THE MINORS
The Jimmy Journell Saga is getting ugly. He got shelled again last night, his ERA is over 5 and I wonder what the hell's going on. He hasn't had this kind of rough stretch at any other time in his pro career. Opponents are batting over .300 against him after six starts. It is only six starts, so it's too early to get too worried, but let's hope Journell gets it going. And let's hope he's not hurt again, although in a way it might be comforting if the reason he's getting shelled is because of some sort of nagging injury. The Memphis team is a ghastly 8-20, and they just have no offense. Jon Nunnally continues to tear it up. Other than that the only guy doing anything is Jason Bowers at shortstop, and he ain't exactly tearin' it up with his .324 OBA. Nerio Rodriguez continues to have good starts and provides a good insurance policy for the Cards. As I said, Mike Crudale is back. He's pitched in three games since retruning, pitching three separate one-inning stints and allowing one run. He has five K's and is yet to walk a man. A couple more good outings and he could be with the big club. Steve Stemle, who had gotten shelled in the Arizona Fall League, has pitched much better this year so far. He is 0-4 but has a 3.18 ERA and a K/BB rate of better than 3/1. He was one out away from a no-hitter a couple weeks ago.
The Tennessee Smokies are 17-9, having managed to avoid getting hit by any Rick Ankiel pitches. Ankiel is at it again, throwing wild pitches and walking lots of batters. He has 11 walks in 8.1 innings. The Cards have simply messed with this kid too much. I say let him start again. Nothing seems to work. The reason the Smokies are winning so much is because their pitching is superb. Dan Haren has been nothing but nastiness. He's 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA. Sound familiar. Yep, he has the exact same number of innings pitched and runs allowed as Woody Williams. He's showing Woody-like control too, as he has walked only three batters all season while striking out 26. The resurgence of Nick Stocks is very encouraging too. Stocks is finally showing what that arm can do. He has a 2.32 ERA through 31 innings with 27 K's and 6 BB. The Cards are also getting great bullpen work from Juan Figueroa and lefties Jason Pearson and Kevin Sprague. Rhett Parrott is pitching well as a starter after a slow beginning. He has a 32/5 K/BB ratio in 29 innings with a 3.10 ERA. Those are three hurlers showing some damn good stuff and GASP! they're doign it above A ball. Let's hope this keeps up, it could bode very well for the future. Offensively, Yadi Molina is batting .324. You're talking about the Cards starting catcher in 2005. John Nelson is finally getting it going a little bit, he had a couple hits last night, and Caonabo Cosme may be opening some eyes in the organization as he is batting .341 and slugging .495. However, 4 walks in 91 AB's is the opposite of good. Of course, when youre hitting .341......
Friday, May 02, 2003
JACKIN' JIMMY EDMONDS
Mmm-Kay, let's review, Jim Edmonds is a stud. I sung his praises before the season started and he was officially the best hitter in the National League for the month of April. He started off May right too, with a game-winning homer in the 10th to give the Cards a 6-5 victory and three-game sweep over the Mutts. The win and good feeling surrounding it obscured the fact that the bullpen is still walking on thin ice every time out. Steve Kline has turned into public enemy #1. He put out the fire in the seventh yeserday in releif of Brett Tomko, but he imploded in the eighth, giving up three runs, including a near-grand slam to Joe McEwing. Yep, that Joe McEwing. The result was that the Cards lost a 5-2 lead. Dustin Hermanson and Cal Eldred continued to pitch well, showing that the bullpen is not all shambles as many try to make it out to be. Eldred in particular, hasn't had a bad outing since his second appearance of the year, and Hermanson is starting to thrive in clutch situations, last Saturday excepted.
The worst part is Kline's comments to the media. "I'm done, I don't want to see a baseball for five months." or "Every time I go out there I think something bad's goign to happen." How can a reliever think like that? Relievers have to have the shortest memories of anyone. Kline's pitching and moping are getting tiresome. Part of it is Tony's insistence on throwing him against a bunch of righties. After Kline gets Vaughn to fly out in the eighth, he should be out. We have plenty of righties who can get shelled just as easily Tony, so if nothing else, at least look like you're playing the matchups. This is odd because TLR is usually a lefty-righty matchup guy to a fault. This bullpen saga is far from over and it remains to be seen what lies ahead. It should be interesting. The last bunch of games should've proven that three lefties simply isn't necessary at this time, and Kevin Ohme has been bombed since going back to Memphis, so I'm guessing that a call to Memphis for either Gabe Molina or Mike Crudale will come before the series starts with the Reds next Monday. Crudale is back from his injury and has made a couple of appearances in Memphis. I'm sure the Cards would love for him to show he's ready to go and the come up and dominate like he did last season. Tonight starts a three-game set with the Expos, who are pretty hot right now. They've been getting great starting pitching from household names like Zach Day and Claudio Vargas. Tomo Ohka, who busted out last year, goes tonight against Simo. I really will try to do a minor-league report later today, as well as talk about a couple other things.
Mmm-Kay, let's review, Jim Edmonds is a stud. I sung his praises before the season started and he was officially the best hitter in the National League for the month of April. He started off May right too, with a game-winning homer in the 10th to give the Cards a 6-5 victory and three-game sweep over the Mutts. The win and good feeling surrounding it obscured the fact that the bullpen is still walking on thin ice every time out. Steve Kline has turned into public enemy #1. He put out the fire in the seventh yeserday in releif of Brett Tomko, but he imploded in the eighth, giving up three runs, including a near-grand slam to Joe McEwing. Yep, that Joe McEwing. The result was that the Cards lost a 5-2 lead. Dustin Hermanson and Cal Eldred continued to pitch well, showing that the bullpen is not all shambles as many try to make it out to be. Eldred in particular, hasn't had a bad outing since his second appearance of the year, and Hermanson is starting to thrive in clutch situations, last Saturday excepted.
The worst part is Kline's comments to the media. "I'm done, I don't want to see a baseball for five months." or "Every time I go out there I think something bad's goign to happen." How can a reliever think like that? Relievers have to have the shortest memories of anyone. Kline's pitching and moping are getting tiresome. Part of it is Tony's insistence on throwing him against a bunch of righties. After Kline gets Vaughn to fly out in the eighth, he should be out. We have plenty of righties who can get shelled just as easily Tony, so if nothing else, at least look like you're playing the matchups. This is odd because TLR is usually a lefty-righty matchup guy to a fault. This bullpen saga is far from over and it remains to be seen what lies ahead. It should be interesting. The last bunch of games should've proven that three lefties simply isn't necessary at this time, and Kevin Ohme has been bombed since going back to Memphis, so I'm guessing that a call to Memphis for either Gabe Molina or Mike Crudale will come before the series starts with the Reds next Monday. Crudale is back from his injury and has made a couple of appearances in Memphis. I'm sure the Cards would love for him to show he's ready to go and the come up and dominate like he did last season. Tonight starts a three-game set with the Expos, who are pretty hot right now. They've been getting great starting pitching from household names like Zach Day and Claudio Vargas. Tomo Ohka, who busted out last year, goes tonight against Simo. I really will try to do a minor-league report later today, as well as talk about a couple other things.
Thursday, May 01, 2003
Cards Keep Laying It On The Mets
Another night, another blowout for the men in red and white. This time it was 13-4 Cards behind four homers and another wonderful pitching performance by Woody Williams. The Cards crept back above .500, finishing the season's first month with a 13-12 mark, just one game behind the Cubs. Williams went to 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA this season. Renteria had three more RBI, Eli Marrero hit a three-run homer and Albert Pujols, playing first base for the second straight game while Tino Martinez serves his three-game suspension for punching Miguel Batista, hit two homers and had 3 RBI as this was one was over early.
Some other observations from last nights game:
--Fernando Vina shaved his goatee off!!! He looked strange without it, but better I think. I don't know if it was supposed to be a way to break out of his slump, but he did last night, going deep for the other Cardinal homer and doubling. Vina's homer broke the longest streak among active players without a homerun (501 AB's), the second time that has happened to a Cardinal player this year (Orlando Palmeiro was the first) Vina hadn't homered since he hit a grand slam at PNC Park last season. He looked mighty happy after he homered, maybe this'll get him going. I was going to write yesterday again about how he should not be batting leadoff, and I still think that, but I hope his bat gets hot.
--The Cards have now won games by margins of 13,10,and 9 runs, not to mention two seven-run victories. That's outscoring your opponent by 46 runs in a four game span. The Birds have to have one of the largest average margins of victory of any team in baseball yet still sit only one game over .500. Sigh. Oh, why worry about it now, we're winning aren't we?
--J.D. Drew muffed a fly ball in right and misplayed another, perhaps in a tryout for the Mets. But he did get two hits and his first RBI of the year. In one of those small smple size oddities, Drew has not walked or struck out yet in his first 20 AB's with the big club this season, two things he does pretty regularly. I'd like to say that because 20 AB's is a lot to go with out fanning especially for Drew, that perhaps he's changed his approach at the plate. But he struck out at least three or four times while at Palm Beach (he also walked a ton while there), so who knows. Drew is 5 for his first 20, with a double and a triple. He has also been hit by a pitch.
--Woody has now allowed three earned runs or less in 28 of his last 29 starts, the only exception being a start against the Reds last August. He is working with Greg Maddux-like efficiency, putting the ball exactly where he wants to and posting good K and BB rates. He has allowed 32 baserunners and 4 earned runs in 33 innings so far this year.
--Jimmy Edmonds got his night ended early last night after hitting two doubles. This is one portion of the game that Tony is very good at, and other manager's don't seem to follow his lead. It pays dividends when the Cards start cutting through their August and September schedule like butter.
--Jeff Fassero has appeared in 16 of the Cards first 25 games, tying him for the league lead. However, his ERA doesn't look like the guys he's tied with, as most managers tend to put good relievers in more than others. But Tony has never liked doing things the conventional way, that is why we love him so.
--Of course, part of the reason that Fassero has to be put into games is because of guys like Russ Springer. Springer has appeared 11 times and had a scoreless outing in six of those appearances. In the other five he has been torched for six homers, accounting for all nine earned runs he has given up in 12.1 innings. Yes, this is not a joke. Russ Springer has given up six homers in 12.1 innings. That's more homers than Roy Halladay gave up all last year, in nearly 250 innings!! Jason Isringhausen hasn't given up a homerun in a major league game since 2001, a streak of around 150 innings. Russ "The Hanger" could pitch twenty-five, hell thirty-five innings without allowing a homer and he would still have a poor homer rate. It's not like this is a new problem. In 531 career innings coming into 2003, he had allowed 77 homers. Anything above one per nine innings is starting to be on the downside of good and that's WAY over that. Springer allowed two last including one to Mo Vaughn, who cannot do anything any more EXCEPT hit hanging curves about 500 feet, which is what he did last night.
Another night, another blowout for the men in red and white. This time it was 13-4 Cards behind four homers and another wonderful pitching performance by Woody Williams. The Cards crept back above .500, finishing the season's first month with a 13-12 mark, just one game behind the Cubs. Williams went to 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA this season. Renteria had three more RBI, Eli Marrero hit a three-run homer and Albert Pujols, playing first base for the second straight game while Tino Martinez serves his three-game suspension for punching Miguel Batista, hit two homers and had 3 RBI as this was one was over early.
Some other observations from last nights game:
--Fernando Vina shaved his goatee off!!! He looked strange without it, but better I think. I don't know if it was supposed to be a way to break out of his slump, but he did last night, going deep for the other Cardinal homer and doubling. Vina's homer broke the longest streak among active players without a homerun (501 AB's), the second time that has happened to a Cardinal player this year (Orlando Palmeiro was the first) Vina hadn't homered since he hit a grand slam at PNC Park last season. He looked mighty happy after he homered, maybe this'll get him going. I was going to write yesterday again about how he should not be batting leadoff, and I still think that, but I hope his bat gets hot.
--The Cards have now won games by margins of 13,10,and 9 runs, not to mention two seven-run victories. That's outscoring your opponent by 46 runs in a four game span. The Birds have to have one of the largest average margins of victory of any team in baseball yet still sit only one game over .500. Sigh. Oh, why worry about it now, we're winning aren't we?
--J.D. Drew muffed a fly ball in right and misplayed another, perhaps in a tryout for the Mets. But he did get two hits and his first RBI of the year. In one of those small smple size oddities, Drew has not walked or struck out yet in his first 20 AB's with the big club this season, two things he does pretty regularly. I'd like to say that because 20 AB's is a lot to go with out fanning especially for Drew, that perhaps he's changed his approach at the plate. But he struck out at least three or four times while at Palm Beach (he also walked a ton while there), so who knows. Drew is 5 for his first 20, with a double and a triple. He has also been hit by a pitch.
--Woody has now allowed three earned runs or less in 28 of his last 29 starts, the only exception being a start against the Reds last August. He is working with Greg Maddux-like efficiency, putting the ball exactly where he wants to and posting good K and BB rates. He has allowed 32 baserunners and 4 earned runs in 33 innings so far this year.
--Jimmy Edmonds got his night ended early last night after hitting two doubles. This is one portion of the game that Tony is very good at, and other manager's don't seem to follow his lead. It pays dividends when the Cards start cutting through their August and September schedule like butter.
--Jeff Fassero has appeared in 16 of the Cards first 25 games, tying him for the league lead. However, his ERA doesn't look like the guys he's tied with, as most managers tend to put good relievers in more than others. But Tony has never liked doing things the conventional way, that is why we love him so.
--Of course, part of the reason that Fassero has to be put into games is because of guys like Russ Springer. Springer has appeared 11 times and had a scoreless outing in six of those appearances. In the other five he has been torched for six homers, accounting for all nine earned runs he has given up in 12.1 innings. Yes, this is not a joke. Russ Springer has given up six homers in 12.1 innings. That's more homers than Roy Halladay gave up all last year, in nearly 250 innings!! Jason Isringhausen hasn't given up a homerun in a major league game since 2001, a streak of around 150 innings. Russ "The Hanger" could pitch twenty-five, hell thirty-five innings without allowing a homer and he would still have a poor homer rate. It's not like this is a new problem. In 531 career innings coming into 2003, he had allowed 77 homers. Anything above one per nine innings is starting to be on the downside of good and that's WAY over that. Springer allowed two last including one to Mo Vaughn, who cannot do anything any more EXCEPT hit hanging curves about 500 feet, which is what he did last night.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Pond Scum Gives Cards Just What They Need
The Birdos made it back to .500 with a 13-3 thrashing of the Mets that featured a seven-run eighth inning, the Cards most crooked number they've hung in a frame this season. They also got four in the first off of Al Leiter, who's usually quite successful against the Cards and who had pitched very well this season before last night. Rolen and Renteria both drove in four runs to bring their seasonal totals up to 20 and 21, respectively. Edgar is on pace to smash his team record for ribbies in a season by a shortstop at the moment and he could have a shot at driving in 100 runs, something few NL shortstops have done. Matty Mo pitched six innings, giving just two runs despite not having his best stuff, and Russ Springer pitched a scoreless seventh, followed by Fassero and new closer candidate Kiko Calero finishing it out. Calero came into the game in the eighth with one out and a man on first and the Cards up 6-2. He gave up a double to Mike Piazza, who bangs the Cards around even when he's struggling, to make it second and third, and it looked like the game could get a lot closer. But Calero got back-to-back strikeouts of Tony Clark and Ty Wigginton to end the threat and then, much to Cardinal Nation's delight, got a bases-loaded single in the 8th to really put the game on ice, in his first career major-league at-bat.
This at-bat was one of the more humorous things I have seen all year. It was obvious when Calero went up there that he had been instructed not to swing by LaRussa. Jose Oquendo then reminded Kiko of this fact again. But with the count 1-1, Calero swung the stick towards a ball that was bearing in on him a good foot off the plate. He punched a single to right, scoring a run. The best part of it all was the replay by Fox Sports Midwest of TLR's face on the play. He actually looked calm in the dugout as Calero was up there, then his eyes lit up as they always do when a ball is hit, and he followed it, then just stood and gazed with his mouth open as it fell in for a hit. Fox Midwest has been showing lots of TLR moments in the dugout early this season and they have been quite entertaining. I can't understand how people can be so critical of a man who wants to win so very badly. He lives and dies with every pitch. He is a true baseball man. His decisions aren't always perfect, but I can't argue with his hunger for playing winning baseball. Speaking of Fox Midwest, I love the early season games when we get treated to Joe Buck in the broadcast booth. Listening to him and Al Hrabosky call the game is about as good as it gets. We'll talk minor-leaguers and other things later.
The Birdos made it back to .500 with a 13-3 thrashing of the Mets that featured a seven-run eighth inning, the Cards most crooked number they've hung in a frame this season. They also got four in the first off of Al Leiter, who's usually quite successful against the Cards and who had pitched very well this season before last night. Rolen and Renteria both drove in four runs to bring their seasonal totals up to 20 and 21, respectively. Edgar is on pace to smash his team record for ribbies in a season by a shortstop at the moment and he could have a shot at driving in 100 runs, something few NL shortstops have done. Matty Mo pitched six innings, giving just two runs despite not having his best stuff, and Russ Springer pitched a scoreless seventh, followed by Fassero and new closer candidate Kiko Calero finishing it out. Calero came into the game in the eighth with one out and a man on first and the Cards up 6-2. He gave up a double to Mike Piazza, who bangs the Cards around even when he's struggling, to make it second and third, and it looked like the game could get a lot closer. But Calero got back-to-back strikeouts of Tony Clark and Ty Wigginton to end the threat and then, much to Cardinal Nation's delight, got a bases-loaded single in the 8th to really put the game on ice, in his first career major-league at-bat.
This at-bat was one of the more humorous things I have seen all year. It was obvious when Calero went up there that he had been instructed not to swing by LaRussa. Jose Oquendo then reminded Kiko of this fact again. But with the count 1-1, Calero swung the stick towards a ball that was bearing in on him a good foot off the plate. He punched a single to right, scoring a run. The best part of it all was the replay by Fox Sports Midwest of TLR's face on the play. He actually looked calm in the dugout as Calero was up there, then his eyes lit up as they always do when a ball is hit, and he followed it, then just stood and gazed with his mouth open as it fell in for a hit. Fox Midwest has been showing lots of TLR moments in the dugout early this season and they have been quite entertaining. I can't understand how people can be so critical of a man who wants to win so very badly. He lives and dies with every pitch. He is a true baseball man. His decisions aren't always perfect, but I can't argue with his hunger for playing winning baseball. Speaking of Fox Midwest, I love the early season games when we get treated to Joe Buck in the broadcast booth. Listening to him and Al Hrabosky call the game is about as good as it gets. We'll talk minor-leaguers and other things later.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
BACK AT BUSCH
Sorry, I know I've been tardy with updating my blog. I do have some comments about the weekend that was, now that it's nearing the end of the workday on Tuesday. The Cards won 2 of 3 in case you were in a cave or something.
--The Cards finally beat A.J Burnett, who had totally dominated them before Friday night. And though he was bad in the first and sixth, he was once again nearly untouchable in between, but it didn't matter as Brett Tomko pitched a complete game for his second win of the season and the Cards won 9-2. It's also likely the last game that Burnett will pitch in this year, as he is likely going to have Tommy John surgery. To me, it was only a matter of time before the Marlins ran him into the ground. They've done it, and Will Carroll discusses it over at Baseball Prospectus.
--I didn't watch much of the game on Friday but I watched Tomko pitch the fourth inning and he was absolutely electric. He was throwing 93-94 mph and his ball had an incredible amount of movement. This has been the Brett Tomko pattern throughout his career. He alternates eye-catching nastiness (including 2 no-hitters in AAA) with head-scratching mediocrity. That's two very good starts in a row and other than in first innings, Tomko has been great this year. It's up to Dave Duncan to keep his head on straight and get a lot more good starts than mediocre ones.
--TLR, usually Mr. Bullpen, is clearly showing less confidence in this bullpen than in any other pen I've ever seen. It's obvious. He allowed Tomko to pitch a complete game and 115 pitches, in a game that he almost ALWAYS would take out the starter after the eighth. But even more telling was after the crap performance by the pen on Saturday, he allowed Garrett Stephenson to throw 119 pitches over eight innings. I can't confirm this, but I would bet that's the most pitches thrown by Stephenson in a game since mid-2000. Had Garrett not walked four batters and gone after hitters more in the first couple innings, Tony likely would've left him in there in the ninth. No one can blame TLR for pulling him with a 5-run lead after he threw that many pitches, it just that usually Stephenson doesn't pitch the eighth either. Expect to see Woody and Matty Mo get the same treatment. We're likely going to see less bullpen innings than we have in many years.
The game on Sunday was amazing. 20 innings How does a team hit three homers in one inning and score five runs and then go scoreless for the next eleven innings. The goats: Jeff Fassero and Russ Springer. Fassero has basically looked bad any time he's been required to get more than one hitter out. He's old and Walt goofed big time when he signed him for another year. Here's hoping that Lance Painter assumes his role when he comes back. Springer has alternated pitching well with giving up dinger after dinger. To his defense, the game should have been over as he induced a double-play ball where the call was blown and the game should have ended right there. But he's has got to cut this hanging curve crap out. I think my mom could've hit the pitch he served to Lowell out of the park. He is iffy right now. The heroes: Kiko Calero, Cal Eldred, Dustin Hermanson, and Steve Kline. Maybe Tony has finally figured out that Fassero doesn't always need to be the first guy he brings into the games. And Kline doesn't need to pitch the ninth inning all the time. Give Calero a shot at an important situation. He's the one guy with a strikeout pitch. Eldred continues to gain confidence and he looks like he could stick in the pen. Hermanson redeemed himself after a horrible outing on Saturday. Jury's still out on him, though he showed his mettle on Sunday by making some huge pitches. I still say he gets better in the role as the season goes on. Kline was in the doghouse after stiking it up for the last several games and beign quoted in the paper sayign something stupid, like "I'm a specialist, I don't like pitching in the ninth inning." Steve, you're a pitcher, go out and pitch, who cares what inning it is. Ray Mileur from the Birdhouse got on Kline for this and rightfully so. Kline went out and pitched like he should, setting down all nine Marlins he faced and getting the win.
In good news, Chris Carpenter is apparently progressing ahead of schedule and could see pre-All-Star Break action. Izzy is stil out indefinitely and it could be another month. To tell the truth, nobody really knows. What is known is that the Cardinals need him worse than Mel Kiper Jr. needs a second job.
Okay, I'm done for now, Cards-Mets, 7:10 PM. Matt Morris vs Al Leiter. Even though we play the Mets six games a year, I think we face Leiter on average about eight times a year. Maybe it just seems that way :)
Sorry, I know I've been tardy with updating my blog. I do have some comments about the weekend that was, now that it's nearing the end of the workday on Tuesday. The Cards won 2 of 3 in case you were in a cave or something.
--The Cards finally beat A.J Burnett, who had totally dominated them before Friday night. And though he was bad in the first and sixth, he was once again nearly untouchable in between, but it didn't matter as Brett Tomko pitched a complete game for his second win of the season and the Cards won 9-2. It's also likely the last game that Burnett will pitch in this year, as he is likely going to have Tommy John surgery. To me, it was only a matter of time before the Marlins ran him into the ground. They've done it, and Will Carroll discusses it over at Baseball Prospectus.
--I didn't watch much of the game on Friday but I watched Tomko pitch the fourth inning and he was absolutely electric. He was throwing 93-94 mph and his ball had an incredible amount of movement. This has been the Brett Tomko pattern throughout his career. He alternates eye-catching nastiness (including 2 no-hitters in AAA) with head-scratching mediocrity. That's two very good starts in a row and other than in first innings, Tomko has been great this year. It's up to Dave Duncan to keep his head on straight and get a lot more good starts than mediocre ones.
--TLR, usually Mr. Bullpen, is clearly showing less confidence in this bullpen than in any other pen I've ever seen. It's obvious. He allowed Tomko to pitch a complete game and 115 pitches, in a game that he almost ALWAYS would take out the starter after the eighth. But even more telling was after the crap performance by the pen on Saturday, he allowed Garrett Stephenson to throw 119 pitches over eight innings. I can't confirm this, but I would bet that's the most pitches thrown by Stephenson in a game since mid-2000. Had Garrett not walked four batters and gone after hitters more in the first couple innings, Tony likely would've left him in there in the ninth. No one can blame TLR for pulling him with a 5-run lead after he threw that many pitches, it just that usually Stephenson doesn't pitch the eighth either. Expect to see Woody and Matty Mo get the same treatment. We're likely going to see less bullpen innings than we have in many years.
The game on Sunday was amazing. 20 innings How does a team hit three homers in one inning and score five runs and then go scoreless for the next eleven innings. The goats: Jeff Fassero and Russ Springer. Fassero has basically looked bad any time he's been required to get more than one hitter out. He's old and Walt goofed big time when he signed him for another year. Here's hoping that Lance Painter assumes his role when he comes back. Springer has alternated pitching well with giving up dinger after dinger. To his defense, the game should have been over as he induced a double-play ball where the call was blown and the game should have ended right there. But he's has got to cut this hanging curve crap out. I think my mom could've hit the pitch he served to Lowell out of the park. He is iffy right now. The heroes: Kiko Calero, Cal Eldred, Dustin Hermanson, and Steve Kline. Maybe Tony has finally figured out that Fassero doesn't always need to be the first guy he brings into the games. And Kline doesn't need to pitch the ninth inning all the time. Give Calero a shot at an important situation. He's the one guy with a strikeout pitch. Eldred continues to gain confidence and he looks like he could stick in the pen. Hermanson redeemed himself after a horrible outing on Saturday. Jury's still out on him, though he showed his mettle on Sunday by making some huge pitches. I still say he gets better in the role as the season goes on. Kline was in the doghouse after stiking it up for the last several games and beign quoted in the paper sayign something stupid, like "I'm a specialist, I don't like pitching in the ninth inning." Steve, you're a pitcher, go out and pitch, who cares what inning it is. Ray Mileur from the Birdhouse got on Kline for this and rightfully so. Kline went out and pitched like he should, setting down all nine Marlins he faced and getting the win.
In good news, Chris Carpenter is apparently progressing ahead of schedule and could see pre-All-Star Break action. Izzy is stil out indefinitely and it could be another month. To tell the truth, nobody really knows. What is known is that the Cardinals need him worse than Mel Kiper Jr. needs a second job.
Okay, I'm done for now, Cards-Mets, 7:10 PM. Matt Morris vs Al Leiter. Even though we play the Mets six games a year, I think we face Leiter on average about eight times a year. Maybe it just seems that way :)
Monday, April 28, 2003
IS IT OVER YET????
Redbirds in 20, surely what we all had in mind. After nearly committing suicide and swearing off baseball for the rest of the season following Bullpen Meltdown V: The Pitching Staff that refused to Win, I turned off my MLB Gameday and decided to watch a pay-per-view movie. After an hour I couldn't take it any more and decided to turn the computer back on to see how we had lost it, only to see that it was now in the 15th and still tied. I finished watching my movie, City by the Sea, and pondered what a life of drugs might do for me and my ability to not be obsessed with meaningless baseball games. But the game would not end. It simply wouldn't end. Finally, Fernando Vina, who had just finished off a entire series worth of outs in one afternoon, got that "big" hit and Steve Kline, fresh off two of his more disastrous outings as a Redbird, pitched his third scoreless innings to lift the Cards to a 20-inning win that is big only because of how incredibly deflating a loss could have been after the bullpen blew a five-run lead in the ninth. I'll be around today and the rest of the week with more on the game, the series, and the world of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball in general. Remember, somehow, some way, the Birds are only two games out of first.
Redbirds in 20, surely what we all had in mind. After nearly committing suicide and swearing off baseball for the rest of the season following Bullpen Meltdown V: The Pitching Staff that refused to Win, I turned off my MLB Gameday and decided to watch a pay-per-view movie. After an hour I couldn't take it any more and decided to turn the computer back on to see how we had lost it, only to see that it was now in the 15th and still tied. I finished watching my movie, City by the Sea, and pondered what a life of drugs might do for me and my ability to not be obsessed with meaningless baseball games. But the game would not end. It simply wouldn't end. Finally, Fernando Vina, who had just finished off a entire series worth of outs in one afternoon, got that "big" hit and Steve Kline, fresh off two of his more disastrous outings as a Redbird, pitched his third scoreless innings to lift the Cards to a 20-inning win that is big only because of how incredibly deflating a loss could have been after the bullpen blew a five-run lead in the ninth. I'll be around today and the rest of the week with more on the game, the series, and the world of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball in general. Remember, somehow, some way, the Birds are only two games out of first.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
PYTHAGOREAN BLUES
The Cardinals have seemingly lost an impossible number of close games to start the season, and currently are 9-10. But it's still too early to think about how performance in close games will affect their final season record. Using Bill James Pythagorean formula for runs scored, the Cardinals project to be about 11-8 right now. That's only a difference of two games, but it seems big when projecting it over a whole season. For one thing, the projections get closer to the teams actual winning percentage. The Cards current Pythagorean winning percentage is about .595, which translates to a 95 or 96 win season. Their current actual pace based on wins and losses would be 76 or 77 wins. So a couple close losses can skew the projection mightily at this early point in the season. The Cards are only two wins off where they "should" be and as long as their luck turns around, which it surely will at some point, there's no reason to worry about such things yet.
The Cardinals have seemingly lost an impossible number of close games to start the season, and currently are 9-10. But it's still too early to think about how performance in close games will affect their final season record. Using Bill James Pythagorean formula for runs scored, the Cardinals project to be about 11-8 right now. That's only a difference of two games, but it seems big when projecting it over a whole season. For one thing, the projections get closer to the teams actual winning percentage. The Cards current Pythagorean winning percentage is about .595, which translates to a 95 or 96 win season. Their current actual pace based on wins and losses would be 76 or 77 wins. So a couple close losses can skew the projection mightily at this early point in the season. The Cards are only two wins off where they "should" be and as long as their luck turns around, which it surely will at some point, there's no reason to worry about such things yet.
LET'S GO AROUND THE HORN (LEAGUE)
This is something I did two Thursdays ago and that I am going to try to do every Thursday, looking at the other matchups in the league and talking about what is interesting about them. First, though, I have to make one more comment about last night's game. Kerry Robinson sucks. Not only does he always make an out, but he usually makes it on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. He is every pitcher's dream. A guy with no power, and no plate discipline. If two teams full of Kerry Robinson's played each other, you'd have nine innings go by in about forty-five minutes. Of course, the game would have to continue because there would be no runs scored. Meanwhile, Eli Marrero is looking more like the Eli Marrero of 2000-01 than the Eli of last year. He is batting under .100. He and Tino had back-to-back pop-ups that made it about a combined fifty feet from home plate. Tino's was an 0-2 pitch right down the middle. Of course he got a hit in the ninth with one out and nobody on. GRRRR!!!!!! Everybody can talk about how we've got such a great and balanced lineup, but the absence of Pujols exposes that there is a huuuuuge drop-off once you get away from the heart of the order, especially now that Palmeiro and Matheny have returned to Earth. Let Albert play, dammit!!!!!!!
SAN FRANCISCO (16-4) AT PITTSBURGH (10-10)
Why the hell isn't Rich Aurilia, my fantasy shortstop, playing? The human out machine Neifi Perez is in there instead. The one problem with old managers like Felipe Alou is that they see some kind of incredible value in Neifi Perez. Lee Sinins', a baseball sabermetrician who has devised his own formula for evaluating players offensive contributions, would probably say that Perez has had more negative impact offensively than any other player in Major League history. He has already pleased his fans by making an out in this game. Looks like Pirate ace Kris Benson got out of a first-inning jam by doubling off Barry Bonds on a lineout back to him from Jose Cruz, Jr. It's been all about pitching for the offensively-challenged Pirates, who are really struggling to score runs without Brian Giles. Craig Wilson is championed by statheads as one of those bats that needs to be "freed" and they are right, but he hasn't gotten regular AB's this season and has struggled. He is now 2-21 on the season after making an out in the second inning. Jeff Suppan is 4-0 for the Bucs, but they got bad news on Giles injury, i.e. possibly another month, and they will struggle to stay close to .500 without him. The Giants have been world-beaters with the hot start of Jose Cruz and by Barry being Barry. But what's really propelled them has been a great bullpen in the basence of Robb Nen, and a little luck, as the G-Men have one more than their share of close ones in the opening weeks. It will be interesting to see if Tim Worrell, F-Rod, and the gang can keep it up, because it looks like Nen could be out until the all-star break, something I feared all along.
MINNESOTA (9-11) AT KANSAS CITY (15-3)
Can the Royals really be 15-3? Is it possible? Well, they are, though it helps that they've played six games against the Tigers and won them all. Their schedule will get tougher, and Jeremy Affeldt is on the DL with blister problems again, so that hurts. But their bullpen has been great, with fireballers D.J. Carrasco, Ryan Bukvich, Kris Wilson and Mike MacDougal. MacDougal's ball looks like some kind of heat-seeking missile as it moves through the strike zone at nearly 100 mph. Scary, but he's going to have to learn how to throw more strikes if he is to be truly dominant. The Royals have benefitted from a soft schedule so far, but the longer they keep playing well, the more likely it is that they'll break .500 and contend in the AL Central. Chris George is hurling today, and he still looks like a work in progress. The youth of the pitching staff and the fact that Brent Mayne will cease being King Kong at the plate soon will probably contribute to a Royals fade, but boy are people in KC a lot more excited than they were a month ago. Meanwhile, the Twins have had enough of the Yankees, who have swept them twice. The jury is still out on Minnesota, who has been inconsistent and had an imbalanced schedule to start the season. Just keep sending Bobby Kielty out there, Mr. Gardenhire. Has anyone else noticed that Ron Gardenhire looks like he should be Kerry Wood's dad? Twins-Royals are scoreless through three as KC tries to become the first team since the '87 Yankees to win their first ten home games. If the Royals are still in first, it will make for a quite interesting I-70 series when they and the Cards have their home-and-home series this summer, the one that the Cards cleaned up in last year.
BOSTON (14-7) AT TEXAS (9-12)
Kevin Millar is not playing either??? What's the friggin conspiracy?? Millar has been one of the hottest bats for the Sox, who have overcome the early-season, closer-by-committee controversy to jump out to a strong start, not that it's probably going to matter since they are pretty much a second-place lock. My prediction of them as the wild-card team in the AL is looking pretty strong at this early juncture. They've got a lot of offense and they've had some relievers step up and do the job for them lately, notably former Cardinal Mike Timlin and waiver wire pickup Brandon Lyon. Chad Fox has also rebounded from a bad start and is now the "closer" or the closest thing to it for the Red Sox. As always, the Rangers just don't have enough pitching. John Thomson had onoe of those games he has every now and then the other night, but they are too few and far between for this staff. They just cannot seem to find the magic formula. Ryan Drese is starting today and doing poorly, AGAIN. On the bright side, Hank Blalock is pounding the ball, batting .424 currently. Mark Teixeira is struggling. He shows flashes of his power, but is batting only .161. The Rangers look destined for another last place finish in their personal hell known as the AL West.
This is something I did two Thursdays ago and that I am going to try to do every Thursday, looking at the other matchups in the league and talking about what is interesting about them. First, though, I have to make one more comment about last night's game. Kerry Robinson sucks. Not only does he always make an out, but he usually makes it on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. He is every pitcher's dream. A guy with no power, and no plate discipline. If two teams full of Kerry Robinson's played each other, you'd have nine innings go by in about forty-five minutes. Of course, the game would have to continue because there would be no runs scored. Meanwhile, Eli Marrero is looking more like the Eli Marrero of 2000-01 than the Eli of last year. He is batting under .100. He and Tino had back-to-back pop-ups that made it about a combined fifty feet from home plate. Tino's was an 0-2 pitch right down the middle. Of course he got a hit in the ninth with one out and nobody on. GRRRR!!!!!! Everybody can talk about how we've got such a great and balanced lineup, but the absence of Pujols exposes that there is a huuuuuge drop-off once you get away from the heart of the order, especially now that Palmeiro and Matheny have returned to Earth. Let Albert play, dammit!!!!!!!
SAN FRANCISCO (16-4) AT PITTSBURGH (10-10)
Why the hell isn't Rich Aurilia, my fantasy shortstop, playing? The human out machine Neifi Perez is in there instead. The one problem with old managers like Felipe Alou is that they see some kind of incredible value in Neifi Perez. Lee Sinins', a baseball sabermetrician who has devised his own formula for evaluating players offensive contributions, would probably say that Perez has had more negative impact offensively than any other player in Major League history. He has already pleased his fans by making an out in this game. Looks like Pirate ace Kris Benson got out of a first-inning jam by doubling off Barry Bonds on a lineout back to him from Jose Cruz, Jr. It's been all about pitching for the offensively-challenged Pirates, who are really struggling to score runs without Brian Giles. Craig Wilson is championed by statheads as one of those bats that needs to be "freed" and they are right, but he hasn't gotten regular AB's this season and has struggled. He is now 2-21 on the season after making an out in the second inning. Jeff Suppan is 4-0 for the Bucs, but they got bad news on Giles injury, i.e. possibly another month, and they will struggle to stay close to .500 without him. The Giants have been world-beaters with the hot start of Jose Cruz and by Barry being Barry. But what's really propelled them has been a great bullpen in the basence of Robb Nen, and a little luck, as the G-Men have one more than their share of close ones in the opening weeks. It will be interesting to see if Tim Worrell, F-Rod, and the gang can keep it up, because it looks like Nen could be out until the all-star break, something I feared all along.
MINNESOTA (9-11) AT KANSAS CITY (15-3)
Can the Royals really be 15-3? Is it possible? Well, they are, though it helps that they've played six games against the Tigers and won them all. Their schedule will get tougher, and Jeremy Affeldt is on the DL with blister problems again, so that hurts. But their bullpen has been great, with fireballers D.J. Carrasco, Ryan Bukvich, Kris Wilson and Mike MacDougal. MacDougal's ball looks like some kind of heat-seeking missile as it moves through the strike zone at nearly 100 mph. Scary, but he's going to have to learn how to throw more strikes if he is to be truly dominant. The Royals have benefitted from a soft schedule so far, but the longer they keep playing well, the more likely it is that they'll break .500 and contend in the AL Central. Chris George is hurling today, and he still looks like a work in progress. The youth of the pitching staff and the fact that Brent Mayne will cease being King Kong at the plate soon will probably contribute to a Royals fade, but boy are people in KC a lot more excited than they were a month ago. Meanwhile, the Twins have had enough of the Yankees, who have swept them twice. The jury is still out on Minnesota, who has been inconsistent and had an imbalanced schedule to start the season. Just keep sending Bobby Kielty out there, Mr. Gardenhire. Has anyone else noticed that Ron Gardenhire looks like he should be Kerry Wood's dad? Twins-Royals are scoreless through three as KC tries to become the first team since the '87 Yankees to win their first ten home games. If the Royals are still in first, it will make for a quite interesting I-70 series when they and the Cards have their home-and-home series this summer, the one that the Cards cleaned up in last year.
BOSTON (14-7) AT TEXAS (9-12)
Kevin Millar is not playing either??? What's the friggin conspiracy?? Millar has been one of the hottest bats for the Sox, who have overcome the early-season, closer-by-committee controversy to jump out to a strong start, not that it's probably going to matter since they are pretty much a second-place lock. My prediction of them as the wild-card team in the AL is looking pretty strong at this early juncture. They've got a lot of offense and they've had some relievers step up and do the job for them lately, notably former Cardinal Mike Timlin and waiver wire pickup Brandon Lyon. Chad Fox has also rebounded from a bad start and is now the "closer" or the closest thing to it for the Red Sox. As always, the Rangers just don't have enough pitching. John Thomson had onoe of those games he has every now and then the other night, but they are too few and far between for this staff. They just cannot seem to find the magic formula. Ryan Drese is starting today and doing poorly, AGAIN. On the bright side, Hank Blalock is pounding the ball, batting .424 currently. Mark Teixeira is struggling. He shows flashes of his power, but is batting only .161. The Rangers look destined for another last place finish in their personal hell known as the AL West.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOORING
The Cards aren't exactly playing a thrilling brand of baseball right now. They dropped their fourth in a row last night, losing 4-2 to the Braves. They didn't score until Jim Edmonds blasted a two-run homer off of Darren Holmes in the ninth. They managed to get the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth after John Smoltz came in, but it was the same old story as St. Louis failed to get the big hit when they needed it. Greg Maddux used around 80 pitches to pitch 7 innings, as the Cards flailed away early in the count. Another very good start by Matt Morris was wasted. After he gave up back-to-back solo homers in the first to Marcus Giles and Gary Sheffield, Morris was nearly perfect the rest of the way. Those runs were the only blemishes in his seven innings of work, but he took the loss, and Matty Mo aired out his frustration by dropping an f-bomb well within the audio range of the ESPN dugout camera after he came out. More on the Redbirds continuing struggles later.
The Cards aren't exactly playing a thrilling brand of baseball right now. They dropped their fourth in a row last night, losing 4-2 to the Braves. They didn't score until Jim Edmonds blasted a two-run homer off of Darren Holmes in the ninth. They managed to get the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth after John Smoltz came in, but it was the same old story as St. Louis failed to get the big hit when they needed it. Greg Maddux used around 80 pitches to pitch 7 innings, as the Cards flailed away early in the count. Another very good start by Matt Morris was wasted. After he gave up back-to-back solo homers in the first to Marcus Giles and Gary Sheffield, Morris was nearly perfect the rest of the way. Those runs were the only blemishes in his seven innings of work, but he took the loss, and Matty Mo aired out his frustration by dropping an f-bomb well within the audio range of the ESPN dugout camera after he came out. More on the Redbirds continuing struggles later.
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
THE MINORS
The Memphis Redbirds have struggled, starting out 7-13, which to be honest, was probably expected, given the little depth that the Cards have in the high minors, particularly at the plate. When you're scoring just over three runs a game, you're going to lose more than you win, no matter what leagure you're in. Really the only offensive threat on the team presently is Jon Nunnally, a minor-league journeyman who already has six home runs, six doubles and thirteen walks. This is one of the best stretches of Nunnally minor-league career and he may get a callup as a reserve in St. Louis if the injuries continue. Meanwhile, the Cards signed Chris Widger to a minor-league contract. Widger has been a backup catcher for several major-league teams and just lost out on the backup job for the Yankees in the spring. He has hit well since joining the team and may be a better alternative than Eli Marrero, who is still nursing an injured thigh, at this point. Pitching-wise, the bullpen continues to be the strength of the team as they wait for Mike Crudale to come back. However, the much-maligned Cardinal bullpen has actually not been that bad, so who knows if or when we'll see the likes of Gabe Molina, Matt Duff, or Kevin Joseph. Kevin Ohme did okay in his stint with the big club but was sent back down to make room for Drew. Jimmy Journell has struggled, posting a 5.55 ERA in his first four starts. Not a good sign for the Cards only real "prospect" at the AAA level. So far Nerio Rodriguez and Jason Ryan have been Memphis' best starters.
The Tennessee Smokies are 11-7 despite not having a great offense either. The difference has been the pitching. Bucky Jacobsen, a mino-league vet, is the only player to hit more than one homer in the first eighteen games. Infielders Dennis Abreu and Caonabo Cosme are hitting .286 and .310 respectively. Yadi Molina isn't putting up big numbers, but is doing okay after leapfrogging High-A ball. Pitching is where the studs are at. Danny Haren has erased any doubt about who the number one prospect in the organization is. He has been dominant in his first four starts, winning all three decsions and posting a 1.38 ERA over 26 innings with a 20/3 K-BB ratio. Nick Stocks also looks like he may be turning a corner, as he has pitched well in all three of his starts. Rhett Parrott hasn't had consistency in his first few starts but has a wonderful 23/4 K-BB ratio. Haren and Parrott could both make it to AAA by the end of the year. If Haren's stock keeps rising, he could be viewed as a candidate for the St. Louis rotation sometime in 2004. The bullpen has been rock-solid, with B.R. Cook and Jason Pearson both allowing zero runs in 10 2/3 innings so far this season. Rick Ankiel has only thrown six innings, allowing two earned runs. He has been a bit wild, walking five, but he has fanned nine.
It's been tough going for the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals, many of whom were on last year's Midwest League championship team in Peoria. There is simply no offense. Shaun Boyd has slumped after an electric start, and Gabe Johnson and Chris Duncan aren't showing the power they did last year, as playing so many games in a pitcher's park has appeared to demoralize the team offensively. On the bright side, there is plenty of good pitching. Chris Narveson and Justin Pope have pitched well in three of their four starts. Pope has allowed only four runs in his last three starts after getting hit around in his opener. Narveson has his ERA down to 2.63. Blake Williams and Tyler Johnson have both looked good as they continue to return from injuries. Johnson has used his big hook to K 16 batters in his first 13 innings and Williams has allowed only four earned runs over his first seventeen innings.
Life is still good for the Peoria Chiefs, though they have dropped five of their last eight to fall to 13-6. There are still several hitters with high OPS figures. Terry Evans is slugging oer .500, while Travis Hanson is getting on base at a .400 clip and slugging .610 with 22 ribbies. John Santor is batting an eye-popping .390, with OBA and SLG over .500. He is 23-59 with 14 walks, four doubles, and two dongs. One of the most encouraging developments has been Tyler Parker, who was considered a steal as an 8th-round draft pick at Catcher last June but struggled in his debut. He is now showing what Baseball America called the best raw power among Cardinal minor-leaguers, slugging .550 with three homers and three doubles in his first 40 AB's. Matt Lemanczyk is looking like an exciting leadoff man, stealing 8 bases in 9 attempts and posting a .397 OBA so far. Miguel Martinez and Tyler Adamczyk both got knocked around a little in their last outing, but still have good ERA's and Blake Hawksworth has been lights-out, with 27 K's and just six walks in 24 innings. His WHIP is sitting at about 0.80 right now, and he's looking like one of the system's best candidates for a quick move up this summer.
That's the minors, and it's the same ol' story. Lots of Arms, not many bats. It's very encouraging to see the potential hitters the Cards have at Peoria because the rest of the system is bone-dry.
The Memphis Redbirds have struggled, starting out 7-13, which to be honest, was probably expected, given the little depth that the Cards have in the high minors, particularly at the plate. When you're scoring just over three runs a game, you're going to lose more than you win, no matter what leagure you're in. Really the only offensive threat on the team presently is Jon Nunnally, a minor-league journeyman who already has six home runs, six doubles and thirteen walks. This is one of the best stretches of Nunnally minor-league career and he may get a callup as a reserve in St. Louis if the injuries continue. Meanwhile, the Cards signed Chris Widger to a minor-league contract. Widger has been a backup catcher for several major-league teams and just lost out on the backup job for the Yankees in the spring. He has hit well since joining the team and may be a better alternative than Eli Marrero, who is still nursing an injured thigh, at this point. Pitching-wise, the bullpen continues to be the strength of the team as they wait for Mike Crudale to come back. However, the much-maligned Cardinal bullpen has actually not been that bad, so who knows if or when we'll see the likes of Gabe Molina, Matt Duff, or Kevin Joseph. Kevin Ohme did okay in his stint with the big club but was sent back down to make room for Drew. Jimmy Journell has struggled, posting a 5.55 ERA in his first four starts. Not a good sign for the Cards only real "prospect" at the AAA level. So far Nerio Rodriguez and Jason Ryan have been Memphis' best starters.
The Tennessee Smokies are 11-7 despite not having a great offense either. The difference has been the pitching. Bucky Jacobsen, a mino-league vet, is the only player to hit more than one homer in the first eighteen games. Infielders Dennis Abreu and Caonabo Cosme are hitting .286 and .310 respectively. Yadi Molina isn't putting up big numbers, but is doing okay after leapfrogging High-A ball. Pitching is where the studs are at. Danny Haren has erased any doubt about who the number one prospect in the organization is. He has been dominant in his first four starts, winning all three decsions and posting a 1.38 ERA over 26 innings with a 20/3 K-BB ratio. Nick Stocks also looks like he may be turning a corner, as he has pitched well in all three of his starts. Rhett Parrott hasn't had consistency in his first few starts but has a wonderful 23/4 K-BB ratio. Haren and Parrott could both make it to AAA by the end of the year. If Haren's stock keeps rising, he could be viewed as a candidate for the St. Louis rotation sometime in 2004. The bullpen has been rock-solid, with B.R. Cook and Jason Pearson both allowing zero runs in 10 2/3 innings so far this season. Rick Ankiel has only thrown six innings, allowing two earned runs. He has been a bit wild, walking five, but he has fanned nine.
It's been tough going for the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals, many of whom were on last year's Midwest League championship team in Peoria. There is simply no offense. Shaun Boyd has slumped after an electric start, and Gabe Johnson and Chris Duncan aren't showing the power they did last year, as playing so many games in a pitcher's park has appeared to demoralize the team offensively. On the bright side, there is plenty of good pitching. Chris Narveson and Justin Pope have pitched well in three of their four starts. Pope has allowed only four runs in his last three starts after getting hit around in his opener. Narveson has his ERA down to 2.63. Blake Williams and Tyler Johnson have both looked good as they continue to return from injuries. Johnson has used his big hook to K 16 batters in his first 13 innings and Williams has allowed only four earned runs over his first seventeen innings.
Life is still good for the Peoria Chiefs, though they have dropped five of their last eight to fall to 13-6. There are still several hitters with high OPS figures. Terry Evans is slugging oer .500, while Travis Hanson is getting on base at a .400 clip and slugging .610 with 22 ribbies. John Santor is batting an eye-popping .390, with OBA and SLG over .500. He is 23-59 with 14 walks, four doubles, and two dongs. One of the most encouraging developments has been Tyler Parker, who was considered a steal as an 8th-round draft pick at Catcher last June but struggled in his debut. He is now showing what Baseball America called the best raw power among Cardinal minor-leaguers, slugging .550 with three homers and three doubles in his first 40 AB's. Matt Lemanczyk is looking like an exciting leadoff man, stealing 8 bases in 9 attempts and posting a .397 OBA so far. Miguel Martinez and Tyler Adamczyk both got knocked around a little in their last outing, but still have good ERA's and Blake Hawksworth has been lights-out, with 27 K's and just six walks in 24 innings. His WHIP is sitting at about 0.80 right now, and he's looking like one of the system's best candidates for a quick move up this summer.
That's the minors, and it's the same ol' story. Lots of Arms, not many bats. It's very encouraging to see the potential hitters the Cards have at Peoria because the rest of the system is bone-dry.
I'M BACK!!!! THE CARDINALS OFFENSE HAS LEFT
Hi everyone, and sorry for neglecting my writing the last week or so. I've been busy, out-of-town, and my keyboard has been broken. All problems are over and solved!!! However, a whole new rash of problems in my sports-related life has emerged. This has been one of the worst weeks for my sports teams that I can remember in a long time. My beloved University of Illinois Fighting Illini lost their basketball coach, when he decided to sell them out for Kansas. The Blues choked away a playoff series, calling the question to my attention of "Why exactly do you root for the Blues, Mike? They're nothing but guaranteed heartache. Well, I can't help it, but it's going to be tough to watch the next round of the NHL playoffs with this sick feeling in my stomach, probably much like the flu bug that Scott Mellanby got that started this monumental collapse.
But alas, this is a site dedicated to the Cards. And boy have they been stinking it up lately too. A great win last Friday by Woody "I just don't give up runs" Williams had the Birds at 9-6, but coincided with the news that Albert Pujols will not play regularly for the next three weeks because he sprained an elbow ligament while making a throw from the outfield on the last day of the series in Houston. Since then, the Cardinals offense has gone into hibernation. A pair of one-run losses over the weekend put the Cards at an incredibly unlucky 0-6 in one-run games. Simontacchi pitched better, but still not very good on Saturday, giving up a 2-run homer to Luis Gonzalez on an 0-2 pitch that pretty much decided the game, as well as giving up a 2-out double to Bung-Hyun Kim, the pitcher. Brett Tomko was brilliant on Sunday, giving up just one run in eight innings, but the Cards were shut out. This just doesn't seem to be a team that the powers that be like very much. I mean, what is next?, now that Pujols has gone down with such a bizarre thing that it seems it could only happen to the Cardinals. Albert is only going to be available as a pinch-hitter for at least the next two weeks apparently. His injury couldn't have come at a worse time, as Orlando Palmeiro and Mike Matheny have cooled off considerably, Rolen has gone in to an 0-for-16 slump and Vina has returned as an unproductive leadoff hitter, though he did have three hits last night.
J.D. Drew was activated from the DL Sunday and got his first hit last night, hitting the ball hard a couple of times. The Cardinals really need him to go on a tear without the services of Pujols. The good news is that the NL Central isn't looking that strong. The Cubs are off to a hot start, but have played an easy schedule and will wear down a little. The Astros just don't look to have the combination of hittign and pitching that many predicted they would, and Pittsburgh is simply average. But I also don't think the Cardinals can win ninety games with Stephenson, who was horrible in last night's 5-3 loss to the Braves, the new Cardinal killers, and Simontacchi at the back end of the rotation. Word from ESPN's Jayson Stark is that Chuck Finley is still a possibility to sign with the Cards and everyone would welcome Chuck with open arms right about now. If the Cards stay in the hunt, we could be looking at another trade deadline pitching acquisition, depending on what Chris Carpenter is ready to do. Tonight Matt Morris is assuming the role of rotation stopper, as in trying to stop the Cards three-game losing streak. Greg Maddux is going for the Braves. The Cards usually pound him or get shut out, and with the way the offense has been going, that's a slightly scary thought. But maybe tonight is a breakout night. Let's hope so. I'll return with a minor-league report later and I'll talk about some of the things I wanted to talk about last week, including Lee Sinins' and Will Carroll's report on the abuse of young pitchers.
Hi everyone, and sorry for neglecting my writing the last week or so. I've been busy, out-of-town, and my keyboard has been broken. All problems are over and solved!!! However, a whole new rash of problems in my sports-related life has emerged. This has been one of the worst weeks for my sports teams that I can remember in a long time. My beloved University of Illinois Fighting Illini lost their basketball coach, when he decided to sell them out for Kansas. The Blues choked away a playoff series, calling the question to my attention of "Why exactly do you root for the Blues, Mike? They're nothing but guaranteed heartache. Well, I can't help it, but it's going to be tough to watch the next round of the NHL playoffs with this sick feeling in my stomach, probably much like the flu bug that Scott Mellanby got that started this monumental collapse.
But alas, this is a site dedicated to the Cards. And boy have they been stinking it up lately too. A great win last Friday by Woody "I just don't give up runs" Williams had the Birds at 9-6, but coincided with the news that Albert Pujols will not play regularly for the next three weeks because he sprained an elbow ligament while making a throw from the outfield on the last day of the series in Houston. Since then, the Cardinals offense has gone into hibernation. A pair of one-run losses over the weekend put the Cards at an incredibly unlucky 0-6 in one-run games. Simontacchi pitched better, but still not very good on Saturday, giving up a 2-run homer to Luis Gonzalez on an 0-2 pitch that pretty much decided the game, as well as giving up a 2-out double to Bung-Hyun Kim, the pitcher. Brett Tomko was brilliant on Sunday, giving up just one run in eight innings, but the Cards were shut out. This just doesn't seem to be a team that the powers that be like very much. I mean, what is next?, now that Pujols has gone down with such a bizarre thing that it seems it could only happen to the Cardinals. Albert is only going to be available as a pinch-hitter for at least the next two weeks apparently. His injury couldn't have come at a worse time, as Orlando Palmeiro and Mike Matheny have cooled off considerably, Rolen has gone in to an 0-for-16 slump and Vina has returned as an unproductive leadoff hitter, though he did have three hits last night.
J.D. Drew was activated from the DL Sunday and got his first hit last night, hitting the ball hard a couple of times. The Cardinals really need him to go on a tear without the services of Pujols. The good news is that the NL Central isn't looking that strong. The Cubs are off to a hot start, but have played an easy schedule and will wear down a little. The Astros just don't look to have the combination of hittign and pitching that many predicted they would, and Pittsburgh is simply average. But I also don't think the Cardinals can win ninety games with Stephenson, who was horrible in last night's 5-3 loss to the Braves, the new Cardinal killers, and Simontacchi at the back end of the rotation. Word from ESPN's Jayson Stark is that Chuck Finley is still a possibility to sign with the Cards and everyone would welcome Chuck with open arms right about now. If the Cards stay in the hunt, we could be looking at another trade deadline pitching acquisition, depending on what Chris Carpenter is ready to do. Tonight Matt Morris is assuming the role of rotation stopper, as in trying to stop the Cards three-game losing streak. Greg Maddux is going for the Braves. The Cards usually pound him or get shut out, and with the way the offense has been going, that's a slightly scary thought. But maybe tonight is a breakout night. Let's hope so. I'll return with a minor-league report later and I'll talk about some of the things I wanted to talk about last week, including Lee Sinins' and Will Carroll's report on the abuse of young pitchers.
Thursday, April 17, 2003
OFF DAY FOR THE GOOD GUYS
The Cardinals and the Giants are the only two teams not playing ball on this beautiful April Thursday. I've been curtailing my amount of writing because my keyboard is acting up. I hope to get that resolved soon, because I want to go around the league like I did last Thursday, maybe talk some fantasy baseball, and comment on a study of young pitchers, overuse, and arm injuries that I read over at BP, which by the way you need to fork over the cash for and become a premium member. I grouped the pitchers into categories and want to talk about the findings as well as commenting about Cardinals that appeared on the list. If I don't get to it today, I will soon. GO CARDS!!!!
The Cardinals and the Giants are the only two teams not playing ball on this beautiful April Thursday. I've been curtailing my amount of writing because my keyboard is acting up. I hope to get that resolved soon, because I want to go around the league like I did last Thursday, maybe talk some fantasy baseball, and comment on a study of young pitchers, overuse, and arm injuries that I read over at BP, which by the way you need to fork over the cash for and become a premium member. I grouped the pitchers into categories and want to talk about the findings as well as commenting about Cardinals that appeared on the list. If I don't get to it today, I will soon. GO CARDS!!!!
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
MATTY MO GOES YARD!!!
Maybe I should whine every day about this team's play. The Cards got over last night's sickness in a major way with a 15-2 pounding of the Brewers. The Cards had six doubles and four homers, including one by none other than the winning pitcher Matt Morris!! Morris pitched six solid innings allowing only one unearned run. It was a great day for Scott Rolen, who doubled and had a pair of two-run dingers to take the team lead with five. But perhaps the best news of the day was that Albert Pujols showed that he is suffering no ill effects from getting hit by a pitch the other night. Albert was 3 for 4 with 2 ribbies. Kudos to Tony for going with the all-righthanded lineup against lefty Wayne Franklin. With Vina, Edmonds, O Palmeiro and Tino on the bench and Eli, Wilson Delgado, Miguel Cairo, and Eduardo Perez all in the lineup, the Cardinal bats still went nuts. Great to get a win while giving Tino and Jimmy what amounts to two days off, though Edmonds did play a couple innings in the field.
The Birdos sit at 8-6, a half game back of the first-place Cubs (hurts to say that) and may be back to better health by Friday, when they open their three-game set against the D-Backs, who are really struggling. The Cards definitely will not have to face Curt Schillling, as he pitches tomorrow, and they might not have to face Randy Johnson either. He was originally scheduled to pitch today but was scratched with knee soreness, meaning he could possibly pitch Saturday if Byung-Hyun Kim, who is also fighting a nagging injury, cannot go. The best-case scenario would be that neither of them pitch, although all Card fans know about the Cardinals history of uncanny success against the Unit. Well, this will make for a happy day off for our heroes in red tomorrow, and we may see Vina rejoin the lineup, although it will still be as a leadoff hitter and not where he belongs. Until then, time to have a few cold ones and cheer the Blues on in the playoffs!!!!
Maybe I should whine every day about this team's play. The Cards got over last night's sickness in a major way with a 15-2 pounding of the Brewers. The Cards had six doubles and four homers, including one by none other than the winning pitcher Matt Morris!! Morris pitched six solid innings allowing only one unearned run. It was a great day for Scott Rolen, who doubled and had a pair of two-run dingers to take the team lead with five. But perhaps the best news of the day was that Albert Pujols showed that he is suffering no ill effects from getting hit by a pitch the other night. Albert was 3 for 4 with 2 ribbies. Kudos to Tony for going with the all-righthanded lineup against lefty Wayne Franklin. With Vina, Edmonds, O Palmeiro and Tino on the bench and Eli, Wilson Delgado, Miguel Cairo, and Eduardo Perez all in the lineup, the Cardinal bats still went nuts. Great to get a win while giving Tino and Jimmy what amounts to two days off, though Edmonds did play a couple innings in the field.
The Birdos sit at 8-6, a half game back of the first-place Cubs (hurts to say that) and may be back to better health by Friday, when they open their three-game set against the D-Backs, who are really struggling. The Cards definitely will not have to face Curt Schillling, as he pitches tomorrow, and they might not have to face Randy Johnson either. He was originally scheduled to pitch today but was scratched with knee soreness, meaning he could possibly pitch Saturday if Byung-Hyun Kim, who is also fighting a nagging injury, cannot go. The best-case scenario would be that neither of them pitch, although all Card fans know about the Cardinals history of uncanny success against the Unit. Well, this will make for a happy day off for our heroes in red tomorrow, and we may see Vina rejoin the lineup, although it will still be as a leadoff hitter and not where he belongs. Until then, time to have a few cold ones and cheer the Blues on in the playoffs!!!!
Cards Look Uninterested, Starting Pitching Stinks Again
I waver back and forth on this team. Some days, like the comeback win over Houston on Sunday, I feel that this is a team with a terrorizing amount of offense, and that Tony and Dunc will make it work in the bullpen. Then, last night, as I watch the baserunning blunders, and the terrible pitching from Garrett Stephenson, who felt like he needed to throw at Richie Sexson with two out and no one on in the first and ended up costing himself two runs, I think this is probably a .500 team at best, especially considering the staggering amount of injuries that the team seems to be cursed with. I know, I know, I'm getting way too high and way too low based on individual games. Last night was ugly though. After Stepehenson's first inning debacle, the Cards blew what would turn out to be their best scoring chance of the night when Jose Oquendo failed to send Rolen on a fly ball by Renteria that would have easily scored him, confusing Tino at second, and getting him caught off the bag for the second out. Hey Tino, maybe next time you can check the runner in front of you, though I was expecting him to score too, not realizing that Oquendo had such a fear of John Vander Wal's rocket arm (sarcasm). The Cards played with a three man bench because Vina is still not back, and Pujols was scratched from the lineup because his thumb hurt too much. I fail to understand what makes Vina so valuable that he cannot be disabled. He has now missed what, five, six games in a row? Our bench is WEAK as a result of it. I'm not feeling many positive vibes right now, except that Matty Mo is pitching today and is due for a win. Of course, Edmonds and Pujols will probably be on the bench, since TLR will want to give Jimmy that two day off rest he loves to do before an off day. It'll be Morris against Wayne Franklin, a journeyman lefty.
I waver back and forth on this team. Some days, like the comeback win over Houston on Sunday, I feel that this is a team with a terrorizing amount of offense, and that Tony and Dunc will make it work in the bullpen. Then, last night, as I watch the baserunning blunders, and the terrible pitching from Garrett Stephenson, who felt like he needed to throw at Richie Sexson with two out and no one on in the first and ended up costing himself two runs, I think this is probably a .500 team at best, especially considering the staggering amount of injuries that the team seems to be cursed with. I know, I know, I'm getting way too high and way too low based on individual games. Last night was ugly though. After Stepehenson's first inning debacle, the Cards blew what would turn out to be their best scoring chance of the night when Jose Oquendo failed to send Rolen on a fly ball by Renteria that would have easily scored him, confusing Tino at second, and getting him caught off the bag for the second out. Hey Tino, maybe next time you can check the runner in front of you, though I was expecting him to score too, not realizing that Oquendo had such a fear of John Vander Wal's rocket arm (sarcasm). The Cards played with a three man bench because Vina is still not back, and Pujols was scratched from the lineup because his thumb hurt too much. I fail to understand what makes Vina so valuable that he cannot be disabled. He has now missed what, five, six games in a row? Our bench is WEAK as a result of it. I'm not feeling many positive vibes right now, except that Matty Mo is pitching today and is due for a win. Of course, Edmonds and Pujols will probably be on the bench, since TLR will want to give Jimmy that two day off rest he loves to do before an off day. It'll be Morris against Wayne Franklin, a journeyman lefty.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
THE BIG O
What did I tell ya about Orlando Palmeiro? The guy is an on-base machine! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Okay, that's enough. The Cards somehow won one of the weirder games of the season so far last night. Brett Tomko was down 3-0 with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning. I was starting to break out in a cold sweat. What is with this guy and the first inning? It's Dustin Hermanson 2001 all over again. But the Cards came back to win 7-5 despite leaving 16 men on base, having a man thrown out at home, having two other guys dead ducks at home until someone on the Brew Crew made a misplay in the field, and they lost their pitcher trying to steal second just before Orlando Palmeiro hit his first homerun in a year and a half. Aaaaah, Baseball. the biggest event in the game came when Albert Pujols got drilled by a fastball on the back of his hand. He bruised his thumb, but the x-rays were negative, and Cardinal Nation returned the loaded gun back to its safe. Palmeiro was the hero. In addition to his solo shot he had a sac fly and a two out, two-run double. The bullpen did a great job, led by Russ Springer's two scoreless innings. Steve Kline came in to retire Geoff Jenkins for a one-out save, his third of the year.
Other than that, the game was notable for Jeffrey Hammonds suffering his third injury of the year. I thought about it last night. Some people just look for ways to get hurt, I swear. Hammonds could hurt himself if he was walking around naked in a vacuum. the Cards pounded Todd Ritchie, as usual, and would have won by about ten runs if they could have gotten more hits with runners on and not waited till there were two outs before loading the bases. Additonally, runnning the bases a little smarter could be cool too. I don't know if Dave McKay was passing out some Canadian reefer every time a redbird rounded first, but Albert tried to socre on a play he had no chance to be safe on, Renteria would have been gunned at the plate on Palmeiro's sac fly if Keith Osik could've held onto the ball, and Palmeiro was going to get caught in a rundown between third and home when Eric Young suddenly had a Cub flashback and threw one into the stands. Ondelay, Ondelay, Mama, EY, EY, Uh-Oh!!
Pujols likely will not play the next couple games, maybe be available for pinch-hitting. He has a bruise, but nothing is broken and that is some of the best news we Cardinal fans have heard all season. Garrett Stephenson and Ben Sheets both make their second start of the season against this opponent tonight. The Brewers will be without Hammonds and probably have John Vander Wal in there. Jenkins return has given the Brewers an offensive boost. He hit a mammoth homer off of Tomko last night. tomko ended up allowing five earned in 5 1/3, but he did pick up his first win as a Cardinal. Still no word on Vina, and in the meantime I'm just enjoying having "The Big O" in the leadoff spot. Meanwhile, J.D. Drew could be back in as little as 10 days. He is still in Palm Beach, and is 3-8 with a dinger and 5 walks.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Memphis has evened its record at 6-6. Among the early bright spots has been Catcher Alex Delgado, who is 7 for his first 16, and Dee Haynes who is showing good power early, having already hit a couple homers. Also encouraging is Haynes has drawn three walks in his first 28 at-bats. Jon Nunnally is the leading hitter for the team right now. The 31-year old minor league vet is 13 for his first 28 with three doubles, three homers and a triple. The pitching has been the real pleasant surprise. Nerio Rodriguez and Jason Ryan have both pitched well in their starts nd the bullpen has been great. Even with the temporary loss of Crudale, Matt Duff, Kevin Joseph, and Gabe Molina have done great, and last night marked the first appearance for Scotty Layfield, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The AA Smokies are 6-4 despite not getting much offense. Jeremy Dodson, who will be 26 in a few weeks, is leading the team in htting, batting .313. Catcher Yadi Molina has gotten off to a decent offensive start, hitting 4 doubles and drawing four walks in his first 28 AB's. The pitching has been superb. Dan Haren and Nick Stocks have both had a pair of good starts. Haren has allowed only 1 earned run in his first 12 innings, with a 12-1 K/BB ratio. Rick Ankiel threw another scoreless inning recently, and B.R. Cook has really taken to the bullpen, allowing just three hits over seven scoreless frames while striking out eight.
Palm Beach is really having trouble scoring. Shaun Boyd is the only player hitting over .300. He went 2 for 4 last night. Chris Narveson went six innings and gave up two earned runs, striking out five and getting the loss on Sunday. And Chance Caple has two of the club's four wins despite giving up 14 walks in two starts. One good note is that Tyler Johnson, who had been nursing some sort of injury, made his first start and pitched four innings, giving up an unearned run while not walking a man and striking out six.
Meanwhile, Peoria continues to be smoking hot. They are now 10-1 and just bashing the ball, while simultaneously getting some great pitching. Travis Hanson is opening up some eyes, leading the league in hitting at a .468 clip with already 19 RBI. He has eight doubles and two homers. Matt Lemanczyk isn't far behind, with a .464 average. Terry Evans is hitting over .380 and has 13 RBI. Tyler Adamczyk and Blake Hawksworth have now pitched a combined 25 innings without givng up an earned run. Hawksworth has struck out fourteen and walked two. Less heralded prospects Don Graves and Miguel Martinez are also 2-0. Martinez has allowed just four earned runs in eighteen innings while striking out fourteen and Graves is still unscored upon after 10 1/3 innings. Graves is a 22-year old righty who was drafted back in 1999.
What did I tell ya about Orlando Palmeiro? The guy is an on-base machine! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Okay, that's enough. The Cards somehow won one of the weirder games of the season so far last night. Brett Tomko was down 3-0 with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning. I was starting to break out in a cold sweat. What is with this guy and the first inning? It's Dustin Hermanson 2001 all over again. But the Cards came back to win 7-5 despite leaving 16 men on base, having a man thrown out at home, having two other guys dead ducks at home until someone on the Brew Crew made a misplay in the field, and they lost their pitcher trying to steal second just before Orlando Palmeiro hit his first homerun in a year and a half. Aaaaah, Baseball. the biggest event in the game came when Albert Pujols got drilled by a fastball on the back of his hand. He bruised his thumb, but the x-rays were negative, and Cardinal Nation returned the loaded gun back to its safe. Palmeiro was the hero. In addition to his solo shot he had a sac fly and a two out, two-run double. The bullpen did a great job, led by Russ Springer's two scoreless innings. Steve Kline came in to retire Geoff Jenkins for a one-out save, his third of the year.
Other than that, the game was notable for Jeffrey Hammonds suffering his third injury of the year. I thought about it last night. Some people just look for ways to get hurt, I swear. Hammonds could hurt himself if he was walking around naked in a vacuum. the Cards pounded Todd Ritchie, as usual, and would have won by about ten runs if they could have gotten more hits with runners on and not waited till there were two outs before loading the bases. Additonally, runnning the bases a little smarter could be cool too. I don't know if Dave McKay was passing out some Canadian reefer every time a redbird rounded first, but Albert tried to socre on a play he had no chance to be safe on, Renteria would have been gunned at the plate on Palmeiro's sac fly if Keith Osik could've held onto the ball, and Palmeiro was going to get caught in a rundown between third and home when Eric Young suddenly had a Cub flashback and threw one into the stands. Ondelay, Ondelay, Mama, EY, EY, Uh-Oh!!
Pujols likely will not play the next couple games, maybe be available for pinch-hitting. He has a bruise, but nothing is broken and that is some of the best news we Cardinal fans have heard all season. Garrett Stephenson and Ben Sheets both make their second start of the season against this opponent tonight. The Brewers will be without Hammonds and probably have John Vander Wal in there. Jenkins return has given the Brewers an offensive boost. He hit a mammoth homer off of Tomko last night. tomko ended up allowing five earned in 5 1/3, but he did pick up his first win as a Cardinal. Still no word on Vina, and in the meantime I'm just enjoying having "The Big O" in the leadoff spot. Meanwhile, J.D. Drew could be back in as little as 10 days. He is still in Palm Beach, and is 3-8 with a dinger and 5 walks.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Memphis has evened its record at 6-6. Among the early bright spots has been Catcher Alex Delgado, who is 7 for his first 16, and Dee Haynes who is showing good power early, having already hit a couple homers. Also encouraging is Haynes has drawn three walks in his first 28 at-bats. Jon Nunnally is the leading hitter for the team right now. The 31-year old minor league vet is 13 for his first 28 with three doubles, three homers and a triple. The pitching has been the real pleasant surprise. Nerio Rodriguez and Jason Ryan have both pitched well in their starts nd the bullpen has been great. Even with the temporary loss of Crudale, Matt Duff, Kevin Joseph, and Gabe Molina have done great, and last night marked the first appearance for Scotty Layfield, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The AA Smokies are 6-4 despite not getting much offense. Jeremy Dodson, who will be 26 in a few weeks, is leading the team in htting, batting .313. Catcher Yadi Molina has gotten off to a decent offensive start, hitting 4 doubles and drawing four walks in his first 28 AB's. The pitching has been superb. Dan Haren and Nick Stocks have both had a pair of good starts. Haren has allowed only 1 earned run in his first 12 innings, with a 12-1 K/BB ratio. Rick Ankiel threw another scoreless inning recently, and B.R. Cook has really taken to the bullpen, allowing just three hits over seven scoreless frames while striking out eight.
Palm Beach is really having trouble scoring. Shaun Boyd is the only player hitting over .300. He went 2 for 4 last night. Chris Narveson went six innings and gave up two earned runs, striking out five and getting the loss on Sunday. And Chance Caple has two of the club's four wins despite giving up 14 walks in two starts. One good note is that Tyler Johnson, who had been nursing some sort of injury, made his first start and pitched four innings, giving up an unearned run while not walking a man and striking out six.
Meanwhile, Peoria continues to be smoking hot. They are now 10-1 and just bashing the ball, while simultaneously getting some great pitching. Travis Hanson is opening up some eyes, leading the league in hitting at a .468 clip with already 19 RBI. He has eight doubles and two homers. Matt Lemanczyk isn't far behind, with a .464 average. Terry Evans is hitting over .380 and has 13 RBI. Tyler Adamczyk and Blake Hawksworth have now pitched a combined 25 innings without givng up an earned run. Hawksworth has struck out fourteen and walked two. Less heralded prospects Don Graves and Miguel Martinez are also 2-0. Martinez has allowed just four earned runs in eighteen innings while striking out fourteen and Graves is still unscored upon after 10 1/3 innings. Graves is a 22-year old righty who was drafted back in 1999.
Monday, April 14, 2003
Random Thoughts from this weekend in Cardinal baseball:
Orlando Palmeiro should be the Cardinals leadoff hitter. Until J.D. Drew is fully healthy and returns to the lineup on a full-time basis, I believe that Palmeiro should lead off, as he did in both games I attended in Houston. Unlike Vina, who missed all three games with a hand injury and is questionable for tonight, Palmeiro refuses to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. The result so far on the young season is 9-24 with 5 walks, and an OBA of .500. .500!!! With the Cardinals deep stable of hitters, a leadoff hitter that gets on base that a lot will make this offense that much better. Vina's OBA is currently .302. He has three walks and a couple of HBP in 37 AB's. That's actually pretty good numbers for Fernando, his OBA is getting dragged down because he's currently hitting .216. He needs to take a page from Palmeiro's handbook and start hitting line drives and taking walks. Until then, the Cards everyday lineup should be:
LF Palmeiro
SS Renteria
CF Edmonds
LF Pujols
3B Rolen
1B Martinez
C Matheny
2B Vina
This lineup is debatable. you could flip-flop Vina and Matheny, and it looks like Renteria is going to start batting seventh. I don't mind that move that much if Palmeiro is in the 2 hole. (I would want him leading off but I know that's not going to happen). Edgar actually says he prefers batting further down in the lineup because it gives him more chances to hit with runners on base, and he certainly looked comfortable there on Saturday and Sunday. I would say bat Edgar sixth and Tino seventh even, but batting Edgar seventh may give Tino more fastballs to hit. I still would rather see Palmeiro and Renteria as the first two. That would mean that the first five hitters in the lineup all have OBA's of over .400 presently. Bat Tino, Matheny, and Vina at the bottom, spot Drew in occasionally until he is fully healthy and use Marrero as a bench player all around the diamond, the role that seems to suit him best.
Considering that Palmeiro has been playing so well and it would be a big mistake to take him out of the lineup, I suppose the normal starting lineup when Vina returns will be the same as my lineup except that Vina will lead off, Palmeiro will bat 2nd, Renteria will bat 7th and Matheny 8th. I guess I can live with that but not if Vina continues to produce so poorly offensively.
I know that Coors and Minute Maid are two great hitters parks, but the offense is looking tough. Edmonds is hot, Rolen is hot, though he may end up walking 200 times if Tino doesn't start hitting better (a thought in favor of batting Renteria sixth and Martinez 7th). Pujols looks like his groin is doing much better now that he's out of the Colorado weather, though he's still not 100 percent. He had a good series, spraying singles all over the park and taking some walks.
The bullpen is still an unknown. The Izzy saga continues. Now it looks like he'll be out the rest of the month. He may never regain full health, which is a shame and a waste of a crapload of cash. If his problems linger on too long I would think that Walt would have to go after somebody sooner or later, though as Jeff Gordon said today in the Post-Dispatch, he may not be able to get antything until June or July when teams are falling out of it. Hopefully we have a healthy and dominant Izzy by then. Until then, unsung heroes have popped up out of the pen. Cal Eldred has made everyone forget about his first two nightmarish appearances with three straight good outings, Russ Springer looks like he'll be able to help all year, and Kline and Fassero have been fairly consistent, with a few ugly exceptions. Yesterday the real hero was Kiko Calero, who pitched two perfect innings and got the win. Dustin Hermanson I think is going to improve as the year goes on and he continues to gain mastery of the splitter. The loss of Lance Painter was a big bummer, as he looked really strong, but Kevin Ohme has been great since he came to Spring Training and hopefully that will continue as he gets set to pitch in a game with the big club, maybe some time in this upcoming series. All in all, the Cards can stay afloat with this bullpen. Probably the biggest question with the pitching staff right now is what to do with Jason Simontacchi, who doesn't look like he belongs in the big leagues. He will surely get at least one more chance, as he has pitched in Houston and Colorado in his first two starts, but he doesn't have the command that he did last year and if he doesn't have that, well, he's in deep doo-doo. The other big question with the rotation will hopefully be resolved tonight, as Brett Tomko tries to take the mound and avoid giving up a lot of runs in the first inning, as he has in his first two starts. Tomko is going to be very big for the Cards this year. If he can gain some type of consistency and learn to trust his pitches, the Cards could have a very formidable rotation, because it looks like Garrett Stephenson is fully healthy and can be a solid back-of-the-rotation starter. If Simo doesn't straighten himself out, the Cards have plenty of candidates to start in the fifth slot. The most likely candidate would be Eldred, who is now working on a string of five straight scoreless innings after his horrific start.
Orlando Palmeiro should be the Cardinals leadoff hitter. Until J.D. Drew is fully healthy and returns to the lineup on a full-time basis, I believe that Palmeiro should lead off, as he did in both games I attended in Houston. Unlike Vina, who missed all three games with a hand injury and is questionable for tonight, Palmeiro refuses to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. The result so far on the young season is 9-24 with 5 walks, and an OBA of .500. .500!!! With the Cardinals deep stable of hitters, a leadoff hitter that gets on base that a lot will make this offense that much better. Vina's OBA is currently .302. He has three walks and a couple of HBP in 37 AB's. That's actually pretty good numbers for Fernando, his OBA is getting dragged down because he's currently hitting .216. He needs to take a page from Palmeiro's handbook and start hitting line drives and taking walks. Until then, the Cards everyday lineup should be:
LF Palmeiro
SS Renteria
CF Edmonds
LF Pujols
3B Rolen
1B Martinez
C Matheny
2B Vina
This lineup is debatable. you could flip-flop Vina and Matheny, and it looks like Renteria is going to start batting seventh. I don't mind that move that much if Palmeiro is in the 2 hole. (I would want him leading off but I know that's not going to happen). Edgar actually says he prefers batting further down in the lineup because it gives him more chances to hit with runners on base, and he certainly looked comfortable there on Saturday and Sunday. I would say bat Edgar sixth and Tino seventh even, but batting Edgar seventh may give Tino more fastballs to hit. I still would rather see Palmeiro and Renteria as the first two. That would mean that the first five hitters in the lineup all have OBA's of over .400 presently. Bat Tino, Matheny, and Vina at the bottom, spot Drew in occasionally until he is fully healthy and use Marrero as a bench player all around the diamond, the role that seems to suit him best.
Considering that Palmeiro has been playing so well and it would be a big mistake to take him out of the lineup, I suppose the normal starting lineup when Vina returns will be the same as my lineup except that Vina will lead off, Palmeiro will bat 2nd, Renteria will bat 7th and Matheny 8th. I guess I can live with that but not if Vina continues to produce so poorly offensively.
I know that Coors and Minute Maid are two great hitters parks, but the offense is looking tough. Edmonds is hot, Rolen is hot, though he may end up walking 200 times if Tino doesn't start hitting better (a thought in favor of batting Renteria sixth and Martinez 7th). Pujols looks like his groin is doing much better now that he's out of the Colorado weather, though he's still not 100 percent. He had a good series, spraying singles all over the park and taking some walks.
The bullpen is still an unknown. The Izzy saga continues. Now it looks like he'll be out the rest of the month. He may never regain full health, which is a shame and a waste of a crapload of cash. If his problems linger on too long I would think that Walt would have to go after somebody sooner or later, though as Jeff Gordon said today in the Post-Dispatch, he may not be able to get antything until June or July when teams are falling out of it. Hopefully we have a healthy and dominant Izzy by then. Until then, unsung heroes have popped up out of the pen. Cal Eldred has made everyone forget about his first two nightmarish appearances with three straight good outings, Russ Springer looks like he'll be able to help all year, and Kline and Fassero have been fairly consistent, with a few ugly exceptions. Yesterday the real hero was Kiko Calero, who pitched two perfect innings and got the win. Dustin Hermanson I think is going to improve as the year goes on and he continues to gain mastery of the splitter. The loss of Lance Painter was a big bummer, as he looked really strong, but Kevin Ohme has been great since he came to Spring Training and hopefully that will continue as he gets set to pitch in a game with the big club, maybe some time in this upcoming series. All in all, the Cards can stay afloat with this bullpen. Probably the biggest question with the pitching staff right now is what to do with Jason Simontacchi, who doesn't look like he belongs in the big leagues. He will surely get at least one more chance, as he has pitched in Houston and Colorado in his first two starts, but he doesn't have the command that he did last year and if he doesn't have that, well, he's in deep doo-doo. The other big question with the rotation will hopefully be resolved tonight, as Brett Tomko tries to take the mound and avoid giving up a lot of runs in the first inning, as he has in his first two starts. Tomko is going to be very big for the Cards this year. If he can gain some type of consistency and learn to trust his pitches, the Cards could have a very formidable rotation, because it looks like Garrett Stephenson is fully healthy and can be a solid back-of-the-rotation starter. If Simo doesn't straighten himself out, the Cards have plenty of candidates to start in the fifth slot. The most likely candidate would be Eldred, who is now working on a string of five straight scoreless innings after his horrific start.
TWO OUTTA THREE AIN"T BAD
Yes, in retrospect a sweep would've been nice. But after Jeff Kent's game-winning two run shot on a Friday night that like a bad dream, the Cards were staring a possible five game deficit right in the face. If they lost on Saturday, they'd be facing smoke-throwing Roy Oswaltin the Sunday finale. But as they've done all year, the Cards didn't take it lying down. They got another superb performance from Woody Williams in his homeland and won on Friday, 3-0, and then rallied on Sunday. Down 5-1 at one point, the Cards exploded on Country Boy Roy in the seventh for six runs after a Jose Vizcaino error kept the inning going. Edgar Renteria put the punctuation mark on the offensive outburst with an opposite-field homerun, his second of the day to put the Cards up 10-6 and they would go on to an 11-8 victory.
I had a great weekend in Houston, other than navigating I-10 and it's hodgepodge of construction zones, traffic jams and lunatic drivers on the way over from New Orleans. I stayed with family and made it to the games Saturday and Sunday, to watch a pair of Cardinal victories while proudly wearing my Cardinal red. Minute Maid Park is a very nice place to watch a ballgame. Aside from the slight cartoonishness of the slope in center (which comes into play rarely) it is a very creative park with creative dimensions and design. Yes, the left field wall is too close to home plate, as evidenced by the popup that Craig Biggio hit for a homerun yesterday, but the Crawford Boxes in left field are a cool thing. I was in the first row in the right field bleachers for the first half of the game Friday night, but no balls came my way. The rest of the time I walked all around the park, sitting in the upper deck, sitting right down close to the field, standing in the archways in the outfield. The big plus in these new ballparks is that there are so many more sightlines because there are fewer seats. Unlike in Busch Stadium, where if you want to walk around the outside to the bathrooms or concessions you have to leave the open-air portion of the facility entirely, at Minute Maid nearly the entire place is open air. If you stand, you can actually still see everything. Going to Houston makes me excited for the Cards to build a new ballpark.
Friday night was about of crushing a loss as a team can be dealt. TLR was so despondent he was the first one to leave the clubhouse. He left in Matty Mo this time for the ninth. Morris had given up only one run, a Jeff Bagwell homer. All weekend long I heard Astros fans talking about Jim Edmonds as if he were a god (He hit a homer Friday night). One woman sitting next to me in right field actually was protecting herself, thinking that Edmonds was automatically going to spray a line drive homer right at her. But Jeff Bagwell demolishes Cardinal pitching just about as badly as Edmonds does it to the Astros. He narrowly missed tyin the game in the ninth with another homer. Instead Morris was one out away from a complete game victory, but gave up a bad-hop single to Lance Berkman that Tino couldn't handle and then tried to get cute with Kent, who deposited a 3-1 hanger deep into left field. I felt like turning around and going back home as I listened on my car radio. (I was picking up KMOX quite nicely while near the Louisiana-Texas border). But I didn't and the weekend got better. The Woodman was sterling on Saturday going six scoreless, and the bullpen was great too. Russ Springer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless and Jeff Fassero got Lance Berkman out before Dustin Hermanson came in and pitched a perfect ninth for his first save since his brief closing experiment in Montreal in 2000.
The Cards bullpen was at it again on Sunday, bailing Jason Simontacchi out after he suffered another very poor outing. The Cards were down 5-1 and I told myself if they got down any further, I was taking off so I could get home early. After all, it was Oswalt on the mound. But the Birds chipped away, and I stayed for every glorious pitch, including the seventh inning which saw clutch hits from Eli, Tino (Whoa!) and Mr. Clutch Colombian himself, Edgar Renteria. Kiko Calero pitched two perfect innings and got his first major league win. Cal Eldred continued to show that he is back, pitching two scoreless innings that included getting Bagwell to hit into a double play. Hermy was given another chance to finish the game with the Cards leading 11-6, but he allowed a two-run dong to Bagwell with two outs. It was Bagwell's second homer of the game, his third of the series, and his second one of the series that he hit completely out of the park. It was a bomb, I had a great view of it from about the seventh row on the third base line. Fassero then cam on to get Berkman out again and that was the game, 11-8, leaving the Cards just one game out of first as the second week of the season drew to a close. More analysis of the weekend to come.
Yes, in retrospect a sweep would've been nice. But after Jeff Kent's game-winning two run shot on a Friday night that like a bad dream, the Cards were staring a possible five game deficit right in the face. If they lost on Saturday, they'd be facing smoke-throwing Roy Oswaltin the Sunday finale. But as they've done all year, the Cards didn't take it lying down. They got another superb performance from Woody Williams in his homeland and won on Friday, 3-0, and then rallied on Sunday. Down 5-1 at one point, the Cards exploded on Country Boy Roy in the seventh for six runs after a Jose Vizcaino error kept the inning going. Edgar Renteria put the punctuation mark on the offensive outburst with an opposite-field homerun, his second of the day to put the Cards up 10-6 and they would go on to an 11-8 victory.
I had a great weekend in Houston, other than navigating I-10 and it's hodgepodge of construction zones, traffic jams and lunatic drivers on the way over from New Orleans. I stayed with family and made it to the games Saturday and Sunday, to watch a pair of Cardinal victories while proudly wearing my Cardinal red. Minute Maid Park is a very nice place to watch a ballgame. Aside from the slight cartoonishness of the slope in center (which comes into play rarely) it is a very creative park with creative dimensions and design. Yes, the left field wall is too close to home plate, as evidenced by the popup that Craig Biggio hit for a homerun yesterday, but the Crawford Boxes in left field are a cool thing. I was in the first row in the right field bleachers for the first half of the game Friday night, but no balls came my way. The rest of the time I walked all around the park, sitting in the upper deck, sitting right down close to the field, standing in the archways in the outfield. The big plus in these new ballparks is that there are so many more sightlines because there are fewer seats. Unlike in Busch Stadium, where if you want to walk around the outside to the bathrooms or concessions you have to leave the open-air portion of the facility entirely, at Minute Maid nearly the entire place is open air. If you stand, you can actually still see everything. Going to Houston makes me excited for the Cards to build a new ballpark.
Friday night was about of crushing a loss as a team can be dealt. TLR was so despondent he was the first one to leave the clubhouse. He left in Matty Mo this time for the ninth. Morris had given up only one run, a Jeff Bagwell homer. All weekend long I heard Astros fans talking about Jim Edmonds as if he were a god (He hit a homer Friday night). One woman sitting next to me in right field actually was protecting herself, thinking that Edmonds was automatically going to spray a line drive homer right at her. But Jeff Bagwell demolishes Cardinal pitching just about as badly as Edmonds does it to the Astros. He narrowly missed tyin the game in the ninth with another homer. Instead Morris was one out away from a complete game victory, but gave up a bad-hop single to Lance Berkman that Tino couldn't handle and then tried to get cute with Kent, who deposited a 3-1 hanger deep into left field. I felt like turning around and going back home as I listened on my car radio. (I was picking up KMOX quite nicely while near the Louisiana-Texas border). But I didn't and the weekend got better. The Woodman was sterling on Saturday going six scoreless, and the bullpen was great too. Russ Springer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless and Jeff Fassero got Lance Berkman out before Dustin Hermanson came in and pitched a perfect ninth for his first save since his brief closing experiment in Montreal in 2000.
The Cards bullpen was at it again on Sunday, bailing Jason Simontacchi out after he suffered another very poor outing. The Cards were down 5-1 and I told myself if they got down any further, I was taking off so I could get home early. After all, it was Oswalt on the mound. But the Birds chipped away, and I stayed for every glorious pitch, including the seventh inning which saw clutch hits from Eli, Tino (Whoa!) and Mr. Clutch Colombian himself, Edgar Renteria. Kiko Calero pitched two perfect innings and got his first major league win. Cal Eldred continued to show that he is back, pitching two scoreless innings that included getting Bagwell to hit into a double play. Hermy was given another chance to finish the game with the Cards leading 11-6, but he allowed a two-run dong to Bagwell with two outs. It was Bagwell's second homer of the game, his third of the series, and his second one of the series that he hit completely out of the park. It was a bomb, I had a great view of it from about the seventh row on the third base line. Fassero then cam on to get Berkman out again and that was the game, 11-8, leaving the Cards just one game out of first as the second week of the season drew to a close. More analysis of the weekend to come.
Friday, April 11, 2003
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!!!
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!!!
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.
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