The tenth of FOX Sports Midwest’s live chats of the 2010 season will be held throughout Thursday morning/afternoon’s Cardinals-Mets series final. Join in the discussion with me and the FSM personalities.
You can participate via the frame below or through FOX Sports Midwest’s website.
Blake Hawksworth (4-6, 5.23) faces R.A. Dickey (6-4, 2.55) as the Cards try to win the rubber match of the road series and salvage a 3-3 split in the trip through Chicago and New York. The Cardinals only winning 2010 road trip remains their first of the season.
Friday’s first pitch is scheduled early – 11:10 A.M. Central with the pregame show starting at 10:30.
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Nice job by Matt and Albert last night. Give credit where it is due. MacDougal too. Nice to see Colby get some hits.
The Phils are landing Oswalt. Its fine for Mo to give Oswalt a pass. Roy’s salary is too high and its hard to work a reasonable deal inside your division. Mo has been doing the right thing: talking with lots of teams about lots of names. By looking at all the possibilities, Mo will try to find the best available deal.
I’m not sorry we didn’t get Oswalt, but a SP to bolster our lineup would be nice. Doesn’t look like any are available. The market is very quiet this year. Today’s Hawksworth/Dickey lineup is not promising IMO unless our offense ponies up big time.
Lineup courtesy of… me…
Lopez, Jay, Pujols, Holliday, Ludwick, Schu, Molina, Hawks, Greene.
Getting here a little late today, I can see that Jon has no problem eating jello with chopsticks and I can see that Blake had no problem getting through the first four on nothing more than 15 pitches…
An infield single and a walk? Perhaps if I had not come, Blake would have continued to do well…
If Francoer’s line-out had been a groundout, Blake would have thus induced a DP, but alas…
For a non-hitter, Blake certainly ran-up the count!
Attaboy, Tyler! Force that knuckballer get the ball into the strikezone!
Dickey certainly knows how to induce the grounders and the Mets certainly know how to excecute that kind of DP!
The Mets are playing flawless fundamental smallball…
Those fly-balls into the outfield are going to kill you, Blake. Soon, the Mets will be hittin’ ‘em where they ain’t and you’ll be going to the showers!
Case-in-point…
The Mets know how to complement their flawless smallball with an occasional well-placed long ball…
Blake, you can thank Jon Jay and not yourself, that the flyball was caught for the 2nd out…
All three outs were fly-outs and the result of allowing balls to fly deep into the outfield was 3 runs… This is so un-Blakelike!
When someone demanded, “Will the real Blake, please stand out?”, he did…
Where did Studwick learn to eat jello with chopsticks?
That was the second DP masterfully induced by Dickey…
Blake needs to be taking careful notes of how a groundball inducing pitcher reaps the benefits…
Keep chuckin’ those fly-balls, Blake, and the chickens’ll keep comin’ home to roost!
At 85 pitches after 5 innings, Tony MIGHT want to keep Blake in for some more punishment…
Well… I suppose that the genius is suffering from Bullpen depletion…
Didn’t get back as soon as I hoped. Looks like it is just as well. I didn’t have much hope for this game.
Many have been the attempts to eat jello with chopsticks, but only two have succeeded (but neither of them got beyond first base)…
This R.A. Dickey is budding into a classic Joe Niekro…
Reds not playing today I see.
Indeed, after this game, it will only be a half-game difference…
In this inning, we threw the three highest averages against Dickey, to no avail (all three grounded-out…)
Reyes again ?
Bullpen depletion and losing cause…
When there are no runners on base, Reyes doesn’t hurt us…
Tyler’s constant fielding flubs are serving to negate any benefit he gives us at the plate…
Well, we don’t have a hard homestand, and the Reds are playing the Braves so who knows?
I’m hoping that the Braves will eat ‘em alive and that we will take advantage of a doormat (for a change)…
Who taught Skip how to eat jello with chopsticks? That was our third hit of the game!
At 100+ pitches, Dickey will likely not finish the game…
I’m rooting for Mike! I want him to stay and to inherit “48″…
Thole is .375 against righties: Here’s hoping that Mike gets him to ground into a DP…
Throwing strikes will help…
Mike is having difficulty finding the strike zone today… damn it!
It may have only been a fielder’s choice, but at least we got the guy out a home…
Dickey is coming back.
Mike MacDougall has pitched a grand total of 2 innings in the Major Leagues and he continues to maintain a 0.00 ERA! The groundout was the righteous way of finishing-up…
Since Tyler fouled-up in the field, he is being denied a chance to do anything at the plate…
Instead, Colby gets to show us more of his stuff…
To the degree that the knuckleballer experiences fatigue, his knuckleball becomes hittable…
The Mets can’t be too happy about Colby making it to 2nd…
That’s known as Jon taking advantage of Dickey’s fatigue and consequent sloppiness..
All we need is another single, Albert. Then, we will allow for pressure to be brought to bear upon Matt…
“Oh, for…!” Albert has slipped back down to .295…
“Oh, for…!” Matt is not too far behind, at .302…
Back home thank God.
Albert and Matt account for 2 of the 3 strikeouts against us today…
Two guys have really shined and showed promised today; Mike and Colby. We’ll give credit to Studwick, Skip and Jon for the three other hits…
Well, ’twas another sorry 2-4 road trip. The amazing thing is that we are only a half-game back!
From the LIVE Gameday Chat
Concerning the Phillies’ acquisition of Oswalt, this is choice…
[Comment From Jamie: ]
its always sad for me when ever Philly fans get great players. I’m surprised most of them can make bail to come to the games.
From the LIVE Gameday Chat
11:52 Pat Parris: I respectfully disagree with all of you who think the Cardinals biggest need is a starting pitcher. They have the 2nd lowest ERA in baseball. They have 3 of the top starters in the league. They need an infield bat.
Brian, the Gameday Chats are really rich with all sorts of information. I really like your calm, circumspect manner of commenting and answering the questions…
From the LIVE Gameday Chat
(the interactive poll)
12:51- What’s going to happen for the Cards at the deadline?
(44%) Get Starting Pitcher
(13% ) Get Middle Infielder
( 0% ) Get Outfielder
( 6% ) Get Prospects
(38% ) Nothing
I’m with the Nothing crowd.
If the question was, “What do you WISH would happen?”, I would say, “Get Middle Infielder”, but alas, it seems that the only logical answer to the actual question is supplied by the 38% who said, “Nothing”.
Cardinals are at a disadvantage because we don’t have a lot of prospects.
Jamie Carroll is available. Just a thought.
On July 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm, a man whose judgment heavily influences mine, said:
You can win it all with three great starters and two who manage to not get blown out. I don’t think you can win it all when your middle infield sucks. And by sucks I mean ok defense, sort of, and one guy who can’t play against lefties and the other has been and is an automatic out. What the hell are we talking about starters for? I say address weakness if you address anything at all.
At 36 years of age (if he were available), Jamey Carroll would represent no future for us beyond this season…
I said it was just a thought.
I’ll throw another one out there. Jeff Keppinger.
I know Houston doesn’t want to trade within the division, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
If Jeff Keppinger were available, I’m certain that Mo would be stripping over himself trying to sign him! Alas… The first rate infielder (3b, SS and 2b) represents part of the Astros rebuilding process.
I like to dream big, 57. There is talk that he may be available.
Well… If Mo is still looking for anyone (whether an infielder that we need or a pitcher that we don’t really need), he only has until Saturday to arrange a deal. Otherwise, the team will have to see what emerges during August in the waiver market…
Wasn’t the Matt Holliday deal done at the last minute? My memory escapes me.
Matt Holliday was a player that the Cardinals had been openly wanting long before July of last year, so his signing did not represent a shocking development.
The Angels’ acquisition of Dan Haren came out of left field. I’m just batting stuff around, not really serious.
It’s time for this old man to enjoy an afternoon siesta. Have a great day and pleasant evening!
I see where the 3-4 guys mailed it in again. It’s gotten old already.
I heard that we threw somebody out at home from center field. Must have been Jay.
The masterplan is an offense built around Albert with Matt backing him up. Tony has been trying to tweek it with shuffling the top and bottom of the order. Mo is looking for ways to tweek it at the deadline. Niether will have much effect because it has become evident by now that the masterplan is circling the drain.
Mo, I think, grasps that truth, which is why he has talked about no short term band-aids and not trading the farm. At some point, an effort will have to be made to come with a middle of the order that works when it matters.
Brett Wallace sure gets traded a lot, huh?
After Jocketty took over the Reds, he dumped Dunn and Griffey. Now the Astros are looking to the future, dumping yesterday’s hero, Oswalt, getting a new first baseman, so they say goodbye to Berkman too.
The Phillies draft toolsy guys and then have some luck trading hyped prospects. They gave up Gose who needs years more development. The Astros were able to flip Gose for Wallace who can play in 2011. Getting Wallace is probably a reasonable move for the Astros. I would trade prefer Wallace to Brendan Ryan.
The Diamondbacks trading Haren and the Astros getting rid of Oswalt, the Cards may be in a pretty good situation. Some teams must be running scared and looking to shed salary. We may be able to do a waiver deal to add a pricey guy during August.
It was Jay who made the throw to home plate. Pretty nifty. We have to hold on to that guy.
Jay is a fine player and has had a sensational introduction to the majors, as has Jaime Garcia. Both have asserted themselves and thrust their way into the lineup, as TLR says rookies do, when ready.
Jay threw out a runner at home in his first start in RF, yesterday from CF. He must be an accurate thrower. Jon’s arm strength is fringy, so runners must be willing to test him. Weak armed Vince Coleman used to throw out some runners, because they were always running on him. Yesterday’s throw from Jay was from shallow CF.
It would make sense to try to get Colby rolling again, so I was frustrated when he wasn’t in the lineup yesterday after a good day at the plate. Initially, I thought it was just Tony being Tony. Then I thought maybe a trade going to be announced. Then I realized it was the knuckleballer. I hope to see him in there tonight.
One of the drawbacks to the big TV audiences the Cards have been drawing, is a lot of fans have been seeing a lot of failure and poor, uninspired play, especially on the road. A lot of fans, I believe, have had about enough of sloppy defense, boneheaded baserunning, failure to deliver in the clutch, and lack of hustle. I hope those fans who attend these upcoming games are not treated to too much of that in person.
“…Then I realized it was the knuckleballer”
“A lot of fans, I believe, have had about enough of sloppy defense, boneheaded baserunning, failure to deliver in the clutch, and lack of hustle”
Here! Here!
Just when Colby was beginning to snap-out of his slump, the last thing on Earth that he needed was for his stroke to be screwed-up by a knuckleballer. When such a pitcher has such an effect upon seasoned batters, for days and sometimes weeks, one can easily imagine how much of an impact Dickey would have had on our second year boy! That was wise on the part of Tony (or at the insistence of the Warrior).
You placed your finger upon the very four parameters which have been largely responsible for our miserable losses. As deleterious as such play will be for the psyches “those fans who attend these upcoming games”, it is also certain to remove the team from playoff contention. I certainly hope that the 2-run game and three shutouts of the 2-4 road trip altogether serve as an effective shot across the bow…
Latest trade rumors : The Rangers inquired about the availability of Josh Johnson from the Marlins. I wonder how long it took Beinfest to hang up the phone?
I guess you have to admire Jon Daniels’ moxie. I got a laugh out of this one.
Via FSM : Buster Olney reporting that the Indians are getting alot of hits on Jake Westbrook and that the Cardinals could be a fit.
Both Aaron Cook of the Rockies and Jake Westbrook of the Indians “could be a fit”, dependent entirely upon Dave Duncan seeing something in them that he is able to fix. Both are former one-time All Stars and both have demonstrated ability to post an ERA less than 4.00. But is the need to replace Suppan and/or Blake greater than the need to address the left side of our infield?
“But when the Cards beat themselves . . . well, that’s when you wonder how a team with veteran leaders and a Hall of Fame-bound manager can zone out for hours at a time”
- Jeff Gordon
For a detailed look at the very problems so accurately mentioned by blingboy, you may be interested in Gordon’s article:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_bfdfa638-9bfa-11df-8fc6-0017a4a78c22.html
From Derrick Goold:
These are the numbers from the previous 28 days:
Rasmus … .254/.286/.339 … .625 OPS
… 0 HR, 5 XB, 3 BB, 15 K
Jay … .438/.513/.703 … 1.216 OPS
… 2 HR, 12 XB, 11 BB, 7 K
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_3d380772-9bf3-11df-9eff-00127992bc8b.html
Last I heard the Rockies were dialing back on trading Cook. If Westbrook clears waivers the Cards could get him in August.
LINEUP-Lopez 3b Jay RF Pujols 1b Holliday LF Rasmus CF Molina C Ryan SS Carp P Skip 2b
Lance Berkman going to Yankees.
Good for the Astros to finally understand that their team can’t compete right now.
MacLane paid $11M to be “rid” of Oswalt and reportedly is paying most of Berkman’s salary, too. Shrewd.
We were never under the impression that we were dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer…
Oswalt is having trubs n’ probs in his Filly debut (he ought to be thankful that he’s not receiving “encouragement” from the Filly home crowd)…
It’s going to be a late start. Game delayed until approx 8:30 CST. Thunderstorms.
Prospects are good ways to save money in the long term, though I haven’t heard who they got in exchange for Berkman yet. The Astros could pay their veterans to perform in their meaningless games this season, or trade them for players of value in the future. Besides, Berkman is supposedly just going to re-sign with the Astros during the off-season anyway.
Roy Oswalt (77 pitches so far tonight…)
IP-5 H-7 ER-4 BB-2 SO-3 (he also hit 2 batters)
I agree, Nutlaw: Inasmuch as Berkman’s close friend, Bagwell, just became a coach for the Astros, it is indeed a safe bet that he will re-sign with the club during the off-season….
Roy Oswalt (77 pitches so far tonight…)
IP-5 H-7 ER-4 BB-2 SO-3 (he also hit 2 batters)
Oops.
Bottom of the 5th: Reds (5 hits) and Braves (8 hits) are tied-up at 3 apiece
After 6 innings…
Braves 4 Reds 3
Roy Oswalt’s debut with Filly was rather unimpressive to Washington…
IP-6 H-7 ER-4 BB-2 SO-4 (in taking the loss, he also hit 2 batters)
If Oswalt were pitching in Philly he would need a bodyguard to get out of the stadium.
Joey Votto (.327) just hit his 27th home run…
In the bottom of the eighth, the Braves and Reds are tied at 4
I’ve been watching the Brewer-Astro game…
The Houston crowd is delighted with the man they got in exchange for Oswalt: Happ went 6 innings, gave up 2 hits, no runs and struck out 6….
Reds-Braves are tied-up at 4 and going into the 10th…
If you’re missing Troy Glaus, he’s the only hitless Brave tonight (0 for 5) and he’s fading at .246…
A slightly high pitch count, but when you consider 2 groundouts and a strikeout, Chris is looking pretty sharp…
Braves have just gone ahead at the top of the 10th, 6 to 4!
Is anyone surprised that Jon hit a single with his first at bat of the game?
Yeah Albert. NOT
When it comes to grounding into rally-killing, inning-ending DPs, Albert leads the team!
Despite the less-than-inspiring performance by our team’s captain, Chris the Scrapper continues to look sharp…
Way to go, Matt! Let’s get something going, guys!
We are now tied for first (Reds lost 6-4 in 10 innings)
Despite letting the suckerball pass (it could have easily been called a ball), Colby gave us a patient and disciplined at bat…
Way to go, Yadier! If Matt had not been caught, we’d have runners on the corners and only one out…
Matt has a base running problem. We would be ahead by now if Matt had slid properly.
Matt is not the only one on this team with a base running problem…
Why is our offense having so much difficulty with this doormat team? Why isn’t Chris enjoying at least a 2 run cushion?
After 3 innings, Chris has allowed only one ball to reach the outfield!
Karstens is lettin’ ‘em fly: He’s allowed 7 balls to reach the outfield (5 of them deep). It’s just a matter of time before we start hittin’ ‘em where they ain’t and make the mediocre pay for such reckless contact pitching…
Is Yadier sharp tonight, or what?
Baserunners just seem to never learn.
The sub .500 teams are the ones who attempt to run on Yadier the most. The teams that are above .500 are more judicious…
A patient, disciplined at bat + base running speed = a single to shallow left-center! Attaboy, Jon!
Well… at least Albert didn’t ground into another DP. The thing is, the offense can’t rely upon Jon Jay to carry all the weight. One of our boppers will have to step-up, damn it!
It’s a shame that all those fly balls are coming down into the gloves of outfielders…
What a damned shame!
Jay was safe. Bad call.
It’s a damned shame!
…and Colby was in the midst off another patient, disciplined at bat (he had rung-up 3 balls and was driving-up the pitch count)
Balls allowed into the outfield…
10 Karstens (4 of them hits)
4 Carpenter (3 of them hits)
On paper (on the surface), our offense is making Karstens look deceptively as effective as Chris…
Chris’ ERA is now below 3.00!
Great hustle, Brendan! He’s back up to .201!
We should have 2 runs by now.
How will another pitcher help us to avoid another shut-out? If our offense remains impotent, we desperately need an effective bat!
Chris won’t make it beyond another inning. After 6 innings, giving-up only 4 hits and shutting them out, I don’t know what else to ask of him. It will be truly shameful, if our offense fails (yet again!) to award him with a much deserved win!
Do we ask Jon, after setting the table time and again, to do more?
We will settle for a single, Albert!
This is just ridiculous.
Thank you for killing the rally, Matt! I’m sure that your little pop out did much to inspire Chris…
Well, our big guns both hit singles and went 1 for 3: Ain’t that grand?
Chris is worn-out… For the past couple of innings, when he hasn’t let ‘em fly into the outfield, he’s been pitching more balls than strikes…
I love it when Yadi does that.
Aside from Chris, Yadi and Jon have been the only bright spots so far tonight…
If our small-ballers can’t single, they’ll walk. Now, with 2 outs, we send our worn-out starter to the plate! Oops! We get caught stealing AGAIN!
Our 3 boppers will have one more opportunity for redemption…
Over 115 pitches: Chris is inhuman!
Carp doesn’t look worn out to me.
This offense better apologize to Carp.
“Oh, for….!” Let’s applaud .264 Flip for being reliably inconsistent!
You mean, “Our offense better apologize to Chris for robbing him yet AGAIN” (as they’ve done so many times)….
Do you think that the millionaire big boppers are praying that they don’t make asses of themselves again?
If Albert was praying, his prayer was not answered…
Neither was Matt’s.
For a million bucks, some folks can easily heap a great deal of abuse upon themselves. They could just shrug their shoulders, look at the disillusioned fan, and say, “P. T. Barnum was right!”
I won’t blame this on 3 for 4 Jon: The blame goes squarely upon the shoulders of the two guys who are paid most to complement excellent pitching and win games for us.
If I were Carp I would smack em both up side the head.
That’s why I call him, “Studwick”!
A sacrifice constitutes a productive out: Right on, Yadier!
Whew! NO THANKS TO EITHER ALBERT OR MATT!
Once again, a well-earned “W” shall not go to Chris…
…it took small-ballers to win a ten inning game 1 to 0 against a last place doormat club.
These kinds of wins are going to kill me.
Imagine that! We win the game, not by an RBI, but by Pittsburgh’s throwing error!
Thank you, Pirates, for the gift (apparently, we were unable to win it any other way)…
There was no throwing error 57. The second baseman dropped the ball.
It was scored an infield RBI hit for Brendan.
Well, my handy-dandy ESPN Gamecast has it all wrong… We ought, then, to be thanking our Mendoza Line hitter and SHAME on the boppers!
I am so glad (and greatly relieved) that the win can be attributed to one of our guys, rather than to the other team.
A little pragmatism would go a long way to relieving that stress 57. A win is a win. Enjoy it.
“A win is a win” – indeed!
From the comments section of the article, “Better late than never for Cards”, by Rick Hummel
GatewayCity_Black said on: July 31, 2010, 10:30 am
I know a win is a win and always great to get, plus puts the Cards back in first place…fine outing by Carp as well but let’s be honest..this team should REALLY be able to beat the Pirates by more than 1-0 in ten innings. The Pirates are almost a AAA team, plus you’re playing at home with one of your aces on the mound. This team did not step on home plate at Busch for almost 21 innings if you want to go back to the 2-0 extra inning loss to the Phillies ending the last homestand.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_feeda046-9c68-11df-b756-0017a4a78c22.html?mode=comments