2023 StL Game #139: Wed., Sept. 6 at Braves

This one could get ugly although Dak has thrown the ball fairly well. Like all pitchers, when his command is there he is tough, and that sinker is a great weapon. When he cannot hit the strike zone though, it gets brutal.

Like you pointed out, what makes watching Hudson work that’s so frustrating is that when the command of his sinker is even marginal he can string together and record outs with remarkable efficiency. I’ve watched him work countless times when he’ll breeze through an inning without having to offer up more than 8 to 10 pitches only to follow up with an inning that is as slow and painful as anything ever conceived by the architects of the Spanish Inquisition.

But that Spencer dude uncool name and all can really strike a bunch of guys quickly. 245 in 159.1 innings.

LF L. Nootbaar L
1B P. Goldschmidt R
2B Nolan Gorman L
3B N. Arenado R
C W. Contreras R
DH A. Burleson L
RF J. Walker R
CF Tommy Edman S
SS Masyn Winn R

I’m a fortune telling gypsy who forsees Gorman winning the battle and placing two more taters in his season HR column tonight…Haha!

If the pitch location feature on ESPN Gamecast is accurate, Winn got a center cut fastball on a 1-2 count and fouled it off. Then went on the strike out with Edman on 2nd and nobody out. He has to at least advance the runner over to third with less than two outs. If he doesn’t yet have the bat skills to put it in play to the right side, then he should bunt. He has done exactly this same thing before. Its infuriating that a young player is not versed in the fundamentals of winning baseball.

Struck out again. Looked at two 94 MPH sinkers, one of them in his wheelhouse. Then swung and missed on a 78 MPH pitch. Probably screwed himself into the ground. Welcome to the show sonny.

I wonder what will be left of it on opening day.

Just one question ladies and germs – what is wrong with the Cardinals? They have either stumbled on some impressive PEDs, or are using the Astros electronic sign stealing contraption.

Four SB’s for the Cardinals tonight. I would have liked to have see them do more running earlier in the season and had expected them to do so. I’ve also noticed that the hit and run seems as though it has fallen victim to the same rule changes that have rendered the IF shift a thing of the past. I just never see it anymore. At any rate, I like to see a team put pressure on the opposing defense with some sort of a running game. I don’t even mind seeing SB attempts when down by a couple of runs prior to the late innings.