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I think Schild only used this lineup so the announcers would have to say, “due up in the second, Wieters, Wacha, and Wong.”
Yes Miller looked better today although he hasn’t quite disproved my LOOGY theory yet. He got all three LH hitters out and gave up a hit to the RH hitter.
That is an impressive sweep folks
LA was on fire coming in and we put that fire out
Boys are looking good and flying high right now, gotta carry it over to Mexico. Reds won’t be pushovers and the neutral site of the games is a toss up for support.
The pen just might be rounding into form, now we just need the rotation to stabilize a bit.
Jose playing every day seems inevitable. Fowler hasnt been terrible, but his fielding isnt so much greater than what Jose’s bat can do. It’s a tough sell i get it, but Jose bat talks, and while Fowler hasnt been as bad as many thought he’d be it still isnt great. I am sure we will still see a platoon at best, but Oneill and Fowler really havent done enough at any time to quench the JMart bat impact. Today’s game is a great example of that. I am not sure Fowler will ever have another 4 hit game, and ONeill I am not sure ever will (not that he cant be impact)
Right now Fowler’s value as switch hitter and Oneill as power CF backup bench bat seem more valuable than JMart on the bench for 1-2 ABs a game, even if his defense is wanting
Also… kudo to Wieters today for reminding people why he is valuable, he can still be a productive bat off the bench and quality enough defensive backup to Yadi when he needs a day.
Gant is becoming almost TOO valuable a pitcher for the pen to consider putting him into the rotation again…
wit hthe way GAllegos showed up today, along with MAyers, BRebbs, and Leone have been going maybe we just let Reyes focus on starting again, and CMart too for that matter
I was thinking the same thing about Reyes, jager. The contributions we are getting from the pen make that a possibility again
I understand the desire for Gant in the rotation, but maybe he is more valuable in the bullpen. At this point, I feel like he is too valuable to the bullpen to make that change.
“I get the BABIP point, but I am less concerned.
Brebbia is one with a very low .111 BABIP so far. Last season, it was a normal .297 and he still had a good season (0.7 fWAR).
Gant is also at .111 now. Last season, he was at .253. He also had a solid 2018 (1.2 fWAR).”Pretty persuasive rebuttal, Brian.
I’m still right, of course. But I’m grudgingly entertaining the possibility that you are right as well. I’ll endeavor to follow your lead and fret far less.The Cards now have a +15 run differential on the season despite having played one of the toughest schedules around. Redbird opponents are a terrific 25-12 in their non-StL tilts, with an excellent collective +30 run differential of their own. (The Trolleydodgers are 8-2 when not playing Cards, the Pirates 6-2, Pads 6-4, and the Milwaukee Yeliches 5-4.)
Fowler hasnt been terrible, but his fielding isnt so much greater than what Jose’s bat can do. It’s a tough sell i get it, but Jose bat talks, and while Fowler hasnt been as bad as many thought he’d be it still isnt great.
Dexter’s stat line: .176 avg, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .300 OBP, .206 SLG, .506 OPS
That is anemic.
After less than 1/10 of the games, I’m not sure you can really pinpoint BABIP for the pen or even K or BB rates to say that things will be just as they were last year. For example, I very much doubt that Andrew Miller will run 13%/17.4% K/BB rates for the entire season, nor will Alex Reyes be at the astronomically terrible 5.9%/35.3% K/BB. So even with some BABIP regression, I expect the bullpen overall to be better.
gscottar said:
Dexter’s stat line: .176 avg, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .300 OBP, .206 SLG, .506 OPS
That is anemic.
Martinez’ line coming into today: 0 HR, 2 RBI, .136/.136/.182/.318 OPS. (Even after today, his OPS is .592.)
Is there such a thing as double anemia? 😉
“I very much doubt that Andrew Miller will run 13%/17.4% K/BB rates for the entire season, nor will Alex Reyes be at the astronomically terrible 5.9%/35.3% K/BB. So even with some BABIP regression, I expect the bullpen overall to be better.”
That’s well put, 25. I’ll somewhat reluctantly accept the proposition that perhaps this year’s and last year’s bullpens are NOT created equal. We’ll see.
In any case, even a bullpen fault-finder like myself can’t complain about today’s dynamite reliever performance. Eight K’s in 5 1/3 innings when the club needed it badly — with no walks and a measly pair of singles. Okay, plus a hit batter that I’ll choose to imagine was for some reason in honor of Bob Gibson.The homestand may have begun with a whimper but it ended with a lovely double comeback bang. How often do you get to win a game wherein you trailed by 3 runs twice?!
I said not as bad as some thought….many people thought and expected worse than Fowlers line so far
Still Fowler has had a couple key hits, and we are still 8-5 with him in there as he has been…so he cant be pulling the team down too hard
But my point about JMart is that JMArt seems to have the ability still to impress in a significant way in games…I am not sure Fowler has that in him anymore
Fowler once could be brilliant in the field and throw in a steal and switch hit 2 hits and be an all around contributor… but now his flash in the field is gone, his speed on the bases is not great and switch hitting is not a threat much…. the best kind of game we can hope for from FOwler seems to be making all the normal plays in RF, 2 hits maybe one double, or the occasional single and 1HR day
JMart may give you some stiffness in RF with less range, but what he seems to be able to spark with his bat seems endless with possibilities… 4-5 day like today, 2 HR games, late inning heroics for power, or the late inning crazy bloop hits that he seems to have in his arsenal because of his contact skills
BEfore today started none of the trio of Fowler, Oneill, JMart had done much to say they should be in RF more than the others…so why not go with the guy you are paying a ton and try to get him right…. but now after today, JMart has shown something the others havent…it is just one game, but it is ine the realm of what JMart is expected to do… Had Oneill had a 3 HR game with good defense in there maybe he’d be the guy that shoudl be leading the pack…but he hasnt…. JMart has after today…maybe he flounders and you start divying up the playing time more, but since none of them have been great until today, then it is fine to ruide Fowler…but now that JMart has shown himself…he needs the lion share until he proves he shoudl get it…which coudl happen via poor batting or poor defense
until this series you could say the whole batting team was pretty anemic outside of that 2nd MIL blowout win 3 HR game of Goldy
Nice to see the bullpen get some traction, and the club throw a few runs on the board. I really like the way Mayers is pitching. Dan and Tim pointed out during the Wednesday game I believe it was, how he is exuding confidence right now. Man, that is huge. Once you get that confidence, your career will quickly escalate.
One of the few gaffes in the series, other than the major one Ozuna made, was John Rooney’s description of the uniforms before the start of the first game, when he said the Dodgers had the road gray uniforms on, with the red number in front and blue in back, and the script ‘Dodgers” across the front. Actually they had “Los Angeles” on the front, but a minor error that did not cost us a game. 🙂
Definitely surprised we swept them. Bullpen was solid. Question is can some keep it up being used so much.
No game tomorrow! Mexico for the weekend. Hope the boys stay out of trouble and no Cardinal fans have any issues. Monterrey I hear is nice and Nuevo Leon is a bustling area in Mexico to live.
This is what I call a ‘bench game’ being as the entire bench started the game. I gave them about a 10 percent chance of a win. That will teach me. Schildt figured out a way to get 4 guys two days rest before having to drink Mexican water. Very good game and the fact that the Cards kept coming back made me a believer. They did that several times last season but not with the whole bench in the game. Hopefully Yadi will see fit to give Wieters a few starts now. The guy is a pro.
Wacha was allowing one home run per inning. I guess Wieters was calling for that center cut meat huh? Actually Freese tagged him on a inside pitch. The wind did some favors to those balls hit to right field also.
An oddity in this game.
Thanks to #stlcards PR and Elias for checking on this: Harrison Bader is the only Cardinals player since RBI began to be officially compiled in 1920 to record two via HBP in one game.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) April 11, 2019
“This is what I call a ‘bench game’ being as the entire bench started the game. I gave them about a 10 percent chance of a win. That will teach me. Shildt figured out a way to get 4 guys two days rest before having to drink Mexican water.”
Yeah, the “bench game” theory. Tony LaRussa did it relatively often, once or twice a month loading the lineup with bench guys, usually on Sundays I believe. For the first 6 or 8 years that he managed the Cards, it drove me nuts. Why not spread the playing time around more, for the backups? Why seriously inhibit your chances to win this given game?!
But then I happened one day to be listening to the radio during a Redbird pre-game show, and TLR was asked by the interviewer about this very topic. And he said something that really resonated — and taught me about how I’m not always as smart as I think I am. Usually I am. Just, not always. 😉
Tony said that by playing all the bench guys together, it created a team esprit de corps that couldn’t be generated any other way. The thinking was, if the “bench team” won the game, it united the bench guys with one another more than before — and united them with the starters, too. But if the team lost the game, well that’s what they were supposed to do anyway. And at least a bunch of starting players got a day of rest.
I’ve probably simplified things a tiny bit, but that’s the gist. And it does make a lot of sense. Whaddayaknow, a first ballot Hall Of Fame manager knew something I didn’t know, about managing a baseball team.
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