2023 Game #6: Wednesday 4/5 vs. Atlanta

The Cardinals were slapped around in their own house by ATL during this 3 game series to a greater extent than the Redbird manager slapped around one of his players in the media. At one time there was a post-game presser known as, “Tony TV.” It was pretty good viewing. Now, we’re relegated to, “Marmol’s Media Mouth.”

Have no fear about the starting pitching. Mo says we have 6-7 starting pitchers in the depth charts. So, obviously the FO isn’t at fault as no one could have possibly seen this train wreck coming.

Brewers sweep the Mets.

#STLCards say they are confident team's biggest obvious question mark — starting pitching — will improve after bad start. Better hope so. Cardinals rotation through 6 games ranks dead last in National League in ERA (7.14), opponent average (.341) and hits allowed (42). #gulp

— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) April 5, 2023

Three games scripted the same – poor pitching early, with the starters then settling in. But the offense could not put enough together to make it a ball game.

As for O’Neill, it does look like he is running about 3/4 speed around third, then turns it up a notch as he sees the throw coming in. Usually he is an all-out guy, and has a history of injuries so maybe that plays in to it. But you still need to bring your “A” game every day.

Nothing was said about this, but I also have not seen a good effort out of Walker in the field. He probably gets a pass for now due to youth and inexperience. But still, a little bit of a safety-first effort in some situations here early on.

Win a couple in Milwaukee and this dies down a lot, especially if Ty cranks a couple over the boards.

I’ve already stated that if O’Neill was indeed dogging it as he rounded 3B in last nights’ game, that’s no good. I’ve also stated that the fact that Marmol slapped his player around during a post-game presser in the presense of the media instead of slapping him around in the privacy of his office, or the confines of the Cardinal clubhouse is no good either. O’Neill’s been accused by his manager of dogging a baserunning play that occured in the home half of the 7th inning. Not only was he manned up in CF for the final 2 innings of the game, but was also allowed to take an AB in final Cardinal half inning in the home half of the 9th. Why? I’ll ask the question again…If his manager was thoroughly convinced his CF’er had packed it in and was putting forth an effort that was less than 100%, why wasn’t he removed from the game? At once. Whether or not the claim that O’Neill dogged the baserunning play is up for debate and always will be. Only he knows. What’s certain is that instead of Marmol addressing the problem in the manner of which is tried and true, he pointed a finger at his player from the podium of a post-game media presser prior to taking any action to address the issue with his player. My conclusion? Sorry to say, but I’ve suspected this for some time and now it’s been confirmed. Marmol possesses less testicular fortitude than that of a 4th grade schoolgirl.

Jj-cf-stl, so true! Those lists of 20 pitchers always made me feel worse, not better! Could never find a 1 or 2 in any of those names! Our starting pitching will get better! They can’t stay at a 7.5 era, but they are not very high on the top rotations in mlb IMO and aren’t gonna be as they stand now! Maybe around 15th or so which is obviously middle of the pack and may not be good enough!

The Hochman article is kind of rich. He praises Oli’s “unwavering” commitment to a standard. Unwavering for which players, though? We’ve certainly seen some players dog it on numerous plays the last two seasons and not get called out, especially groundouts.

Last year Oli called out Bader for not hustling on a caught fly. Not good by Bader, but he was one of the last guys who’d do that, and he took the criticism like a pro. Now O’Neill is getting his turn and he punched back. I prefer Bader’s approach, but I’ve already seen others dog it this year. Sometimes a guy is more likely to punch back if they feel the scale is unbalanced to their embarrassment. Contreras had a notable stroll to 1B I remember on a grounder that was bobbled by the 2Bman (can’t remember which game), then he started running harder, but too late, he was easily thrown out.

So the vets aren’t bound to this, ahem, unwavering standard? The guys you pay the most aren’t held to the standard? It’s kinda confusing. Oli comes off as a weakling trying to look strong by picking out the guys you might think don’t have the clout to punch back. That’s what bullies do. Oli looks like a bully to me. I’ll retract that when he calls out Arenado or Contreras the next time they don’t sprint on a grounder.

Oli also said the standard not only involved effort, it also involved being relentless and it involved being smart. Was Goldy being smart today when he wasn’t paying attention to detail on the misplayed pop up and got thrown out by by 15 feet at the plate? If Oli was equitable on this “unwavering” standard, I’d say good on him for doing the tough part of his job. Even still, it shouldn’t be first brought up through the press, if indeed that is the case here. Otherwise, Oli is just a cherry picking tough guy.

Tough series. They happen. Just magnified because it’s early.

If you are 60-42 and drop three it’s just part of it

Starting pitching cannot be this bad, lol.

I agree Euro

I guess from Carlson’s perspective, the way to get out of the doghouse is for somebody else to get in it. Having gotten the job back that way we can expect him to play as hard as he can. Nobody anointed him the center fielder before the season even started.

I haven’t liked the look of the outfield with O’Neill in CF as much as I thought I would. Walker has been sort of hesitant in RF and Burly is limited defensively. Its not a good look. That’s probably as obvious from the POBO’s suite as it is on the TV screen. We’ll see what happens when Noot returns.

I discontinued my P-D subscription so I haven’t seen or heard too much about the Goldy play at home. Can’t even find a video clip of it. The contract guys are handled different, and if he made a dumb decision nobody has to tell him, he knows. That doesn’t mean Ollie didn’t tell him anyway.

Trade deadline to get more SP won’t matter if the SP keeps going like they are we will be so far out of first it won’t matter