I have nothing to add.
6 hours ago
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Series Preview - Arizona
The Cardinals open the second half of the season at home against Arizona. St Louis has owned the Diamondbacks since they joined the NL, beating them at an almost .600 clip; but they are barely .500 at home (22-20). Last year they took 3 of 4 at Busch. Unfortunately, Justin Upton usually plays right, so the team won’t be able to take advantage of his sloppy fielding in left. Although I’m sure he’s not too keen on playing the OF at Busch right now, what after Granderson's triple and all.
Mostly well-known tidbit: Arizona entered the league in 1998 and won the World Series in 2001, making them the fastest team to go from expansion to Champs. Except for the Red Sox, who, you know, won the first World Series in the first year it was contested, so they would be the fastest team to win a World Series (6 months). As if Red Sox fans needed another reason to be noxious.
St Louis: 49-42, 1st NL Central, 2 games ahead of Milwaukee. Coming off a 6-4 road trip and a home All-Star Game. St Louis also took 2 of 3 from Arizona back in April.
Arizona: 38-51, 4th NL West, 18.5 games back of Los Angeles. They’ve already fired one manager this season (Bob Melvin on 8 May). Melvin went 12-18 (.400). Melvin has since been hired by the Padres, one of only 2 “Major League” teams worse than the D-backs, to assist in evaluating minor league talent. Melvin’s replacement, AJ Hinch, has gone 26-33 (.440), an improvement of 2 games. So obviously it was Melvin’s fault AZ sucks this season. AZ is 22nd in baseball in OBP and 18th in SLG. They are 7th in FIP and 9th in UZR/150, proving their problem isn’t their pitching or defense.
Pitching match-ups
17 July: Jon Garland (5-8, 4.53) vs Carpenter. Garland was a mainstay of the White Sox rotation for years, posting consecutive 18-win campaigns in 2004-05. Although only 29, he appears to be on the slow decline. His ERA is right in line with years past, but his decision results are way down. Never a strikeout guy, his walks per 9 innings average has climbed for 3 consecutive seasons – and is up again (3.3) this year. Cardinals hitters need to be patient against him.
That said, his three July starts have been very good – 24 baserunners in 20 innings pitched, and an ERA of 2.25. He hasn’t had much luck against the Cardinals. In two career starts, he’s been torched for 10 ER in 8 2/3 innings (and is 0-2 as a result). He’s never pitched in St Louis. He lost the 15 April game 12-7, and only retired 8 hitters. He’s never faced Chris Carpenter.
Albert Pujols doesn’t have a hit off Garland in 6 plate appearances. No other current Cardinal has more than 3 PA’s against Garland.
Statistical oddity. There are only 19 guys that have faced Pujols 6 or more times and not surrendered a hit. Only 3 of those guys haven’t walked him either – Matt Mantei (0-8, 4K’s), and the immortals Robert Person (0-6, 2K’s) and Kyle Peterson (0-6, 2Ks). None of those guys have pitched in the Majors since 2005.
Carp comes off his 10 July win over the Cubs. He’s owned Arizona in his career (3-0, 2.23, 20K), but has surrendered 4 HR in 32 innings pitched. And, it was in his start against AZ this year that he hurt his oblique swinging a bat and subsequently missed a month. Swing easy, big fella. Carp’s last STL start vs AZ was in 2006 (ND). Another oddity – none of Carp’s victories over Arizona happened in St Louis.
Felipe Lopez has hit 2 of those aforementioned homers, and has a 1.109 OPS against Carpenter in his career. Chris Young and Miguel Montero have 3 hits in 4 combined plate appearances off Carpenter. No one else on the team is hitting over .200 against him.
18 July: Yusmerio Petit (0-3, 7.91) vs Wainwright. In a 4-year career Petit has made 26 total starts and never thrown more than 57 innings in a season. Petit has been on the yo-yo between Phoenix and Tucson, their AAA affiliate, in 2009. He hasn’t pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in any appearance this season. He’s also positively Wellemeyer-like in runners allowed per inning (1.758).
Despite all that, he’s 2-1 career against St Louis in 5 appearances (2 starts), and one of those wins was in St Louis (at the old stadium). Recent history with the Cardinals: he threw 2 innings in the 15 April game, and gave up 4 runs. He last started a game vs St Louis 2 Sept 08, didn’t get out of the fifth, and lost 12-3. His only start in St Louis was July 2007.
Ludwick, Molina, and Pujols are all hitting .400 or better against him. Ludwick has 2 HR off Petit.
Wainwright shut down the Cubs on Sunday, both before and after getting hit on this throwing hand by a throw in the fifth inning. He became more dominant after that, allowing 4 hits, a walk, a run, and striking out 5. Wainwright leads the NL in starts and innings pitched. The Cardinals have won 6 of his last 7 starts. He’s got a 1.39 ERA since June 21st. In summary: he’s the ace, and he’s pitching like an ace.
Adam is 3-2 lifetime against AZ and 3-1 as a starter. He won both his starts against them last year, the most recent one on 24 Sept in St Louis. Felipe Lopez has solved him as well, at a .444 clip. Mark Reynolds is the only other starter hitting over .300 against him.
19 July: Dan Haren (9-5, 2.01) vs Piniero. Tough matchup for Piniero. He’s facing the league’s ERA leader, and constant reminder of how bad the Mark Mulder trade turned out to be. Haren shut out Florida on 10 July, and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 1/3 innings. He’s allowing 0.808 runners per inning, which is ridiculous for a guy that’s thrown 130 innings already this season.
Haren has started one game against his former team, way back in 2007. He won 14-3 in Oakland. Of the current Cardinals only Pujols and Duncan have faced him. The good news is they had 2 of the team’s 6 hits that day.
Piniero’s no decision against Cincinnati on 3 July broke a 15-game consecutive decision string for him. His last start was a complete game 3 hitter at Milwaukee, which he won 3-1. Piniero leads or is tied for the league lead in complete games, shutouts, fewest home runs and walks per 9 innings, and losses. Just a weird statistical season for him.
Joel is 2-0 in 5 career appearances against the Snakes (3 starts). He got the win on April 15 this year in Arizona, and the other win was at home last 25 Sept by a 12-3 margin. Of the current D-backs with more than 6 plate appearances against him, Chris Young has had the most success (3-7, HR). Justin Upton and Stephen Drew are also hitting over .300 against Piniero. Felipe Lopez? A paltry .273.
Prognosis/prediction. The Cardinals have the pitching edge in the opener and a decided pitching edge in the Saturday tilt. Arizona gets the edge vote when Haren is on the mound. This is the type of team against which the Cardinals need to clean up. So let’s start the second half off right.
Cards take 2 of 3.
Go Cards!
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Mostly well-known tidbit: Arizona entered the league in 1998 and won the World Series in 2001, making them the fastest team to go from expansion to Champs. Except for the Red Sox, who, you know, won the first World Series in the first year it was contested, so they would be the fastest team to win a World Series (6 months). As if Red Sox fans needed another reason to be noxious.
St Louis: 49-42, 1st NL Central, 2 games ahead of Milwaukee. Coming off a 6-4 road trip and a home All-Star Game. St Louis also took 2 of 3 from Arizona back in April.
Arizona: 38-51, 4th NL West, 18.5 games back of Los Angeles. They’ve already fired one manager this season (Bob Melvin on 8 May). Melvin went 12-18 (.400). Melvin has since been hired by the Padres, one of only 2 “Major League” teams worse than the D-backs, to assist in evaluating minor league talent. Melvin’s replacement, AJ Hinch, has gone 26-33 (.440), an improvement of 2 games. So obviously it was Melvin’s fault AZ sucks this season. AZ is 22nd in baseball in OBP and 18th in SLG. They are 7th in FIP and 9th in UZR/150, proving their problem isn’t their pitching or defense.
Pitching match-ups
17 July: Jon Garland (5-8, 4.53) vs Carpenter. Garland was a mainstay of the White Sox rotation for years, posting consecutive 18-win campaigns in 2004-05. Although only 29, he appears to be on the slow decline. His ERA is right in line with years past, but his decision results are way down. Never a strikeout guy, his walks per 9 innings average has climbed for 3 consecutive seasons – and is up again (3.3) this year. Cardinals hitters need to be patient against him.
That said, his three July starts have been very good – 24 baserunners in 20 innings pitched, and an ERA of 2.25. He hasn’t had much luck against the Cardinals. In two career starts, he’s been torched for 10 ER in 8 2/3 innings (and is 0-2 as a result). He’s never pitched in St Louis. He lost the 15 April game 12-7, and only retired 8 hitters. He’s never faced Chris Carpenter.
Albert Pujols doesn’t have a hit off Garland in 6 plate appearances. No other current Cardinal has more than 3 PA’s against Garland.
Statistical oddity. There are only 19 guys that have faced Pujols 6 or more times and not surrendered a hit. Only 3 of those guys haven’t walked him either – Matt Mantei (0-8, 4K’s), and the immortals Robert Person (0-6, 2K’s) and Kyle Peterson (0-6, 2Ks). None of those guys have pitched in the Majors since 2005.
Carp comes off his 10 July win over the Cubs. He’s owned Arizona in his career (3-0, 2.23, 20K), but has surrendered 4 HR in 32 innings pitched. And, it was in his start against AZ this year that he hurt his oblique swinging a bat and subsequently missed a month. Swing easy, big fella. Carp’s last STL start vs AZ was in 2006 (ND). Another oddity – none of Carp’s victories over Arizona happened in St Louis.
Felipe Lopez has hit 2 of those aforementioned homers, and has a 1.109 OPS against Carpenter in his career. Chris Young and Miguel Montero have 3 hits in 4 combined plate appearances off Carpenter. No one else on the team is hitting over .200 against him.
18 July: Yusmerio Petit (0-3, 7.91) vs Wainwright. In a 4-year career Petit has made 26 total starts and never thrown more than 57 innings in a season. Petit has been on the yo-yo between Phoenix and Tucson, their AAA affiliate, in 2009. He hasn’t pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in any appearance this season. He’s also positively Wellemeyer-like in runners allowed per inning (1.758).
Despite all that, he’s 2-1 career against St Louis in 5 appearances (2 starts), and one of those wins was in St Louis (at the old stadium). Recent history with the Cardinals: he threw 2 innings in the 15 April game, and gave up 4 runs. He last started a game vs St Louis 2 Sept 08, didn’t get out of the fifth, and lost 12-3. His only start in St Louis was July 2007.
Ludwick, Molina, and Pujols are all hitting .400 or better against him. Ludwick has 2 HR off Petit.
Wainwright shut down the Cubs on Sunday, both before and after getting hit on this throwing hand by a throw in the fifth inning. He became more dominant after that, allowing 4 hits, a walk, a run, and striking out 5. Wainwright leads the NL in starts and innings pitched. The Cardinals have won 6 of his last 7 starts. He’s got a 1.39 ERA since June 21st. In summary: he’s the ace, and he’s pitching like an ace.
Adam is 3-2 lifetime against AZ and 3-1 as a starter. He won both his starts against them last year, the most recent one on 24 Sept in St Louis. Felipe Lopez has solved him as well, at a .444 clip. Mark Reynolds is the only other starter hitting over .300 against him.
19 July: Dan Haren (9-5, 2.01) vs Piniero. Tough matchup for Piniero. He’s facing the league’s ERA leader, and constant reminder of how bad the Mark Mulder trade turned out to be. Haren shut out Florida on 10 July, and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 1/3 innings. He’s allowing 0.808 runners per inning, which is ridiculous for a guy that’s thrown 130 innings already this season.
Haren has started one game against his former team, way back in 2007. He won 14-3 in Oakland. Of the current Cardinals only Pujols and Duncan have faced him. The good news is they had 2 of the team’s 6 hits that day.
Piniero’s no decision against Cincinnati on 3 July broke a 15-game consecutive decision string for him. His last start was a complete game 3 hitter at Milwaukee, which he won 3-1. Piniero leads or is tied for the league lead in complete games, shutouts, fewest home runs and walks per 9 innings, and losses. Just a weird statistical season for him.
Joel is 2-0 in 5 career appearances against the Snakes (3 starts). He got the win on April 15 this year in Arizona, and the other win was at home last 25 Sept by a 12-3 margin. Of the current D-backs with more than 6 plate appearances against him, Chris Young has had the most success (3-7, HR). Justin Upton and Stephen Drew are also hitting over .300 against Piniero. Felipe Lopez? A paltry .273.
Prognosis/prediction. The Cardinals have the pitching edge in the opener and a decided pitching edge in the Saturday tilt. Arizona gets the edge vote when Haren is on the mound. This is the type of team against which the Cardinals need to clean up. So let’s start the second half off right.
Cards take 2 of 3.
Go Cards!
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
All Star Game thoughts
- Albert Pujols signing autographs for the troops was awesome, and actually caused some misting to appear in front of my eyes.
- Stan Musial looked old. I know he's 88 years young, but that's the most frail I've seen him. They should have done a montage to remind the public just how good Musial was. It also would have been cool if the players huddled around him after he arrived, a la Ted Williams in 1999.
- When President Bush II threw out the first pitch before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, he looked like this:
Photo from Wikipedia.org
- Stan Musial looked old. I know he's 88 years young, but that's the most frail I've seen him. They should have done a montage to remind the public just how good Musial was. It also would have been cool if the players huddled around him after he arrived, a la Ted Williams in 1999.
- When President Bush II threw out the first pitch before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, he looked like this:
Photo from Wikipedia.orgAppropriate attire for the location and time in our history.
President Obama, tonight:
Photo by AP
President Obama, tonight:
Photo by API know he's from Chicago. The event was in St Louis. MLB couldn't find the President a Cardinal jacket? Or even better, a 'All Star 2009' jacket of some sort? My wife thinks I look cute naked, but I'm not throwing out the first pitch of the All Star game in my birthday suit.
- Kudos to the fans for loudly cheering Mark Buehrle (St Louis Native), Ryan Howard (ditto), Dan Haren (former Cardinal), Jason Marquis (former Cardinal), Joe Torre (Cardinal great), Zack Greinke (marooned in Royals hell), and booing Ted Lilly (Cub).
- I don't think this is an All-Star Game AP will look back on fondly, other than the ovation he got during the introductions. E-3 in the first that led to a run and extended the inning. Oh for 3, nothing out of the infield. At least he made several nice plays with the glove during the game.
- Who would have predicted the Cardinal driving in a run would be Yadier Molina?
- Ryan Franklin - Solid.
- Curse you Carl Crawford. But only this night; this weekend I expect you to continue carrying my Rotisserie League Team.
- Its hard to win when you get one hit after Fielder's ground-rule double in the second inning - and that hit could have been called an error.
- The NL hasn't won an All-Star Game since before the advent of interleague play. So this is all Bud Selig's fault! Do we need a more compelling reason to ban interleague play?
- Trevor Hoffman in 2006, Chris Young in 2007, Heath Bell tonight. I decree no Padre pitcher shall be selected to the All-Star Game until after the NL wins again. I don't care if the Padres have a guy that's 17-0, with 17 consecutive no hitters and every batter retired via strikeout; he doesn't pitch.
- Kudos to the fans for loudly cheering Mark Buehrle (St Louis Native), Ryan Howard (ditto), Dan Haren (former Cardinal), Jason Marquis (former Cardinal), Joe Torre (Cardinal great), Zack Greinke (marooned in Royals hell), and booing Ted Lilly (Cub).
- I don't think this is an All-Star Game AP will look back on fondly, other than the ovation he got during the introductions. E-3 in the first that led to a run and extended the inning. Oh for 3, nothing out of the infield. At least he made several nice plays with the glove during the game.
- Who would have predicted the Cardinal driving in a run would be Yadier Molina?
- Ryan Franklin - Solid.
- Curse you Carl Crawford. But only this night; this weekend I expect you to continue carrying my Rotisserie League Team.
- Its hard to win when you get one hit after Fielder's ground-rule double in the second inning - and that hit could have been called an error.
- The NL hasn't won an All-Star Game since before the advent of interleague play. So this is all Bud Selig's fault! Do we need a more compelling reason to ban interleague play?
- Trevor Hoffman in 2006, Chris Young in 2007, Heath Bell tonight. I decree no Padre pitcher shall be selected to the All-Star Game until after the NL wins again. I don't care if the Padres have a guy that's 17-0, with 17 consecutive no hitters and every batter retired via strikeout; he doesn't pitch.
First Half Grades
The Cardinals finished the first half of the season 49-42, which means a lot has gone right. They also find themselves with a 2.5 game lead in the division, which means they've had some good fortune as well. As we break for the All-Star Game, just before the final 71 game push to the finish line, now seems a good time to look back on the season to date and hand out some grades for players on the roster.
We'll do this Bill Simmons Style.
SUSTAINED SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Albert Pujols. What else is there to say? He leads the league in HR, RBI, Runs, total bases, walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and grand slams. He's second in batting average, making the first Triple Crown in the NL since 1937 a possibility. There's no way this team is in contention without him.
Chris Carpenter. Despite a DL stint, he's exceeded all expectations. WHIP of under 1.00, strikeout to walk ratio of almost 5, ERA under 2.50. With up to 14 starts remaining, he could win 15-16 games this season. Welcome back, Chris.
Ryan Franklin. Twenty-one saves in 22 chances, a WHIP (0.794) as ridiculous as his ERA (0.79). He's been lights out at the back of the game. Well-deserved All Star selection.
Yadier Molina. Solid at the plate, so solid in fact, he's been the best hitter on the team not named Pujols. Leads the league in innings caught, and is second in fielding percentage (fangraphs.com doesn't do UZR for catchers).
PRETTY DAMN GOOD
Adam Wainwright. The ace of this staff. He's been the horse, and has pitched very well; he's the only Cardinal starter to have not missed a turn this season. Needs to walk fewer guys, but that's my only knock his first half performance.
Joel Piniero. Better than his record would indicate. Third best WHIP on the team, doesn't walk anyone, ERA of 3.20 - he's been quite solid.
Trever Miller. LaRussa has gone to Reyes more, but Miller's thrown more innings. Miller's also been the second best guy out of the pen, with a WHIP of 1.043 and an ERA+ of 179. Despite a rough start to the season, he's been excellent.
Colby Rasmus. Mid-year favorite for NL Rookie of the Year. Has played the excellent defense we all expected, and his bat has woken up since June 1st. His .807 OPS is third on the team to Pujols and Ludwick
Brendan Ryan. Solidified the short stop position, and has been a reasonable hitter low in the order.
SPECTACULARLY AVERAGE
Kyle McClellan. Workhorse of the bullpen. Walks way too many guys (21 in 41 innings).
Ryan Ludwick. Getting hurt set him back. Coming back before he was ready didn't help. Had been comatose until showing signs of life at Wrigley. Let's hope the thaw continues.
Skip Schumaker. Solid at the plate, and an adventure at second, which is what we expected out of spring training. Can't hold that against him.
Kyle Lohse. Started the year like gangbusters, then went into a prolonged funk following the Atlanta game April 28. Just returned from the DL. His start in Chicago wasn't what we or he wanted. Hopefully his next 14 starts will be better.
Brad Thompson. Let's face it, Brad is what he is. He's eaten innings and not complained. His results are what one expects from him. Even with all the runs he's surrendered in his last 4 starts, by many statistical measures he's been better than Todd Wellemeyer.
Jason Motte. He's recovered nicely from Opening Day to be a serviceable reliever.
AT LEAST THEY'RE STILL WILLING TO PAY ME
Todd Wellemeyer. Somehow he's 7-7 despite walking 4 guys every 9 innings and giving up almost 2 baserunners an inning (1.724). Every time he starts I have to buckle up for the roller-coaster ride.
Joe Thurston. He tries hard, but isn't great defensively or with the bat.
Chris Duncan. See above. Although we drink more Maalox with him in left field than we do with Thurston at third.
Dennys Reyes. He's better than Kyle Farnsworth, so that's something.
Tyler Greene, Nick Stavinoha, Jason LaRue. Meh.
YOU OWE US AN APOLOGY
The rest of the Cardinal bullpen. Chris Perez, Mitchell Boggs, Blaine Boyer, et al, haven't exactly been lights out. This is probably why two of these guys are no longer with the team, and the other is in AAA.
Rick Ankiel. Can't hit a breaking ball anymore. Can't stop swinging at everything.
INCOMPLETE
Khalil Greene, Mark DeRosa. Both currently on the DL. One we hope to see in August, the other I don't expect to see again this season.
We'll do this Bill Simmons Style.
SUSTAINED SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Albert Pujols. What else is there to say? He leads the league in HR, RBI, Runs, total bases, walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and grand slams. He's second in batting average, making the first Triple Crown in the NL since 1937 a possibility. There's no way this team is in contention without him.
Chris Carpenter. Despite a DL stint, he's exceeded all expectations. WHIP of under 1.00, strikeout to walk ratio of almost 5, ERA under 2.50. With up to 14 starts remaining, he could win 15-16 games this season. Welcome back, Chris.
Ryan Franklin. Twenty-one saves in 22 chances, a WHIP (0.794) as ridiculous as his ERA (0.79). He's been lights out at the back of the game. Well-deserved All Star selection.
Yadier Molina. Solid at the plate, so solid in fact, he's been the best hitter on the team not named Pujols. Leads the league in innings caught, and is second in fielding percentage (fangraphs.com doesn't do UZR for catchers).
PRETTY DAMN GOOD
Adam Wainwright. The ace of this staff. He's been the horse, and has pitched very well; he's the only Cardinal starter to have not missed a turn this season. Needs to walk fewer guys, but that's my only knock his first half performance.
Joel Piniero. Better than his record would indicate. Third best WHIP on the team, doesn't walk anyone, ERA of 3.20 - he's been quite solid.
Trever Miller. LaRussa has gone to Reyes more, but Miller's thrown more innings. Miller's also been the second best guy out of the pen, with a WHIP of 1.043 and an ERA+ of 179. Despite a rough start to the season, he's been excellent.
Colby Rasmus. Mid-year favorite for NL Rookie of the Year. Has played the excellent defense we all expected, and his bat has woken up since June 1st. His .807 OPS is third on the team to Pujols and Ludwick
Brendan Ryan. Solidified the short stop position, and has been a reasonable hitter low in the order.
SPECTACULARLY AVERAGE
Kyle McClellan. Workhorse of the bullpen. Walks way too many guys (21 in 41 innings).
Ryan Ludwick. Getting hurt set him back. Coming back before he was ready didn't help. Had been comatose until showing signs of life at Wrigley. Let's hope the thaw continues.
Skip Schumaker. Solid at the plate, and an adventure at second, which is what we expected out of spring training. Can't hold that against him.
Kyle Lohse. Started the year like gangbusters, then went into a prolonged funk following the Atlanta game April 28. Just returned from the DL. His start in Chicago wasn't what we or he wanted. Hopefully his next 14 starts will be better.
Brad Thompson. Let's face it, Brad is what he is. He's eaten innings and not complained. His results are what one expects from him. Even with all the runs he's surrendered in his last 4 starts, by many statistical measures he's been better than Todd Wellemeyer.
Jason Motte. He's recovered nicely from Opening Day to be a serviceable reliever.
AT LEAST THEY'RE STILL WILLING TO PAY ME
Todd Wellemeyer. Somehow he's 7-7 despite walking 4 guys every 9 innings and giving up almost 2 baserunners an inning (1.724). Every time he starts I have to buckle up for the roller-coaster ride.
Joe Thurston. He tries hard, but isn't great defensively or with the bat.
Chris Duncan. See above. Although we drink more Maalox with him in left field than we do with Thurston at third.
Dennys Reyes. He's better than Kyle Farnsworth, so that's something.
Tyler Greene, Nick Stavinoha, Jason LaRue. Meh.
YOU OWE US AN APOLOGY
The rest of the Cardinal bullpen. Chris Perez, Mitchell Boggs, Blaine Boyer, et al, haven't exactly been lights out. This is probably why two of these guys are no longer with the team, and the other is in AAA.
Rick Ankiel. Can't hit a breaking ball anymore. Can't stop swinging at everything.
INCOMPLETE
Khalil Greene, Mark DeRosa. Both currently on the DL. One we hope to see in August, the other I don't expect to see again this season.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Live Blog and Double Header Wrap Up
As predicted, I didn't make it into the Live Blog for the early game yesterday. Although I did watch part of it,just not a very good part of it.
First inning - Cardinals retired in order, Hoffpauir hits 3-R HR. Turned TV off.
Fourth inning - Cardinals have tied it; watched Zambrano hit HR. Turned TV off.
Managed to log in for the second game, at least for a while. Broke away to have dinner with the family, and never got back on line. Kids can be so demanding sometimes. I ended up watching the game in fast forward at about 10:30pm, but by that time the chat was long over.
Some thoughts:
- Figures Ludwick is heating up just in time for a 3-day break. But at least he's heating up. The return of his bat couldn't come at a better time, what with DeRosa on the DL and Ankiel admitting his shoulder is still bothering him.
- Ankiel should sit until he's completely healthy. If there's one thing this team/organization has an overabundance of, its outfielders.
- The play in the top of the fifth with Wainwright was interesting. The rule governing that play is Rule 7.09(f), which reads:
On the replay it looked like Adam stuck his hand in the way of the throw. The fact he slid towards Theriot, and not towards the bag, seemed to bolster this. However, (a) Wainwright is 6'7", and Theriot 5'10", so even as he gets down he's still in the way, (b) Wainwright missed his calling as a volleyball middle-blocker if he's able to predict with that much accuracy where the ball will be before it leaves someone's hand, so it was probably a fluke, and (c) why on earth would a pitcher attempt to block a thrown ball (probably moving at what, 70+ MPH?) with his PITCHING HAND.
The umpire called it incidential contact and that (to my mind) was correct. Of course, if Zambrano had been hit on the pitching hand instead of Wainwright, it clearly would have been interference.
- Piniella's pitching/outfielder adventure was amusing, but didn't change the outcome. It would have much more fun if our Hoffpauir had lifted a fly ball to left. Although the result would have sucked, wouldn't it have been cool to see a pitcher catch a fly ball then throw out a runner at home plate? How many times has that ever happened?
At any rate, a split of the series will work. The Cardinals didn't bury the Cubs, like they could have with a 4-game sweep; we all knew that was a long shot, however, given how Thompson had struggled in his previous 3 starts (and validated by his effort on Saturday). And Lohse was not sharp in his first start off the DL, which I probably should have expected; drawing Zambrano didn't help either.
We'll look at it this way - a 10 game road trip, through (a) a pre-season favorite to win the Division, (b) a team that thinks it has a shot to contend, and (c) last year's defending Division champ, which ends 6-4, is a success. They left tied for first; they come to the break witha 2.5 game lead in the division, and having picked up ground on every team in the division except Houston (who were 3.5 back on 2 July and still are).
They play .540 ball the rest of the way they win 88 games. And that might just be enough this year in the Central.
HR Derby tonight, ASG tomorrow, off-day Wednesday.
Post plans for this week include first-half grades for the team, a Musial v Pujols article, and the next Series Preview. So stay tuned for that.
First inning - Cardinals retired in order, Hoffpauir hits 3-R HR. Turned TV off.
Fourth inning - Cardinals have tied it; watched Zambrano hit HR. Turned TV off.
Managed to log in for the second game, at least for a while. Broke away to have dinner with the family, and never got back on line. Kids can be so demanding sometimes. I ended up watching the game in fast forward at about 10:30pm, but by that time the chat was long over.
Some thoughts:
- Figures Ludwick is heating up just in time for a 3-day break. But at least he's heating up. The return of his bat couldn't come at a better time, what with DeRosa on the DL and Ankiel admitting his shoulder is still bothering him.
- Ankiel should sit until he's completely healthy. If there's one thing this team/organization has an overabundance of, its outfielders.
- The play in the top of the fifth with Wainwright was interesting. The rule governing that play is Rule 7.09(f), which reads:
If, in the judgment of the umpire, a base runner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner.
On the replay it looked like Adam stuck his hand in the way of the throw. The fact he slid towards Theriot, and not towards the bag, seemed to bolster this. However, (a) Wainwright is 6'7", and Theriot 5'10", so even as he gets down he's still in the way, (b) Wainwright missed his calling as a volleyball middle-blocker if he's able to predict with that much accuracy where the ball will be before it leaves someone's hand, so it was probably a fluke, and (c) why on earth would a pitcher attempt to block a thrown ball (probably moving at what, 70+ MPH?) with his PITCHING HAND.
The umpire called it incidential contact and that (to my mind) was correct. Of course, if Zambrano had been hit on the pitching hand instead of Wainwright, it clearly would have been interference.
- Piniella's pitching/outfielder adventure was amusing, but didn't change the outcome. It would have much more fun if our Hoffpauir had lifted a fly ball to left. Although the result would have sucked, wouldn't it have been cool to see a pitcher catch a fly ball then throw out a runner at home plate? How many times has that ever happened?
At any rate, a split of the series will work. The Cardinals didn't bury the Cubs, like they could have with a 4-game sweep; we all knew that was a long shot, however, given how Thompson had struggled in his previous 3 starts (and validated by his effort on Saturday). And Lohse was not sharp in his first start off the DL, which I probably should have expected; drawing Zambrano didn't help either.
We'll look at it this way - a 10 game road trip, through (a) a pre-season favorite to win the Division, (b) a team that thinks it has a shot to contend, and (c) last year's defending Division champ, which ends 6-4, is a success. They left tied for first; they come to the break witha 2.5 game lead in the division, and having picked up ground on every team in the division except Houston (who were 3.5 back on 2 July and still are).
They play .540 ball the rest of the way they win 88 games. And that might just be enough this year in the Central.
HR Derby tonight, ASG tomorrow, off-day Wednesday.
Post plans for this week include first-half grades for the team, a Musial v Pujols article, and the next Series Preview. So stay tuned for that.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
UCB topic - Live Blog
Can't say yesterday's result was a surprise, because it wasn't. Althought hitting Bradley with an 0-2 pitch was a 'road less traveled' way to get into a big inning (as 3 runs ultimately scored in the home first).
Cardinals can still come out of here with a split, or even better if they sweep the double-dip today.
Slight pitching match-up change from the preview. Carlos Zambrano will throw the first game against Lohse, vice the night game. A curious decision, as Zambrano is a better pitcher at night over his career by any metric. Whatever. Wells has pitched slightly better at night, although with only 15 ML games under his belt it's hard to draw any conclusions from the data.
Today is the United Cardinal Blogger live blog. As promised, you can get there from here:
Enjoy the game! I hope to check in from time to time, although realistically I may only be available for the night game).
Cardinals can still come out of here with a split, or even better if they sweep the double-dip today.
Slight pitching match-up change from the preview. Carlos Zambrano will throw the first game against Lohse, vice the night game. A curious decision, as Zambrano is a better pitcher at night over his career by any metric. Whatever. Wells has pitched slightly better at night, although with only 15 ML games under his belt it's hard to draw any conclusions from the data.
Today is the United Cardinal Blogger live blog. As promised, you can get there from here:
Enjoy the game! I hope to check in from time to time, although realistically I may only be available for the night game).
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Pujols vs Musial - Triple and HR in same game?
Yesterday marked the third time in his career Albert Pujols tripled and homered in the same game. Since the only other Cardinal (in my mind) he can be compared with, in terms of sustained superior hitting, is Musial, how many times did Musial do it?
When pondering a statistical question of any type, the place to go is Baseball Reference. However Baseball Reference is limited to games from 1954 to the present, so we can only look at the last 10 years of Musial's career. I'll add the game in 1949 he hit for the cycle, however (July 24 to be exact), since that's documented.
Musial tripled and homered in the same game 5 times from 1945-1963. Here are the dates, locations, and pitchers:
May 20, 1954 - Forbes Field (Pittsburgh) - 1st inning, off Bob Purkey
June 8, 1954 - Sportsman's Park - 4th inning, off Carl Erskine (Dodgers)
June 22, 1955 - Sportsman's Park - 8th inning, off Robin Roberts (Phillies)
June 27, 1957 - Sportsman's Park - 2nd inning, off Jack Sanford (Phillies)
July 4, 1961 - Sportsman's Park - 1st inning, off Don Ferrarese (Phillies)
Musial picked on the Phillies a lot.
In the 1955 game he homered twice. In the June 1954, 1955, and 1957 games he homered in his first at bat.
Since Musial hit 177 triples and 475 home runs in his career, I'm sure he did both in more games than just these 6. However, 5 games in 10 years highlights how difficult, and rare, this is to do.
When pondering a statistical question of any type, the place to go is Baseball Reference. However Baseball Reference is limited to games from 1954 to the present, so we can only look at the last 10 years of Musial's career. I'll add the game in 1949 he hit for the cycle, however (July 24 to be exact), since that's documented.
Musial tripled and homered in the same game 5 times from 1945-1963. Here are the dates, locations, and pitchers:
May 20, 1954 - Forbes Field (Pittsburgh) - 1st inning, off Bob Purkey
June 8, 1954 - Sportsman's Park - 4th inning, off Carl Erskine (Dodgers)
June 22, 1955 - Sportsman's Park - 8th inning, off Robin Roberts (Phillies)
June 27, 1957 - Sportsman's Park - 2nd inning, off Jack Sanford (Phillies)
July 4, 1961 - Sportsman's Park - 1st inning, off Don Ferrarese (Phillies)
Musial picked on the Phillies a lot.
In the 1955 game he homered twice. In the June 1954, 1955, and 1957 games he homered in his first at bat.
Since Musial hit 177 triples and 475 home runs in his career, I'm sure he did both in more games than just these 6. However, 5 games in 10 years highlights how difficult, and rare, this is to do.
Announcements and some trivia
First let's get to the announcements. And fun with type color.
Lou Brock talked about efforts MLB is making to combat hunger, in partnership with Bank of America. BofA created 'Hits for Hunger'; during the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Bank of America will donate $5000, for each batted ball that results in a safe hit, to the Food Bank of America. Obviously this effort will be talked about during the game.
Additionally, MLB and BofA have partnered with Feeding America, to raise more money for feeding the homeless. During the game, donations made to this organization will be matched by BofA. Donations can be made through the website if you're interested.
Next, the United Cardinal Bloggers are back, with another doozie of an event to close out the first half of 2009 with a flourish. For the doubleheader with Chicago on 12 July, the group will run a live blog courtesy of Cover It Live. You can join or monitor the discussion right here, as I will have the software on the site all that day. A number of the UCB members will be participating, and have the live blog enabled on their sites; also, the UCB home page will have it as well.
Finally, today the Cardinals defeated Chicago 8-3 in the series opener. St Louis has won the opener of all 3 games on this road trip, and eight of the 15 road series openers this season. I won't bore you with a recap.
However, in this game Albert Pujols' first 3 at bats were intentional walk, triple, and home run. His HR led off the fifth, so there was a fair chance he'd get two more at bats in the game. Which led one of my co-workers (fellow Cardinal fan) to wonder aloud, "Has Albert ever hit for the cycle?"
I did a little research, both on Albert's career and to find when the last Cardinal was to hit for the cycle.
Seventeen Cardinals have hit for the cycle. The first was Fred Dunlap, on May 24 1886, when the team was known as the St Louis Browns. The last was Mark Grudzielanek, four years ago (27 Apr 05). The list includes Hall of Famers (Stan Musial, Joe Medwick, Lou Brock, Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey, and Johnny Mize), future HOFs (Joe Torre), a should be HOF (Ken Boyer), and some guys who surprise you (Lankford? Mabry?). Only Boyer turned the trick twice as a Cardinal.
Albert's hit 351 home runs, but only 14 triples, confirming (a) a triple is hard do, even for the best hitter in the game, and (b) a triple remains the most exciting offensive play in sports. Keep your HR. Give me a guy rounding second, digging for third, as the throw heads to the cutoff man and there's obviously going to be a play at third. And even though Soriano assisted a little bit today, it's still a triple.
Some facts about AP's triples. The first three he hit were in St Louis, but he hasn't hit one at home since 2004. He's victimized the Marlins three times, the Padres twice, and now the Cubs twice. Cardinals are 7-7 in games where he hits a triple, but have won 6 of the last seven.
Before today, AP had tripled and homered in the same game twice. Oddly, both games occurred within 5 days of each other in 2004.
He hasn't hit for the cycle. It's one of the few individual things Musial did that AP hasn't.
Maybe tomorrow. Although I'll settle for a statement start from Brad Thompson.
Lou Brock talked about efforts MLB is making to combat hunger, in partnership with Bank of America. BofA created 'Hits for Hunger'; during the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Bank of America will donate $5000, for each batted ball that results in a safe hit, to the Food Bank of America. Obviously this effort will be talked about during the game.
Additionally, MLB and BofA have partnered with Feeding America, to raise more money for feeding the homeless. During the game, donations made to this organization will be matched by BofA. Donations can be made through the website if you're interested.
Next, the United Cardinal Bloggers are back, with another doozie of an event to close out the first half of 2009 with a flourish. For the doubleheader with Chicago on 12 July, the group will run a live blog courtesy of Cover It Live. You can join or monitor the discussion right here, as I will have the software on the site all that day. A number of the UCB members will be participating, and have the live blog enabled on their sites; also, the UCB home page will have it as well.
Finally, today the Cardinals defeated Chicago 8-3 in the series opener. St Louis has won the opener of all 3 games on this road trip, and eight of the 15 road series openers this season. I won't bore you with a recap.
However, in this game Albert Pujols' first 3 at bats were intentional walk, triple, and home run. His HR led off the fifth, so there was a fair chance he'd get two more at bats in the game. Which led one of my co-workers (fellow Cardinal fan) to wonder aloud, "Has Albert ever hit for the cycle?"
I did a little research, both on Albert's career and to find when the last Cardinal was to hit for the cycle.
Seventeen Cardinals have hit for the cycle. The first was Fred Dunlap, on May 24 1886, when the team was known as the St Louis Browns. The last was Mark Grudzielanek, four years ago (27 Apr 05). The list includes Hall of Famers (Stan Musial, Joe Medwick, Lou Brock, Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey, and Johnny Mize), future HOFs (Joe Torre), a should be HOF (Ken Boyer), and some guys who surprise you (Lankford? Mabry?). Only Boyer turned the trick twice as a Cardinal.
Albert's hit 351 home runs, but only 14 triples, confirming (a) a triple is hard do, even for the best hitter in the game, and (b) a triple remains the most exciting offensive play in sports. Keep your HR. Give me a guy rounding second, digging for third, as the throw heads to the cutoff man and there's obviously going to be a play at third. And even though Soriano assisted a little bit today, it's still a triple.
Some facts about AP's triples. The first three he hit were in St Louis, but he hasn't hit one at home since 2004. He's victimized the Marlins three times, the Padres twice, and now the Cubs twice. Cardinals are 7-7 in games where he hits a triple, but have won 6 of the last seven.
Before today, AP had tripled and homered in the same game twice. Oddly, both games occurred within 5 days of each other in 2004.
He hasn't hit for the cycle. It's one of the few individual things Musial did that AP hasn't.
Maybe tomorrow. Although I'll settle for a statement start from Brad Thompson.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Random Ramblings
I had some fun with yesterday's game in an after-game post, however, that 5-run eighth fired me up. It was exciting to see the team explode like that at the plate. I'm sure out there somewhere are pessimists who will bemoan the Cardinals scoring in only 2 of their last 18 innings in Milwaukee, as if there's some requirement to not only win but to score in more innings than the opponent. That's crazy. They got 4 in the 4th on Wednesday and 5 in the 8th yesterday, and with a little bit better pitching from Todd Wellemeyer they win both games. And since won/loss record is how we measure success in this game, winning is important. So who cares in how many innings runs are scored.
Back to the point. I don't get swept up in the moment much anymore with the Cardinals. But I did in that eighth inning. It took some self-control not to start yelling when Ludwick's ball left the yard. That was awesome.
Momentum from the 10-1 win over Cincinnati carried over into Milwaukee. Let's hope momentum from yesterday's win will carry over into Chicago.
Steroids. Rick Hummel interviewed Bud Selig, I guess yesterday, about a variety of topics, and steroids came up again, as it always seems to when Selig talks to the media. The excerpt from that interview is here. A couple of thoughts on the article.
1. Bud talks about how much progress has been made in steroids testing. Well, yes, there's been progress. But when you start from no program at all, any program you put in place is progress. So I don't think all the glad-handing baseball does on this is warranted. The problem was willfully ignored by baseball for years, then callously fought by the union. The problem will never go away, because from now on what used to be called 'career years' by players will be accompanied by the 'how did he do it' whispers (see the Ibanez controversy earlier this season). Selig should be reminded of that fact from time to time.
2. Selig talked about the higher standard baseball is held to, when compared to other sports. That is true. I don't believe there's a rational reason for it either. Lots of talking heads discuss which sport is America's Pastime, and at this stage most agree football holds the public's attention more so than baseball. However baseball is so exalted in our culture any event that tarnishes it is met with an emotional response. Think about how many different ways baseball terminology is used every day. Can't get the pretty girl at the bar to talk to you? You tell your friends "I struck out." Succeed beyond expectations on a work project? Your boss might tell you "You knocked that one out of the park, Larry." Boss changes direction on a project without warning? "Thanks for the curveball, George." And so on.
Baseball occupies this high place largely because of its rich history, because we can connect players from different eras by statistical analysis and argument. Rob Neyer posted his "all-time All Star team yesterday" for the NL, and will post his AL team today. Who he included on the team becomes largely irrelevant. The fact he created a team at all allows fans to argue about whether or not he's right, and to suggest players that should have been there instead. For instance, he left Bob Gibson off the team, a glaring omission in my opinion.
The basic rules of baseball haven't changed in over 100 years, making these kinds of arguments possible. The way football is played has changed so radically since the 1930s (see today's emphasis on the short passing game) the same arguments can't be made; what was an important statistic in days gone by might not be so today. Also, the schedule for football continues to grow - it was 12 games when I was a kid, and might become 17 now, which is a 42% growth in the number of games; that would be equivalent to adding two months to the baseball schedule. This schedule growth waters down the statistics. For example, when the season was 10 games, rushing for 1000 yards was quite the accomplishment; in a 16 game season, more guys can reach the mark because they have more opportunities to play.
Is it fair to hold baseball to a higher standard? No. But it is what it is. And Selig was right when he said it wasn't fair. Since he understands it, and has since 1971, he should have been much more proactive in protecting the game from the cheats and drug users. And must be more proactive going forward.
Because at some point, guys like me will no longer get excited about games like yesterday's. When that happens, the game is dead. We'll all be watching football.
Back to the point. I don't get swept up in the moment much anymore with the Cardinals. But I did in that eighth inning. It took some self-control not to start yelling when Ludwick's ball left the yard. That was awesome.
Momentum from the 10-1 win over Cincinnati carried over into Milwaukee. Let's hope momentum from yesterday's win will carry over into Chicago.
Steroids. Rick Hummel interviewed Bud Selig, I guess yesterday, about a variety of topics, and steroids came up again, as it always seems to when Selig talks to the media. The excerpt from that interview is here. A couple of thoughts on the article.
1. Bud talks about how much progress has been made in steroids testing. Well, yes, there's been progress. But when you start from no program at all, any program you put in place is progress. So I don't think all the glad-handing baseball does on this is warranted. The problem was willfully ignored by baseball for years, then callously fought by the union. The problem will never go away, because from now on what used to be called 'career years' by players will be accompanied by the 'how did he do it' whispers (see the Ibanez controversy earlier this season). Selig should be reminded of that fact from time to time.
2. Selig talked about the higher standard baseball is held to, when compared to other sports. That is true. I don't believe there's a rational reason for it either. Lots of talking heads discuss which sport is America's Pastime, and at this stage most agree football holds the public's attention more so than baseball. However baseball is so exalted in our culture any event that tarnishes it is met with an emotional response. Think about how many different ways baseball terminology is used every day. Can't get the pretty girl at the bar to talk to you? You tell your friends "I struck out." Succeed beyond expectations on a work project? Your boss might tell you "You knocked that one out of the park, Larry." Boss changes direction on a project without warning? "Thanks for the curveball, George." And so on.
Baseball occupies this high place largely because of its rich history, because we can connect players from different eras by statistical analysis and argument. Rob Neyer posted his "all-time All Star team yesterday" for the NL, and will post his AL team today. Who he included on the team becomes largely irrelevant. The fact he created a team at all allows fans to argue about whether or not he's right, and to suggest players that should have been there instead. For instance, he left Bob Gibson off the team, a glaring omission in my opinion.
The basic rules of baseball haven't changed in over 100 years, making these kinds of arguments possible. The way football is played has changed so radically since the 1930s (see today's emphasis on the short passing game) the same arguments can't be made; what was an important statistic in days gone by might not be so today. Also, the schedule for football continues to grow - it was 12 games when I was a kid, and might become 17 now, which is a 42% growth in the number of games; that would be equivalent to adding two months to the baseball schedule. This schedule growth waters down the statistics. For example, when the season was 10 games, rushing for 1000 yards was quite the accomplishment; in a 16 game season, more guys can reach the mark because they have more opportunities to play.
Is it fair to hold baseball to a higher standard? No. But it is what it is. And Selig was right when he said it wasn't fair. Since he understands it, and has since 1971, he should have been much more proactive in protecting the game from the cheats and drug users. And must be more proactive going forward.
Because at some point, guys like me will no longer get excited about games like yesterday's. When that happens, the game is dead. We'll all be watching football.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Series Preview - Cubs
The last series before the Break takes the Cardinals to the Obnoxious Confines for a four-game-in-three-day set with the Cubs. As with Milwaukee, this is their second trip into Chicago, although their first trip here didn’t go as well; they lost 2 of 3 in that April series. Mostly Well-Known Tidbit: Carlos Zambrano and Milton Bradley are crazy.
Current Snapshot:
Current Snapshot:
St Louis: 47-40, 1st place NL Central. Have won 4 of 6 on this trip.
Chicago: 41-41, 3rd place NL Central, 3.5 back. I can’t believe they’ve played 5 fewer games than the Cardinals. Some of that is due to rainouts, but most of it has to be the scarcity of off-days St Louis got through the first 3 months of the season. Chicago just dropped 2 of 3 to Atlanta, but they’ve won 4 of 7 on this homestand.
Pitching Matchups:
10 July – Carpenter vs Rich Harden. Harden got clobbered on the Nation’s Birthday, retiring just 6 Brewers while allowing 7 runs and losing 11-2. That was the shortest start of his career. His next worst start (in which he didn’t leave the game due to injury) was 21 Aug 03; he followed that with a 5 inning no decision in which he gave up only 1 run. Hopefully he’ll do worse tomorrow. Harden’s 2-1 career vs St Louis, but he’s never faced them at Wrigley. He’s also never opposed Carpenter.
Current Cardinals are hitting .158 combined against him, paced by Ankiel’s 1-3 (the one hit was a HR).
Carp beat Cincinnati 10-1 on 5 July, throwing 7 sharp and striking out 5. The win snapped a personal 2 game losing streak. He beat Chicago 2-1 on 20 May in St Louis. In his career he’s 8-3 in 15 starts against them; he’s made 9 of those starts at Wrigley, and he’s 5-2 there. His last start in Chicago was August of last year (loss); his last win was almost exactly 2 years before.
Current Cubs are hitting .322 against him; Soriano (12-31, 2 HR) and D. Lee (13-40) lead the position hitters.
11 July – Thompson vs Ted Lilly. Although the Cardinals beat him 3-0 on 19 May in St Louis, Lilly has won 6 of his 12 starts against the club (3 losses and 3 ND make up the rest). He’s been somewhat erratic this season, but he won his last start against Milwaukee and historically he’s pitched very well at Wrigley (winning at a .636 clip). Cardinals are hitting .197 combined against him, which shouldn’t surprise anyone (Lilly being left-handed and all). Stavinoha has 1 hit in three AB against him, but AP has had the most success (9-31, 2 HR).
If Brad Thompson hopes to hold on to his rotation spot, this would be a good time for a statement start. Most likely it will be his last otherwise (and might be his last anyway). Brad has lost his last 3 starts and is getting scorched. He’s also given up at least a HR in four straight games. He’s never started against the Cubs and is 0-1 lifetime in 15 games.
Derrick Lee, who is on fire right now, is also hitting .500 against Thompson. You can bet he has Saturday circled on his calendar with happy smiles and stars around the circle.
12 July Game 1– Lohse vs Randy ‘I’m not Kip’ Wells. In some ways Wells is the Cubs hottest pitcher. He’s won 4 straight and is allowing just over 2 runs a game. He strikes out a lot of batters, although he’s prone to the long ball (3 in his last 4 games). He’s thrown one scoreless inning career vs the Cardinals on 21 Sept of last year, retiring Schumaker, walking Ludwick, and getting Pujols to hit into a double play.
Kyle Lohse makes his first start since June 3. I like the thought process here, in that Lohse will start the day game and not the nationally televised night tilt against Zambrano. He faced the Cubs on 18 April, not figuring in the decision of a game the Cardinals lost 7-5. Based on the 5 week layoff, any trend analysis is a waste of time, so I’ll just say he’s 1-2 lifetime against the Cubs, but that lone win was on the corner of Clark and Addison (2004).
Current Cubs are hitting .371 against him. I won’t depress you with the details, but Ryan Theriot and Aramis Ramirez are hitting over .500 each.
12 July Game 2 – Wainwright vs Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano has not pitched well against the Cardinals recently, giving up at least 7 runs in each of his last 3 starts. This is refreshing, since he went almost 3 years (from 20 Apr 05 to 4 July 08) without losing to them. Zambrano faced the Cardinals on 17 Apr; he gave up 7 ER in 7 innings, but didn’t get the loss (in fact the Cubs won that game). He hasn’t won a game since 5 June (4 ND and 2 losses in the interim).
Ryan Ludwick loves hitting against him (6-8, 2 HR), and Pujols loves homering off him (5 in 66 plate appearances).
Wainwright has won 6 of his last 10 starts, and pitched well enough to win his 1 July start against San Francisco (ND). With apologies to Chris Carpenter, he is the Cardinal Ace right now. Adam has already faced the Cubs 3 times this year; the team has won all 3 (and he got credit for 2 of those wins). He’s faced the Cubs more than any other team in baseball, and is 3-3 against them; he’s 2-0 at Wrigley, although he hasn’t pitched particularly well there historically based on his 6.14 ERA. Cubs are hitting .269 against him, with Ramirez again leading the way (.400).
Prognosis. St Louis delivered the statement hoped for at Miller Park, picking up ground on Milwaukee. The Cubs currently border on dysfunctional, between Bradley, Soriano’s pouting about being benched, Fukudome’s second consecutive summer disappearing act at the plate, and their starting pitching woes. It won’t take much of a nudge to push this club over the cliff and psychologically out of the race. Based on the matchups, a split would be more than acceptable, but to get that nudge, 3 of four will probably be required.
Stay hot, fellas.
Go Cards!
Mike Exits Meeting, Uses the Force to Power Cardinal Victory
Fox Sports Midwest had a live blog as part of their game coverage today. This is the third or fourth time they've done it, and although some hiccups remain, it made watching the game at work much more entertaining than just following along via ESPN Gamecast or some such tool.
Anyway, as I am expected to do my job while in my cube (vice spend time on line surfing baseball websites, although I tend to do that anyway) I dialed into a 90 minute meeting on a major aspect of my project. Unfortunately (a) this meeting was being run from the East Coast, which meant (b) it ran through lunch and (c) the start of the Cardinal/Brewer game.
So when it finally concluded, the game had zoomed right along and was in the bottom of the seventh. I happened to past a fellow fan in the hallway, who asked me if the score was still 1-0. I didn't know, but asked who was ahead.
Milwaukee.
Parra throwing a shutout? Crap. THIS WILL NOT DO.
I hurried over to the FSMW live blog and got in just as the seventh ended. I like to think my presence soothed any anxiety in the lineup, as immediately Schu singled, Ryan tripled, LaRue walked, and AP doubled in the go-ahead run. Which led to this:
(in chat: Excellent. Now let's pour it on.)
Followed by Ludwick's 3-run HR.
And this:
(From Brian Walton, scout.com, cardinalnation.com: SMS_Mike, you called it.)
So by my heretofore untapped mystical power, I was able to inspire the team to victory.
Go me.
I had screen captures of this exchange, but the quality leaves something to be desired - the dialogue is unreadable as the jpeg is blown up. Just take my word for it, it was mystical.
Anyway, as I am expected to do my job while in my cube (vice spend time on line surfing baseball websites, although I tend to do that anyway) I dialed into a 90 minute meeting on a major aspect of my project. Unfortunately (a) this meeting was being run from the East Coast, which meant (b) it ran through lunch and (c) the start of the Cardinal/Brewer game.
So when it finally concluded, the game had zoomed right along and was in the bottom of the seventh. I happened to past a fellow fan in the hallway, who asked me if the score was still 1-0. I didn't know, but asked who was ahead.
Milwaukee.
Parra throwing a shutout? Crap. THIS WILL NOT DO.
I hurried over to the FSMW live blog and got in just as the seventh ended. I like to think my presence soothed any anxiety in the lineup, as immediately Schu singled, Ryan tripled, LaRue walked, and AP doubled in the go-ahead run. Which led to this:
(in chat: Excellent. Now let's pour it on.)
Followed by Ludwick's 3-run HR.
And this:
(From Brian Walton, scout.com, cardinalnation.com: SMS_Mike, you called it.)
So by my heretofore untapped mystical power, I was able to inspire the team to victory.
Go me.
I had screen captures of this exchange, but the quality leaves something to be desired - the dialogue is unreadable as the jpeg is blown up. Just take my word for it, it was mystical.
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