my redoubt to fortify the men and encourage them in their glorious battle for the divisional crown.

(Sorry about that.  I started Game of Thrones during this vacation and am about halfway through.  It's possible that's colored my thinking a bit.)

Before I get into my admittedly less-than-knowledgeable discussion about the recent four-game losing streak (and the win against Houston before I started my trip), I want to give my thanks to the guest bloggers that have filled in this week and express my appreciation to those that are coming the rest of the week.  My internet access has been irregular, but I've been able to use the UCB App (available for iPhone and Android--load it if you haven't!) to see the quality stuff that's been written here so far.

So, recap time:


Hero: Lance Berkman.  Tiebreaking single plus a long ball later.  I'm thinking Berkman wishes he could tow Minute Maid Park around and use it in every game.

Goat: Mark Hamilton.  Went 0-3, though he did score a run and drive in one.  Tough game to figure out a goat for.

Notes: Albert Pujols moved past Lou Brock for second on the all-time team doubles list.  Seriously, the man is passing legends and still has likely half his career to go.  Ryan Theriot went deep, which means you know it was a heck of an offensive night.  And, unlike some games we could name, the bullpen did fairly well, though Miguel Batista still allowed a run.  Also nice to see Lance Lynn get his first win, as he worked out of some jams to limit damage.


Hero: Ryan Theriot.  His two hits were about the only positive that could be taken away from this game.

Goat: Pick a pitcher.  I'll go with Kyle Lohse, since four runs in five innings is still tough to come back from, but Ryan Franklin and Brian Tallet both didn't cover themselves in glory.

Notes: Tony La Russa managed his 5000th game, which was neat.  Just another thing for the Hall of Fame plaque.  Otherwise, though, it was a miserable game made worse by the fact that, if the Cards really wanted a chance to win the series with Milwaukee's top two starters coming up next, they really had to beat Chris Narveson.  To be obliterated like that didn't set a great tone for an important series.


Hero: Skip Schumaker.  The offense was pretty spread-out, but Skip had two hits, didn't strike out, and scored a run.  Those kind of days have been few and far between for Schumaker so far this season.

Goat: Chris Carpenter.  I know he's pitching better than his record indicates, but to give up a 2-1 lead by immediately allowing four more runs is a tough thing to swallow.  You just feel like classic Chris Carpenter would have been a bulldog with that lead, leaving nothing to chance.  Now, well, the bulldog is there at times, but sometimes it seems to be napping.

Notes: Lance Berkman got a long ball off of Zach Greinke and the Cards did take a lead on him, so it wasn't like he completely dominated.  Still, Greinke is a tough one to completely take out.  On a personal note, I was able to see the first inning and a half of this one on MLB Network (my first ever glimpse at the station, wish we had it on our cable system), my oasis in time as sojourner from Cardinal Nation.


Hero: Colby Rasmus.  Two hits, a run, and an RBI.

Goat: Jake Westbrook.  Given a 3-0 lead, he still managed only five innings and didn't leave with it.  The bullpen did a superb job, but the damage had been done.

Notes: Extremely solid work out of Jason Motte, Fernando Salas and Eduardo Sanchez.  Are we getting back to the Young Pen/Old Pen split, where the youngsters are good and the oldsters, well, aren't?  Oh, and the Cards fell out of first place with this loss.


Hero: Albert Pujols.  Only one hit, but it was a two-run blast in the first that got things going.  Two walks later on also seem to indicate that we have the real Albert going now.

Goat: Miguel Batista. Jaime Garcia leaves with a 6-2 lead, but the bullpen apparently has a grievance against Garcia, as they've now blown 5 wins for him, the most in the bigs.  Will this be enough to crack TLR's loyalty to The Poet?  Kyle McClellan is due back today and I have not heard the corresponding roster move as of yet.

Notes: Another home run by Lance Berkman.  He's already put up more numbers than some of us thought he'd get all year.  Trever Miller was his normal, ineffective self (does anyone have more 0 IP outings this year in baseball?)

I see that a few roster moves have been made, with Allen Craig hitting the DL and Andrew Brown getting the callup (and the start last night).  Brown is short-term, I'm sure, going back tomorrow, but it's nice that he's gotten a taste.  Also, Mitchell Boggs has returned with Lynn returning to Memphis.  The pen will need him.

So that's how we got to this moment.  Now we'll see McClellan make his return tonight and Matt Holliday his tomorrow, so the team is getting a little healther.  Will that be enough to snap this string?  The Cubs have been doing the Cards a favor and beating on the Brewers, but that won't last forever.

Hopefully when I return to you Sunday or Monday, we'll have much better things to talk about.

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Series Preview: Cardinals at Washington Nationals

Posted on June 14, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Continuing the theme of "Guest Blogger Week", my name is David Nichols, editor of Nats News Network, a credentialed independent website dedicated to the constructive criticism of the Washington Nationals. You can keep up with us on our Facebook page or on Twitter @NatsNewsNetwork.

The Washington Nationals host the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game set this week from Nationals Park.  The Nats come off a grueling 11-game road trip to Arizona, San Francisco and San Diego, notching their first winning multi-city road trip since April 2008, going 6-5.  Washington plays 23 of their next 29 at home, and with a season record of 30-36 (fifth in N.L. East), hope to challenge the .500 mark, starting with a nine-game homestand with the Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners.

 

The Nats expect to welcome Face of the Franchise ™ Ryan Zimmerman back to the lineup, after a two-month lay-off following abdominal surgery.  He originally injured himself during spring training, but aggravated it making a head-first slide into second against the New York Mets on April 8.  The primary diagnosis at that point was a strain, and rest would take care of the problem.  Still shelved two weeks later, Zimmerman visited a specialist who recommended surgery.  Zimmerman, 26, has played in just eight games for the Nats this year but was hitting .357/.486/.536 at the time of his injury.

 

His return comes not a moment too soon, as the Nationals offense has struggled mightily this season.  They are 14th in the N.L. in runs per game (3.71), with a team slash line of .229/.301/.661.  The Nats are middle of the pack in home runs (55 - eighth in the league), but 13th in total base runners.  Washington has scored three or fewer runs in eight of their last ten games.

 

The offense was built around the veterans in the middle of the lineup: Zimmerman, Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche.  But Zimmerman's been out since the second week of the season, and LaRoche played on one arm (.172/.288/.258, 5 HR, 19 RBI) until it was revealed that the "minor" rotator cuff tear he was diagnosed with in spring training was really a significant tear of both the rotator cuff and labrum - he's been on the D.L. with no timetable to return since May 21. 

 

Werth's performance has disappointed with little-to-no protection in the lineup, hitting .236/.337/.406, and manager Jim Riggleman actually had Werth leading off during the recently concluded San Diego series to try to jumpstart the veteran.  The move was ineffective, as Werth was hitless in two games from the leadoff spot and is hitting .121/.302/.212 in the month of June with just two extra base hits and no home runs.  In fact, he hasn't homered since hitting two bombs against Baltimore May 20, his 32nd birthday.

 

The rest of the Nats lineup is comprised of journeymen and promising first or second-year players.  Former Cardinal Rick Ankiel (.204/.271/.276, 1 HR, 9 RBIs) splits time with Roger Bernadina (.246/.308/.320 with eight steals in 133 plate appearances) in center field.  Laynce Nix, with nine homers and 25 RBIs, has been a revelation in left field while Michael Morse continues to surprise at first base, hitting .300/.345/.517 with a team-leading 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. 

 

Washington is especially young up the middle with true rookies Wilson Ramos at catcher and Danny Espinosa at second base joining second-year shortstop Ian Desmond. Desmond is 18-of-21 in stolen base opportunities, Espinosa is providing some much-needed pop (10 home runs) and Ramos has caught half of all stolen base attempts against (12-of-24).

 

Your pitching probables for the mid-week series:

 

Tue:  Jaime Garcia (6-2, 3.20) v. Yunesky Maya (0-1, 5.40)

Maya, a 29-year old Cuban defector, started the season in the minor leagues and was recalled when Tom Gorzelanny went down with arm soreness.  He's been pretty good through the lineup the first time, but opposing batters are hitting .364/.440/.545 off Maya the second trip through the order.  He throws several breaking balls, but his 89-MPH fastball is flat and he needs to have supreme control over it to be successful.  Maya had a terrific start last time out against the Giants (one earned run on four hits and a walk in six innings), but is still looking for his first Major League win in ninth career start.

 

Wed:  Kyle McClellan (6-2, 3.86) v. Livan Hernandez (3-8, 4.15)

What can be said about Livan Hernandez that hasn't already been said?  He's the same old Livo, chucking up 83-MPH fastballs and 65-MPH curves as he always has.  Sometimes they get hit at people, sometimes they don't.  It's really that simple.  He doesn't walk too many hitters - though he will pitch around big hitters - and he doesn't strike too many of them out either.

 

Thu:  Kyle Lohse (7-3, 2.67) v. John Lannan (4-5, 3.60)

Like Livo, Lannan doesn't strike anyone out, but his sinker is one of the best in the league, and when hitters are pounding the top half of the ball into the dirt allowing the ground balls to be fielded by the Nats' increasingly excellent infield defense (no errors in last 11 games), Lannan can be successful.  He walks too many (3.7 per nine), but Lannan has been on a tear recently.  In his last four starts he's given up a total of two earned runs, lowering his ERA from 5.03 to his current 3.60.

 

BULLPEN:  The Nationals' bullpen is one of their strengths.  The closer is Drew Storen, a 23-year old in his first full season.  He was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2009 draft, signed quickly, and made an impressive and fast rise to the Major Leagues.  He's got a 96-MPH fastball that he can paint the black with, a slider that he bears hard inside against lefties, and an improving change. 

 

Tyler Clippard is the set-up man, and he uses a rising 93-MPH fastball and devastating changeup to be equally effective against righties and lefties, striking out 11.2 per nine innings.  Veteran Todd Coffey (2.13 ERA, 0.987 WHIP) is the seventh inning guy and Sean Burnett (5.96 ERA), who has struggled of late, is the Nats bullpen lefty.

Forces of Nature, Both Cardinal and Otherwise

Posted on April 23, 2011 at 11:13 AM
The last two days, we've seen Kyle Lohse mow through the Washington Nationals and then a natural storm mow through St. Louis.  Let's look at both games, but first my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the storms last night.  Springtime can be a wonderful time, but it has its darker edge as well.

Thursday (5-0 win)
Hero: Kyle Lohse. This is what the Cardinals thought they were getting when they signed Lohse to the long-term contract.  And, when he's been healthy, this is pretty close to what they've gotten.  People tend to forget that, before being plunked by a Ron Mahay pitch in a game against Kansas City, Lohse's 2009 was very strong as well.  After that pitch, he never was quite the same until the surgery he had late last season.  Now, he looks very, very good and could easily slide into that third starter role if Jake Westbrook continues to struggle.

Goat: Ryan Theriot.  A number of guys got shut down in this one, as the offense was pretty dormant between Matt Holliday's home run in the first and Albert Pujols's home run in the eighth.  My natural bias in those situations is to penalize the leadoff hitter, because his job really is to get on base.  Tie goes to the leadoff guy, as it were.

Notes: Holliday continues to rake, getting two hits and having his average well over .400.  Nice to see Albert get into one as well, as he continues to look more Albert-ish.

Friday (4-2 win)
Hero: Ryan Theriot.  This guy is going to dominate the charts this year, it looks like.  After a couple of 0-fer games, he breaks out with three hits and scores two of the teams runs.  He may be a streaky player, but so far it's been pretty effective for what the team needs.  I'm still not excited about the infield defense, but I will admit having offense in those slots makes up for some of it.

Goat: I'm going to slap this one on Daniel Descalso because he did go 0-3 and I'd like to see him produce enough to make it at least a controversy when Skip Schumaker returns.  That said, he did have a couple of nice plays in the field, getting a double play started on one.

Notes: Kudos to Tony La Russa.  You can question whether or not the game should have started, but if he did that to burn Edinson Volquez, it worked like a charm.  I was shocked when my MLB At Bat let me know that Miguel Batista was on the mound to start the game, but when the delay came and the reasoning behind all of that was made clear, it was a very smart tactical decision.  Reds fans are probably calling it dirty, but as I said on Twitter last night, sometimes the difference between dirty and smart is whether it is your team.  I think some of us would have been disappointed if this had happened in Cincinnati, but I also think we'd have been willing to give credit where credit was due if it'd happened to us.

Also, very solid game out of Kyle McClellan.  Getting to use him instead of making it a bullpen game was probably the difference in a win and a loss.  McClellan wasn't the sharpest he's been--three walks against only two strikeouts in six innings--but he was able to get out of most of the jams and keep the Cards in the lead.  I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about letting up a home run to Brandon Phillips though.  Of all people to go yard.....

Liked what we saw out of Eduardo Sanchez last night as well.  To come into his most pressure-filled outing of his young career and to work out of that jam was very impressive.  He added to the degree of difficulty by throwing a couple of wild pitches, though they looked like ones that Yadier Molina might have gotten to on most nights.  Still, he only allowed one run and kept the Cards ahead, which makes for a successful outing.

Good to see Jason Motte do fairly well, though he struggled at the end of it.  The differences between him and Mitchell Boggs, who came in for his second save, are pretty apparent.  Motte's a great guy to have start the eighth of a game you are winning, but once he starts to get into trouble, he doesn't seem to have enough command to use anything other than his fastball.  Boggs came in following him with some different looks and it really confused the Reds hitters.

Gotta wrap this up as I'm about to head out to a family gathering, but it's Chris Carpenter vs. Travis Wood today on Fox.  It's a good matchup for the Cards, though I think they struggled some with Wood last year.  The way this offense is going, though, I don't think that'll be much of an issue today.  Assuming we get the real Chris Carpenter, there's a strong chance the Redbirds can win the series today.

 
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Boobirds Overshadow Redbirds Split

Posted on April 21, 2011 at 10:30 AM
There were a lot of good things that came out of two games of baseball in St. Louis yesterday.  Then there was something that overshadowed them all.  More on Ryan Franklin and his comments in a bit, but first let's take a look at the two games.

Game 1 (8-6 loss)
Hero: Ryan Theriot. Theriot had an excellent game at the plate, going four for five and driving in a run during the big Cardinal inning.  By the end of the game, his average was at .338, so it seems that he's over his slow start.

Goat: Jake Westbrook.  Again, Westbrook struggled.  Seven runs in three innings just isn't acceptable, no matter how you slice it.  Nick pointed out on the latest Pitchers Hit Eighth podcast (link below) that he didn't get just shelled with long balls or walk a ton of people, but he still gave up seven runs on seven hits.  The defense didn't help him as much as it could have, but there comes a point where you have to make better pitches.  He threw almost 70 pitches in his three innings, so while some may jokingly suggest that he can go Sunday on short rest, it really wasn't that much different than a full outing for him, even though he only went three.

Notes: David Freese had a really bad day at the plate, 0-4 with a strikeout and a double play. After all the angst about the back of the pen, it was wonderful to see the great work by Fernando Salas, going three innings, being efficient and keeping the team in the game, something that almost panned out.  For comparison's sake, he threw 31 pitches fewer than Westbrook in the same number of innings.  Good to see homers from Albert Pujols and Colby Rasmus as well.  And, of course, Franklin allowed a home run, but more on that later.

I will say that it was good to see a little fire in this team during this game.  A lot of times last year, this team would have rolled over, had minimal offense, and been done in a record amount of time after getting down that far.  Instead, they held the line and created some offense.  (Though that also got very close to a Frustrating Loss, as the scoring efficiency for the game was 3.33.  A hit or two instead of a double play and this game could have gone the other way.)

Game 2 (5-3 win)
Hero: Lance Berkman. He made the Fan Club proud with a three hit, two RBI, run-scoring game.  Nice to see that he brought that road bat back home with him, as he didn't look all that good in the first game.

Goat: Ryan Theriot. Talk about your quick turnarounds.  0-5 in the leadoff slot in the second game.  Still hit .400 on the day, which is good, but perhaps was a bit tired from all his first game activity.

Notes: When you see how the bullpen worked in this game, it really gets you excited about what can happen at the end of games.  First, congratulations to Mitchell Boggs on his first save.  The setting didn't seem to faze him as he did have to face the tying run with two outs, but came back to get the last batter.  He also struck out a batter in the inning.

The relievers that came in front of him were just as dynamic.  Eduardo Sanchez struck out two in his two innings and Jason Motte had another good outing, which is helping put away those pestering doubts of him.  Motte has his ERA down to 2.00 after a rough start and seems to be thriving in the pen right now.  When you have those guys and Boggs at the end of the pen, it shortens games and makes for a less stressful viewing experience.

Kind of a rough game for Jaime Garcia, though.  Garcia only went five, which is a little concerning.  Looking at his game log, he had the complete game shutout to start the year, then went six against San Francisco (and possibly could have gone more), but then five against the Dodgers and now the Nationals, throwing 91 and 101 pitches respectively.  Garcia's got to get back to being efficient with his pitches, because right now it isn't costing him, but there may come a point when it does.  Only one earned run last night due to his throwing error and a Matt Holliday error, so the ERA isn't hurt, but I'd like to see him get back to throwing 100 pitches in seven innings instead of five.

Let's break here and get into the Ryan Franklin stuff as well as today's starters after the jump.


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Nature 1, Baseball 0

Posted on April 20, 2011 at 9:34 AM
To the surprise of no one that knows how to read a weather radar, there was no baseball in Busch Stadium last night.  Thankfully there wasn't any damage either, as there were some significant storms that rolled through the middle of the country, with a seeming focus on the St. Louis area.

So, as my post from last night pointed out, it's Ernie Banks time.  They'll play two today, with Jake Westbrook and John Lannan trying it again at 1:15.  This does put a kink into the weekend pitching matchups, as Westbrook was supposed to go Sunday night against the Reds.  I've got an idea on how they might deal with that, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Before all the weather came through yesterday, the team activated Nick Punto from the disabled list and brought up Mark Hamilton to take over for Skip Schumaker and Allen Craig.  Punto says he's ready to go, citing an intensive extended spring training, but he hasn't had any minor league rehab.  Will that be a problem?  He's supposed to start in the second game today, so we'll find out fairly quickly.  Then again, being that offense isn't necessarily Punto's strong suit, maybe we won't notice.

I said above I had an idea on what might happen for this weekend.  I wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton got sent back down on Saturday and a pitcher was brought up for that game, then Chris Carpenter was bumped into the Sunday night slot.  I know Tony would not like a rookie to be in that prime-time slot on ESPN, but he doesn't seem to have much qualm with them being on the Fox Game of the Week, as noted last year when he flipped Carpenter and Jaime Garcia for just those reasons.

Not sure who would come up and they'd get sent back down the next day with another bat returning to the bigs, but that's one thought about how to get around the problem.  Then again, since my thinking has been pretty much 100% wrong lately, good chance it won't come to fruition.

As expected, Ryan Franklin is officially not the closer for a while.  There's no determination on who will get the ninth inning or whether it will be multiple pitchers on a matchup basis.  I figure that there will be some trying out of people in that role and perhaps a quicker hook in the ninth than if there was an established guy out there.  Out of two games today, we might start getting an idea on how it will look.

It was pointed out to me yesterday that this is the first series that Rick Ankiel has played in Busch Stadium since he left at the end of the 2009 series.  He started 2010 with the Royals, but last year was one of the rare years when Kansas City didn't have a home-and-home with the Redbirds and Ankiel was injured when the Cards went to KC.  Of course, he was then traded to the Braves, but the Atlanta squad had already come to Busch, though he did play in a September series in Atlanta against St. Louis, going 0-1 with a walk in one game and appearing in two others as a defensive replacement.  In a wonderful gesture, he took out an ad that thanks the fans for his time in Cardinal red.  You can see a picture of that ad here if you are out of the St. Louis area.

There's also an article today about dynamic pricing, showing how ticket prices will change against the two teams the Cards face on this homestand as well as their fluctuation during the season.  You'll recall that dynamic pricing was part of the discussion during our time at Busch during UCB Weekend.

We looked at Westbrook and Lannan yesterday, but this evening's game puts Jaime Garcia on the mound.  Here's what he's done in limited time against the Nats:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Adam LaRoche 5 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 .200 .200 .400 .600 0 0 0
Jayson Werth 5 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 .250 .400 .500 .900 0 0 0
Jerry Hairston 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Ian Desmond 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 .667 1.333 0 0 0
Mike Morse 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .667 1.000 1.667 0 0 0
Ivan Rodriguez 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Total 23 21 6 3 0 0 1 2 3 .286 .348 .429 .776 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/20/2011.

Not just a whole lot you can say about 23 plate appearances, can you?  Which leads us to how Jordan Zimmermann has done against the Cardinals:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Yadier Molina 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .600 .750 1.350 0 1 0
Albert Pujols 5 5 4 1 0 2 2 0 0 .800 .800 2.200 3.000 0 0 0
Lance Berkman 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .667 .000 .667 0 0 0
Jon Jay 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 1
Ryan Theriot 3 3 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 .333 .333 1.000 1.333 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Tyler Greene 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Matt Holliday 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Total 25 22 8 2 1 2 4 2 5 .364 .440 .818 1.258 0 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/20/2011.

A whopping 25 plate appearances.  Besides the fact that Albert had a great day the time they faced him, there's not much else you can say there either.  Couple of blank slates going at it.

Afternoon and evening baseball!  Best of both worlds!

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Back Home To Busch

Posted on April 19, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.  At least not to the fans of the Cardinals, who got a little bleary-eyed while going through that run of late night starts while the team was out in the western part of the country.  Tonight, though, a good old-fashioned 7:15 start from Baseball Heaven.

However, it looks like the makeup of the team might be a little different when the first pitch is thrown this evening.  Both Skip Schumaker and Allen Craig seem to be headed to the disabled list. Kary Booher, who covers the Springfield Cardinals, put up on Twitter last night that outfielder Aaron Luna was moving up from AA to AAA.  That led to some speculation about the other dominoes in the string, and my guess is Craig goes on the DL and Adron Chambers gets to make his debut.  

It's also possible that Luna is just going up to fill the spot left by Shane Robinson after that nasty collision this weekend.  Moves have already been made in relation to that, but they could have been temporary.  I do think that someone's coming up, just not sure who.  Guess they could juggle to get Nick Stavinoha up.  He's not on the 40-man, so I'm not sure what would have to get done for him to get the call, but let's hope it's much more trouble than it's worth.

Apparently, not only is Lance Berkman a stellar player, the NL Player of the Week, and the proud owner of a Twitter hashtag fan club, he is also the Dugout Whisperer.  It's really interesting to see him step in and take charge even though he's not been on this team very long.  Sure, he's a veteran, but he's not been a Cardinal and not necessarily familiar with their routines.  This is probably a good thing, because you figure in the past this team might have just brooded or at least been reserved about things.  His speech plus Matt Holliday's return paid a lot of dividends, it seems.

Still no official resolution the closer position.  John Mozeliak admitted that any change would come from internal options, which is not surprising.  I don't think anyone would want the Cardinals to give up assets when there are so many various possibilities on the roster at this time.  If none of them pan out, maybe then you make a deal, but you've got to try some of them first.

For more about what happens now in replacing Ryan Franklin, be sure to check out Matthew Leach's mailbag.  Also some thoughts about lineup construction in there as well, which is always fun to talk about.

Cards get the Nationals tonight.  While Washington is traditionally a team fans tend to take lightly, two reasons not to do that now.  One, they are a plus .500 team and, as such, have a better record than the local nine.  Secondly, we all remember that 2-8 road trip last year that Washington was a part of.

Here's Jake Westbrook's numbers against the current Washington hitters:


PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Ivan Rodriguez 39 38 10 3 1 0 1 1 6 .263 .282 .395 .677 0 0 2
Matt Stairs 27 26 5 3 0 1 5 1 5 .192 .222 .423 .645 0 0 0
Laynce Nix 7 6 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 .500 .571 1.167 1.738 0 0 0
Jerry Hairston 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .167 .000 .167 0 1 0
Ian Desmond 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jesus Flores 3 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Mike Morse 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jayson Werth 2 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 1.000 1.000 3.000 4.000 0 0 0
Alex Cora 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 91 86 21 8 1 3 11 3 15 .244 .278 .465 .743 0 1 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/19/2011.

Not much jumps out at you.  Except for the old guys in that lineup, guys that have spent some time in the American League (and, possibly, with the Mudville Nine), Westbrook doesn't have much of a history with this lineup.  I think this could be a big game for Westbrook, because if he struggles again with his command and his results, there could be more than one pitching position that is causing heartburn in Cardinal Nation.

On the flip side, here's John Lannan against the Cardinals:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Lance Berkman 16 13 6 1 0 0 2 3 0 .462 .563 .538 1.101 0 0 0
Matt Holliday 15 11 3 2 0 0 0 4 2 .273 .467 .455 .921 0 0 1
Ryan Theriot 15 13 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 .231 .333 .308 .641 0 0 1
Yadier Molina 14 14 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 .286 .286 .357 .643 0 0 1
Albert Pujols 12 11 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .182 .250 .182 .432 0 0 0
Skip Schumaker 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .286 .286 .286 .571 0 0 0
Colby Rasmus 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .200 .200 .400 0 0 0
David Freese 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Jon Jay 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 1
Gerald Laird 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 0 0 0
Kyle Lohse 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 98 87 25 5 0 0 4 10 8 .287 .361 .345 .706 0 0 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/19/2011.

A little more of a record here, but still not a lot.  You can see that Pujols has struggled with him and nobody in the lineup has hit a home run off of him.  Maybe Berkman can have a little more impact and let them know what he knows about this guy, since he's hit him so well in the past.

Look forward to a game getting over before bedtime tonight!  I do want to put in a plug for following the game via Twitter as well.  Especially with the games last week, it was a blast seeing everyone react to the same things and talk between pitches just like you were sitting next to them in the stadium.  If you aren't on Twitter, join up and follow a lot of your favorite Card fans to really enhance your viewing pleasure!
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Playing Pepper 2011: Washington Nationals

Posted on March 18, 2011 at 7:58 AM
Two years ago, I started a series I called Playing Pepper, where I asked questions of bloggers of each major league team about the season to come.  Not only was that informative and entertaining, it led to the spawning of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  With spring training coming up, it's time to get back into shape by again playing a little pepper.

Washington Nationals (69-93, 28 GB and fifth in the NL East)

First in war, first in peace, last in the National League.  The old saying about the Senators, with a minor modification, fit the Nationals last season.  

There hasn't been just a whole lot of success in our Nation's Capitol since the Expos became the Nationals.  (Some would argue it's been a long, long time since there's been success in our Nation's Capitol, but that's a political discussion that's a bit off the point.)  The optimism of Stephen Strasburg making his debut was damped weeks later with his Tommy John surgery.

That said, there are reasons to hope, at least in the future.  Strasburg will return.  Bryce Harper is projected to be a top talent.  Drew Storen should hold down the bullpen.  There have been worse times in the franchise's history.

Dave Nichols is a credentialed independent journalist who covers the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals. You can find his work at NatsNewsNetwork.com and CapsNewsNetwork.com.  He joined me for the last of the Peppers to talk about what's coming for 2011.
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One Day, Two Results

Posted on March 4, 2011 at 7:49 AM
One of those interesting quirks of spring is the split squad games.  With so many players in camp, it's a great tool to be able to get more at bats for hitters and innings for pitchers.  Of course, that also means that, like yesterday, you can win and lose in the same day.

The game that got the most attention, at least from me because it was on KMOX and I was listening through the MLB At Bat app, was the home game against Washington.  With Lance Berkman being held out for precautionary measures, Zack Cox got the chance to play a little, and he took advantage.

Cox had a double and a single, plus was heady enough to advance on a wild pitch that, from what it sounds like, didn't get that far from the catcher and made a nice slide at home to score the tying run on a groundout.  I'm personally rooting for Zack because he's a Razorback alumni like myself and I want to see him succeed.  Days like this will get the team's attention.  He's not coming up this year, but since he's on a major league contract already, a good 2011 would put him in the mix for 2012.  Even if David Freese is perfectly acceptable at first, they may consider moving him to second base to get him in the lineup.

Berkman said he was "perfectly fine to play," but the training staff decided to be cautious with him and hold him out not only of yesterday's game, but of today's trip to his old Astros stomping grounds.  The longer he doesn't play, the more concern there is in Cardinal Nation about how this guy will hold up during the season.  I can understand not pushing at all during the spring, but he's going to have to get into that regular playing rhythm sometime before the season starts.  Hopefully after he gets back into the lineup (tomorrow?  Monday?) he'll stay there.

Brandon Dickson impressed Dave Duncan with his outing against the Nats yesterday.  That's not terribly surprising since Dickson would fit the Duncan mold, getting ground balls and working quickly.  His line might not have been as dominant as Lance Lynn's was a few days ago, but he didn't do anything to take him out of the competition for the fifth slot either.  You have to figure Duncan's word is going to carry a lot of weight in this battle, so if you can stay on his good side, as it were, it's going to help.

Yadier Molina caught nine innings in an early spring training game.  For a team that is continually saying that they are going to rest Yadi more and limit his playing time, they definitely have a strange way of going about it.  I know that Yadi wanted to stay in and catch everyone so he could be familiar with each pitcher in camp, and I can't argue with that rationale too much, but you'd think there'd be better times and ways.  Only good thing is that it's early in the spring, so he should be fully rested.  It wasn't even Tony La Russa managing that team yesterday (he went up with the road team to the Mets), so it's doubly surprising.  Maybe Yadi knows how to talk the coaches into things!

Ian Snell's line: two innings, four hits, two earned runs.  If anyone really thought he was a serious contender for the last slot (looking at the national media here, mainly), it's pretty clear that he's the longest of longshots, especially with all the other options in camp.  I guess he could turn it around and have a strong spring, but this first outing reaffirmed what a lot of us expected when he was signed.

There wasn't much going on in the other game, as the Mets took that one 3-0.  Jaime Garcia admitted that he was a little extra excited with it being his first outing and it showed, as he wasn't sharp and was more erratic than usual.  Still he only allowed one unearned run in his two innings.  

PJ Walters bore the brunt of the Mets offense, allowing two runs in 2.2 innings.  He walked four and allowed three hits while he was out there, which isn't what the club wants to see. Of course, he's on the fringe of the starter race as well as having a shot at the bullpen, but he may find himself in Memphis if he has many more of those outings.
 
Tyler Greene needs to relax and "let his talent out," according to today's story in the Post-Dispatch.  Greene went 0-2 yesterday, but has started off the spring pretty well.  He's fairly assured of a bench role, in my mind, and I think it's completely possible (even though, with TLR, perhaps not likely) that he could take over for Skip Schumaker on a regular basis by the end of the year.  It's hard to believe that he was going to be taken in the slot the Cards took Colby Rasmus, since Rasmus is starting his third year in the bigs.  It'll be fun to see if Greene can really tap into what the club thinks he can do.

Another nice day for Allen Craig, getting two of the six hits the team had.  Starting to get excited about seeing him on a more regular basis this year.

The Cards head up to Houston today, but most of the stars aren't going.  Colby doesn't have the seniority yet to get out of those trips and the starting middle infield is going as well.  Craig hits cleanup in this bare bones lineup, which gives him yet another chance to shine.  Houston is covering this on the radio, so if you have the MLB app you can hear the game that way.

Last reminder, going to keep the Cardinal Approval Ratings voting going through the weekend, then start announcing results next week.  If you've not voted, do so!

Leaping For Lynn

Posted on March 3, 2011 at 7:50 AM
I wrote out a nice, solid post, full of links and thoughts.  Then I go to post it and Movable Type picks that moment to tell me that an upgrade is needed.  And, of course, once the upgrade is done, the post isn't saved.  So here's the short version.

Lance Lynn was good yesterday with strong 3 innings, one bloop hit, 3K.  Dave Duncan was impressed.  He was hitting low nineties, but with movement.  Good stuff.

Leaping for Lynn not mine, but Bill Ivie's contribution from last night's UCB Radio Hour, as a play on last year's successful Honkin' for Jaime done by the guys at Pitchers Hit Eighth.  I think Lynn should get that last slot and I'm very impressed with the way he came out and took command yesterday knowing there is little room for error if he wants to catch Kyle McClellan for the last slot in the rotation.  If he can replicate what Jaime Garcia did last year, he'll be in great shape.

Jake Westbrook threw 50 pitches for 2 innings and Albert Pujols struck out 3 times.  Don't see either of those things very much.  Westbrook got a lot of foul balls yesterday, which isn't a problem.  He's got to have command to be successful, so as long as he wasn't walking a lot of guys, doesn't seem to be a concern.

David Freese will go on Monday, maybe Sunday.  He's got to "play hard, but play controlled."  I was worried when I heard he was being pushed back but he went through baserunning drills yesterday with no reported problems, so perhaps he really is going to be OK.

Chris Carpenter and Mitchell Boggs both felt better yesterday and Carp played catch today and reported no problems.  He still may miss a start, but it shouldn't be an issue getting into the season.  Boggs says he'll be pitching this time next week.  Sounds good to me!

Split squad today.  Nationals visit Jupiter in a game on KMOX and that will feature Pujols, Colby Rasmus, Yadier Molina and the starting middle infielders.  Rest of the team heads to Mets camp to play in a game that will be tape-delayed telecast by MLB Network.  Double your fun today!

Again, apologize for the short and offhand manner of this post.  I swear that the first one was much better.  Curse you, Movable Type!


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Heroes
Lance Berkman (24)
Albert Pujols (19)
Matt Holliday (15)
Chris Carpenter (10)
Kyle Lohse (9)
Yadier Molina (9)
Ryan Theriot (8)
David Freese (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Jon Jay (7)
Jake Westbrook (6)
Allen Craig (5)
Kyle McClellan (5)
Colby Rasmus (5)
Edwin Jackson (4)
Skip Schumaker (4)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Gerald Laird (2)
Nick Punto (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Lance Lynn (1)

2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Ryan Theriot (12)
Albert Pujols (11)
Jake Westbrook (10)
David Freese (8)
Ryan Franklin (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Fernando Salas (7)
Kyle Lohse (6)
Kyle McClellan (6)
Colby Rasmus (6)
Skip Schumaker (6)
Miguel Batista (5)
Chris Carpenter (5)
Daniel Descalso (5)
Matt Holliday (5)
Jon Jay (5)
Jason Motte (5)
Allen Craig (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Tyler Greene (4)
Yadier Molina (4)
Lance Berkman (3)
Mitchell Boggs (3)
Gerald Laird (3)
Edwin Jackson (2)
Trever Miller (2)
Corey Patterson (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Maikel Cleto (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Octavio Dotel (1)
Mark Hamilton (1)
Lance Lynn (1)
Nick Punto (1)
Arthur Rhodes (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Raul Valdes (1)
PJ Walters (1)

2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2011)
    Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%)
    Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%)
    Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%)
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Derrick Goold 87.8%
    Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%)
    John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%)
    Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%)
    Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%)
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Jim Hayes 76.1%
    John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%)
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%)
    Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%)
    BJ Rains 70.4%
    Ricky Horton 69.1%
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%)
    Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%)
    Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%)
    Dan Lozano 58.7%
    Joe Strauss 57.5%
    Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%)

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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