FAREWELL FOR A WHILE
This will be my last posting until next Sunday night at least, as I will soon be headed for Houston to root the Cards on to a sweep of the hated Astros. Let's hope that, if nothing else, we can get through three games without anybody getting hurt. Good news from the minors last night. Memphis and Palm Beach, the only teams in action, both won behind dominating pitching performances. Memphis got theirs from Jason Ryan, an independent-leaguer who briefly pitched for the Twins in 1999 and 2000. He actually had an ERA .23 below the league average in homer-happy 1999 before getting shelled in 2000. But Ryan is only 27 and at least provides some insurance. He pitched eight scoreless last night, allowing just four hits before Gabe Molina pitched a scoreless inning to seal the shutout. Palm Beach saw Justin Pope bounce back in a big way from his first start, as he didn't give up a single hit in six innings last night, picking up the win. Let's get it going this weekend Big Club!!!
Friday, April 11, 2003
UGH
That's about all you can say about yesterday's game. Another blown bullpen lead, a very clear indication that Albert Pujols is not healthy, and the loss of Lance Painter. Maybe we need a new trainer. I mean seriously, how do we get so many guys hurt? Painter's indefinite absence means that someone will be called up from Memphis, possibly another lefty, Kevin Ohme. Meanwhile Pujols was 0-5 and left eight runners stranded, a very un-Albert like day. Coors is just the Cardinals House of Horrors. I got pretty excited yesterday because after all the missed opportunities, it still looked like the Birds were going to pull out 2 of 3 in Coors. I should have known that something crazy would happen. The best part about it is that we don't have to back there again this year. Garrett Stephenson did a pretty good job yesterday, only failing to avoid the flaming bats of Larry Walker and Todd Helton. I don't want to take oo much stock in games at Coors Field, especially with the Cards terrible recent history there, aside from last year. I just hope that the Lance Painter injury doesn't cost us too much, because he looked really good to start the season. Ohme had a good spring and was doing well at Memphis, so hopefully he can come in and do the job. IZZY, WE NEED YOU!!!!
Tonight, the Cards head into Houston hoping to take 2 of three from the Stros. The most important thing is for the Cards not to get swept. Even at this very early juncture of the season, a sweep would put the Cards five games down from Houston. They should have the edge in the pitching matchup tonight, as Morris faces brian Moehler. And hopefully things go well on Saturday and Sunday becasue I'M GOING TO THE GAMES!!!!!! That's right, I've got my tickets and I'm headin' to Houston, for my first look at "The Juice Box," also known as Minute Maid Park. Hopefully, LaRussa's decision to pull Matty Mo after 103 pitches Saturday means he'll have a nice long start tonight and get the Cards back in the win column. Don't depsair Cardinal Nation, because while yes, we could easily be 7-1, we could also easily be 2-7, rainout included. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
That's about all you can say about yesterday's game. Another blown bullpen lead, a very clear indication that Albert Pujols is not healthy, and the loss of Lance Painter. Maybe we need a new trainer. I mean seriously, how do we get so many guys hurt? Painter's indefinite absence means that someone will be called up from Memphis, possibly another lefty, Kevin Ohme. Meanwhile Pujols was 0-5 and left eight runners stranded, a very un-Albert like day. Coors is just the Cardinals House of Horrors. I got pretty excited yesterday because after all the missed opportunities, it still looked like the Birds were going to pull out 2 of 3 in Coors. I should have known that something crazy would happen. The best part about it is that we don't have to back there again this year. Garrett Stephenson did a pretty good job yesterday, only failing to avoid the flaming bats of Larry Walker and Todd Helton. I don't want to take oo much stock in games at Coors Field, especially with the Cards terrible recent history there, aside from last year. I just hope that the Lance Painter injury doesn't cost us too much, because he looked really good to start the season. Ohme had a good spring and was doing well at Memphis, so hopefully he can come in and do the job. IZZY, WE NEED YOU!!!!
Tonight, the Cards head into Houston hoping to take 2 of three from the Stros. The most important thing is for the Cards not to get swept. Even at this very early juncture of the season, a sweep would put the Cards five games down from Houston. They should have the edge in the pitching matchup tonight, as Morris faces brian Moehler. And hopefully things go well on Saturday and Sunday becasue I'M GOING TO THE GAMES!!!!!! That's right, I've got my tickets and I'm headin' to Houston, for my first look at "The Juice Box," also known as Minute Maid Park. Hopefully, LaRussa's decision to pull Matty Mo after 103 pitches Saturday means he'll have a nice long start tonight and get the Cards back in the win column. Don't depsair Cardinal Nation, because while yes, we could easily be 7-1, we could also easily be 2-7, rainout included. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
OAKLAND AT TEXAS--Giambi, Damon, Isringhausen, Tejada, let 'em all go. If the A's continue to get pitching like they are, it won't matter. They have the Big Three, Zito, Mulder, and Hudson. Now they have Ted Lilly who could bloom into a star hurler as well. And Rich Harden, their top pitching prospect, just moved to AAA after pitching thirteen perfect innings at AA. Yes, by perfect I mean that he retired every batter he faced, all 39 of them. He could be in the rotation by midseason. Then there's the Rangers pitching staff, with Ismael Valdes as the ace, and Chan Ho Park well on his way to becoming the second-biggest free agent bust ever, behind Mike Hampton. The Rangers aren't really that bad of a team, they just play in a killer division and don't have enough starting pitching for it. They've improved their pen but it's not going to be enough. The A's are my early choice for World Series champs.
Jorge Julio (yes I have two Orioles on my fantasy team, don't laugh) gets the save!!!!
MONTREAL AT CHICAGO
The Cubs made three errors in the first inning. Those are the Cubs we know and love. Possibly the worst thing about Mark Grudzielanek and Alex Gonzalez starting the season off so hot is that it will keep Grudzielanek in the lineup and Gonzalez in the no. 2 spot longer. It's not just bad for me, who drafted Mark Bellhorn only to watch him go 1 for his first 20 in the seven spot, it's bad for Cubs fans because it'll hurt the team this year and maybe next year as well. But the Cubs pitching is pretty damn good in the top three spots, with Carlos Zambrano showing a lot of potential as the number four starter. I'd say they're like the lite version of the A's rotation except that Wood and Clement haven't shaken the stretches where they lose their command. If they continue to improve, watch out NL Central, as much as I hate to say it. But, it won't be this year, as they don't have enough offense to win the division. Prior is just plain nasty.
Jorge Julio (yes I have two Orioles on my fantasy team, don't laugh) gets the save!!!!
MONTREAL AT CHICAGO
The Cubs made three errors in the first inning. Those are the Cubs we know and love. Possibly the worst thing about Mark Grudzielanek and Alex Gonzalez starting the season off so hot is that it will keep Grudzielanek in the lineup and Gonzalez in the no. 2 spot longer. It's not just bad for me, who drafted Mark Bellhorn only to watch him go 1 for his first 20 in the seven spot, it's bad for Cubs fans because it'll hurt the team this year and maybe next year as well. But the Cubs pitching is pretty damn good in the top three spots, with Carlos Zambrano showing a lot of potential as the number four starter. I'd say they're like the lite version of the A's rotation except that Wood and Clement haven't shaken the stretches where they lose their command. If they continue to improve, watch out NL Central, as much as I hate to say it. But, it won't be this year, as they don't have enough offense to win the division. Prior is just plain nasty.
MILWAUKEE AT PITTSBURGH--The Pirates returned to Earth a little after that hot start, dropping consecutive games to the Brewers. Still, you've got to like the Pirates chances to at least be average. They patched up their outfield and their rotation, last year's two big weaknesses, with serviceable or decent players. A lot will depend on how much Kenny Lofton and Reggie Sanders still have in the tank. Sanders certainly got off to a hellacious start, hitting four quick homeruns. Jeff D' Amico and Jeff Suppan, if they can hold up and have decent seasons, can make this a .500 ballclub, but I think 77 or 78 wins is probably about right. The Brewers have now gotten back Geoff Jenkins, so that will give their offense a boost when they face the Cards next week. Jenkins hit a homerun in a game I saw at Busch Stadium that took less time to get out of the park than any other homerun I've ever seen. It was in his great 2000 year and I mean he crushed one off of Pat Hentgen. But, he's always hurt and swings at a lot of bad pitches, we'll see if he can rebound in 2003.
Yes!! Fantasy team member Jay Gibbons just hit a three-run dinger.
KANSAS CITY AT DETROIT--Well, the Royals are 6-0. Who woulda thunk it?? Why?? Mostly because Jeremy Affeldt is finally pitching pain-free and because Runelvys Hernandez appears to be a young stud. Also, playing your first six at home never hurts. With so many youngsters, the Royals will fade. The interesting question now is does this hot start change the plans for Carlos Beltran any? Beltran is now saying he would sign a long-term deal after the season if he is convinced the Royals are heading in the right direction. I think it may make more sense to trade him for some prospects and a major-league ready player. You know that with Scott Boras as his agent he's going to command a ridiculous amount of money. Rather than give it to him, I would make the deal and save the money to add a couple other players that could perhaps make this team a contender in 2005, maybe even next year. Maybe when Beltran comes back from the DL and the Royals regress to the mean, Beltran will be blamed for messing up team chemistry or something silly like that. Sorry, I just like to think of things like that when it pertains to Scott Bor-ASS clients. The Tigers are just plain bad. They have a chance to set some records for all-time offensive ineptness this year. And that doesn't even cover the pitching staff, made up mostly of guys who have barely pitched in the majors. I hope they get Jeremy Bonderman out of there soon. He could be a great pitcher and he doesn't need to get shelled while being rushed to the big leagues right now. Tigers will probably win about fifty games.
MINNESOTA AT NEW YORK--The Yankees are proof that when you are winning ballgames, team chemistry is worth about as much as David Wells book will be years from now: Squat. Not much "Bronx Zoo" talk going on now that the Yankees are 7-1. Not much talk about releasing David Wells now that he's pitching well. What the talk should be about is how overrated Jeter's contributions and "clubhouse presence" are to the team. The Yankees have a better winning percentage without him than with him since he's been in New York. Of course, he makes the team better than Erick Almonte does, but the Yankees have enough other good players, and Jeter is just so unmercifully overrated sometimes that I want to scream. Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman, who has a very good baseball blog that I will link to shortly, is approaching "panic mode" over his Twins, who are 3-5. I wouldn't say it's time to panic yet, but I thought the Twins got a lot of good luck last year, plus some incredible bullpen performances that aren't likely to be duplicated. Maybe if the Twins had traded Jacque Jones for an infield bat and let Mike Restovich and Bobby Kielty become regulars would I have more confidence in their ability to repeat. I drafted Kielty in my fantasy league, hoping that Ron Gardenhire, would "free him" as Aaron says on his site.
Yes!! Fantasy team member Jay Gibbons just hit a three-run dinger.
KANSAS CITY AT DETROIT--Well, the Royals are 6-0. Who woulda thunk it?? Why?? Mostly because Jeremy Affeldt is finally pitching pain-free and because Runelvys Hernandez appears to be a young stud. Also, playing your first six at home never hurts. With so many youngsters, the Royals will fade. The interesting question now is does this hot start change the plans for Carlos Beltran any? Beltran is now saying he would sign a long-term deal after the season if he is convinced the Royals are heading in the right direction. I think it may make more sense to trade him for some prospects and a major-league ready player. You know that with Scott Boras as his agent he's going to command a ridiculous amount of money. Rather than give it to him, I would make the deal and save the money to add a couple other players that could perhaps make this team a contender in 2005, maybe even next year. Maybe when Beltran comes back from the DL and the Royals regress to the mean, Beltran will be blamed for messing up team chemistry or something silly like that. Sorry, I just like to think of things like that when it pertains to Scott Bor-ASS clients. The Tigers are just plain bad. They have a chance to set some records for all-time offensive ineptness this year. And that doesn't even cover the pitching staff, made up mostly of guys who have barely pitched in the majors. I hope they get Jeremy Bonderman out of there soon. He could be a great pitcher and he doesn't need to get shelled while being rushed to the big leagues right now. Tigers will probably win about fifty games.
MINNESOTA AT NEW YORK--The Yankees are proof that when you are winning ballgames, team chemistry is worth about as much as David Wells book will be years from now: Squat. Not much "Bronx Zoo" talk going on now that the Yankees are 7-1. Not much talk about releasing David Wells now that he's pitching well. What the talk should be about is how overrated Jeter's contributions and "clubhouse presence" are to the team. The Yankees have a better winning percentage without him than with him since he's been in New York. Of course, he makes the team better than Erick Almonte does, but the Yankees have enough other good players, and Jeter is just so unmercifully overrated sometimes that I want to scream. Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman, who has a very good baseball blog that I will link to shortly, is approaching "panic mode" over his Twins, who are 3-5. I wouldn't say it's time to panic yet, but I thought the Twins got a lot of good luck last year, plus some incredible bullpen performances that aren't likely to be duplicated. Maybe if the Twins had traded Jacque Jones for an infield bat and let Mike Restovich and Bobby Kielty become regulars would I have more confidence in their ability to repeat. I drafted Kielty in my fantasy league, hoping that Ron Gardenhire, would "free him" as Aaron says on his site.
A Look at the Other Baseball Today
As we wait for the Cards and Rockies to battle for the rubber game today, I thought I'd see what's going on around the league.
BALTIMORE AT TAMPA BAY--The O's are off to another poor start. This is the third time in the last five years that they are 2-6 after eight games. They don't have hitting or pitching. In fact, Baltimore might be bad enough that Tampa Bay overtakes them this year. Lou Pinella has made some changes, there's no doubt about that. And the D-Rays acquisition of some bargain-basement vets like Damion Easley, Terry Shumpert, and Al Levine could help them to their best record as a franchise and give them some momentum for 2004. Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford are two exciting young players. Baldelli has about as much speed as any one I've ever seen on the diamond. I saw him get three infield hits in one game. I mean you have no time to waste if this kid hits a grounder. Aubrey Huff is good major-league hitter and Travis Lee has even hit well. Their pitching is still really bad so they will lose a lot of games, but 70 wins may not be out of the question. Oh, the Rays have also added All-Star fibber Al Martin, who simply couldn't believe he didn't get a bench spot with the Cards last year, and they may be getting set to sign John Rocker. Oh boy, John and Lou, that could be fun. I wonder what Cards fans were saying yesterday when Levin pitched three scoreless innings and got the win for Tampa Bay. Hopefully they were saying, "Oh well, it's just the Orioles."
As we wait for the Cards and Rockies to battle for the rubber game today, I thought I'd see what's going on around the league.
BALTIMORE AT TAMPA BAY--The O's are off to another poor start. This is the third time in the last five years that they are 2-6 after eight games. They don't have hitting or pitching. In fact, Baltimore might be bad enough that Tampa Bay overtakes them this year. Lou Pinella has made some changes, there's no doubt about that. And the D-Rays acquisition of some bargain-basement vets like Damion Easley, Terry Shumpert, and Al Levine could help them to their best record as a franchise and give them some momentum for 2004. Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford are two exciting young players. Baldelli has about as much speed as any one I've ever seen on the diamond. I saw him get three infield hits in one game. I mean you have no time to waste if this kid hits a grounder. Aubrey Huff is good major-league hitter and Travis Lee has even hit well. Their pitching is still really bad so they will lose a lot of games, but 70 wins may not be out of the question. Oh, the Rays have also added All-Star fibber Al Martin, who simply couldn't believe he didn't get a bench spot with the Cards last year, and they may be getting set to sign John Rocker. Oh boy, John and Lou, that could be fun. I wonder what Cards fans were saying yesterday when Levin pitched three scoreless innings and got the win for Tampa Bay. Hopefully they were saying, "Oh well, it's just the Orioles."
CARDS FALL 9-4
Brett Tomko got rocked early and the Cards lost 9-4 in a game that hopefully should provide some incentive to win today. I don't know what the deal is with Clint Hurdle, the former Cardinals prospect and current Colorado manager, maybe he thinks the St. Louis organization is responsible for him being a total bust as a baseball player, but he's been pretty much a jackass in this series. He's been ejected in both games, last night it was after Nelson Cruz hit his second batter of the night. The first one was a plunking of Jim Edmonds in the first innning that was clearly intentional, the second was Tino Martinez in the sixth inning. Brett Tomko did not throw at Todd Helton, the seemingly obvious retaliation candidate, with a man on first and one out in the bottom of the first. Helton ended up doubling in a run and the Rockies would score four in the frame. The next time Helton was up though, Tomko threw behind him, prompting a warning of both benches.
All in all, tempers apparently weren't flaring too much at this point, I don't know for sure because I wasn't able to watch it on TV. But Preston Wilson did do something that pissed the Cards off in the 8th when he stole third base with two outs and the Rockies up 9-4. I agree it was a bush-league move, but that's the kind of player Wilson is, as I said yesterday. Yes, I know, five runs isn't that many in Coors, but the Cards had already taken Edmonds and Pujols out of the game, and it's not like Wilson isn't going to score on any kind of hit that goes to the outfield. The Rockies of course thought it was perfectly fine what Wilson did. We'll see if there's any retaliation today.
The only thing I'l say about this game since I didn't see it and since there was little suspense in the actual game, is that Tomko gets at least another small mulligan since he was at Coors and facing some hot hitters. But he really needs to ratchet it up for his next start, which will come against the Brewers. 14 runs in 12 innings, even if five were unearned, is not good. The big inning has been what has hurt Tomko so far. Two 5-run innings and a 4-run inning mixed in with 9 scoreless innings. He's got to do a better job managing that.
I suppose I'll talk about some non-Cardinals related baseball today since the game last night was kind of a bore, but for now I'm just goign to give a short minor league report. Jimmy Journell rebounded from his first outing with a dominant performance yesterday. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and walking two while striking out 8 against the Iowa Cubs. Memphis had to rally for a 3-2 victory after Iowa scored two off of Matt Duff in the 8th. The Redbirds are 3-4. High-A Palm Beach continues to struggle, dropping to 2-5 last night as they were one-hit by Vero Beach (Dodgers). Chris Narveson pitched Tuesday and wasn't as effective as his first outing. Narveson gave up four runs in four innings. Last night, Blake Williams turned in a strong performance over five innings, allowing two runs on four hits. The Peoria Chiefs continue to be red-hot. Blake Hawksworth was dominant once again last night, pitching seven innings and allowing only one hit while striking out eight as he won for the second time in as many starts. 21-year old Dominican righthander Miguel Martinez has also had two quality starts, so far allowing just two runs in 11 1/3 innings while fanning 11 and walking five. Travis Hanson and Terry Evans continue to tear it up at the plate. The pair are a combined 27-57 at the plate, with ten doubles, three homers, and 23 RBI between the two of them.
Brett Tomko got rocked early and the Cards lost 9-4 in a game that hopefully should provide some incentive to win today. I don't know what the deal is with Clint Hurdle, the former Cardinals prospect and current Colorado manager, maybe he thinks the St. Louis organization is responsible for him being a total bust as a baseball player, but he's been pretty much a jackass in this series. He's been ejected in both games, last night it was after Nelson Cruz hit his second batter of the night. The first one was a plunking of Jim Edmonds in the first innning that was clearly intentional, the second was Tino Martinez in the sixth inning. Brett Tomko did not throw at Todd Helton, the seemingly obvious retaliation candidate, with a man on first and one out in the bottom of the first. Helton ended up doubling in a run and the Rockies would score four in the frame. The next time Helton was up though, Tomko threw behind him, prompting a warning of both benches.
All in all, tempers apparently weren't flaring too much at this point, I don't know for sure because I wasn't able to watch it on TV. But Preston Wilson did do something that pissed the Cards off in the 8th when he stole third base with two outs and the Rockies up 9-4. I agree it was a bush-league move, but that's the kind of player Wilson is, as I said yesterday. Yes, I know, five runs isn't that many in Coors, but the Cards had already taken Edmonds and Pujols out of the game, and it's not like Wilson isn't going to score on any kind of hit that goes to the outfield. The Rockies of course thought it was perfectly fine what Wilson did. We'll see if there's any retaliation today.
The only thing I'l say about this game since I didn't see it and since there was little suspense in the actual game, is that Tomko gets at least another small mulligan since he was at Coors and facing some hot hitters. But he really needs to ratchet it up for his next start, which will come against the Brewers. 14 runs in 12 innings, even if five were unearned, is not good. The big inning has been what has hurt Tomko so far. Two 5-run innings and a 4-run inning mixed in with 9 scoreless innings. He's got to do a better job managing that.
I suppose I'll talk about some non-Cardinals related baseball today since the game last night was kind of a bore, but for now I'm just goign to give a short minor league report. Jimmy Journell rebounded from his first outing with a dominant performance yesterday. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and walking two while striking out 8 against the Iowa Cubs. Memphis had to rally for a 3-2 victory after Iowa scored two off of Matt Duff in the 8th. The Redbirds are 3-4. High-A Palm Beach continues to struggle, dropping to 2-5 last night as they were one-hit by Vero Beach (Dodgers). Chris Narveson pitched Tuesday and wasn't as effective as his first outing. Narveson gave up four runs in four innings. Last night, Blake Williams turned in a strong performance over five innings, allowing two runs on four hits. The Peoria Chiefs continue to be red-hot. Blake Hawksworth was dominant once again last night, pitching seven innings and allowing only one hit while striking out eight as he won for the second time in as many starts. 21-year old Dominican righthander Miguel Martinez has also had two quality starts, so far allowing just two runs in 11 1/3 innings while fanning 11 and walking five. Travis Hanson and Terry Evans continue to tear it up at the plate. The pair are a combined 27-57 at the plate, with ten doubles, three homers, and 23 RBI between the two of them.
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
CORRECTION:
I must have pulled it out of thin air when I said that Mike Crudale was hit in the toe by a batted ball. Maybe I just figured there was no way he could break his toe running from his bathroom to answer the phone at his apartment, which is apparently what happened. Hearing that story made lots of memories of myself running to answer the phone from the bathroom come flooding back, and as silly (and disgusting) as many of those pictures may have been, I can only imagine the larger amount of silliness (and possibly disgustingness) that breaking a toe in the process may have caused. Can you imagine hopping around cussing with your pants down while holding a phone up to your face? Hopefully for Mike, he was the only one home. Anyway, the original prognosis is 14-17 days, which is too bad. Rotoworld seems to think that Crudale will be recalled soon after he comes back. One thing I would say is that as of right now, Kiko Calero is a heavy favorite to be sent to Memphis once Izzy returns from the DL, given the way Eldred pitched last night, and his status as a "veteran". Izzy threw 25 pitches last night and reported his shoulder as being "cranky". This may not slow his comeback, but the Cards are clearly going to be very careful in the way they use him. I wouldn't expect a lot of appearances on consecutive days until the summertime.
In other news, The Cards elected to pitch Brett Tomko on regular rest, giving Garrett Stephenson two extra days off, and also giving me another chance to test my theory about Stephenson pitching better during the day. I know it is not a career trend, because I saw in the media notes before his first start that it wasn't, but I think Tony is trying to keep Stepehenson pitching day games when he can, a la Matt Morris in 2001. I also like this move because Tomko is more likely to go deep into the game, which is something the Cards desperately need today after last night's game. Last night's game clearly works in the Cards favor the rest of the series because they have guys in the bullpen who have logged more seasonal innings in their careers, but more importantly because Colorado is starting Nelson Cruz, who is a career reliever that will probably go no more than five innings tonight, meaning the Rockies will have to use up their bullpen again. I would expect we'll see Fassero and Springer tonight, maybe even Kline again. I'm assuming Pujols will play since he was taken out early last night, and I'm sure Edmonds will sit either tonight or tomorrow, having played all thirteen innings last night. Remember Cards fans, every win we get right now is huge because of how beaten up the team is. Another reason why last night's win was so sweet.
I took a quick look at the Minor League statsheets over at BP and saw not surprisingly that the Cards had no hitters in the Top 10 in Runs Above Replacement for a Position (RARP) in AAA or AA. Shaun Boyd was the lone representative for Palm Beach, in tenth as we speak. But at Peoria there were four players in the Top 10 (Peoria won again last night and is 6-0 now by the way). In addition to John Santor, Travis Hanson, and Terry Evans, Matt Lemanczyk was in there too. He is 6 for 11 with six singles and already four walks, comprising part of the outfield along with Evans and another top organizational prospect, the speedy 22-year old Reid Gorecki.
I must have pulled it out of thin air when I said that Mike Crudale was hit in the toe by a batted ball. Maybe I just figured there was no way he could break his toe running from his bathroom to answer the phone at his apartment, which is apparently what happened. Hearing that story made lots of memories of myself running to answer the phone from the bathroom come flooding back, and as silly (and disgusting) as many of those pictures may have been, I can only imagine the larger amount of silliness (and possibly disgustingness) that breaking a toe in the process may have caused. Can you imagine hopping around cussing with your pants down while holding a phone up to your face? Hopefully for Mike, he was the only one home. Anyway, the original prognosis is 14-17 days, which is too bad. Rotoworld seems to think that Crudale will be recalled soon after he comes back. One thing I would say is that as of right now, Kiko Calero is a heavy favorite to be sent to Memphis once Izzy returns from the DL, given the way Eldred pitched last night, and his status as a "veteran". Izzy threw 25 pitches last night and reported his shoulder as being "cranky". This may not slow his comeback, but the Cards are clearly going to be very careful in the way they use him. I wouldn't expect a lot of appearances on consecutive days until the summertime.
In other news, The Cards elected to pitch Brett Tomko on regular rest, giving Garrett Stephenson two extra days off, and also giving me another chance to test my theory about Stephenson pitching better during the day. I know it is not a career trend, because I saw in the media notes before his first start that it wasn't, but I think Tony is trying to keep Stepehenson pitching day games when he can, a la Matt Morris in 2001. I also like this move because Tomko is more likely to go deep into the game, which is something the Cards desperately need today after last night's game. Last night's game clearly works in the Cards favor the rest of the series because they have guys in the bullpen who have logged more seasonal innings in their careers, but more importantly because Colorado is starting Nelson Cruz, who is a career reliever that will probably go no more than five innings tonight, meaning the Rockies will have to use up their bullpen again. I would expect we'll see Fassero and Springer tonight, maybe even Kline again. I'm assuming Pujols will play since he was taken out early last night, and I'm sure Edmonds will sit either tonight or tomorrow, having played all thirteen innings last night. Remember Cards fans, every win we get right now is huge because of how beaten up the team is. Another reason why last night's win was so sweet.
I took a quick look at the Minor League statsheets over at BP and saw not surprisingly that the Cards had no hitters in the Top 10 in Runs Above Replacement for a Position (RARP) in AAA or AA. Shaun Boyd was the lone representative for Palm Beach, in tenth as we speak. But at Peoria there were four players in the Top 10 (Peoria won again last night and is 6-0 now by the way). In addition to John Santor, Travis Hanson, and Terry Evans, Matt Lemanczyk was in there too. He is 6 for 11 with six singles and already four walks, comprising part of the outfield along with Evans and another top organizational prospect, the speedy 22-year old Reid Gorecki.
TAPPING THE ROCKIES
Wow. So much for getting a good night's sleep last night. It was a marathon in every sense of the word, a game that the Cards appeared to have lost on several different occasions. And that was before Cal Eldred, he of the 135.00 ERA came into the game. Simply too much happened to recap the entire wild affair, so I'll just give my comments about the game in chronological order:
I read some message board comments that Simontacchi had less command than he ever has had before, and he was clearly a little off in that department. But those who actually watched the game can tell you that one of the main reasons it lasted so long and contained so many runs was because of the very small strike zone that Daryl Cousins stuck to the entire night. He was consistent with it, but consistently tiny with his zone. I mean he was not giving either corner. If it wasn't right down the middle, it wasn't a strike. I knew after the first couple batters that Simo was not going to have a good night. He makes his living on coming inside and when that pitch was being called a ball, he was going to get hit, simple as that, and he did. It didn't help that he had two gimpy outfielders and another poor outfielder in Eduardo Perez patrolling the vast expanses of Coors. Pujols muffed a ball, and Perez muffed two that were barely moving, though only one of his was ruled an error. Simo saved himself by getting a double play and a strikeout from Preston Wilson, whom I wouldn't mind see take a fastball right in the gut. Hey Preston, you're not that good, so quit acting like you are. He might have suffered fewer runs if Todd Helton hadn't been completely on fire and laced a double off a good pitch by lance Pinter, who releived Simo in the fourth. Either way, Simo looked rusty and needs to get it back together because he's facing Oswalt on Sunday.
Speaking of Lance Painter, he looks great. He allowed only an unearned run, and looks to have better velocity and movement than I have ever seen him with. If he keeps it up, he could become the second lefty option in the pen, since Jeff Fassero is looking more like the 2002 Cubs Fassero than the 2002 Cards version. Of course, the last six batters Fassero has faced have been Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman, Jeff Kent, Richard Hidalgo, Todd Helton, and Larry Walker, so I need to cut him a little bit of a break. Fassero gave up back-to back singles in the sixth and then Kiko Calero got rocked, allowing bith inherited runners to score, pus three of his own. He didn't look ready to pitch when he got out there. Charles Johnson, who had been batting about .100 coming into the game, hot a bombastic drive into the left-field stands off of Kiko. What had been a 7-6 lead became an 11-7 deficit before Calero settled down and got three outs.
Up until this point there had been just a lot of Jim Edmonds. He had a two-run double in the first and a three-run dong in the fifth. When he is on, he is unbelievable. He finished the night 4-6 with 5 RBI, adding a double which started the Cards five run seventh inning that briefly gave them the lead back at 12-11. He tied a club record with 7 extra base hits in two games. (four doubles and three homers.) Jimmy Jack is currently hitting near .600 with 3 homers and 9 RBI. In that seventh inning it was a combination of Justin Speier wildness and a clutch double by Fernando Vina that put the Cards back in the lead. Speier hit Perez with the bases loaded, and then walked Matheny to score another run. Vina then greeted sidewinding Rule 5 lefty Javier Lopez with a two-run double lined off the wall in right that would have scored Matheny from first had it not been hit so hard. I know there's only been six games, but Mike Matheny is 13-26 and his approach at the plate looks waaaayyyyy better. More on Mike later.
Yes the Cards could not hold the lead. Hermanson came in to pitch the seventh and did manage to retire the first batter, but then gave up a laser beam homerun to Helton which tied it at 12 before retiring the next two batters and pitching a scoreless eighth. The longer the season goes on, the more I expect from Hermy, because I think he'll adjust to the relief style of pitching and warming up, and his arm looks great. He's throwing the ball well, it's just a case of focusing on the batter and his pitches right from the get-go.
When LaRussa pinch hit for Hermanson with Wilson Delgado, who promptly popped up the first pitch, I began to think that we were going to be in really big trouble if this game kept going. We had Springer, but we would have to bring in Kline to pitch to Helton and Walker, and that left only Eldred if the game kept going. Hermanson had got a double-play ball in the eighth that allowed Todd Jones to stay in an extra-inning, and after Springer gave up a two-out single to Payton and walked Helton, Kline was already into the game in the ninth inning. It looked for a second like none of it was going to matter, as Walker lined a single to right, but Eduardo Perez made a scoop and throw to home that he could probably never duplicate again if he tried a thousand times and Mike Matheny blocked Payton off the plate beautifully. The runner was cut down and we went to extra innings.
Kerry Robinson was quoted in the Post-Dispatch as saying that he believed there were a lot of teams in the majors that he could start for. Kerry.....YOU'RE WRONG. He showed a perfect example of why last night. He was inserted into the game to replace pujols in the field so Albert could rest his hammy. In 2 AB's he grounded out and struck out. The first time up he grounded out weakly without even looking at a pitch. The second time he swung and missed at a pitch in the dirt on the first offering and ended up K'ing on another pitcher's pitch. He has no plate discipline and no power. Who the hell could he start for? Maybe the D-Rays or the Brewers? It really annoys me when crap players like Robinson think they're good (Jim Parque is another example, nice ERA Jim).
Kliner got another DP in the 10th and this one allowed Jose Jimenez to stay in and pitch another inning. Rolen hit a 420-foot fly out off of in the 11th. In the 11th, it really finally looked like it was over. I kept saying to myself, "prolonging the agony, prolonging the agony." In Kline's third inning of work, Gabe Kapler led off with a single and an error by Perez, who somehow had the ball bounce off of his glove as it came toward him, moved him to second. Chris Stynes tried to bunt Kapler to third and bunted it right back to Kline, but he threw high to third, leaving the winning run ninety feet away with no one out. But give credit to Kliner, he got Payton to pop up, and then after walking Helton, got Larry Walker to hit into a 1-2-3 double play, sending us to the 12th.
At this time I still figured we weren't going to win. As Eli Marrero came up to pinch hit in the 12th, I yelled at the TV, start warming up now Eldred, get good and loose!!!" Well, he must have, because after Cards went down in the top of the inning, Eldred came in, the last option left in the bullpen, and he looked like a different pitcher. Whereas in his first two appearances he looked like he was throwing batting practice, this time he came out throwing much, much better. His veleocity was up in the 90's, his pithces were moving, particularly his slider, and he cruised through the 12th.
Who would think that Mike Matheny would have been such an importnat part of the offense the first week of the season? After Rolen worked a leadoff walk, Tino struck out on slow stuff. Tino simply is over-the-hill. I can't look at it any other way. His bat still looks slow and weak and the only time he hits the ball with authority is when he knows the pitchers coming to him with the fastball. He needs to adopt Rolen's patient approach at the plate in an attempt to get more fastballs thrown to him. If he doesn't, Rolen may set a career high in walks this year. Perez followed Tino, and after having looked foolish his last couple of AB's, he finally got a single through the infield. This brought up Matheny who drove a hanger to deep left. Kapler jumped and made a terrifc catch, but there was too much impact, and he lost the ball out of his glove and over the fence, much to his shock and dismay. Eldred looked real good again in the 13th, striking out Stynes to end the game when he couldn't check his swing on a diving slider.
It was a very enjoyable win, where LaRussa showed the managing mastery he is capable of, making all the right bullpen moves. Cards announcer Al Hrabosky also looked pretty smart, as he had repeatedly said during the broadcast in the late innings that a veteran like Cal Eldred could very well come in as the last option and did deep and pitch very well. I don't know if it was the extra warming up time, or if Eldred just pulled it back together last night, but he looked real strong, and he made me look like a douchbag for saying we should've released him after his first two appearances. Guess that's why I'm typing on the internet and not in the front office. Whew, okay I'll post more in a bit but I need a break.
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
ATTENTION, ATTENTION!!!!
I just heard my first "Garrett Anderson is underrated" line of the year from a Mariners announcer. HA!! HA!! Actually, he is rated about right, but he becomes OVERRATED because all announcers ever talk about is how underrated he is. We got the standard line about he is always near the top of the league in total hits, code for he never walks. Okay he just got a double. Way to go Garrett, but you're not underrated.
I just heard my first "Garrett Anderson is underrated" line of the year from a Mariners announcer. HA!! HA!! Actually, he is rated about right, but he becomes OVERRATED because all announcers ever talk about is how underrated he is. We got the standard line about he is always near the top of the league in total hits, code for he never walks. Okay he just got a double. Way to go Garrett, but you're not underrated.
One Week Done
So what can a small sampling of the regular season tell us about what's going to happen over 162 games? Not a lot. The Royals, yes the Royals are undefeated. The Pirates are 5-1. Greg Maddux is 0-2. Barry Bonds is hitting .200. These things will not last, but there are some observations to be made, like the Reds are done. This is something new because while we started the season knowing that many teams had no shot at contending, the Reds were not one of them. In fact, it became a very trendy pick to have the Reds finishing high in the NL Central, buoyed by a comeback season from Griffey. I don't know how people got it into their heads that Griffey was going to have a healthy and monster-productive season. But he hit three homers in an exhibition game and there's Peter Gammons boasting that Griffey will hit fifty homers and I just never saw it. Even all the novice baseball analysts in my fantasy league said that Griffey was a great pick for the guy who took him. I wasn't convinced, and sure enough, it happened again. Now the Reds are without their star again, in a ballpark that is going to beat their pitching staff into the ground. Jimmy Haynes is starting to show that last season was a fluke, and Jimmy Anderson looked like his old self after a pretty decent spring, getting spanked by his old teammates last week.
Suddenly there are two teams with absolutely no shot to do anything in the division (The other being the Brewers, who might have a tough time winning fifty games this season). The Pirates have started hot but even if they improve from last year no one expects them to really contend, meaning that what was advertised as a possible four-horse race in the preseason is probably down to three, with the 'Stros gaining some early season momentum by way of their two wins against the Cards this weekend. The Cubs will have to pitch incredibly well to stay in it, unless Mark Grudzielanek and Alex Gonzalez continue to hit all season like they did in Week 1, which is not likely. The key for the Cards and 'Stros will be their pitching health. I was going to write in here at some point that the Astros didn't scare me as much as they did some, because I thought the Cards were better offensively in the second tier of the lineup and the Astros are going with a very mediocre starter in Moehler and two guys who have had no success at the major league level yet. This weekend made me at least re-evaluate part of that statement. I still think the Cards have an unquestionably better offense when operating at full throttle. But Tim Redding could be a sleeper in the Astros rotation and their bullpen is as solid as any in the league. There are best-case and worst-case scenarios for both the Astros and Cards that could make the race shape up very differently, but I think the most likely scenario is that neither team will distance itself from the other and it will be a season-long battle, which I think is an advantage to the Cards because as the season goes on, their pitching has the chance to become more and more healthy, while the Astros have some young arms that could wear down. The difference may end up being a vital cog in one of the team's offenses getting hurt, but all players involved have good track records in the last several years. Again, this would be an advantage for the Cards just beause Kent and Bagwell, however unlikely it may be, would be the favorites to miss time just because of their age. And we saw what the Cardinal offense did with Edmonds and Pujols on the bench on Saturday.
In the minor leagues, Memphis is 2-3. Jimmy Journell had a rough go of it in his first outing, giving five runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked two. John Gall is off to a slow start at the plate, going 1 for his first 16. Ivanon Coffie, a corner infielder who played in some spring training games with the Cards, has hit two homers and a double in the first five contests. He'll be 26 in May and could be a September callup for some bench pop. Matt Duff, Gabe Molina, and Kevin Ohme have all pitched well so far and will be waiting in the wings if there are bullpen problems in St. Louis. But one piece of bad news came Monday when Mike Crudale suffered a broken toe from a batted ball. No word on how long he'll be out, but he'll obviously miss some games, and this will hurt any designs he had on getting back to St. Louis in a hurry. I'll update more on that situation when I have the chance.
The AA Tennessee Smokies are 3-2 after winning their first three games. Rick Ankiel has made two appearances, one more eventful than the other. He breezed through an inning in his first outing, retiring three straight batters, two by strikeout. In his second outing he walked the first batter on four pitches, then got a force out, then allowed a single. Then, he threw away a comebacker, allowing two unearned runs to score. The good news: He recovered and struck out the next two hitters. We'll continue to monitor his situation. The most impressive starter at AA the first time through was Dan Haren, who gave up one earned run in five innings, striking out six and walking one. B.R. Cook and Cheyenne Janke have pitched very well out of the bullpen after being starters most of their careers, hurling nine combined shutout innings in five appearances while allowing just three hits. Nick Stocks won his debut also. He gave up six runs in five innings, but three were unearned. He struck out seven and walked only one. Obviously, from all the unearned runs, it is apparent that Tennessee's defense stunk it up this first week, so we'll see if that has any effect on the pitchers as the season goes along. The hitting star for the Smokies on the young season has been a second baseman named Caonabo Cosme, who if nothing else, has a great name. The recently-turned 24-year old is 7 for 16 with three doubles and a homer to start the season.
The Palm Beach Cardinals have gotten off to a 2-3 start, dropping their last three. Chance Caple won his first start, but continued to show the wildness that plagued him in Spring Training. He somehow allowed no runs and two hits over five innings while walking seven batters and striking out one. Effectively wild, I guess, but Caple will have to show a return to his command in order to get a quick promotion. Blake Williams, freshly returned from Cincinnati (he was a Rule 5 pick) finished the game with four innings, allowing one run on four hits. Justin Pope was rocked for nine hits and six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings in a disappointing start to his year. The big stick for the first five games has been Shaun Boyd who is 9 for his first 20. Chris Duncan hit the team's first homer of the season. Expect the Palm Beach Cards hitting numbers to suffer from last year at Peoria as Roger Dean Stadium is a pitcher's park. Palm Beach made seven errors on Monday. Boyd, who comitted 40 errors a year ago, already has five this year. Yikes. J.D. Drew is on a rehab assignment at Palm Beach, and it was reported over the weekend that he could rejoin the active roster in St. Louis within two weeks. In five plate appearances, Drew has singled, been hit by pitch, walked twice, and made an out.
I said I would talk about Peoria even though I don't know as much about their players. Hey, these guys are 5-0. They have gotten plenty of hitting and good pitching to start the season. The pitcher to keep your eye on is Blake Hawksworth, a 2001 draft and follow who had a good debut in Rookie ball last season and finshed 2002 by throwing ten scoreless innings in short-season A ball. He was nasty in six innings in his opening start, permitting two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings while striking out six. He is one to watch as a potential special pitcher who could move up quickly. He is a righty who can throw in the low 90's and has an off-the-charts changeup. The big 20-year old righty Tyler Adamczyk was very good in his first start too, picking up a win while allowing two unearned runs over five innings. With the bat, Travis Hanson, a 22-year old former college shortstop has three doubles, a homer and 7 RBI so far. Outfielder Terry Evans is fighting to become one of the Cards more-noticed prospects, and has started 8-19 with a homer. John Santor is 7-17 with 7 singles to start the season. He busted out in the short-season A league last year. So we'll keep our eyes on what may be another good Peoria team.
So what can a small sampling of the regular season tell us about what's going to happen over 162 games? Not a lot. The Royals, yes the Royals are undefeated. The Pirates are 5-1. Greg Maddux is 0-2. Barry Bonds is hitting .200. These things will not last, but there are some observations to be made, like the Reds are done. This is something new because while we started the season knowing that many teams had no shot at contending, the Reds were not one of them. In fact, it became a very trendy pick to have the Reds finishing high in the NL Central, buoyed by a comeback season from Griffey. I don't know how people got it into their heads that Griffey was going to have a healthy and monster-productive season. But he hit three homers in an exhibition game and there's Peter Gammons boasting that Griffey will hit fifty homers and I just never saw it. Even all the novice baseball analysts in my fantasy league said that Griffey was a great pick for the guy who took him. I wasn't convinced, and sure enough, it happened again. Now the Reds are without their star again, in a ballpark that is going to beat their pitching staff into the ground. Jimmy Haynes is starting to show that last season was a fluke, and Jimmy Anderson looked like his old self after a pretty decent spring, getting spanked by his old teammates last week.
Suddenly there are two teams with absolutely no shot to do anything in the division (The other being the Brewers, who might have a tough time winning fifty games this season). The Pirates have started hot but even if they improve from last year no one expects them to really contend, meaning that what was advertised as a possible four-horse race in the preseason is probably down to three, with the 'Stros gaining some early season momentum by way of their two wins against the Cards this weekend. The Cubs will have to pitch incredibly well to stay in it, unless Mark Grudzielanek and Alex Gonzalez continue to hit all season like they did in Week 1, which is not likely. The key for the Cards and 'Stros will be their pitching health. I was going to write in here at some point that the Astros didn't scare me as much as they did some, because I thought the Cards were better offensively in the second tier of the lineup and the Astros are going with a very mediocre starter in Moehler and two guys who have had no success at the major league level yet. This weekend made me at least re-evaluate part of that statement. I still think the Cards have an unquestionably better offense when operating at full throttle. But Tim Redding could be a sleeper in the Astros rotation and their bullpen is as solid as any in the league. There are best-case and worst-case scenarios for both the Astros and Cards that could make the race shape up very differently, but I think the most likely scenario is that neither team will distance itself from the other and it will be a season-long battle, which I think is an advantage to the Cards because as the season goes on, their pitching has the chance to become more and more healthy, while the Astros have some young arms that could wear down. The difference may end up being a vital cog in one of the team's offenses getting hurt, but all players involved have good track records in the last several years. Again, this would be an advantage for the Cards just beause Kent and Bagwell, however unlikely it may be, would be the favorites to miss time just because of their age. And we saw what the Cardinal offense did with Edmonds and Pujols on the bench on Saturday.
In the minor leagues, Memphis is 2-3. Jimmy Journell had a rough go of it in his first outing, giving five runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked two. John Gall is off to a slow start at the plate, going 1 for his first 16. Ivanon Coffie, a corner infielder who played in some spring training games with the Cards, has hit two homers and a double in the first five contests. He'll be 26 in May and could be a September callup for some bench pop. Matt Duff, Gabe Molina, and Kevin Ohme have all pitched well so far and will be waiting in the wings if there are bullpen problems in St. Louis. But one piece of bad news came Monday when Mike Crudale suffered a broken toe from a batted ball. No word on how long he'll be out, but he'll obviously miss some games, and this will hurt any designs he had on getting back to St. Louis in a hurry. I'll update more on that situation when I have the chance.
The AA Tennessee Smokies are 3-2 after winning their first three games. Rick Ankiel has made two appearances, one more eventful than the other. He breezed through an inning in his first outing, retiring three straight batters, two by strikeout. In his second outing he walked the first batter on four pitches, then got a force out, then allowed a single. Then, he threw away a comebacker, allowing two unearned runs to score. The good news: He recovered and struck out the next two hitters. We'll continue to monitor his situation. The most impressive starter at AA the first time through was Dan Haren, who gave up one earned run in five innings, striking out six and walking one. B.R. Cook and Cheyenne Janke have pitched very well out of the bullpen after being starters most of their careers, hurling nine combined shutout innings in five appearances while allowing just three hits. Nick Stocks won his debut also. He gave up six runs in five innings, but three were unearned. He struck out seven and walked only one. Obviously, from all the unearned runs, it is apparent that Tennessee's defense stunk it up this first week, so we'll see if that has any effect on the pitchers as the season goes along. The hitting star for the Smokies on the young season has been a second baseman named Caonabo Cosme, who if nothing else, has a great name. The recently-turned 24-year old is 7 for 16 with three doubles and a homer to start the season.
The Palm Beach Cardinals have gotten off to a 2-3 start, dropping their last three. Chance Caple won his first start, but continued to show the wildness that plagued him in Spring Training. He somehow allowed no runs and two hits over five innings while walking seven batters and striking out one. Effectively wild, I guess, but Caple will have to show a return to his command in order to get a quick promotion. Blake Williams, freshly returned from Cincinnati (he was a Rule 5 pick) finished the game with four innings, allowing one run on four hits. Justin Pope was rocked for nine hits and six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings in a disappointing start to his year. The big stick for the first five games has been Shaun Boyd who is 9 for his first 20. Chris Duncan hit the team's first homer of the season. Expect the Palm Beach Cards hitting numbers to suffer from last year at Peoria as Roger Dean Stadium is a pitcher's park. Palm Beach made seven errors on Monday. Boyd, who comitted 40 errors a year ago, already has five this year. Yikes. J.D. Drew is on a rehab assignment at Palm Beach, and it was reported over the weekend that he could rejoin the active roster in St. Louis within two weeks. In five plate appearances, Drew has singled, been hit by pitch, walked twice, and made an out.
I said I would talk about Peoria even though I don't know as much about their players. Hey, these guys are 5-0. They have gotten plenty of hitting and good pitching to start the season. The pitcher to keep your eye on is Blake Hawksworth, a 2001 draft and follow who had a good debut in Rookie ball last season and finshed 2002 by throwing ten scoreless innings in short-season A ball. He was nasty in six innings in his opening start, permitting two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings while striking out six. He is one to watch as a potential special pitcher who could move up quickly. He is a righty who can throw in the low 90's and has an off-the-charts changeup. The big 20-year old righty Tyler Adamczyk was very good in his first start too, picking up a win while allowing two unearned runs over five innings. With the bat, Travis Hanson, a 22-year old former college shortstop has three doubles, a homer and 7 RBI so far. Outfielder Terry Evans is fighting to become one of the Cards more-noticed prospects, and has started 8-19 with a homer. John Santor is 7-17 with 7 singles to start the season. He busted out in the short-season A league last year. So we'll keep our eyes on what may be another good Peoria team.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
He was born in the summer, of his twenty......Okay, I have to sing John Denver every time I think about Colorado. That's where our heroes in red head to for a three game set starting tonight at 8:05 pm.
I'm in a slow recovery from Final Four weekend in New Orleans. Great game last night, and now that it's over, baseball officially rules my world until the NFL preview issues start coming out in August. From now until then, it's all baseball all the time. Jason Simontacchi, who had his first scheduled start rained out on Sunday, will take the ball against Aaron Cook tonight at Planet Coors. Coors seems like a really scary place to pitch for a guy who has so much trouble missing bats (Simo), and Cook threw 99 pitches in four innings last Wednesday, allowing eight hits and walking four, so we might see some offense tonight. The Cards managed to exercise the Coors Field demons last season, sweeping the series after losing eight of ten there in the two previous seasons combined.
A look back at the weekend.....
Well, things didn't look good from the start. Eli Marrero made a play usually reserved for Co-Rec softball when he completely muffed Craig Biggio's fly ball to open play on Friday night and the inning just got worse from there for Brett Tomko. Jeff Bagwell grounded a little dribbler away from the infield shift for an RBI single. Lance Berkman walked on a 3-2 pitch that looked like it might have been a strike. Finally, tired from throwing over thirty pitches in the inning already, Tomko gave up a grand slam to Brad Ausmus off the foul pole, making it 5-0 with all five runs unearned. The Cards chipped away thanks to Jim Edmonds continued Astro-Killing. Edmonds hitting against the Astros is one of the most dominant I have seen by one player against an opposing team, ever. He is now over .400 against them for his career with I believe 17 homers and 42 RBI since the beginning of the 2001 season. Friday night, he was 4-4 with two doubles, 2 homers, and 4 RBI before being pinch run for in the seventh. It was a thing of beauty. Edmonds second homer inched the Cards to 5-4, and Pujols followed that up with a mammoth shot to tie the game. From there it was a battle of bullpens, where the Astros have a clear advantage with Billy Wagner and Octavio Dotel. But the Cards hung tough. Lance Painter had an impressive inning and Kiko Calero and Steve Kline pitched two scoreless innings. Calero got Bagwell, Berkman, and Jeff Kent all in a row in his first inning of work.
The daily Tony LaRussa managing ability controversy came when the Cards got runners thrown out trying to steal in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings. I'm always one for being aggressive on the basepaths, and it is not easy to throw out three runners in three consecutive innings on the basepaths even if you're a gold glover like Brad Ausmus. Unfortunately it was night one of probably the best two-game stretch in Ausmus' career. He threw out Scott Rolen trying to get into scoring position with two outs in the tenth and Martinez at the plate, which certainly didn't upset me, given the improbability of Tino doing anything more than a weak single against a nasty lefty like Wagner. I was a little more upset at Eli getting thrown out in the eleventh with one out, particularly after Matheny singled then. But you have to look at it this way. If Ausmus doesn't make a good throw to get Eli, then the game is over after Matheny's hit. That's what aggressive baserunning can do for you. The one that everybody really seemed to have a problem with was the last one, the game-ender, where Pujols struck out on a 3-2 pitch in the 12th and Vina was thrown out at 3rd to end the game. Obviously, Tony had been burned by the double play twice earlier in the game, once with Rolen and once with Pujols, and he didn't want it to happen again. I was not opposed to this move in retrospect, though I think I was at the time, due to alcohol consumption (IT WAS FINAL FOUR WEEKEND!!). The odds are that Albert does not swing and miss in that situation. However, particularly with two strikes, the odds are increased that he hits into a twin killing. Basically, Tony 's moves just didn't work out, and that happens. Yes, it was Brad Ausmus who won the game for the Astros with a solo shot off Russ Springer, who has now given up homers to two terrible-hitting catchers.
Tony's move didn't work on Saturday either, but once again I don't think I'm against it. As I said earlier, this is a no-win situation for a manager. The heart of the order is coming up and Morris has thrown 103 pitches after throwing 106 five days earlier and it is early April. If he stays in and gives up the runs, now you hand him a loss unfairly, his pitch count is jacked up, and everyone' still bitching. It turned out that the goat title went to Jeff Fassero, who can hardly be despised for giving up a few hits to Jeff Bagwell and Jeff Kent, especially when the game might have ended had Rolen not thrown high to second for a force out that could have been a game-ending double play off the bat of Berkman. Fassero threw a mistake pitch to Richard Hidalgo, who tied the game with a ground-rule double, and then Dustin Hermanson came in and failed to retire the first batter, Brad "Johnny Bench" Ausmus, which I fear may become a pattern with him, and that was pretty much the game. The key fact here is that it is very very not cool when the manager does not have a single right-handed arm that he really trusts. The only lefty-righty advantage that did anything for the Cards that inning was Fassero turning Berkman around to the right side, his weaker side. But Calero and Springer had both pitched late that night before and you simply cannot bring Eldred into that situation. Hermanson was the only other alternative and it didn't seem that promising either, a thought confirmed when his fastball allowed Ausmus to drive in the go-ahead run. Morris' eight scoreless innings means that the Cards starting pitchers have given up one earned run in the last twenty-seven innings pitched. That's very encouraging. Now we depserately need Izzy back, and that looks like it will be happening within 10 days. Still, even though the first five games have for the most part been pretty good, it's tough to lose two to your biggest rival and competition, at home, and to have Brad Ausmus, a terrible hitter, win both games for the Astros. I know I'm sounding like a LaRussa sympathizer but I had no beefs with the hot topics of controversy this weekend. My two problems were 1.) If you know Edmonds isn't going to play the next day, why take him out in a tie game in the seventh inning? He can score from second on a hit. 2.) Why the hell is Miguel Cairo batting cleanup on Saturday? Who cares about where guys are normally hitting in the lineup? You have to make adjustments. Move up Rolen and Martinez and bat Cairo sixth. Wouldn't it have been nice to have Rolen up when Renteria was on third with one out? I didn't agree with Tony on that one.
Now the Cards are at Coors and health is a hot topic once again. Pujols has a minor groin pull, but thinks he is going to play. He should if at all possible, as he lit up Coors for three straight days last year. Edmonds needs to get in there too. The Cards are catching a break because the left-handed Denny's (Neagle and Stark) are both on the DL, meaning that Edmonds and the Cards won't have to face the dreaded "soft-tossing" lefty. Woody woke up one morning with what was described as a "crick in the neck" and it looks like he'll be pushed back to the Houston series, even though he says he doesn't want to miss a start. Well, I wouldn't want to either, not with a lame-ass excuse like that. What is it with baseball players some times? They find the best ways to injure themsleves, a la Jay Witasick's "Watermelon Trashbag Elbow" (hilarious injury name courtesy of Jim Rome). This mattress malady could be a good thing for the Cards, as Woody has pitched terribly at Coors and has had great success against Houston.
We'll discuss more baseball-related items, including Ken Griffey Jr.'s injury (and the Reds subsequent elimination from playoff contention), later.
He was born in the summer, of his twenty......Okay, I have to sing John Denver every time I think about Colorado. That's where our heroes in red head to for a three game set starting tonight at 8:05 pm.
I'm in a slow recovery from Final Four weekend in New Orleans. Great game last night, and now that it's over, baseball officially rules my world until the NFL preview issues start coming out in August. From now until then, it's all baseball all the time. Jason Simontacchi, who had his first scheduled start rained out on Sunday, will take the ball against Aaron Cook tonight at Planet Coors. Coors seems like a really scary place to pitch for a guy who has so much trouble missing bats (Simo), and Cook threw 99 pitches in four innings last Wednesday, allowing eight hits and walking four, so we might see some offense tonight. The Cards managed to exercise the Coors Field demons last season, sweeping the series after losing eight of ten there in the two previous seasons combined.
A look back at the weekend.....
Well, things didn't look good from the start. Eli Marrero made a play usually reserved for Co-Rec softball when he completely muffed Craig Biggio's fly ball to open play on Friday night and the inning just got worse from there for Brett Tomko. Jeff Bagwell grounded a little dribbler away from the infield shift for an RBI single. Lance Berkman walked on a 3-2 pitch that looked like it might have been a strike. Finally, tired from throwing over thirty pitches in the inning already, Tomko gave up a grand slam to Brad Ausmus off the foul pole, making it 5-0 with all five runs unearned. The Cards chipped away thanks to Jim Edmonds continued Astro-Killing. Edmonds hitting against the Astros is one of the most dominant I have seen by one player against an opposing team, ever. He is now over .400 against them for his career with I believe 17 homers and 42 RBI since the beginning of the 2001 season. Friday night, he was 4-4 with two doubles, 2 homers, and 4 RBI before being pinch run for in the seventh. It was a thing of beauty. Edmonds second homer inched the Cards to 5-4, and Pujols followed that up with a mammoth shot to tie the game. From there it was a battle of bullpens, where the Astros have a clear advantage with Billy Wagner and Octavio Dotel. But the Cards hung tough. Lance Painter had an impressive inning and Kiko Calero and Steve Kline pitched two scoreless innings. Calero got Bagwell, Berkman, and Jeff Kent all in a row in his first inning of work.
The daily Tony LaRussa managing ability controversy came when the Cards got runners thrown out trying to steal in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings. I'm always one for being aggressive on the basepaths, and it is not easy to throw out three runners in three consecutive innings on the basepaths even if you're a gold glover like Brad Ausmus. Unfortunately it was night one of probably the best two-game stretch in Ausmus' career. He threw out Scott Rolen trying to get into scoring position with two outs in the tenth and Martinez at the plate, which certainly didn't upset me, given the improbability of Tino doing anything more than a weak single against a nasty lefty like Wagner. I was a little more upset at Eli getting thrown out in the eleventh with one out, particularly after Matheny singled then. But you have to look at it this way. If Ausmus doesn't make a good throw to get Eli, then the game is over after Matheny's hit. That's what aggressive baserunning can do for you. The one that everybody really seemed to have a problem with was the last one, the game-ender, where Pujols struck out on a 3-2 pitch in the 12th and Vina was thrown out at 3rd to end the game. Obviously, Tony had been burned by the double play twice earlier in the game, once with Rolen and once with Pujols, and he didn't want it to happen again. I was not opposed to this move in retrospect, though I think I was at the time, due to alcohol consumption (IT WAS FINAL FOUR WEEKEND!!). The odds are that Albert does not swing and miss in that situation. However, particularly with two strikes, the odds are increased that he hits into a twin killing. Basically, Tony 's moves just didn't work out, and that happens. Yes, it was Brad Ausmus who won the game for the Astros with a solo shot off Russ Springer, who has now given up homers to two terrible-hitting catchers.
Tony's move didn't work on Saturday either, but once again I don't think I'm against it. As I said earlier, this is a no-win situation for a manager. The heart of the order is coming up and Morris has thrown 103 pitches after throwing 106 five days earlier and it is early April. If he stays in and gives up the runs, now you hand him a loss unfairly, his pitch count is jacked up, and everyone' still bitching. It turned out that the goat title went to Jeff Fassero, who can hardly be despised for giving up a few hits to Jeff Bagwell and Jeff Kent, especially when the game might have ended had Rolen not thrown high to second for a force out that could have been a game-ending double play off the bat of Berkman. Fassero threw a mistake pitch to Richard Hidalgo, who tied the game with a ground-rule double, and then Dustin Hermanson came in and failed to retire the first batter, Brad "Johnny Bench" Ausmus, which I fear may become a pattern with him, and that was pretty much the game. The key fact here is that it is very very not cool when the manager does not have a single right-handed arm that he really trusts. The only lefty-righty advantage that did anything for the Cards that inning was Fassero turning Berkman around to the right side, his weaker side. But Calero and Springer had both pitched late that night before and you simply cannot bring Eldred into that situation. Hermanson was the only other alternative and it didn't seem that promising either, a thought confirmed when his fastball allowed Ausmus to drive in the go-ahead run. Morris' eight scoreless innings means that the Cards starting pitchers have given up one earned run in the last twenty-seven innings pitched. That's very encouraging. Now we depserately need Izzy back, and that looks like it will be happening within 10 days. Still, even though the first five games have for the most part been pretty good, it's tough to lose two to your biggest rival and competition, at home, and to have Brad Ausmus, a terrible hitter, win both games for the Astros. I know I'm sounding like a LaRussa sympathizer but I had no beefs with the hot topics of controversy this weekend. My two problems were 1.) If you know Edmonds isn't going to play the next day, why take him out in a tie game in the seventh inning? He can score from second on a hit. 2.) Why the hell is Miguel Cairo batting cleanup on Saturday? Who cares about where guys are normally hitting in the lineup? You have to make adjustments. Move up Rolen and Martinez and bat Cairo sixth. Wouldn't it have been nice to have Rolen up when Renteria was on third with one out? I didn't agree with Tony on that one.
Now the Cards are at Coors and health is a hot topic once again. Pujols has a minor groin pull, but thinks he is going to play. He should if at all possible, as he lit up Coors for three straight days last year. Edmonds needs to get in there too. The Cards are catching a break because the left-handed Denny's (Neagle and Stark) are both on the DL, meaning that Edmonds and the Cards won't have to face the dreaded "soft-tossing" lefty. Woody woke up one morning with what was described as a "crick in the neck" and it looks like he'll be pushed back to the Houston series, even though he says he doesn't want to miss a start. Well, I wouldn't want to either, not with a lame-ass excuse like that. What is it with baseball players some times? They find the best ways to injure themsleves, a la Jay Witasick's "Watermelon Trashbag Elbow" (hilarious injury name courtesy of Jim Rome). This mattress malady could be a good thing for the Cards, as Woody has pitched terribly at Coors and has had great success against Houston.
We'll discuss more baseball-related items, including Ken Griffey Jr.'s injury (and the Reds subsequent elimination from playoff contention), later.
Sunday, April 06, 2003
WILD WEEKEND
Whoa, what a weekend it has been! I'm very psyched because my blog has gotten some attention in the last few days. I'm now linked on the Bird House, a great Cardinals site that I highly recommend. I've put up a link to it over there on the left. And I even got an e-mail from Mr. Carroll at Baseball Prospectus. I honestly wondered if anyone would ever read this little creation so to say I am excited would be an understatement.
However, what I am not so excited about is that the Cards lost a pair this weekend, both by one run, one in twelve innings and one after blowing a ninth-inning lead. Until the Izzinator gets back, I guess Cards fans should prepare themselves for more than their share of late-inning disappointments. Yesterday, LaRussa was screwed in either situation. Matty Mo had thrown 103 pitches and and been brilliant, but the heart of the order was coming up and it is April. Leave him in or take him out? I'll discuss what happened in detail later. I've got company here in New Orleans and so it'll probably be Tuesday before I do any full writings. Possibly the best news of the weekend besides Morris' dominating performance yesterday is the fact that today's game was rained out. I know that as a baseball fan I should never not want baseball to be played, but this rainout could conceivably be good for the Cards on a number of levels.
1. The Astros had already won the first two games of the series and had Roy Oswalt going today. A sweep at Busch, even in April, could have had some psychological impact. No disrespect to Jason Simontacchi, but it would have been a tough go today against Country Boy Roy.
2. The rainout gives the gimpy legs on the team, Marrero, Edmonds, Pujols, etc. two full days of rest, as tomorrow is an off day.
3. It's one fewer game the Cards have to play without Izzy, and I think we all know why that's important.
All right, I'll be back with more commentary on Tuesday. GO CARDS!!
Whoa, what a weekend it has been! I'm very psyched because my blog has gotten some attention in the last few days. I'm now linked on the Bird House, a great Cardinals site that I highly recommend. I've put up a link to it over there on the left. And I even got an e-mail from Mr. Carroll at Baseball Prospectus. I honestly wondered if anyone would ever read this little creation so to say I am excited would be an understatement.
However, what I am not so excited about is that the Cards lost a pair this weekend, both by one run, one in twelve innings and one after blowing a ninth-inning lead. Until the Izzinator gets back, I guess Cards fans should prepare themselves for more than their share of late-inning disappointments. Yesterday, LaRussa was screwed in either situation. Matty Mo had thrown 103 pitches and and been brilliant, but the heart of the order was coming up and it is April. Leave him in or take him out? I'll discuss what happened in detail later. I've got company here in New Orleans and so it'll probably be Tuesday before I do any full writings. Possibly the best news of the weekend besides Morris' dominating performance yesterday is the fact that today's game was rained out. I know that as a baseball fan I should never not want baseball to be played, but this rainout could conceivably be good for the Cards on a number of levels.
1. The Astros had already won the first two games of the series and had Roy Oswalt going today. A sweep at Busch, even in April, could have had some psychological impact. No disrespect to Jason Simontacchi, but it would have been a tough go today against Country Boy Roy.
2. The rainout gives the gimpy legs on the team, Marrero, Edmonds, Pujols, etc. two full days of rest, as tomorrow is an off day.
3. It's one fewer game the Cards have to play without Izzy, and I think we all know why that's important.
All right, I'll be back with more commentary on Tuesday. GO CARDS!!
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