The St. Louis Cardinals have failed all six times to sweep three-game series this season, but almost always come close.
One by-product of the 2010 St. Louis Cardinals having put together just one winning streak of more than three games is the odd circumstance of them not having a single three-game series sweep* during their first 69 games.
Six times this season, the Cardinals have taken the first two games of a three-game set, only to lose the final contest each time. In a most interesting angle, St. Louis fell exactly one run short in five of those six game threes. (In all other one-run games this season, the Cardinals are 11-9.)
Another oddity is that three of the six series were within a ten-day period in April and the other three have been during June, with none occurring in May. The most recent four occurred at home, including both series in the just-concluded homestand – against the Seattle Mariners mid-week and the Oakland A’s last weekend.
Cardinals going for three-game sweep, 2010
| Opponent | G1 win | Score | G2 win | Score | G3 loss | Score |
| at CIN | 4/5/2010 | 11-6 | 4/7/2010 | 6-3 | 4/8/2010 | 1-2 |
| at MIL | 4/9/2010 | 5-4 | 4/10/2010 | 7-1 | 4/11/2010 | 7-8 |
| HOU | 4/12/2010 | 5-0 | 4/14/2010 | 2-1 | 4/15/2010 | 1-5 |
| MIL | 6/4/2010 | 8-0 | 6/5/2010 | 5-4 | 6/6/2010 | 3-4 |
| SEA | 6/14/2010 | 9-3 | 6/15/2010 | 4-2 | 6/16/2010 | 1-2 |
| OAK | 6/18/2010 | 6-4 | 6/19/2010 | 4-3 | 6/20/2010 | 2-3 |
Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for the above table.
* As part of their season-long five-game winning streak, the Cardinals did sweep the Atlanta Braves out of town in four straight from April 26-29.
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Huh. That’s really odd.
There is actually no better assessment than Nutlaw’s “really odd”, since one would naturally expect a World Series contender to have a few short winning streaks (of 4-7 games), more than a few sweeps and at least one long winning streak (of 8-12 games)! While it is true that the end will justify the means, the magic and thrill of a championship season is accentuated by winning streaks of more than 3 games. It will be those streaks, of winnng or losing, which will widen the gap between us and the Reds…
The Cardinals have rarely played as a team this year. We use two aces against the bottom of the Oakland rotation…………to win 2 out of 3. Barely…………. We have very large obstacles to unity on this club. If it weren’t for the independents like Ludwick and Freese, Rasmus contributing on occasion, we wouldn’t be leading the division………………………….Holiday found something emotional to feed on against Oakland, plus a nice hitting adjustment…………….. can he fuel a drive to dominate on those small pickens? We’ll see soon enough.
Luddy at 4th?????? Colby, Freese,?………..lets hope Lopez sees the signs concerning life on the bench. Molina should also be able to slay right against this guy……..if he will. These guys hit home runs………Garcia must be sharp to last 6…………. I think you all suspect as I do that this is a likely place for him to get schooled. I see us needing 5 anyway. Lets hope our Hulks start feeding on each other……….that is the solution somehow.
Colby and Skip ride the pine. Hope Stav does some good.
Westy hit the nail on the head: Our chief problem is a distinct lack of cohesiveness and teamwork! It ought to be inspiring (shaming) for our players to see it, with the backdrop of empy seats, on the opposite team…
Tony is evidently favoring righties to face Cecil (eliminating Skip and Colby from the starting line-up). Otherwise, aside from the addition of Stavinoha at DH, there is little change to the batting order…
2b Lopez
lf Holliday
1b Pujols
rf Ludwick
3b Freese
dh Stavinoha
c Molina
cf Winn
ss Ryan
Well, whaddaya know? The Blue Jays have ol’ Jarrett Hoffpauir, fresh from their AAA Las Vegas team, starting at 3rd Base tonight!
1. Lopez, 2b
2. Holliday, LF
3. Pujols, 1b
4. Ludwick, RF
5. Freese, 3b
6. Stavinoha, DH
7. Molina, C
8. Winn, CF
9. Ryan, SS
Pitcher: Garcia, LHP
The real story BB is that Tony had a chance to spell Ludwick form the clean-up grief with Stava……with good excuse…….and didn’t………….. He seems to think Wynn might produce something which moves Garcia to 9th………….
I take that back………DH ……….
According to the Derrick Goold column, with regard to opportunity for our “backbenchers”, the majority of Cardinal fans would like to see Nick Stavinoha get the largest share of bonus At Bats during our trip to Toronto and Kansas City. At least for tonight, they will get their wish…
Westy, if I had known that you were doing the line-up tonight, I would deferred to you. Please pardon me…
huh? do your thing……….there is lots of bandwidth…..so lets blow some of it.
that was interesting……….Toronto color man tells it like it is concerning AP……………… Matt does the old swing and rips away…………Albert is trying so hard to pull……he can’t keep good pitches fair.
But which lineup will we see, the single spaced or the double?
Garcia is a cool customer…….. Lewis wasn’t going, he was just giving him the Snoopy distraction tactic……….and he’s picked………….he seems wild tonight in kind of an Elvis way.
Yadi sure worked that count…………nice long swing…………Stava had the best at bat.. He was staying closed as a general rule…….this guy is very vulnerable if you take him to right.
We’d be doing OK except for the 3-4-5 Ofer thing again.
Spoke to soon
I missed a bunch………looks good………..what happened to 57?
Holliday again. Luddy made ‘em pay for walking Albert. Freese.
Garcia at 66 pitches through 5. Nice. Their guy is at 90.
It looks like they’re just staying back a stoking………..I anxious to see MH’s hr swing.
Well, their guy is gone.
It may well be the MH is arriving. He is finding fuel, enjoying the game a little maybe.
Hoffpauir has apparently been announced as their regular starting third baseman. Really? Hey, good for him, at least until injuries send him back to the bench.
They DFAed the previous 3B.
84 pitches……………this is one of those situations. Pen is rested. Do you risk a 7th inning? For nothing more than avoiding wear and tear. I see it as one of those calls.
All that was required of our offense was a mere modicum of consistency. Instead, we’ve poured it on heavily! It certainly appears that Matt’s annual mid-season resurgence is now in full bloom: With the kind of support that he got from Ludwick and Freese tonight, he could carry the team! All we asked of Jaime was six quality innings and the sensational rookie came through! Unless our relievers stink it up really badly, this game is already won…
Not yet its not………these guys can hit…………MH did not use the spin move…..strait up strait down on the kick……….. grounded out like he had been with that motion……….I see that Tony did elect to sit him.
Hanging slider……..to the moon.
As I said, “Unless our relievers stink it up really badly, this game is already won…”
Kyle should have grown a Motte instead of a Franklin.
Albert is drifting down towards .300 again. .303 now. Matt is at .309. He’s done nothing at all at the plate tonight other than get walked.
Who will Tony go with? We need a couple more………I don’t want to see Motte here………Toronto is praying for it.
If Colby does some damage, Toronto will be praying not see Matt at the plate again…
No more of those bad vibes 57, we’ll be doomed.
Now you see, the power of positive thinking.
They’re praying not to see Matt at the plate again…
The Cards are bullying the girly men of Toronto.
Notice Colby pressing his hands back when he loads. RC has been texting. The late switch was to beat the Lefty that had began throwing as a defense to Colby…….Tony beat him to it.
If Motte is brought in and if he is “on” tonight (throwing ‘em 97-100 mph) and not told to throw anything fancy, the wonderful, elite Toronto batters will be made to look stupid and foolish. Each of their prayers will have a snow ball’s chance in Hell.
blingboy, you’re right: Albert has been nearly as useless as Brendon and Flip tonight…
AP made some good defensive plays.
Nutlaw: When it came to trimming our roster to the 40 man standard (and Jarrett was the odd man out), I felt badly. As I recall, he was called up from Memphis twice last year and hit a double for us each time. I certainly wish him well at Toronto: It appears that the 3B job is his to lose…
Flip an Brendan also made their usual “good defensive plays”. Offensively, however…
Sssh! Toronto is praying!
Flip redeemed himself, as Toronto continues to pray…
Now, Toronto is praying that Albert doesn’t redeem HIMself!
“Oh, for…!”
Miles just a got a pity at-bat………and looked bad……….he is in trouble.
Aye, Miles is in .214 Mendoza line trouble…
Go get ‘em, Mitchell!
Albert has led the team in homers every year since he came up (tied with Luddy in ’08). It will be interesting this year.
Unless, he breaks out of his funk, either Colby or Matt will be this year’s top wrecking ball…
‘Twas back in the 6th inning that this game was won. Indeed, ’twas because our relievers did not stink it up… Colby and Flip merely added frosting to the sweet victory cake!
Somewhat of a band box it would seem. Could this be a new coalition forming around MH? Hope so. He was playing with his new move tonight, trying not to be read by the catcher. Toronto can hit. Carp is going to need to locate. They will hit the curve if he centers it..
It certainly appears that Matt’s annual mid-season resurgence is now in full bloom: With the kind of support that he got from Ludwick, Rasmus and Freese tonight, he could definitely carry the team! Albert who? Chris is long overdue for a vintage outing. What better place is there for him to be a nemesis than where he had entered the big leagues?
Toronto can hit? Unlike us, the Blue Jays have no .300 hitters (only 4 are hitting above .270), but they’ve been far more effective with RISP – until tonight. While we have 4 big boppers (Pujols 15, Rasmus 14, Ludwick 11 and Holliday 11), they have 5 (Bautista 18 HR, Wells 16 HR, Gonzalez 13 HR, Buck 12 HR and Hill 10 HR). Indeed, while we’ve hit 67 home runs, they are first in the American League in that department (107)! Although we have twice as many who are hitting above .270 (5 of them are hitting .300 or above!), until tonight, we could boast comparatively little in the way of batting teamwork (RISP & RBI). Since our pitching is substantially superior to theirs (3.19 ERA versus 4.22 ERA), they’ve been outperforming us ONLY with respect to RISP and Total Bases.
Luddy could be in the mix too, 57, but I agree if its not Albert it will most likely be Matt or Colby. There is the chance Albert could be 3rd or 4th in homers. Not likely though.
I am in complete agreement, blingboy…
99 year old Jamie Moyer is 8-6 for the Phillies, same as Roy Halladay. Anything can happen in baseball, absolutely anything.
While I don’t mind that Halladay has run across a few bad patches, I am thrilled to see that Moyer has experienced a few pleasant patches. It’s really heartening to see them with identical won-loss records! While, I sincerely hope that Moyer continues to enjoy a sensational season, I wish only the worst for the team that he plays on!
Fun Fact: On July 8, 1986, Jaime Garcia was born, and Jamie Moyer was 3-2 for the Cubs in his rookie season. Today they both got a win, Jaime’s 8th and Jamie’s 266th.
57, a while back I expressed my hope that Philly would break off and sink into the Atlantic Ocean. I recall that Brian pointed out half of New Jersey would have to go too. I’m not sure if he meant that as a pro or con. He wasn’t clear on that. I could live with it.
Your fun fact is really cool! I will certainly remember it!
To be perfectly honest with you, I have absolutely no use for the entire region known as “Bos-Wash”! With the sole exception of New England (from Massachussetts northward), I despise the miserable east coast city cultures and speech impediments. Yes, indeed! If Philadelphia should break-off and sink into the Atlantic Ocean, we could thank God that half of New Jersey and almost all of Bos-Wash would also have to go!
I have nothing against the whole region 57. Boston got on my bad side in ’04, but with Philly and New York it goes way back. 1930 and 1928. I wasn’t born yet but it doesn’t matter. It’s just a cruel twist of fate that Jersey lies between them.
Aye, a cruel twist of fate also that so many of the inhabitants of “Joysey” should be so linguistically impaired with impediments similar to those heard in the disgusting cities of Philadelphia, New York and Boston (“Boo-wall” for ball, “Coo-off-ee” for Coffee, “Toid” for Third and etc.). As a young boy, I lived near Albany, New York and in Paramus, New Jersey (and had a Bergen County Record newspaper route). While in the military, I had to pass through that region (“The Northeast Corridor”) too often and found that the various cultures and linguistic impairments (“accents?”) had only gotten worse…
Well, to each his own. My beef is strictly baseball related.
My beef is especially baseball related, but certainly includes the cultures and “accents” that I’ve observed in that region. It is a shame that so many fine young men should find themselves playing baseball in such cities as Washington, Balitimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
While it is true that we’re going up against Toronto’s best pitcher tonight, it is also true that Chris Carpenter is long overdue for his first complete game of the season. If he enjoys nothing more than a mere quality start, all we would need is half the offensive production that we unleashed last night.
GS CG ShO IP H ER HR BB SO Won Lost P/GS BAA ERA
14 2 1 96.1 81 33 6 37 96 6 3 102.8 .233 3.08 Ricky Romero
15 0 0 101.2 91 32 11 26 88 8 1 104.4 .239 2.83 Chris Carpenter
Looka here: Nick Stavinoha is our Clean-Up! This should trigger all kinds of controversy, both pro and con!
2b Lopez
lf Holliday
1b Pujols
dh Stavinoha
3b Freese
cf Rasmus
c Molina
rf Winn
ss Ryan
He will be sitting on the bench between ABs so it will be like 4 PH appearances in one game. (Hopefully 5 or 6).
Most of the fans (myself included) were hoping that Nick would be the recipient of all the bonus ABs. However, I am certain that there are those whose eyebrows are raised at the idea of putting him at Clean-Up, rather than someone like Albert (who needs a change) or even Matt (who appears ready for the role once again). Hmmm…
As long as they win, the second-guessing will be minimized. On the other hand, if Carp drowns due to a lack of offensive support, the choice of cleanup hitter could be a target.
If Chris has merely a 7 inning quality outing, all we need is half the production that we mustered last night; regardless of how Nick performs at Clean-Up. One thing is for certain, after the Reds’ shutout of Oakland today; it behooves us to win.
If Ludwick is sitting, then Stavinoha makes most sense at cleanup to me against a left handed pitcher. Holliday is looking quite comfortable at #2, Freese doesn’t hit for much power, and Rasmus is … well, left handed.
I think that Ricky Romero is a righty, Nutlaw. Regardless of who others think ought to be at Clean-Up (Albert or Matt); like you, I’m not at all scandalized by the move.
Ooops! Romero merely BATS right. You’re right, Nutlaw; he IS a lefty!
You never know who will return to 4th……….If AP keeps it up……….it might be him by necessity, to move Ludwick, who is burning down..back to #2 …MH 3#
Perhaps its an audition.
I would be thrilled to find that its a rehearsal!
It almost appears that the Blue Jays’ infielders WANT us to win!
It looks like Stav took cleanup lessons from Matt.
Hey, our third out is our first: What a bargain!
Staggering incompetence……………..
Well, they set the entire table for us. Then three straight guys excused themselves. It ain’t like the Blue Jays didn’t TRY to give us the game…
Stava distorts the swing on the first pitch ..base loaded…no outs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carpenter has to wear that………………… Colby never thought base hit…….wanted to take something out front………where am I.
Romero wisely pitched Colby way out to the outside, knowing that our lad prefers to golf ‘em down and close…
Chris is impervious to the buffoonery, mowing them down in order…
We need to be realistic. We had two rookies and a second year guy up there in the clutch. Nobody gets to the bigs by being skilled at hitting sac flies. We’re not going to finesse any runs across with the middle of the order.
All right, Yadier! That’s what I call patience and discipline!
And there’s Randy, underscoring what blingboy just said…
Brendan and Flip are behaving like they wrote the book, “How to Snuff-Out a Rally”
BE realistic……………………………………………………………….. we have a rookie coach I guess…………….even the Jays color men were a little!!!!!!!!!!!!!!surprised that we didn’t sacrifice with Ryan…………..
Well, where there could have been a bunt and a productive out, I suppose that we’d rather Brendan to ground into a doubleplay…
With Tony, resort to small ball tactics seems to be an admission that we can’t hit the guy. Too early for that, especially after the recent power surge. Lets see the thunder.
I won’t mind for our Lead-Off to go “0h, for…” again, as long as his fifth AB results in another home run.
Yes, Albert! We accept singles!
So far, Nick’s debut as a Clean-Up man is leaving a lot to be desired…
Albert’s stance has gradually morphed into something kinda like Pete Rose’s. He’s slapping out singles like Rose too. A revolting development.
BB …………………. your ace is pitching mad right now…….maybe even pissed……that’s for a reason. He disagrees with you………………………as I do…………………… power surge? Holiday is staying closed, again…………Rasmus is missing the point………….there ain’t going to be any home runs. if we are behind a run after 7…….Carpenter is going to let you all know how he feels about all these decisions.
As long as guys like Ludwick, Colby and Matt deliver the long ball, Albert could develop into a wonderful Lead-Off man for all I care. I dare to say that if Matt remains anything like he was during the second-half of last season, he can carry the team’s offense. That way, if Albert sinks further into a morass, the effect will be minimal. If he contributes in the least way (like developing into a consistent Rose-like singles hitter, the effect will be like frosting on the cake.
That second pitch fly-out had the effect of a fizzled firecracker…
AP’s hips were completely open and committed on the swing BB………he just slapped the single because that’s all he had left………………….but he avoided the declining BA.
That first pitch ground-out had the effect of a mere aborted thought…
Talk about first pitch abortions…
When it comes to inducing doubleplays, does anyone do it better than Chris?
As I said, I won’t mind for our Lead-Off to go “0h, for…” again, as long as his fifth AB results in another home run.
Hey! All right! Another single from our aspiring Lead-Off man! Go, Pete! er, I mean, Albert!
2/0 and Albert goes out of the strike zone to stroke the single……………….. the point…. he is settling for for that. He is concerned about becoming the clean up guy…………. about his numbers. MH once again stays closed and swings across hi body with the predictable results. What happened to the new move????????
Thank you for striking-out Jarrett, Chris! His damned double was just too haunting…
Hey, if our Lead-Off can’t get on base one way, then there’s always the other…
Chris hasn’t been pitching around their home run slugger. Both times in which Chris walked him, Bautista drove up the pitch count with a series of foul balls..
Time now for Chris’ classic inducement of a doubleplay.
Well, Pete, I mean Judy, er . . I mean Albert can demonstrate his leadoff skills top of the 8th. Then dazzle us with his baserunning antics. Then the rookies can smoke some homers and be heros. Pass the goat patte, please.
I am hoping for blingboy to be downright prophetic!
Come what may… His 101 pitch count notwithstanding, the King of Scrappers will be sent back out for the 8th…
Lead-Off hitters are allowed an occaional double, O Prophet blingboy!
Lead-Off hitters are allowed an occasional double, O Prophet blingboy!
A rather strange turn of events, leaving us STILL with a RISP
David went down in a blaze of glory, with his third whiff of the evening…
The antics part was prophetic too, 57.
Is Ludwick hurt?????????????? a switch for Colby might have gotten this guy out of the game………..
That’s twice, that Chris has thus dispatched their Lead-Off man…
That’s twice, that Chris has thus dispatched their Number Two man…
All right guys, it’s time to honor the work of our Ace. Let’s see some heart, damn it!
Considering Tony’s non participation in this game………….if he leaves Carp in to cover his butt, he is an idiot. He is well over 100.
Brendan has certainly surprised us in the clutch, but judging by his .209, it may be wise to have Miles bat for him…
Should have known a good-bunting cleanup hitter was needed…
A wise man once said, “…if Carp drowns due to a lack of offensive support, the choice of cleanup hitter could be a target”.
Ryan isn’t on fire, but I just noted his June BA is .250, OPS of .746.
Oddly, his OPS in Cards wins this season is .750. His 2010 OPS in StL losses is .398 (not a typo). Amazing.
Randy did his part… Time now for HEART!
Now, Matt could easily become the Darling of St. Louis!
Should have known a good-bunting cleanup hitter was needed…
He did have options………
Carps in line…………… Great hit by Holiday……….that was crap for a pitch.
Chris could just kiss him!
Winn, Lopez and Holliday – all showed us some St. Louis Cardinal heart!
That pitch to Albert was meat…………he had opened up,,……..nothing left away.
Like I said, Matt could carry the offense of this team…
Albert has never experienced such waning relevance…
I never feel comfortable when Franklin is called upon to save the game. No, we simply can’t afford any base runners… not here, not now. Talk about goat, I shudder to imagine what could happen now. Let’s see some real heart, Franky!
To tell you the truth, with Bautista coming up next, I’d feel much more comfortable with a fireballer – like Boggs or even Motte!
” . . .With Tony, resort to small ball tactics seems to be an admission that we can’t hit the guy. Too early for that . . .”
Maybe Tom could find out how many times Stav bunted in the minors.
All right, Freese to Lopez to Pujols! That’s putting out a fire!
At least, there’s no one on base for Bautista…
Overbay could be trouble, because Franklin’s weak pitching makes even weak hitters seem invincible…
Thank GOD! Chris really deserves this win and Matt really deserves a hug for driving-in what it took to win…
Overbay, schmoverbay, Franky has chunks of guys like that in his stool.
That’s Frankie’s game…….he hit his spots…………..Tony was jawing about something in the dugout when Molina was talking to Frankie………..Frankie was jawing at Molina a bit who had brought the message in……….interesting.
The funny part is 57………Greg didn’t give in to Holiday…….he beat him with that pitch. Holiday was swinging……..in Albert’s face…… a miracle contact.
When I bring a closer in, I want an intimidating fireballer who won’t allow anyone to reach first base. Be that as it may, Matt made the win to be particularly sweet to a real Scrapper.
Bottom line – Chris wasn’t cheated out of this one and we are now salivating over the prospect of our first sweep of the season!
Bunting with the cleanup hitter. So . . . its come to that.
Stability is a wonderful thing… While the bottom of the order can be jiggled indefinitely, it would be great if we could finally figure-out who’s who with regard to each slot of the first five…
I noticed that Carp didn’t have any trouble getting guys to swing at curveballs that were at least as low as Suppan’s. My conclusion is that Supp’s problem with his curve is not that its too low. Must be something else.
Can anyone else smell the official explaination about Shelby Miller’s arm/elbow , or is it just me?
Well for one, Carpenter has a much better repertoire around it. He also tends to throw his curves in the dirt a lot less than Suppan. When it’s working, Carpenter’s curveball will actually land in the strike zone on command, so opposing batters will swing at those thrown outside of the zone. Suppan just about always misses of late, so opposing batters can simply watch him miss.
Cardinals lose another game three, this one at home to Arizona by a 4-2 score on Wednesday afternoon.
What a heartbreaker: “2 out of 3″ can neither keep us on top nor get us to where we want to go…