2023 StL Game #79: Wednesday, June 28 vs. Astros

Tucker now lines a ground rule double to right and Gallegos has not been good….. let’s see what our boys are made o……..shucks! Abreu throttles a 2 run bomb to right and now it’s 10-7 Stros.

As the tag line goes on the Looney Tunes cartoons, “That’s All Folks”. Chalk up another late inning give-a-way.

Anyone know if Gallegos has a history of being bad on the second of consecutive days appearances? He does not do that much, but was throwing meat balls tonight.

Man, I see Edman is down to .236. As much as his versatility and defense is good to have, not sure how long he will be a starter unless he picks it up a notch or two. .236 with power can be justified, but .236 without power is tough.

Is our Rule 5 guy still on the DL? Is he expected to miss the entire season? Or, is there a chance he will be joining the team in the near future?

It sure is, BicycleMike. Tommy whiffs swinging and his average dips a couple points more. He’s too good for hitting this poorly though……have to believe he’ll come around. You have to wonder if the team’s dismal play thus far has anything to do with his subpar performance?

Edman is a terrible left-handed batter. The past three years, he has done that several times per year.

Yes, Wilking Rodriguez had shoulder surgery and is out for the year

Our pitchers have walked more batters tonight than Cesar Millan has walked dogs. Bases loaded but Houston doesn’t dent the board……still 10-7 heading to the bottom of inning #9.

“Absolutely brutal performance by the bullpen tonight!”

Not the bullpen. Just Gallegos. Stratton for one was fantastic, mowing the ‘Stros down 1-2-3 on 10 pitches.

“Anyone know if Gallegos has a history of being bad on the second of consecutive days appearances? He does not do that much, but was throwing meat balls tonight.”

Gallegos both this year and for his career has in fact been outstanding when pitching on zero days of rest. But there’s a big “however” attached to that.
However, tonight Gallegos was appearing after throwing 24 pitches last night, and that’s almost surely just too much for a back-to-back, esp. with the 3-batter rule. To use Gio at all was highly questionable at best. To leave him in after Altuve’s homer was an inexcusable disgrace on Marmol’s part. And yet, not unexpected.

And again, as Jimmy Edmonds described in great detail during the 7th inning, the proper move tonight was to try and get two full innings out of the extremely well-rested Stratton. And Stratton obliged! He cruised through the 7th on a handful of pitches. Then after that you likely go with Hicks if it’s close and someone else if it’s not.

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Anyway, tonight really, really should be the last straw. “It’s Marmol or both of you, take your pick,” should be the owner’s text message to Mozeliak. Or however such things are done these days.

Now that I’ve researched the subject, tonight’s use of Gallegos by Ollie “Empty Resume” Marmol was even worse than I’d imagined.

Gallegos threw 24 pitches yesterday. This season he had never been asked to pitch on zero rest after throwing 20+ pitches. More specifically, he had six previous games of 20 or more pitches this year, and he was given at least two days of rest after each game, except for May 25th/27th — and in that case, he was only required to throw five pitches in the latter game.

So Gallegos was asked tonight to do something distinctly more strenuous than he’d done all season. That’s bad. But yes, it gets worse.

Last year, Gallegos DID pitch on zero rest after throwing 20+ pitches, on two separate occasions. On May 30/31 he threw 25 pitches in the first game, and was cuffed for two runs in one inning in the second (27 pitches).

And then on July 12/13, Gio threw 23 pitches in the first game, and once again surrendered two runs in one inning in the second (28 pitches).

And of course Marmol was Gio’s manager for both of those poor outings last season. He saw it up close. Imagine how profoundly idiotic a manager (or any person for that matter) has to be to do the exact same dumb thing three times in close succession. There’s isn’t even a cliche for it, like the “fool me twice, shame on me” bromide. There is no “fool me three times” expression because the logical assumption is that no one would be stupid/stubborn enough to get fooled the third time. Except for Ollie “Empty Resume” Marmol.

When asked at the postgame presser why he left Gallegos in even after the Jose Altuve home run, Marmol replied that he wouldn’t have done so if he’d known Gallegos would surrender another homer.

Does this guy really think he’s earned the right to make smart aleck responses like that? What a horse’s ass.

Bad loss for sure and the bullpen ERA show some problems but they can still win the series tomorrow.

The pitching is bad but when you score that much you should win. Let’s hope they do that at least. They’ve got to after that mess.