Late Wednesday 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.” With the football season upon us, my normal Friday spot will now be on Wednesdays for the remainder of the season.
Fans in central Iowa can again catch Cardinals radio broadcasts on KXnO throughout the 2011 season as well as this Wednesday segment, sponsored by WCI Pools and Spas.
Click here for audio: Brian Walton with Ken Miller and Jim Brinson (8:45)
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Lots of questioning of TLR’s decision to start Dickson today instead of Carpenter. Interesting stuff.
Aren’t we just talking about deck chair arrangement at this point?
Probably. I wasn’t giving an opinion one way or the other. I can see both sides of the argument on this one. Pitching Carpenter would probably be more of a PR move for the fans who are teetering on the brink with TLR anyway. For people like me who went over the cliff on him years ago, it is just the same song different verse. I have relegated myself to strictly spectator status on the rest of this season.
Good job on Sports Zone btw.
Thanks. I had so much to say (talked too much), that we didn’t get to all the topics. Perhaps they’ll have me back soon. Will post the audio later today for those who missed my segment live.
Pathetic.
I thought the game is to start at 4:10 ET, which is a mere 15 minutes from now, yet I cannot see the line-ups anywhere.
Man, this is an important game! Well, I guess only if we want a chance at the post-season. I really do believe the crew are starting to get that “pucker factor” phenomenon going on. It will be interesting to see how both teams today respond to the increasing pressure. Go, Cardinals!!
nevermind…I found it on Gameday. Furcal, J-Jay, AP, MH, LB, Skip (2b), Yadi, De-cal (3B) and Dickson. That should work!
Sorry, I thought I had posted it earlier.
FM- looks like it did work.The ship sails still……………………………deck chairs still intact.
Bw: Brian became disheartened a few weeks back. Its a shame, but its ok to be human and we can forgive him.
Everyday the betting line gave the Cards about a 25 percent chance of winning the game in Milwaukee. .25 x .25 x .25 were the approximate odds of a sweep by the Cards. About 1 or 2 percent chance, since the Brew Crew were 50-17 at home.
Now they are 50-20. Albert massacred the Brewers today. It was sweet. He is opening up a good lead over Fatty Fielder in the HR derby.
Jumbo, I don’t think being patronizing with Brian is the way to go here.
Bw started it.
Correction, Brian did, by giving up.
But he is a hard working guy anyway, nose to the old grindstone, so we can overlook, even if real fans will not forget.
After the sweep, the odds against the Cards making the playoffs sit at 95.8 percent. Feel free to be a 4.2-percent glass-full kind of guy if you want, but why criticize others who don’t see it your way?
I report and offer commentary, not cheerlead.
Brian-I just offered my comment.You call not giving up being a cheerleader then so be it.
I should have been clearer that I was directing my comment to Jumbo.
Jumbo-you are right.I didn`t start anything.I just don`t go along with the negative attitude that seems to be the prevailing mood in this blog.To each his own.
It would be a pretty boring world if everyone saw everything the same way.
Brian-this is true.Too much negative crap in the real world.Baseball isn`t a high priority these days.
It depends upon who you ask…still a pretty high priority in my world. But some argue that the world I live in is unreal. And so it goes…
If the stros sweep the crew and we sweep the Walts, then we meet up again only 4 1/2 back.
That would be a miracle.
I missed the game, of course, and I take it Dickson stunk up the joint. The pen gave up some hits, too. I’ll bet Albert got bood hard.
Hope we get another look at Cleto.
Actually, double-b, Dickson looked fairly good, I thought. He does need further seasoning, but that’s not such a profound observation on my part. A pretty good game all around, and I didn’t hear much excessive booing from crew fans towards Albert. Yeah…it was cool! MLB.com had the game on “for free” and cheapskate me didn’t have to simply observe via Gameday. Perhaps I should stop being so frugal, which reminds me of Furcal!
What a STUD that guy has become as a Cardinal!!! Nice work by Moz on that one, too! He cannot do that three days in a row, now can he? What’s Vegas have to say about that long-shot?
Brian, I think you do admirable work. Now, with that “suck-up” attempt…
…can you help this hillbilly out with explaining how this “waiver” junk works? I know it’s multi-faceted and somewhat complicated…and I understand about working through the last-place team in the league, then on over to the other league, all the way through, etc. What I DON’T get is, in the specific case of Lance Berkman; 1) why would we put him on waivers…is there a reason NOT to put ANYONE on waivers? Someone said pretty much every player gets put on waivers…even Albert? 2) I understand “clearing waivers” to mean none of the 29 other teams “claimed” him off waivers (not sure of exactly all that means), but what would have happened if, say, team “X” would have “claimed” him. I understand we could have then worked a deal with team X (but doesn’t Lance have to approve the team?…I thought that was part of his contract…no-trade clause or something), OR, we could have pulled him off waivers, right? Then, we cannot work a deal with any other team for Berkman until after the season…which is meaningless, since he’ll be a free agent anyway, right? But some sportscaster made it sound like it was beneficial to the Cardinals that he DID clear waivers, because that frees us up to negotiate with ANY team for Berkman at that point. But that’s confusing, because wouldn’t Lance still have to approve it? And why would any team want to make a deal for him after he cleared when obviously(?) they could have “claimed” him when their “turn” came up, but declined then?? Puzzling…very puzzling. Any help you can offer would be appreciated.
P.S. Look for the Cardinals to be within 3 games of the crew come Sept. 16. That’s gaining 4 1/2 games in two weeks from today.
There is no drawback to putting players on this particular type of waivers because they can be called back. Teams typically do it to gauge interest in their players from other teams. Only a very small percentage of players waived actually change teams during this time.
If a player is claimed, then the old team could let the player go to the new team for nothing in return or they could negotiate a trade. The claiming team has to pick up the remaining salary obligation for the player, which for someone on a multi-year deal like the Astros’ Wandy Rodriguez, for example, could be considerable.
Berkman does not have no-trade protection. If he had been claimed, then only one team could have negotiated with the Cards for him, but since he cleared, the Cards could have traded him anywhere.
Because Berkman will be one of the better free agents, called Type A, his rights are worth two early draft picks next year. So he could have greater value to another team than just one month’s worth of stats. That also likely made his price higher from St. Louis’ perspective.
IMO, the Cards needed to keep Berkman around into the off-season as Pujols insurance.
Okay, thanks, Brian…that DOES help clear it up a lot for me. This “GM’ing” business is hard work!
I guess its a good thing the internet wasn`t around in 1964.I can only imagine the comments then while the Phillies were leading.
For every rule, there is an exception. That is the only time the Cardinals have ever come back from such a deficit in the final month. Could it happen again? Of course. Is it likely? No, it is not. Nothing wrong with holding out hope.
Good point, Bw. I don’t know about you, but a “return to ’64″ is very appealing to me on MANY levels!! That was the year, as a 4th-grader, that I got “hooked” on the Cardinals. During the World Series, I had a little 8-transistor radio that I took to school with me. I wore long sleaves, and fed the earpiece from the radio in my desk, through my shirt up through my left sleeve, and into my left ear…resting my head on my left had while “doing my work” with my right hand. Mrs Schoppe never had a clue!! One of my pals was a yankee fan, and I’d give him updates during recess…and we nearly got into a fight more than once over it! (Yankee fans are amongst the worst!). I was really afraid that he was going to report me to the teacher over it, but then he’d have lost the “updates.” Wow! What a great time to be alive and lovin’ the Cardinals!!
Cheeky