All posts by Brian Walton

Brian Walton runs The Cardinal Nation, covering the St. Louis Cardinals and minor league system.

MLB needs to respect Hall of Fame inductions


Just a quick blog post from the press box as Citizens Bank Park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon before I return home this evening.

12 months ago at this time, I was in Cooperstown, New York, attending my first-ever Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. That class included Goose Gossage, Dick Williams, Peter O’Malley and former Cardinals manager Billy Southworth.

It was a special time for me – a beautiful Sunday afternoon setting, just about perfect in every way, but one thing really bothered me.

I had to give up the final installment of a Cardinals-Mets series, my and the team’s last-ever game at the old Shea Stadium, to head up to Cooperstown. Why did I have to decide between the two?

This year, I had the benefit of watching Rickey Henderson’s acceptance speech on one of the press box monitors during the Cards-Phils game. But what about the 45,000 baseball fans in this park and hundreds of thousands more across America?

I do give the Phillies credit in that they announced that ticket stubs from Sunday’s game can be redeemed for a free Hall of Fame admission in the next 12 months. A nice gesture, but not enough.

Why doesn’t MLB show more respect to their greats by not holding games during the induction ceremony? Schedule all the Sunday action in the evening, for example.

Better yet, take a day off. Don’t you think Tony La Russa would like to have traveled to Henderson’s ceremony? Don’t you think most of the dignitaries still active across the game would like to be there?

Do we see the NFL having their yearly Canton, Ohio ceremony on a game Sunday? Heck, they don’t even hold it during the season.

Of course, in MLB, we are talking about a league that didn’t even think to cover their own draft live until 2007 – a league that starts their post-season games so late in the evening that the next generation of fans they should be cultivating cannot even watch.

It is about time Major League Baseball wises up and celebrates their heritage instead of relegating it to second-fiddle status. Sadly, probably the only way to get their attention is to prove to them by doing so, they will make more money.

Congratulations to new Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Henderson, the late Joe Gordon, broadcaster Tony Kubek and writer Nick Peters.

Mediocre starters dominating Cardinals


Nothing against Rodrigo Lopez, but I have to admit that the right-handed pitcher inspired this article. Saturday’s starter for the Philadelphia Phillies went six innings on three earned runs for the win.

While Lopez has a surprising 3.09 ERA this season, it is in just 23 1/3 Major League innings. Simply put, Lopez is a journeyman who failed as a starter in Baltimore, for Pete’s sake, and has a 4.76 career ERA. He has spent most of the last two seasons in the minor leagues.

Lopez joins a list of seven other veteran below-average pitchers who have dominated the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009. Each of the following seven has a season ERA of basically five or more, averaging 5.81. In aggregate, including their seven wins over the Cardinals, the group has a 33-41 record.

Take away their Cards wins and the “Magnificent Seven” are 26-41 (.388). As a point of reference, 29 of the 30 MLB teams have a better win percentage than .388. Only the hideous Washington Nationals are worse.

Given the Cardinals’ ongoing challenges against left-handed pitching, it is not surprising that four of the seven are lefties. Perhaps the club’s addition of right-handed bats Julio Lugo, Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa will change matters, but they did not on Saturday against the righty Lopez.

Date Team Pitcher L-R Score Inn ER 09 ERA 09 W-L Comments
5/2 WAS Shairon Martis R 6-1 9 1 5.25 5-3 Sent to AAA in June
5/17 MIL Manny Parra L 8-2 6 2 6.42 4-8 In AAA from 6/14-7/9
6/5 COL Jorge De La Rosa L 11-4 6 2/3 3 4.95 7-7 3 games in ’09 w/7 ER each
6/12 CLE David Huff L 7-3 7 1/3 3 6.39 5-4 Came up on 5/17
6/22 NYM Tim Redding R 6-4 7 4 7.16 1-4 May be released
6/28 MIN Francisco Liriano L 6-2 7 2 5.56 4-10 Double-digit losses already
7/20 HOU Brian Moehler R 3-2 6 1/3 2 4.92 7-5 Career 82-96, 4.74
5.81 33-41

IMPORTANT: Blog URL change


Some of you may have noticed that I recently added the word “blog” to the end of the title of this site. This was done in preparation for a similar change to this site’s web addresses, or URLs.

  • Starting immediately, the new URL for the home page of “The Cardinal Nation blog” is https://thecardinalnationblog.com.

  • In addition to the home page, EVERY existing page on this site now has “blog” added to its URL.

I understand this may be an inconvenience for some, especially those who have bookmarked specific pages they refer to often, such as the Roster Matrix. I apologize, but this change will create some important flexibility which will become clear very soon.

To ease the transition for all of us, until Monday, July 27, the previous URL of https://thecardinalnation.com will still point to this blog’s home page as always. From next Monday on, you will have to use the new URLs to reach this blog.

I have spent a lot of time evaluating options and have selected the one that should be least painful while still enabling me to accomplish my objectives.

I do not underestimate the value of your support and greatly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to visit “The Cardinal Nation blog”.

Rather than send emails, please post any comments or questions below so others can see the answers, too. (Note that my blog-related email address has also changed to thecardinalnationblog name as well.)

Will the Holliday trade be good, bad or neutral?


As I sat in the Citizens Bank Park pressbox Friday evening debating the present and future of the Matt Holliday for Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen and Shane Peterson trade, I realized there are a series of factors that together will play into whether or not this trade will be good for the St. Louis Cardinals.

In my opinion, it will take some time to be able to answer with any certainty – unless the Cardinals win the 2009 World Series, that is.

The factors include:

– Will the Cardinals reach the playoffs or win the World Series? (I view the latter as the only important factor while the Post-Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold favors the former in recognition that it is all about getting to the postseason and acknowledging the difficulty once there of winning it all.)

– Will Holliday sign an extension before reaching free agency? (I think if Holliday signs at all, it will be between the end of the regular season and the start of free agency -15 days following the completion of the World Series. Derrick thinks it could happen ala Kyle Lohse before the season is done. There is also a case that he could sign after reaching free agency but in terms of evaluating the value of the trade, that timing is not important.)

– If he signs, at what price? Is it below, at or above market value? Unless it is below market, one would think the Cards could have waited and bought him this winter without having given up the three players. It also has potential Pujols contract implications. (We agreed that it would have to be less than Albert’s $16 million. A more thorough analysis is work for another day.)

– If Holliday declares free agency, will the Cardinals offer arbitration, assuring themselves of two 2010 compensatory draft picks if Holliday declines? (Derrick thinks there is a chance Holliday might accept an arbitration offer, but I just can’t even give that a 1 percent chance.)

– Will either of these compensatory picks eventually yield a Major League star?

– Will one or more of Wallace, Mortensen and Peterson become a Major League star?

Below, I attempted to put all these conditions together to grade each combination of possibilities in order to assess whether the trade will be good, bad or in between.

In every case but the second, I used winning/not winning the World Series as the first criteria. Another version would be to put Derrick’s “making the playoffs” measure everywhere instead. I didn’t do it because I didn’t fully agree.

As always, I am interested in your view(s).

Good trade Bad trade Neutral trade
Cards win 2009 World Series yes
Cards reach postseason yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns below market value and
One or more of three prospects traded becomes MLB star yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns below market value and
None of prospects traded becomes MLB star yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns at or above market value and
One or more of three prospects traded becomes MLB star yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns at or above market value and
None of prospects traded becomes MLB star yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards do not offer arbitration yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards offer arb and one or both comp picks become MLB star yes but later
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards offer arb and neither comp picks become MLB star yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Cards offer arb and Holliday accepts yes*
* won’t happen

ESPN: bringing local sports news to a city near you


Remember the old days before eBay and Craigslist? You know, when the classified want-ads in the local newspaper were the place to go whenever you wanted to buy used items?

Well a movement is afoot in the media industry that may make the large local newspaper’s sports section become as irrelevant as the classifieds have become.

Proud to label themselves as “the world-wide leader in sports”, ESPN has announced the expansion of a pilot they initiated in Chicago to deliver comprehensive local sports news via the web.

Should you scoff at such a notion, chew on this. According to a New York Times report, in just 90 days, ESPNChicago.com has become the city’s top sports site, topping the previous leader, the Chicago Tribune’s web section. In June, the counts weren’t all that close, with ESPN Chicago leading, 590,000 unique visitors to just 455,000 for the locals.

The early data implies that instead of snatching away large numbers of readers, ESPN initially seems have stemmed the growth of the local newspaper sites.

More importantly, ESPN has begun to secure large local advertising contracts, hitting the newspapers where it hurts most. This comes at a time when many local papers are already cutting back their sports sections due to financial difficulties caused in part by shrinking ad revenues.

ESPN coverage is provided with a local touch via original reporting from a in-market team of editors, columnists and bloggers, many known locally from past newspaper and television jobs, augmented by content from the news wires and ESPN staff.

The impressive initial results have been accomplished in Chicago so far through focus only on professional and college teams. The next step will take ESPN into Chicago area high school sports, too.

The threat also affects local television, as the site features a daily Chicago edition of its flagship “SportsCenter” program and they plan to leverage their extensive ESPN radio network, too.

Next up, backed by the deep pockets of the Disney Corporation, ESPN is hiring 15 new people to lead their expansion into Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. The Dallas site is slated to start up this fall, with the other two cities coming online early next year.

How long will it take for the worldwide leader to notice that St. Louis, one of the few major one-newspaper cities, may be ripe for some good, old-fashioned competition? If so, more choices for the online sports reader will surely follow.

Wallace for Holliday: Who to believe?


For the second consecutive year, heavy trade deadline rumors are surrounding Matt Holliday and the St. Louis Cardinals, only this time the outfielder is Oakland property, not that of the Colorado Rockies.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reported Thursday morning that the Cardinals “might be edging closer” to meeting Oakland’s asking price for Holliday, a free agent following this season. That price is reportedly top Cards minor league prospect, Memphis third baseman Brett Wallace.

The Chronicle’s report goes on to state the Cardinals’ “other option essentially would be” Washington outfielder Josh Willingham. It does not explain why these are apparently the only two fish in the sea.

ESPN’s Buster Olney lines up with the Chronicle’s report, quoting a source familiar with the negotiations that puts the odds at 50-50. Olney mentions the Cards have known for weeks that Wallace is required by Oakland to make the deal, but perhaps the A’s will agree to cover some of Holliday’s salary.

Holliday makes $13.5 million this season or has about $6 million to go on the final year of a two-year, $23 million deal signed with the Rockies prior to the 2008 season.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman is also in the camp that says the Cards are “seriously pursuing” Holliday. Heyman only states that Wallace is “in the mix” as Oakland’s take, however.

Finally, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal has chimed in quoting his sources as saying both “there is nothing going on” while also labeling the Cardinals interest in Holliday as only “mild”.

Who knows what or who to believe?

Personally, I am not even focused on the money. I am among those against giving up six Major League seasons of Wallace for two months of Holliday. There is always the chance that Holliday will like St. Louis and want to stay, but Scott Boras is his agent.

For every Kyle Lohse that spurns free agency, there are many more Boras clients that hit the open market. A couple of potential compensation draft picks received if Holliday walks after the season are not enough to change my view.

Walton on MLB.com’s Fantasy 411 Show Friday


This Friday, July 24 at 6:15 p.m Eastern / 5:15 p.m. Central, I will be a guest on MLB.com’s Fantasy 411 show, which is broadcast on XM 175, Sirius 210 and mlb.com.

I will be calling in from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to talk baseball with co-hosts Corey Gottlieb and Cory Schwartz, the latter against whom I compete in the National League Tout Wars expert competition.

James says Cooperstown should expect steroid players


A compelling article has been penned by Boston Red Sox Senior Baseball Operations Advisor Bill James about why he believes yesterday’s steroids users and accused users, including Mark McGwire, will eventually be enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

I began to read the four-page article with a healthy dose of skepticism. “So what if a stats guru had finally decided to break his silence about the steroid era? What possibly could he say that is new?” I thought to myself. By the end, James’ practical arguments had me in agreement.

Rather than recap it, lest I leave out important supporting points, I offer the link for you to read it in its entirety.

“Cooperstown and the ‘Roids” by Bill James, courtesy of ACTA Sports.

Wednesday live blogging on FOX Sports Midwest


I am returning as a panelist for FOX Sports Midwest’s weekly live blog session to be held throughout Wednesday evening’s Cardinals-Astros game.

You can participate via FOX Sports Midwest’s website or once the event begins, you can enter your comments and questions right here in the “CoveritLive” area to be added below.

In a tantalizing match-up of aces, Chris Carpenter (8-3, 2.26) opposes Roy Oswalt (6-4, 3.65) as the Cards try to avoid being swept in the three-game road series before heading to Washington and Philadelphia.

Wednesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Central.

<a href=”https://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&#038;task=viewaltcast&#038;altcast_code=e156e1fd6c” mce_href=”https://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;altcast_code=e156e1fd6c” >FOX Sports Midwest Cardinals Live Blog — Cards at Astros, July 22</a>

DeRosa: Small bright spot on an otherwise dismal day


On a night when starting pitcher Todd Wellemeyer was once again ineffective, the St. Louis Cardinals took their second consecutive loss to the Astros Tuesday night in Houston.

The ugly 11-6 loss dropped the still-hanging-onto-first-place Cards to 51-45 on the season. Their National League Central Division lead remains at two games though their six games over .500 (.539) mark is the poorest division-leading record in MLB.

The minor league system didn’t do much better on Tuesday. One has to drop all the way down to the New York-Penn League to find a victorious Cardinals club. In fact, Batavia was the only US-based affiliate to earn a win.

Leave it to Tom Orf to find a small nugget of positiveness to come out of a most forgettable day.

In the St. Louis game, Mark DeRosa’s bat awakened with a pair of home runs, his first as a Cardinal. The player brought in to help jumpstart the offense still has a lot of ground to make up after having spent most of the last month on the disabled list.

DeRosa joined some very select company in collecting his first two St. Louis home runs in the same game. It was only the seventh time this occurred in team history. The list includes one Hall of Famer, Frankie Frisch, and a pair of Reggies – Smith and Sanders.

First two Cardinals home runs in the same game – team history

Mark DeRosa 7-21-2009
Reggie Sanders 4-9-2004
Tino Martinez 5-1-2002
Darren Bragg 4-14-1999
Buddy Bradford 7-3-1975
Reggie Smith 4-15-1974
Frankie Frisch 4-30-1927

Why I hate Minute Maid


No, I am not talking about juice products. They’re just fine. It’s that idiotic amusement park that is pawned off as a baseball stadium in Houston.

Minute Maid Park may have been the difference Monday night as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals fell 3-2 to the Astros. After Houston went up in the fourth on a three-run home run by Carlos Lee that traveled over the silly Crawford Boxes, the Cards lost a golden opportunity against Brian Moehler in the fifth, victimized by the park.

With two on and two out, Ryan Ludwick blasted a baseball well over 400 feet onto that sideshow curiosity called “Tal’s Hill” in center field. Speedy Astros centerfielder Michael Bourn put on his hiking boots long enough to run down the ball, or should I say up the hill, ending St. Louis’ threat.

The new Busch Stadium gets positive marks around the league because “it plays fair”. One key aspect is no architectural tweaks that cheapen the game.

No one can say that about Minute Maid. Here are the top five things I dislike about that park.

1) Tal’s Hill, a 90-foot-wide grassy incline rises at a 30-degree slope from the outfield warning track to the wall in center field, 436-feet away from home plate. A flag pole adorns the hill – in fair territory. The cheesy gimmick was devised by former team president Tal Smith in homage to Cincinnati’s old Crosley Field.

All I know is that Cincinnati has built two new ballparks since Crosley and they didn’t see any reason to keep that hill. It isn’t a cool landmark like Boston’s Green Monster. It is just stupid, contrived and potentially dangerous. Some intelligent Houston fans hated Tal’s Hill badly enough they initiated a failed petition drive to try to get it removed.

2) The Crawford Boxes in left field provide one of the shortest porches in the game and therefore allow some of the cheapest home runs anywhere in baseball. They are only 315 feet away from home plate down the line to hit a home run, with a 19 foot tall wall. As a result, the bullpens are indoors – even when the roof is open! Go figure.

3) The Home Run Porch is located on a concourse in left-center field above Tal’s Hill that actually sits over the playing field in fair territory. Why should the outfielders have to play under the stands?

4) The roof. Building a retractable roof in humid Houston made a lot of sense, but my gripe is with the process of deciding whether to open or close it for any given game. The umpires, who should make the call, are not involved. Instead local management keeps the roof closed even on beautiful days when they want to try to intimidate their opponent by the piped-in noise.

5) The choo-choo train sits across the top of the left and left-center field wall. Why a train would be way up there, let alone one that is filled with fake oranges instead of coal is totally beyond me. Oh yeah, the train moves when the homeys hit a homer. Hard to believe, but this is even lamer than Bernie Brewer’s slide.

Call it sour grapes if you want since the park played into Monday’s result, but I was critical of this joke of a ballpark from the day it was initially christened Enron Field.

‘Nuff said about that.

Wainwright’s increasingly effective curve


By Ian Walton

Following Adam Wainwright’s strong seven-inning, two-run outing Saturday that was unfortunately spoiled by a lack of run support and a shaky bullpen, I decided to delve a little deeper into what has made the 28-year-old right hander such an effective starter this season.

Wainwright’s numbers this season are for the most part actually very consistent to date with his work over his injury-shortened 2008 season:

Year IP ER HR K BB H ERA WHIP BAA
2008 132 47 12 91 34 122 3.20 1.18 0.245
2009 137.1 46 13 123 51 126 3.01 1.29 0.243

One pair of numbers that jumps out at me is his strikeout and walk tallies. It has become immediately clear that Wainwright is relying upon the batted ball much less frequently than in 2008. FanGraphs’ PitchFX data offers some explanation, as it states that he has been throwing his off-speed pitches a solid three percent more often in 2009 than in 2008. This is probably a strong positive as they also assert that his fastball is giving up an additional 1.9 runs per 100 times thrown while his slider has improved by 1.5 runs/100 pitches and his curveball has improved by a whopping 2.38 runs/100 pitches to settle at an extremely impressive 3.77 runs/100 pitches fewer than league average.

So why has his curveball been so effective? We turn to a graph provided by Brooks Baseball to find out. The following is a plot of all of Wainwright’s pitches thrown against right-handed batters in yesterday’s game, seen from the perspective of the catcher:

This clearly demonstrates that Wainwright chooses to pound the outer half of the strike zone with his fastball (FT) and an occasional slider (SL) while dropping more than half of his curveballs (CU) low and away. FanGraphs indicates that opposing batters are swinging at his balls thrown outside of the strike zone 26.4% of the time in 2009 compared to 21.6% of the time in 2008. To top that off, they are actually only swinging at balls inside the strike zone 59.8% of the time, down from 61.9% in 2008. Clearly, he is keeping them guessing.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that a pitcher who works the outside of the plate against right-handers doesn’t fare quite as well against left-handed batting. Wainwright holds a strong 3.53 K/BB ratio against righties but only a 1.75 K/BB ratio against lefties. Brooks Baseball again shows us why with a plot of Wainwright’s pitches against left-handed batters Saturday:

The natural movement of Wainwright’s curveball turns into left-handed batters, so the best he can do with that pitch is throw it low over the plate. Only once did he manage to throw his curve beyond the outside edge of the strike zone. You can see that he uses his changeup (CH) to work outside a bit, but against lefties he ends up throwing many more pitches on the inside where the batter can reach them when compared to his work against righties.

So to wrap up, Adam Wainwright has been as dominating as ever this year, due more than ever to a vexing curveball that keeps right handed batters on their toes.

Thanks go ironically enough to FanGraphs for their numeric data and Brooks Baseball for their graphs. Brooks Baseball has requested that anyone employing their graphs post a link to an auction seeking to raise money for ALS research, so I will gladly comply: SOSH Auction to K ALS

Pineiro carries the load


St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Joel Pineiro did it all on Sunday as the right-hander spun seven innings of one-run ball on five hits and no walks to drop his ERA to 3.09 and earn his eighth win of the season.

To top it off, the 30-year-old free agent-to-be drove in both runs for the sputtering Cardinals offense. It came in the fourth inning via his second double of the season, a line drive between the third baseman and the bag that headed toward the stands that jut out down the left field line.

Leave it to Tom Orf to put this feat into context. Pineiro is just the fifth Cardinals pitcher in at least the last 55 years to drive in all the team’s runs in a single game.

He is only the second to actually pick up the win in the process and the first since Ray Sadecki did it 48 years ago.

Ironically, the most recent pitcher to drive in all the Cardinals runs prior to Sunday hailed from Puerto Rico as does Pineiro, Omar Olivares in June, 1991.

Cardinals pitcher driving in all runs (1954-2009)

Pitcher/hitter Date Opp W/L Score
Joel Pineiro 7/19/2009 ARI W 3-1
Omar Olivares 6/12/1991 @SDP L 2-7
Bob Forsch 9/12/1986 MON L 3-4
Don Durham 8/4/1972 PHI L 3-8
Ray Sadecki 8/6/1961(1) PHI W 3-1

Arizona fantasy vs. St. Louis reality


I don’t often write about fantasy baseball here, though it is a passion of mine that usually quietly dovetails very nicely with my primary Cardinals-related vocation.

Saturday night was an exception.

I compete to win in every league in which I participate and as such, they are all tied for first place in importance, to steal a line from Tony La Russa. Well, being honest, that isn’t completely true.

Of them all, the league which I want to win the very most is also the most prestigious – Tout Wars. Of the three flavors of Tout, I play in the National League competition. (The others are American League and Mixed.)

In this non-keeper league auction draft back in March in New York, I tried to build a well-balanced, winning team. I had several Cardinals on my target list, including Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright (pictured). I secured the latter, but when the bidding on the former climbed above my comfort level, I bailed out.

With 13 NL Tout Wars teams and 16 NL clubs from which to draft, it is easy to see that most teams will get only one closer. To go along with my choice, Chad Qualls of Arizona, I gambled a few dollars on a Chris Perez bet that has yet to deliver.

I also added a $3 Joel Pineiro, who has brought a nice return, but I didn’t do nearly as well on Khalil Greene, who I had felt was an excellent bounce-back candidate after seeing him hit .400 this spring. I also bid on Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel, but thankfully did not win either.

Yet as it turned out, my Cardinals contingent pales in comparison to the group of Arizona Diamondbacks I ended up with on my Tout roster this season. I currently have five Snakes. It wasn’t the plan – it just ended up that way and I have no complaints whatsoever. Despite the fact the real Diamondbacks are doing poorly in 2009, these five are all contributing to my fantasy squad.

Along with Qualls, I drafted catcher Miguel Montero. Though he was not the starter when the season began and will probably not be again when injured Chris Snyder returns, Montero has a very good bat and as such, is more effective than a mediocre starting catcher.

Third baseman Mark Reynolds takes a lot of gas for all his strikeouts, of which there have been many. His batting average is also nothing to write home about (.261), but the 24 home runs, 62 RBI and 15 stolen bases are superb.

Outfielder Justin Upton is a budding superstar. Though he started terribly this season, Upton is batting just under .300 with 16 home runs, 51 RBI and a dozen swipes.

Just last week, I added outfielder Gerardo Parra in a trade that also brought me San Diego closer Heath Bell. I knew Parra would receive at-bats the rest of the way, a key factor in a very deep league like this one, and offer a slightly above-average level of production.

Here was my dilemma Saturday night.

Wainwright was starting for the Cardinals with all four of my Arizona hitters facing him. Waino went seven strong innings and while he didn’t get the win, his peripherals were solid – 2.571 ERA, 1.143 WHIP and eight strikeouts.

Parra took an 0-for-4 collar while Upton had just one hit, but also swiped a base. Reynolds went 3-for-5, scoring each time and added a stolen base of his own.

The catcher Montero was clearly the Arizona offensive star of the game, going 4-for-5 with a double and a home run. He scored once and drove in two plus called an excellent game for former Cardinal Dan Haren, the winning pitcher.

As it turned out, Qualls also appeared, securing the final three outs for the save, his 17th of the season.

Though the Cardinals took the loss in the game – the one that really counts – the contest provided a good fantasy take for my NL Tout Wars team. For this one night at least, fantasy trumped reality for me.

Carp’s scoreless games can’t touch Gibby


On a night when he was clearly not at his best, St. Louis Cardinals’ ace Chris Carpenter still pitched eight scoreless innings en route to a 6-1 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

Carp’s command was off in the early innings as he prevailed for his eighth win of the season despite allowing seven hits, one hit batter and one walk.

It was Carpenter’s second shutout outing of at least eight innings this season. The other was also exactly eight innings in duration, a dominant two-hitter on May 25 in Milwaukee. Carp has yet to pitch a complete game in 2009 as the club remains cautious with their oft-injured ace.

Carpenter also went seven innings in his season opener on April 9. The one run that scored during that outing was unearned. Those were his only three scoreless outings of more than five innings this season.

To help put this into historical context, the always-ready Tom Orf offers an assist with the data.

Friday night’s eight-inning shutout was Carpenter’s 12th in his Cardinals career. That ties for only 13th-best on the club in the last 55 years, or since 1954. Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, pitching in a different era, is the runaway leader with 67 such games.

Dropping the criteria to seven innings with no earned runs, as noted above, Carp has three of those games this season and 19 total as a Cardinal, good for a tie for eighth-most since at least 1954. I found it most interesting to note that the leader, Gibson, collected “just” 68. When I say “just”, I mean not in comparison to others, but to himself.

In other words, only once in 68 career games during which Gibson spun seven innings with no earned runs allowed, did he not remain in the game to do the same thing in the eighth inning, too.

Simply amazing.

All Cardinals hurlers who reached double-digits in number of either eight or seven inning outings with no earned runs allowed in the last 55 years follow.

Cardinals 1954-2009
8 IP-0 ER 7 IP-0 ER
Rk # Rk #
1 Bob Gibson 67 1 Bob Gibson 68
2 Bob Forsch 27 2 Bob Forsch 35
3 Steve Carlton 20 T3 Matt Morris 23
T4 John Tudor 19 T3 Steve Carlton 23
T4 Curt Simmons 19 T5 John Tudor 22
T6 Larry Jackson 18 T5 Curt Simmons 22
T6 Ernie Broglio 18 7 Joe Magrane 20
8 Matt Morris 15 T8 Chris Carpenter 19
T9 Nelson Briles 14 T8 Ernie Broglio 19
T9 Joaquin Andujar 14 10 Larry Jackson 18
T11 Ray Washburn 13 11 John Denny 17
T11 John Denny 13 12 Joaquin Andujar 16
T13 Vinegar Bend Mizell 12 13 Nelson Briles 15
T13 Joe Magrane 12 14 Donovan Osborne 14
T13 Chris Carpenter 12 T15 Ray Washburn 13
T16 Bob Tewksbury 10 T15 Bob Tewksbury 13
T16 Lynn McGlothen 10 T17 Vinegar Bend Mizell 12
T16 Reggie Cleveland 10 T17 Jose DeLeon 12
T19 Lynn McGlothen 11
T19 Danny Cox 11
T19 Reggie Cleveland 11
T22 Ray Sadecki 10
T22 Larry Jaster 10

Pujols’ 2009 multi-homer games approach Big Mac land


Albert Pujols’ two solo home runs were enough to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night. Albert continues to lead the major leagues with current totals of 34 home runs and 89 RBI.

The multi-home run game was Pujols’ eighth such contest this season and the Cardinals’ tenth in 2009. It was the 31st of Pujols’ eight-and-a-half year career.

In at least the last 55 years, since 1954, only Mark McGwire (ten in 1998 and nine in 1999) has logged more multi-home run games in a single Cardinals season.

As a team, the 1999 and 2000 clubs each had 18 single-player, multi-home run games – the most for the Cardinals in a season since at least 1954.

Cardinals multi-home run games by season (1954-present)

Yr Tm Leader
2009 10 Albert Pujols 8 Ryan Ludwick 2
2008 10 Albert Pujols 3 Ryan Ludwick 3 Troy Glaus 3 Rick Ankiel 1
2007 8 Albert Pujols 4 Rick Ankiel 2 Ryan Ludwick 1 Yadier Molina 1
2006 11 Albert Pujols 4 Chris Duncan 2 Juan Encarnacion 2 Scott Rolen 1 Scott Spiezio, Ron Belliard 1
2005 10 Larry Walker 3 Albert Pujols 2 Jim Edmonds 2 Reggie Sanders 2 So Taguchi 1
2004 15 Scott Rolen 5 Albert Pujols 4 Jim Edmonds 3 Reggie Sanders 2 Larry Walker 1
2003 13 Jim Edmonds 5 Albert Pujols 4 Tino Martinez 2 Scott Rolen 1 Edgar Renteria 1
2002 5 Jim Edmonds 1 Scott Rolen 1 Tino Martinez 1 Placido Polanco 1 Edgar Renteria 1
2001 10 Mark McGwire 3 Jim Edmonds 2 Albert Pujols 2 J.D. Drew 2 Ray Lankford 1
2000 18 Jim Edmonds 4 Ray Lankford 4 Mark McGwire 2 Tatis, Drew 2 Paquette, Marrero, Dunston, Clark 1
1999 18 Mark McGwire 9 Fernando Tatis 4 Ray Lankford 3 Darren Bragg 1 Edgar Renteria 1
1998 15 Mark McGwire 10 J.D. Drew 2 Ray Lankford 1 Ron Gant 1 Gary Gaetti 1
1997 10 Mark McGwire 4 Ray Lankford 3 Delino DeShields 1 Ron Gant 1 Gary Gaetti 1
1996 10 Tom Pagnozzi 3 Ray Lankford 3 Gary Gaetti 2 Ron Gant 1 Brian Jordan 1
1995 3 Brian Jordan 2 Todd Zeile 1
1994 6 Todd Zeile 2 Gregg Jefferies 2 Ray Lankford 1 Geronimo Pena 1
1993 5 Brian Jordan 2 Mark Whiten 2 Gregg Jefferies 1
1992 0
1991 4 Bernard Gilkey 1 Felix Jose 1 Pedro Guerrero 1 Ray Lankford 1
1990 2 Pedro Guerrero 1 Milt Thompson 1
1989 1 Tom Brunansky 1
1988 2 Tom Brunansky 1 Tony Pena 1
1987 8 Jack Clark 6 Curt Ford 1 Jim Lindeman 1
1986 1 Willie McGee 1
1985 0
1984 1 David Green 1
1983 4 George Hendrick 2 Darrell Porter 1 Lonnie Smith 1
1982 3 George Hendrick 2 Darrell Porter 1
1981 2 George Hendrick 1 Gene Tenace 1
1980 9 George Hendrick 2 Ted Simmons 2 Dane Iorg 1 Keith Hernandez 1 Reitz, Durham, Kennedy 1
1979 4 Ted Simmons 2 George Hendrick 1 Garry Templeton 1
1978 1 George Hendrick 1
1977 1 Ken Reitz 1
1976 1 Reggie Smith 1
1975 4 Reggie Smith 1 Ted Simmons 1 Bake McBride 1 Buddy Bradford 1
1974 4 Reggie Smith 3 Ted Simmons 1
1973 1 Joe Torre 1
1972 0
1971 3 Joe Hague 2 Joe Torre 1
1970 6 Dick Allen 4 Joe Hague 1 Lou Brock 1
1969 1 Steve Huntz 1
1968 2 Curt Flood 1 Roger Maris 1
1967 6 Lou Brock 4 Orlando Cepeda 2
1966 3 Tim McCarver 1 Julian Javier 1 Orlando Cepeda 1
1965 3 Bill White 2 Curt Flood 1
1964 3 Ken Boyer 1 Julian Javier 1 Charlie James 1
1963 3 Ken Boyer 2 Charlie James 1
1962 3 Ken Boyer 1 Stan Musial 1 Carl Sawatski 1
1961 9 Ken Boyer 3 Bill White 3 Stan Musial 2 Daryl Spencer 1
1960 6 Ken Boyer 3 Bill White 1 Curt Flood 1 Leon Wagner 1
1959 2 Stan Musial 1 Hal Smith 1
1958 5 Stan Musial 2 Ken Boyer 2 Joe Cunningham 1
1957 4 Stan Musial 2 Wally Moon 1 Del Ennis 1
1956 6 Ken Boyer 3 Stan Musial 1 Wally Moon 1 Bill Sarni 1
1955 8 Ken Boyer 2 Stan Musial 2 Rip Repulski 2 Wally Moon 1 Bill Virdon 1
1954 8 Stan Musial 6 Rip Repulski 1 Joe Cunningham 1

Thanks to Tom Orf for the above table.

Is publishing players’ home addresses going too far?


Where does the First Amendment end and the right to personal privacy begin?

In today’s world, lines are blurred as traditional media strives to be more edgy and accessible while new forms of media continually test long-established boundaries.

Heading up to the All-Star Game, an incident occurred that seems worthy of further review, sort of like how a questionable home run call now can rely on the use of instant replay.

Riverfront Times, a St. Louis-based print and online entity, fosters a “reputation for tweaking townsfolk in high places”. RFT also has a serious, professional side as evidenced by their recent “Guide to All-Star Week”, a document designed to provide visitors useful information about events, activities, restaurants and nightlife.

It seemed an admirable effort – with one possible exception. In a section whose subject was touring St. Louis-based baseball landmarks, the Guide included home addresses of a number of current and former Cardinals players, including Albert Pujols.

This reportedly incensed several members of the organization, including The Franchise, and as a result, RFT’s credentials for the All-Star Game and regular season were revoked by the Cardinals and MLB.

In an apology that seemed less than fully sincere, RFT not only pointed out that the source of the addresses was tax rolls available to anyone anonymously on the internet, apparently as a public service, they also provided the link. I guess that way in case you didn’t pick up a copy of the Guide, you can search out your favorite Cardinals’ home addresses yourself.

Sadly, in the world in which we live, public figures and their families need to be concerned about their security at all times. This certainly includes professional baseball players. Too many examples of senseless violence have occurred that could have been avoided.

Fans have every right to attend Cardinals games and cheer or boo their favorite or least-favorite player, but shouldn’t the line be drawn before we reach the point that they and their families’ homes become the target of an onslaught of gawkers like out of some cheesy Beverly Hills scene?

Memphis’ emperor has no clothes


Jolly old England is full of medieval castles, built by the wealthy and privileged in part as a symbol of status and station as well as protection from enemies. Today, these beauties are no longer practical. A very precious few can afford to maintain them so many are for sale with buyers in short supply.

There are definite parallels with the baseball operation in Memphis and its palace.

The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, long in financial difficulty, have been for sale. Their “white knight”, the parent St. Louis Cardinals, signed a letter of intent last fall to purchase the team, but backed out once they had a full view of the financial mess. No other potential owners have publicly appeared.

AutoZone Park is one of the top facilities in minor league baseball, but it didn’t come cheaply. The park was built in 1998 with the backing of $72 million in bonds that require three yearly payments totaling $5.4 million to US Bank, trustee for the bond holders.

These debtors apparently became testy when the operators of the team, Blues City Baseball, were unable to meet their scheduled payments. Those owned money demanded an immediate change in management. The fact that it is midseason did not matter.

As of Thursday, Global Spectrum, a national facilities management firm, took over management of the Redbirds and AutoZone Park. Their goal is to get the “financial house in order,” Redbirds Foundation president Roy Pohlman told the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

Some Redbirds employees have already been released with the rest stuck in an uncomfortable 30-day limbo period as the new operators make their assessment as to who stays and who goes.

Ever been there or know someone who has? It is not a good place to be.

Team president/general manager Dave Chase will remain until the end of the season, but Global Spectrum has already said they will be bringing in their own general manager. What does that say to other team employees about their job stability?

While “the baseball fan won’t see any difference,” according to Pohlman, anyone who has been anywhere near a takeover, downsizing, outsourcing or any of the other corporate-speak mumbo-jumbo for cutting jobs, knows how hollow that promise may turn out to be.

It gets worse.

With no apparent care about community reaction, the club’s Returning Baseball to the Inner City program (RBI), begun twelve years ago to foster baseball among inner-city youth by providing uniforms, equipment, lunches and places to play, was abruptly ended this past week.

As a result, the season-ending championship rounds of the summer baseball program serving 1,100 youths were canceled, reports FOX channel 13 in Memphis.

The people who put their money down to finance the ballpark certainly deserve to be paid, but these latest moves illustrate a complete disregard for the community of Memphis and the hard-working and committed employees of the team.

With all due respect to Global Spectrum, why do they think they can put the financial house in order now? Given the size of the debt, the suggestion the club was mismanaged seems off the mark.

Now studies are being commissioned on how to staff a minor league team and how to promote it. That work should have been done long ago and the management of the team and ownership should have established a viable operating plan. Perhaps it was and they just couldn’t get there from here.

It is really believed that rearranging these deck chairs will fix the fundamental problem? Memphis appears to own a castle they cannot afford.

Anyone with a thimbleful of public relations sense would not have pulled the rug out from under 1,100 kids, potential future Redbirds fans and children of current potential Redbirds fans, right before their championship games.

The complicated ownership and management situation in Memphis is no clearer than before. Now one operator, Blues City Baseball, is out and another, Global Spectrum, is in.

Big deal. What can change for the good?

The ones who will lose out are the youth of Memphis and the team’s employees, the serfs who serve at the beck and call of the noblemen, who are being forced to admit that they cannot afford the lofty lifestyle to which they committed.

MyFOXMemphis report entitled “Redbirds “RBI” Program Out of Business”:

Walton on Thursday Fantasy Focus show


I will be back again on Thursday as one of Jeff Erickson’s guests on Fantasy Focus show on Blog Talk Radio. The segment can be heard live from noon-12:30 p.m. Eastern on July 16th and on demand afterward.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically a trade that I engineered with MLB.com’s Director of Stats Cory Schwartz in National League Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prestigious and challenging leagues. In an interesting and likely entertaining twist, Cory and I will review our respective thinking behind the trade together on-air.

Those devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. For 2009, it has moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday at Noon ET, or on demand.

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and I’m in the National.

All-Star Game ratings: Figures never lie and …



I found it most amusing, but not totally surprising that depending on the source, a different spin was put on the television ratings of Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, held in St. Louis’ Busch Stadium and won by the American League over the National League, 4-3.

Who should one believe? From this, I get that more people saw the game than any ASG in the last seven years. No, the ratings are down from 2008. No, the number of viewers was nearly identical to last year. No, they’re up…


From Major League Baseball:

“The All-Star Game on FOX was seen by a total audience of 33.6 million viewers (those who saw all or part of the broadcast) marking the largest audience for an All-Star Game on that measure since 1999, according to Nielsen Media Research.  In terms of average viewership, the game drew 14.61 million viewers, which marks the largest audience for the game since the 2002 MLB All-Star Game.”

From the Associated Press:

“The All-Star Game’s television ratings are down slightly from last year.

“Fox said Wednesday that the American League’s 4-3 win Tuesday night earned a 8.9 fast national rating and 15 share. That’s down 4 percent from the 9.3/16 for the first nine innings of the 15-inning marathon in 2008.

“Ratings were up 3 percent for the pregame show, which included President Barack Obama throwing out the first pitch.”

From Entertainment Weekly:

“America’s national pastime defeated America’s amateur talent pool Tuesday night, as 14.6 million viewers tuned in for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on Fox. (Sports fans are certainly consistent: That’s nearly identical to last year’s audience.)”

From the New York Times:

“The Fox network’s time-zone adjusted estimates for the All Star Game last night show it drew an average of 14.6 million viewers, the most for the game in seven years.”

“The Heart and Soul of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball”

“The Heart and Soul of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball”

Words from FOX Sports broadcaster Joe Buck have never rung as true as they did during the All-Star Game pre-game festivities when he announced the arrival of Hall of Famer, number 6, Stan “The Man” Musial.

Stan Musial (Getty Images/Elsa)
Stan Musial (Getty Images/Elsa)

The 88-year-old living legend triumphantly rode onto the Busch Stadium turf on a cart carrying the baseball to be used by President of the United States Barack Obama in delivering the ceremonial first pitch to Albert Pujols.

In doing so, Musial carried out my most-anticipated event of the entire All-Star week before an official out had even been recorded. While his Tuesday participation had been planned for some time, Stan’s health made his appearance less than a sure thing.

Barack Obama and Stan Musial (Getty Images/Jamie Squire)
Barack Obama and Stan Musial (Getty Images/Jamie Squire)

In an interview during Monday’s All-Star Home Run Derby, Pujols said he didn’t mind being called any nickname given him except for one. The current “best Cardinals player” said that the label “El Hombre” made him angry because there can be only one “Man” in St. Louis, Musial.

Stan Musial (AP/Jeff Roberson)
Stan Musial (AP/Jeff Roberson)

Seemingly knowing their opportunities to see the greatest Cardinals player of all-time are dwindling with each passing year and Stan’s declining health, the 46,760 in attendance Tuesday evening gave the 24-time All-Star a thunderous welcome.

In fact, it may have been Musial’s first visit back to Busch since the club honored him by proclaiming Stan Musial Day to coincide with the Cardinals game against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 18, 2008.

Stan Musial (AP/Jeff Roberson)
Stan Musial (AP/Jeff Roberson)

With all due respect to The President, Sheryl Crow, the 2009 All-Stars and the five other Cardinals Hall of Famers in attendance – Bob Gibson, Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst and Lou Brock – with this post, I simply want to acknowledge and celebrate the greatness of Musial one more time.

Thank you, Stan.

Pujols’ Home Run Derby flop


Albert Pujols proved his mortality when he stubbed his toe in Monday evening’s MLB Home Run Derby.

The hometown favorite had to participate in a “bat off” just to make it past the first round. In an event that seemed to lack the drama and entertainment value of recent years’ competitions, the 2009 event was eventually won by Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder over Texas’ Nelson Cruz.

Pujols wasn’t involved in the finals, having been eliminated in the second round.

The reason? Though some may suggest ESPN and national attention as well as local pressure, I suspect another factor did Pujols in. Though Albert would never admit it, I think he may have lost due to unfamiliarity with his batting practice pitcher.

Regular Cardinals batting practice pitcher Dave McKay, who has pitched to Pujols pretty much every day for the last nine seasons, was unavailable for Home Run Derby duty this year so Pujols invited Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen coach Luis Dorante to do the honors instead.

Dorante was the manager of a Dominican Winter League club for which Pujols had planned to play in the past before backing out due to injury. Pujols watched Dorante throw batting practice at a recent Cards-Bucs series and popped the question, “Would Dorante pitch to him in the Home Run Derby?”

Nothing against Dorante. It wasn’t his fault that Pujols struggled. He didn’t swing the bat for Albert. Yet it was very clear to me watching that the hometown slugger was uneasy with the offerings presented to him.

Even before ESPN commentator Joe Morgan noted it during the second round, I was repeating over and over that Dorante’s pitches to Pujols seemed too high, too far up in the zone. Obviously uncomfortable with the offerings, Pujols seemed to lay off a majority of them and he appeared to have trouble squaring up on the ones he did go after.

While the winner of an All-Star exhibition has no lasting meaning, it seemed a missed opportunity in that Pujols was not in the best position to excel in the spotlight.

Cardinals Triple-A All-Star Game history


The Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Busch Stadium on Tuesday evening is understandably the one that most everyone will be watching this week.

Yet another all-star contest will be held the next evening in Portland, Oregon as the Pacific Coast League All-Stars take on the top players from the International League counterparts in the 2009 Triple-A All-Star Game.

There has been some grousing on the Scout.com message board over the fact that the Memphis Redbirds have just one representative on the team, reliever Jess Todd. The fact is that with a 25-man All-Star roster and 16 PCL clubs each getting one representative, typically as many clubs will have only player taken as those with two.

In fact, the Redbirds have had a single All-Star Game representative in each of the last four seasons. One has to go back to 2005 before finding multiple players selected. That year, pitchers Kevin Jarvis and Chris Gissell along with outfielder Raul Gonzalez made the team.

Gonzalez was a three-time participant in the game, though he was with Louisville (Cincinnati) in his first two appearances, in 2001 and 2002.

In the now-22-year history of the Triple-A All-Star Game, there has been only one multiple-game participant while a member of the Cardinals organization. Left-handed pitcher Steve Dixon was on the 1993 and 1994 teams when the Cards’ Triple-A affiliate was in Louisville. The former 31st-round draft pick pitched a total of two innings and allowed one earned run for a 4.50 ERA.

In terms of top performers, former Cardinals second baseman Adam Kennedy had the best single game by a St. Louis hitting prospect. In the 1999 contest, the second baseman had a single and a double and scored twice in three All-Star at-bats.

The Cardinals have had coaching involvement in the game three times. Current Cardinals bench coach and then-Louisville manager Joe Pettini was invited in 1994 and former Redbirds pitching coach and current Minor League Pitching Coordinator Dyar Miller participated representing both Louisville (1996) and Memphis (2003).

Though no St. Louis-affiliated manager has played that role in a Triple-A All-Star Game, current Springfield skipper Ron “Pop” Warner appeared in the 1998 contest as a player.

Following is the log of all Cardinals’ Triple-A All-Star Game participants since the game was first played in 1988. ERAs and batting averages are cumulative of all player appearances in the game. When those results include all-star outings representing another organization, those clubs are noted. (DNP=did not play)

(One can read a recap of the Cardinals Triple-A history since 1977 here.)

Louisville ERA BA Other teams
Dave Rajsich 1988 DNP
Todd Zeile 1989 0.000
Bernard Gilkey 1990 0.333
Ken Hill 1990 DNP
Mike Perez 1990 0.00
Tim Sherrill 1991 0.00
Ray Stephens 1991 0.000
Rene Arocha 1992 4.50
Rod Brewer 1992 0.333
Steve Dixon 1993, 1994 4.50
Keith Lockhart 1993 0.333
Allen Battle 1994 0.500 Ottawa
Gary Buckels 1994 0.00
Scott Coolbaugh 1994 0.500 OKC
Cory Bailey 1995 20.25 Fresno
Matt Arrandale 1996 DNP
Dmitri Young 1996 0.500
Eli Marrero 1997 0.000
Memphis
Ron Warner 1998 0.000
Adam Kennedy 1999 0.667
Larry Luebbers 1999 4.50
Mark Nussbeck 2000 0.00
Chris Richard 2000 0.400 Durham
Gene Stechschulte 2000 0.00
Bud Smith 2001 0.00
Les Walrond 2002 0.00
Jason Bowers 2003 0.000
Matt Duff 2003 9.00
Jason Ryan 2003 27.00
John Gall 2004 0.200 Albuquerque
Dan Haren 2004 0.00
Chris Gissell 2005 9.00
Raul Gonzalez 2005 0.143 Louisville (2)
Kevin Jarvis 2005 0.00
Andy Cavazos 2006 DNP
Mark Worrell 2007 0.00
Nick Stavinoha 2008 0.500
Jess Todd 2009 TBD
Coaches
Joe Pettini 1994
Dyar Miller 1996, 2003
Manager
none

Franklin leads Cards bullpen resurgence


It only seemed appropriate that St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin finished off Sunday’s doubleheader and series split with Chicago as well as the traditional first half of the season as we head into the All-Star break.

Number 31 recorded his 21st save of the season backing up Adam Wainwright in Sunday’s 4-2 game two win at Wrigley Field. Franklin struck out all three batters looking that he faced in the inning, increasing his save conversion rate to 95.5 percent (21 of 22).

In the process, Franklin dropped his MLB-leading ERA to 0.79 and most appropriately was named to the National League All-Star Team, his first such recognition at the ripe old baseball age of 36. He comes into the contest on a roll, having been unscored upon in his last 13 games and 16 innings.

Ian Walton pointed out one explanation for the improvement in his recent analysis. “Franklin has become as much more effective pitcher against left-handed batters this season due to a sudden 26.2% usage of the cutter (compared to 2.5% last season) in addition to phasing out his slider.”

It was a job that Franklin did not even own as the season opened. After Jason Motte blew the opening day save and since-traded Chris Perez fumbled some chances, Franklin just quietly took the reins and strengthened his hold on them every time out. The situation was finally so obvious that even manager Tony La Russa had to admit that Franklin had become indeed his closer.

Here are some of Franklin’s impressive results, with his 2008 numbers at the break offered in contrast:

Franklin at 2009 AS break Number Percent Franklin at 2008 AS break Number Percent
Saves/opportunities 20/21 95.5% Saves/opportunities 12/16 75.0%
Inherited runners stranded 9/10 90.0% Inherited runners stranded 5/12 41.7%
First batter retired 30/33 90.9% First batter retired 33/44 75.0%
ERA 0.79 ERA 3.43
Won-loss 2-0 100.0% Won-loss 3-2 60.0%
Strikeouts-to-walks 27-7 3.86:1 Strikeouts-to-walks 27-18 1.50:1

It wasn’t just Franklin last year, as the Cardinals bullpen couldn’t find a reliable ninth-inning man and amassed an amazing total of 31 blown saves, 12 games lost in extra innings and 13 walk-off losses, all MLB-worsts.

Despite a much younger supporting cast in 2009, the stability of the closer has seemed to help the entire pen. Comparing this group to last season’s at the break shows a marked improvement in every measure.

Cards pen at 2009 AS break Number Percent Cards pen at 2008 AS break Number Percent
Saves/opportunities 24/31 77.4% Saves/opportunities 26/48 54.2%
Inherited runners stranded 115/148 77.7% Inherited runners stranded 88/129 68.2%
First batter retired 194/272 71.3% First batter retired 201/288 69.8%
ERA 3.70 ERA 4.29
Won-loss 11-8 57.9% Won-loss 13-20 39.4%

While that is not all due to Franklin, as the leader of the pen, he deserves considerable credit for the solid first-half contribution of the Cardinals relief corps.

Wellemeyer’s season stacking up among worst ever


Earlier today, Ian Walton offered a very insightful analysis as to why Todd Wellemeyer should be bounced from the St. Louis Cardinals rotation in favor of Brad Thompson.

That was posted even before Wellemeyer struggled mightily in his one-third inning of relief on Sunday as he was pulled with the bases loaded and one out. Two reached base via walks and one via a hit. As the Cardinals’ defense failed them, all three runners came home, turning a tight, one-run contest into the game-ending four-run edge for Chicago as the Cubs won 7-3.

For what is it worth, on this day, the runs were unearned. Overall, that hasn’t been the case most often as Wellemeyer has allowed 62 earned runs in 100 1/3 innings for a 5.56 ERA this season.

The following offers a perspective of the end result, not the means to that end as Ian more interestingly explained. Yet it is still very telling to me and supports the same conclusion.

In the storied 128-year history of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise, Wellemeyer has joined a most dubious group – the top dozen worst ERAs for a pitcher given at least 18 starts in a season.

Amazingly, four of the bottom 12 have been added to the list in the last four years alone – Jason Marquis in 2006 plus Anthony Reyes and Kip Wells in 2007. In case you didn’t break the code, none of those three remain with the Cardinals today.

In other words, Wellemeyer has been given more than enough rope.

While there remains almost a half-season for him to improve, odds are at least as likely Wellemeyer would move further up this list – if he is given the opportunity, that is.

St. Louis Cardinals highest ERA in a season (18 or more starts) – club history

Rank Pitcher ERA GS Year Age
1 Andy Benes 7.38 19 2001 33
2 Nelson Briles 6.24 19 1970 26
3 Anthony Reyes 6.04 20 2007 25
4 Jason Marquis 6.02 33 2006 27
5 Bill Sherdel 5.93 22 1929 32
6 Danny Jackson 5.90 19 1995 33
7 Jose Jimenez 5.85 28 1999 25
8 Jesse Haines 5.71 25 1929 35
9 Kip Wells 5.70 26 2007 30
10 Leo Dickerman 5.58 20 1925 28
11 Todd Wellemeyer 5.56 18 2009 30
12 Bill Doak 5.54 29 1922 31
13 Allen Watson 5.52 22 1994 23

Thanks to Tom Orf for the data pull.

Wellemeyer vs. Thompson as Cards’ fifth starter


By Ian Walton

With Kyle Lohse set to return to the St. Louis rotation this Sunday afternoon, the Cardinals will soon be faced with a decision over who will remain as their number five starter. It will likely boil down to who they believe will do the least amount of damage, as Todd Wellemeyer currently sits with a 7-7 record and a 5.58 ERA in 100 innings pitched while Brad Thompson has tallied a 2-6 record and a 5.31 ERA in just shy of 58 innings.

Wellemeyer has fallen hard this season after posting a very respectable 13-9 record with a 3.71 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 191.7 IP in 2008. It seems fairly clear that he has become overexposed against left-handed batters, giving up 11 HR, 27 BB, and a 1.98 WHIP along with 28 strikeouts in 48 IP this season. Conversely, he has only yielded 2 HR and 18 walks with a 1.44 WHIP and 36 K in 52 IP against right-handed batters. In 2008, he recorded only 29% of his outs against LHB while in 2009, he has been forced to record 48% of his outs against lefties.

His reliance upon his changeup has thus jumped from 10.8% to 13.1% this season while his slider usage has dropped from 23.7% to 21.4%. This is a big problem, as FanGraphs indicates that he gives up 6.12 runs more than average per 100 changeups thrown compared to giving up 1.87 runs fewer than average per 100 sliders and 1.86 runs fewer than average per 100 curves. In short, teams have realized that his changeup is an inadequate off-speed offering and are stacking their lineups with left-handed hitting in order to compensate.

Thompson joined the 2009 rotation on June 2, making eight starts since. In five of those outings, he failed to last longer than five innings. Much like Wellemeyer, Thompson has been forced to face many more left-handers than in the past, as he has recorded almost exactly as many outs against RHB than LHB this season. This has naturally resulted in him throwing his changeup significantly more often – he has used it a solid 20% of the time following a steady 13% usage in 2007 and 2008.

Unfortunately for Brad, his already poor fastball velocity has dropped from 88 MPH to 87 MPH this season while his changeup velocity has risen from 81 MPH to 83 MPH. A four MPH difference likely won’t fool very many major league batters. To date, his changeup has actually been his most effective offering according to FanGraphs, as his curveball has fared worse. In 29 IP against RHB, Thompson has 9 K against 6 BB with a 1.40 WHIP and 3 HR while in 28 2/3 IP against LHP, Thompson has 13 K against 11 BB with a 1.38 WHIP and 4 HR. Clearly, there isn’t a strong platoon advantage either way.

As counter-intuitive as it may seem, I believe that Brad Thompson may be the Cardinals’ best choice to stay in the rotation while Todd Wellemeyer is best suited as a situational or long relief pitcher out of the bullpen. Wellemeyer’s 5.6 IP per start isn’t protecting the bullpen significantly more than Thompson’s 5.4 IP per start, and Thompson at least appears to have some hope at stopping left-handed batting.

There is some hope, as Wellemeyer has begun to throw a cutter a mere 2.2% of the time this season, and it has fared well in limited action. Ryan Franklin has become as much more effective pitcher against LHB this season due to a sudden 26.2% usage of the cutter (compared to 2.5% last season) in addition to phasing out his slider.

In 2009, Franklin has thrown nine strikeouts against four walks with a 0.77 WHIP in 15 2/3 IP against left-handed batters compared to 15 strikeouts against three walks with a 0.87 WHIP in 17 1/3 IP against right-handed batters. Compare this to Franklin’s 2008 season, when he surrendered a 1.61 WHIP and 21 K:17 BB against LHB while giving up a 1.38 WHIP and 30 K:13 BB against RHB.

If Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan could help teach Wellemeyer an effective off-speed option against left-handed pitchers like he did Franklin, then Todd would be versatile enough to return to the starting rotation. Until then, Brad Thompson would be my choice.


Thanks to FanGraphs and their PitchFX data for pitch usage, speeds, and effectiveness.

Pujols’ Friday Rarity


St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols was on base four times against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. His damage was caused via a pair of walks, one clearly intentional, a double that was played into a triple by Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano and Pujols’ world-leading 32nd home run of the season.

Not only is Pujols leading the Majors in home runs, his total is 33% higher than the next closest players, San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds of Arizona. Pujols has been on base four or more times in a game an amazing 96 times in his career. He has already picked up 32 intentional walks this season.

Old hat stuff.

The rarest play of them all, the triple, is what intrigued me. It was Albert’s first three-bagger in almost two years.

Over his 8-1/2 year MLB career, it was just Pujols’ 14th three-base hit, a play that usually depends more on speed than on baserunning aggressiveness. Pujols has plenty of the latter, but much less of the former.

Looking at his triples output by season, one can see the dropoff.

Pujols’ triples by season

2001 4
2002 2
2003 1
2004 2
2005 2
2006 1
2007 1
2008 0
2009 1
Career 14

Here are the individual summaries of Pujols’ triples.

Date Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out RBI
4/26/2001 MON Tony Armas down 2-3 b 5 — 2 0
6/20/2001 CHC Julian Tavarez down 1-3 b 6 — 0 0
8/3/2001-2 FLA Jesus Sanchez down 1-4 b 6 — 0 0
10/3/2001 @MIL Jamey Wright tied 0-0 t 1 -2- 2 1
7/30/2002 @FLA Vic Darensbourg ahead 3-0 t 8 — 1 0
8/2/2002 @ATL Kerry Ligtenberg down 2-10 t 7 1-3 1 2
8/15/2003 @PHI Terry Adams down 4-7 t 7 — 1 0
8/29/2004 @PIT Oliver Perez tied 0-0 t 3 1– 1 1
9/2/2004 SDP Blaine Neal ahead 5-2 b 7 — 2 0
7/28/2005 @SDP Clay Hensley ahead 7-3 t 6 1– 0 1
8/31/2005 @FLA Jason Vargas ahead 3-0 t 5 1– 0 1
7/9/2006 @HOU Chad Qualls tied 5-5 t10 — 1 0
9/8/2007 @ARI Micah Owings down 0-3 t 3 1-3 2 2

Having the triple and home run in the same game is even rarer. Despite slamming 351 career home runs, Pujols has put the two together in a single contest only twice. Oddly, they occurred over a four-game span in 2004 and the triples were his only two that year.

Pujols triple and home run in same game

Date Tm Opp G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO
9/2/2004 STL SDP W 7 – 2 4 4 2 4 0 1 1 2 0 0 0
8/29/2004 STL @PIT W 4 – 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 1 2 0 0 0

Finally, here are the Cardinals’ single-season leaders in triples this decade.

Rank Player 3B Year Age
1 Fernando Vina 8 2001 32
2 David Eckstein 7 2005 30
3 Fernando Vina 6 2000 31
T4 Skip Schumaker 5 2008 28
T4 Aaron Miles 5 2006 29
T4 Juan Encarnacion 5 2006 30
T4 Bo Hart 5 2003 26
T4 Fernando Vina 5 2002 33
T4 J.D. Drew 5 2001 25
T10 Joe Thurston 4 2009 29
T10 Adam Kennedy 4 2008 32
T10 Scott Spiezio 4 2006 33
T10 Scott Rolen 4 2004 29
T10 Fernando Vina 4 2003 34
T10 Scott Rolen 4 2002 27
T10 Kerry Robinson 4 2002 28
T10 Placido Polanco 4 2001 25
T10 Albert Pujols 4 2001 21

As always, there would be no data if Tom Orf hadn’t served it up.