John Smoltz was tattooed by Cincinnati Wednesday night apparently due to non-rubbed up baseballs, and the St. Louis Cardinals offense was allegedly stymied because of pine-tarred offerings served up by Reds starter Bronson Arroyo.
Whatever the reason, it was the third consecutive subpar outing from the “other” starters, those not named Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Number three starter Joel Pineiro reverted to leaving his pitches up and yielded four home runs on Tuesday. The other back-of-the-rotation competitor, Kyle Lohse, has also been shaky since his return from the disabled list, having allowed 11 runs in his last 14 1/3 innings.
The following may have to become the post-season mantra for the Cardinals and their fans:
“Waino, Carp and pray for the tarp…”
Despite an unusual pre-game hitters meeting led by Tony La Russa, Hal McRae and Mike Aldrete, the Cardinals slumping offense managed only one run against Arroyo after plating just two the night before.
Arroyo has had a Jeckyll and Hyde season unlike most any in recent history. As of July 9, the veteran had been battered all season long, carrying a 5.85 ERA. He had allowed 16 runs in his most recent 14 innings. After a cortisone shot to address carpal tunnel, his second of the year, Arroyo went off on a tear. The right-hander posted quality starts in 15 of his 16 outings since, knocking two full runs off his ERA.
Now that Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan has complained about Arroyo and the baseballs used, is the pitcher’s record tainted?
Certainly having pine tar on his cap and going to it before every pitch as Duncan alleged would place Arroyo among the charter members of the Kenny Rogers School of Pitching.
Yet Duncan and La Russa remained silent Wednesday as their offense flailed and Smoltz boiled over in frustration. One reason coaches don’t want to engage in this “showmanship” is because no one is above suspicion.
Before Cardinals fans get too up in arms, remember it cuts both ways. Former St. Louis reliever Julian Tavarez fired his cap into the stands to try to lose the evidence after getting caught loading up a few years back. Tavarez received a ten-game suspension for his hijinks.
Now, let’s discuss the Cincinnati baseballs and the implication they were doctored to Arroyo’s specifications. Since both pitchers have to use them, it would be logical to assume that other opposing pitchers besides Smoltz may have struggled at Great American Ballpark on the days they opposed Arroyo.
I took a look back at the composite records of the visiting pitchers in Arroyo’s eight home starts since his July 10 turnaround. Over those entire eight games, the enemy pitchers posted an aggregate ERA of just 3.13 using the Arroyo balls. This microscopic ERA was put up despite having to play on the road in that bandbox of a ballpark in the Queen City.
Opposing starters that excelled at GAB on with “Arroyoballs” include Ricky Nolasco, Clayton Kershaw, Barry Zito and Kevin Correia. Needless to say, John Smoltz is not among them, as his Wednesday ERA was 13.50.
Just maybe it isn’t the baseballs at all.
Late last night on MLB Network, former Brewers pitcher Dan Plesac made some very different observations about Smoltz’ messy evening. Plesac noted Smoltz was relying almost exclusively on his breaking pitches, probably because his fastball was only topping out in the mid-80’s. He went on to suggest Smoltz was running on fumes and may be hiding an injury.
It seems with the Cardinals on top of the NL hunt, everyone is gunning for them. Last weekend, it was the bullpen mound in Colorado. This week, it is the baseballs in Cincy.
Maybe this team should look in the mirror instead.
What this Cardinals club needs to do more than anything is dig in and get their act ready for October, because if they don’t make a run deep into the playoffs, the failure will rest squarely on the collective shoulders of La Russa and his players.
Repeat after me, “Waino, Carp and pray for the tarp…”
Wells has been known to cure an offense. I know, I know, he’s been hot, live arm, yada yada. Too bad Albert’s out, but we’ve got other singles hitters. I wonder if he got told he has the flu today. Except for Holliday, the 0-fers from yesterday are sitting, mostly.
Pujols sitting is the best thing that could happen. Holiday will respond, and needs to.
Smoltz was protecting the shoulder in the cold. I stopped watching after my last message in the 2nd and was startled to read that he went farther. He knows he is going to the pen, and he was just trying to maintain his status as a recovered ball player. I’m shocked that he was allowed to continue. If Albert is sick, I will take the Cards today.
There is a remote possibility that rockies win home field advantage and the division, sending the Cardinals to Denver. Whoppee!
Get your money off the table Westy, miraculous recovery.
I’ll be damned………………………….. After watching Colby and Brendan share hand on cheek pledges in the dugout before the game……………………………………. and Albert saying its all about me……..You shouldn’t wonder why Holiday decided to pass on St Louis. Tony has set an emotional environment that will just not sell. All problems with Cardinal offenses are technical, not emotional..
I’ll say it once more…….Pujols is killing this team, and Tony is powerless to effect it. His trauma is now everyones, his struggles are theirs. BD is the luckiest man alive, I swear it.
Carp hit a Granny……………….. Maybe some of the other guys are going to say… we’ve had enough.
I love this……..the zombie hopeless at the bottom of the order say…….. lets play. The pensive Skip at the top, with little buzzards hovering around his open shoulder and pull off head, goes right down. We loose a sympathetic ump and now its Colby’s turn…….what will Albert do? The suspense.
Albert had at least two mistake pitches that he was so far out in front of that he just pull them foul. It took a 58footer to walk him. Holiday just slaps the obvious. Rick flashes to 0/2. Blown away out of the zone…………. Troy with a prayer now for the resurgent hopeless. Too bad. Yadi the depressed takes the Box…….Oh well. I would say that Yadi’s sullen demeanor has to do with an adverse reaction to the anti inflam meds. They can do that.
I don’t think it was the resurgent hopeless zombies Westy, Wells can do that stuff all by himself.
Regarding the essay above, maybe TLR regards part of his job as finding excuses for poor play. This deflects stress and is good for the morale of his lads. Its leadership!
Few people, let alone ballplayers, should take a close look in the mirror, because if they are honest, they may see flaws. Ed Wade screamed at Shawn Chacon that he should take a good look in a mirror. Shawn did not want to do this and a disagreement ensued, between these two gentlemen.
Maybe Tony thinks its best for other teams to look in mirrors and think about their inner traumas, like Hamlets, while Tony does not want his warriors doing any self-appraisals.
Smoltz loves baseball. He doesn’t want to leave it. I admire him for that. The presents of a personal trainer doing the type of chiropractic that he does along with soft tissue massage tells me the John is very sensitive to the way he is feeling. Watching him pitch in the first inning, I recognized that he was very conscious of the way the cold was effecting his shoulder. The over gripping of slick baseballs doesn’t help. He is acutely aware that the maintenance of the appearance of viability is crucial to signing a contract somewhere in 2010. He knows that depending on this offense, he might have already pitched in his last game this year. It is highly unlikely that Lohse will show nothing on Saturday, securing his place in the post season. No game can be thrown away in the playoffs so it is likely that Tony/Dave will use a short leash on Joel. If he is being hit, and falls 3 runs behind, he would be lifted when ever, 1st inning on. He will want to go long with Smoltz I would think, not any of the other possibles for money. If Lohse flounders, it could easily be him because of his playoff experience. It is likely to be in St. Louis where I hope we get some warm days.
Albert is now choking on his own fractured self image. Unless Tony deals with it, like he could have today, we don’t have a chance in hell. He needs to be sat down. He must find some humility. For those that have a problem with these descriptions and metaphors, keep this in mind. The truth is in how our opponents are treating Albert. To say that they are exploiting his problems is a huge understatement. And the Reds are not even a finesse team. The walks today were generous but clear in their intension. Don’t let this guy hit you. Play him for a fool, if it doesn’t sell, let him go. Thats Dusty doing damage. If the denial would stop, and Albert would just cease the “Its all about me” campaign, he could bounce back and deal with his own conflicts on the rise. It is the denial that keeps him from doing the obvious. His difficulties are so simple, they have been render invisible by the hype. Lets hope he sees the light.
There is a book “fooled by randomness.” Full disclosure, I have not read it. But it supposedly about how we make up elaborate explanations for all sorts of things, so as to have the reassurance of beliefs in our understandings.
I have no idea what Albert is thinking. I do not mind being honest about that. I figure its Albert’s privilege to do his own thinking, not my job to speculate about his thoughts.
Get a copy Jumbo…………….
The book should probably be required reading. It must be about the perils of data interpretation.
Only Westie could find fault in the hitting of a team scoring 13 runs!
I feel confronted by a choice. On the one hand, Westie is very perceptive and eloquent about Albert suffering trauma and, I have to look this up, fractured self esteem.
My other choice is to place confidence in Albert.
Whose judgment should be trusted?
Wow. Its a head scratcher. I feel deeply muddled.
Today’s box score means something but I am conflicted as to what. One notices at once that all of the RBI’s appear in the lower half of the box. All. As do most of the hits, runs, and total bases.
Since Albert rarely swings at the first pitch, that’s usually the only centerable pitch he sees. They lay it in there to convince him that they are pitching to him. After that he gets few that are even in the strike zone. Most of the time, if he just didn’t swing at all he would walk. But he cannot resist taking his hacks, so he swings and misses at chin high or 6 in. off the plate, or swings and hits the non-centerable ones. Almost every at-bat follows this pattern. It must be well known as he is pitched like this by everybody.
Right on, blingboy! Your analysis of the 13-0 box score, that “all of the RBI’s appear in the lower half”, serves as a portrayal of the general trend throughout the past month. Generally, when only one (or none) of our Murderers Row were connecting in a long ball or clutch sort of way, our bottom of the order and our Mendoza Line “sluggers” have been carrying the weight! The problem, of one (or none) of our Murderers Row connecting in the clutch, has been conspicuously recurrent.
Right on, blingboy! Your analysis of Albert’s modus operandi at bat is not only precise, but also blends well with the controversial personality/character analysis performed by WestCoastbirdWatcher. Yes, about 95 percent of the time, Albert ignores that first pitch (which is usually right down the middle) and I believe that he has been foolishly falling for the game that you so perceptively described. Westy is equally justified (and convincing) in his analysis.
Albert had numerous pitches to hit BB. His addiction, or obsession if you will, to take the ball out in front by opening up so soon has been comical.. He can’t even get lucky. He is in a conflicted self defeating mode. As long as there is denial, he won’t address the real problems. Any team would be happy to give up the singles he is manufacturing. Holiday too for that matter. If you watch allot of baseball, you realize just how bad this team is performing at the plate. 13 runs, wow they were ripping. Some of the posters here haven’t done much coaching, or playing me thinks. Albert is suffering every time he comes up. Hit Carp 4th.
Right on 57…………… If Albert would take a round house practice swing with full extension at that first pitch a few times……………no one would throw it over the plate again.
I can’t say that I’ve noticed the bottom of the order doing any more than the top.
Glaus looked good at the plate Thursday, very comfortable. If Glaus continues to look serviceable it would be hard to go with Derosa whose wrist injury has caused his hitting to flat line. If Glaus gets starts over the weekend, that may be what Tony’s thinking too.
Doubt that BB………. He may bump K Greene though. Tony is already planning his backup response to the expected failure of his first choice..
Westy, covering of exposed butts is the complement to excuse making which was rolled out in Colorado and Cincy. Failure to delay addressing issues until its too late can be obfuscated.
The plan you refer to:
Create a cloud is step one, duck into it, two.
Misdirect like the wind, emerge shiny and new.
Ride into sunset.