Yeah, the Reveille comes after the noon hour today – necessary evil after the hangover from last night’s ninth inning loss.
PH8 Word of the Day: Vacillate
From Dictionary.com:
vac·il·late
/ˈvæs
əˌleɪt/
–verb (used without object),-lat·ed, -lat·ing.
1.
to waver in mind or opinion; be indecisive or irresolute: His tendency to vacillate makes him a poor leader.2.
to sway unsteadily; waver; totter; stagger.3.
to oscillate or fluctuate.
Vacillate is the only appropriate word to use for my feelings after last night’s loss to the Brewers.
In the aftermath of Kyle McClellan’s fat pitch to Casey McGehee last evening, I wrote at Baseball Digest that the bullpen wasn’t to blame (or at least not entirely) for the loss, because the Cards gave up too many runs total. The defense let down their starting pitcher (I’m looking at you, David Freese). The bullpen did well, save for that one pitch.
This is the part where I vacillate.
This morning, as I continued to think about it – it’s not the bullpen’s fault entirely, I was right about that.
But it’s also not Chris Carpenter’s fault entirely.
And it’s certainly not David Freese’s fault entirely.
Equal parts blame to go around, but it is important to note that the bullpen pitcher is a special breed. These guys are expected to go into the highest leverage situations in games and get outs. It’s their job. The idea is not to be expected to let the pressure or the gravity of any given situation to get the better of you, not once. Obviously it happens, but it shouldn’t be expected.
Indeed, according to Fangraphs, Kyle McClellan was most to blame for the loss by Win Probability Added. Makes sense, right? He was pretty well directly responsible for the loss, given the Cardinals had rallied to tie it.
Ultimately, from the most-removed viewpoint I can muster – I think it safe to say there was plenty of blame to go around. Carp didn’t do his job. Freese didn’t do his job. McClellan didn’t do his job.
All must improve.
Cardinals Home Opener
Plenty going on today around downtown St. Louis. Couple quick things for you to check out…
A marketing firm in St. Louis is campaigning for Cardinals Opening Day to be declared a state holiday in Missouri. Sign the petition here.
The gents from Joe Sports Fan are posting their photos live from Opening Day at the local STL branded version of their site. Entertaining is a mild way to describe the things they capture in bytes and bits.
Six is a Serious (ly awful country) Number
The Riverfront Times aptly points out that the new ‘Six is a Serious Number’ campaign around St. Louis misses the mark. As ridiculous as last season’s version seemed, it eventually grew on you like a weed.
This country one is really bad.
Fox Sports Midwest Live Blog for Opening Day
Got this from FSMW:
We’re doing our first Cardinals live blog/chat on Monday starting at 3 p.m. CT during the home opener. Some of our announcers will join, at least for a couple of innings, and we’ll have Brian Walton from TheCardinalNation.com as well as BJ Rains from the Globe-Democrat.com as additional panelists. Fans will find the chat at www.FoxSportsMidwest.com.
Stop by and check it out this afternoon!
Next game: Astros (Rodriguez) at Cardinals (Wainwright), 04/12/2010 3:15p
{ 2 comments }
I think Carp is most to blame for last night. Everything was fly balls, and when you give up three long balls, you don’t really put your team in a position to win.
I don’t even know what to tell my kids about the new commercial. They loved last year’s (I have the YouTube link saved on my phone for emergencies) and I don’t even want them to see this abomination.
But by the middle of the ninth, it was almost as if Carpenter didn’t even pitch, right? New ballgame, 0-0.
Tough debate – one thing we can agree upon: it is ridiculous that Trevor Hoffman got a win.
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