Monday night’s game might have appeared like any other as the Memphis Redbirds took a 5-2 win over Omaha at AutoZone Park. It wasn’t.
The win in game 109 put the Redbirds on the same lofty perch as their St. Louis parent – in first place. Memphis now sits atop the Pacific Coast League’s Northern Division as they passed Nashville.
It has been all about resilience.
Some number of expert baseball watchers left the Redbirds for dead after having lost their top starter, Clayton Mortensen (ten quality starts, seven wins, 105 innings, 82 strikeouts), top reliever, Jess Todd (24 of 26 in save opportunities), and top hitter, Brett Wallace (.298 BA, number one Cardinals prospect), via trades in the last two weeks.
Instead of folding, Monday brought the Triple-A club’s fifth consecutive victory and their second five-game run in those last two weeks. They are now seven games over .500 at 58-51, tying their season high water mark first set on May 9.
To put the magnitude of their recovery into perspective, the Redbirds were 8 ½ games out of first as recently as June 21. Losing at Iowa that night, Memphis hit a season-low six games under .500 at 32-38. They were coming off a disastrous 4-14 stretch of losing baseball.
I was with the club during that series and saw a team that seemed to lack timely hitting and had no appearance of a group that could pick up nine games in the standings, let alone play 13 games over .500 in the ensuing six weeks.
Yet that is precisely what Chris Maloney’s club did.
Despite St. Louis having made at least 19 different calls for players from his club this season, many of them have been taken away multiple times, the man known as “Hammer” has more than held his team together.
One shouldn’t be surprised, as Maloney is a proven winner. In fact, among those managers with at least six years of service, he is the winningest skipper in the Cardinals system over at least the last 43 years. Maloney has compiled a .519 victory mark coming into this season amassed at six different levels since 1991.
Maloney’s 2009 Redbirds have just over one month remaining, with their final regular-season game scheduled on September 7. They should be an exciting team to watch as they go down to the wire.
Hammer has had them playing good, but its going to be a tough to finish the deal with all but one of the remaining series vs the Top 2 teams in each division including going to rival Nashville and the one vs a sub par team is on the road where the Redbirds have been terrible.
It should be a fun series when the play Wallace and Morty and the PCL best Sacramento River Cats in Memphis the 14th-17th.
Lugo
DeRosa
Pujols
Holiday
ludwick
ankiel
yadi
ryan
joel
My guess!
Nope. I am NY. Here is what it really is.
Upper 80s and sunny in the Big Apple.
Schu 4
DeRosa 5
Pujols 3
Holliday 7
Ludwick 9 (NL Player of the Month)
Molina 2
Ankiel 8
Lugo 6
Pineiro 1
Joe Strauss had reported Rasmus not Ankiel, any idea why the change.
I don’t think there was a change. Joe got the lineup from FSM and somewhere there must have been a mistake. I copied it from the real thing on the clubhouse wall right when the clubhouse was opened to the press at 3:30. Ras isn’t fully ready yet. I will proved more info in an article for Scout I am working on now….
I am exceedingly encouraged by a young Triple-A team leading its division.
I hope Shu does the job here. Or maybe we are bunting and slapping a bit. Other than that, even if he is playing because Ryan is hurt, he shouldn’t be hitting 1st. I hope this isn’t some sign of hopeless indecision by Tony. I would have hit Colby first and gave him a bottomless take sign before I try Shu there against Santana. He better be sedated.
Welcome to NY Albert. The Ump kicks his ass. He is slightly open and his hips are almost bursting open. He cannot reach the outer third. Its like a nightmare of denial by him or Hal.
It seems like it could have been anticipated that nether Schu nor Albert are likely to do much against Santana, yet there they are at the top of the order.
Albert cut down his swing and the need to turn out, hits a solid single. Thats where it begins.
Al and the guys in the booth must read the blog, they’ve been pointing out the things Westy’s been talking about for a week.
I can’t help but feel like this would be a great game to win 9/7. Come on Cards.
the important thing about that dong is that it was to center field. An excellent sign.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_12991471
Bad news here.
Another solo, some things never change.
Colby is a rookie through and through.
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss. Bad pitch, way to read it.
bags juiced………..I run a play
Where’s the clutch DeRosa. There he is.
He’s back now. Thank got for dumb pitching and snake bit teams. He is laughing deeply.
And thank you Westie for writing spiritual and psychological mumbo jumbo. Albert probably read that stuff, understood it fully, forgot about Hal, and was saved. Great work buddy.
If he ascends into heaven now, that would suck.
He’s not over it yet. But he will get back. First team win in a long time. Thanks Jumbo.