2023 StL Game #12: Wednesday, April 12 at Colorado

These boots were made for walking. 13 of them in 10 innings….

Flaherty needs to show up tomorrow in a big way as in 7 strong.

The story of Jack’s season so far is summed up by his ERA vs his FIP. 1.80 vs 6.21.

Countless times, when a touted pitcher has a bloated ERA but a respectable FIP, that fact is harped upon. The argument being that FIP is oh so modern and far better at measuring a pitcher’s effectiveness. What has been the response when the situation is reversed? Crickets.

So Jack needs to get that FIP under control. That means less traffic for us neanderthals who don’t understand metrics. In his case, that means more pitches in the strike zone. He may well do that, but the question is what will the batters do with those pitches. Will he miss bats? Will contact be weak? Or will he get his head knocked off? Stay tuned, it is time to find out.

Yeah, it’s funny that it’s the old fashioned Era and W-L that’s floating the hype boat right now. Normally it’s the deep stuff. But it’s time for Jack to quit dodging,put it over the plate and face the music whatever it may be. It’s like he’s hiding under the bed waiting for the hitters to go away. I want to see him attacking anybody who dares stand in. Trust your stuff Jack.

The win last night was pretty much a forgone conclusion since I was not in attendance. Even down 6-2, you just had a feeling the club would do a lot of exciting stuff with Bicycle Mike away from the park.

Today is another story. I look for Flaherty to continue with his woes and we will likely see an embarrassing score somewhere in the 10-2 range. For whatever reason, the baseball gods do not usually let things go my way, but are swayed by the local faithful to give them a pleasant experience and keep the downtown establishments hopping after the game.

But there have been exceptions, most notably a game a few years ago where Austin Gomber started for us; somewhat ironically as it turns out now. We came out with both barrels blazing and put up 6 runs in the top of the first. Matt Carpenter, who was still good back then, ended up hitting four doubles in the game, tying an MLB record with who know how many others.

Oh, Rats will like to know that we will have great weather out here again and we may set a record high for today. Then for good timing, tomorrow looks to be much cooler, in the 50s, with rain possible.

Mr. Jack’s never given the slightest indication that he’s susceptible to control troubles, so maybe he’s lost some confidence in his ability to win the age old battle of “I don’t think you can hit it, so here it comes.” The singlemost attribute that I’ve noticed in the past was the type of self assurance that he displayed on the mound. Now, he looks a bit reserved out there. In any event, he’s placed 13 BB’s on the books in 10 IP’ed, and although he’s allowed only 4 hits, 2 ER’s and 0 taters, those attractive numbers will never sustain him for long if he continues to allow all those hitters to reach via the BB. Without checking, the only pitcher that I can think of that worked less IP’ed than BB’s allowed was Mitch Williams, and that was only during the final season or two of his career.

bikemike, maybe we can take a collection to keep you away from the park… 😉

It certainly would not hurt the road club’s chances. 🙂

While I considered wearing Rockies gear to the game in order to bend the odds towards our team, I just cannot do that and have a Cardinal shirt on and will be mostly likely donning my 1940s style throwback hat.

Bikemike…If you indeed end up outfitted with a Rockies jersey, be certain to accessorize with a daisy and butterfly patterned oven mitt…On both hands. You may run into a bit of difficulty eating your $20 hot dog, but I’m reasonably certain that this novel approach will conjure up a group of kind and benevolent baseball gypsies to assist in the quest for a W…Haha! Enjoy the game!

Ever since TLR left it is common practice to sit the hot bat thereby killing the guy’s momentum and ending the hot streak. Every manager has done it regularly.

TLR would sometimes do that, but only on Sundays.

Thanks 1TD. I knew those oven mitts I have collected from the trivia contests would come in handy.

No homers in the game Monday, which is unusual in Coors. Several last night, and with it mild and in the 80s today I expect a few “touch ‘em alls” today.

One comment about our club – I am sensing a maturity in Nolan Gorman. The kid seems to be progressing nicely and is putting up some good early numbers. Am glad he is in the field today as I will be watching his instincts on defense. He played Monday as well and looked good, although he did botch a play where he had to range up the middle and glove.