2023 StL Game #130: Saturday, August 26 at Phillies

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  • #232339
    Brian Walton
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    6:15 p.m.
    RHP Dakota Hudson (5-0, 3.95) vs. RHP Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.70)
    FOX // KMOX

    #232491
    1toughdominican
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    Hudson at 5-0. Hudson with the 3.95 ERA. All of a sudden Hudson’s the “ace” of the rotation.

    #232492
    1toughdominican
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    All jokes aside, Hudson’s career W/L record now stands at 37-17. Not too shabby. Think about this for a minute…In the first 54 decisions of his career, Clayton Kershaw’s W/L record stood at 28-26…Haha!

    #232493
    blingboy
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    Hudson 3.95
    Matz 3.86
    Thompson 3.86

    So, Mo is telling Bill he just needs a couple cheap inning eaters to round out the bottom of the rotation.

    #232494
    blingboy
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    But, wait. Woody had a good game in AA. And there is Liberatore. He is made of teflon so horrible results don’t stick.

    #232498
    ZTR
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    If you really look at Mikolas stats, and you look at Matz stats and injury history – it is not a stretch to say the there are zero good, dependable starters on the roster that can be counted on for 2024. Zero.

    Every single rostered starter for next year is either bad and / or injury prone.

    The truth is though that some of these guys are going to have to pitch and that does not bode well.

    #232506
    1964cards
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    I heard TLR say on a few occasions that he was satisfied with the starter going six innings and holding the opponents to three runs or less. He felt that this type of performance gave his team a chance to win. If you accept that view of what a starter should provide … this season the Cardinals are falling way short of the innings portion of this goal by starting pitchers.

    The guys listed above meet the ERA criteria of this goal. However, they fall short of averaging six innings or more per start. That may be okay for a fifth starter, maybe even a fourth starter. However, the Cardinals need their first three starters to average 6+ innings per start over the course of the season. I am hoping that Hudson and Thompson can be stretched out and maintain their ERA’s. I am not confident that Matz can.

    #232508
    14NyquisT
    Participant

    Its got to be a little difficult for this team to get up for these games that mean little more than the games at the end of spring training.

    I haven’t seen too much chatter about the Sept. additions to the roster.

    My feelings are that we get through ’23 and go into the hot stove and then wait to see who Mozeliak will obtain for the new-look ’24 rotation. 2024 spring training should be wide open and I’m expecting a few surprises ie. how the young players we have now in STL will compete for the open spots. There is a lot of high profile and pedigree among them. I mean what else can you do…. it doesn’t pay to take the end of this season seriously. Save your pepto-bismol for next year because you might just need double doses….. maybe not.

    #232509
    Euro Dandy
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    It’d be amazing, but you can only dream of an entire rotation of Hudsons, Matzes and Thompsons. Even shoot-for-the-moon Mo knows that.

    #232510
    Jnevel
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    I think you guys are stuck in the past. Most starting pitchers only get 6 innings about half of their starts. Even the best ones often fall short. Elite is getting there in better than 60% of the time.

    For Quality Starts, Mikolas has 10 this year. Here’s where a bunch of the other pitchers that this site holds in high regard are:

    Eduardo Rodriguez: 10
    Jon Gray: 10
    Michael Wacha: 10
    Alex Cobb: 10
    Dylan Cease: 10
    Justin Verlander: 11
    Julio Urias: 11
    Joe Musgrove: 11
    Shane Bieber: 11
    Max Scherzer: 12
    Aaron Nola: 12
    Sandy Alcantara: 12
    Lucas Giolito: 13

    The MLB leader, Gerritt Cole does have 19. He is really good. But my point is that Mikolas is about the same this year as the group above. Guys just don’t go that long. Mikolas was one weakly hit bouncer up the third base line that happened to go for a double from probably only giving up 2 runs over 6 last night. Sure he had a lot of traffic. I’m not saying he’s been good. I just think that it is short sighted to claim he is suddenly now terrible after his last couple starts. It’s baseball. Stuff like well executed pitches that result in weakly hit choppers that sometimes find a hole just happen. That’s baseball.

    #232511
    blingboy
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    Just when we were panicking over seeing less of Motter because Gorman is back, Arenado is now day to day with back trouble. The story is it has been bothering him for a while. Maybe that’s why his SLG and OPS are around 100 points off for August.

    #232512
    Cardinal in France
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    14nyquist: I’ve pretty much taken that position since the all-star break. Use what’s left of the season now to work on your swing, fool with mechanics, etc.

    #232513
    blingboy
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    Mikolas has been up and down all year. The good months, May and July, were pretty good, the bad months, April, June and August pretty bad. Overall 6-10 with a 4.66 ERA is about what might be expected of a Woodford type, or just a tic better. He is good for about 2 quality starts a month, which is more than anybody else on the staff can say. So maybe that makes him mid rotation in a bad rotation worthy.

    I seriously doubt Mo is going to acquire three guys who are better. Two who are better even seems like an unrealistic hope. Maybe one better, one about the same and one to compete for a spot. That would make us better, if that is the objective, which it probably is. Not great though. But if the pen is also better, and the offense and defense sharpen up, we could potentially meet Mo’s definition of competative. It seems like, even with acquisitions, its going to come down to some present in house guys stepping up. That is what we were hoping for this year and we know hoaw it turned out.

    #232514
    1toughdominican
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    With the Redbirds being out of contention and some late season injuries, it’s nice to see that the whiz-kid Redbird manager is smart enough to get Manny Motter into as many games as is humanly possible in order to not only keep him sharp, but also to get as many looks at his multiple talents in order to properly deploy his skills next season. It’s obvious to me that all Manny needs is a chance to shine…I mean, he’s only 33 years of age. You really have to tip your cap and acknowledge the keen eye for talent of both Johnny and the current Redbird manager. At any rate, I’m all but entirely certain that Manny’s tremendous amount of versatility and talent will mature and blossom in ’24 and I’m sure Johnny and the Redbird manager share that same mindset…He’s obviously a primary piece of the Cardinal puzzle going forward. I’m banking on Manny Motter!

    #232515
    blingboy
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    Maybe Mo will sign Manny for a few years now before his value skyrockets.

    #232518
    1toughdominican
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    Well, of course. With the possible exception of talking out of both sides of his mouth, Johnny’s foremost longsuit has always been his inate ability to pluck a gem out of the bargain aisle and secure the talent with an ironclad agreement that makes certain to retain that talent through the player’s prime years. As I pointed out, Manny’s only 33. We can expect Johnny to make certain that Manny Motter provides Redbird fans with countless thrills in ’24 and well beyond…Johnny won’t allow a player like Manny to get away. Come to think of it, Manny’s disappeared a couple of times this very season, but Johnny always makes sure that Manny finds his way back home…

    #232520
    1toughdominican
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    Someone pointed out that Mikolas has placed a losing W/L record up on the board for 4 consecutive seasons and 4 out of 5 seasons as a Cardinal. He’s never impressed me as anything more than what could be termed a run of the mill SP’er and I was required to eat a substantial amout of crow when in ’18 he went 18-4 with a 2.83 ERA in a little over 200 innings of work. However, as others have mentioned, that was five years ago and he’ll turn 36 years of age next season, so I don’t think he can be termed anything other than a bottom of the rotation SP’er. Way down at the bottom.

    #232521
    Ratsbuddy
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    Arenado out of the lineup tonight.

    Gorman will be at 3rdbase tonight.

    #232522
    jj-cf-stl
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    Mikolas competes in the strike zone. A 1.8 BB/9 is excellent, and also his career avg.

    Miles is allowing a .746 ops for the season, .732 is mlb avg.

    Of his 28 GS this season, 10 games he has received 0-2 runs of support. Throw his W/L away.

    His FIP is 4.01, throw his ERA away.

    After 28 GS, he looks to be wearing down. This happens when you show up for every one of your starts.

    He’s a solid SP3

    #232523
    1toughdominican
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    You have to be kidding. Manny should be at 3B in Nado’s place. We’re going to need him all over the field next season. Why not get him in there as much as possible? Manny Motter’s been the heart and soul of this ballclub all season long and in my view will continue to be the catalyst in ’24 and beyond. Play him while he’s entering his prime years!

    #232524
    1toughdominican
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    That could well be the case, jj, but if you think back to the beginning of this season, he was getting absolutely murdered in his first 6 or 7 turns when he was fresh out of ST’ing. I don’t think he’d claim that he was worn down at that time.

    #232525
    blingboy
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    2B Tommy Edman S
    RF A. Burleson L
    1B P. Goldschmidt R
    3B Nolan Gorman L
    C W. Contreras R
    LF T. O’Neill R
    CF R. Palacios L
    DH Luken Baker R
    SS Masyn Winn R

    #232526
    jj-cf-stl
    Participant

    His first 3 GS were poor, just to be accurate.

    #232527
    osuagec
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    Thought I was going to get to watch the Cards here in central Oklahoma for one of the few times this year, but alas, FOX is showing the Rangers Twins game instead. ☹️

    #232528
    jj-cf-stl
    Participant

    Excellent Winn

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