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8:40 p.m.
RHP Miles Mikolas (0-1, 8.10) vs. RHP Luis Castillo (2-0, 0.73)
BSM // KMOX
(and Bally Sports Southeast/Southwest Extra)So last night kept the streak going of losing the first game in every series so far. Streak at 7.
This looks like a horrible pitching mismatch on paper so Cards will probably win this one.
It seems the die is cast with this year’s roster and all the starters rolled snake eyes. We know these guys are better than this – maybe the entire rotation is having their ‘down’ career year all at the same time…
It seems the die is cast with this year’s roster and all the starters rolled snake eyes.
When everybody stinks its not just them. There is some element in common.
The last couple years the go to excuse was injuries decimating the rotation. Well, there are no injuries decimating the rotation. Waino’s replacement is not doing any worse than anyone else. Yet the rotation still stinks. So what is the excuse now?
This one does look lopsided on the pitching match up. Castillo has been a great signing by the Mariners, while Mikolas has been bad to terrible in the early going.
Still you never know. Right now our club looks like a mix of veterans on the down side of their careers, and young guys who look to have bright futures, but are not a few years away. There is no one in the prime of their career who can carry the club.
Add to that mediocre pitching, and you see why the record is sub-.500.
I think I would let Walker get a season of AAA in, and settle on and outfield, of primarily O’Neill, Carlson, and Nootbaar left to right, with Burleson occasionally in left and at DH.
Walker is a great prospect, but hard to watch in the outfield. Both he and Contreras need to hit a lot to counter their lousy defense. But I will say, it seems whenever we make a mistake, the opponent capitalizes. When we get mistakes made by the opposition, we do not take advantage.
In summary, we do not look like a real good team, but we also seem to be snake bit. A break here and there and we could be around .500. That’s nothing to rejoice about, but is the reality when you watch these guys.
I agree that with their share of breaks this looks like a .500 team.
Looking at the early returns in the division it doesn’t feel like it’ll be the Cardinals and one other team fighting over the crown.
The Brewers we knew about but both the Cubs and the Pirates seem much improved from last year
That means trouble because we’re not competing with one team and piling up wins against the rest of a bad division.
We now have three other teams to have to climb over instead of simply reeling in one.
Personally, I’m pretty concerned that 3rd place in this division may be where this club slots in.
We’ll know a ton more about a month from now…
So far Mikolas has exhibited in the zone control, but not on the black control, accompanied by sluggish stuff.
To me, it looks very much like Wainwright’s dead arm appearances last year. The results have been comparable as well. 36 hits in 20 innings. Not a ton of walks, but enough to put his WHIP over 2. That level of traffic precludes going deep into games.
If he gets lit up again do we dare mention that he turns 35 this season?
AS ZTR said, projecting out at this point in the season, our club looks like a third place team. We will likely be better than we have been, but will Milwaukee, Chicago and Pittsburgh be a lot worse?
The answer is unknown of course.
What has happened is we tried to patch up a mediocre offense the last few years dealing promising young pitching. It kept us competitive, but did not result in post season success.
Now we are paying the price as continued good young pitching has not come along. And we dealt away one of the guys who might have helped, Johan Oviedo, for a guy to help us get to post season. Then we let that guy walk. In the end that was a giveaway, although at the time it made some sense.
Now the front office has tried to fill in some younger pitching to fill the gap with some decent drafted prospects, and a deal to bring in Matt Liberatore. To date that deal has not worked, although the jury is still out.
If we are buried in the standings at the trade deadline, I wonder if we might do a reversal of our usual roster shuffling, and deal Mikolas and yes, maybe even Wainwright, to contenders for young, high ceiling pitching.
Edman and O’Neill or Carlson might go as well, as Winn is likely next year’s shortstop and we have one too many outfielders.
I feel 100% sure the Cardinals will not be sellers no matter what. It would amount to an admission of system failure.
If we do not get hit hard by injuries, they will have to come up with a different rationalization. Other than system failure, I mean.
The club would have to be way down, like 25 games out, to be sellers. Although they have looked that bad at times, I do not think we are that bad.
But baseball is a strange game. I have said many times, you never know how things will play out. Just when you think you have it figured, it goes the opposite way.
With the presense of 3 WC’s and 3 divisions, it would be hard to be 25 games out of contention even on the last day of the season. I could forsee a situation consisting of 12 to 15 games under .500 and 10 games in back of the last WC berth at the break initiating not only a managerial change, but also the possibility of cashing out.
I think the front office knew that this rotation wasn’t good enough to win the division. Their plan, as it has been the last couple of years, was to tread water for 3 1/2 months then bring in reinforcements in late July. The problem is that we are not treading water. This ship is actually taking on a lot of water and could completely sink if we aren’t careful.
The Pirates and Cubs look to be better than last year but they will both probably come back down to earth as time goes on. Catching the Brewers is a different matter though. And I still think that is the target. I don’t pay much attention to the wild card standings because I still feel like the NL Central will only get one team into the playoffs. The other divisions just have too many strong teams. So for the Cardinals it is win the division or bust.
And as bling said there is no way we will be sellers at the deadline. They aren’t going to admit the ship is sinking and that they were wrong. And we can change managers every year if we want but that isn’t going to make the pitching better or increase the chances our front office makes better decisions. So who would our 4th rookie manager in a row be? Joe McEwing?
I think the Pirates will fade, but I’m sticking with my off season guesses… The Cubs will win more games than the Brewers and the Redbirds win the NLC.
This road trip could – COULD – be disastrous for us. Imagine if we lost 7-8 games out of these ten games against the Mariners, Giants, and Dodgers. We could find ourselves ten (10) games out of 1st place in late April. Even in late April that might be tough to overcome.
In my mind these next several games are EXTREMELY important.
r/Esteemed Rat
1. Lars Nootbaar (L) RF
2. Alec Burleson (L) DH
3. Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
4. Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
5. Willson Contreras (R) C
6. Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
7. Tyler O’Neill (R) LF
8. Dylan Carlson (S) CF
9. Tommy Edman (S) SSWe did catch a break today. The Dodgers win over the Cubs 9-4. Both Ball State (Muncy) and Outman slugged two homeruns apiece in the win.
I’m not too sure if I agree with the contention put forth by Contreras that Cardinal pitchers need to be “a little mean.” I’m not implying that they have to be really affable and nice to the guys that they face, but the way they’re presently getting slapped around, I’m thinking that if they’re “mean” to these hitters, it’s liable to make them angry enough to place them in a wheelchair…Haha!
I think I would let Walker get a season of AAA in, and settle on and outfield, of primarily O’Neill, Carlson, and Nootbaar left to right, with Burleson occasionally in left and at DH.
Right now I’d use
Vs RHP:
Donovan 2B
Nootbaar RF
Goldschmidt 1B
Arenado 3B
Gorman DH
Contreras C
Burleson LF
Carlson CF
Edman SSVs LHP:
Edman SS
Carlson CF
Goldschmidt 1B
Arenado 3B
Contreras C
O’Neill LF
Nootbaar RF
Walker DH
Donovan 2BCarlson is the only CF they have, Nootbaar can occasionally, O’Neill never. Platoon Burleson and O’Neill in LF. Gorman and Walker at DH. Walker getting some time in RF. If they want Walker playing more, you might be right and swap him to AAA and let Yepez take that role.
I’m not against the concept of platooning, but I think that’s been done quite a bit so far this season and the team’s not winning. Obviously, the primary issue is the 5 man, but regardless of the opposing SP’er, I’d assemble a starting line-up and stay with it for 7 to 10 games. A late defensive replacement here and there and a nice bench to use as the situation dictates. If it doesn’t produce a positive result, scrap it and try something different, but give it a reasonable chance to set and cure, so to speak.
Me and Whitey Herdog wll be tuning in tonight. Our din-din for tonight will be a couple of bar-b-que chicken thighs, some Ruffles potato chips, an ice cold/slushy Mt. Dew, a couple of warm yeast donuts, and a couple of cigars during the game. If there’s time there will be an episode of Mannix on later tonight, along with another cigar.
r/Esteemed Rat
I’ll bet Mannix would have been a good baserunner. Anyone who can outrun a helicpter can certainly score from 1B on a double…
I remember watching a game (I think it was vs. the Dodgers) when Wong was interviewed in the broadcast booth during a game in 2011 a couple of days after he was taken in the 1st round. Hard to believe he’s been in the Big Leagues for 10 years now.
Not a good day if you are a Cardinal fan thinking “what if?”. Arozarena homers and drives in all four runs as the streaking Rays win again, 4-3. Adolis Garcia has homered in his first 3 at bats as the Rangers are routing the hapless Athletics.
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