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Has anybody noticed that since we started the din-din routine again the boys have started to come around a little bit?
Good point Rat. We are going to a Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday. I plan on having a stack of pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries.
If Mikolas can just turn in an average start….
It can’t be asking too much for a couple of these bums to just be average can it?
We won two vs lefties, and we will take on a righty this time. We should see a different lineup. Hopefully a couple guys are chomping at the bit to get back in there.
I have to say it was very enjoyable watching a real starter work yesterday, without getting beat by him. 8 innings of unhittable filth coming at us. Those guys are few and far between. It took a good performance by all to pull that one out.
ZTR – FWIW – Mikolas has only given up 4ERs total in his last 3 starts. Now, that’s only like 16 innings because he hasn’t pitched deep, but that’s at least “average”. If he is solid again today, we should have a great shot at our first sweep.
I’m looking forward to what seems to now be our regular right handed pitcher lineup and getting Donovan back in the outfield instead of Yepez. And, I’m definitely looking forward to getting Willson back as a catcher on Monday so we can more appropriately use our DH.
Sale looked as good on his 110th pitch as he did during his first 3 innings of work. I’m all too aware that it’s a serious violation of the 100 pitch edict, but I’m entirely convinced he would have methodically set the Cardinals down in the 9th in the precise same fashion as he’d done in his previous 8 innings of work if Cora would have allowed him to do so. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a SP’er paint a masterpiece through 8 innings or more, only to have the baseball taken out of his hand due to an arbitrary theory that claims every SP’er on any given turn is subject to a predetermined workload. I’ve witnessed that same whimsical theory result in what could be termed the defacing of the Mona Lisa in the form of the creator of that pitching masterpiece being credited with nothing more than a no decision more times than a member of a BP promptly BB’s the first hitter he faces…In my view, Sale could still be effectively recording outs as I’m keying this in…
Clearly the primary concern remains in the area of SP’ing, however I noticed a glaring deficiency in what I feel is a primary component of any offensive attack that hopes to be reasonably successful. It’s located almost entirely across the board in the all important area of table setters and the primary culprits are Edman, Carlson and Donovan. Even The Nootz who flashes a gaudy .429 OBP has only crossed HP 14 times. The collective OBP of the other 3 names is a sliver above .304 and that simply won’t provide the dangerous power bats who should be located in the teeth of the order with nearly enough food to satisfy their appetites in the form of pushing baserunners across HP with extra base hits and taters. The primary elite bat on this team is tied for the lead in SB’s with 5 and also has more runs scored than RBI’s at 26 to 20 respectively. Moreover, the player who’s spent the majority of games at the C position has crossed HP more times than any of the 4 aforementined players that impress me as table setters. That’s both upside down and bassackwards…Between Goldy, Nado, Contreras and an emerging Gorman, this team should produce plenty of runs. Nado’s now showing clear indications that his lull is behind him and the other 3 guys have been doing their jobs all season. I’d say if only the table setters who possess both some speed and the abilty for a SB can begin to fill their roles and the line-up is constructed in a manner in which allows them to reach base in front of the bats that are capable of generating power production in the form of serious damage as opposed to the solo tater or bases empty extra base hit, that this offense will give the lackluster SP’ers at least a chance to work comfortably if not work a little deeper into games.
You are right about the top of the order being a problem, 1TD. Noot has been getting on after a bit of a cold start, probably the effects of drinking the water while he was off playing world ball.
Donovan has been the real culprit. After doing a splendid job getting on base up in the order last year, some brainiac decided he needed to optimize his swing over the winter. We know the result. He should have taken a look at DeJong’s career and told the clip board cadets to take a hike.
Goldy and his high OBP had to move up to replace Donovan and his lame optimized swing. Yeah, that kind of nerfs his thumpage, but what you gonna do. Hopefully the problems blow over.
No afternoon game for the Redbirds today so I guess I will watch the Reds and Marlins from Joe Robbie Stadium.
Din din today will be a thick center cut rib chop in the air fryer, a couple ears of corn, a glass of water, and a couple of those ice cream drumstick things. Whitey Herdog will be on or near the couch trying to coax a few bites out of me.
r/Esteemed Rat
p.s. at 1:30 in the morning today I had three (3) police cars in my driveway with their red lights on.
Donovan could obviously do a better job by reverting to ’22 form and the Nootz has been outstanding in every category excepting runs scored which I attribute to not having him slotted at 1 or 2 for every solitary game. Carlson has left a lot to be desired for a time period that extends well back into last season, but in my view, the primary culprit is Edman. He’s one of my favorite players, but if I’m being honest with myself, he simply hasn’t come even close to getting it done insofar as reaching base and coming around to score. Furthermore, in my view, although it remains servicable and satisfactory, the quality of his glove has suffered this season. And simply watching his overall posture and countenance tells me he’s well aware he needs to amp it up, so hopefully he’ll find a way to do so. And I’ll also say that in all fairness to the Redbird field manager, I attribute some of the inane line-up constructions and a strong tendency to constantly shuffle the order are a direct result of him fearing for the retention of his job and approaching the horrendous start with the mindset that he has to do something even if it’s wrong. So, he gets somewhat of a pass from me in that respect, although he leaves a long ton to be desired in many other areas and I’m in a pretty good mood after yesterday’s W, so I won’t go into them now…Haha!
Regarding the practice of no longer letting pitchers finish games is the fear that over work leads to injury. Some people dispute that thought.
Interesting though is a SABR study done several years ago looked at the impact of the modern era closer on team’s success, or lack thereof, of late game comebacks. The study found that there is no significant difference on late game wins in the modern era than it was in the years before bullpens were used like they are today.
Oh, we are doing a family Mother’s Day brunch as well. Lots of various offerings. Thus din-din will probably be an after thought of leftovers or even a bowl of cereal.
Three squad cars in the driveway, Rats? That sounds like something that would happen to me…The last time I unknowingly allowed a sticker on my truck to expire, the SWAT team showed up with one of it’s members demanding over the loudspeaker of a megaphone that I come outside and surrender peaceably…I paid the twenty bucks for the sticker and no one got hurt…Haha!
Bikemike…Regarding the injury theory…If yesterday’s game would have been a 7th game of a WS, I can almost guarantee that Sale would have had possession of the baseball to begin the 9th. I’ll also guess that same 7th game would have ended in the form of a 3-1 final…Haha!
Pork tenderloin roasted with potatoes and carrots, washed down with a quite nice Saint Emillion. Raspberries and cream for dessert.
Arriving at the quarter turn of the season I decided to take a look at the NL batting leaders. The name Goldschmidt is listed in the top 10 of every conceivable hitting category with the exception of HR’s and RBI’s, and if not for the absence of his name in those two categories, he’d be an early odds on favorite for the title of NL MVP award winner, which at this juncture would almost certainly have to land in the lap of Acuna Jr. who’s having a heck of a season. I’d like to see a way to get Goldy back into that 3 slot. He’d undoubtedly increase the number of RBI’s the way he’s ripping it at present. I also noticed that The Nootz is listed at 9th in the NL in BB’s with 22, but is absent from the all important category of OBP. If he were on the list, his .429 OBP would place 4th in the NL. I find it odd that he’s listed in the BB’s category, but not in OBP, so BR must place PA’s into the mix of qualifying for one, but not the other and I don’t know exactly how that works. I would have liked to have checked the NL pitching leaders, but as far as the Redbirds are concerned, I didn’t want to waste my time…Haha!
Well, it’s been quite a few years since I ever tune into ESPN unless, of course, a Sunday evening Redbird telecast or an ESPN post-season baseball game forces me to do so. It got me to thinking that back in the days prior to the advent of all the specialized and regional network outlets such as FSMW, Bally’s, MLB-TV etc, the only televised options for quite a few Cardinal games were WGN, WTBS and ESPN. And I enjoyed hearing the familiar PBP voices of Caray/Stone and Van Wieren/Caray, along with quite a few ESPN guys that included Kruk, Miller, Morgan and Ravech who’s still around on the “Baseball Tonight” pregame. And at one time, ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” was the solitary option to get the full slate of highlights from around the Big Leagues. At any rate, I’m sure a lot of folks on here recall a time when ESPN was the best thing to come along since the creation of pretty women. I kind of miss those days sometimes in the same sense that I miss the days when I wasn’t expected to have my telephone tattooed to me every time I left the house…
We are currently swapping Kiz for Edman. If Contreras goes to catcher, Gorman to DH and Edman to 2B. That’s my favorite lineup.
1. Lars Nootbaar (L) RF
2. Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
3. Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
4. Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
5. Willson Contreras (R) DH
6. Brendan Donovan (L) LF
7. Paul DeJong (R) SS
8. Dylan Carlson (S) CF
9. Andrew Knizner (R) CI had to find the fanfold channel directory, then I had to find my glasses, then I had to find a magnifying glass to read the channel directory. If there was broken glass and hot coals to walk over I would have.
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