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1:10 p.m.
RHP Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.51) vs. RHP Touki Toussaint (0-1, 3.95)
BSM // KMOX
(and Bally Sports South/Southwest Extra)It’s been too late to make any difference this season for several weeks now, but I have to believe that no matter what happens, the current Redbird manager may toss and turn a little bit during the upcoming four day break. I also think it’s astounding that he remains the Cardinal manager while guys with names like Joe Girardi and Joe Madden were both sacked prior to this point in the season last year. I also recently learned something that I wasn’t aware of…Six former Big League managers who were hired at mid-season have names that are spelled, John McGraw, Bill Terry, Earl Weaver, Tom Kelly, Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa.
The Cardinal collapse this season has been hideous.
The pitching has me the most concerned. I do not see how it can be corrected in a single off season. Just way too many holes to fill…..
It’s just a complete disaster because Bill and Mo ignored the obvious.
1TD, if Shildt wasn’t compatible with The Philosophy (yes, I did genuflect and cross myself as I typed that) then none of the type you mentioned could possibly be tolerated. It is why talk of replacing Marmol is silly. A different organization guy is the only possibility and it is pointless.
No, I don’t think so either, Bling. It’s why LaRussa’s departure was glossed over with the nonsense about his retirement in ’11. He simply up and quit so as to no longer subject himself to subserviance to someone who is clearly his inferior. I’m also surprised that so much focus continues to be placed on the obscure reason put forth regarding Schildt’s firing. “Philisophical differences” is no more of an unclear and suspect smokescreen than is “divisiveness.” Not too many people questioned this term when it was cited as the reason for the dismissal of Walt Jocketty in ’07. As for the names I mentioned, I wasn’t aware that all six of them had at one time taken the helm of a team at some point near a mid-season and I just thought it was an interesting tid-bit. At any rate, they’ll get rid of both the current Cardinal manager and Johnny someday, but I think you’d have to agree that it no longer makes any difference this season what they decide to do in regards to the leadership of this team.
Last night’s loss took some real effort. We out hit the White Sox 16 to 9, had 1 error to their 2. They did walk four times to our 1, while we struck out 11 times and them 10.
It is just uncanny how this team cannot hold 5 run leads. The more I watch this club, the more it seems like there is something missing that is hard to put a finger on. And when you see that, it usually means bad leadership. I understand our pitching is lousy, but still we should be much closer to .500. This is not a real good team by any stretch, but they should not be losing in the manner they do so often.
It’s too late to make a run this year, as even if we play to our capacity we will win maybe half of the remaining games. But the leadership needs to be upgraded this off season, starting with the manager. A complete overhaul of the entire staff from the POBO to the field leadership would be in order, but I am not sure that much change is good either. I would think DeWitt and Mozeliak have had some honest heart-to-heart talks about this. If Mo is truly a stand up guy, he will have admitted to the boss that he has made mistakes and will correct them between now and next Spring. If he asks for patience, well then it is up to the big guy to decide if Mo has earned enough goodwill to keep him at the helm.
What I put my finger on is the worst pitching staff in the history of Cardinal baseball. No manager could win with this putrid staff. It is funny how our offense can score at will under the leadership of the worst manager in MLB history but the pitchers can’t pitch under his leadership. Apparently only the pitchers were mentally scarred by how he publicly humiliated Tyler O’Neill or single handledly lost the Phillie playoff series last year. The offense seems to have gotten over it and moved on.
At 36-52 there are 74 games remaining.
to get to .500 Cards need to go 45-29 .608
to get to 90 wins Cards need to go 54-20 .730
to get to 100 losses Cards need to go 26-48 .351 so, 100 loss season is still unlikely at this point.
I saw an interesting stat in Rob Rains’s game report article after last might’s game.
From 2020 thru 2022 the Cardinals record when scoring 7 runs was 25-3.
In 2023 the Cardinals record when scoring 7 runs is 4-4.
1. Brendan Donovan (L) DH
2. Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
3. Lars Nootbaar (L) LF
4. Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
5. Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
6. Jordan Walker (R) RF
7. Paul DeJong (R) SS
8. Ivan Herrera (R) C
9. Dylan Carlson (S) CFOlliMo likes flipping Walker back and forth out there, so he closes on the center fielder from the opposite side one day to the next, thus enhancing the probability of injury to both him and the center fielder. This especially the case since this is Walker’s first year playing outfield. Of course, you can put him on whichever side you want and run as many simulations as you want, and nobody gets hurt. OlliMo is a true man of genius. His boss is even geniuser.
Be thankful that he wasn’t at the helm when Holliday was playing. The OF may have taken on the look of a railroad switching yard with a runaway train careening from track to track.
After 88 games the ’23 Cardinal team ERA sits at 4.67. After 161 regular season games, which was how many the Cardinals were required to play in ’06, the Cardinal team ERA settled in at 4.54.
Two starts in a row for Herrera. Is this catchergate 2.0 or showcasing Herrera for a trade?
Pregame show guy said Contreras got a tooth pulled yesterday and needs another day. I guess that’s a tooth impingment.
After his last start, we found out that Mikolas tried calling his own pitches for the first time in his career, but it wasn’t working, so he gave up on it. He will turn 35 shortly. One wonders why he would decide to try calling his own pitches.
That’s no fun…I always used to complain to my dentist by telling her, “I always give you my money, and you always take my teeth”…I don’t think that’s at all a fair shake.
This team has the worst team ERA since the 2006 and 2007 teams. The ‘06 team was not much different as 1TD points out, and their runs per game was only a little higher (4.85 to 4.64).
The pitching is indeed terrible, which is the primary reason for their demise from recent ball clubs. But there are other things wrong – I don’t know. The weird crazy throw Hicks made the other night, the similar bizarre miscue by Gorman where the ball popped out of his glove. I just don’t get it. It seems to be a combination of lousy pitching talent, and poor preparation and mechanics.
We are not good because we have bad pitching. But we play even worse than that. We just screw things up at exactly the wrong time. All I can come up with is that is a reflection of poor coaching.
Our offense has struggled a lot at times this season. Arenado was downright horrible for a long time this season. People seem to be a prisoner of the moment. Our pitching has been bad all season which wasn’t a surprise. To go along with that bad pitching and maybe because of it, we’ve used a lot of guys who are at best average on defense and in a lot of cases, below average. You combine bad pitching and average to below average defense and this team is what you get even if the offense is at times great.
Re-hashing an old gripe, but I still think this club would generate a little more offense if Noot and Goldy were flipped in the order.
The top three OBP guys on our roster are Donovan (.375), Goldy (.373) and Noot (.363). At least against a righty, I think you go with the lefty hitting on base guys Donovan and Nootbaar, then hit them with the sluggers Goldschmidt and Arenado.
Goldy at three gives you a nice combination of power behind a couple of good on-base guys, and getting on base in front of another power guy.
Watching a Sox game always calls to mind the original Comiskey Park. I saw games there probably two dozen times as a youngster and my younger adult years, which is what I remember best. It was really a wreck by then and the neighborhood was terrible, but we were young bucks and didn’t much care. We stayed at a horrible flea bag fire trap in Chinatown, which was right there, and just a couple blocks from the Red Line station. So we could take the train up to downtown and the Navy Pier, or stay on it right on up to Wrigley.
In Chinatown back then if you went down the alleys behind the restauants and such, there were ‘back door joints’ of various persuations. We went to the eateries where the Chinese people ate as opposed to the restaurants facing the street that served Chinese for Americans. They weren’t open to the public but would give you a plate of whatever they had going on the stove for money, cash only. Some very interesting fare. I think about some of those trips and its a wonder I lived to tell about it.
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