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It’s always nice to make a little money while you sleep. Redbirds increased their lead in the NLC to 2 full games after a Brewer 4-0 loss to the Dodgers last night. Brewers also fall to 2 full games off the pace for a WC berth. With 3 more games remaining with the Dodgers this week, I’m wondering if Milwaukee fans may be experiencing the first symptoms of panic.
You’re dead right about anything at all can happen. That’s why I always abhorred the idea of a 1 game WC fiacso. Heck, anyone who’s followed this game for a minute or two knows that on any given day the Kia Tigers could win a game vs. the ’27 Yankees. That’s just the way baseball is. At any rate, I think the new format’s an improvement.
BW…Hmm, so the Div. winner with the worst W/L pct. has to survive an extra round. I guess that’s fair, but I’m not crazy about a best of 3, even with the HFA. Sure looks like the #3 seed will be from the NLC.
Have the Cardinals essentially transferred or eliminated all of the duties and responsibilities of a baseball GM? I mean, what does he really do? Best I can tell, he doesn’t negotiate any contracts or trades. I’m reasonably certain he doesn’t have any sort of input or influence on any personnel changes or decisions. He certainly doesn’t hire or fire anyone. Why even bother to have him around? In my view, it’s not at all unlike having an electrician on the payroll of a plumbing contractor. He certainly seems to afford a lot of effort and attention to his hair, but other than that, what does he spend his time doing?
stlcard25…Oh, okay. That makes sense. I thought maybe the schedule maker guys were clairvoyant and knew that AP may be close at season’s end.
I can’t ever recall closing out the regular season with 6 games against the same ballclub, but that’s just what we get this season with the final 6 vs. the Pirates. Seems odd to me. Oh well, the older I get the more I’m convinced I’ve passed through a portal to an alternate universe. Maybe I’m Bill Lee?
bccran…ERA is the first thing I take a look at with any pitcher and my benchmark of an ace or a stopper has always been based on a guy who works approx. 200 IP and keeps it under 3.00. However there’s been quite a few CYA winners over the last 25 years who took home the award with an ERA well above 3.25 and as “high” as 3.50. The names include Clemens, Halladay, Sabathia, Colon, etc…So who really knows what an “ace” is? Plus, times change. At one time a so-called ace worked 300 IP, 15 to 20 CG, with 7 or 8 shutouts. Those days are gone. I’m not certain anyone will ever be the winning pitcher of record for 300 games again. I do know that I saw an ace work a CG 1-0 shutout in Phil. in the 5th game of the ’11 NLDS. His ERA for the regular season that year was 3.45 and I’d say he was an ace…
82willie…Yessir, good obsevation about the Pirates. Nine more games with those guys with six of them on the road. Pretty sure Albert enjoys stepping into the box at PNC.
Bling…I didn’t assume as much. I’m in total agreement that he K’s too much and can only hope he makes more contact and progresses as he gets more looks. I also agree that his role in ’22 is as a platoon guy. But at barely(I’d sure trade places with him) 22 years of age, I think he’s got a decent chance to improve at the Big League level and someday soon be in the lineup for plenty of games. I don’t really follow the Redbird affiliates much at all, so my first look at him was with the Big League ballclub. Heck, I’m certain you know more about him than I do, but I’ve seen enough of him to conclude that he has an enormous amount of power potential.
Bling… Gorman’s also only 22 and this is his first look around in the Big Leagues. I think he’ll make more contact as he matures. Nothing against TO, but he’s been around the league for several seasons and also seems a little prone to bumps and bruises.
BikeMike…Haha! Yeah, at a still naive 11 years old at the time, I was like you insofar as if Gibby’s pitching, we win! I guess it’s good to learn at an early age that, ‘youneverknow!’
Pretty full slate for a Mon. tonight in the Big Leagues with only the Redbirds and Colo. idle. I’ll be keeping an eye on Brewers/Dodgers, Phillies/Reds and O’s/Jays.
Carioca…He won’t get to 700, but he’s got an outside chance for the 7 or 8 HR’s needed to tie or pass Rodriguez for 4th place behind Ruth. Heck, he tatered-up twice yesterday. In a couple of weeks, I may be ready to count him out, but not yet.
Bling…Gorman doesn’t fall victim to the K any more often than TO and NG’s collected 13 HR’s in roughly 25 less AB’s. You can’t discount his power and the production potential. If he can accumulate roughly 500 PA’s, I don’t see how there’s any way he won’t tater up 30 to 35 times in a season. In my view, he’s a keeper and I’d like to see him in the Redbird OF or in the DH slot on a daily basis in ’23.
With Quintana, Montgomery and Wainwright slated it’s looks promising. I’m greedy like the next guy at this juncture of the season so I certainly hope to win all of them, but I’ll be satisfied with winning 2 of 3. It’s difficult to sweep a 3 game series against any team in this league, even when playing at home. Interesting fact about the ’82 world championship Cardinal team is that they never lost more than 3 games in a row during that entire season. Winning streaks are always nice, but I’ve always thought that it was more important to avoid the dreaded extended losing streak. I suppose that’s why ‘stoppers’ are so important to a rotation. We’ll see what happens.
bccran…And even Quintana. He’s not been too shabby. Dodgers? They move their money with forklifts and I’m not even sure I count the ’20 WS. In short, I agree that money can’t always buy love. When I think of Redbird free agent pitcher aquisitions, the only ones I can come up with that brought me genuine happiness are Chris Carpenter and the guy who took his turn yesterday. Then I think of Cecil, Leake, Holland, Miller and the best of all, Kip Wells…
I’m certainly no expert on the subject, but it seems to me the Redbirds, with the exception of C.Carpenter (and he was risky) Berkman and Beltran, have in recent memory always fared better via the old fashioned trade as opposed to signing free agents. I’m sure there are more, but the names that landed here via the trade that instantly enter my mind are McGwire, Edmonds, Holliday, Goldschmidt and Arenado, and the list of Cardinal free agent aqusitions that tanked are so many that I don’t care to think up a single name… In any event, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not always good to go window shopping with a pocket full of money. I’m also sure a lot of folks agree that home grown is always the best, but it’s difficult to cultivate gold.
stlcard25…And Freddie is certainly creating the impression that he’s worth the money in his first season as a Dodger. At the same time, and I’ve no idea how accurate these articles are, I’ve read that Freeman has had some misgivings about leaving the ballclub that drafted him in ’07. Nado creates the impression that he intends to stick around as a Redbird, but as far as I’m aware, it’s not possible to read the entire mindset of a human being. And even if it were, that mindset could change with a slight breeze from any direction. We’ll see what happens.
BW…Thanks again for providing that Redbird logo! I’ll say it once again…That scowling Redbird standing in from the RH side with the bat held up high looks not at all unlike the great Albert Pujols.
82 Willie…Oh yeah, it most definitely worked out for the best all across the board. I, like yourself, was incredibly disappointed when he headed to Cal. but soon realized it was a sort of fateful arrangement. Let’s face it, the Redbirds immediately replaced the production with Beltran and ultimately were two wins away from a another world championship in ’13. Not to mention staying very competitive up until this very moment in time. And the proverbial cherry on top of the entire chain of storybook events may be his return home to where it all started, and the thrill of once again seeing the great Albert Pujols punishing the baseball in a Cardinal uniform in yesterday’s ballgame that was provided for all of us Redbird fans. And hey, man…The ride’s not over yet! In any event, always good to talk baseball with you, Willie! Take good care and…GO REDBIRDS!
Willie82…Yeah, undoubtedly there’d be no Pujols in St.L in ’22 without the DH. And as I stated, my hunch is based on absolutely nothing that could be remotely characterized as tangible. The only thing I can possibly base my guess on can be summed up in one word…”youneverknow.”
It’s too bad what happened to Matz. Pitchers seem to always be one delivery away from arm trouble, but to injure a knee in the manner that he did on an easy out ground ball on his first turn back makes me think the poor guy is snakebit. To add insult to injury, if you watched the play sequence, it was reasonably obvious that he had no business attempting to field the baseball. An incredibly bad break not only for the LHP, but also for Cardinals. At any rate, I’m not at all sure I’ve been given a chance to make an informed decision as to the type of talent he may or may not be. I can only look at his past performance and that’s not always a foolproof method for an evaluation as can be proved by guys like Chris Carpenter prior to him becoming a Redbird. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get a reasonable read on Matz until the first couple of months of the ’23 season.
BikeMike…As an 11 year old kid I was sitting with my dad and my uncle in the LCF bleachers less than 50 ft. from where Flood’s 1st step gave way in the grass of the OF in the fateful visitor half of the 7th. My dad took me to the old Chase Park Plaza hotel the evening prior to the game in order to try to get a few autographs from Tiger players as they arrived from the airport. I still have them. One is none other than Mickey Lolich…
At any rate, that was a bit before I really took an interest in pretty girls, but I can’t remember ever being quite as heart broken as I was on the ride home from that game. I’m not sure I was able to entirely get past it until 2006…I’ve heard it said that the game of baseball is not at all unlike an incredibly beautiful woman in the sense it is designed to not only bring you immense joy, but also to entirely break your heart.
I saw several comments on Sunday’s game thread devoted to Pujols moving up the ladder in various all-time categories. One I didn’t see was total bases. He currently places third all-time with 6127 TB’s behind Stan Musial and Henry Aaron. He won’t catch Hank with 6856, but he only needs 7 to tie the great Musial who collected 6134 TB’s in his storied career with the Cardinals. Man alive, those are a lot of bags to carry…In another category, Albert has now collected 689 HR’s, and slugging 11 more with only 48 games remaining this season will be extremely difficult to do in order to reach the 700 HR plateau. A more realistic goal may be tying or surpassing Rodriguez on the all-time HR list and that would not bother me one single bit… The great Pujols needs just 7 HR’s to tie and 8 to take over sole possession of 4th on the all-time HR list just a notch below the legendary Babe Ruth. Man, when you see Albert next to names like Musial, Aaron and Babe Ruth, you almost have to feel a real strong sense of how incredibly fortunate we were to have seen the great slugger play the game of baseball in a Redbird uniform.