Baseball College

1. Jeff Suppan needs to pitch the way he pitched in the NLCS - to be honest, he can pitch a little worse than that and still be fine, but we need a solid 6 or 7 innings out of him tonight. Getting ahead in the count and keeping the ball on the ground are two keys to his success tonight, let’s see if he sets the tone early.
2. Jump on the righty - Hey, it’s a right handed pitcher! We suck against lefties, so we damn sure better string some hits together against the righty tonight.

3. Rain rain go away - I want the Cardinals to play tonight, as they seem to have some momentum. It doesn’t hurt that the Tigers are still extremely flat.

4. Be, aggressive, B-E Aggressive - Detroit has shown us that they are mediocre at best defensively, so I feel that tonight we should try to take the extra base whenever possible (except on Pudge). Make them earn a victory tonight not only offensively, but defensively.

A 3-1 lead at the end of the night? Not these Cardinals, they’re not good enough, right?

1. Chris Carpenter must work both sides of the plate and throw his off speed pitches for strikes. With all the movement that he has (in either direction) with his fastballs, he can get away with mistakes out over the plate if he is mixing up speeds. If he can’t establish his curve ball, however, the Tigers hitters are going to be sitting on the hard stuff all night.  Mission accomplished - unbelievable performance.
2. Give the crowd something to cheer about early. How about a 1-2-3 inning and then a run or two in the bottom of the first? A crowd that is in the game for the whole game will make a very tough environment for the Tigers to play in.  One for two ain’t bad, and we ended up scoring first, so that’s a plus as well.
3. Go to the opposite field against the lefty. I’ve said it before (In game 2 actually), and I’m gonna say it again. Let’s be unselfish and go the opposite way against this lefty (unless he is constantly busting us inside).  He did go inside a lot, and I still don’t think our approach was that great, but it didn’t have to be that good with Carp pitching the way he was.
4. Forget about game 2. If everyone is still dwelling on the pinetarhandgate, then it could be tough to rebound and win tonight. If the Redbirds use the Kenny Rogers situation as fuel for the fire, we could be a very dangerous team tonight.  Dangerous indeed.
5. If we must be behind heading into the bottom of the ninth, let’s try to keep it around 1 or 2 down. I have all the faith in the world that we can get to Todd Jones if we have to, but it would be much easier if we were only down a couple, or, hell, even ahead going into the ninth inning. Let’s give Wainwright’s filthy curve ball a chance to display itself.  Disregarded.
Let’s go to game 4 with a 2-1 lead shall we?  OK.

As I’ve stated earlier, I’m not a huge proponent of a lot that Bryan Burwell has to say, but again he’s summed up my feelings in one of his articles.  This one pertains to the whole pine tar/dirt incident with Kenny Rogers last night.

I don’t want the first World Championship I remember seeing go down on a technicality.  Let’s earn it damnit!

A little pregame - pregame analysis for game 3.   Carpenter needs to shut down this Tigers offense with a mixture of cutters, two seamers, and curve balls.  Even if he has two of these pitches on, he should be ok, but I really hope that one of them is the curve ball.  Oh, and another thing, how bout we take a different approach against this lefthander and try hitting the ball to right field?  Are we blind to the reason we had success against Glavine the second time around?  C’mon dum dums, we took what he gave us and went the opposite way with it.  We also jumped on his mistakes over the plate.  We’ll have to take the same approach against Robertson, and if we do, we’ll be up 2-1.

1. Jeff Weaver must establish the fact that he is capable of throwing curve balls for strikes. If he can get his breaking ball over, he’ll be very effective again tonight.  He got better as the night went on, but it was too late.
2. The Cardinals need to score early again tonight, this time to establish the fact that they can score against a soft-tossing lefty. We finally figured out Glavine, and Rogers is Glavine with a few extra MPH and a little less movement on his pitches.  No.
3. Make Kenny Rogers throw a lot of pitches - If we can get to the Detroit bullpen before the seventh inning, we have a solid chance to win. If the Tigers can throw Rodney, Zumaya, and Jones in innings 7, 8, and 9, we could be in trouble.  He did, but over a span of 8 innings.
4. Stay loose - we looked good last night, but tonight’s another night, and the boys know this would be a big win. We have to maintain that carefree attitude, otherwise we’ll score very few runs.  Tighter than spandex.
I just witnessed the first World Series game win of my life that I can remember. Tough sentence to understand I know, but I was born on game 1 of the 1982 World Series, so obviously I don’t remember that series, and I really don’t remember the 1985 or 1987 series. This is a sweet feeling, and wouldn’t it be great to go back to St Lou up 2-0?  It would be great, but it’s not to be.  Going back with a split is just fine with me, especially with Carp and Soup taking the hill in games 3 and 4.  We should get at least one of those games at home, and if we don’t, we really don’t deserve to win the series.  Enjoy your flight back into warmer weather (I hope) boys.

1. Get ahead of hitters Mr. Reyes. We’ve all seen his potential, but we need that potential to come to the forefront tonight against the Tigers. Mission accomplished - tons of first pitch strikes tonight.

2. Please Mr. Reyes, change speeds. If the Tigers’ hitters can sit on fastballs down the middle on the first pitch of every at bat, your night will be very short. According to McCarver, he was changing speeds too much early on, so mission accomplished there as well.

3. Cardinals hitters, don’t be selfish. It seems that everyone wants to hit a home run lately. If the pitch is on the outside corner, go to right field. Remember, it’s a team game, work as one! Pujols homered to right, Rolen doubled to right, and Molina had a base hit to right. Well done boys.

4. Jump on ‘em early. Let’s get a run or two early to give not only Reyes more confidence, but the team as a whole. This will also send a message to the Tigers that we aren’t as overmatched as everyone thinks we are. We got one in inning two - that’s good enough for me.

5. Score more runs than the Tigers. I can almost guarantee victory if we do this. Turns out we did - five more to be exact.

I’ve been away from the deck (if you will) for a couple months now as life events have kept me from writing on my beloved Cardinals. However, just in the nick of time, I’m back to write about this most improbable trip to the 2006 World Series.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for game 5 of the NLCS, and what a game that was! I was sitting right along the left field line, so the foul pole was a bit in the way. The scene was absolutely crazy with all those people waving their towels and screaming at the top of their lungs. It was definitely the most intense, most important, most entertaining game I’ve ever been to. I’ve been to three other playoff games, Game 1 of the 2000 NLCS, Game 4 of the 2004 WS, and Game 2 of the 2005 NLDS, but absolutely none of them even come close to comparing to this one.

We got to the park early and walked around the stadium at field level, seeing all kinds of players closer up than I’ve ever seen them before. El Duque was throwing a softball around in the outfield before the game - I guess that’s some sort of training that he does to keep his arm in shape. Oliver Perez and Billy Wagner were running sprints within arm’s length of me - another cool sight to see. Hmmm, maybe I should’ve tripped Perez so he couldn’t have pitched a gem against us in Game 7.. nah, didn’t really matter anyway.

You all know how the game went - intense all the way to the finish, and that’s that.

As for game 7, can you believe it? I had some sort of feeling that either Reyes, Beltran, or Delgado would have a chance to end the game, and two of them got that chance. Some people are going to say, “how do you get paid so much money to watch strike three go by?” Well, that curve ball from Wainwright was the nastiest pitch I’ve ever seen him throw, so I am pretty sure he’s not the only rich #3 hitter that would’ve been frozen by that pitch.

What a fantastic series, a series that went completely backwards from the way it should have gone. Weaver v Glavine in game 5, Weaver wins. Carpenter v Maine in game 6, Maine wins. Suppan against Perez in game 7, both get a no decision, dueling each other to the finish. Yadier Molina hits the series winning home run because he’s the least potent hitter in our lineup (at least in the regular season).

It’s been a wild ride, but it’s not over yet! Cards in 7, mark it down.

How are we doing against the NL Central this year?  25-30.  Against the Cubs, the second worst team in the NL, 3-10.  Against the Pirates, the worst team in the NL, a barely over .500 7-5.  This weekend’s sweep was again, hard to watch, just like all the other series’ sweeps we’ve witnessed this year.

Valatan over at VEB writes a very good post about the fact that we don’t need to be the best team in the league to win the WS; we just need to get hot at the right time.  Getting hot at the right time is all well and good, but with the lifeless baseball this team is playing, a brand of baseball that can’t beat the worst team in the NL, how are we going to get hot at the right time, or, ever?

I mentioned in my last post/rant/vent that I think Mark Mulder is the key to our playoff chances.  I’ve decided to add a new key to our chances:  losing first place.

If the Cardinals happen to play poorly against the Reds in this upcoming series and suck against the Cubs over the weekend, it is very possible that we will be out of first place.  With all the crappy baseball the Cardinals have played over the course of the year, they have had no reason to play with a sense of urgency.  The most pressure being applied to them is by a team who is playing little better than .500 baseball, and after all the poor baseball the Cardinals have played, the Reds still find themselves trailing these birds in the standings.

If and when the Reds overtake the Cardinals in the standings, I believe the Cardinals will be forced to play a more inspired brand of baseball.  If losing first place for a period of time cannot inspire them, I believe that we should set our sights on the 2007 version of this team, because the emotion and passion is completely drained.

Is there a single facet of this team that has proven to be reliable throughout the course of this season?  I realize 162 games is a long time, and it is very hard to remain consistent throughout, but I have seen very little consistency at any point this year.

Our ace pitcher can’t be relied upon anymore.  Maybe that’s a bit extreme, but his last 3 starts have been absolutely nothing to write home about, and as the ace, when given a lead, you must protect it.

Obviously, our bullpen can’t be relied upon.  I’ve never put a ton of stock in Jason Isringhausen because he makes me pull my hair out every time he gets a save.

Our offense had chances to put the game away tonight, and didn’t.  They put some runs on the board tonight, but I think I would hear little argument after saying the Cardinals have been less than impressive at the plate this year, especially recently.

Our defense has been ok - but I can remember games, namely against the Cubs, where our defense cough Scott Rolen cough has blown a game for us.

Is there any relief in sight?  Mark Mulder, possibly, could give this team a kick start.  On the other hand, it’s been documented that the team chemistry within the clubhouse sucks, and albeit an intangible, I believe it’s a very important part of a team’s success.

Except for Pujols’ heroics earlier in the season, I’ve really disliked this team as a whole, period.  I don’t know what it is, but there just isn’t a whole lot to get excited about.  I want them to get to the playoffs, but I don’t think I’ll be as heartbroken as I may have been a year or two ago if they fail to get there.

It was a necessary rant for me, my apologies.

PS: The Walk-Off HR was absolutely murdered… at least it wasn’t a cheap bandbox home run that we see so often in Cincinatti.

Nobody knew it, but I made it down to the New Busch for the first time this past weekend.  I took in the Friday and Saturday game, so yes, I was a part of snapping this ugly 8 game losing streak.  I was sitting in the nosebleed seats on Friday night on the first base line, but the nosebleeders still give you a very good view of the field.  Saturday night, interestingly enough, I got a bloody nose at the game, but I was sitting right behind the Cardinals bullpen, 2 rows up.  Go figure.  A few observations about the game from a first hand perspective:

1.  David Eckstein does not look comfortable at the plate, and at times it looks like he’s trying to find a quick way to get himself out of the batters box.  He’s not being as patient, not fighting off as many pitches, and swinging much more early in the count.  That’s a bit scary, because the leadoff hitter sets the tone for a game quite often.

2.  Chris Duncan is a bad defensive left fielder, and an even worse defensive right fielder.

3.   Pujols is still not quite right.  He’s still hitting a lot of foul pop ups, those pop ups typically being laser beams when he’s on.

4.  Edmonds catch on Saturday night was incredible.

A few other tidbits from the weekend involved me getting an autograph and picture with So Taguchi and John Rodriguez.  So was as friendly as you would expect him to be, all smiles, very respectful.  John Rodriguez, on the other hand, responded to my politeness with some form of grunting, mumbling, what have you.  He seemed like he thought he was better than I, and while he’s got my number on the diamond, I don’t think he can make the claim that he’s a better person than I after 15 seconds of conversation.  The autographs and pictures were an organized thing, being held just behind the new team store at Busch.

All in all, a good first weekend in the New Busch - all things considered, I’m fine with a 2 game split in my stay there.  I wasn’t sure we would get one while I was there.

How the hell are we still in first place right now? It isn’t because of the stellar at bats we’re getting from our lead-off man, nor is it the power of Scott Rolen. We are still in first place because our competition can’t capitalize on our horribleness. For instance, let’s take our only remaining serious competition, the Reds.

During our 8 game losing streak back in June, the Reds could only muster a 3-4 record. In our recent six game slide, the Reds are a mere 2-4. This means that the Reds only gained 5 games on us when they had potential to gain 14. Being realistic, had they played their typical baseball, they would’ve gone 8-5 or, more likely, 7-6, which would leave them a half game or a game and a half out.

For some reason, 3 1/2 games seems like a much more comfortable lead. However, maybe the Reds taking over the Central lead would be a little kick in the ass for this lifeless ballclub we refer to as the 2006 Cardinals. We’ve tried picking up too many players off the scrap heap, and even though we’re still in first place, it does seem like it is coming back to haunt us each time these players step on to the field. I don’t think a guy like an August acquisition of Shawn Green would help that much, and to be honest, I really feel like only one thing can give us a shot at participating in the 2006 fall classic:

Mark Mulder.

If Mulder comes back healthy with some life on his pitches, it will allow the Cardinals to bump Weaver (if they bump Reyes I’ll go bonkers) out of the rotation, thus giving us a legitimate chance to win day in and day out, and will give Weaver a chance to fix whatever the hell is wrong with him. We have only seen glimpses of Mark Mulder at his finest, and although it’s a long shot, if we could see him at his finest once again down the stretch, we might just be playing baseball deep in the month of October.

**EDIT** I guess Bryan Burwell agrees - one of the first times I’ve agreed with him on something Cardinals related in quite some time.