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Wouldn’t have made any difference, but I wouldn’t have minded at all if Turner would have tried to do some running.
Schwarber blasts one. Score 3-2. Then Trea Turner got a single with one out. Two one-pitch outs later the inning is over. Can’t believe Realmuto and Mullins weren’t a little more patient to give Turner an opportunity to swipe 2B. Down to 3 outs now.
Yeah, Euro, it’s always a little tough to attempt to run when you’re trailing, but Turner’s pretty good when it comes to not getting caught on a SB attempt. Heck, he’s almost as good as Eddie…Haha!
Well, at least we have several players who’ll be entirely up to speed in a little more than a week. That can’t hurt.
I know they get some money, but I wonder if the winning team receives any sort of jewelry for the WBC Championship?
Yeah, I enjoyed the action, Euro. And it really did take on the atmosphere of high stakes baseball games. You could plainly see that the players were amped up and entirely focused on the big prize. Some really good baseball.
Just heard there will be another WBC in 2026.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched a serious inning of WBC before this one and wasn’t intent on watching this one. Not sure why I got into this one. Maybe I got hooked because I wanted to see Wainwright pitch USA’s first game.
I also thought it was interesting to hear ARod’s and Big Papi’s comments after the game that Japan showed a different way to play the game compared to our analytics-driven approach, saying they weren’t all or nothing. I assume they were talking more about the offensive approach. Related to that, I was disappointed USA didn’t take advantage of Turner’s speed after his one-out single in 8th, being down just one run. Japan probably feels like they owe a “thank you” to Realmuto and Mullins for their one-pitch outs to halt a decent chance to tie.
They play the game in a bit of a throwback manner which was clearly illustrated in the semi against MEX by a sac bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs in the 8th while they trailed by 2 runs. Without that sac bunt, they come up empty and don’t score a run that inning on the sac fly. I’d guess that with runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs and trailing by 2 in the 8th inning, the USA team is ripping for the fences. At any rate, the USA team got burned twice by the GIDP which is another good reason to sacrifice an out to move those runners over at 1st and 2nd.
Sac bunts crater your metrics. Average exit velo, barrel rate, whatever. No surprise it is not part of the repertoire. Similar to choking up with two strikes and slapping it the other way. You are better off swinging for the fences and missing. A homer a week and you are golden. Not letting defenders stand where they know the misfires will go should help prop up the metrics driven approach to offense. If its not working, change the rules.
Ohtani is quite a spectacle. Not many players are capable of hitting 40HR then get on the mound and pitch it 100MPH. He will be a free agent at the end of this year and I have read that he may be able to get close to $50M Per Year for at least 10 years for a grand total of $500M. $25M as an outfielder and $25M as a pitcher.
Of course we know that our Cards won’t be in that bidding war. That will be between the Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets.
Yeah, that Ohtani’s pretty good, gscottar. I don’t remember their names, but Japan had a couple of other guys who really seemed to generate a lot of power with the bat. One guy was a big LH’ed hitter who uncoiled and ripped a tater that said goodbye quicker than you could say, “Sayonara.” Johnny should give him a call.
Not many players are capable of hitting 40HR then get on the mound and pitch it 100MPH.
Haha gscott, a safer statement has never been made! I had a strong feeling it was going to be Ohtani’s moment when he faced Trout.
Not sure if you were watching, but sometime last night one of the crew said Ohtani was in a class of two with Ruth. They were talking about all his tools, his speed (Ohtani legged out a grounder for a hit), hitting with power, dominant pitching, etc. Maybe I misinterpreted or misheard what exactly was said, but I don’t remember many stories about Ruth’s prowess at getting infield hits.
I don’t remember many stories about Ruth’s prowess at getting infield hits
My grandpa grew up a Yankees fan during Ruth’s time and always said Ruth was a good athlete in his early years. Not much film from that part of his career.
Haha, the Babe’s beer and hot dogs stories, plus other pleasures of life are legendary. I guess they’re true. Babe beating out infield hits had to be before the Babe Bod was fully developed. And of course we Cardinals’ fans owe a lot to Babe for our 1st World Series title. Hornsby tagged out the Babe (he was the tying run) when he tried to steal 2B in Game 7 of the ’26 Series. That out ended the Series, the only Series to end on a caught stealing.
At least Wong can always to point to the Babe if he’s ever accused of being the biggest nincompoop/TOOTBLAN in WS history.
One last spring topic to cover. 17 #stlcards players participated in the World Baseball Classic, with Lars Nootbaar winning the title and four Cardinals runners up with Team USA. Video, stats highlights and more in TCN's comprehensive WBC Recap. (free) https://t.co/MSZCUEkYDw pic.twitter.com/SZCtzw5gCf
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) March 28, 2023
The Babe was a terrific athlete, and had good speed in his early years. He was not the blimp as portrayed in movies, at least not until his last few seasons. He also had great eye-hand coordination and baseball instincts.
He did over-indulge and did not take care of himself to the point of where he got sick in 1925. After that season he hired a personal trainer, and would get himself in great shape each season until right at the end of his career. He was not in shape for his final season, when he played a couple of months in Boston with the Braves.
Ohtani is something else though. I wonder if we will start to see more guys who are skilled enough to both pitch and hit in the big leagues. As kids it was common to have the best hitter on your team also be your best pitcher. It just might be that some kids will be schooled in both pitching and hitting, rather than having to choose. Our own Rick Ankiel was not bad, but he did not do both at the same point in his career.
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