Sunday Spitballs - 08.17.08
I wish that just once this team would display some killer instinct and put a team away when they have a chance for a sweep. Edinson Volquez was on today, no doubt, but the Cardinals had their chances. Just winning series for the rest of the season isn’t going to get it done anymore - they need to start putting teams away.
- Not that I’m particularly happy about it, but a random comment on a post of mine from May brought me around to re-reading said post - I don’t mean to be self-effacing, but it’s eerily prescient now.
- On the good news front: Adam Wainwright had, by all accounts, a great start for AA Springfield on Saturday. Waino has declared himself ready to come back to the Cards, in any capacity. This fan believes the organization would be foolish not to install him as a starter.
- With Wainwright’s return on the near-horizon, that brings us to another evalution of the current status of the starting rotation. Things seem to have flipped on end, as all of a sudden Kyle Lohse looks like the vulnerable one in the rotation. Braden Looper has been just shy of unbelievable in his last four starts, going seven innings in each and giving up no more than two earned runs in each. Joel Pineiro has won his last three starts, by pitching solidly, if unspectacularly. Todd Wellemeyer has returned to his early season form in his last five starts, sporting a 2.30 ERA in those starts while unfortunately only winning two. His 7 2/3 shutout innings against Florida Thursday night was easily his best start of this season. With lots of off-days coming up, the Cards could figure on a four-man rotation. Who’s the odd man out? Here’s hoping it’s not Wainwright to the bullpen.
- It’s time to accept the NL Central division title for what it is at this point - a lost cause. As many choices as we Cardinal fans have for a nail in that coffin, another one came Friday night when the Cubs put up three runs in the ninth to beat Florida. They scored eight runs in one inning today en route to a 9-2 victory. Time to focus on Milwaukee and the NL Wild Card. There is still positivity in that.
- Rick Ankiel continues to be horribly inept at times when the Cardinals need a big clutch hit. Today it was strike outs. One in the sixth with bases loaded and one out, and one in the ninth with two runners on and two outs. Troy Glaus doesn’t escape the glaring eye here either, also striking out in the sixth with the bases loaded. Ankiel was particularly bad though. He flailed at pitches from Volquez in the sixth, clearly overmatched, when all he needed to do was get the ball out of the infield to score a run. At that stage, Cincinnati was still only up 2-0, and even one run could’ve made a huge difference in the outcome of the game. I’d be a big fan of Ankiel back in the two hole - Ryan Ludwick and Glaus can fight it out for the cleanup spot.
- Chris Perez continues to impress in the ninth-inning pitcher role (I don’t dare call him the closer, for fear of Tony showing up on my stoop ready to bash my head in). CP63 has really put in some solid performances since returning to the big club, including some one inning-plus appearances. Good for Tony. You can teach an old dog new tricks (even if it’s because he’s run out of excuses for the old tricks).
- Speaking of Perez, I’m really falling into severe man-crush status with the one-two punch of Kyle McClellan and Perez in the eighth and ninth innings. Hard to believe they’re both rookies, and with any sort of luck (and avoiding any moronic attempt by Duncan and the clan to try to make McClellan a starter), we could watch them fill those roles for the Cards for the better part of the next five to six seasons. Ditto Jaime Garcia - one who is more apt for the Wainwright path at this point, relieving this season, starting next - who I hope will get an honest shot at a fourth or fifth starter’s role in Spring Training next season.
- The Cardinals have three off-days in the next eight. Then it’s home on the 26th and 27th for a quick two-game set with the Brewers. I don’t think it is even debatable to call those two games immensely important in the Wild Card race. The Birds need to take care to set their rotation right with these off-days to get their best going against the Brew Crew. Could we see Wainwright in one of those games?
- The two series leading up to the Milwaukee set are two games against the Pirates and three versus the Braves. I realize this sounds very optimistic, but there’s no reason why the Cardinals can’t win all five of those games. The Pirates are, well, the Pirates. And now they’re the Pirates minus Xavier Nady and Jason Bay. The Braves are very banged up, although they have gotten Chipper Jones back since the Cards’ last series in Atlanta.
- Knock on wood (loudly, if you feel the need) - but the Brewers appear to be scuffling a bit since they ran off eight wins in a row. The Dodgers have had their number, and lead now as I write. The Cards need to take advantage at every turn - as mentioned above, just winning series will no longer cut it.
Here’s to five wins in a row by this time next week!
Subscribe!Sunday Spitballs - 08.10.08
This team treats me like a yo-yo and I keep coming back for more. This week’s version will likely be short, as I missed lots of action while globe-trotting for work. At any rate, here goes this week’s Spitballs:
- If you are religious in any way, believe in anything at all, pray or meditate or wish or hyperventilate - whatever you do, do it - for Chris Carpenter’s health. ESPN called it a right triceps strain. Translated into actual Cardinal injuries and the information allowed to leave that clubhouse, that could mean anything from a hangnail to his arm actually fell off once he was out of camera-sight. Let’s hope for the former.
- Adam Kennedy just made the Felipe Lopez move look a little brighter.
- I don’t have the energy (nor the resolve) to look it up now, but I’m sure I could find somewhere that the Cardinals lead the major leagues in pop-ups on the infield with runners in scoring position. I’m pretty sure they also lead the league in outs made on 3-0 and 3-1 counts.
- I’m sorry Brad Thompson. If it makes you return to pitching well, I will delete the post in which I exalted your prior achievements cleaning up Cardinal messes.
- With all possible injury issues and the loss aside - Cardinal starting pitchers are really on a roll.
- It will be interesting to see what happens with Adam Wainwright’s rehab schedule, once the severity of Carpenter’s new injury is determined. All information to date has indicated Waino was headed to the pen - I can see that changing pretty rapidly in the next 48 hours.
- Waino got lit up Friday night in Memphis - here’s hoping it was control, and not stuff, that got him in trouble. Those finger/joint injuries can tend to linger, especially for someone who is arguably being rushed back before he should be.
- Friday night’s game was winnable. That being said, did anyone really think the Cardinals had a chance to win once Ryan Franklin was trotted out in the tenth? I’d be lying if i said yes. So what does Frank do? Pitches a solid tenth inning. Obviously blinded by Franklin’s unusual performance, and clearly not expecting to have to plan beyond the tenth, Tony ran him out for the eleventh to finish the job. Good work. The guy can barely string together two outs and you’re trying to squeeze two innings out of him. At some point it has to be determined who sucks more, the bullpen or the manager continually throwing them into these situations.
- Friday sucked, but at least they were in it. Could’ve (in theory) gone either way. Saturday’s game was one of those “restore faith” kind of games, as the Birds beat up on Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Tonight’s game was a “lose faith again” kind of game, as the Cards had plenty of chances, possibly lost an ace (again), and had their usually stellar defense abandon them in a crucial situation. I hate being a pessimist - it’s just not generally in my nature, and other folks have that routine down - but it might be time to start focusing on Milwaukee (or, more immediately, Florida) and the Wild Card.
*sigh* (good golly I’m getting tired of ending these Sunday posts like that)
Sunday Spitballs - 08.02.08
My apologies for the lack of posts the last few days, a spotty internet outage has kept me barely connected.
- Dear Russ Springer: Shane Victorino murdered that pitch the first time you threw it. What made you think it was a good idea to throw it again?
- My man-crush on Ryan Ludwick is growing by the day. But first pitch swinging against a reliever who just came in and gave up a walk on four straight pitches? With the bases loaded? Down two? In the eighth inning? Still have to get rid of that inherent pinch-hitter’s attitude Luddy.
- As much as I love actually being able to watch the Cardinals on television rather than my MLB.tv subscription, I still can’t stand Jon Miller and Joe Morgan.
- Lost in tonight’s bullpen collapse was that Todd Wellemeyer pitched a great game. Welley wasn’t necessarily as sharp as he was during his torrid start to the season, but he battled and got outs. Six innings of four-hit baseball is going to be the best the Cardinals can regularly expect from Todd, and they got it. Unfortunately, the bullpen was up to their tricks again.
- As much as the home run killed the Birds, Victorino is a switch hitter that still rocks the double-ear-flapped batting helmet. You gotta respect that.
- For once, in as long a time that I can remember, Tony LaRussa managed the bullpen Sunday night exactly as I would have, were I in charge of the batter-to-batter affairs of the Cardinals. Given the result, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
- Albert Pujols is having a great season, despite all of the bogus talk about his “numbers being down” and “not seeing pitches to hit”. He needs to stop expanding his strike zone so badly. Before Luddy’s home run tonight, Albert had a 3-0 count, proceeded to swing at a pitch that looked a foot over his head, then popped out. If they’re giving you the walk, just take it. Pujols almost certainly cost the Cardinals another run there.
- Is anyone else as sick as I am about the Brett Favre saga? After today’s news, it would seem that Brett is a better poker player than the Packers’ management.
- Jason Isringhausen got his 293rd career save Friday night. If he’s the guy going forward (and it would appear that the Cardinals don’t really have a host of other options), here’s hoping he gets to 300 sooner than later.
- The Cardinals continue to eerily remind me of the New England Patriots by seemingly disregarding any modicum of full disclosure in terms of injuries. Chris Duncan is not only done for this season, but unless he has a successful surgery for his neck injury, his career might be over. Godspeed Dunc.
- Here’s hoping the above doesn’t apply to Rick Ankiel, who according to the ESPN guys tonight, is fine other than being able to run. He can throw, he can hit. He just can’t get his motor going without severe pain. That being said, is it really a great idea to keep pinch-hitting him?
- RIP Skip Caray.
- I’m an optimist when it comes to the Cardinals, often to a fault. But, I’m getting the feeling it’s time to focus on the Wild Card. The Brewers might be the least of their worries with the Marlins and the Mets in the near-rear view mirror - and the Dodgers having added Manny Ramirez not much further behind.
- Troy Glaus needs to build on tonight’s game. The temperature is above 85 degrees Troy - keep hitting. The home run off of Lidge tonight was impressive, rattling off of the third deck fascia - but the Cards need more with men on base.
- Nick Stavinoha swung at three balls when all he needed was a walk. Enjoy the Memphis yo-yo, Nick.
- Is it bad that I was pretty sure the Cardinals had no chance once Stavinoha and Joe Mather were their shots at it? Mather didn’t see a single strike (well, assuming he had left the bat on his shoulder). I know everyone is enamored with the home runs from Mather, but all I can see every time he comes to the plate are pathetic pop-ups to shallow outfield. He reminds me of Rob Deer, only with less power. Nick, Joe, meet a major league slider.
*Sigh* (I hate ending my posts with that, it’s happened too often lately.)
Sunday Spitballs - 07.27.08 (The Monday Version)
Sorry for my tardiness with this one, a long weekend out of town left me exhausted and unable to stomach writing about the week that was in Cardinal baseball. Alas, here we go…
- How will Cardinal fans remember the Anthony Reyes era in St Louis? As much as I was rooting for the guy, the change of scenery will hopefully do him well. We’ll always have Game 1 of the 2006 World Series.
- Tony LaRussa is planning to stick with Ryan Franklin as the closer. Shocking. It seems that it will take a trade by John Mozeliak in order to unseat ole Frank. From the article linked above, “Franklin has allowed a homer in each of his past three appearances, and he has had a loss or a blown save in each.” Ugh.
- Did anyone else think, while watching the game on Saturday (which I did not, but I thought it while checking the box score), “oh great, here goes the runs for next week”?
- Chris Carpenter will get the start on Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves. Mitchell Boggs will be the likely roster casualty, being optioned back to Memphis. Carp apparently pitched well on Friday night, and I’m cautiously optimistic. Yeah, they’re probably rushing him back, rather than allowing him a couple more rehab starts, but this team clearly needs a guy who can put together seven solid innings. Here’s hoping Carp is the guy for the job.
- Skip Schumaker played his tail off on Saturday. Six hits in seven at-bats over the course of fourteen innings. I still say this guy can stick as an everyday outfielder in this league. The problem is, the Cardinals might simply have *better* players.
- Rick Ankiel is battling abdomen soreness after an awkward swing on Saturday. Hopefully it will clear itself up relatively quickly, but if not, look for lots of Skipper in center and Joe Mather in left field.
- How different would Mozeliak be approaching Thursday’s trade deadline if not for three bullpen implosions against Milwaukee this week? Assume if you will that the Cards took three of four from Milwaukee (which they rightfully should have). The Cubs would still be in first at 61-44, with the Cards a game back of them, and Milwaukee three behind the Cards in the Wild Card race. Instead, almost solely on the shoulders of the bullpen, the Cards find themselves in a big hole to both of those clubs and there is whispering about the season slowly slipping away…
Sigh.
Sunday Spitballs - 07.20.08
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve chimed in with one of these - but I have plenty to say:
- FINALLY! Finally the Cards got a sweep. Not without their fair share of trouble getting there, but finally a sweep against a club that should’ve been swept. The club just wouldn’t quit this weekend.
- Aaron Miles just earned himself a lot of free steak dinners across the Metro-East.
- Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel have got to be neck-and-neck in the running for National League Player of the Month for July. I give the edge to Glaus. Coming into today (where he was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and the go-ahead three-run homer in the 8th) he had a 8-game hitting streak (now obviously nine) in which he is hitting .531/.605/1.063. That’s gross. The Cards might not need to fetch another bat after all, with Glaus and Ank heating up.
- For those of you unfamiliar with it, FanGraphs is a really cool site that devotes a lot of its energy to stats like WPA (Win Probability Added), etc. They have live graphs throughout every MLB game indicating the probability of which team will win. The last inning and a half of today’s game was a see-saw to say the least.
- Todd Wellemeyer really calmed down on Saturday after a couple of rough innings to start. Hopefully he’s got that elbow (and more importantly, his control) down and back in order.
- Jamie Garcia did an admirable job today in his first big league start. He gave the team a chance to win, which is about all the Cards can expect out of their 5th rotation spot right now.
- Speaking of rotation spots, Chris Carpenter seemingly pitched an outstanding four innings tonight for Springfield in a AA rehab start. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but this has to be exciting for Cardinal management and fans alike. Getting Carp back - healthy - would be a huge coup for this ballclub.
- Baltimore Oriole Adam Loewen is trying to pull an Ankiel. Multiple surgeries and ultimate poor health with his pitching arm have led him to the point where he’s now considering himself an outfielder. Good luck Adam.
- MLB Trade Rumors says that John Perrotto at Baseball Prospectus indicates the Cardinals have narrowed their search for a left-handed reliever to Ron Mahay and Brian Fuentes. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the former. Fuentes will cost too much.
- It’s looking more and more like Jason Isringhausen’s time to ride off into the sunset. Izzy started off today’s appearance strong, then somehow the wheels came off. While it would’ve been a great story to get him to 300 saves this year, I just don’t see it happening while this team is trying to compete.
I’m getting tired and I don’t want to rehash too much more of what you all have already seen this weekend.
Tomorrow starts the beginning of perhaps the most crucial series the Cards have played to date this season, and we’ll see CC Sabathia in St Louis. Here’s hoping he gets treated to his first dreadful NL start.
Sunday Spitballs - 06.29.08
Another week, another frustrating set of performances from the Cards’ bullpen.
- Not that I haven’t appreciated him before, and I haven’t taken notice of his other-worldly performance in his career to-date, but Cardinal fans should really take pause at being so lucky to watch Albert Pujols on an everyday basis. The man is an incredible ballplayer, perhaps the best of a (my) generation. El Hombre has come back from his calf injury with little ill effect, another ferocious home run on Sunday in the books.
- Thank goodness that inter-league play is over for another year. I’m sick of the Royals. That club is seemingly (hopefully, for their long-suffering fans) on the upswing. Here’s hoping the latest management team over there doesn’t screw up this go-round like they did with Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon, et al.
- The bullpen was excellent on Saturday, and unspectacular, but effective nonetheless today. Russ Springer is pretty lights out right now, and should be Tony’s go-to guy so long as his arm will allow.
- His struggles with command and inexperience aside, I think we’ll see Chris Perez stick with the club for the remainder of the season, barring a complete collapse in some facet of his game. I think he clearly has the ‘future closer’ stamp on him for this organization, and they need to expose him as much as possible to big-league hitters prior to assuming that role.
- Rumor has it that first round draft pick Brett Wallace has signed with the Cardinals and his signing will be announced on Monday. I would expect (hope?) that they will put on a similar show at Busch as they did with second-round pick Lance Lynn. Perhaps suit Wallace up and let him take BP swings alongside Pujols?
- I expressed some concern about placing the Cardinals’ catching duties in the hands of Jason LaRue a couple of weeks ago when Yadier Molina went down with a mild concussion. Luckily two things have happened since then. Molina has made a speedy recovery and remained with the team with no disabled list time spent. LaRue, meantime, has stepped up admirably. LaRue has hit .296/.321/.444 since June 15th, the day of Molina’s injury. That doesn’t even include today’s two-for-four with a home run and four runs batted in. Kudos Mr. LaRue.
- Who’d have dreamed that after the early-week meltdowns against Detroit and the general struggles the Cards have seemingly faced lately, that they’d end today only 2.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central Division? Makes those two giveaway losses against the Tigers loom that much larger right now, doesn’t it?
- Mark Mulder was activated and sent to the Cardinals’ bullpen this week, as Mike Parisi found himself another ticket to Memphis. Mulder has yet to appear in a game with the big club. I’m curious if this is an opportunity to have Mulder work directly with Dave Duncan for a while rather than intermittent contact and working with the minor league coaches. I also wonder if it matters. If Mulder could somehow make a contribution to this bullpen from the left-handed side of the rubber, he could yet wind up a hero this season.
- Mitchell Boggs made a real solid start on Saturday to run his record to 3-0 with the Cardinals. This time he didn’t need the run support shown him in his previous starts. Could he be settling in as a bona-fide big league starter? Obviously he’s not a world-beater, but he’s already given this team more than they likely expected out of him.
- Randy Flores found himself on the disabled list this week with, as I recall, “ankle inflammation.” I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll repeat it again - since when did Bill Belichick take over the Cardinals’ roster moves and sports information department? This team has had more struggling players come up with “injuries” than I can remember ever occurring with any professional sports team. Is this a widely used tactic that I’m not aware of, or should the Cardinals be afraid of some changing rules and/or review of their roster moves sometime soon?
- The Flores move unfortunately didn’t stem the tide in the pen. Jason Isringhausen almost found himself on vacation again with a tweaked knee, only to remain on the club and pitch an inning and two-thirds today. Despite missing on the Izzy situation, I think View from the Cheap Seats still has it right when they say it’s clear the organization needs to look for outside help to right the bullpen ship.
The Cubs aren’t invincible folks. Tony is running some half-decent lineups out there now (but, seriously, can we stop the Aaron Miles at third base charade?) and the starting rotation is still holding afloat.
Should be an interesting second half to the season!
Sunday Spitballs - 06.22.08
Another Sunday, another series of chances wasted:
- It’s really hard to fault the Cardinals for Sunday’s loss. They stopped as many Red Sox chances as they failed on themselves. Sunday’s game felt like a late series World Series game, lots of fun.
- Mike Parisi had another rough (to say the least) outing. I tried defending Mike many times both here and over in the game threads at Viva El Birdos, but it seems it’s put up or shut up time for Parisi at this stage. I suspect he’ll be the first ticket punched for Memphis once someone is eligible to come off of the disabled list (Albert Pujols on Thursday perhaps)?
- Congrats to Nick Stavinoha on his first major league hit. Stavinoha got some good hacks in and hopefully we’ll get to see him for a reasonable amount of at-bats.
- Randy Flores has fallen off the wagon. He has kicked the bucket. He has jumped the shark. Use whatever metaphor you want for “he sucks,” and it will probably apply. He needs a quick boost in confidence, or this team will be quickly seeking LHRP help elsewhere.
- Adam Kennedy is hitting .300 in June and has made a couple of nifty defensive plays to boot. Reports of his demise may have been premature. Stay tuned.
- Rookie reliever Chris Perez has had a rough go of it lately, including Sunday’s meltdown to allow the Sox to tie the game. Here’s hoping he can work out of the funk - he might be in line for a trip back to Memphis.
- Jason Isringhausen has put himself back on the map. Izzy looked good in Boston on the weekend - not without his usual drama - but managed to wiggle out of things with some nasty bite back on his cutter, and the return of the curve.
- Albert Pujols is due to return Thursday or Friday for the Royals series. Can’t come too soon, in my opinion.
Today’s game wore me out. I’d love to put more random junk from the week up here right now, but frankly, I’m worn out and I can’t put my mind to more Cardinals goodness.
Here’s til tomorrow.
Sunday Spitballs - 06.15.08
Happy Fathers’ Day to my readers with youngins at home. In the spirit of the Cardinals’ approach to the situation this weekend, I will also choose to ignore Friday night’s game (the Game Which Shall Not Be Named) and move on with the rest of my business - the Spitballs:
- Please folks, pray for Yadier Molina. While the early reports seem to be positive, that he sustained a nasty case of whiplash, will be monitored and evaluated overnight and the next day or two, the hit he took in the ninth inning on Sunday looked ugly. Can’t believe the kid hung onto that ball. Play looked clean, Eric Bruntlett was very concerned afterward.
- It was a wild frequent-flyer mile sort of week for the Cardinals and their 40-man roster. In case you couldn’t keep up, here’s what happened:
- 6/10/08 Placed RHP Adam Wainwright on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 8, with a sprained right middle finger.
- 6/11/08 Recalled OF Chris Duncan from Triple-A Memphis.
- 6/12/08 Placed INF Albert Pujols on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 11, with a strained left calf; Activated RHP Joel Pineiro from the 15-day disabled list.
- 6/14/08 Activated RHP Jason Isringhausen from 15-day disabled list; recalled RHP Anthony Reyes from Triple-A Memphis; optioned RHP Mark Worrell and OF Joe Mather to Triple-A Memphis.
I’m disappointed to see Joe Mather go, but if they were figuring on carrying an extra pitcher for a bit, he was the logical one to go, I reckon. We’ll see more of Joey Bombs in the near future. Mark Worrell pretty much punched his ticket in the GWSNBN.
Might we see a Bryan Anderson call-up depending on the Molina news?
- Since we’re bound to see a bit more of it in the upcoming days, isn’t it time we nick-named Jason LaRue’s haircut and facial adornments?
- Since we’re on the subject, how many of the Cards are currently shaved bald? Name all of them, and I’ll send you a Cards fitted Sunday cap as a courtesy parting gift.
- Is it getting to be time for Hal McRae to instill some patience in the young Cardinal hitters? A big pet-peeve of Cardinal fans this season has been the propensity to swing at first pitches, regardless of the scenario. I have witnessed far too many first pitch swings this season after the previous hitter walked on four balls. I would think Tony would have little patience for such impatience, but perhaps it’s another matter of these kids all being fueled up to keep their spot in the lineup from day-to-day.
- One of the biggest offenders of the first pitch swing (at least by my highly unscientific count) is Ryan Ludwick. Yet Luddy is heating it up again, including a 12-for-38 performance with three home runs and ten runs batted in on the latest road trip.
- Speaking of heating up, Troy Glaus now has seven home runs in his last fifteen games. Those who chuckled at the idea he would heat up once the weather got warmer and his allergies died down are now eating crow. This guy could still wind up with 35 HR and 100+ RBI. The Cards will need it.
- Another guy stepping up in the absence of Albert Pujols is Skip Schumaker. Skipper tore the cover off the ball in the Philly series, including a couple of long balls. Is the ball starting to really carry out of Busch III as the temperature climbs, or are these boys getting fired up in the absence of El Hombre?
- Was the GWSNBN evidence enough that Todd Wellemeyer needs to go on the DL? Add on top of that Welley’s comments after the game:
After the first inning, Wellemeyer said he found it impossible to rotate his wrist, leaving him incapable of throwing his slider.
Um, Tony? Are you listening to any of your pitchers? Methinks you would want to get someone like this out of the game, instead of riding him until the third, when it was REALLY CLEAR he didn’t have anything to throw up there anymore.
- Bad news for Chris Carpenter as well. The Cards have a huge extension riding on this guy being able to get back to his Cy Young form, so they will wait him out rather than rush him back. But, continued news like this will not be welcomed by the front office, obviously. Mozeliak and the Cards are wise to proceed as they have been, bringing the young arms along as if some of these injured guys may not pitch this season (not to mention, worst case, ever again for the Cards).
- That being said, there is word floating around that Matt Clement or Mark Mulder could be called upon to take a start this week in Wellemeyer’s spot, should he be unable to go. Clement’s start seemed uninspired, while Mulder (speaking cautiously here) seemed to put things together for a start.
“If I were to need 30 days, things didn’t get better from here,” Mulder said. “I do feel better about it. I’m trying to get myself ready to go back and help this team.”
As a Mulder apologist, I can’t help but hope that this new arm slot (and apparently a re-found 90+ mph velocity) revives his career and can put him into the “useful” category for the Cards again. Kary Booher from the Springfield (MO) News-Leader had a report on both starts.
- Speaking of re-found glory, Anthony Reyes is enjoying another moment-in-the-sun after his scoreless tenth inning and win on Sunday. As professional as this guy has seemingly carried himself through multiple promotions and demotions and trying to contribute to the club in any way he can, here’s hoping he finds that something to get him over the hump (even if it’s only to make him more enticing as trade-bait).
- Where Reyes succeeded, Randy Flores and Russ Springer failed miserably. Again. Flores again walked in a run. Springer walked in a run. How do these guys expect to continue to earn paychecks? Flores seems to have suffered an Izzy-esque breakdown in confidence. Since everyone else has already said it better than I, I leave you with two links: the Daily Farm Report from today at Future Redbirds:
Jaime Garcia got shelled. He allowed 6 ERs in 5 innings on 6 hits and 1 walk (including a HR). The upside. . . he struck out 5 and had a 9:5 GO:AO ratio. Regardless of this bad outing, this may be the simplest upgrade the big league club can make during the year — promote Garcia to the STL bullpen and demote Randy Flores.
And then a post from Viva El Birdos illustrating (with far more backup than just my rambling) about how terrible the Cardinals’ bullpen has been this season and how little they can depend on it at this point:
Did you know – b/c I didn’t – that the Cards’ bullpen’s ERA is 15th in the NL? I had no idea it was that bad. Only the Padres’ is worse. It’s reasonable to assert that bullpen ERA isn’t the best way to evaluate bullpens b/c of the way in which earned runs are doled out. What about WXRL – relievers expected wins added? Last in the NL! Wow! We’re 13th in the NL in inherited runners allowed to score. I had no idea it was that bad.
I’d love to say I knew it was that bad, and just didn’t have the statistical know-how to back it up - but wow. That’s bad. The inherited runner stat is one that particularly stands out to me, especially after today’s game when Mitchell Boggs and Chris Perez got tagged for a bunch of extra runs that the bullpen walked in.
- Speaking of CP63 - was it right for Tony to stretch him out today? Perez threw 42 pitches today. I think his previous high with the big club was 26. He’s good, but as much as he taxes that arm throwing in the mid-90s, I have to wonder if 25-30 pitches is his plateau?
- Has anyone else noticed that the Busch Stadium nameplate behind home plate has changed? They used to have an all limestone-ish look with the raised Busch Stadium letters - today I noticed is was a brick background with the raised letters on it. What gives? Just get rid of it altogether - they know where they are playing, so does everyone watching on TV.
- Finally, the tenth inning of today’s game underscored for me a big reason why the Cardinals have been winning a lot of games this season. One that for the casual fan generally gets overlooked. They play great defense. The Phillies possibly cost themselves this game because of two costly errors on routine plays at first base with the pitcher covering. The Cardinals on the other hand were holding runners to one base when they might have taken two, throwing runners out, and making throws from deep in the hole all day. Despite the home runs, the sacrifice flies, the stolen bases - mark down today’s important comparison stat as:
E: PHI, 3. STL, 0.
Oh, and one more thing. That’s another two out of three for the Cardinals.
