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Time TBA
RHP Jack Flaherty (4-3, 4.91) vs. TBA
ESPN/ESPN RadioUpdate: This game will start at 9 p.m. Central or move up to 6 p.m. if the Dodgers-Brewers series is finished.
Update no. 2: First pitch is scheduled at 6:08 p.m.
The #stlcards' fate in the Wild Card Series rests in this man's hands… pic.twitter.com/vMtqpTLzTH
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) October 2, 2020
Padres pitchers who didn’t pitch in games 1 or 2:
Altavilla
Hill
PatinoPitchers who pitched game 1 but not 2:
Stammen
PaddackPitchers who pitched game 2 but not 1:
Morejon
AdamsEveryone else pitched back to back games. I’d imagine the guy they may lean on would be Garrett Richards, who has started and didn’t pitch much in game 2. Otherwise, they will be relying on a very weary pen. The Cards should get some runs today, so it will be up to the pitching staff to keep it together.
Cardinals pitchers who didn’t pitch in games 1 or 2:
Oviedo
Pitchers who pitched game 1 but not 2:
Miller
ReyesPitchers who pitched game 2 but not 1:
Gomber
Ponce
Webb
WhitleyEveryone else has pitched in both games. The Cards are in a better spot, relatively, with their bullpen. They should have a few guys they trust ready to go tonight. The main thing is going to be Flaherty. I think the bats will get us some runs so if he can go 6 innings, that would be huge. I’d even accept 3 runs in those 6 innings. He just has to eat some innings and Shildt has to put some confidence in his guys to get out of the jams like they have all season and not be so quick to pull someone at the first sign of adversity.
It does not surprise me to have a pitching meltdown, as it seemed likely to happen in at least one of these games. The Padres are explosive, and our bullpen is shaky. Now we need to not let it happen again, and to do that we cannot get in a situation where the bullpen has to throw 5 or 6 innings.
Then you also wonder whether the offense can keep up this pace. Normally I would peg this a more typical Cardinal game, with little offense and a 3-1 type finish. But the Padres staff is thinned out some due to injuries and over-worked, so you would think we should score some runs today.
A case can be made for Jack to be on and we win rather easily, say 7-2. But I just do not trust our offense to keep it going, and won’t be surprised to see a low scoring affair. We will know the answer later tonight.
I don’t trust Jack right now. I don’t think Shildt does either. I think that’s one reason he managed the pen (or perhaps over-managed the pen as some have suggested) the way he did yesterday. He went for the kill yesterday, and it did not work out. I’ve got no problem with that. It is a shame that Waino just didn’t have it yesterday, but he didn’t. The Padres have a very powerful offense and have punished many a pitcher this year.
Here’s hoping Flaherty proves me wrong and comes out and throws a whale of a game.
Go Cards.
To me Gallegos showed some signs of poor body language. Yadi seemed to be annoyed (shook his head) that Gallegos had to look at his card a second time. That was right before (next pitch) Tatis unloaded. I would have pulled him right then. Did anyone else pick up on that?
Jack has pitched some good games, but has not been the shut-down guy of the last half of 2019. If he does not go more than 3 or 4 innings, this one might get embarrassing. But if he is the dominant Jack, we will win this one, with our reward being a series against the mighty Dodgers.
One game. Anything can happen. JF must deliver. If it turns into a pen game on the Cards’ side, it won’t end well.
Shildt needs to remember he has 9 innings to cover and a few of his options are better left unused.
I hope we can limit it to Flaherty, Helsley, Miller and Reyes. If we needed another lefty I’d prefer Gomber.
The pitching carousel broke down last night and is scheduled for repairs. These players above are the best we still have most available, I hope Shildt decides to live with their results.
I’d expect Richards and Johnson to limit the damage early, so I hope Flaherty can do the same. I like our innings 7-9 pen better, vs theirs, for game 3.
Richards / Johnson is a bad matchup for Bader, both can carve him up w/sliders. Time for Miller or O’Neill the get a start.
Ny asked:
To me Gallegos showed some signs of poor body language. Yadi seemed to be annoyed (shook his head) that Gallegos had to look at his card a second time. That was right before (next pitch) Tatis unloaded. I would have pulled him right then. Did anyone else pick up on that?
I’ve seen no prior issues with Gallegos and maturity. What he said after the game is that he had to doublecheck the signs to make sure. It was a pretty big moment and perhaps he was nervous. I didn’t think anything more of it at the time. IMO, pulling Gallegos there would have been very surprising, but after the fact, yes, it would have been a great idea…
I didn’t think it was maturity at all…. but Gallegos did seem a bit jumpy and that’s not his m o. He just didn’t look like the guy that we are used to seeing. Very uncharacteristic. I don’t think that we will see that from him again. He is usually rock solid.
It was doubly surprising since his teammates gave Gallegos the game ball after Game 1. I do think that pulling him from the game just because he appeared nervous would have been an overreaction by Shildt and would have been widely second guessed for good reason given Gallegos’ strong track record. I doubt we will see him tonight, though.
“Upon further review”
Had I completely thought this through up front, this discussion could have been a lot shorter due to these three words: “three batter minimum”.
For those who subscribe to ESPN+ and who appreciate advanced stats, there will be a Statcast-oriented telecast of tonight’s game.
More Rick Sutcliffe on the regular broadcast tonight, though he has to share analyst time with Jessica Mendoza.
For those that have no subscriptions whatsoever (or like me paid $40 for MLB on my iphone and then got cheated by MLB with every single stinkin game blacked out), I find that I can acces the ESPN3 games without a subscription (we have neither cable, hulu, booboo, or any other service).
These are spanish broadcasts, but I can get KMOX feed on my iphone.
Thanks SoCal, I might try that. I cut the cable cord in 2017, so only get over-the-air and Roku for our Prime subscription. Plus I had the MLB package, which worked for me as I do not live in the Cardinals area.
But MLB should have ditched the stupid blackout deal this year. With no fans allowed in the stadium, it was dumb to black out the local area games. I would have watched the Rockies a few times, but the blackout prevented that.
If MLB put fans first, they would have moved to suspend the blackouts, but it would have affected the teams’ contracts with the regional sports networks.
And had they been able to pull it off, it would have been proven that they could do it, making bringing blackouts back next season a problem with fans.
This is a cash cow they are going to continue to milk.
I think Jack is a good choice to start this crucial game. He hasn’t had a problem with being bad or even inconsistent this year; he’s had a Brewers problem. 2.78 ERA, 10.6 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in all his other starts. Without a ton of mileage on his arm this year, he’s gonna be better rested. He also has the power/movement combo needed to not be nibbling constantly against these Padres. Waino and Kim had to depend on the ump giving them a zone, which despite the insistence of the ESPN buffoons, never came.
I like Jack to go 5-6 innings with 1-2 runs and near 10 Ks, the offense to hit the Padres bullpen hard, and the team to advance with a 7-3 win.
Of Flaherty’s five starts in September, two were losses to Milwaukee. Here are the other three.
9/4 at ChC – Pulled after 2 2/3 after giving up three runs (loss).
9/10 vs. Det – Two earned runs in five innings (win).
9/20 at Pit – One earned run in six innings (win).The latter two were against bad opponents and he dominated in just one of the five outings.
More of the same…
1. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
2. Tommy Edman (S) 3B
3. Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
4. Dylan Carlson (S) LF
5. Yadier Molina (R) C
6. Paul DeJong (R) SS
7. Matt Carpenter (L) DH
8. Dexter Fowler (S) RF
9. Harrison Bader (R) CFCraig Stammen hasn’t started a game since 2010.
Tingler: We've got a lot of guys who have obviously thrown a lot of innings." Get as many outs from Stammen, Tingler says, "and from there we're going to have to put it together."
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) October 2, 2020
Chris Paddack and Zach Davies also "will be down [in bullpen] and be ready to go", Tingler says
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) October 2, 2020
Tingler acknowledges some Padres relievers are going to have to go "back-to-back-to-back" — 3 appearances in 3 days. Jack Flaherty is the starter for the #StLCards
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) October 2, 2020
I’d like to see Davies again. Lol. Paddack too, probably. Fastball-changw guys seem to be hittable for us now.
Let’s keep the offense going!
Four NL Central teams reached the postseason this year, and three of them have had a miserable time at the plate:
The #Reds, #Brewers and #Cubs: 3 runs in 44 innings.
The #STLCards: 16 runs in 18 innings.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 2, 2020
Another interesting stat..
Brad Miller and Tyler O’Neill tied for the #stlcards team lead in HR this season, with 7.
Neither has recorded a plate appearance in this series.
Last time the Cardinals played a playoff series without their season HR taking a PA: 1987 World Series, when Jack Clark was injured.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) October 2, 2020
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