Will Leitch’s two month Twitter conversation AT the Cardinals: Part One

by on November 7, 2012 · 2 comments

Sometime in mid-August (ok, August 12 to be exact – it’s right there on the Tweeter box) Cardinal fan Will Leitch began a dialogue “with” the Cardinals. Er, maybe AT the Cardinals is more appropriate.

With Will’s permission, and maybe he’ll chime in with some of his own feedback and insight upon review of his 140 character or less outbursts, we present to you a review of the Cardinals’ season from mid-August until the unfortunate end – as told by @williamfleitch.

Please allow a little time for the post to load after the jump, the fancy Tweeter boxes take a little bit to load, but are worth it.

Sunday, August 12th the Cards lost in 11 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Erik Kratz did the damage, with a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie, and a double in the eleventh to put the winning run on base.

Little did we (or probably Will) know that it wouldn’t only be when he was angry. And so much concern for non-Cards fans, but what about the Cardinal fans he was annoying? (Just kidding, Will)

While Barret Browning ultimately took the loss in that Sunday game with the Phils, Marc Rzepczynski was responsible for walking two batters – the only two he faced – to set up Kratz’ game tying home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Rzep threw eleven pitches, only three strikes. Like any parent making empty threats, Will didn’t follow through on his punishment, and the Cardinals were still allowed on TV past 9pm.

I’m actually surprised there are only two Tweets from Sunday, August 19th. 19 innings against the Pirates, and only two comments? Paralyzed with anxiety? Like any good Cardinal fan, Will already knew the fix was in for the Cards to drop a game in extended extras – it’s becoming old hat by now.

For reference, Breaking Bad airs at 10 pm ET. That Sunday’s game against the Pirates started at 2:15 pm ET.

Jake Westbrook celebrated signing his contract extension two days earlier by surrendering five runs to the Houston Astros in five innings. Yes, the same Houston Astros that were 39-85 coming into that game. The Cardinals were leading 8-5 after the bottom of the fifth inning (on their way to a 13-5 victory), but Will’s point remains valid.

These are the fun ones. The comments that I can’t create context for, because the Cardinals were not playing the Brewers on August 23rd. I can only assume that Mike Shannon was making a flippant comment about Braun and a FedEx carrier, then chortling almost to the point of asphyxiation.

Inasmuch as the Braun comment escapes reference, the Molina one requires no research. Josh Harrison trucked Yadier Molina in Pittsburgh, setting off Cardinal fans around the nation. Will’s right though, regarding the Cardinals and injuries. They’ve always been the anti-Bill Belichick to me. While Belichick puts his entire roster on the injury report to oversell to other teams, the Cardinals – in my perception – have always undersold. Molina is day-to-day… or out for the season. There is no in between.

Will was referring to this Tweet from @MLB, that I won’t dignify with posting the fancy Tweeter box.

Am I the only one who actually likes Bob Carpenter? I feel like I’m missing something, or that I’m some baseball rube. Stop making me feel inadequate, Will!

After ending August on a four-game losing streak during which the Cardinals scored one run – that’s one run total in four games – Kyle Lohse promptly spots the Nationals four runs in the first inning to start September.

David Freese hit a two run home run to start the Cards’ scoring on this day, and finished with an RBI single in the top of nine to secure a 10-9 Cardinal victory over the Nats, in Washington. Ominous.

This is another of those comments from Will that is difficult to contextualize, but let’s not kid ourselves. This could refer to pretty much any day of the week.

Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was enough to pull Will away from the Cardinals. Kind of…

Ah, the ol’ fall back of a displaced Cardinals fan. Gameday. At least until it’s blacked out (which thankfully never happens to Shannon and John Rooney).

Bad Adam Wainwright showed up on this day (obviously). Five earned runs allowed on eight hits in five innings, logging – by game score – his fifth worst start of the season.

Jon Jay was three-for-six in another extra inning loss for the Cardinals. I’m not sure if that performance at the plate sparked this comment from Will. I assumed maybe it was one of Jay’s several great plays in center field this season, but couldn’t find anything in game stories to back up that assumption. Maybe Mr. Leitch can shed some light on it.

Skip Schumaker started his fifth consecutive game at second base on this day. He was oh-for-three at the plate and committed an error that allowed a run to score.

Victor Marte pitched to three batters in this game, all right-handed. Two got hits and the other grounded into a fielder’s choice. Marte allowed one inherited runner to score before yielding to Rzepczynski to close out the inning.

In the middle of what would be a 2-8 stretch of games against Milwaukee, San Diego, and the Dodgers – this was the second game of a sweep at the hands of the Padres.

Will is a better man than I for not cursing in this one. I cannot begin to comprehend what watching a standard issue “they just look lost” Cardinal loss on the West Coast while on the East Coast would do to a person.

After Allen Craig led off the inning with a double – to be clear, there was a runner on second base with no outs – Matheny called on Yadier Molina, one of the team’s better hitters, to sacrifice bunt Craig to third. He was successful in that task. The Cardinals were not successful at scoring a run.

No reason to apologize, Will. That was one of the most glaring examples of Cardinal fan exasperation with ALL OF THE BUNTING. He was a rookie. He’ll learn. Right?

—–

Stay tuned to PH8 tomorrow, we’ll pick up with Will tweeting the Cards through the remainder of September and into October.

Writing about the Cardinals and other loosely associated topics since 2008, I've grown tired of the April run-out only to disappoint Cardinal fans everywhere by mid-May. I do not believe in surrendering free outs.
Nick
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Posted in: 2012 Cardinals Game Notes,Cardinals Coaches,Current Cardinals,Fun,Non-Cardinals

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