Tagged: Pirates

Wainwright attemps to lead the league in wins

This is it.  This is Adam Wainwright’s chance to show the world why he deserves the Cy Young award.  His offense couldn’t back him up in his last start and so blew his chance at a league leading 18 wins.  However, Jimenez also didn’t win his start, so both guys are still stuck at 17.  There is no question that Wainwright is better than Jimenez, but some people are obsessed with wins, so Adam really needs to get that extra win to lead the pack by himself.

Not to mention that Roy Halladay is hot on his trail.  The guy blazes through innings like it’s nothing.  Every game you think he’s going to go the distance and he often does.  His ERA is just behind Wainwright’s and he’s sneaking up on wins too.  The only thing Halladay has on Wainwright is strikeouts.  He leads there by 15.  Wainwright should put a dent in that today, but let’s be realistic: he’s not striking out 15……even if it is the Pirates.  How fun would that be to watch though?

A couple nights ago I watched the Rocket’s game where he struck out 20 for the 2nd time.  20 batters in a game.  Wow.  That’s more impressive than a no-hitter really.  Yeah, for a pitcher to have a no-hitter he’s going to have to have his best stuff working, but come on….not all pitchers who have gotten a no-no really have no-hit stuff most of the time.  There’s quite a bit of luck involved too.  The right fielder in the right place at the right time.  One blooper and it’s done.  Not to take away from the accomplishment because it definitely is one.  But 20 Ks?  That’s all pitching right there.  That’s having a slider or curve so nasty that guys aren’t even swinging.  That’s having a fastball so blazing fast combined with setting hitters off balance with your changeup.  And the fact that you can strike out 20 guys and still not get a no-hitter?  Well, that just shows you how awesome and unpredictable baseball is.  And why it’s the best game there is.

I’m getting off topic though.  I’m supposed to be talking about Wainwright.  If a guy was going to get 20 Ks or a no-hitter though, Wainwright would have a chance.  I love watching him pitch.  As long as I live, I will never forget Carlos Beltran’s knees buckle, as he failed to pull the trigger for the final out in game 7 of the NLCS to leave the bases loaded.  Every Cardinal fan knows EXACTLY what I’m talking about and probably could detail where they were and how they felt when that happened.

And now that Wainwright is starting, I still get that feeling when he pitches.  That he’s going to be great.  Every time.  That even if a runner is on 3rd with less than 2 outs, there’s a good chance he may not score. That we’re going to be in the ballgame until the very end, even when the bats are unproductive.  And tonight it is set up for Adam to take home win #18.  He’s pitching against a struggling Pirates offense where the Cardinals historically have done very well.  He’s pitching in a week when the offense has really been clicking on all cylinders, including Albert Pujols.  Pujols vs. the Pirates in the month of August?  Forget about it.  It’s almost not even fair.

Most importantly, the Cardinals are on a roll right now.  They got incredible performances from Carp and Garcia and then a decent start out of Loshe.  Nobody wants to be the guy to end that.  It would also be great to see the Reds lose again.  Yeah, they’ve lost a couple recently, but make no mistake; we are still 2 1/2 games behind the Reds.  Yeah, it’s better than 5, but the Reds aren’t going to lay down either.  At this point, every game matters.

Nothing more beautiful than a Wainwright curve,
Tiffany

Cards put pressure on Reds

Well, Kyle Loshe obliged my request.  He did not blow the lead.   And I gotta give him credit.  He was good.  Not great.  But he was good.  Granted, he was pitching against the Pirates, a team who is well on their way to a 100 loss season.  Nevertheless, he was good.  Do I trust him in the postseason with the NLCS on the line?  Not by a long shot.  But maybe he can spot start against poorer teams on occasion until we get there.  Because in a short series in October, Carpenter, Wainwright and Garcia is about as good as it gets.  (Ain’t that right Cincy?)  And by then hopefully Suppan will be back from the DL.  I think Soup having the postseason experience and pitching again in St. Louis, he would do well as a number 4.

So Loshe ended up the winner by throwing 5 1/3 innings, giving up 2 earned runs, walking 2 and striking out 4.  Luckily, it was more than enough, thanks to another rousing day by the Cardinal offense.  The Redbirds got it started early in the 1st inning.  A couple singles, a double, a couple walks and an Albert Pujols long ball later and the Cards had batted through their lineup.  As good as it was, they really could (and should) have gotten more than 4 that first inning.  But, hey, I’ll take it.  Especially because, before the game was over, the Cardinals would tack on another 6 insurance runs.  But that first inning of offense was more than enough to beat Pittsburgh who only managed two runs in the 6th inning on a Garrett Jones homer.

The bullpen picked up where Loshe left off and pitched a scoreless 3 2/3 innings to make this the second game in a row that we have won pretty easily.  (And by easily, I mean that the bullpen isn’t walking the bases loaded while I’m breathing in a paper bag.)

The best part of these last two games is that all of these runs are being scored without Colby Rasmus, who figures to be a big part of the postseason push.  But as long time Cardinal fans know, you can’t only depend on your 3-4-5 guys for the runs.  True playoff contenders get production up and down the lineup, as well as those unlikely guys who step off the bench into history.  Remember Scott Spiezio’s torrid hitting in late 2006?

The end result of this game is not only our third win in the row, but it’s a win that puts the pressure on the Reds whose game started moments ago.  We know we can’t drop in the standings and have a shot to gain a game on Cincinnati.  We also gained one game on Philly thanks to a Houston win, although I’d certainly rather take the Central than the Wild Card.

Side notes: Albert upped his MVP candidacy by going 3-5 and belting his 33rd home run of the season.  He leads in home runs, RBI and is now batting .319, good enough for 2nd place, depending on what Prado and Gonzalez do.  That’s serious contention right there for the Triple Crown.  Votto’s putting up killer numbers, but how can you not give the MVP to a guy who’s seriously competing for the Crown?  Also, his home run brought him within one home run of the milestone #400.  Good money says it happens this series.  Albert loves hitting against the Pirates.  He’s now .425 with 10 home runs against Pittsburgh over the last 3 years

Lovin’ watching the Redbirds roll,
Tiffany

The wrong side of a sweep & the Angels clinch

So that’s it.  Swept.  BY THE PIRATES.  I cannot even begin to explain
to you how much that disgusts me.  The Pirates!  The last place Pirates
who have won a grand total of…..drumroll please…..63 games all
year.  Talk about playing the roll of spoiler.

So that’s it.  As
I said, it wasn’t enough to win 1….we needed to take 2 to stay in the
October hunt.  And instead, we have been swept by the third worst team
in the National League.  In my mind, it’s over.  Not because it’s
impossible to win.  4 1/2 back isn’t impossible.  In fact, quite the
opposite.  It would be quite possible to gain 4 1/2 games, especially
with the remaining schedule that some of those teams have.  No, I think
it’s over because the Cardinals don’t seem to have that will to win. 
In 2006, I believed that the Cardinals were going to win their
division. 

Even when it looked bleak, I believed they were
going to do it.  And I believed that they were going to beat the
Padres, the Mets and even the Tigers.  Because they played the whole
year like they were going to do it.  They would be down by 8 runs and
you believed that they could come back because they often did.  They’d
be losing by a run in the 9th with 2 outs and you believed that any one
of those guys would get a rally going for them to win because often it
happened.

I don’t feel like that this year.  This year it feels
like when they’re up 4, 5, 6….even 10 runs, that they will probably
blow the lead because most of the time they do.  And it’s not just a
feeling.  Stats show that the Cardinals lead the league in blown
saves.  I don’t know what the number is anymore.  I stopped counting
after 30.  It’s too depressing.

The Cubs worry me though because
until September came they reminded me a lot of the 2006 Cardinals. 
Always getting a key hit at the right time.  Just a few short weeks ago
I watched Aramis Ramirez jack a grand slam over the wall to get his
team ahead by a run and an eventual win.  Luckily, in September they
have started falling apart.  Even though their collapse more than
likely won’t be enough to keep them out of the playoffs, it will
hopefully be enough to get them booted in the first round.

Tonight we start a series against the Reds.  So we’ll see what happens.

Also, congrats to Anaheim for being the first team this season to clinch their division.

1 spot down, 7 more to go,
Tiffany

We love Pujols, but can he have a little  help?! 

A 3 games series against the Cubs.  A series that we could have 
swept, just as easily as we could have lost all 3.  So I am somewhat
thankful to escape with at least 1 win against the boys from 
Chi-Town.
 
The odd thing was that the games were remarkably similar.  Let's have
a recap, shall we?
 
Game 1
  • Cubs go up 3-0 within in the first 2 innings.
  • Cardinals tie it 3-3, thanks to a 3 run shot by Albert.
  • Cardinals go on to win the game in the bottom of the 9th thanks to small good old-fashioned small ball
  • Final Score: 4-3 Cardinals
Game 2
  • Cubs go up 4-1 within the first 2 innings.
  • In the bottom of the 9th, Albert gets things going with a double and is followed by a Ryan Ludwick home run, which leaves them just shy of a game-tying run.
  • Final Score: 4-3 Cubs
Game 3
  • Cubs go up 3-0.
  • Pujols gets things going with a run-scoring double, following a walk by Aaron Miles.
  • In the bottom of the 9th, the Cards had 3 different runners on, but couldn’t seal the deal.
  • Final Score: 3-2 Cubs 
In all 3 games...

1)...the Cubs started out with a 3 run lead.
2)...the Cardinals mounted a comeback; 1 of them successful, two of
            them not.
3)...the Cardinals made the 9th inning worth watching.
4)...the difference one tiny run.
5)...Albert Pujols was the rallying point, either the 
     first to score an RBI or a run and in one game, both.
 
Pujols went 5 for 13 (.385 AVG), with two doubles, a home run, 4 RBI
& 2 runs.  Not surprising.  He's always hit well against Chicago.
 
If only we could get him a little help.  Yeah, Ludwick hit that 
dinger and Miles was scrappy as always, scratching out walks and 
infield hits, but come on.  A couple of doubles by ANYBODY and we 
could have had these games.  The injuries are not helping.
 
Glaus has this shoulder problem now, which really isn't a big deal 
for this series.  The Cubs have had his number all year, save the 2 
home run game he  had after going like 1 in 500.  But we could really
use him the rest of the series.
 
Add to that Ankiel, Molina and a host of other guys bit by the injury
bug and it's really a wonder we're still in this thing.  It makes you
wonder that even if we do make it to October, how healthy of a team 
we could put on the field.  We know we're practically useless in the
postseason without Carpenter on the team and now it looks like he 
won't even be back in a bullpen role, as previously thought.
 
The one really bright spot of the series?  (Besides Albert,
of course.)  I can't believe I'm going to say it, but the pitching.
They really came through.  They were far from perfect, but they kept
us in it the entire game.  The starters and the relievers teamed up 
to pitch some pretty good ball.  They got out of countless jams: 
bases loaded, runners on the corners, you name it.
 
Tuesdays Game
 5 pitchers allowed 3 ER over 9 innings.
   The Cubs left 8 on base.
Wesnesdays Game
     5 pitchers allowed 3 ER over 9 innings.
   The Cubs left 18 on base.       
Thursdays Game
      4 pitchers teamed up for 1 ER over 9 innings.
     The Cubs left 9 on base.
 
The relief corps were especially impressive, with only 1 of those
runs being charged to a reliever.
 
Now what?  Well, the Brewers fell to the Phils, so we keep pace 
with them, but lose a game to the Phillies and the still streaking 
Astros who crushed Pittsburgh 6-0 thanks to another outstanding
showing by Roy Oswalt.  He went the distance in a shutout 
performance, where he only allowed 3 hits.
 
Hopefully the Pittsburgh bats stay ice cold because we start our 
next series against them tonight.  And if we can't beat this last 
place team, in the midst of a 6 game losing streak, then we don't 
deserve to see October ball.  We MUST take 2 of 3, if not a sweep or
I will declare it to be over for the Redbirds.

Moving on to Pittsburgh,
Tiffany

My tribute to Cal Ripken, Jr.

15-1. Just awful. At least the Brewers lost as well. Though worse than us losing was the Cubs winning. Now they are tied for first and Cubs fans everywhere are rejoicing. The only thing I can hope is that the Cubs will continue to be the Cubs and at some point the bottom will drop out. Add that to another tough loss today and it’s so frustrating. To take 3 of 4 from the Brewers and now to drop two straight to the Pirates. Cardinals, what are you doing to me?? The Brewers lost again tonight to the Mets and the Cubs are trailing in the 9th inning. What a great spot this would have been to gain some ground.

So two losses are clearly not really something I want to spend a lot of time blogging about. Instead, I will talk about something much more pleasant. And that is the induction of two of the nicest guys ever to play the game into the Baseball Hall of the Fame. Guys with enormous talent and enormous hearts. I never got to see Tony Gwynn play live, which is strange because I rooted for a NL team, but I did get to see Cal Ripken Jr. play.

I went to college in Minnesota and so I adopted the Twins as my favorite AL team and went to a ton of games at the Dome. One evening in April, a friend suggested we all go to the game because the Orioles were coming to town. I was all in favor of that because I’ve always been a fan of Cal, Jr., especially after I watched him break one of the toughest and most impressive streaks in all of baseball; consecutive games played. However, I was skeptical that we’d see any magic that night. He was 3 hits away from the big mark of 3,000 lifetime hits. "Maybe tomorrow night, he’ll do it," I said, but nevertheless, I was pumped to go to the game. Three friends and myself took off for the dome, along with thousands of other fans.

Everyone cheered when Cal stepped up to plate and proceeded to cheer Cal, even as he made an out. He then got a couple of hits and I started thinking, just maybe this would be the night. Only one of those two really stands out to me. It was a high bouncer to the left side of the infield, but they couldn’t make a play on him. Then in the 7th inning, it happened. After a pitching change, Ripken lined the ball up the middle for hit #3000. And the crowd went absolutely crazy. We high fived strangers, yelled until our throats were sore and gave him a standing ovation. It was by far the most exciting non-Cardinal baseball moment that I have ever witnessed in person. And I just happened to be the in the right place at the right time. Had he done it a year earlier when he should have, I would not have seen the feat.

We were all presented certificates when we left that said, "I was there" with a spot to put your ticket stub from the game. It remains a piece of my personal baseball collection.

But the best part came the next time. It was a Sunday and we figured the crowd would be lighter because the heroics had already happened. The Twins were pretty bad back then and could barely muster a crowd. In fact, having 20,000 or so at Cal’s 3,000 hit was a pretty big deal. This was strange for a Cardinal fan that is used to seeing 40,000 on a Wednesday at Busch.

Nevertheless, this day it was quite good for us. We got there early and easily walked down the front row of the dome. They gave Cal the day off and you know what he did with it? He walked over and started signing autographs. My friends and I had brought our ticket stubs from the day before, hoping to get them signed. We waited patiently as Cal made his way from the visiting dugout all the way down to us (about halfway down) and eventually all the way to the foul pole. He got all of our tickets signed, except for one of my friends, so we waited to see if she could still get his autograph. After reaching the foul pole, he proceeded back down the wall and continued signing autographs. He reached us again and this time she got her ticket signed. And since he was there, I figured, what the heck, and gave him my ticket stub for that day as well. Saturday’s ticket was put on my certificate and I gave Sunday’s autographed stub to my mom.

I don’t think a person left the Metrodome that day wanting a Ripken autograph and failing to get one. I remember being completely blown away that this guy would take his day off and use it to make a bunch of strangers in an opposing stadium happy. It’s one thing to do this in Baltimore and an entirely different thing to do this for a bunch of people wearing Twins gear that will likely sell your autograph for profit the first they get the chance. But, that’s just one story of the kind of guy he was.

You saw it in the way he played the game. You learned about it in the way teammates talked about it. And you heard it in his HOF speech. This guy, along with Gwynn are two of the best Cooperstown could hope to have. And I am proud to say I saw him play and reach an important milestone. It’s a game I will certainly never forget.

Congratulations as well to Rick Hummell, long-time Cardinal writer who was also inducted. What a great honor for him. He is a graduate from the same high school I am.

Thanks Cal,
Tiffany

Faith.

Before I get into Cardinal baseball, how about that Yankee game? 8 home runs by 7 different players? And not of them is A-Rod? Are you kidding me? You figure there are a lot of balls getting hung over the plate that game to have that kind of a homer happy night. So I’m surprised that Alex didn’t get in on the action, much less to go 0-5. It also shows you how much under ability these guys have been playing all year. This is what the Yanks are capable of doing when they’re running on all cylinders. Every guy down the lineup 1-9 has the ability to put the ball in the stands. Half of their lineup could be cleanup on almost any other team in the league.
Ok, on to the NL Central. What a bittesweet day of baseball. The Cardinals played a hard fought game against Pittsburgh and actually came up on the winning end to stretch their streak to…….4 games. I can barely believe it. The sad news? The Brewers fought back Glavine and his quest for 300 in their win over the Mets and the Cubs won as well. So, the Cardinals still sit at 6 games back of first place and gain nothing on Chicago.

I’m happy for the win though. This kind of back and forth game is the kind of game that Cardinals would win last year and have been losing this year. And even though it seemed back and forth, they never really let the Pirates fully get their foot back in the door and pretty much stayed in control the whole game. Still, I wish the Redbirds would have been able to put them away sooner. You just can’t get in the habit of letting teams hang around in games, especially when we go back to playing higher caliber teams. Both runs that were scored off of starter Adam Wainwright were runs scored with two outs. A sac fly or something may happen when you have 0 or 1 outs, but once you have 2 outs, you have to do everything possible to shut that door.

That said, I felt the Cardinals played hard. Ryan Ludwick laid our for a terriffic play in left field. And Scott Rolen came in hard to homeplate on a play that he should have been out on by a mile. But the catcher couldn’t come up with the ball and Rolen was safe. Great baseball. Though, the Pirates may want to invest in a new catcher. He made two mistakes today that cost his team and earlier this season he did the same against the Cardinals. I can’t remember what game, but I remember another similiar play when he couldn’t handle a simple relay throw for the out.

These next games against the Pirates are getting to be pretty much must-wins for the Redbirds. Sweeping or taking 2 of 3 from the lower teams in the division are a necessity if the Cardinals expect to cotinue competing for the division. That said I think I should explain the following.

I’m not naive when it comes to this team. I know that they have played horrible ball this year. I know that they barely held onto the NL Central title last year when they were AHEAD for most of the year, let alone trying to climb back into contention. And I’m painfully aware that even if this team somehow makes it into the postseason that they’re chances are almost nil. Anybody else remember the 2004 World Series when we didn’t have Carpenter? Yeah, their are other pitchers and other games, but don’t think that the 2004 loss and the 2006 win don’t have anything to do with Carpenter. There is something about going out there with your dominant ace against the other team’s dominant ace that boosts your team’s self esteem, not to mention pushing everyone else on your staff back and deeping your rotation. Losing Carp has been the biggest blow of the season thus far.

Nevertheless, I have faith. Blind faith, maybe. But faith none the less. I believe my team can do it. Or maybe more accurately, I WANT to believe my team can do it. But this is what baseball is all about, right? Every team’s fan has that sort of faith on Opening Day. They all say, “We signed free agents!” “We called up our top prospect from our farm system!” “It’s a new year!” Now, it’s the All-Star break and fans of some teams like the Royals and the Devil Rays have resigned themselves to another season of under 500, poorly executed baseball.

But the rest of us still have hope. Not all of the teams will be rewarded. The Mets, Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies will not all make the posteason. In fact, only half of them will. Yet all of those teams are only 6 games or less back and it is ‘possible’ for any of them to do it. So I hold onto the hope. It’s certainly better than giving up on a season. How many people gave up on the Redbirds last year? Like they say, in baseball, anything is possible.

I’d like to hear from anyone else on this topic. When do you say enough is enough when it comes to your team? Do you hold onto hope until the bitter end, until that magic number for the first place club finally reaches 0? Or is that just asking for disappointment such as was the case for Houston fans last year? Is there a point in the season where you finally admit your team is too far gone, even if they have not ‘technically’ been eliminated? I’m really interested in thoughts about this. Obviously baseball is a good starting point, but if you have another sport you’d like to bring up on this topic, I’m open to that too.

Alright boys, time to get busy tonight, taking another one away from the Pirates.

Having faith,
Tiffany

It’s been awhile

I’m back.
I have been very busy at work the last few months and while I have kept up with baseball and the Cards, I have not had time to watch every game and or to even think about blogging. We were trying to get a product out the door on a deadline and now that it has been completed, I hope to spend a little more time watching Cardinal baseball and with my blog.

I realize that there is no way that I can recap everything I’ve missed talking about the last few months, so I’ll just go ahead and pick up where things are right now.

It’s really a great time to come back to the blog, I think, because there is so much happening in baseball right now. First, the Cardinals are starting to look like a team that maybe has a shot of contending. After being in 3rd place for quite sometime and well behind the Brew Crew and even the 2nd place Cubbies (gag), the Cardinals have recently come on strong. After taking 3 of 4 from the Brewers over the weekend, the Cardinals are now in pouncing distance of them at just 6 games back. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that the Redbirds still have 6 games left against the Crew and 8 games against the Cubs this year. So if the Cards can stay close, they definitely have a chance to help themselves the next couple of months. Not to mention the games between the Brewers and the Cubs, where someone has to lose.

This upcoming series is a big one. We will be playing the Pirates and we have to win a couple of games right here, especially with the Brewers playing the Mets. You figure with Glavine on the mound and the kind of ball the Mets have the ability to play, the Brewers are in for a tough series. So it’s an excellent time to gain some ground.

Right now, there is excitement seemingly everywhere in baseball, not just in St. Louis. 3 huge milestones will be chased tonight throughout the baseball world. A-Rod attempts to hit number 500 in New York and not only that, but when he accomplishes the feat, he will be the youngest player to ever reach that mark. I just hope they get a win and shave off a few more games in the AL East Race. I don’t want to see Boston win it.

Over in LA, the Giants/Dodgers rivalry will be heating up and even more so, with Barry one homer shy away from maybe the most hallowed record in baseball; the all-time home run record set by Hammerin’ Hank Aaron. It’s only a matter of time before it happens, but of course, knowing it’s that imminent can sometimes make a player press too hard at the plate, so we’ll see how he handles the pressure of pursuing the great Aaron and his record.

Last, but not least, Mets pitcher Tom Glavine sets his sights on 300 career wins. I’m rooting especially hard for this one because not only do I respect Glavine as a pitcher, a win for him means a loss for the Brewers. And that is something I am very much in favor of.

What a day this could be if all of these feats happened on the same night. Even if they don’t, they will all happen this season, barring injury, in a year where there has already been so many stories with Sosa and Thomas already hitting milestone home runs and Griffey not too far behind. Craig Biggio earned hit number 3000 and if Randy Johnson could have ever stayed healthy he would have had a chance at 300 wins as well. Definitely a historic year to say the least.

The last thing that makes this an interesting day is that the non-waiver trade deadline has now passed with a lot of the wheeling and dealing for the year done. Though there are a few GMs that seem to prefer trading after the deadline, waivers and all.

The Cardinals made very little noise, acquiring righty Joel Pineiro from Boston for cash and a minor league player to be named. Honestly, I don’t know much about this guy. I know that Boston had designated him for assignment, but by this point, I trust that if the Cardinals are interested in a pitcher, there is usually a good reason. Dave Duncan has worked a lot of miracles in that pitching staff, even with guys that were supposedly done, such as Jeff Weaver last year. And Pineiro doesn’t appear to be that far gone looking at his numbers. The best part about this is that the Cardinals didn’t get rid of a ton of players as I feared might be the case. That tells me that they haven’t given up fighting in the Central yet and that they plan on being a contender instead of just a seller at the deadline.

Other notable trades include Matt Morris coming to the Pirates. Once the ace of the Cardinal staff, Morris will be seeing the Cardinals a lot more in the NL Central than he did as a Giant. Morris was always a favorite of mine, a Cardinal that was hard to see go. I hope he does well in Pittsburgh.

Also, of note, Eric Gagne went to Boston. This deal surprised me a ton, considering he had a no-trade clause to the Sox. I really didn’t think he would waive this to setup for Papelbon. That makes the Sox downright frightening in the late innings.

Well, I supppose that is more than enough for my return blog. I will be back tomorrow where hopefully I will be saying that the Cardinals are just a mere five games away from first place.

Go Glavine,
Tiffany

To hit or not to hit

Now, the Cardinals are just toying with my emotions. All season, they struggled with the bats, until finally they had a break out game against Houston on April 8th, scoring 10 runs. Up until that point, they had only scored 5 runs total over the first 5 games of the season.
So, I start thinking, okay, it was just a slow start…the bats are going to start going now.  Wrong. Even though, we swept Pittsburgh, over the next four games, we scored 11 runs total. Then, ANOTHER break out game.  10 more runs against the Brew Crew and this time I’m absoutely convinced that the Cardinals will start going strong.

Duncan homered in that game to continue his hot hitting and Albert hit twice as many homers in that game, then he had all season up to that point.  It was his first multiple homer game and I thought that’s really the spark it will take to get this team going.  Wrong again.

We’ve now dropped both of the 2 game set against Pittsburgh (not to mention at HOME), scoring a ******** 3 runs over both games.  Horrific.  And we’d be dangerously close of only having won two games so far, if the pitching hadn’t been so good in some of the games.

We now have another two game set; this time against the Giants and then a 3 game series in Chicago.  One thing I surely can’t take is to hit like this against the Cubs.  Our first series against them last year wasn’t pretty and I’d definitely like to remedy that this time around.

At this point, I have no idea what it’s going to take.  The Cardinals have at times notoriously gotten hot and cold as a group when it comes to hitting.  But, Duncan getting hot has done nothing for his teammates.  Pujols going deep twice in the same game has apparently done nothing for his teammates.

Albert’s hitting .160, while Rolen and Edmonds are hovering right around .215.  Wainwright’s hitting .400!  Granted, he’s only had a handful of at-bats so far, but he’s still swinging a better stick than any of our power guys.  Duncan, Pujols and Rolen are the only guys who have homered so far.  And the usual, get ’em on, ‘bunt ’em over, drive ’em in method isn’t working so hot either.  It seems the guys are hitting way more into double plays lately than usual.

Again, it’s only April.  There’s a lot of baseball left, considering we’re still in the first month.  At some point, everyone’s going to start hitting where they’re capable of. The guys in the front half of the lineup are lifetime hitters in the range of .280-.330

And that’s the thing that’s maybe the most encouraging of all. At this point, I don’t feel that we have any way of knowing what the Cardinals might do this season. Right now, they’re playing severly under what they have, what they can and what they will. It would be one thing if every one of our guys was on track and they were still losing every game 6-5, 10-9. Then I would be worried about the season. But at this point, I feel like I just need to see where they land once they take off as a team.

And hopefully that starts tonight against the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals re facing former Redbird in MattyMo. Morris is off to a good start with a 2-0 record, so we’ll see how we do. We got our runs this year over the guy I would have picked the 2nd least likely for us to score against (first, of course has to go to Roy Oswalt….we never do anything against him), so it’s entirely possible, this thing could get straightened out tonight. I sure hope so.

Maybe another couple of dingers from the Pujols and Duncan combo? Speaking of which, how many homers do you think these guys will rack up this month? Albert had 14 homers at the end of April last year and at least a couple of multi-homer games, as far as I can remember. Julie has put her guess in for 7 for Duncan and 5 for Pujols. I’m going to say 6 for each. What’s your guess?

Time to go get San Fran,
Tiffany

Off day ramblings about the first week of baseball

As uaual, with an off day, I’ll discuss just a few random thoughts I’ve had lately and also get a chance to take a look around the league to see what other teams are doing. But before I get into all that, I want to look at how the Cardinals have fared so far this season. We’ve swept and been swept so I think you can safely say we’ve been on both sides of the baseball coin.

Let’s start with the Mets series. Are the Mets a good team? Absolutely. Is that why we lost to them 3 in a row? Definitely not. I don’t know if it was because it’s still early in the season or what the problem was, but the Cardinals were not playing simple, fundamental baseball. And with a team as good as the Mets are, you can’t afford to be off your game that much. They will make you pay. All in all, this lineup was essentially the same lineup we faced in October and we took 4 of 7 from then.

The reason why we were swept by New York is the same reason we were swept by Pittsburgh.  Not executing good, fundamental baseball.  It just wasn´t happening for us in the opening series with the Mets.  But luckily, it didn´t take the Redbirds long to figure it out.

In the Mets series, the Cards committed four errros in three games.  Inexcusable, especially because they were mostly routine plays for a Major Leaguer.  In the Pirates series, only one error was committed and it was on a rather difficult play.  Plus, a couple of very difficult plays were made.  Pitches were executed.  Runners were advanced.  Guys took an extra bag when they had the opportunity.  Fundamental baseball.  Compare that to the Mets series where the pitchers struggled to close the door, even when the defense messed up and the offense just wasn´t executing at all.

Well, now it seems the Cardinals main objective is putting any and all closers out of business. I mentioned previously about all the runs scored off of Billy Wagner during the NLCS.  Then, you have the Cardinals basically single-handedly causing the demotion of Brad Lidge from the ´Stros.  And now the latest victim……Salomon Torres.  2 games, 2 save opportunities, no saves.  So, closers, look out.  If you value your jobs, don´t play the Redbirds. 🙂

Ok, on the rest of the NL Central.  I know it´s way early in the season, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it looks like it might be more of the same for the Wrigley faithful.  Honestly, I can´t imagine how anyone could have picked this team to win the division.  They made a lot of good moves on paper, but until they can back it up on the field, I´m not willing to put them any higher than 3rd.  It´s sort of hard to really enjoy making fun of the Cubs anymore because a rivalry becomes pretty much nonexistent when one team finishes on top and the other in the cellar.  Nevertheless, the series with the Cubbies each year is always good for a little smack talk between the clubs.  I´m still predicting a good year for the Brewers with a 2nd place finish, so I anticipate the Milwaulke-St. Louis rivarly will start to heat up more this year.  Especially with Jeff Suppan now wearing a Brewer uniform.  (Can´t wait to see him pitch Sunday!)

Other things in baseball.  Everyone´s talking about A-Rod and the history he´s making in New York.  6 dingers n 8 games?  Incredible.  Still, I think this sort of thing is also the undoing of the Yankees at times.  Because the Cardinals 3-2 game is just as much a ´W´ as the Yankees 10-1 win.  The Yanks have scored 52 runs in 8 games this year while the Cardinals have taken 9 games to score 26.  But guess what?  The Yankees are playing .500 ball and we´re one game over.

Don´t get me wrong.  I like the Yankees.  And sure, it´s fun to watch your team´s sluggers bash the ball all over the park.  There have been games when every bat in the Cardinal lineup is hot.  But when all is said and done, it doesn´t matter how many runs you clobber your opponent by.  Because eventually in October you will play 3 other great teams to win it all.  And when the Tiger arms absolutely shut down your big bats, where do you turn?  A guy like David Eckstein to shoot the ball into a hole somewhere and start a rally.

I still pick the Yankees to take the East over the Sox because they definitely have the offense and their pitching isn´t horrid, but unless they get a new gameplan and quick, I say by the end they´ll be watching the World Series from their couches.  Though I would LOVE to see a Cardinal-Yankee World Series for sure.

And about those Red Sox.  How are the beantowners feeling about ol´ Dice-K now?  He´s pitched good in his first two starts, but he´s also now taken his first loss against Seattle Mariners phenom Felix Hernandez.  (That kid´s amazing.)  By the way, they´re paying him 420,000 this year for his services.  I have no doubt that Dice-K will do a great job in the Majors….but I think there´s a lot of talent out there for a lot less money.  Just one example.  In his first game, he pitched 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and 1 run.  Great line.  But Wainwright copied it exactly in his first start, except he gave up just 5 hits.  It is impressive that Matsuzaka struck out 10, but in his last appearance he only struck out 4, so obviously it´s not an every time thing.  Wainwright has just as many wins and his ERA is under 2.  And we didn´t pay 51 million to talk to the guy.

One pitcher off to an absolutey ridiculous start is Danny Haren of the Oakland A´s.  In two starts his ERA is a tiny 0.69, but…..he´s 0-2.  The A´s have scored a grand total of 1 run in both of his starts combined.  How about a little run support here?  Maybe they would be interested in trading him back to us for Mark Mulder?  They can even keep the hot catching prospect.  I kind of wonder if that trade isn´t why Walt is so gunshy about big names now.  But that´s okay; if he can keep looking like a genius for getting major production out of the Kip Wells and Braden Loopers of the world, let the Giants have the Barry Zitos.  Dave Duncan has got to be the best pitching coach in the world.  Maybe more ex-catchers should consider the field of pitching coach.

I read a lot of negativity about the Cardinals in pre-season that basicaly said Dave Duncan can´t solve all our problems, he´s not God, etc.  Well, maybe not, but I´m pretty sure he can do miracles at least.  Because somehow the biggest question mark (starting pitching) of the off season, as well as the next biggest in spring when we found out about Kinney (relief pitching) has turned into our biggest asset.  They´re getting wins when our big-time offense is not.

This has been brought to my attention lately, especially last Tuesday when I saw the pitching matchups around the Majors.  Jeff Weaver (Mariners), Matt Morris (Giants) and (Jason Marquis) were all starting.  Matty Mo´s been gone for a few years now, but Weaver and Marquis were key parts of the rotation down the stretch last year.  Well, Weaver went 2 innings…yes, 2….and gave up 7 runs to sport a hefty 31.50 ERA.  Marquis has pitched much better, but still remaine winless as a Cubbie.  On the other hand, the Cardinals won by starting Triple A Memphis pitcher Randy Keisler.  I really like irony of it all.

I´m interested to see what other fans think of Keisler.  Is he a valid option to start for awile?  And if so, how long?  Does he only start if we find out Carp is going to be out for a short while?  If it turns out Carpenter is gone for the season, do we start looking for more long term solutions?  If so, who?  Or is Keisler an acceptable long term solution?  Any and all thought are appreciated and not just about that.

If you agree/disagree with any of my ramblings, I´d love to hear about it.

Well, I´ll probably preview the Brewer series tomorrow, but for now it´s late here and I must go.

Closing down closers,

Tiffany