Baseball College

Just when you thought that home would be sweet, it turned sour.

What do you do to right the ship when your whole team can’t put it together?  It’s a tough question to answer - I would imagine it’s much like an individual slump, and you gotta just keep doin what you’re doin.

Tonight was another launchfest at the expense of Jason Marquis.  On the plus side, he gave barely more than half the runs that he did in his last start.  On the minus side, that was still 7.  The offense isn’t cashing in on their opportunites, the pitching is shaky at best, and we’re playing the best teams in the league.  When it rains it pours.  On to the pro and con of the night:

Pro:   Scott Rolen - do you realize that this guy is hitting .350 this year?  This guy absolutely needs the comeback player of the year award.  3-4 again tonight with no signs of slowing down.  Have a season Scotty, have a season.
Con:  Josh Hancock - 3 walks in 1/3 of an inning.  I don’t feel the need to elaborate on this.

Our staff seems to be a bunch of nibblers, and frankly, it’s pissing me off.  The reason I loved Reyes performance the other night is because he challenged hitters, pitched aggressively, and won most battles as a result.  I sometimes wonder if Cardinal pitchers know that working ahead in the count is easier than working from behind.

Can we stop the streak at 7?  I sure as hell hope so.

So that was the final score of the series, but it was 33-11 after game 2.  I was going to write a long recap about the game this morning, but it looks like everything I wanted to say (and more) was covered by the Diaspora and VEB.

I couldn’t agree more with VEB about Pujols and I’ve been saying it all along as well - keep him out longer than he needs to be so we can be assured he’s 100% when he comes back.  If he reaggrivates this injury, I, along with the rest of Cardinal nation, am going to be uber pissed.

As for Reyes, yes, yes, yes.

Maybe we can actually win a game in Detroit eh?

You be the judge as to whether this is good news or not - I’m not so sure it is, but a guy can hope, can’t he?

I thought that after last night, the White Sox would score a maximum of 3 runs today.  Guess I was wrong.  They will score a maximum of 3 runs tomorrow - at least I hope, because scoring double digits on us 2 days in a row just isn’t cool, and a third would be downright ridiculous.
Pro - Bullpen - I’m sure they’re getting to be a tired bunch, but they pitched well tonight.  3.0 IP, 2 H, 0ER, 4 K.  I’ll take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Con - Take a guess - 13 runs in 5 innings, all of them earned.  I guess he did only walk 1 batter, so that’s a plus.  14 hits, 14 muthaf&%^in hits.  I didn’t even see the game tonight, so I can’t comprehend how this line is even possible.  Was he throwing lefthanded, or was he throwing a superball? Why must he be so Jekyll and Hyde all the time?  Just when we think he’s coming around, he goes bonkers, and just when we think he’s completely lost it, he throws a gem.  He’s turning in to Izzy 2, shaky at best.

Well, tomorrow is a new day again, and although we lost a game tonight, we still have a comfy 4 game lead above the sliding Reds.  Time to at least keep it reasonable tomorrow; if we gotta lose, how bout a 1 run or 2 run game?  Let’s see what our phenom can do for us on the hill, possibly keep em under 10 tomorrow.

I’m writing this recap in inning 6 of the Cardinal game tonight - I have a feeling we aren’t coming back to win.

Is it possible that Mulder is hurt?  Obviously that’s what Bernie thinks, and I don’t know whether to agree with him and cut Mulder some slack, or just bash him mercilessly.  I’ll choose the former, but not without some serious thought for the latter.

If Mulder can’t put it together, what do the Cardinals do in regards to a trade, acquisition, what have you?  Here’s what I think:  I think we need another starting pitcher, and I’ll tell you why.  I think we need another starting pitcher because we have shored up our offense with the arrival of Juan E’s bat.  Obviously he isn’t going to continue to hit at this .400 clip he’s been going on lately, but if he can remain around .280 the rest of the year (which he’s at now), I will be more than satisfied with our lineup.  Our bullpen is currently ok, so that leaves us with our starting pitching.

Could we live without another SP?  Well, possibly, but Mulder’s status pending, we could see a rotation of Carp, Marquis, Soup, and Reyes in the postseason.  Could we win with that rotation?  I really don’t think so, and I don’t want to see Reyes thrown into that situation so early in his career, because the memories of Rick Ankiel still weigh on my brain.  I don’t care how mature Reyes is; that’s a big situation that he hasn’t been put in before, and how many regular season big league starts has he pitched to begin with?  Forget playoffs, let’s get him comfortable in the regular season.  So, if Reyes is out, who does that leave?  Well, that’s where I feel that big name SP (if there’s one out there that’s affordable) comes in.  As for the pro and con, well, take a guess as to the latter.

Pro - Juan Encarnacion - for reasons stated above, Juan E has really provided a boost to this offense at a much needed time.  Again, if he ends the year at .280, I’ll be ecstatic, and you should be too.

Con - Mark Mulder - He can’t locate, his velocity is down, his confidence is shot.  That’s it, I think those points say it all about him right now.

By the way - I want Pujols to rest, and if I had my choice, I’d keep him out until the All Star break.  We need him MUCH more later in the season than we do now.  Rest, heal, come back 100% Albert.

0-2, two outs, runners on second and third, and Zach Duke, the pitcher, gets a pitch right down the pooper and does what he should with it, ripping it into right field for a single that drives home two.  This first sentence should probably give you some indication as to who the “con” is for the day, but wait, there’s more.  Duke got another fat pitch to hit in his next at bat, and almost made us pay with a double down the left field line.  Turns out, he only blooped a single in and got his 3rd RBI, but is Ponson so thick-headed that he can’t learn from his past mistakes (to the opposing pitcher noless)?  On to the pro and con of the game.

Pro - Hector Luna - how do we always seem to get so much production out of our utility guys?  Luna has played almost every position this year aside from  P, C, and CF I believe (don’t quote me).  He went 3-4 tonight with a double, and upped his average on the year to .314.  I realize that we lost tonight, but if these guys that don’t get to play every day keep stepping up as they are, I think we’ll have no problems competing for another division title.

Con - Sidney Ponson - the only thing Ponson could locate tonight was the dugout bench.  His pitches were going every direction, and I’ve already bitched about the Duke incidents, so we don’t need to relive that.  Is it possible that all of our starting pitchers aside from Carpenter are going through a dead arm stage of the season?  It seems a bit early for that, and Ponson had 15 days of rest when he was on the DL, so I just don’t know what’s going on with our staff.  In my humble opinion, I think we could use a couple quality starts in the next few games to get our starting staff some confidence, and our bullpen some rest.

So we lost one to the Pirates tonight, big deal.  TLR is all about winning series, and we have the opportunity to do that tomorrow with Mulder taking the hill against Santos in a matinee, 1135 CST start.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if the Cardinals can play .500 ball without Albert Pujols, we will win the division.  Right now, we’re right at .500, and look to be playing a little bit better in #5’s absence.  I was watching the postgame on FSN tonight, and it was said that Brad Thompson and Tyler Johnson both shot 150+ for 18 holes of golf.  Horrible.  Anyway, on to the pros and cons of this beautiful game tonight.

Pro:  Chris Carpenter - I almost gave this to Braden Looper just because he was locating well and got two straight outs, a rarity in both cases.  However, 13 Ks in 7 innings can’t go unrecognized, especially when only 3 hits and 3 walks were scattered in amongst those 13.  Carp was dominant tonight, and I’m glad I was able to watch the game.  He was hitting his spots with regularity (as you might imagine), and kept the hitters off balance with a combination of a fastball, cutter, and curveball.  Not to be forgotten, he also mashed an Oliver Perez delivery to center, almost burning the CF who was playing shallow.  I hope we can get this kind of performance, or something similar, every 5th day from here on out from Carp.  Obviously he can’t be perfect every night, but tonight, he was very close.

Con:  The Tablesetters.  Eckstein and Taguchi went a combined 0-7 tonight, and once again when Carp takes the hill, we don’t provide much run support for him.  Wonder why he’s only got 5 wins on the season?  Well, tonight, it was the top of the order that did the damage (or lack thereof).  In baseball, it all starts with the top, and if they can’t get on base, runs are most likely going to be at a premium.  Oliver Perez is lefthanded, been struggling mightily, and is known to be wild at times.  0-7 is just unacceptable in a situation like that, especially since Eck and Taguch are right handed hitters.

All in all, not much to complain about tonight, but after all the slugfests we’ve played in this weekend, the “we don’t know how to score runs without Albert” excuse really can’t be used anymore.  Let’s hope for another win tomorrow, with Ponson taking the hill against another southpaw, Zach Duke.

“If they get discouraged after a couple losses and lose their cool, someone will have to hit the panic alarm in Cardinal nation.”

I said that a few days ago in this post, and I fear that we may have to hit the panic button sooner than expected. We look flat, and downright mediocre without #5 in the lineup. Is it possible that he has that much effect on the whole team, pitching included? If this is the case, which it appears it is, he truly is one of the greatest Cardinals to don the uniform. On to the pro and con of the game, and again, it’s tough to pick a pro.

Pro - Scott Rolen. He’s still hitting the ball well, and tonight was no exception. The only problem I have with tonight’s performance is this: In the 4th inning, he stepped to the plate with a runner on first and nobody out. He hit a slow roller to shortstop, who flipped to second, and the second baseman made a jump throw and nailed Rolen by two steps. Either I missed the piano that was trailing him as he crossed first base, he wasn’t hustling, or he got the worst jump out of the batters box that I’ve seen all season. Look at this, I’m getting negative in the “pro” section of the post. I guess that just goes to show how things have been going lately.

Con - Can I just give it to everyone else? I suppose it is my blog, so I could, but I’ll pick one in particular tonight. Sidney Ponson, step right up. You didn’t pitch well, but you also failed to lay a sacrifice down in the 3rd, and that chaps my ass just as much as your poor performance on the mound. We are at a point in our season where we will have to manufacture runs if we want to score them. If we can’t get a bunt down, that’s going to be hard to do now, isn’t it?

Alright, let’s assess the situation; we’re tied for first, and the team in third place, Houston, is 6 1/2 games back. I think right now we must somehow find our way into survival mode. I mean, maybe the Reds are for real this year, but my guess is, eventually, their pitching is going to realize that they aren’t as talented as their numbers may indicate. Even if we lose 10 games to every other team in the Central in this 4-6 week period without Pujols (which I don’t think we will do), it’s still a definite possibility that we could come back and win the division.

As for right now, we gotta find a way to win a baseball game. Getting swept by the Reds at home should never happen, but let’s face it, they’re hot, and we’re the exact opposite. As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Well, get your umbrellas out and keep em out for a little while. This isn’t the second coming of noah’s ark, but it could be a rough stretch.

Keep the faith Cardinal nation, we will find a way to win, we always do, seriously though, someone stand by the panic button just in case.

Well, Carpenter came back tonight and didn’t lose a limb or take a line drive to the face, so I guess that’s a good thing.  He shook the rust off in this start, and I am hoping he returns to form in his next start.  On to the pro and con.

Pro -  Scott Rolen - he continues to have success against lefties, and apparently he’s the only one who knows how to handle a soft-tossing lefty.  Why is it that the Cardinals consistently get baffled by sub-par lefthanded pitchers?  Anyway, we really need Scott’s bat, and he’s doing his best to fill the humungous shoes of el hombre in the #3 spot.
Con - I’m having a hard time choosing tonight, but I’m going to go with the bullpen, because I think that could be a more significant problem than our lack of offense.  We’ve been dealing with a struggling offense all year, so we know how to win games with little offense.  The bullpen could’ve kept the game close, but Hancock and Thompson decided that it would be a good idea to give up 6 hits and 4 runs in 4 innings of work.  Call me crazy, but I am a bit concerned about our pen.

On a side note, Izzy won the DHL delivery man of the month according to a press release posted by MLB.com.  There really weren’t any other closers that did better than him in May?  Seriously?  Well, congratulations Jason, now maybe you can use that trophy to pry your head out of your ass.

Also, it appears that JD Drew, Larry Bigbie has gone back on the DL again.  Why not add another player to the DL roster - we’re becoming the Cubs, and that’s just not cool.

Maybe we should look for a closer before the trade deadline instead of another bat. Just saying… On to the pros and cons from this wasted game.

Pro - Yadier Molina. He went 1-4 tonight, which, sadly enough, raised his average. On the flip side, that one hit was a home run, and he turned around a high fastball from Esteban Yan, the sweatiest baseball player in the league according to Dan McLaughlin. Yan throws quite hard, and a high fastball is always harder to catch up with, so I’m very encouraged that the best defensive player in the league is starting to quicken his bat a bit more as well. Anything we get offensively from him is a bonus, according to TLR and yours truly. Finally, the home run he hit gave us a HUGE insurance run (at the time anyway), because we all know how fickle Izzy is on the mound. He sure as hell proved it tonight
Con - Braden Looper. He was a closer at one time eh? I can see why he’s been moved to a setup man. He’s not a very good pitcher right now, and I get just as nervous with him as I do with Izzy. Wise baseball people say that throwing the ball hard doesn’t matter if you can’t locate, and Braden Looper is the definition of that statement in his last three outings. Here are the numbers from his last 3 outings: 1.2 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. I don’t think Wainwright can/will be a starter this year, but I do think that he could be a good candidate for a setup man/8th inning guy. Move Looper back an inning, or a level, and let him get right in the head and the mechanics.

I could’ve given the con to Izzy tonight, but I’m so used to his crap that I don’t even have the heart to harp on him any more. Let me put it this way - I have always been worried about Izzy; I’ve not always been worried about Looper.
Back at it tomorrow with Carpenter making his first start since his stint on the DL. He’ll be facing Eric Milton, who is 3-2 with a 4.89 ERA.

Well, we’re officially 1-0 against the Cubs when Albert Pujols doesn’t start - 2-6 when he does.  We might as well just release him and get rid of the payroll so we can go after some aging veteran.  This was a big win for the Cardinals today, and I was very impressed with the mental makeup of a team that just lost their leader.  We all saw what happened when the Cubs lost Derrek Lee - thank the lord we’re not the Cubs.  Anyway, on to the pro and con of this Sunday baseball game:

Pro:  Jim Edmonds - how can you not give this to Edmonds?  He did exactly what we needed someone to do today; step up and have a game.  To compound this amazing performance, he’s still playing in a lot of pain.  We will need Jim to gut out this injury and contribute to the team in any way he can in Pujols’ absence.  Today was a fantastic start, going 3-3 with a walk, and nearly hitting a home run.
Con:  Jason Marquis.  How is he 8-4?  His ERA is over 5, and although he is finding a way to win, he can’t expect 8 runs a game from this offense every time he steps on to the mound.  He gave up five walks in five innings, and I don’t care how good your stuff is, if you walk a person an inning, you’re going to struggle.  Mulder looks bad, Marquis looks bad, Carpenter is hurt - that’s not a recipe for success, especially with #5 shelved.
I feel that if we can go .500 in Pujols’ absence, we will be in the playoffs in October.  Obviously you can’t replace a player like Pujols, but the players that are healthy can step their game up just a little bit while #5 is gone.  If they do, we’ll be fine.  If they get discouraged after a couple losses and lose their cool, someone will have to hit the panic alarm in Cardinal nation.

Back on Monday night with a pro and con from the opener with Cincinatti - Claussen v Suppan.