In the event of Rapture all other teams will be Left Behind: the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals

http://i.imgur.com/K3UY2Ax.jpg

may as well kick it off! some things to think about as spring training unfolds:

- is jaime garcia a starting pitcher? he had a freakout yesterday during an interview and managed to say this out loud:

“I’m a starting pitcher. I’m a starting pitcher and I came in prepared for that,” Garcia said Thursday, the mandatory report date for the team’s pitchers and catchers. “I’ve been a starting pitcher my whole career. And obviously what happens is out of my control. I’m coming in this year like I did (five) years ago and made the team in my first full year — as a starting pitcher. Mentally, I’m the same exact guy. I’m coming in, trying to make the team, trying to earn a spot, but I am a starting pitcher.”

- except, carlos martinez is also a starting pitcher. or he should be. they've finally cleared out a spot for him this year, and appear to be pretty serious about giving him a shot. The barves wanted martinez for heyward, but the cardinals refused and gave them miller instead. similarly, the amaro demands martinez in return for cole hamels, and they won't budge there either.

- will marco gonzalez spend time in 2015 as a SP as depth, or will they keep him in the bullpen as a long reliever or another role?

- will piscotty play well enough to supplant grichuk as the 4th/5th outfielder?

- where will heyward, carpenter, and holliday bat in the order?

- is pete fucking kozma going to be on this team AGAIN? ty kelly and dean anna may get a chance to replace him.

- and of course, the health of the starting rotation. wainwright's thrown about 4920249 innings over the past few years, and wacha's shoulder is the subject of thousands of really bad Intermediate Sports Medicine mid-term essays this year.

- maybe i'm overreacting because i haven't seen anyone writing about it, but i'm kind of concerned about the health and lack of depth for position players, too. OF is fine, depth-wise. but an significant injury in the IF or C would really drag the team down. there's no depth at IF/C in the minors.

http://i.imgur.com/kEbV5jZ.jpg

man, Cards acquiring Hamels wd be only way to up the hateability

yr matheny graphic is so good that i won't even mention his book

xp seeing ruben amaro get robbed blind is never not enjoyable though

i haven't been following the hamels situation ultra-closely, but i thought amaro was demanding an exorbitant return for him? i assumed that whoever traded for hamels would be the team that got robbed blind.

well, yeah, thats why no one has taken him. he tried to extort swihart and mookie from the sox and cherington's response was LOL BYE. i kept hoping amaro would get desperate, the desperation would foster stupidity and sox could get hamels with brock holt and some slightly less dope prospects but that didnt happen

maybe now he's for real desperate and cards could finagle a good hamels deal

i'm sure hamels will move at some point this season, but i doubt it will be to the cardinals. getting hamels would require trading some prospects in return, and that's not the cardinals strength right now.the cardinals have had good depth for so long that relatively few people are noticing that they're kind of dry right now (they graduated their top prospects over the last year or two, and they have low minors prospects but it'll be a couple years til they make an impact). if anything, i'd look to the cardinals to make some moves to bolster their mid-to-high minors depth, not take away from it.

i imagine ruben is asking for kaminsky, but i don't think the cards want to do that

- kozma and greg garcia are being given some training as emergency catchers (link)

"I know how to call a game," Kozma said. "I can see all of Yadi's signs. Whenever he makes a mound visit, I'm right there. ... Getting back there and actually doing it, the ball will be a little different than being at the plate or seeing it. I will be able to see a lot more."

this reminds me of the thing where sarah palin could see russia

wainwright's tum tum has a widdle hurtle wurtle

baseball players love when you treat their injuries like a little kid's scraped knee

getting the bad feeling Garcia takes SP5 out of camp, so we can dick around with Martinez being not starter or a reliever or maybe lets stretch him out at Memphis for a month and then wait oh the seasons over n/m.

i have mixed feelings. i really want martinez to be SP5, entire season, and blow everyone out of the water. watching him in middle reliever purgatory for another year would be agonizing.

but on the other hand, martinez has never pitched more than 105 innings in a year. so if what i want happens - martinez gets a real chance and is successful - i'm not sure that the cards would want him pitching 180+ innings. also, if garcia is even in the conversation for SP5 coming out of spring training, that's ultimately a good problem to have. maybe, in the scenario that both garcia and martinez (leaving marco gonzalez out of the equation for now) are performing well, the front office might respond by trading away one of them at the deadline?

i dunno. sadly, i've gotten used to some terrible injury in the starting rotation popping up during spring training, so the problem might solve itself in a manner that disappoints everyone.

i'm sure everyone besides me and bnw will be happy to contemplate this, but i also have the bad feeling that this might be the last chance for the cardinals, at least for the next few years. holliday is 35. peralta is 33. yadi is 32. wainwright is 33. taveras might have been able to carry the weight offensively, but now that he's gone, piscotty and grichuk might be serviceable but they don't excite me. there's some good talent in the low minors but it's going to take a few years, and i'm not sure that the current crew will be able to bridge the gap until then.

don't get me wrong, i think they'll still be good for the next few years. the starting pitching will hopefully continue to be good, with an aging wainwright + wacha, martinez, gonzalez, lynn. but things seem to be trending in a negative direction. hopefully they make this year count!

first lineup of the year. :)

https://mlblogsbucsbits.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/wpid-img_20150305_080621768.jpg?w=227&h=391

Yay! I try to keep bullish on the long term mainly because of Mo and Dewitt. If Heyward has a solid year he'll probably be part of it. I wish there were some creative way to manage the innings load b/c you are right, envisioning 30 starts from either Martinez or Wacha seems nuts.

i was hoping it would be on mlb.tv, but i guess not. although maybe it'll still be on radio? i'm itching for some baseball.

y'know, you guys seem so nice - like the rational, reasonable cards fans - and then this shit happens http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/03/04/st-louis-cardinals-adam-wainwright-jason-heyward/24397651/

http://deadspin.com/moron-usa-today-columnist-thinks-the-cardinals-poop-van-1689616561

lol xp

"Vanilla are our colored sprinkles.''

dammit, i should have waited a few more days to make this thread

both the column and deadspin reaction fit the boring narrative so nightengale wins a brand new poop van

true, it's not like drew magary isn't a pile of canned schtick himself - sub-taibbi piles of adjectives, quarter-smart-at-best profane witticisms, facile/transparent attempts to pretend to be above sports cliches while also steering into every possible skid of bullshit machismo - just another side of the same shitsmeared sportswriter coin

btw do you get decent mileage on a poop van? sounds sustainable tbh

@pgammo
Carlos Martinez FB, CB, great change, worked quickly like Buerhle..."Midseason great " said Marlin exec

can we change the name of the thread to "the cardinal poop van"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_vZsMLWYAAdYYx.jpg

wow, i don't remember seeing those before! What year is that from? '75?

'76 -- i think it was a bicentennial thing? pirates did it too, obviously, not sure who (if anyone) else

yikes.

i was thinking that analyses of stolen bases that focus just on successful attempts and exclude caught stealing are really misleading. the cardinals were near the bottom of the league in successful stolen attempts, so i was hoping that by looking at CS's and SB% they might come out a little better.

nope (sorted by SB%):

http://i.imgur.com/xGS4xvq.jpg

what is the break-even point on SB% where you're doing more harm than good by attempting to steal bases? 66% if I remember? If Matheny's steal sign would have been disabled last year entirely, it would have improved the team.

whooops, that was sorted by net stolen bases. here's the SB% sorted one:

http://i.imgur.com/pJJ28SE.jpg

(either way they come out looking bad)

shit. i just happened to tune in to the game against the marlins, just in time to watch tommy pham dive for a ball and get injured (for the millionth time). feel bad for him.

the 'extremely fragile' tag is often unjustly applied, i think, but tommy pham is extremely fragile. he dived, sure, but there didn't appear to be anything that twisted or hit the ground awkwardly.

:(

ugh, these uniforms

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAUQPI7WwAEIxqc.jpg

i read yesterday that Patrick's color was actually blue, too late to email Manfred.

nice overview of many notable names from the farm (and others that I've never heard of): http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/evaluating-the-prospects-st-louis-cardinals/

so there's no announcement from matheny or anything, but...carlos martinez isn't going to make the rotation, is he. sigh. prediction: garcia will start the season as 5th starter, with martinez in the bullpen as the setup lefty guy (a role they're lacking right now) and marco in AAA. eventually garcia will get injured (or someone else will). martinez won't be stretched out as a SP, so gonzalez will get the nod for SP. in spring training 2016 rumors will fly that maybe THIS year martinez gets a shot at the starting rotation. goddammit.

Well maybe it'll payoff when he's got less miles on his arm down the road. In happier news - Wacha spring 1.76 ERA 16k 1bb

Former Cardinals player punched at St. Louis County gas station after racial slur

Former Cardinals outfielder Curt Ford said Thursday he may move away from the St. Louis area in disgust after being punched in an allegedly unprovoked, race-related attack at a gas station.

"I'm going to let the authorities handle this situation, but I've had enough of St. Louis," Ford said in a phone interview Thursday. "You hear about this kind of stuff happening, and I always knew it existed because of my previous experience working here in St. Louis, but you try to keep away from it and there is just no way you can do that unless you stay inside like a hermit.

bourjos doubled today! now 4-for-33

martinez = fifth starter

gonzales to memphis

on the other hand, pete kozma has made the team

he's out of options.

we are all, sadly, out of options

at least this should the final year for kozma. i'm much more comfortable with his role on the team now, with peralta and wong comfortably in front of him. as long as you just focus on his decent defense and assume that every single one of his plate appearances will end up as a weak groundball to 2B, he's not as much of a let down.

carlos villanueva: swinger

Villanueva has never made more than 16 starts or logged fewer than 33 appearances. With the exception of one season he spent fully in the bullpen, he has also always made at least five starts. That puts him in some extremely rarified air.

When it comes to moving back-and-forth from bullpen to rotation, nobody swings like Carlos Villanueva.

Setting the parameters for what constitutes a swingman is a bit arbitrary, but Ben's initial framework seems solid - 16 or fewer starts and at least 33 appearances. That means we're talking about guys who made at least twice as many appearances in relief as starting. We'll also need some kind of floor to separate guys who were really just relievers who only made a couple of token starts. I'll set the minimum at five starts - the fewest Villanueva has made.

Under those conditions, Carlos Villanueva has qualified as a "swingman" in seven different seasons. No other pitcher since 1920 has met those conditions in more than five. (If you bump the minimum number of starts down to three, Villanueva is still the king, though a couple others come closer with six seasons.)

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uTI1KzogLSeYJn6OQYbbKPkG0b0=/0x1419:3264x3595/730x487/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45626576/usa-today-7849024.0.jpg

Lindbergh w/ Wrath of Khan ref

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-nl-central-preview-cardinals-pirates-cubs-brewers-reds/

the rotation is set:

wainwright
lynn
lackey
wacha
martinez

surprised to see wacha down at #4, considering that he has a good chance of outpitching wainwright this year (that may be overly optimistic, but not by much), but maybe it has to do with managing his IP count?

did the cards have to pay lackey real money or did he honor that injury clause & is only making the league minimum?

league minimum. there's been discussion of paying him more, but only if it's part of an extension deal, and lackey seems to be holding out for free agency.

well at least that means he'll try & pitch well if he still wants to play! regardless of where that might be.

it's dark times indeed where i sort of miss john lackey on the sox :/

i feel bad but i kind of dislike lackey just because of the FACE he makes as he waits for the catcher to give him a sign. it's just this really stupid, open-mouthed bleeeeehhhhh. lance lynn's dopey face is just as bad if not worse, but i guess i've had more time to get used to it.

my evaluations of starting pitchers uses a complex blend of advanced stats and facial analysis.

lol, yea he does look pretty hickish and redassed, which seems like it matches his persona

i mean personally he's a huge douche. see "lackey, john, marital relations, 2011." also see, "chicken and beer," and sadly i don't mean the excellent ludacris album

but maaaaaan he was pretty all right in 2013 and even 14

shoot, i knew about chicken & beer but not about the divorce thing. yikes.

this year i kinda want to take screen shots of every pitcher doing their stupid face as they look at the catcher between pitches and make one really long video montage

would watch

i can understand a pitcher being unhappy when someone behind him makes an error, but lackey's body language is like asshole performance art

Jenifer Langosch @LangoschMLB
#stlcards OF Tommy Pham headed to see Texas physician re: his left quad strain. Three weeks after sustaining injury, he's not feeling right.

:( feel so bad for this guy.

i know it's just spring training, but the cardinals came in dead last in runs scored (by a wide margin, too), and were near the very bottom in HRs, SLG, OPS, pretty much every offensive stat that wasn't weakly grounding out to 2B. they did lead the NL in SBs, but i'm trying to track down how many times they were caught stealing, because that must have set some sort of record.

ah, found it. they led MLB in caught stealing, and ended up with a 67.5% SB%

http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/3/0/0/81074300/cuts/Waino2_t0hmahpz_v01uw182.jpg

i don't think he has the correct number of stars there.

matheny on psychology and wainwright as the opening day starter:

"I don't know if it's a psychological advantage over the opposition, but I think it's a psychological advantage for our club to where that's the guy who is leading our pitching staff."

...definitely

that's why bartolo : is the mets' opening day starter

went ahead and made this in preparation for the season, sure it will come in handy

https://38.media.tumblr.com/e3c19beace710ea2b174ad13a297ff66/tumblr_nmak1xMXK11qdmmiqo1_500.gif

hahahahahaaaaa

great crowd! this game already feels more intense than any game these two have played in several years

https://twitter.com/BestFansStLouis/status/584869281214652418/photo/1

wooooooooooooooooow.

i hope this season is a classic. getting such good vibes (not just from the run in the first inning either, i promise)

all the nl central games feel important this year

def because 3 of its teams have the potential to be great and the brewers could be goodish sustainably and...there are also the reds, they do stuff...

will lester attempt to throw to 1B?

seriously weird he never threw to 1B in all of 2014, i mean how in the

would've really loved if he had and gotten kolten wong, would remind me of a certain other time kolten wong got thrown out at first

but alas

*koltentears*

wainwright has no right to complain about the strike zone at this point

but seriously, it is def just not a thing he does since 2011, seems like he would rather work himself out of jams

which did not really always work! but last year it was kind of a nonissue - until the wild card game.

two runs matted in already

ouch, jon lester coming up in the 8th position in the order, TLR style, with 2 outs and a runner on 3B.

joe maddon...is a genius

cool strike zone tonight

it's...not consistent to say the least

that Heyward trade is already looking good, unsurprisingly

Cubs already giving us gifs, how nice of them

yikes, cubs kind of looking bad news bears out there right now!

yadi has a tiny guy butt now

Phil Coke is on the Cubs now?

I think Schilling just had a stroke trying to explain what's wrong with Martinez's mechanics.

yeah, i watched that with the sound at a very low volume and it sounded insane

i love watching martinez pitch. even when it's nerveracking. his pitches have such movement, you can't look away

At least this is probably the last time I'll listen to the ESPN game crew this season.

yikes, Soler having a rough time tonight.

uh, i though Martinez was going to be starting?!

he is, but he's 5th in the rotation and the cardinals have 3 off-days in the first two weeks of the season, so he probably won't see a start for a while.

ah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdSoFvmoaWI

http://giant.gfycat.com/SpottedWholeJunco.gif

el gallo's change is looking gooooooood, and should be a weapon against lefthanders this year.

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2015/4/8/8351355/carlos-martinez-changeup-st-louis-cardinals-baseball-mlb

that ball almost got raptured

heard that huge douchebag Curt Schilling was ripping on him during the opening night broadcast which makes me like Carlos more and more.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCblC-4UIAAMfi0.jpg:large

yikes

that's bad

fuck

especially because the cubs are going to be dominating from 2016-?? and the pirates won't be far behind

I do think it is a cool retro design, but it is a total F.U. (aka the Cardinal Way).

Hey it's not bragging if you can back it up, I'm sure Cardinal fans will eat it up.

Wait that's real?

it is. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25147303/check-out-the-cardinals-sure-to-be-polarizing-scorecard

I can't even hate. It's beautiful in a way. And it captures the Cardinal sense of superiority in such an exaggerated fashion that in some ways I think the bird is the ugliest stereotype there.

heh, i lamented the scorecard's existence on the cardinals site on suggest ban nation and, shockingly, dozens of people think i'm a thin-skinned idiot. i did learn that the same artist has designed a few of the cards' scorecards though:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qRhjywH_6Vg/S_nIU06j29I/AAAAAAAAANU/bYjPuL6OsSY/s400/2010ScorecardSm.png

(that's supposed to be an astro, in case you're wondering)

so much worse than all that...
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--groksbeG--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1208468283319624008.jpg

wrt to the calendars, i'm glad the cards aren't in the same division as the indians.

Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine tweeted that the Cardinals placed Grichuk on the 15-day disabled list after Saturday's game due to a back injury he reportedly suffered in the weight room on Friday and promoted infielder Dean Anna to take his place on the bench.

i'm glad the cards aren't in the same division as the indians."

I kinda wish the 'central' did include the White Sox, Indians and Tigers.

You mean consolidating the national and American leagues while keeping their three divisions? That would be really interesting!

Yeah...I think the whole AL/NL thing is done anyway. Put the Mets, Phillies in the East with the Yanks, O's etc. That's what TV wants is NY vs. NY and LA vs. LA, make it real.

Make baseball more of a regional sport thing where you don't play every team every year, you play out of your division on a 'strength of schedule' based on prior year performance.

I love the NL/AL thing, honestly. One of the things that attracted to baseball in the first place. But I see how this would be the logical business thing to do.

akin to mlb's continuing inability to solve things like the a's stadium or the nats/o's television thing, i think there are too many interests to be placated for such a change

would travel savings make up for losing lucrative homestands with the yankees/sox? etc

man, carpenter is on fire so far this year. holliday, too. if they could just get all three Matts going at the same time, it would really make my day.

http://i.imgur.com/aODbWkO.gif

Confirming this will flag the post for the attention of the moderators.

http://i.imgur.com/Fn5jPcC.gif

i'll go down in flames with Lackey!!

quite the match-up today Scherzer v Wacha

and a 7-game stretch against the brewers/phillies coming up, could be a good opportunity to build up a little early season lead in the standings.

The brewers are like one of my fantasy teams where I forgot to draft pitching until round 10.

Things were just going too well ;(

@LangoschMLB: Waino to get MRI on Monday. #stlcards aren't speculating, but haven't ruled out possible achilles injury.

Come to St. Louis, Cole Hamels.

I didn't realize marco gonzalez was also on the DL (shoulder tightness) in AAA. Ugh, I hate hearing the words Tyler Lyons, but it might be that time again.

At least Yadi dodged a bullet (?)

Wainwright out for the season :(

Bring on the DH!

wainwright out for 9-12 months, torn left achilles

molina's back in the starting lineup tonight. heyward isn't (although he could probably use a day off anyway so hopefully his absence doesn't indicate anything more serious)

https://twitter.com/OnionSports/status/593064680282824704

lol

so tim cooney gets the start thursday

alright, the philly pitcher is making his debut today and doesn't appear to be very good. former RP who converted to a SP in 2014 with poor results. doing meh in 2015 and now called up.

their maddening tendency to score 3 to 4 runs in every single game ever (or at least it seems to me) is gonna start getting really old once the starters stop dominating.

first all-panamanian battery ever, tho

could be a high point of the phillies' season

2 Matts Matted In, this triggers the rapture!

http://i.imgur.com/K3UY2Ax.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K3UY2Ax.jpg

matheny's decision to bat jay leadoff to 'kickstart the offense' pays off!

this offense is a suddenly roaring lawnmower XL -T that also creates a mediocre starting pitcher to wail on

i appreciate tim cooney wearing 66 as a tribute to mario lemieux

rip

yeah, he looked awful. luckily he's just filling in until Marco Gonzalez is ready to go (i'd assume). lyons may take the next start, though.

if you're gonna top out at 86, your breaking ball and change have to be filthy and your command has to be spot on. Cooney's probably a couple years away.

so awkward when they kept cutting to his mom

Would you guys take Lohse back? You need a starter, the Brewer need prospects, bing.

uh you know, maybe you guys hold onto Lohse for a while...*sprints in opposite direction*

Choate with the 1 pitch day of work

The Cardinals' five current rotation members—Lance Lynn ($7 million), Carlos Martinez ($522,000), Michael Wacha ($520,000), John Lackey ($507,500), and Cooney ($507,500)—cost a collective $9.075 million. Garcia and Wainwright constitute $28.875 million worth of starting pitching on the DL.

do you see how you are

oh man

>_>
playing slightly above .500 rest of the way would probably be enough for playoffs

Yeah, I was just thinking that too. It would be nice if the offense could *click* though. i love how everyone was loving the new look lineup when we were wailing on philadelphia, but as soon as we played a decent team the bats went silent.

we have a 2.21 team era but wahhhh the bats are silent wahhhh

mookie you're acting like your team just lost three heartbreaking games in a row or something

for real though, the pitching has been absurdly good but it can't last for too much longer

(actually the pirates' pitching has been really good too -- they're second in era behind the cardinals, albeit half a run behind -- but they've not taken much advantage. mccutchen should never have cut his hair)

jfc, Matheny is on Fresh Air this morning

Baseball’s Mike Matheny on Coaching Kids and Major Leaguers
The show talks with former major league catcher, and former coach of a youth baseball team Mike Matheny. When he began coaching kids he set up rules for parents that included no screaming, no swearing and even no shouts of encouragement during their kids’ games. He’s written a new book, "The Matheny Manifesto," about his approach to sports. He’s now manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

too bad fresh air isn't a call-in show. it'd be awesome to call in pretending to have question about the rapture or something, but then ambush him with questions about how often he lets his starting pitchers bat in the bottom of the 6th inning with runners on, only to sub in a relief pitcher with one out in the top of the 7th

Our pen has 3 double A guys right now. Feel like one of these Cubs games could see a long man take a beating.

since i enjoy searching for bad news, here is some:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/yadier-molina-forgot-how-to-frame-a-pitch/

Yadier Molina is falling apart. It’s not his hitting, and it’s not his base running. It’s too early in the season to say much that is meaningful about those skills, which can take months of stats to become reliable.

It’s the Cardinals catcher’s defense that’s a mess. Molina’s pitch framing has collapsed, dropping from third-best in 2013 to 60th in 2015.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/a/26250

<_<

http://www.365rundown.com/fan-rushes-the-field-during-cubs-cardinals-game-successfully-runs-past-security-to-touch-home-platevideo/

the cardinals announcers were so sanctimonious about why running on the field is bad, it was ridiculous

Matt Carpenter: 1st Cardinals player with 20 extra-base hits in the team's first 26 games of a season since Stan Musial in 1954.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo)

well at least they can't walk off in pittsburgh

21 (or 22) and 7 is pretty damn hardcore, especially after losing one's #1 starter

I wonder if there is an extra motivation wrt to Taveras.

perhaps for carlos martinez, but no

They are on a roll for sure, although they've benefitted from quite a bit of good luck. Still, the path to at least a wild card is clear, barring a major disaster. This might be their last really good year (anticipating decline / regression soon), so hopefully Mozeliek will be able to make a move for a decent SP without giving away Alex Reyes. Or, even better, maybe Marco Gonzalez will make the most of his opportunity and no trade would be necessary in the first place.

Wow, matheny is stupidly bringing in rosenthal right now, just so he can get the Save. Even though he needs a rest.

RIP allen craig :( (sent down to AAA)

hopefully he'll be able to figure it out, or at least heal up.

srsly take him back idk what the hell happened to him, he's healed now and is now having buchholz-esque confidence battles

is he totally healed? i haven't followed his health closely since the trade. it's baffling, though, he was so consistent before the injury, one of those guys who always seems to make solid contact day in and day out.

yea he had that oft-repeated .400-plus BA with runners in scoring position. and from what everyone's saying officially he is completely healthy

currently .135/.237/.192, -0.4 bWAR. in the 2nd half of last year, .128/.234/.191, -0.5

he needs to be sent to a tropical island for 6 months with no baseball anywhere. how ac gets his groove back.

Still, the path to at least a wild card is clear, barring a major disaster.

Will you shaddap? They will win the division by at least 6 games.

a major disaster is always just a pitch away, you never know!

yea morbs otm 2015 is not the year the red birds' pact with the devil expires.

after that, they are prob in a boat similar to the tigers where the party will still be sort of happening but winding down, conversations between remaining attendees are getting kind of dark - and then the hangovers and/or puking begin

i still think an injury to peralta, carpenter, or molina would accelerate the puking. they've already weathered the loss of wainwright, and if holliday went down they'd be alright (with Jay and Bourjos both playing full-time and grichuk as the 4th OF), but they have zero depth in the IF.

the first two yea, but molina missed 52 games last year and they did alright alternating a.j. pukezynski and tony cruz!

no way, that sucked! i don't know what the stats were for AJ and Cruz during that specific period, but i think they hovered around 0.0 WAR. molina's absence was definitely felt.

skinny yadi isn't having such a hot season this year, either. his contact is decent but his power is gone. and his defense is diminished. he's not a bad defender by any means, of course, but i've noticed more people running on him, and his throws are just off so far, off target, and a bit late.

yikes, AJP was -0.6 WAR on STL last year

i guess what i meant was, it didn't lead to any prolonged losing streaks as far as I can tell from the baseball ref 2014 game log - but yea there is virtually no situation of recent vintage in which AJ is a net positive as a defensive catcher, he either doesn't hurt you or he hurts you. although apparently in ATL he can hit things so far.

yeah, AJ was a nightmare last year. He was doing so badly, and yet everyone was bending over backward to talk about how great he was, and how his "personality" was just what the cardinals needed, someone to toughen everyone up and inject some life into the clubhouse, or something.

side note, but where are all the good young catchers? seems to be an outage across the board in baseball, even in the minor leagues. the cardinals have a bunch of guys who all project to hit wRC+ 75 (note that i'm making this up) with average defense. and even in the draft (which i know nothing about tbh) word on the street is that catching looks to be weak this year, again.

on of them is on the red sox and is recovering from TJ, one is also on the red sox and seemingly overmatched by major league pitching on the offensive and defensive end, ummmm, does sal perez on the royals count at only 25?

i dunno shit about draft prospects either lol

josmil pinto on the twins (26) was highly touted, currently in AAA

it's cool how MLB is trying to hype the draft a little more and make it exciting, but it's really tough to get interested in hundreds of players that no one knows and won't see the big leagues until 2020. unless you're a scout or work in the business or having an abnormal interest in college and high school baseball, it's just pointless. i skim through a dozen draft previews and can never remember a single name afterward.

padres called up austin hedges last week; apparently so good behind the plate that it barely matters if he hits at all (which he may not, much)

cubs have kyle schwarber, who's kind of the opposite; same with rangers' jorge alfaro (does have a cannon, tho)

it's tough -- if a guy can really hit, teams don't want to wear him out by making him catch, e.g. wil myers was a catcher at first. the cubs had schwarber working in the outfield some, but i guess they're so loaded that they'd rather stick him behind the plate

https://mlblogsbensbiz.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/0232.jpg

Haha, where'd you find that? Very useful reference imo

it's on the wall at the spring training complex in palm beach (i'm told)

during last night's broadcast mozeliak said that grichuk was on the plane back to STL, would be here for today's game. and langosch just tweeted that Jaime Garcia is at Busch Stadium as well.

you really needed a Mets fan w/ you at that torture tonight, KM

http://deadspin.com/your-racist-uncle-will-love-this-picture-of-the-cardina-1705776536

well, that sucked

lance lynn is listed as TBD for his start on wednesday. he had back pain during his last start and told reporters it was just normal day-to-day soreness but ugh.
garcia is a timebomb.
marco gonzalez is missing his next start in AAA with renewed pain.
wainwright already down
holliday and heyward have both sat with day-to-day injuries over the last few days (although they're both in the lineup today)
jay is eligible to come off the DL soon, but who knows

dudes are banged up

the underrated one

With almost 200 plate appearances in 2015, Holliday is more than a third of the way to a 10th consecutive season of qualifying for the batting title while delivering a park-adjusted offensive line at least 30 percent better than league average. Since World War II, only 13 other hitters have managed such a streak. Six of them are Hall of Famers: Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Reggie Jackson. Two more are on the verge of induction: Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell. Another two will be elected when eligible: Jim Thome and Albert Pujols. And the final three would be shoo-ins or strong candidates if not for their ties to PEDs: Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, and Alex Rodriguez. That group of 13 hitters includes more than a third of the 500 Home Run Club, and its least prolific power hitter, Piazza, went deep 427 times.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-matt-holliday-st-louis-cardinals/

never touched the plate

he'll be going for pujols' franchise record of 42 straight games reaching base to start the season, tonight

never touched the plate

<3 thank you

good lord, this team and baserunning

i can picture the st louis cardinals team collectively getting lost in tthe halls of heir hotel
just totally confused, running around, weeeeee

where is my room, which room is yours, where is home
weeeeeeee /hardcut to jose oquendo, pissed

good lord, baserunning must really be costing this 30-16 team, which is also 17-5 at home

if only the pirates had been in town; a walk-off would have been tres-exciting

if there were any justice in this world they would be 46-0 right now and the entire NL would just cancel the season

weeeeee

http://i.imgur.com/tp42i3T.png

rip Matt Adams

classic mathenaging going on right now, with holliday, jay, and grichuk starting today. unless heyward is injured (he's not), he's just getting straight-up benched in favor of grichuk.

looks like it's up to mozeliak to resolve the situation since matheny is incapable, again. shades of the allen craig situation last year.

granted, with jay back, it is a difficult situation as all 5 OFs have value. and grichuk has definitely been playing very well. way over his head, but very well.

grichuk is LEADING OFF TODAY

holliday playing, despite sitting for the flu the other day and being removed halfway through last night's game after feeling sick

both bourjos and jay on the bench

http://i.imgur.com/NxjHo7n.gif

i guess matheny had second (only?) thoughts and updated the lineup:

Peter Bourjos, CF
Matt Carpenter, 3B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Randal Grichuk, LF
Yadier Molina, C
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Jason heyward, RF
Pete Kozma, 2B
Carlos Martinez, P

It's gotta be tough being a Cardinals fan.

It's agonizing, I tell you

holliday taking grounders at first!

really hoping that's just as an emergency backup kind of situation, or maybe for late game situations where one of the 4th or 5th outfielders pinch hits, takes over LF to improve the OF defense, and Holliday moves over to 1B to keep his bat in the game. but he has no business playing there for a full game. there's a perception that 1B is a relatively easy position, but i think playing him there for a full game on any sort of regular basis would give away quite a few runs.

i favor a trade for adam lind. he and mark reynolds would actually make for a pretty sweet platoon. and i think lind could be obtained without giving up one of the few standout prospects that the cardinals still have.

yeah. pedro alvarez is a minor disaster at first, even after having once been a serviceable third baseman. (i don't recall a team using a late-game defensive replacement on a first baseman, but he is regularly subbed out for sean rodriguez.)

mark reynolds does kinda look done tho? no power, no cred

yeah. i really hate watching him play. he has the slugger reputation because he somehow manages to hit 20 HRs, but his SLG was .393 in 2013, .392 in 2014, and now .393 again so far in 2015. he's consistent with that, at least!

Does Holliday always argue balls and strikes like that?

not like THAT. i was smdh at that, ugh. he does tend to do a lot of the whiny face whenever he strikes out (so do a majority of the cardinals. it's the worst thing about them imo). there was an article a week or two ago showing that holliday and matt carpenter really HAVE been getting completely screwed by umpires this year, so it's not like they're completely wrong. but although the pitch he struck out on last night wasn't a strike, it wasn't THAT bad, and he looked like a complete douche.

also though, i think whenever joe west is behind the plate the players on any team are more likely to notice shitty calls because that's joe west's thing

tbf, he was the victim of the worst-umpired single at-bat i've seen this season:

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/numlocation_io.php?pitchSel=434538&game=gid_2015_05_02_pitmlb_slnmlb_1/&batterX=50&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=

i remember that one! who was the home plate ump for that game?

I didn't see the game, but apparently West saddled Braun with an even more egregious strike zone earlier in the game? The Cardinals replay kept showing Braun's reaction from the outfield as Holliday was tossed

This tweet is otm though:

Kyle Lobner ‏@BrewFrostyMug 1h1 hour ago
Today I learned: Taking five minutes to leave after an ejection is ok for Matt Holliday, but ~5 extra seconds on a home run trot is not.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/numlocation.php?pitchSel=572788&game=gid_2015_06_02_milmlb_slnmlb_1/&batterX=47&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=

doesn't seem *too* egregious, but as with the liriano at-bat, ppl get pissed when the zone is expanded on both sides, and holliday no doubt thought the second pitch was outside. also that was the only inside strike west called against right-handers the entire game

starting pitching + OBP = slow grind of wins

Jay proves this wrong every year but why MM starts our 5th best OF every day is weird.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGwCFzvWwAAA8q5.jpg
@KyleMcClellan46
Bruce Sutter being a good sport while our team is beating his team #TeamWillieMcGee #CardsFantasyCamp @Cardinals

#TeamWillieMcGee

http://i.imgur.com/VrNmcMc.gif

http://i.imgur.com/lrtpfh0.gif

I might be more sour if Shelby Miller hadn't been pitching well for ATL, but naaaah, I'll always love that guy.

yeah, i'm trying to soak up his presence while i can. even though he's been slumping he's still really fun to watch

lol red sox just drafted matheny's kid as a fourth round pick

god, i hope he becomes the most boastful player ever in like 7 years or whenever (if ever) he makes it to the big leagues and plays the game the most bat-flippingly "wrong way" possible, plz baseball lords grant me this

You got a Tate!

lol from over the monster:

Father Mike requested that St. Louis not draft his son again, though...Matheny is "one of the best all-around outfielders in college baseball" according to MLB.com, and Baseball America rated him 107 on their pre-draft top-500. BA does not see him as an every day center fielder, though, believing that his future is at second base if he wants to start every day, or as a fourth outfielder who can fill in at any of three outfield spots with ease. There is some obvious downside there, but Matheny has some of that Cardinals' blood in him, so this will all look silly in five years when he's a perennial, scrappy all-star because that's just how it works for St. Louis baseball.

is his dad trying to tell us something or did he just not want to pull a doc rivers and coach his heir

Keri:

Opponents are batting just .205 against Cards pitchers with runners in scoring position. That’s 37 points lower than their RISP results a year ago, and 55 points lower than what they’ve allowed with the bases empty this season. With two outs and runners in scoring position, the results have been borderline illegal, with opponents batting just .159/.255/.226 in those spots. Returning to Cluster Luck, we see that the Cardinals have allowed a jaw-dropping 41 fewer runs than you’d expect from a team scattering hits at a league-average rate....

When you throw 65.4 percent of your pitches for strikes, as the Cardinals’ starters have this year, you’re bound to pitch deep into games. And that longevity has enabled the properly rested St. Louis bullpen to flourish. Of course, it has taken a group effort (plus good defense, plus those flashy high-leverage results), but Cards relievers are sporting a stellar 2.03 ERA on the year.

It might be true that it’s better to be lucky than good. But as the Cardinals could tell you, it’s definitely best to be both.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-the-30-white-sox-tigers-twins-cardinals-future/

xpost
2/3/15:

"The answer to your question is no, the Cardinals are not allowed to draft him," the manager said. "It's not fair to him. It really isn't. There would be too much on him and there would always be that little bit of (wonder) that it wasn't all that he did, that it had something to do with me."

matheny ended up softening that a bit though in the last few days, saying he'd be open to the cardinals drafting him. i dunno. the mathenys are really weird.

xpost
i expect the cardinals to regress heavily, especially if matt holliday ends up out for the year. wacha and martinez have been fantastic, but neither one of them should be allowed to throw 180-200 IP this year, so something's bound to go wrong

it's pretty common for teams to draft their coaches'/GM's/ex-players' kids in the late rounds just as a courtesy (like piazza, back in the day). but yeah if the kid is actually good, it has to be awkward -- is he getting promotions/at-bats/chances just because of his dad? etc. and if he's a fourth-rounder i guess he's pretty good.

cuts both ways, i guess -- the braves traded kyle wren shortly after they canned his dad

St. Louis Cardinals ‏@Cardinals 17 minutes ago
#STLCards place OF Matt Holliday (right quad strain) on 15-day DL. RHP Miguel Socolovich recalled from Memphis (AAA) for tonight's game.

phew (?)

@b_hoffman11: Siegrist and Rosenthal combined: 2 2/3 IP 0 R 0 H 0 BB 6 K. Fastballs averaged 97 #STLCards

@DanHirsch
#Cardinals fewest runs allowed through first 61 games:
1944: 167 (WS)
2015: 177
1968: 183 (WS)
1943: 188 (NL)
1942: 190 (WS)

(so fucked up that the tag is actually #STLCards because of fuckin football tho)

St. Louis Cardinals Investigated by F.B.I. for Hacking Astros

stepping up their heel game along w/ the Royals

Wow. I feel even more Pats like.

"Agents soon found that the Astros’ network had been entered from a computer at a home that some Cardinals officials had lived in. "

Durrrr.

ummm more like hand game because y'know they had to type and click, jeez

(xp)

just trying to get a good grip on the baseball, everyone does it

http://i.imgur.com/AuPoM1O.png

@bestfansstlouis is having a field day rn

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHoiowQUMAMfRj5.png

it's all coming together

Best Fans in Benghazi

Omar Infante beheading at 7th-inning stretch

(best context for this is Pete Rose's pregame participation)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHohbguUsAAKL3h.jpg

uh that last post of mine was All-Star

ha, HACKING MASS more like HACKING AST, get it?

heh. high five? c'mon somebody high five

*rimshot*

Investigators believe Cardinals officials, concerned that Mr. Luhnow had taken their idea and proprietary baseball information to the Astros, examined a master list of passwords used by Mr. Luhnow and the other officials who had joined the Astros when they worked for the Cardinals. The Cardinals officials are believed to have used those passwords to gain access to the Astros’ network, law enforcement officials said.

That tactic is often used by cybercriminals, who sell passwords from one breach on the underground market, where others buy them and test them on other websites, including banking and brokerage services. The breach on the Astros would be one of the first known instances of a corporate competitor using the tactic against a rival. It is also, security experts say, just one more reason people are advised not to use the same passwords across different sites and services.

facepalm

i just got home and i'm catching up on all of this. holy shit. i wonder who the executives are? bleeeeegh, this SUCKS.

lawgraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-legal-implications-of-the-cardinals-alleged-hacking

"Where we are right now is we don't know any more than anybody else," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, speaking on behalf of his coaching staff and players. "Right now, we just go about our business and realize this is something that is being dealt with."

Matheny said he was unaware the Cardinals were being investigated until a front-office member pulled him out of the workout room on Tuesday morning to alert him of the coming Times report. Matheny, speaking about 90 minutes after the story was published, had still not read the article.

"You guys are more informed than I am, and once again, I'm fine with that," Matheny said. "I'll get the pertinent information when that time comes and when it's appropriate. Right now, we have to prepare for a baseball game. We don't know how to react at all until we have more information, so we don't. The way to react is to prepare for a baseball game."

just read the goddamn article matheny, it only takes like 3 minutes

I don't know, at least they did it in a classy way.

@keithlaw
The Phillies just offered their passwords to the Red Sox for Mookie Betts

change your password Jeff

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHtlmP_WwAAV5rd.jpg

This whole thing is hilarious and delightful.

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/6/16/8790755/cardinals-fans-reaction-hacking-charges-st-louis-mlb-fbi

Glen Perkins triumphs for Truth and Justice

noooooooooooo

that's just my general reaction to all of this

noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i just hope the assistant to the assistant of the back-up assistant to the scouting director is held accountable

obv i'm a total homer but none of the reporting so far suggests that mozeliak or kantrovitz or correa knew anything about it. i'm probably wrong i guess but the whole operation is so amateurish i just can't believe it. "ok underling, go to your traceable home address, steal some shit, and leak it to deadspin!" evidently very serious baseball people can be completely stupid about the internet (see luhnow, jeff), but i think it's probably a little early to hold the entire organization accountable. and yeah, big shocker, some cardinal fans said stupid shit, but i'm pretty sure you can infiltrate any group of 5 or more people and one of them will be a complete fucking idiot

yep, sports fans p much

it's nice to have something "on" the Model Organization tho

in a way i agree, the cards are the best team/fans are the best fans in baseball shit annoys the hell out of me too; if this can get a good chunk of them to leave forever or just chill out and be quiet for a while, then the whole incident will be a net benefit

but you're going to need them all to pay the Great Grichuk's salary.

tate matheny: 0-for-4, two strikeouts in pro debut for the lowell spinners

of late sox sure do know how to pick dudes who flirt with or reach golden sombreros :/

http://oi60.tinypic.com/15p1vn4.jpg

@Cardinals
CONTEST: To win a 1-year subscription to #CardsMag, name 1 of Pete Kozma’s favorite bands using #KozmaInCardsMag...

lol

i am definitely entering this contest

i see that two possible answers are audioslave and godsmack

jesus christ, pete kozma, come on

were you expecting neutral milk hotel?

i was expecting counting crows or third eye blind

i like the idea of pete kozma wandering through the rock and roll hall of fame on an off day, alone, looking for audioslave gear

morello is a cubs fan, smh

how long has MM been bringing Rosenthal into ties? :)

he actually did it on accident tonight

haha

if there's extras i'm going to bed, leave KMOX on

michael wacha is 24 today

supposedly fired their scouting director over the hacking, which is kind of big

Kemp leads off with a walk, Molina throws him out stealing from his knees.

shamefully i must admit i had CCR's "molina" queued up and was really excited to play it at full volume when that happened

supposedly fired their scouting director over the hacking, which is kind of big

he had just finished overseeing his first draft, too. what a fucking asshole. i'm assuming there will be more to come, too, given the final paragraph of the MLB.com story:

According to the Post-Dispatch, Correa was not responsible for the leak of Astros' data that occurred last summer, nor did he take part in subsequent breaches that the FBI alleges to have occurred.

tommy pham in the starting lineup today, it looks like?

somehow i missed his debut last year, or forgot about it: 6 games, 2 PAs, 0 hits

Charges pending in alleged Cardinals computer intrusion of Astros

Federal investigators have recommended charges be brought against at least one St. Louis Cardinals employee implicated in the probe of an alleged computer intrusion of databases belonging to the Houston Astros, officials briefed on the investigation said Friday.

But it was not immediately clear which employee was to be charged.

please be mark reynolds, pleeeeease be mark reynolds

lol

GAAAHHHHH

fuck fuck fucking Peralta

everything Bob Costas said about Pedro Strop is true.

Bill Murray calls Cardinals fans 'satan's messengers'

The Chicago actor wasn’t finished teasing Cardinals fans at the golf tournament. While walking down a fairway, Murray saw a young boy wearing a Cardinals hat. The young boy asked for an autograph, but the Cubs fan in Murray came out.

“Are you a Cardinals fan? Get out of here. Rotten kid,” Murray said to the kid

And Murray kept walking down the fairway.

This is a lesson learned by Cardinals fans; don’t ask Bill Murray for an autograph.

hahaha

kinda surprised wong has 'only' (still tied for 7th in the NL) been plunked 7 times with the way he's on top of the plate + lifted front foot

He's a little over 5 feet tall so it balances out

Cincinnati fans were hilarious last night. lol yadi on getting booed during the introductions:

"Obviously, when you spend 12 years coming to Cincinnati and you beat them so many times, they're going to boo you," Molina said.

did you see Pujols joining in?

https://t.co/3yoM9Nq6gC

hehe, yeah

it's funny how many people on that tweet thread thought he was being serious!

i'm gonna guess "tweet thread" was not the correct term

Holliday back for Mets series

0-5, 3 double plays for yadi

26 hits 2 runs

metropolitans 24 LOB

cool game last night

looks like piscotty got the call up for tomorrow. he's been playing 1B in memphis for the last two weeks so presumably he'll at least get a shot at it over reynolds. outfield seems impossible to break through, with holliday/heyward/grichuk/jay/bourjos all ahead of him.

AND Tommy Pham.

sheesh, Mo needs to make a move

Piscotty cometh. won't be hard to outhit either corner infield spot at this point.

Pretty brave of them to call up a player named for how children pronounce the word "spaghetti."

craig edwards had a decent write-up earlier today:

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-sabermetrics-analysis/2015/7/21/9007097/Cardinals-prospect-stephen-piscotty-called-up-to-majors-mlb

(weird url, since there's no sabermetrics analysis in the article (unless you count ISO i guess). i'd blame SEO, but are people really searching for "sabermetrics analysis"?)

Matheny has him in LF, batting 9th. -_-

Piscotty, post-game:

"When I was able to get the hit and lay off a couple of pitches low and was really able to see it and attack and be in a good hitter’s count, after that, I was able to see the ball a lot better," Piscotty said.

Piscotty just got scratched from line-up. Hmmmmmmm

just a stiff neck *sadly turns drudge siren off*

was he originally slated to play 1B tonight?

just realized this is a 1-game series against KC. following a 2-game series against the chisox. weird week of games!

yep, looks like he was. bummer! i was looking forward to seeing how he looked at 1B. guess i'll have to wait til...probably tomorrow or something

yeah, I thought it might have been a trade. I've been listening to some sports talk radio and we are close to moving Piscotty and a middle reliever for Stanton or Harper. the only thing stopping us is Mozeliak is dumb.

i was forced to listen to sports talk radio last week (when i was visiting missouri for a short spell) and it was a nightmare

i guess it's not really their fault. i think it's impossible to have a daily sports talk show and not sound like a complete idiot at some point. there's just not enough to talk about

jaime garcia helped peoria no-hit the worst team in the midwest league last night, bet he feels pretty badass

https://38.media.tumblr.com/a24a54b3dc20ed0ff005195defade371/tumblr_ns8cb7VMZL1rrjuxno1_400.gif

brandon moss for rob kaminsky.

as a random commenter just said, it sounds like a deal that Mo would make...from the Indians side.

----------

but actually much more meaningful news this morning is that they just signed a $1 BILLION tv contract, 2018-33

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/07/cardinals-tv-contract-billion.html

...a 15-year television contract that will immediately increase yearly revenue by as much as $20MM beginning in 2018

its good we'll be rich because won't have much depth left.

Mo's track record is pretty strong...but sometimes he does miss ala Justin Masterson

i'd just rather him see no trade to upgrade 1B, rather than this. I'm not sure that Moss will be much of an upgrade over Piscotty or Reynolds at 1B, and even with Holliday out, we have plenty of depth in the OF. just seems like spinning wheels.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/matheny-contracts-can-t-be-ignored-in-setting-bullpen-roles/article_92da9db5-ecb9-591d-9939-e1d2e2762f8a.html

obviously a big part of a manager's job is keeping his players happy, and they do of course have the best record in the game either way, but still

“Guys are compensated for that and for us to turn a blind eye to that is not looking for what’s best for all of our guys,” Matheny said. “Complex answer, but I think it’s a complex question."

i give him some props for saying it. he's certainly not the only manager following that pattern of the closer has to pitch the 9th.

of course by not breaking from it he is just reinforcing the inflated value of closers.

who ARE the arbitrators, anyway? they need to update their valuation methodology STAT

but seriously it's crazy that there's a crew of arbitrators that apparently rely on baseball card stats

27 straight scoreless innings ffs

+9

awww: https://twitter.com/gbrowniepoints/status/631209283758223360

yeah, but just above the frame there's another piece of tape that says "you're not"

http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article/142518376/carlos-martinez-not-yet-on-an-innings-limit

god i hope he doesn't blow out his arm. but it's ok - it's "certainly something we think about"

yadi with a triple AND a SB (3B!) in one game

;_;

pedro alvarez has had a rough couple of games

http://i.imgur.com/1SoQT8O.png

pirates are 3-19 in their last ∞ or whatever at busch

and these have been *good* games for pedro alvarez

Pirates 2.38 ERA at Busch in 2015... 0-5

It is weird both teams have great records and feature a black hole at 1b

Cardinal pitching and cluster luck

Cardinals pitchers have a collective 81.5 percent left-on-base percentage, a rate that hasn’t been seen since — well, ever, actually.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-st-louis-cardinals-cluster-luck/

‏@dgoold 19m minutes ago
If you had the trifecta of Moss-Pham-Piscotty in #Cardinals outfield on Aug. 17, 2015, then please take your ticket to the window. #stlcards

;_;

If I was Bourjos I'd be flipping tables over all over the place

thanks for jinxing us, SI

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CMszZcKWEAAeU0L.jpg

clint hurdle is supposedly reading 'the matheny manifesto'

lol

the NL Central is #blessed

#grit and #god going hand in hand

Moss is batting cleanup. new team motto "can't hit, can't score, who cares"

well, worst case scenario is .500 for the year

you and your bloody worst cases

at least it appears that, should they make it, the Mets will get the West winner in the division series, while the Central battles itself.

it would add a new, professional wrestling-like layer of excitement to the playoffs if the top-seeded team in each league could choose their opponent in the first round

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/812fsONhUZL.jpg

coming in february, from a former mets beat writer

the Cards have lotsa arms and wings for all that embracing

while the Central battles itself.

on a related note: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/on-the-inequity-of-the-2015-nl-wild-card-game/

as the kids say, it is what it is

i just hope there isn't a situation like last year in which the pirates are unlikely to catch the cards but it's still vaguely possible on the final weekend, so they use cole and end up with jeff locke facing arrieta in the wild card game

(the cubs *would* go with arrieta over lester, right, despite the big contract?)

or vice versa -- the cubs could easily pass the pirates

it's going to be a really interesting chase. seems like every time i check the score the pirates/cubs have won AGAIN (and sure it feels the same for you!)

it's darn greedy if ya ask me that 3 NL central teams are all but a lock to take 3 out of 7 postseason spots

^^^^ secret dodger fan

nothing secret about it! they and the mets have always been my NL teams

got no gripe with the bucs either tho

randy flores is yr new scouting director

wow, good ol' randy flores! i didn't even know he was still involved in the organization tbh, not that i follow that side of things too closely

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bIdvTa2nysZFbkVUNXvSJxEoXAI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/4018788/WAR_FROM_PLAYERS_AGE-25_AND_YOUNGER.0.png

heyward, grichuk, wong, piscotty
wacha, martinez, rosenthal, siegrist

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-sabermetrics-analysis/2015/9/1/9237583/cardinals-have-the-most-productive-young-players-in-mlb

padres second oldest fml

or 'lowest', i guess

infinitely better than the tigers!

This team is pretty good. No idea wtf Nats were doing with their bullpen but cool by me.

moss with a BOOMING HR to right!

dan thinks it was the longest HR to right in Busch III's history

454 ft, it seems. man, that was absolutely crushed way into the upper deck. i can't imagine seeing a 480 ft HR in person

giancarlo stanton, somewhere, remains nonplussed

St. Louis Cardinals ‏@Cardinals 14 minutes ago
Current Cardinals Lineup:
Cruz 3B
Piscotty LF
Bourjos CF
Socolovich RHP
Moss 1B
Stanley C
Jay RF
Reynolds 2B
Kozma SS

fun fact from ozzie's inning in the booth in the midst of an otherwise dreadful beatdown: he has a 4 handicap in golf! that's pretty amazing, but if anyone could pick up golf after retirement and get that good, it would be him. i can imagine his dexterity just transferring over to club control

/ozzie fanfic

i'm not ready for the cubs to be good

yeah

oof

their hitting...speed...defense...youth...
oof

i guess i'm not sure of their speed/defense but based on the beatdowns from the last two nights they appear to be there

/ozzie fanfic

I never did link to that series of Matheny-entire-pitching-staff pr0n, but i don't want to soil anybody's browser history.

matt adams!

so grichuk is playing center despite a messed-up shoulder because they 'want his bat in the lineup'

first inning he runs down a rizzo hit in the gap, has to flip to heyward to throw the ball back in

WTF

too bad Bourjos and Jay are both injured...oh wait, they're not! why is Grichuk starting in CF?

seriously, out of all the matheny fuckups, this has to be #1

was he just hoping no one would hit it to him, somehow?

he did hit a homer tho, so his wing can't be THAT bad

players that are above Bourjos in the CF depth chart, according to Mike Matheny

- early season Jon Jay with a bum wrist who can't hit and has a ISO around .050
- randal grichuk (admittedly this turned out reaaaaally well while he was healthy)
- tommy pham
- recent Jon Jay with a bum wrist
- randal grichuk with an arm in a sling

- a cool looking stick that matheny found during a float trip last spring

did bourjos sleep with Matheny's wife or something?

lester scores from second on a hit up the middle because grichuk can't throw

grichuk is showing a lot of grit by toughing it out, and matheny is upping his clubhouse cred by showing faith in him

if they go 12-12 they won't win 100!

Remember when we were skipping starts because it was good for the team long-term...

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/COfNEfJVAAATQjH.mp4

bullet dodged

yeah, piscotty saved matheny's ass today

"Matheny, when asked after the win if he would continue to use a compromised Grichuk in the outfield, said he is "not going to rule it out."

MM is so fearless

recall when TLR did that with Pujols he said if it resulted in Pujols getting re-injured they should fire him.

also, TLR was replacing the immortal Miguel Cairo with 2003-era Pujols so it was at least plausible that Pujols would be able to make it up with his bat, whereas MM is using Grichuk to replace Bourjos/Jay/Pham. in CF. *shakes head*

gonna take a minute to imagine 2003 Pujols at 1b on this team. *dies*

“He was the hottest hitter on our team and we needed him there,” Carpenter said. “The goal in this deal is the same thing it was then: You hope he drives in more than he gives up. It didn’t work out that way (Wednesday) but if we continue it will. That was just bad luck.”

Tailspin. Pitching regresses and offense is terminal. The team looks more like you'd expect given all the injuries. Getting ugly.

but will it matter? do they end up in the WC game and lose it?

still 81% for the division

Getting Holliday and Adams and Grich back would obv help. Cards can't match #1 starters vs either Cubs/pirates so they really need to hold on to 1st.

holliday activated from DL, although he's not in the starting lineup. and Adams is back, and starting at 1B tonight.

we need some of these pirates/cubs games to go 46 innings.

that was maybe my favorite carlos martinez game of the year.

8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, fastball around 98/99 throughout the game and touching 100mph. he hit a legit double off the wall when the rest of the offense couldn't get anything going. he picked someone off. and then that incredible play on the bunt (clip here: https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/643973899202359296/photo/1)

wonder how many homers Pham will have to hit to surpass Jay on the Matheny chart

I'm just listening to the game while I'm working but I must have missed something, why are the Cardinals so mad today?

it seems Dan Haren hit Carpenter w/ a pitch (head?)

but was that before or after this?

http://deadspin.com/lance-lynn-sucks-is-unreasonably-angry-about-it-1731732888

Jesse Rogers
@ESPNChiCubs

Rizzo hit for 2nd time today and P Matt Belisle is ejected. So is Matheny, by rule. Both teams were warned after Holliday HBP

i'm sure that at least one of rizzo's hbps today was on purpose, but the fuckin guy is right on the plate

lance lynn is mad because he's really sucked since late July. he walked 6 guys today. he was right to an extent; the zone was tight:

http://i.imgur.com/GJznVHr.png

so yeah, i count 5 clear strikes thrown by lynn that were called balls, and another 4-5 that were right on the edge. but the zone was tight/wrong for the cubs pitchers too. lynn's just mad because he might not make the playoff rotation.

dan haren hit matt holliday in the head in holliday's second plate appearance since coming off the DL. obviously an accident, though, to anyone watching. i didn't see rizzo's second HBP because i had already ragequit watching the game.

Broxton ankieling

Andrew Simon
‏@AndrewSimonMLB
What a great throw by Jason Heyward there for a huge double play. Statcast tracked it at 95.5 mph. Distance of 242 feet.

heyward threw a 95.5 mph fastball to home from 242 feet?

Holy shit that throw. He even blew up Yadi's glove hand. (yes I know it was the tag)

daily drama: Yadi down, Grichuk in LF, Waino to pen?

it'd be great to have grichuk back in the lineup, assuming he can actually throw now. (he CAN throw now, right? RIGHT??!?!)

i don't know what to think of the wainwright thing. seems foolish to rush him back to action and risk further injury, but maybe he's alright now? matheny should go with his gut and keep waino on the bench until bringing him in for the very last pitch of a playoff series

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-statcast-baserunning-data-ichiro-suzuki/

Bourjos is faster going from 1B to 2B than Billy Hamilton, on average. and Heyward takes some of the longest leads off of 1B in MLB. interesting article! although it's absolutely maddening because Statcast has all of this awesome information collected somewhere, and refuses to make it publicly accessible.

i'm still not sure that this is a good idea. but here's waino, throwing a simulated game:

https://twitter.com/LangoschMLB/status/646781814481137664

@dgoold 11 minutes ago
Seven pitches into his start, Carlos Martinez has been removed from the game, walking with a trainer. Emotional as he leaves. #Cardinals

wtffffffffffffffffffff

it sounds back spasms from twitter. which is lower on the terrible scale

But still,

Nooooooooooooooooo

Anybody but Carlos. He's my favorite.

@LangoschMLB 2 minutes ago
#STLCards announce that Carlos Martinez left the game with right shoulder tightness.

shoulder :((((((((((((((((

9th-inning rally vs K-Rod fails; Bucs 3 back

@Cardinals
"Carlos Martinez suffered a shoulder strain and will be shut down for the remainder of the season."
-John Mozeliak

insane injuries this year. guess the 4 man rotation is set now, smh

Nnnnnnnnngggghhh

No one will give a shit because it's the cardinals but I feel like winning this many games with this many injuries deserves a nobel prize

can't really give them credit for holliday because lol old, but it *is* pretty amazing. presumed right fielder dies, have the pitching depth to deal for a new one (who was probably better, for this one season, but still), #1 pitcher goes down, starting 1B goes down, etc. etc., still the best team in the game

also for overcoming matheny/putting him in situations where his idiocy didn't matter. i kinda think the manager's biggest job is keeping players happy and playing well -- and getting guys saves or whatever may play into that -- but man, starting a center fielder who couldn't throw the ball was the dumbest fucking thing i've ever seen. naturally they won that game anyway

surprised they ran on heyward there in the first, even with marte's speed

jesus.

ugh

Saw a comment earlier today like: baseball gods genuinely curious if cardinals can win with no players left on the field.

Didn't see it, not sure I want to.

they only showed the replay once, from a wide angle. didn't look good at all :(

got a little wave at least

yeah, and lower body also moved apparently (i didn't see it).

Jenifer Langosch ✔ @LangoschMLB
Good news on Piscotty: All tests came back negative for fractures or significant injury. He will be monitored in hospital overnight.
11:34 PM - 28 Sep 2015

PHEW

released from the hospital with 'just bruises'

Jenifer Langosch ‏@LangoschMLB 9 minutes ago
Great news all around on Piscotty's condition. GM Mozeliak: "I think the good news is he probably will play again in the regular season."

doubleheader tomorrow

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/09/cardinals-to-activate-adam-wainwright.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/the-st--louis-cardinals-should-probably-stop-making-rap-videos-203519351.html

pitching Cole in game 1? not cool bros

i'm gonna do myself a favor and not listen that song

really wish i could take the afternoon off and watch these games today.

wacha has really struggled the last month or two. whether it's fatigue or hitters figuring him out or bad luck or whatever, he doesn't really resemble the pitcher from may/june.

and the lyons game is just a crapshoot. hopefully we'll just kind of luck out with one of the games today and get it over with.

doesn't matter. even if the cards lost both today, which i do not expect, they're not going to drop two more games in the standings while finishing vs the barves

if you believe in laundry, the '64 Cards were almost done in by the Mets at the end of the season

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1964-schedule-scores.shtml

xpost
yeah, very unlikely. but baseball's weird

So Wacha seems fried. Go go game 2.

yeah, it's been agonizing watching him the last 2 months. lance lynn, too, for the most part.

waino warming up for bottom of the 8th

tyler fucking lyons because: baseball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=KalbXGkJb_A

dammit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=KalbXGkJb_A

one more try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KalbXGkJb_A

via Bernie:

According to the injury-tracking site ManGamesLost.com, the Cardinals took the biggest hit among the 30 teams, having lost players worth a value of just under 18 Wins Above Replacement to injury time. No other team was all that close to 18 WAR, with Toronto second at 10 WAR lost to injury.
http://www.101sports.com/2015/10/01/how-the-cardinals-captured-the-nl-central/

from BP's Daniel Rathman under headline "Cardinals Clinch; Cardinals Are Doomed?"

If the standings were all that mattered, everything in St. Louis would be peachy. The Cardinals have clinched the division for the third year in a row, they’re the first team in the majors to reach 100 wins, and home-field advantage through the NL playoffs is theirs. Nothing anyone does over the weekend can take any of that away.

But given the competition, starting pitching is likely to rule the day in October. And the Cardinals, who turned out to have the deepest group of reliable starters in the senior circuit from April through August, might have the shallowest when it matters most.

yeah, that's about right. i can't imagine being less confident in a team that is going to finish with 100+ wins. but i've always been predicting doom all year, and somehow they keep on choogling. so i guess i'll prop up the feet, have a beer, be happy if they somehow progress but if they don't be satisfied that they made it as far as they have.

(and find new ways to criticize matheny, regardless of outcome)

baseball needs a version of hockey's president's trophy (best regular-season record) imo

obviously it wouldn't really mean anything, but with the playoffs having ever less to do with the preceding six months there ought to be some sort of recognition of the year's actual best team

alex fritz ‏@boxcar_fritz 1 hour ago
historic weekend: Kozma trys to be the 29th player in MLB history w/ more than 100 PAs & 0 extra base hits #stlcards

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQPhV-vUkAAfWH_.jpg:large

will matheny continuing benching Kozma (at 103 PAs) to preserve his place in history? or will kozma show 1941 Ted Williams-esque courage and demand to play (and not get a XBH because he doesn't know how)??

there's a strong chance kozma won't make the postseason roster (assuming greg garcia gets it instead), so i shouldn't make too much fun of the ol' kozster

Grover Land is a p good name

baseball needs a version of hockey's president's trophy (best regular-season record) imo

by the analytics (Pythag, B-R's Simple Rating), that'd be the Blue Jays

no

nor are we giving the 1960 world series to the yankees because they outscored the pirates 55-27

at a certain point lines must be drawn, and 'game' and 'season' are good places for them

why play the season at all when we can just go by pre-season metrics?

congratulations, 2016 washington nationals!

2015 nats, i meant

oh u guyz
162g is a fine sample

there should just be an awards ballot for best team

we should just make it an e-sport and watch algorithms process random samples of data. so hot!

http://i.imgur.com/Iwp0h1n.jpg
"i love baseball!!"

(i joek but ^that^ is pretty much how i enjoy baseball)

we should have a playoff Strat-O-Matic fap

weird we could get a roster sans Jay and Adams.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens. I think Jay will make it because he's a Matheny guy with a contract. I could maaaaybe see him deserving a bench role, but I have the sinking feeling that Jay will be starting instead of Pham (I'd prefer Grichuk over both but if he can't throw 100% he shouldn't be out there)

But cardinals seem to be signalling that Heyward will be starting in CF, so who knows

after watching or listening to nearly all the games this year, i am going to completely miss the cubs/pirates WC game today, and then miss the first 2 games of the NLDS as i'll be out in the woods sans internet. siiiiigh

jaded winner

I fully expect to emerge from the wilderness to learn that the cardinals have lost the first two games of the NLDS, 6-1 and 3-0, with that Grichuk is starting in CF and has been kicking the ball back into the infield because he's not able to raise his arm above his shoulder

grizzled Lackey Game 1 Starter

i'm not sure it makes too much of a difference (as long as lackey/garcia are 1 or 2 and lynn/wacha are 3 or 4), but you would think they'd wait until after the game tonight to decide so they know who they're playing, which rotation alignment would match up best against either the cubs or pirates.

i wasn't too optimistic about this playoff run even a month ago, but when martinez went down i kind of lost all hope. it would so useful to have one more guy with the upside to completely dominate a game.

pshaw, one more guy. isn't cardinals devil magic equivalent to like 3 more guys

Perhaps this season is the Cardinals' New Jersey.

don't make light of our devil magic. this is a very difficult time of the year for cardinal fans. so many ritual sacrifices, preparing of the she-goat for evil ceremonies, smearing blood in upside-down cross formations all over forgotten cellars. it gets exhausting after a while.

but whatever it takes to get lance lynn through to the 5th inning with fewer than 4 walks and 95 pitches, somehow. it's worth it

http://cdn.patch.com/users/22068930/2014/06/T800x600/60ecf348a94290afd09ad1915df8e6a4.jpg

cardinals need to end their 4 year long world series drought so their poor fanbase can find solace

i think you are going to sleep ten years in your cabin and discover theyve been raptured

how about some good news

Impending free-agent Jason Heyward on possibly coming back to #STLCards: "This is definitely an ideal situation."

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) October 14, 2015

33 years ago today i became a willie mcgee fan 4 lyfe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gnEZ8NFI-E

plus two homers, nbd

can't wait until Grich hits 25 homers next year and we all reminisce about the time MM pinch hit Greg Garcia for him... in a playoff elimination game.

he started grichuk so he could get that great defense in CF from his broken arm, and then pinch hit with garcia. i've been suppressing all memories of the NLDS but that one does stick out. did anyone conduct the customary post-elimination "wtf were you thinking?" interview with Matheny this year?

St. Louis Cardinals ‏@Cardinals 18m18 minutes ago
Yadier Molina with have surgery on his thumb today. Will be without baseball activity for 8-12 weeks. Should be ready for Spring Training.

still couldn't bat him 8th without a thumb b/c *feelings*

i do remember Cosell intoning "wil-LIE muh-GEE."

alex reyes, 50-game suspension for w33d

mlb got no chill. bank some innings for him.