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6:45 p.m.
LHP Zack Thompson (3-5, 3.86) vs. RHP Seth Lugo
BSM // KMOX // WIJR
(and Bally Sports Southeast/Southwest Extra)Did anybody notice what kind of a crowd showed up Monday? The weather is perfect for tonight, so maybe ticket holders will be motivated.
Nothing much pleasant to talk about regarding the Redbirds, but concerning the NLC, the Brewers are featuring what could be termed a carbon copy of the manner in which the Cardinals took off and asserted themselves as the team that would win the division in late August and into September of last season. MIL’s now won 9 in a row and has created some substantial seperation atop both the Cubbies and Reds at 5 and 7 games respectively, although either one of those latter two teams could sneak in for a WC berth. The Phillies look to be in good shape with a 4.5 lead over every other NL WC contender. Meanwhile, the beat goes on for both the Braves and Dodgers who are undoubtedly the superior upper crust of the NL if not the entire Big Leagues and for some odd reason I continue to believe that the Astros are the only team that would stand a decent chance to defeat either one of them in this year’s WS.
I like what Seattle has been doing. Also Julio Rodriguez is really stepping up the second half. Looking like a genuine star. I hope we can see one of our younger guys do that in the next couple of years.
Right now our team reflects our manager’s personality – boring.
Yeah, the Mariners have emerged out of nowhere to place both the Rangers and Astros in the position of chasers. As recently as Aug. 1st they were only 3 games above .500 and in 4th place in that division. I also noticed while checking Seattle’s season schedule that their home games are drawing some nice crowds in the form of averaging about 30,000 to 35,000 and as recently as 5 days ago they drew 45,000 for a games vs. the Royals no less. That’s pretty good.
CF R. Palacios L
1B P. Goldschmidt R
2B Nolan Gorman L
3B N. Arenado R
C W. Contreras R
DH A. Burleson L
LF T. O’Neill R
RF J. Walker R
SS Masyn Winn RWonder how many whiffs Cy Lugo will amass tonight? 10? 11? Maybe it’s just me, but when I saw Seth Lugo’s name atop this thread, ex-Cards slugger Mike Laga came to mind. My memory is a bit hazy on the supposed event, but didn’t he hit one of the farthest balls ever in old Busch? What’s for din-din tonight one may ask? It was a trip down to Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse for a medium rare ribeye, buttered mushrooms, asparagus spears and a couple of large glasses of milk. And for dessert, a trip over to Popeyes drive thru lane for a trip down memory lane by purchasing 3 cinnamon apple pies…….just like mom used to make…….only a bit better.
Here are some fun facts that the color man in the booth probably won’t mention.
The Cardinals are first in MLB in runners left on base with 962. The next few teams are BJs 956, Rangers 948, Astros 938, Dodgers 931. I checked the Brewers, 852.
Looked up sacrifice flies the Cards have this year. 26, tied with the Reds for last in the NL. Three AL teams only have 25. The Dodgers have 54.
Looked up sacrifice bunts. We have 8, of which Edman has 3 and some guys each have one. The DBs have 29. They’re doing what they can with what they’ve got, I guess.
GIDPs, we are 3rd in the NL with 102, behind the Braves 109 and Brewers 108.
SBs, 75, fourth lowest in the NL ahead of the Marlins, Rox and Giants.
CSs, 24, which is middle of the pack, 7-8 in the NL.
From our point of view, not exactly “fun facts”. Maybe disturbing facts works better. But thanks for sharing, Bling. With the abysmal season we’re having, I bet there’s a fistful of other Cardinal 2023 stats out there that would make George Sisler shout out an obscenity or two from the heavens above, if they were to be revealed.
Good information, Bling. So basically we don’t do anything well. We are fundamentally poor. If this was football and we said a team was fundamentally poor, the first thing you would look at in assigning blame would be coaching. It is similar in baseball. I think coaching is a little more impactful in football, especially at the college and younger levels. But it is important in baseball as well.
I cannot come up with one positive attribute our coaching staff possesses. They just come off as over matched – in above their heads, whatever you want to call it. It seems that the veteran leadership last year made a huge difference, along with better pitching. Losing the two key vets and relying on this coaching staff to go it without them has been one factor in our demise. Not the only one, and maybe not the biggest one, but one.
Din din? Tacos made with organic ground beef, home grown jalapeños and tomatoes, and some shredded sharp cheddar. Washed down with pclear, cool water. Often have a cold cerveza with Mexican fare, but stuck to water this evening.
The Cardinals offensive strategy seems to be try to hit enough homers to win.
I see Walker got picked off second. Figures.
Yeah, this team along with several others around the league are horrible in the area of moving baserunners up into a position to cross HP, and although I’m a strong proponent of the sac-bunt in many situations, obviously a hitter doesn’t necessarily have to lay down a bunt to move a guy over. I’m guessing that either hitters aren’t in tune to the precise game situation prior to stepping in or that there’s not enough insistance from the dugout that they place as much focus on advancing a baserunner as they do on ripping one over the OF wall. There’s not only a lot of good things that can happen with a runner at 2nd or 3B with one out, but it also all but eliminates the possibility of a GB killing the potential of a nice inning. At any rate, it’s frustrating to watch when it seems like a lot of these teams have entirely forgotten that it’s important to move runners up.
I sure hope we can get away from these 4 inning starts next year. You can say whatever you want about peripherals, velocity, repertoire, vertical movement, horizontal movement, spin rate, etc. If it takes a guy 91 pitches to go 4 innings, he’s got no business on a ML pitching staff.
Got a winner tonight! Goldy woke up. Contreas 2 dingers. Gorman even got an rbi but 3 ks. Need to move Contreas up to 4 while hes hot. Just don’t know bout Nado now. He seems like dinger or nothing? Won in extra inning! Pitching held up. Personally I still want to win these games. Go Cardinals!
Eddie was averaging 92 runs scored in three full seasons up until this year. That average will drop significantly this season simply because he’s not being utilized properly which is the case with many players on this roster. Those that are charged with leading this team and making the decisions regarding the placement of the players into the best possible position to excel have in my view been a dismal failure. I wouldn’t have been happy to see Edman traded at the deadline, but it wouldn’t have bothered me too much in the sense that at least I may have been afforded the opportunity to watch him play for a contending team that was led by a field manager who possessed the ability to clearly see that Eddie is a potent weapon when properly deployed. I want to see Edman play for a winner and there are plenty of winning teams that would love to have him on their roster.
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