Baseball 2010!

[sdcforever]

I wonder how the Cards will fare against Santana today?  He's been struggling so far this year.  I hope Colby gets a start today--he's not going to improve against lefties unless he gets chances to face them.

[Twinsmom98]

I thought the bats last night were alittle flat.  They are going to have to start scoring runs on hit combinations rather than homeruns.

I was really surprised that Ryan committed an error and made such a bad throw.  At first I thought it was Freese.

But why didn't Albert throw down to home rathr 3rd base?  I thought the view would be better for a run down.

I would like to see us sweep the Mets rather than just taking 2 games. 

[Cardinal Fan]

Wow.....going into the 15th!

[sdcforever]

^It's like on one wants to win this game.  Just a bizarre move from TLR to use the double switch on Holliday, which means the relief pitcher hits behind Albert!   TLR must be kicking himself for that one.  Someone else has to win this game for us, because the Mets won't let AP beat them.  No one has stepped up.

If I leave the house right now I could get to the stadium by the 21st inning and get to see Albert walk for the seventh time.

EDIT:  It's now the top of the 18th inning and Felipe Lopez is pitching.  Kyle Lohse is in LF.  This isn't baseball anymore--it's a sideshow.

[Cardinal Fan]

Well.....20 innings and the Mets won

[rubedugans]

Sideshow yes indeed. It was hard to watch the game of catch between Molina and Lopez with a batter in between (it looked like a game of keep away) (HOWEVER he did get out of the inning better than Mather did!

Mather is the LP, Now that's funny.

[sdcforever]

There are a lot of second guesses with this loss.  The double switch that took Holliday out of the game and batted the relief pitcher behind Albert.  Having the relief pitcher hit twice with the bases loaded--stranding six on the bases.  The hit and run with Pujols at the plate that resulted in Ludwick being thrown out at second (Albert tried to make contact but the pitch was far too low and outside).  Why hit and run there?  It's Pujols--you have to trust that he'll drive the ball.  It looked like Ludwick was safe at second, and Albert ended up hitting a double.  If Ludwick stayed at first, both he and Albert would've scored on Molina's single and the game would've been over.

The biggest reason we lost was not being able to put the ball in play consistently--we left 22 runners on base!  The worst example was the 14th inning, when we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out.  But then Skip and Ludwick struck out swinging, Pujols was walked, and Hawksworth struck out looking.  That was inexcusable for Skip and Ludwick--we could've won the game on something as simple as a sac fly.  I think we need more time in batting practice.  Our offense has been pitiful for the last few games.

[Zephon]

What a long game tonight...20 innings!  The Cards had so many wasted opportunities.  Had to use Lopez and then Mather as pitchers.  At the end I was thinking "I don't care, just get it over."  2-1 final. No runs until the mutts scored in the top 19th off of Mather, Cards tied it at 1 in their half of the inning, and then the mutts scored another in the top of the 20th which the Cards couldn't match.  The best part of the game was watching Lopez pitch the 18th.  So funny.  But they didn't score off of him.

[sdcforever]

^All in all, this was a hideous baseball game that tested the appeal of the game for me.  Bad managing and bad execution on the field.  I'm glad it's over.

[sdcforever]

It's the morning after the very loooooooooooooonnnnnnnng nightmare, and I just discovered a couple of alarming stats.

Holliday is 0 for 15 so far this year at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals have scored in only 4 of the last 47 innings, going back to Wednesday.  What has happened to our offense?

[KBCraig]

My mother was being released from the hospital, so I left my house just as the game was coming on, and I listened on XM. She lives two hours away, so it was the 7th inning stretch when I pulled into her driveway.

Taking care of her was more pressing than the game, so later that evening I flipped on the TV to find out what had happened... only to find they were still playing!

I stuck it out to the end. I hated the outcome, but the last three innings were hilarious.

[sdcforever]

The Cubs are moving Z to the bullpen, and it may not be temporary.

Wow!  An $18.875 million/year setup man!

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/04/cubs-move-carlos-zambrano-to-bullpen.html

[Zephon]

^I heard about that.  I thought it funny and strange at the same time that the Cubs would take their #1 guy and put him there.  But their BP definitely needs help, and apparently he's willing.

On to Card's Talk:  Lot's of offense last night against Haren which was somewhat surprising.  Too bad they generated just a tad bit more against us.  Tonight, so far so good...4-2 going to the top 8th as it stands right now.  But...Carpenter doesn't look like the Carp of old, in spite of having 10 K's so far.  He's not locating consistently...leaving a few too many hanging.  Weird start to the game.  A couple of hit batsmen by the opposing pitcher, with Carp being one of the victims.  And he was really ticked off.  Then, Skip hit into a DP and Carp almost, but thought better of it, took out the shortstop turning the DP even though it wasn't even close.  The shortstop had words with him and it almost turned into a broohaha with both benches clearing.  Carp's probably a bit frustrated with his own performance and did a little venting.  Things settled down however and the game resumed without further incident.  GO CARDINALS!!

[KBCraig]

Bats came alive in the 9th for a great win.

As for Carp's performance on offense, that's why I love the NL, over the AL and their pretty-boy protected pitchers. If you want to throw 'em, by golly you should stand up there in the box and take your turn too!

[sdcforever]

I'm a stats guy, and I see some troubling trends developing.  (You can scream small sample size if you want--since it's April and we've only played 15 games.)  This team is striking out a lot more than normal--averaging about 8 per game right now, the highest in LaRussa's tenure.  We're close to the group who has nearly as many hits as strikeouts (we have 136 hits to 117 strikeouts).  46 of our 75 runs this year have come by the home run--61 percent.  That is also uncharacteristic of a LaRussa team.  I think the uncharacteristic Ks and reliance on the home run feed into our woeful performance as a team with RISP.  Too many guys are pressing and trying to do too much at the plate, rather than taking a walk.  I liken a baseball team relying on the home run to win to a basketball team relying on the 3 pointer to win--it's great when they're falling or when the ball is flying over the wall, but what do you do when that's not happening?  I'm of the mindset that small ball wins games and is the ultimate difference maker.  The home run is exciting and flashy, but there's a darker side (as we're seeing with the Ks and the ineffectiveness with runners in scoring position).

Some are worried about Albert's increased strike outs so far this year.  I am not.  It's clear he's going through a relative slump right now.  His swing looks a little off.  He'll come around.  15 games is too small of a sample size with him--when you've got nine years of consistency to look at.   I think part of the deal with him is he didn't have as many live at-bats in spring training (due to sitting out with the back problem); he said he usually has around 90 live at-bats in spring training and this year he only had about 60.  That means he was not as practiced and polished as he usually is come Opening Day.  He'll come around.

All in all, things look great right now.  The Cards have won their first five series, which I believe has never happened before.  I'm happy, but there are concerns with this team.