Catch me talking St. Louis Cardinals baseball with Matt Perrault and Ken Miller on KXnO FOX Sports Radio 1460 in Des Moines today (Friday) at 5:25 p.m. CDT. The newly-sponsored and titled weekly show is called “Cardinal Talk.”
Go to kxno.com for the live stream.
Cardinals fans in central Iowa should be sure to catch Cardinals radio broadcasts on KXnO all 2010 season long.
For Scout.com subscribers who miss it, I will post the audio at TheCardinalNation.com following the segment.
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1. Lopez, 2B
2. Craig, LF
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Ludwick, RF
5. Molina, C
6. Freese, 3B
7. Mather, CF
8. Ryan, SS
9. Carpenter, p
I think this will be a fun game to watch……………Molina at 5 will haunt. Does Rasmus sit tomorrow too against Santana………….bad timing here.
I’m more than a bit surprised to see Craig in the two hole.
Stavi is going to get a complex if he doesn’t get a start. Its raining lightly on and off, Westy, hope they get the game in. I wonder if Tony will say anything about Craig second.
Brian must be a huge draw for KNXO. I tuned in at 5:25 and they announced he was up next, then 7 minutes of commercials and promos, then traffic, then the weather, then another promo for their coverage of Cards games this year, then finally Brian at 5:35. It was a nice segment. Paid some bills for them that’s for sure.
On some sports-talk radio today it was suggested the reason FSM just happened to cut away from live opening day festivities when Big Mac was introduced was because the Cards asked them to, in case he got bood.
Carpenter is show signs of a physical problem. Seems to be the elbow.
Craig has a chance……….he gets up and over swings…….lucky to walk.
Terrible baseball by Albert. He is always the exception to reason. The run scored was worse than the at bat…………… that was little league.
Albert is offered the walk……..but he says “if I don’t make it happen, it ain’t going to happen.”. He grounds out. But he’s angry at himself. Right.
We’re making this guy look like Koufax.
bb, thanks for listening. I have to admit that I did not wait though the commercials. We pre-recorded today, though usually it is live.
Craig is starting to look like another dead pull hitter BB. Everyone kills Oliver by just burying him under a barrage of singles to right.
Every Cardinal come to the plate trying to dictate what it is they want to do. All family men. Some looking to pad their averages, others try to make an impression of a weak lineup. The only hitter is Freese because he is so out of it…….he’s in it.
Perez has nothing…………. just standing up there and hitting a pitch in the zone where it wants to go gets it done.
Putting in a rightie………..Tony should counter………..oh yeah, we’re short on middle infielders.
I just saw a posiion player bunt a runner into scoring position. I’m confused. Is that legal?
We have no way of using Colby………. they know we don’t have any more Middle infielders. That’s more likely than just turning Lopez around..
Good at bat………he stayed back and was just waiting for that hanger.
I’m happy they got Carpenter off the hook.
Our new salami boy will probably be getting more starts than some of the starters.
Yeah, this is turning out to be quite encouraging. Gotta be impressed with Freese’s play all around tonight.
Franklin remains scary, but it made for exciting viewing.
I’ve been critical of Cardinal hitters. I really believe that Alberto’s personal example is effecting the kids. Holiday had the great at bat. Never took it off his shoulder.
Frankie lights-out was just toying with them.
Tony said Schu and Colby would be starting tomorrow against the lefty. Surely Freese won’t sit, so I guess we will see salami boy at short with Ryan sitting out. If MH is still sick, maybe Stavi gets a start.
Wellemeyer gave up seven runs off of three home runs in his first two innings tonight. Have fun, Giants!
Lights /Out Frankie……………… I like that………………….occupational hazard Nut. For Welly, its just like getting out of the bed you should have stayed in.
Westy, heads up if you are planning to catch the St. Louis Symphony orchestra in San Fran this weekend. They are doing two different programs out in California. The Saturday show will be far more interesting. Progressive even. My brother just texted me from UC Davis and says the program is great so far. Tomorrow’s in San Fran will be the same. He also saw them in LA the other day and saw the other program, which was ho-hum. That is on tap for Sunday.
David Robertson, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE Rapture
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 7
JOHN ADAMS Doctor Atomic Symphony
He’s my favorite violinist….. Interesting program……….. Can’t make it. …….. SF giants next weekend.
The bullpen situation is a little vulnerable. One possible reinforcement is Salas. He had 30+ appearances at Memphis last year.
In 2 of the 3 losses, the offense scored only one run. In the other loss, the starter gave up 5 runs in 5 innings. So its not like we can look at the pen and think what could have been. On the other hand, the number of guys going Ofer each game is disturbing, any hitters down there?
Well, they could activate Big Mac…
The bullpen problem is someone to give Franklin off-days. Boggs was Duncan’s hope, but has not ben sharp. Ditto McClellan and they need to get one of those guys straightened out. If TLR wanted to give Franklin today off, it might have to be Motte. Franklin was conserving pitches last night throwing first pitches the Mets liked.
TLR may give Bryan Anderson a start on Sunday against a right-hander. He could chip in a useful single. An extra hit can make a difference.
It wouldn’t be very dramatic in April, Brian. Middle of September when all seems lost, a last desperate prayer, and a legend steps out of the mist and into the on deck circle.
The three best candidates for closing, Franklin, McClellan, and Boggs have ERA’s over 7.
Franklin is 4 for 4 in save opportunities, but an ungood sign is he has not struck out anyone in 5 innings pitched. He has also not walked anyone, either because he cannot afford to add any additional baserunners or because the hitters are making easy contact. Some years Franklin has begun the season sharp and then faded from overwork. This year Franklin is beginning iffy and is not going to be able to handle all the work. Maybe Milller will get an opportunity to close a game?
LOOGYs don’t make for very good closers. Unless one of the other right handers steps up, it’ll be Franklin.
If TLR wanted to use Motte to close a game, he could try an interesting tactic. Jason could begin the inning. Then if a left swinging batter were encountered, Motte could be shifted to catcher, taking Molina out of the game, allowing Miller to pitch to the lefty. After that, Motte could return to the mound to deal with right swinging batters.
Temporarily stashing a relief pitcher at corner OF or 1B has been done. It would be unusual for a pitcher to temporarily shift to catcher, then return to pitching. TLR would not want to do this for the 7th or 8th innings. But if he had to use Motte as part of a tag team to close a game, then this very unusual approach might make sense. And if it makes sense, TLR would not hesitated.
No go Jumbo. Tony is on the blue ribbon committee that is tasked with, among other things, addressing the length and pace of game issues. He would be horribly conflicted waiting for Motte to get in and out of the gear, maybe more than once.
Last September, bling, you expressed misgivings about the closer role. Its getting to be about time to dust off those misgivings for spring. Franklin gave up 2 of the 3 runs lead last night, but escaped with the tying run at 2B. It would have been bad for morale to have lost that game.
You’re knees are knocking Jumbo. Blowing saves is one thing, not blowing them is another. Frankie could go either way from here. Let’s not fear the worst. In the meantime, put Hawk in your possibles chest and keep the key close to your heart.
Nice thread guys. From a technical standpoint, the closer game is already over. Franklin was always marginal, but this year he has allot less going on. The question up stairs I’m guessing is, who, when, and how much. The money savers are in AAA. The early also ran salary bails don’t begin until June. The game is at hand.
Trying to gauge how our current funk resolves really isn’t a mystery now. It doesn’t.
We have chemistry problems……as predicted. …………… MM apparently does have conceptual limitations concerning the development of situational and “just get on” types of hitters. He has done a nice job but the likely hood of us being in 3rd, (as predicted) by May is very real.
The lack of run support will take a toll on starters. Its happening.
Colby carried this team early in more ways than one. Tony’s treatment of him in recent days suggests that he sees a problem we are not privy too. From a technical standpoint, the need to feel comfortable is a very illusive target. I was cautioning RC about Colby’s hand position starting to change. It has. A search for comfort? Probably more complex than that. Emotionally searching for a sense of self empowerment? That is a very complex analysis and is probably best not done here. Like all of us, finding comfort can be a very challenging investigation………..not always leading to our easy chair. The conflict between comfort and need in a demanding performance environment reveals many things……………… lets see what Tony has in mind today for young Colby……………….
The ways to get to Santana are many. They all involve patients………and hitting what he is giving up……….not strong suits for the Cardinals.
The Birds look to have a good rotation. It can roll up a lot of wins. The hitters will come around and be good enough. The loogies are good. So the biggest area for improvement is the right side of the bullpen. We can probably come up with help via trade. If the need is not dire, we should not have to overpay.
Current funk? We are 7-3. A few hitters are cold for the moment, we have more, don’t worry.
Why are you guys wasting your time talking about this? Don’t you know Bud and the wise men have already decided who is going to win based on what will bring in the most revenue? I cant believe you guys were able to get Westie off message.
But since you did…….
Much more likely to see Reyes as closer than Miller. He faces RH’s much more often and goes full innings.
I disagree on chemistry. I think the team is not playing well but is still 7-3. Why? Chemistry. The fact that we are 7-3 and not playing well bodes well for the future.
Yeah, doomsday predictions seem more than a tad bit premature.
Garcia has a perfect game through five. His curveball is outstanding. At very least, the Cards have to be wearing Santana down at his current rate of over 20 pitches per inning. The Mets’ bullpen isn’t very scary.
Jumbo, I also like the idea of putting pitchers in the field to take advantage of lefty-righty situations. It’s a fun strategy.
Nutlaw, didn’t Garcia walk David Wright in the first inning?
Er, no-hitter going. There was that one walk.
No hitter is gone, but it’s still a great pitchers’ duel.
Our pen has kept us in it as long as can be expected. Let’s see who wants to be walk-off boy.
Interesting choice presented to Tony. Use last bench player, who has never had a ML at bat, or use the poor hitting catcher who became a pitcher, Motte.
Catcher’s interference, then walking Pujols with runners on first and second, to get to……Motte…..who bats for himself………with two outs………!!! OMG.
Motte’s AB was painful.
I take it Big Mac doesn’t work with the relief pitchers. Anderson must feel like chopped liver.
On that bloop to short right, Albert went out but couldn’t get there, and when the runner took a wide turn he had to scamper back because Yadi was covering first, and must have got there very soon after the runner. In the 13th inning! That’s game. I take back the whining about him not running out grounders last year.
If Wainy should have to come in a few innings from now, who gets called up for the emergency start?
What I mean is Ottavino, Hill, Lynn, Maclane have all pitched the last few days.
Absolutely incredible. Shumaker + Ludwick…………. grand-standers.
Hawksworth at bat? Gah! Now they’re just doing it on purpose! Why not just forfeit and save us the torture?
No Wainy…………. Should have been Lohse that had a pen today.
A nice relaxed sac fly………….. Ludwick and his friend trying to get a little satisfaction.
No beer since the seventh, e-gad, glad I’m not there.
That’s about when they started serving the hard stuff.
Considering the counts to Shu and Luddy, Tony has no confidence either one could run the safety squeeze. In the end Tony has done nothing here except watch earlier ?able decisions go down the drain.
Brendan could be the hero…………….. oh boy.
The entire team is absent. This is brutalizing an already emasculated Brendan Ryan. He may never recover this year. Think about it, these are the Mutts.
At least everyone can stop complaining about the bullpen.
*sigh* Just give both teams a loss and be done with it. They’re clearly doing everything in their power not to score runs.
How many catchers make that throw in the 17th inning?
Its like watching tennis.
Lopez pitching and Lohse in left field. Now I’m interested again.
Be nice to see him get the win.
If both of their emergency catchers weren’t burned up (Freese and Stavinoha), I’d like to see Molina pitch. It’s Mather’s turn now, I see.
Why did they pull Lopez? Saving him for tomorrow?
I think Anderson gets his first start tomorrow!
This is a joke. Lohse threw a pen today. He could have tossed an inning.
first pitch H and R with Pujols again by Tony………….in this situation. Tony is Mad.
Pujols would have been the winning run.
Nooo. You can’t leave Mather in there. Let anyone else try.
Tony is a genius………………. Lohse’s chances of getting hurt in left field are doubled a chance of him just tossing an inning…………… his think has been a joke here……all the way to the first pitch hit and run.
Well, they finally gave up the game in order to end it. At least it was memorable.
We didn’t get out-played, Tony got out-managed.
Going 18 innings without scoring, on your home field, is ridiculous.
A whole bunch of hitters need to man up. Get out there tomorrow and pound out 10 runs.
Rasmus is getting buried……. Mather is a good kid, he is not a hitter. ……… Craig will be sent down next month. Freese arrives when there is zero pressure because everyone else is out to lunch.
The Tony moves were bad, yes they were. But really, he is making bad moves to mask some of the real issues here. We are playing squat teams.
The problem here is that is a baseball league were in………. Shumaker…….Ludwick……are being targeted very well by scouts. There is a reason Tony didn’t use a play earlier in the game. He doesn’t like these guess to execute a safety squeeze..
I see a problem………….it has been talked about before here…………….. The Pujols circus, with all the posturing………. the exceptions taken to fundamental baseball………the excuses offered, aren’t helping the young kids. Holiday seems to be having a problem with it too. The swinging at bad pitches in bad places……….because he is the BEST, is a joke. Tony offering up a first pitch hit and run (again) …….with a pitcher as wild as K-Rod makes no sense. If you had a count, possibly……….It is about something else. If you don’t think the league is watching this, you would be wrong. People are going after Pujols right now. We have no hitting chemistry because we are a team of self interested individuals………….Albert leads that…….Ludwick a close second. Molina and the Ryan follow up nicely………….. I would bet Boston is having second thoughts about making any offer at all to Pujols. They would tolerate that for a moment.
And finally…….the Tony, bases loaded with a pitcher at the plate twice……….sinks into infamy. He visualized his worse fears……….and then made them happen. 20 innings with Mather on the mound……..I bet he’s drunk right now.
Hats off to Garcia. I like his ERA.
After reviewing the game film, I have to offer my apologies…………..it was twice as bad as I though.
2nd and 3rd with no outs and Shu and Ludwick both strike out swinging for the arch………..Tony and MM looked horrified. If I hadn’t been ragging on it all week, I guess I would have just let it pass. Someone is to comfortable here…………….
Its hard for anyone coming off the bench, doubly hard for guys looking to get established like Craig, Mather, and Stavinoha.
Rasmus is not “getting buried”. He is the starting CF. TLR tries to protect Rasmus by giving him offdays against southpaws and yesterday batted him 8th, against the lefty Santana. Its pretty simple stuff. TLR knows a lot about baseball. Westie should study him, try to learn something from a master.
TLR knows to fire his bench bullets during extra innings. One bit of bad luck was Felipe striking out looking on a 3-2 pitch. TLR started Craig to stay out of the DP and ended up with a DP. Lopez is not going to screw up that often, but it happenned.
Yes, running Ludwick in the 19th was not a good idea. For his part, the Mets manager was an idiot to pitch to Pujols in the 19th, even with K Rod.
The good news: the game ended. You would like to lose in the 10th, not the 20th. It happenned. No big deal.
Good job by Lopez and Mather to eat innings.
Today should be interesting. Anderson will catch. Lopez should be back in action, at SS. Who will play the corner OFs?
Actually, its better to lose in 10 innings than win in the 20th. Its desirable to not go far into extra innnings. The Cards could use a complete game out of Wainwright today.
I thank blingboy, nutlaw, and cc for not going along with Westie’s hyper-negativism about the team “funk.” Westie must live in the moment. He is not blessed with patient perspective about the long season of ups and downs. Anything less than 162-0, a clean sweep of winning every game, must signify deep psychological afflictions among the players who he calls “patients.” Brendan Ryan is already “emasculated” with 150 more games to go.
Cheer up Westie, smell the roses, celebrate the blessing of your own sanity (from your perspective), don’t take each at bat so seriously. Cultivate a more peaceful spirit.
Jumbo is right readers. The joke ending brought the team closer together. They were all laughing at themselves, and that’s a good thing…………….. Like a rowdy bunch of “prisoners of war” learning to make do in a Japanese camp in the south pacific…….or Stalag 5 in Hogans hero’s.
Neat, I wonder if they had ball teams too?
Jumbo, any hyper-negativism about a team funk is un-called-for IMO. But I consider this to be truly outrageaous: “its better to lose in 10 innings than win in the 20th”. With the possible exception of Lohse in left, Tony didn’t take short-sighted risks of injury. And starters do sometimes have to play a position. It is entirely reasonable to expect a hard 20 if called for. In my mind, last nights game went a long way in separating the men from the boys. Sometimes Westie’s baseball worldview causes me to shake my head, and yours to scratch it. But I much prefer that to the alternative, with everyone always agreeing and patting each other on the back for their wisdom.
It requires special coordination to scratch one’s head and shake it at the same time. While making feeble attempts doing so, I cannot type here…
Damn my back is sore
Shake it “up and down” BB, right? I had fun watching that game. I’m sure it won’t count on Sept 28th. Winning or losing is irrelevant. When the Mutts are in full bloom, at their very worst, choking with the best of their “great teams”, and you one up them, I mean one down them, its time to take a look at what your team is made of……………………..the Lugo give away is beginning to loom larger everyday.
Its a 162 game season. TLR is not going to say this, so I will. A 20 inning game disadvanatages the two teams within it, and helps their other adversaries. A lot fans have other activities planned and do not want to spend 7 hours at the ballpark.
This is why TLR was “outmanaged”. Holliday has been sick, was striking out, he got him out of there for the day, I have no problem with it. He used 4 bench-players (Stavi, Ryan, Mather, Craig) early, because you want to win or lose ASAP. Extra innings are not good for your team.
You do not want to use Franklin in a non-close situation, or Hawksworth, on back to back days. TLR declined to trot out Penny (whereas the Mets brought back Pelfrey who pitched Thursday, IIRC). Its a long season and we are better served not to blow Penny out early. Baserunning aggressiveness by Craig and Ludwick, TLR was hoping to provoke the Mets into an error, like the Cards gave the Mets on Friday when Francour made a baserunning error that still led to a run.
I do salute Felipe Lopez and Joe Mather for taking turns on the Hill. We ought to use Lopez more, he was very effective.
Its too bad we did not tie it up in the 20th. Then we might have found out the rest of the rotation. Schumaker pitched in college, so would be a natural. Brendan Ryan has a good arm too. Allen Craig’s a rookie, so he might have qualified.
Then, if you keep it going and their arms get some rest, you could bring back Felipe and Joe. Form a five man rotation of position players as emergency pitchers.
TLR said he did not want to use “core” players on the mound and mentioned Skip, Albert, Yadi, etc. He joked that Ryan had asked BEFORE the game if he could pitch if the game would go 25 innings. I wonder what Brendan knew. I guess I should ask WC as to Ryan’s mental condition as perhaps clairvoyance is a side effect of whatever ails him…
We should replace TLR with Westcoastbirdwatcher himself if Pujols were allowed to pitch, with his elbow. After 20 innings of squatting, Molina should not be asked to pitch either.
Since Skip pitched in college, its not clear he should be protected, whereas Felipe deserves less status.
Mather was a great choice. Hes a reserve, yet not a rookie. Would have been unfair to ask Bryan Anderson to pitch, when he has yet to catch, at the ML level.
I was shaking in a circle Westy, and scratching diagonally. Ambiguous body language helps me avoid the moral rigidness that leads to internal conflict and self doubt.
I would not be surprised to see the Cards call up a pitcher in time for tonight’s game. They could send down Craig or Stavinoha, and bring up Walters or Hill, to have an extra pitcher after last night’s surprise double-header.
No roster moves coming today. Walters is still in Florida, FYI.
Maybe I am on the wavelength of the Mets? They have DFA’d 1B Jacobs, calling up a southpaw.
One guy who really hurt the Cards last night was the southpaw reliever out of Japan Takahashi. He fooled Felipe Lopez with a 3-2 pitch to not swing, while Craig was running into a double play. Then next inning, he K’d Schumaker and Ludwick, with the winning run on 3rd.
This guy is 35. For some reason, the best relievers are often wily veterans. The guy is experienced in Japanese baseball and throws a screwball that may have surprised our guys. One of the best ways to stock a bullpen nowadays is with experienced pitchers from Japan. They obviously play a good calibre of baseball over there.
http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/11/hisanori-takahashi-from-30000-feet/