Catching up with the Cardinals’ off-season

So I’ve been biding my time, waiting, watching, allowing the news to come to me. As I’m sure my loyal readers know (all three of you), it’s been eerily quiet.

Let’s catch up with the goings on…

MVP(ujols)

The announcements are in and Sir Albert has brought home another well deserved MVP Award. You can listen to the conference call, watch video, etc from the link above.

Highlights : Elbow is doing good :)  Will be cleared to do weight lifting soon, but can’t push too much.

Other questions surrounded the fact that the Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs. Was he surprised to win?

Good point made by a Milwaukee reporter that Albert doesn’t strike out like other power hitters. Work hard, patience, trust your hands.  Always learning.

AP reporter asks what does most valuable mean? Not his decision, laughs.

Albert most proud of his batting average. Keeping up all year with these hard throwing pitchers is tough. Hit conistently and the other numbers will follow. Tony set him straight on that importance in 2001. Walks are ok, can’t think about it, try not to expand strike zone.

Elbow pain question, had some pain, tingling later in the year really bothered him, couldn’t feel pinky, concerned about. Surgery was to prevent that from getting worse. 75% of pain was from nerve and not ligament. Still a chance for TJ surgery, but for now things look good.

What should happen to make team better? Bullpen, starting, hitting.  Cards will always put out a team that won’t embarrass you. Give credit to Cubs and Milw.  Didn’t really expect much of an answer on that lol.

Will celebrate with family and kids tonight. Maybe a good night to go to Pujols5!

I think Harold Reynolds says it really well here.

Congrats to Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Certainly earning a MVP award takes a nice surrounding cast of players.

Will be very interesting to see who that cast is in 2009 :)


Filed Under Albert Pujols, National League, Tony LaRussa

2 Comments | Posted on November 17, 2008 by StLCards | Subscribe!

Enough to make a blogger smile

Old news, I know.  But you gotta love when the home team’s manager ensures that the name of your website will remain relevant for at least another year.


Filed Under Fun, Tony LaRussa

Leave a Comment | Posted on October 5, 2008 by PHE | Subscribe!

Tell me again, why all the Kennedy venom?

Put aside for a minute the fact that he wants to be traded (or for that matter, thinks he’s a tradeable commodity at this point).

Adam Kennedy had another ho-hum two-for-four last night with one run batted in.  The effort raised his season batting average to .271.

Sure, he’s not hitting for power, as his .347 slugging percentage pretty clearly indicates.  Sure, his on-base percentage is low, at .314 on the year.

These numbers are not that wildly different than his career line of .275/.327/.387.  He’s hit for more power over his career, mostly doubles and triples while playing for the Angels.  Yet, despite “being in the doghouse” for the better part of two seasons, Kennedy is performing at a level that suggests he’s aging a bit, but putting up what I would call expected numbers.

Clearly, I wouldn’t call a .656 OPS with average defense the answer that Cardinal fans have been looking for at second base.  However, is it Kennedy’s fault that he is playing the way his career numbers indicate we should have expected?

Rather, blame Walt Jocketty for extending him on a three-year contract.  Blame the horrendous 2007, shortened by injury, that definitely got him off on the wrong foot in St Louis.

Maybe even blame the manager for not getting the guy more at-bats this season, so as to get him into a bit more of a rhythm?  Kennedy has had one bad month this season (May), and one mediocre one (September).  The others have been, again, right up his alley career-wise.  He’s been over .300 batting in each of April, June, and August.

I dunno, maybe I’m just too beat up from watching the struggles this month to spew any more venom toward this team.  Maybe I’ve gone soft on Kennedy based upon the assumption that he’s not likely to be with the Cardinals next season, whether by trade or outright release.  Maybe it’s just that tiny little piece of my heart that I still hold out for Kennedy because of his role in the Jim Edmonds trade all those years ago.

Now, I’m not saying that Kennedy is the answer at second, or that he should be so bombastic with his trade requests and feuds with Tony LaRussa.  But I understand…


Filed Under Adam Kennedy, Former Cardinals, Non-Cardinals, Tony LaRussa

8 Comments | Posted on September 25, 2008 by PHE | Subscribe!

Cards stay alive for one more game

As if watching the late-August and early-September swoon of the Cardinals hasn’t been bad enough, it appears no one else wants to take the NL Wild Card spot in the playoffs.  The Mets lost to the Cubs tonight, allowing the Cardinals to mathematically remain “in the race” regardless of their outcome versus Arizona tonight (and I fear they just lost their best chance to win tonight, with Albert Pujols whiffing with men on first and third in the bottom of the seventh).

The Cards are a National League second-worst in their last thirty games, at 11-19 (only the Pirates are worse at 8-22, and three of those wins came in a sweep of the Redbirds).

The odds-on favorite to win the Wild Card not long ago, the Brewers have unraveled at 13-17 in their last thirty.

In short, a playoff spot was there for the taking.  The Mets, Phillies, Florida, and Houston (who could’ve been destined for great things until Hurricane Ike forced them into Bud the Brewer’s backyard) have all capitalized while the Cards have faded out of the conscious of pretty much every discussion.

While out of town over the weekend, I didn’t get to see any of the Cubs series.  The disappointing part, for me, is that I didn’t terribly miss it.  It is a real downer - having poured a ton of energy into this team, this season, this roller-coaster ride - to watch the slow death of such a story.  This season was supposed to be LaRussa’s crowning achievement, his coup de grace, the final feather in the cap of a surefire Hall of Fame managing career, right?  This was going to be the ultimate trump card for TLR - even moreso than 2006 - to thumb his nose at the experts who predicted the Cards were going nowhere fast.

Well, it looks like in a way, both parties were right.  The Cards are going home after game 162.  But if you think that Tony and his band of red-and-white clad misfits didn’t put a scare into some folks in Chicago and Milwaukee, you are sorely mistaken.

Golly, I didn’t really mean this to be an obituary.  For some reason, I can just feel the disappointment flowing out of my fingers right now.

Please don’t interpret this as a criticism of this year’s team.  Don’t read this and think that I’m dismissing what these guys have accomplished, or saying that this year was a failure.  I think the Cards learned a lot about some players they needed a thicker ‘book’ on.  I think (hope) that John Mozeliak learned that the Jocketty Plan - throw a bunch of scrap heap guys against a wall and see which ones stick - is not going to cut it against today’s Cubs and Brewers.  Most of all, we learned that Tony can, and will (even if somewhat forced) use young players in all variety of situations, with games on the line.

To the 2008 Cardinals:  You entertained me, and for that I am grateful.  I can’t think of a season that I have followed and allowed myself such a wide range of emotions over sports in a long time.

At the risk of getting too sappy here about this team (after all, it’s the first one that I’ve documented on this here site), I’m going to cut out here - I plan on sticking with this team through the end of the season - we would expect them to play all out until the end of 162, so I will do the same.  So keep reading for more IN-season analysis.

They might not make the playoffs, but I’m just not ready to close the book on the 2008 St Louis Cardinals just yet.

Brewers fire Yost, LaRussa glad Doug Melvin isn’t his boss

The Milwaukee Brewers fired Ned Yost today, according to ESPN.com.

The Brewers were just swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, dropping them into a tie with the Phillies in the NL Wild Card race.  The Brewers have lost 11 of their last 14 games, allowing many teams to climb back into the playoff hunt.

This makes me wonder, what would Tony LaRussa have to do to get fired?  I’m not saying that I wish termination on TLR, but more out of curiosity - what do you think would legitimately give Cardinals’ brass a reason to fire Tony?  Does he have immunity, regardless of the team’s performance?  Is it even John Mozeliak’s decision, or would that one have to come from Bill DeWitt himself?

Give me your thoughts in the comments section…

Beat the Pirates

That’s really all the Cardinals had to do this season, with any sort of regularity, to be staring a playoff berth right in the eyes.

Sure, 5-10 against the Brewers hasn’t done them any favors either (and 2-4 against the Royals, and 3-4 against the Giants).

They’ve had their other opportunities, they’ve had many chances to sweep series after winning the first two games only to get blown out in the final game (usually with a hamstrung lineup because of Tony’s ‘getaway day’ setups and a taxed bullpen).  They’ve struggled with injuries, but mostly persevered and sometimes thrived on being the underdog and the ‘pest’.

Please don’t view this post as negative, rather, it is one of lament.

All they had to do was consistently beat the Pirates.  Yet this afternoon, the Cards stand at 7-8 versus the Pittsburgh squad this season.  A team that is 61-86 on the season has bested the Cardinals 8 times in 15 games.  A team that traded away guys like Jason Bay and Xavier Nady at the trade deadline has routinely put a beating on the Redbirds this season.

To wit:

  1. The Cardinals have surrendered double digit runs in a game only eight times this season.  Four of those were against the Pirates.
  2. The Pirates have scored 90 runs against the Cardinals in 15 games this season.  To put that in perspective, the Brewers have scored only 74 against the Cards in the same number of games.  That’s a difference of over a run per game.
  3. Albeit highly unscientific, if the Pirates played the Cardinals at a .411 clip to match their season win percentage, they win 6 games instead of 8.  That puts the Cardinals only 2.5 games back, with the Brewers still having 6 to play against the Cubs.

I know, I know - woulda, coulda, shoulda.  If the Cardinals had anything resembling a Major League bullpen for the first half of the year, this is all a moot point as well.

Again, I’m not being negative - it’s just a disappointing way to look at the Cards’ performance as this season winds down.  Hopefully Adam Wainwright can get them back on track this evening.

This is why I don’t manage the Cardinals

I would not have sent Ryan Franklin out for a second inning (although, who I am kidding, I wouldn’t have brought him into a tie game to begin with).

I would have had Felipe Lopez bunting with Brendan Ryan on first and no one out.

I definitely would have had Lopez bunting with Ryan on second with no one out, after a Carlos Marmol balk.

I don’t think I’d have put Brian Barden into such a high leverage situation in his first at-bat with the big club this season, even to sacrifice bunt.  (Although I had to laugh when WGN put up a stat showing that Barden had never sacrificed in 24 (!) Major League at-bats.  24?!?!  Really?  Then I reminded myself that I wouldn’t have brought him up in that situation either.)

Finally, I would’ve had Cesar Izturis laying down a squeeze bunt with Ryan on third and Lopez on second and one out.  Even though the squeeze had to be foremost on the mind of the Cubs and Lou Piniella, Derrek Lee seemed to be playing awfully deep down the first base line, with Iz2 hitting from the left side.

Now for what actually happened…

Franklin walked Jim Edmonds to leadoff the eighth, his second inning, then got a double play and struck out Mike Fontenot to end the inning.

In the Cards’ half of the ninth inning, Lopez worked the count full, fouled off several pitches before taking one in the dirt from Marmol, giving the Birds two runners, first and second, with no one out.

Barden almost broke every finger on his right hand trying to put a bunt down the third base line on the first pitch he saw from Marmol, up and in.  He shook his hand a few times, calmly stepped back in and dropped the next one perfectly, deep enough to make Aramis Ramirez field it.  The Cards had runners at second and third with one out.  So far so good.

Izturis took a couple pitches to run the count 2-0, then swung and missed on a pitch it was clear he was just trying to get in the air and out of the infield.  Then, as if karma chose the Cards for one night out of many when it has shunned this team, Iz2 chopped a weak hopper to second on an excuse-me swing that was just slow enough to allow Ryan, running on the play, to score around the attempted tag of Geovany Soto.

I saw a lot of good things in the three innings I actually got to watch (travel day for me today, didn’t get home until the Cards had tied it 3-3).

I still don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, but Franklin did the job for one night.  Gosh if only he could’ve been that effective for half of his games pitched this year.

Felipe Lopez is hitting .382/.435/.539 since signing with the Cardinals.  I wrote at the time of the signing that if LaRussa, and more importantly guys like Albert Pujols could convince this guy to give a little effort, I thought he might be decent, but probably not enough playing time to make a difference.  I can’t take credit for having the solution that has made him hit since coming over, since if you click the above link, you will see me generally panning the signing just like everyone else, he has definitely made the most of the opportunity.  It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals treat him in the off-season.  Is Lopez any sort of long-term answer in the middle infield?

Lots to like from Brendan Ryan tonight.  The kid has always been a hustle guy from what I’ve seen, but has been in TLR’s doghouse for a long time.  If you look at the replay of Ryan’s jaunt home from third tonight on Izturis’ chopper, there’s lots to love, and plenty to get a guy out of a hard-nosed manager’s doghouse.  Once he took off, Ryan never once looked back to see where the ball was.  It’s a fundamental that every kid learns in Little League, but players seem to lose at the big league level.  Ryan put his eyes toward the plate and didn’t flinch.  Then there was the slide.  Soto had the plate blocked, and the throw wasn’t terribly late or off-target.  There was certainly enough time to stuff a foot-first slide into the shin-guard and make a tag, really putting a damper on the Cardinal rally.  Instead, Ryan dove around Soto on the outside, and made as deliberate a slap in the dead center of home plate in front of the umpire’s face on a close play that I’ve seen in a long time.  Excellent work by a kid who finds himself again trying to secure a spot on next season’s team.

So touche, Tony.  You’re the manager and I’m not.  Tonight, it all worked swimmingly for you.  Tonight…

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