With a home record of 7-2 in the short season to date, the St. Louis Cardinals are in a position to sweep the visiting New York Mets on Thursday afternoon and in the process, extend their 2009 mark at Busch to eight wins in ten games.
In a match-up of a pair of veterans, Kyle Lohse takes on Livan Hernandez.
Though Livan has an extensive record against the Cardinals, it preceded most of the current St. Louis players. Only Albert Pujols has a decent number of at-bats, but he has struggled at times, with five strikeouts in 31 career ABs facing Livan. Chris Duncan and Brendan Ryan join Pujols with home runs against Hernandez.
| Hernandez | G/Starts | IP | W-L | ERA | WHIP | OBA |
| Career vs. StL | 16/16 | 112 1/3 | 5-5 | 4.33 | 1.42 | 0.267 |
| 2008 vs. StL | 0/0 | |||||
| Career at Busch (new) | 2/2 | 14 | 0-0 | 1.93 | 1.21 | 0.245 |
| Career at Busch (old) | 7/7 | 48 2/3 | 3-1 | 4.44 | 1.46 | 0.274 |
| Start ‘em | ||||||
| Chris Duncan | 2-for-3 (.667) | 1HR | ||||
| Ryan Ludwick | 1-for-4 (.250) | 1K | ||||
| Albert Pujols | 9-for-31 (.290) | 1HR, 4BB, 5K | ||||
| Brendan Ryan | 2-for-3 (.667) | 1HR | ||||
| Skip Schumaker | 1-for-1 (1.000) | |||||
| Sit ‘em | ||||||
| Khalil Greene | 3-for-20 (.150) | 1HR, 1BB, 2K | ||||
| Jason LaRue | 2-for-13 (.154) | 1BB, 5K | ||||
| Yadier Molina | 2-for-11 (.182) |
On the other side, it doesn’t look great at first blush. The Mets have been a problem for Lohse over time, including last season. At least his home record is good. Note that each of the six Mets hitters with nine or more at-bats has at least one home run off Lohse. Carlos Beltran has four.
| Lohse | G/Starts | IP | W-L | ERA | WHIP | OBA |
| Career vs. NYM | 6/6 | 32 1/3 | 1-2 | 5.57 | 1.61 | 0.307 |
| 2008 vs. NYM | 2/2 | 12 | 1-1 | 5.25 | 1.58 | 0.333 |
| Career at Busch | 23/23 | 154 | 11-3 | 3.04 | 1.09 | 0.239 |
| Start ‘em | ||||||
| Carlos Beltran | 18-for-34 (.529) | 4HR, 9BB, 5K | ||||
| Ryan Church | 5-for-11 (.455) | 1HR, 1BB, 1K | ||||
| Carlos Delgado | 7-for-17 (.412) | 1HR, 5BB, 4K | ||||
| Jose Reyes | 4-for-14 (.286) | 1HR | ||||
| Gary Sheffield | 3-for-9 (.333) | 1HR, 1BB | ||||
| David Wright | 6-for-14 (.429) | 1HR, 4K | ||||
| Sit ‘em | ||||||
| none |
One thing about it, we have a better chance of sweeping the Mets than they have of seeeping us, or of even winning the series.
This Cardinal team is off to one of the best starts I’ve ever seen. We’re 10-5 and, with just a few breaks, we could be 15-0. We’ve led in every game but one and had several chances to come back against the Pirates in that game, the third game of the season.
Nice breakdown Brian. I didn’t see Lohse’s last start. I found the walks leading to the big inning a discouraging sign. If he isn’t more balanced with off speed in the early innings, he is liable to get into long counts, and that is never good for him…… oddly enough, being aggressive with the change up takes courage. With Chris hitting and catching of all things, he has to sit Ankiel who in my opinion is in trouble. They need to be patient with L H. He keeps the ball around the plate. If you are greedy to turn on everything, he will beat you.
Ankiel hit one rope tonight that was caught. I’m not worried about him. Rasmus looked good and I don’t want to call out TLR after the play for using Ludwick as a pinch hitter for Colby but I will, anyway. Luddy doesn’t seem to hit lefties any better than right-handers but TLR will have a plaque in Cooperstown. I have my plaque taken care of by my dental hygenist twice a year.
I am becoming a little concerned about finding playing time for the four outfielders on our roster. All of them should be in the lineup everyday, IMO. That’s not all bad, though.
Two early surprises are Barden and Thurston. Love the work they are doing! Two AAAA vets show experience is an asset. (Meanwhile Aaron Miles is batting .100 and collecting checks from the Cubs. )
Ludwick and Duncan are off to good starts. TLR will help get Ankiel and Greene going. Greybeard Franklin is surprising doubters. Pups Perez and Motte may yet work out as set up guys. It would be amusing if Brad Thompson returns as an effective starter, astounding his lead skeptic, myself. With Carpenter on the shelf, we could use improvement out of Wellemeyer and the 5th guy. I figure Boggs is getting the next start to protect Walters from being overexposed to the Cubs.
We could easily be 14-1. I don’t like the Mets roster. They look on course to underperform and get Omar canned. Somebody is going to need to take the rap. Nobody likes overpaid losers.
It was a tremendous game last night pretty much all the way around. Pineiro was impressive. He looks like a completely different pitcher from last year. The sinker is nice. He did miss some spots pretty badly at times, but he was great overall.
Defense looked great as well. Thurston, Greene, and even Duncan made some nice plays. I am also pretty darn surprised with how adequate Skip looks at second. Nobody is going to confuse him with a gold glover, but he has looked adequate…which, in and of itself, surprises me.
It is a good problem to have, but we have four outfielders who should be starting darn near everyday. We need to come up with a way to fix this down the stretch. I think Ankiel is getting back on track, but it is clear that he has very little plate discpline and struggles with pitch recognition. He’ll still hit plenty, but he’ll also look bad often. With that skillset, he’ll probably always be erratic/streaky offensively.
I think we sweep. The offense is on fire.
P.s. Is the Birdhouse forum down today? Or is it just me? I am getting a “XML page cannot be displayed” error every time.
Hi Easton,
I had the same problem with the Birdhouse and figured I had been banned for a comment i made there last night about one of the posters.
I was thrilled with the two catches made by Duncan. He can be pretty awkward out there and occasionally one clunks off his glove but his inadequacy as an outfielder is highly over-rated, much like Uggla at second base. Too many people remember one game under the glare of national coverage, Dunc in the ’06 World Series and Uggla’s mishaps in the All-Star game.
Agreed about Duncan. When he is hitting, which he sure is now, he belongs out there.
What do you think about Skip so far?
I thought the move originally was a joke and was convinced he would be terrible, but I have to admit that I am shocked at how adequate he has looked.
I hope the forum problem gets fixed before the game starts today.
Nothing has changed with Duncan’s defense. All in all, he remains below average. He is fine on balls to his left or especially right, but is brutal when he has to go in or back and he won’t use two hands to catch the ball. Same as always.
Scout rolled out a software upgrade overnight that apparently was poorly tested. I have no idea when the problem with the forum will be fixed as I can’t get to the forum where status is provided. Great design…
im having trouble on Scout too… lame…
He is below average, but he is not horrific like some people seem to think.
I am glad to know the forum error was not just me. Hopefully it gets remedied quickly.
We might have to have a gamethread here, Brian.
Skip looks pretty good to me. There are a few balls that got by to either side that Kennedy might’ve reached, but who knows for sure.
I’m not ready to call it a complete success but there is no other way for him to be in the lineup. He would be so far down on the outfield chart that he would need elevator shoes to be seen.
Go for it!
what is crazy is that the forum is working just fine on the Indiana Hoosiers basketball part of Scout
According to Ray Mileur, there apparently was some kind of illegal character in a post that caused the problem. It is being worked on.
In other news, Kenny Maiques has been sent back to Extended Spring Training. Eddie Degerman up to Springfield from Palm Beach DL.
I hope Kenny can find EST…because he can’t find the strike zone.
weird… never heard of something like that… anyways, gametime!
Illegal character? In a single post?
I bet it was 3000k.
Lohse balks in a run..!!?!?!?!?!!?
Someone let me know when the Birdhouse site is back up. I missed everything last night, and am dying to catchup. I especially want to see what Dizzy said that he thought got him banned.
As predicted, LH just hanging the ball around the plate. Pujols is the only one that didn’t attempt to turn it over. You kill this guy with off field. Lohse is starting to change speeds thank heavens.
AC, the board is back up now. Welcome and feel free to post here anytime, too!
Thanks, Brian. Will do. I always read your articles that you link to.
Its likely Lohse is done unless they score 2 more.
Good to see the Cards get into the vaunted Mets bullpen in the fifth.
Looks like PJ is coming in for Lohse. Hopefully his ankle is ok.
A word of wisdom here from an old guy that is relevant to Cardinal fans everywhere. Do not change a hummingbird feeder while wearing a red shirt unless you enjoy being dive bombed by tiny critters.
Not much good having Putz and K-Rod if you can’t get to them. It may be time for Omar Minaya to start to feel some heat.
Cubs are losing again.
Good to see Cubs coming into StL on a down note. Outscored 10-1 last two games. Hopefully it will carry through the weekend.
On the Cubs post-game show today, they had a poll for Cubs fans on how many games Milton Bradley will play this season. There were four choices. The top voted answer at 46% was the fewest games that could be chosen – 80 games or less. That is the Cubs confidence we all know so well!
Bradley is a hell of a stick but his emotional instability in that hot bed of troubled personalities was one of the riskiest moves of all times. In the end, he will be their unmaking.
Bradley had an awesome year in 2008 for Texas but his road splits of .290/.410/.462 were much closer to his career average than the crazy numbers he put up in Arlington, .358/.466/.679.
I think the Cubs fell for the same kind of statistical oddity that the Angels did a couple of years ago when they gave Gary Matthews, Jr. a huge contract based on one good year for the Rangers.
Let’s hope the Cubs regret the signing of Bradley as much as the Angels have regretted signing Matthews.
WC, I agree with your prediction. Bradley has proven it time and time again.
I still can’t believe the Dodgers got Andre Ethier from Oakland when they dumped Bradley after two seasons in which he threw a drink container at a fan and also beat up his wife, among other things. I seem to recall some clubhouse problems with Jeff Kent, another clubhouse problem himself.
Billy Beane sure looks like less than a genius for that trade.
For all Beane’s “genius”, his A’s have zero playoff series wins. This will be his 13th season in Oakland.
I wrote about Bradley when the Indians dumped him after he didn’t hustle and couldn’t accept his manager taking exception and the Dodgers picked him up in 2004. Prior to that, he had spent three days in jail for driving 2x the speed limit and fleeing police, taken to a hospital after causing a drunken disturbance at a restaurant, was thrown out of one minor league for an altercation with an umpire and suspended from another for a different incident with an umpire.
Then we had the incidents in LA you mention, the first base injury/umpire/coach altercation in San Diego and the attempted attack on the broadcaster with Texas and who knows how many other problems. A walking powder keg.
There’s a very easy way to get all four (Duncan, Ankiel, Ludwick and Rasmus) into the lineup at the same time – but nobody likes the DH.
Jmo, some surely do favor the DH, but I am not among them.
Me neither – hence the smiley. But I have to admit it *would* get all four bats into the lineup.
Well, they got Schumaker in at second. Teach one of the other four how to play third!