Late Friday afternoon, I joined Ken Miller and Jim Brinson on KXnO FOX Sports Radio 1460 in Des Moines in our weekly series to discuss the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, “Cardinal Talk.”
Fans in central Iowa can again catch Cardinals radio broadcasts on KXnO throughout the 2011 season as well as this Friday segment, sponsored by WCI Pools and Spas.
Click here for audio: Brian Walton with Miller and Brinson (7:14)
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Sunday lineup: Theriot 6, Jay 7, Pujols 3, Berkman 9, Rasmus 8, Schumaker 4, Laird 2, Descalso 5, Lohse 1.
Day off for Holliday and Freese.
And Yadi. Nice bench.
This is the lineup I hoped to see today, but in post game he said the big three would be playing today. I guess he meant Pujols, Berkman, and Jay:)
Doesn’t big three mean 3,4,5? Marketing? (insert Westydots here)
Rasmus and Schumaker should get some RBI opportunities today.
Here’s the new Strauss article sayiing Cards are talking to White Sox about Colby.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_27d76ebc-b60b-11e0-aa51-001a4bcf6878.html
While we could use Matt Thornton, his salary is well above what the Cards allocate for a bullpen lefty. Edwin Jackson may be a free agent after this season, though I am unsure. I could see a deal with the White Sox, yet if so it may involve a lot of players.
Id rather have Jackson and let McCellan get the lefties out. Well Id rather have Shields or Helleckson but if we deal with the whitesox Jackson is much peferred to Thornton.
I’m not excited about either Thornton or Jackson, and with Jackson Mo would have to deal with Boras this winter.
Oh, didn’t know that, that’s a deal breaker for me.
McCutcheon gave up on getting the runner at home before he ever caught it. Medium to rather shallow fly ball. I hate seeing that kind of baseball. His excuse would be didn’t want the man on first to advance on the throw. Good fundamentals would have the cutoff man directly in line between the catch and home plate, and a low trajectory throw that could be cut off or not. Good chance of preventing the advance. I guess its better to just see who can hit the most homers.
That seems to be much more common. I remember Brian Jordan, Mark Whitten, and JD Drew throwing guys out or at least making it close on Middle range flyballs. They almost always made an attempt.
The Cardinals need to rethink their running game. For one thing the running game in baseball is overrated if you believe the Sabermetric guys As terrible as the Cardinals are at executing makes the cost of trying way too high.
We seem to be terrible and giving a hit and run sign the other guys can’t pick up.
That’s why Rasmus is in the lineup instead of Holiday.
Every time Rasmus pops a HR, the White Sox or Rays will have to provide another prospect. The last thing those teams want is for Rasmus to re-find his swing.
My guess the Cards would consider trading Rasmus is because Skip can serve as the backup CF, while Allen Craig takes over at 2B.
There’s not much else anybody would want that we can do without.
Thats twice in the last two weeks we had a runner at second no outs and lost him trying to do this stupid small ball crap. That is horrible baseball. They don’t deserve to win this game. Why try and bunt anyway? It is stupid to give them an out with a runner already in scoring position. Terrible!!
Would have been nice to have Laird on second for Freese’s hit.
Nice managing by TLR, turns a lead off double to huge momentum for Pirates going into bottom of inning.
I don’t blame Tony for expecting big leaguers to be able to execute. What I question is this: if that run was important enough to try a sacrifice to advance the man to third, why wasn’t there a pinch runner for Laird?
I am just curious why on earth you would give them in out in that situation. I know LaRussa is a genius, but I have a functioning brain and don’t understand why you put on a play that even if it executed perfectly gives the opponent a free out. Can anyone explain that to me?
You lost me at LaRussa is a genius.
The percentages are that a guy from 3rd with 1 out scores more times than a guy at 2nd with no outs.
I have never liked this play either but all managers have been doing this for years.
but they may have had a runner on third with one out without giving them an out. Sure there is a risk he won’t get over, but there is also a risk the bunt won’t get down or be in the right spot or hard enough or soft enough.
I have watched baseball a long time and don’t remember managers trying to sacrifice runner from 2nd to 3rd with no outs, maybe I don’t notice because the success rate is so high it just doesn’t catch my attention like it does when they blow it. Thanks for the info. I didn’t realize the percentages were that way.
Well, that throw to the plate didn’t impress anybody, but he did hit a homer. That’s what matters.
Between the bad throw by Laird, the failure to keep it from going into center, and then on the pop fly the pitiful throw to the plate, we just gave it away.
They lost the game several times before that. The last inning is all anyone will remember, but the Cards blew chance after chance. At least they won the series. Just hate to see so many oppurtunities go to waste.
You left out the lazy throw by Pujols to Motte that got the runner on base in the first place.
Yes, I love how on the post game show they break down and call attention to the throw by Colby (I give Dunc credit for admitting it was a very tough play to make), but don’t say anything about Pujols throw. They just mentioned the Pirates runner hustling. Pujols probably thought the guy was going to beebopping down the line like he does. But I don’t know if Motte would have got him anyway, the guys foot beat Motte to the bag anyway.
yada yada yada bling.
When Colby had to go back on that line drive that was gonna be a tough play to get Paul. Under the circumstances that throw was about what you would expect. Had to rush it because of Paul’s speed. It would have took a great play to get him. My goodness Bling, you got the second string in there, what do you expect?
I would say that inning was just about as bad a set of unlucky circumstances that could happen:
Slow chopper to Albert, Albert just lobs one to Motte and the speedy Paul beat the throw. I don’t see where Motte did much wrong there. He was over there and had to wait on the lob throw by Albert.
then the Laird throw was a low throw and quite possibly could have been stopped by Theriot but that kind of stuff happens. No way Colby has a shot at Paul going to third there.
Just a tough series of events and wham bam you lose.
I agree it would have taken a great play to get the runner, but not to make it close.
Under the circunstances that I saw, an accurate throw to the plate from that distance should have been accomplished. That’s the point of playing the outfield shallow like that after all.
As to Theriot, what do you mean ‘quite possibly’? It didn’t take a bad hop off to the side or up over his head. He took a stab at catching it off to the side, but did not position himself in front of it to block it if he didn’t catch it.
Tony demands little and he gets it.
You position yourself in at the point where you can make the throw from. Unfortunately he had to go back from that point and that to me was the difference. Colby did try to get behind the ball but it was a line drive and he had little time to do enough. I am critical bling but I thought he played it about as good as he could. The throw obviously could have been better but the play was solidly played from my viewpoint. But you and I obviously view things from a different filter.
through not from.
Well the Laird throw obviously got the error so the throw was a bad one. Now could Theriot have made the play? Yes. Should it have been made? Maybe. But he didn’t misplay anything on that particular play. Theriot was Tony’s choice so you may be right.
Coluld that be the final straw? Will todays game cause Mo to make a move?
Bw, win or lose today, Mo is on the prowl to make this team better.
I think we have the Cubs and Astros coming up on the menu. Bon appetit!
Theriot is in a slump. Skip now has a higher batting average.