The Last of the Killer B’s

Maybe it was the barrage of the number 12 yesterday or the realization that the Houston Astros will never again be competing for a National League Central title, but I found myself feeling nostalgic the common thread that was shared between these teams, Lance Berkman.  Berkman leaves the Cardinals after spending an extremely short period of time here, and yet still it is difficult for me to think of him as anything other than an amazing player.  Could there be any higher praise from someone who spent most of his formative years wishing that Berkman would just take the day off?

Berkman spent parts of 12 seasons with the Houston Astros after being drafted in the first round in 1997.  During that time, he batted .296 and was the center of an offense that was good enough to meet the Cardinals twice in the NLCS in 2004 and 2005, series that went 7 and 6 games and ended with each team winning one pennant.  During his tenure with the Astros, he basically played an entire season against the Cardinals.  In 154 games, Berkman batted .313/.415/.601 with 39 HR’s and 118 RBI’s.  Only the Reds allowed more Berkman HR’s and RBI’s (although it was in 20 more games and in games that over the course of his career meant much less to any playoff races).  And then there was the postseason where Berkman hit .292 with 3 HR’s and 9 RBI’s over 7 games in 2004 as well as .286 with another HR and 3 RBI’s in 6 games in 2005 against the Cardinals.

With all of this destruction left in his wake, I still found myself respecting the hell out of Lance Berkman as an Astro, making the transition much easier when he signed with the Cardinals.  I know that this last season was a rough one for the Big Puma, but the truth is that his legacy as a Cardinal had already been written.  His 2011 season was enough to make me forget all of those homeruns he hit against the Cardinals for so many years in Houston.  He provided the perfect combination of veteran leadership and offensive prowess that the Cardinals desperately needed in order to make it into the playoffs that season.

And then there were the playoffs.  I know that 2011 will go down as the year of David Freese and rightfully so.  Freese had an amazing postseason, but while Freese was getting the headlines and highlight-worthy moments, Berkman was the man behind the scenes, allowing the younger Freese the opportunity to succeed.  Look no further than Game 6 of the World Series.  Everyone remembers the triple and the walk off homerun by David Freese, but it would be purely neglectful to skip over Berkman’s 3 for 5 night including 3 RBI’s and 4 runs scored.  In that game, Berkman had 3 RBIs with two outs, (one more than Freese had) including the most exciting single I have ever seen in the 10^th inning to retie the game after Josh Hamilton all but ripped the breath out of every pair of lungs in Busch Stadium.  I remember not being able to sleep after that game, and I still find chills run down my spine whenever I watch the highlights or even think of the game.  It really was the most exciting and amazing moment in Cardinals’ history, and the man in the middle of all of it was the same man who only a few short years earlier had been destroying the Cardinals at every turn for their biggest rivals. 

Berkman not only was amazing on the field, but he brought a sense of humor and looseness to the team that was so often lacking under Tony LaRussa.  Who could forget the post-game interviews after Game 6 when Freese brought up Jim Edmonds’ homerun to win a game in the 2004 NLCS, only to have Berkman add in his self-depreciating humor to remind everyone that he had been at that game too, on the losing side.  Since Berkman’s joining of the Cardinals, we have seen ugly sweater days and an interview with LaRussa after an NLCS game where he referred to a fictional Tortie and a Squirrel in the same sentence (and no, hell did not freeze over).   

Berkman’s career has had some bumps in it, mostly due to injuries, but we will always remember the extremely high level he performed at for so many years.  My lasting view of Berkman will not be him going down with a knee injury or any of the numerous big hits he had as an Astro to break my heart as a teenager.  The memory that I will always hold onto for the Big Puma is going to come from him after the last out of the 2011 World Series.  I can still see the bearded Berkman raising a stunned LaRussa into the air with an embrace strong enough to break ribs and the words “Can you believe it?”  I couldn’t at the time, and I still can’t believe it.  Lance Berkman, the last of the Killer B’s, a Cardinal forever. 

The Drive

Sam Bradford has not had too many defining moments in his career so far.  In fact, he has probably had more moments he would rather forget than moments  he would like to hold onto.  Against the Buffalo Bills, he had one to hold onto, and it was amazing to witness.  Coming into this season, Sam Bradford had put together exactly 1 game winning drive coming against the Cleveland Browns last season according to pro-football-reference.com.  This season, Bradford has already engineered three of these game winning drives including today’s and another drive in San Francisco to score a touchdown and put the Rams ahead before the 49ers answered with a field goal and forced overtime.

In his first game winning drive, Bradford threw only one pass for 7 yards and benefited from a Browns’ special team fumble before Josh Brown converted a 34 yard field goal.  Hardly the type of drive to be impressed by, but it was a start.  This season, Bradford has engineered an 80 yard drive against the Redskins although most of the drive was completed in the third quarter without the pressure of the clock winding down.  Then there was the drive in the first 49ers game where Bradford drove the Rams 81 yards for a touchdown with 1:13 left in the 4^th quarter which relied on a 19 yard completion from punter John Hekker and only 50 yards passing by Bradford.  Although this game obviously didn’t end up in a win, it could be seen as the start of things to come.

Against the Bills today, Bradford graduated to quarterback of a full blown clutch drive to win the game.  When the Rams received the ball on their own 16 yard line, Sam Bradford had only 141 yards passing in the game before that time, not exactly the type of performance which seemed indicative of what came next.  Sam Bradford drove the team 84 yards while throwing for 68 yards on 5-of-8 passing including 2 3^rd down conversions and a 4^th down conversion before Bradford threw an 11 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson which ended up being the winning score.  During the drive, Bradford threw to 5 different receivers and benefitted from an amazing catch by Chris Givens to convert the 4^th and 1 play, but he showed more than enough poise and ability to be impressive. 

Sam Bradford still has a long way to go before he will be compared to Joe Montana, but we have been watching the evolution of a quarterback who could be able to be counted on at the end of a close game.  There are going to be many more opportunities for Bradford to grow and expand his talents if the Rams are going to continue to win games.  It is exciting to see a young and talented player grow, and who knows, if his offensive line could hold things together (and Rodger Saffold could manage to be carted off the field less than two times a quarter), this team could actually go somewhere.  It should at least be exciting to  watch.

Post Mourning 2012 Cardinals Wrap Up

I know this is pathetically late analysis, but in order to avoid little more than a long string of expletives being my thoughts, I felt it was appropriate to wait a little while before writing about the end of the 2012 Cardinals’ season.  In the time since, I hope that I have gained greater piece of mind and perspective compared to the hatred I was feeling for Pete Kozma after breaking the wrong way on a groundball up the middle.  Yes, it was a painful end to a frustrating season, but I guess that was how 2012 was destined to end for this team.

The more I look back at this season, the more I wonder if this team actually over performed, although this does not make the final result any less difficult to swallow.  When you really look at it, the 2012 Cardinals made it within one game of the World Series with a starting rotation that was anchored by Kyle Lohse who had a solid season, but as we saw during the playoffs last season, he does not possess the type of swing and miss stuff to consistently get good hitters out the second and third time through the lineup.  They were also relying on Lance Lynn whose Nuke LaLoosh like million dollar arm comes with a ten cent head that gets in the way all too often.  On top of this, the team needed their co-aces to perform even though Chris Carpenter’s arm was only recently cut into in order to remove a rib, and Adam Wainwright was well beyond the recommended number of innings for a pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery and looked like it at times.  They had already lost Jamie Garcia for the postseason with a shoulder injury, and they were reliant on a shortstop which had never had significant Major League playing time.

Even though all these factors seemed stacked against this team, the Cardinals had a chance to advance to the World Series and even looked destined to do so after taking a 3 games to 1 lead in the series.  And then it was time for Game 5.  I remember being almost giddy with excitement as I watched Lance Lynn blowing Giants hitters away with a dominant fastball and wondering just how good this guy could be.  He seemed confident and ready to take the next step forward as a pitcher capable of rising to the occasion of a big game.  On top of this, the Cardinals seemed ready to break through against Barry Zito in these early innings.  I mean, just how many times can the Cardinals get runners in scoring position and not score right?  The answer, unfortunately, was answered far too many times over the next three games as Barry Zito’s 84 mph fastball was made to look like it was 98.  Unfortunately, this was the closest the Cardinals would come for the rest of the season.

While a finger could be directed in any direction when trying to assign blame for the collapse of the Cardinals, there were a couple issues that seemed particularly glaring.  After a few clutch performances in the NLDS, it became evident that Pete Kozma was in completely over his head.  His defense was shaky, and his offensive approach left me wanting to tear my hair out as he seemed to be swinging for a homerun in situations with a runner on third base and less than two outs.  Then there was Matt Holliday who hit only .200 in the World Series with 2 RBI’s.  As the veteran leader and third batter, this was completely unacceptable.

And then there was Mike Matheny’s management of the bullpen.  In Game 7, Matheny found himself in a pretty difficult spot.  In the 3^rd inning, the game was in danger of being lost and it eventually was.  There was one move in particular that had me screaming, though.  Matheny had found a combination that worked for him.  I really can’t blame him for that.  His go to move was to bring in Joe Kelly first and then go with Rosenthal to fill the innings before eventually getting to his Mujica, Boggs, and Motte.  This combination had been shown to work, but Matheny cannot be inflexible in a Game 7 of the NLCS. 

When the Cardinal’s manager took out Lohse, the bases were loaded with 0 outs and the Cardinals already down by 2 runs.  In this situation, the Cardinals were desperate.  Any more runs allowed could turn out to be disastrous, and eventually it sealed the fate of the 2012 Cardinal season.  It does not take an inspired baseball mind to recognize that in this situation, the Cardinals needed at least one strikeout, and luckily for Matheny, he had a pitcher in his bullpen who would end up striking out 15 batters in 8.2 playoff innings including 4 strikeouts in two innings in this game.  Of course, this guy was Trevor Rosenthal, and of course, he was not the pitcher that Matheny elected to go with.  Instead, Joe Kelly was brought in, and the rest is history.

As with any team that loses a series that it was up 3 games to 1 in, there is definitely enough blame to go around.  We can only hope that this team can learn some things from the experience and improve in the future, especially the relatively inexperienced manager who will be trusted to make these types of decisions going forward.  The Cardinal front office has hopefully realized that it needs a more experienced and capable shortstop if they are going to make deep playoff runs whether that is Furcal or someone else.  And hopefully, the Cardinals offensive players can learn how to be consistent as opposed to the boom or bust unit that the Cardinals have seen far too much of this season.  2012 was an exciting year for the St. Louis Cardinals, and even though it ended in frustration, it was one heck of a ride.

Brand New Rams?

The San Francisco 49ers are among the best teams in the National Football League.  They were one win away from making it to the Super Bowl just last season, and they were more than one expert’s choice to make a similar run this season.  The 49ers have a defense that dominates and the type of power running game that should have been able to churn out yards against the 2^nd worst team in the league last season against the run.  After tying the Rams earlier in the season, the 49ers were coming into St. Louis motivated for revenge and ready to play.  They had just promoted their dynamic new quarterback, Colin Kaepernick who had already beaten the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints.  There was no reason to believe that these Rams, the same team that lost to both the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets this season, should have any chance at beating the vaunted 49ers right?

Recent Rams teams would have not only lost this game, they would have been lucky to make it close.  But something is different about these Rams.  Yes, you could say this is a new team because they won the game, but it goes deeper than that.  The Rams won a close game down the stretch by making clutch plays against a team that is much better seasoned to win games like these.  The Rams defense was able to put points on the board when the offense could not, and instead of shooting themselves in the foot with bad penalties and consistent lapses in concentration, St. Louis actually had fewer penalties than the 49ers.

            

This is not the first time Rams fans have been teased by this team, however.  We have seen them finish at 7-9 in 2010, which was sadly enough for optimism, only to watch the Rams earn the second pick in the 2012 NFL draft.  I guess there is no way to know this for sure, but could this be a sign of actual change for this team?  I think it could be, and the reason behind this is Jeff Fisher.  With all due respect to Steve Spagnuolo and the rest of the coaches the Rams have had over the past few years, it feels good to have a legitimate NFL head coach for a change.

          

Just look at how Jeff Fisher has taken control of this team.  Perhaps the best examples of this is the two players that he benched for the first game the Rams played the 49ers.  The troubled Janoris Jenkins was sat down for a game and since he has scored 3 touch downs in the last two games.  That’s pretty impressive considering he plays on the defensive side of the football.  Then there is the Rams wide receiver, Chris Givens who has had 20 receptions in three games since being sat down by Fisher.  These may be chalked up to pure coincidence, or it could be signs of two young and extremely talented players buying into a coach’s system that has been proven to work in the past.

            

There have been a few grumblings about even making a run at a .500 or better record this season and even the possibility of a wild card berth.  I don’t think the playoffs are in the cards for this season’s Rams team, but to be honest, they don’t have to be.  As a Rams fan, I am simply looking for signs pointing to improvement which there have been multiple so far this season not the least of which came with the 49ers games.

The past few seasons, I have found myself rooting for the Rams to lose so that the team could fall into a better draft pick.  There was hope that the Rams could continue to get more talented players in hopes that this would solve all of the team’s problems, but there are only so many top draft picks a team can get before they need to produce.  After a while the team becomes little more than a collection of talent that has no idea of how to play together and win games.  In a game like football, talent only gets you so far as we have seen for a the past few years (although some of the draft decisions have left us wondering just how great the talent truly is).  This season has meant something else for these Rams.  This is the season that they start to build a winning culture, not just put another talented name on a roster.  In this case, change is so sweet.

Joy, Frustration, and One Win Away…

If I were to draw up how this series should go for the Cardinals to win the World Series, I would say that they needed to win one game in San Francisco, two in St. Louis, and then finish the series off on the road again in San Francisco.  The Cardinals have followed this script almost to perfection, and in doing that they have beaten the likes of Madison Bungarner and Matt Cain already to get to their three wins.  The problem is that guys like Barry Zito have given this Cardinal line-up fits, and pitchers like Lance Lynn have looked completely unhittable for three innings before completely falling apart.

Before the 5^th game of the series in St. Louis, feelings of excitement could not have been any higher.  This team was on a roll, and the Giants were sending a pitcher to the mound that had been beaten up by the Cardinals in the past and had been a pretty substantial disappointment ever since signing an enormous contract to go play in San Francisco.  The Cardinals were at home and ready to end the series there, but that was simply not to be. 

For a team that is only one win away from the World Series and an offense that has put up some big games in the postseason, this team is about as frustrating as could be imagined.  When I talk to my non Cardinal fan friends, they all roll their eyes when I act this frustrated about a team that is one win away from back to back World Series berths, but I do not think that there is a Cardinals fan out there who would not at least on some level agree with my frustrations.  For one, they came out flat in Game 5… How in the hell is a team one win away from the World Series and considered to be a veteran team with postseason experience give away a game like that when they know that they will now have to win the final game of the series on the road? 

Barry Zito was not throwing above mid-80’s all game.  I am not saying that this makes him easy to hit.  I am not going to suggest that velocity means that much.  There have been plenty of soft tossing left handed pitchers who have had a lot of success, but those pitchers usually flip in a bunch of curveballs and changeups to get outs, Barry Zito seemed to strike out Cardinal hitters with high fastballs, and at 85 miles per hour, there is no excuse to be late on the pitch.  In the first couple innings, the Cardinals seemed to be only moments away from exploding for a bunch of runs.  They had runners on second and third with no outs in the inning and were unable to come through with any runs.  This is almost difficult to do against a pitcher who struck out only 5 and a half batters per 9 innings this season.  That is Jake Westbrook territory, a guy who is definitely better known for getting ground ball outs than getting big strikeouts.  Of course Zito was able to throw a high fastball by Descalso and escape with a double play ball.  The rest is history.

I suppose we should not be too surprised by this Cardinal team.  It is not because they lack the talent or ability to put this team away, and it is not because they will somehow be unable to close out the series.  We have seen this team successfully close out 4 series in a row at this point in the postseason, so with a one game lead and Carpenter on the mound, I still have faith.  The reason that we should not be surprised that the Cardinals did not finish this series at home in Game 5 is because that just isn’t how they do things.  This team is like Felix Baumgartner, the guy who jumped from space and broke the speed of sound.  What does he do next to get that same adrenaline high?  After being down to a final strike in an elimination game in the World Series twice, winning a Game 5 in St. Louis just does not seem to get their heart pumping enough to qualify it as enough of a high.  They need to get a little adversity built up and have a few people count them out before they can win the game in dramatic fashion.  This is why watching this team is so frustrating; it is like we are just waiting for their parachute to fail because we know that the law of averages says that at some point, it has to.

The Cardinals will be going back to San Francisco with the goal of winning only one out of two games there, but this goal may seem a little too simplified for this team.  They are going to need to win Game 6 or face Matt Cain in Game 7 on the road with all the momentum having shifted over to the Giants.  I would say that this would be too much even for this Cardinals team, but I would have said just about the same thing for the Cardinals when they faced the Nationals in the NLDS.  I guess, I am hoping for a series clinching win tonight more to ease my nerves and indigestion than because I do not think they can win in Game 7.  I just hope I do not have to watch another game while waiting for the parachute to not open.

And now that we know we are hoping for a rematch of the 2006 World Series, we also know that it could be possible that the Cardinals are fighting just to be able to lose to Justin Verlander three times in the World Series.  I do have one suggestion for this team going forward though.  There has been talk about Lance Lynn being removed from the Cardinals rotation if they made it to the World Series, and the logical choice would be to bring back Jake Westbrook to pitch if his oblique muscle strain has improved.  My thought is a little more unorthodox, but it could work perfectly for a home game against the Tigers if they were to get that far.

My suggestion is to start Lance Lynn just like normal.  Let him go his three innings if he is able to get that far, but have Joe Kelly ready at a moment’s notice.  The goal would be to keep Lynn in the game long enough to bat once if the Cardinals are able to get a few hits early in the game, but if he would not bat until the third inning, the Cardinals should pinch hit for him regardless of how well he is throwing.  This would essentially make the Cardinal’s lineup into an American League lineup without the pitcher’s spot while taking advantage of the depth they have of pitchers who can go multiple innings and can also be ready in relief.

After Kelly is brought in, preferably in the 4^th inning, the Cardinals would be all but set up for the rest of the game.  If Kelly could throw the 4^th and 5^th innings, then they could pinch hit for him when his spot came up before putting in Rosenthal who would be trusted for two more innings at which point Matheny could go directly to Mujica, Boggs, and Motte if they were ahead or close.  The drawback to this plan is that if the game were to go into extra innings, they would have burned most of their bullpen, but the Cardinals still have a starter in the pen in Shelby Miller who could be counted on to be the long man.  Another drawback to this plan would be the potential loss of Kelly and Rosenthal for the next game which would make this plan more realistic if it were to take place either before a travel day or perhaps in the game before Lohse or Wianwright were to start and could be leaned on to throw 6 or 7 innings without the backup of the Cardinal’s two starters turned long men in the bullpen.

This is basically the strategy that La Russa used last season to win the World Series.  He went to the bullpen early and often to mix and match with hitters in a way that would be most effective, and it could be argued that this season’s bullpen is even better set up for that type of usage.  The only issue with it is the complete lack of a left handed reliever with enough ability and credibility to be leaned on in a late game situation.  I know, I know.  I am getting ahead of myself.  As far as the Giant’s series goes, the Cardinals are still one game away from being able to look at strategy against the AL champ.  I still remember the 1996 Cardinals who could not put away the Atlanta Braves after taking a 3 games to 1 lead, and I would rather not see the second Cardinal team to do that during this season.  Hopefully, tonight the Cardinals can do things the non-dramatic way and score some early runs and hope Carpenter can pitch his way into the 6^th inning.

Lessons From San Francisco

We are now two games into this playoff series and nothing is set about which team will separate them enough to make it to the World Series.  The Cardinals have met their match in this Giants team.  The Cardinals biggest advantages during the first series was their experience and belief that all things are possible and that they could come back from any deficit that may be thrown their way by the Nationals who were largely inexperienced.  The Giants have their own past history of success.  Like the Cardinals, they have won a World Series in the past few years and feature a roster that is full of the type of talented and experienced players that the Cardinals rode to get to the NLCS.  Like the Cardinals, the Giants are coming off of their own miraculous comeback in which they had to win 3 games on the road against one of the best teams in the National League.  It has only been 2 games so far, but the lessons we have learned in those 2 games may very well be played out over the course of a long and competitive 7 game series.

Lesson 1: Carlos Beltran is unbelievable in the postseason.  You can count me as one of the people who thought that Beltran was just about all washed up.  He was slowing down quickly at the end of the season offensively, and it was looking more and more like those balky knees of his may not allow him to catch a fly ball or make it around the bases in one piece.  I was sure that the high work load early in the season had all but doomed the old man to the same mediocrity that we had seen at the end of the season.  Who knew that Carlos Beltran would start to hit like it was 2004?  I just hope that he can get enough hits to balance out the futility of those around him.

Lesson 2:  While Beltran, Freese, and occasionally Allan Craig are hitting, there are just too many holes in the Cardinals lineup right now.  John Jay, Yadier Molina, and Pete Kozma are all hitting below .200 during these playoffs, and Matt Holliday is hitting all of .250 in the third spot in the order.  There are just too many spots in the Cardinals order where hitting streaks will have a tough time of continuing, and that leads to the enormous amounts of stranded runners that they have had during this postseason.  The Giants will not walk the bases loaded and give the Cardinals runs like the Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals did regularly.

Lesson 3:  If the Cardinals are going to win this series, much like last year, they are going to need to rely heavily on their young bullpen.  While Cardinal starters like Chris Carpenter are inspirational, to hope for more than a solid 5 innings out of Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, or Lance Lynn would not be realistic or responsible.  If the Cardinals are going to win, they are going to need a consistent 4 innings out of a bullpen that is populated mostly with extremely young pitchers.  It has no consistently effective left handed reliever, but this relief corps that has been patched together, seems capable of some pretty impressive things.  We will just have to hope that these impressive things include another trip to the World Series.

Lesson 4:  Matt Holliday looks lost.  While there are plenty of times when I feel like I want to completely bash the guy, something about him makes this impossible.  Matt Holliday has given nothing but his all every day since he has become a Cardinal.  He may have frustrating moments where he cannot perform with runners in scoring position, but the way he took out the Giant’s second baseman Marco Scutaro shows that he is trying almost too hard.  He looks even more lost at the plate than he does on the base paths.  He seems to either flail away at curveballs in the dirt or take fastballs over the plate because he almost seems to be trying to work a pitcher for a walk.  This combination of over aggression and over patience is just not going give them the type of production that this team is desperately needing out of its third hitter.

Lesson 5:  This series very well may come down to Kyle Lohse vs. Matt Cain.  These two right handers very possibly could match up both in game 3 and game 7 of this series if it gets that far.  If the Cardinals could win the third game of the series, they will have a good chance to at least head back to San Francisco needing only a win to take the series, and a potential Game 7 needs no extra hype or stated importance.  Luckily for the Cardinals, Kyle Lohse has been the most consistent and steady pitcher, and if there is a man this team could at least stay with the guy who threw a perfect game this season, it would be Kyle Lohse.

There will be quite a few new lessons to be learned over the course of this series.  Will this series get ugly as so many Cardinals vs. Giants playoff series in the past seem to have after Matt Holliday’s aggressive slide?  Whose postseason magic will run out first?  Which of the game’s best catchers will have a bigger impact, Yadier Molina or Buster Posey?  Will the Giant’s pitching staff filled with former pitching stars turned 5^th starters such as Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito be able to channel their old selves enough to lift the Giants to the World Series?  We will learn the answers to these questions and more, and the answers will start to come tomorrow…

Déjà Vu and What’s Next?

I thought that by waiting a full day and a half before writing about Game 5 of the National League Division Series, I would be able to write about it without feeling like my heart was going to explode.  I am only a man in my mid 20’s, but still I feel like each game is pushing me closer and closer to some sort of myocardial infarction.  How do elderly fans or people with preexisting heart conditions watch this team play?

All joking aside, this was the most exciting, frustrating, and amazing games I have ever seen.  It brought flashbacks to Game 6 of the 2012 World Series.  I remember telling anyone who would listen that the Cardinals and the Rangers played the best and most exciting game I had ever seen.  Watching this last game against the Nationals made me realize a few things about that Game 6… It was absolutely miserable.  For some reason, all of the excitement at the end of the game caused me to forget how horrible and frustrating the beginning and middle of the game could be.  Just like in Game 6 last season, the Cardinals seemed to do nothing right.  The only reason why they were still in the game in the end was because of the wildness of Gio Gonzalez once again.

It is a strange thing to watch this Cardinals baseball team.  Even when they play horribly for 6 innings, they still have a chance to win the game.  I would say this is because they have a talented and powerful offense, but that can’t be considered the real reason for why they seem to come back.  This just would not make sense considering it was the very non powerful Pete Kozma and Daniel Descalso who were the heroes of the night from an offensive stand point.  We could point to the Cardinals young and powerful arms out of the bullpen, but then again, the hardest throwing of the Cardinal bullpen arms was the one that gave up a run in the bottom of the 8^th inning which almost made the deficit to the Nationals a death sentence for the Cardinals.

The truth is that to point at one reason why the Cardinals seem to come back in games like these or the different series that they play in cannot be isolated to any particular strength of their team.  Instead it is more the mentality of a team that has been there before, and knows how to handle the big spot.  This team is populated mostly by members of a team last season that would not give up when they were down by 10 games in the standings or down by 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against one of the best closers in the game.  Yes, this team has its issues with hitting with runners in scoring position.  Yes there are players on this team such as Matt Holliday who look like they are trying so hard that they are paralyzed by the effort when they need a big hit with runners in scoring position. 

Yes, with the exception of Kyle Lohse, every starting pitcher in this Cardinal’s rotation is either making his first postseason start of his career (Lynn) or pitching with surgically repaired arms that do not allow them to throw with the type of stuff they once were used to (Wainwright and Carpenter).  Their bullpen is also filled with young guys with little experience in the regular season not to mention the postseason.  There seems to be just about every reason in the world why this Cardinal team should not have advanced this far, nor should they have any chance at making it any further than this series.  These are the exact reasons why the Giants and the rest of baseball should not want to face this Cardinals team. 

There is just something about this group that does not make any sense.  They are too good when they should not be, and by that same token, they can at times disappoint everyone by performing worse than expected.  There is no telling what this series against the Giants could have in store, considering the Giants are a similar type of mysterious miracle team also after coming back with three victories on the road in Cincinnati.  One thing is for sure, it should be an exciting and roller coaster ride for fans of each team.  I have no idea what is going to happen, but the possibility of anything happening is going to make this series one to watch for sure.

Getting Ready for Game 5…

Well this would not be the Cardinals if they would have come through in Game 4 to win the series.  This is the same team that clinched the Wild Card on the last day of the season last year, went to Game 5 in the NLDS and Game 7 of the World Series.  At least this season, the Cards were able to have a little time to breathe when they clinched a berth in the wild card game on the second to last day of the season.  So with this extensive track record of waiting for the dramatic moment, why wouldn’t they make this series go to the fifth game?  While all these things seem to point towards a Cardinal’s victory, I am not so sold on this.

Tomorrow, the Cardinals will turn to Adam Wainwright who at least in experience and on paper would be the best option for the Cardinals as a starting pitcher for this game.  He pitched very well against the Nationals in the first game of this series, and he has been nothing but clutch for the Cardinals in the postseason since he started as a rookie closer for the team in 2006.  With all this experience should make us feel more comfortable about this game, the simple truth is that while Adam Wainwright has a better than average chance of delivering a solid start, but the more depressing realization that I have come to over the last 4 games of this series is that tomorrow it may not matter how well Wainwright pitches in the fifth game of the series.  The simple and depressing truth is that this team is not built to win a game that is some kind of low scoring pitcher’s duel. 

In Game 4, Kyle Lohse did everything the team would ask of him.  He gave up only one run on an Adam LaRoche homerun early in the game, and pitched his butt off for the rest of the game until it was time for Boggs to come into the game in the 8^th inning.  The difficult reality of the situation is that Adam Wainwright will probably not do any better than Lohse did in Game 4 or for that matter, the chances are not too good that he will do better than Wainwright himself did in the first game of the series which they lost in another low scoring contest. 

I thought that the two games in between the two Cardinal losses in this series were a good omen that the St. Louis offense would be back to the high flying version that we saw and grew to love early in the season.  Game 4 was the perfect reminder of the lesson we had already learned over and over again with this team during the 2012 season.  The unfortunate reality is that this offense is as capable of extreme lows as it is capable of the types of outbursts that we saw in the middle two games of the series.  This team is maddeningly inconsistent offensively and there seems to be just as much chance as the Cardinals scoring 12 runs tomorrow night as it is likely that they will be shutout.

This team is built to win by getting ahead early.  Unfortunately, their offense does not have many days where they score 4 or 5 runs.  I have no doubt that Wainwright will be solid, but in the best case scenario, Wainwright will throw his 8 innings while giving up only a run or two, but there is a good chance that this will not be enough to win the game.  The Cardinals will be leaning on an offense that is anchored by Matt Holliday who strikes out looking while complaining about calls as if he were a leadoff man who is trying to work a pitcher and find a way on base with a walk.  They have an offense that although Descalso and Kozma are capable of getting a few hits here and there on mistakes, are marginal major league talents when it comes to hitting against a top starting pitcher like Gio Gonzalez.

This team is capable of striking out 8 times in a row like they did in the last game, but they are also capable of big things.  Tomorrow night’s game is going to be a challenge for this Cardinals team.  I have found myself wanting to give up on this team so many times, and yet they have proven me wrong over and over again.  They seem to come through when their backs are against the wall, and that is reason enough to watch this game with excitement and hope.  There is even the chance that this team could surprise all of us once again and win a 2 to 1 game with clutch hitting at the end of the game.  The beauty of this season and this team is that tomorrow we will likely learn something about these guys that we did not know today.  I just hope that this is something that we want to learn.

Chris Carpenter’s Leadership Key For Cards

By now, we all know the story.  Last season, the Cardinals were 10 games back and left for dead in the National League Wild Card race, and yet they came back and made the playoffs.  They lost the first game in Philidelphia in the NLDS after losing a three run lead, and yet they came back to win the series on the shoulder of Chris Carpenter in Game 5.  This resiliency continued though the World Series, and the magical season was complete.  Now let’s flash forward to this season.  We all remember the news of Chris Carpenter’s demise.  He was going to spend the next year rehabbing and hope that he might be able to pitch again next season.  Nothing was guaranteed, we were hearing, and yet here we are.

With Carpenter ready to start game 3 of the 2012 NLDS, the Cardinals have to feel pretty good about themselves.  They are coming off of a game where they scored 12 runs and dominated the young Washington Nationals team.  This came after another crushing loss in Game 1 where the Cardinals wasted a gutsy start from Adam Wainwright and a complete loss of control by Gio Gonzalez, and yet they responded in Game 2 just as we knew they could.  This season has been frustrating at times for Cards fans, but this team just has that feel to them.  It feels like anything can happen with these Cardinals every time they take the field.  They can never be counted out, and in large part, they have taken this mentality from their ace pitcher.

Chris Carpenter is no longer the young pitcher with tremendous stuff that he once was during his former Cy Young form.  He no longer throws as hard as he once did, and every pitch he throws, we are all holding our breath and hoping all the ligament grafts, anchors, nerves, and scar tissue hold together enough for him to be able to throw yet another pitch, but is there anyone else we would rather have on the mound as a Cards fan as the team ventures into enemy territory and need to win 2 out of 3 games against the best team in baseball this season than Chris Carpenter?  My personal answer is definitely no.  I don’t care if he is that car that you bought 20 years ago that has a new engine, wheels, brakes, and bumpers.  While the parts may not be the ones you fell in love with so long ago, the spirit and the mentality will always be there.

Today’s game is going to be a tough one.  I have no doubt that they will take a few hits.  This game will probably not go as smoothly as Game 2 went.  This Nationals team is just too good for that, but I can all but guarantee that Carpenter will keep the Cardinals in the game long enough to have a chance.  This Cardinals team may not be the same as last season.  They are missing the leadership of LaRussa, the power of Albert Pujols, and the leadership and clutch ability of Lance Berkman.  They are dealing with a rookie shortstop who has not been viewed as a prospect in years, and their bullpen has no left handed reliever who can be counted on to get outs consistently.  This team has so many deficiencies, and yet they are here with a chance to make another run.  Chris Carpenter may not have been the face of this team.  He was not the workhorse pitcher that lead by pitching, but how could anyone on the team feel sorry for themselves or believe they had no chance when they saw their ace working his butt off to get back long after he had been left for dead.  Without Carpenter, this team would not have made the playoffs, I have no doubt, and it has nothing to do with his pitching.  Today, I know that Carpenter must be smiling somewhere in Washington DC because today he gets to lead by doing what he enjoys most.  Who knows how many pitches are left in that old arm of Carpenters, but I can’t wait to see them today.

Reflections from Game 2

Well, long story short, there really are not many things that could heal all the Cardinals issues more than 12 runs on the scoreboard.  I wrote earlier about how pathetic and depressing this Cardinal offense has been lately, and mere hours later, they put up more runs in one game than they had scored in the 5 games before that.  Is this a sign of something to come or just another blip on the screen of these Cardinals through a long season that has been filled with similar blips in the midst of other longer strings of meager offensive outputs?  The Cardinals future in the playoffs will hinge on the answer to this question.

The Cardinals will be moving forward now without Jaime Garcia which instantly makes either Lance Lynn or Shelby Miller the new most pivotal and potentially important pitcher on the Cardinal staff.  Is Miller really ready for that kind of responsibility?  Lance Lynn has developed himself into the type of talented short or long relief pitcher that is difficult to take out of the bullpen.  Last season, the Cardinals won the World Series because Lance Lynn was the type of late inning pitcher who could take over a game.  They also won because they had Fernando Salas who was able to stop bleeding in the middle innings as it came up.  Lynn has been this pitcher for the Cardinals this postseason.  He is versatile enough to throw to one batter with plus stuff as well as stretch out to cover multiple innings effectively.

Not since Rick Ankiel have the Cardinals put a pitcher this young in a position where they may need to make a start in the playoffs, and we all know how disastrous that situation went for Ankiel and the rest of the team.  I am worried that putting Miller in the starting rotation is too much too soon for a young starter with exactly one regular season start under his belt.  I know that he has the type of big time, talented arm that the Cardinals need in the wake of Garcia.  I just hope that he is ready to step up, either that or the Cardinals may need to keep scoring 12 runs a game…

NLDS Game 1 Disaster

I guess there are two ways to look at the first game of the NLDS this season.  On one hand, the Cardinals found themselves in the exact same situation last season when they lost an early lead from Lance Berkman’s three run homer in the first inning to fall behind the Philadelphia Phillies who were 2011’s National League East Division champions.  With the heroic help of Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals were able to come back in that series to win in Game 5 and the rest was history.  That, unfortunately is about where the comparisons between last year and this year’s game 1’s end.  The Cardinals lost Game 1 not due to the superior play of the Nationals or any great explosion in the bullpen, but despite all the help in the world that an inexperienced National’s team could offer.

All the talk going into this series that was a positive for the Cardinals spoke to the experience of this team which was able to have a magical ride through last year’s postseason compared to the relative inexperience of the Washington Nationals.  Any edge here was forfeited with a win in St. Louis during Game 1, however.  While the series is still far from over, and one game does not equal the experience of an entire postseason, imagine the difference in the clubhouse after this game had the Nationals lost the game.  The Nationals team would have looked around to see that their young ace let them down by falling apart in a situation where the game looked much larger than he was able to manage.  And imagine if the Cardinals had been able to add on another few runs after Zimmerman’s error.  They would be looking at the offensive face and first draft pick of their franchise as a defensive liability that cannot be trusted.  It is not difficult to imagine a young team having some doubt creep into their mind, and doubt like this could be crippling.  As it stands now, the Nationals made every mistake imaginable in their first playoff game, and they still got a win on the road against the defending World Series Champion.  It is dangerous to give a young team with the talent of the Nationals that kind of confidence as well.

In speaking of Nationals mistakes leading to Cardinal runs, this offense is embarrassing.  With the exception of a Matt Holliday homerun against the Braves, when was the last run they scored without the help of an error or a pitcher who completely lost all control for an inning?  The simple truth is that the Cardinals will not win a game with the amount of offense that they have been able to put together lately.  The Cardinal’s pitching did its job in Game 1 of the NLDS.  It is time for the offense to follow through.  The free runs are going to dry up sooner than later.  It would be nice to see some Cardinal batters provide the firepower for the team to move on despite that.

It is not difficult to pinpoint the time in the game where it turned from a game that the Cardinals were going to win to one that the team seemed destined to lose.  With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning and Allan Craig up with Molina on deck, the Cardinals were looking good.  They were still up by one run with the chances to add on some much needed insurance runs, but after two feeble ground balls, it felt more like the Cardinals were down by a run than up by one.  Let me make one thing clear here, if that same situation were to arise tomorrow, I would want Allan Craig and Yadier Molina to be the batters who are there with the chance to drive in some runs.  These two have proven over and over again that they are the talented and clutch performers that the Cardinals will need to ride if they are going to score runs in this postseason, but this is all the more reason that the failure of these two was crushing for the Cardinals team.

In speaking of a team’s fragile psyche, no one on the Cardinals seems more fragile and scared than Pete Kozma right now.  Furcal’s injury has forced Kozma to make the transition from struggling minor league shortstop to a major leaguer who is trying to fill the shoes of the starting shortstop for the National League in the All Star game.  His error today after the botched infield fly rule during the Wild Card game is further illustration of this fact.  I would point out his hitting as an issue, but with no one else on the team hitting either, it does not seem fair to point out the rookie in particular.  The truth is that Kozma is playing because he has the best chance to be a defensive anchor for this team at the shortstop position.  It is too much to ask from a young player with marginal talent.

And then there is the young manager who is in charge of steering the ship.  Like Kozma, Matheny may be in over his head.  He has done a pretty good job of leading the team to this point, but I wonder if the Cardinals have gotten this far despite their rookie manager as opposed to because of him.  I know that LaRussa had his own issues with bullpen management, but Matheny needs to know his personnel a little better as well as thinking ahead in a situation more completely.  Mitchell Boggs did a fine job in the 8^th inning.  He got a ground ball which should have been an out before giving up a bloop hit.  Then, with runners at first and third, Boggs got an out on a bunt before striking out the 8^th hitter. 

After getting the big strikeout after blowing a fastball right past the National’s catcher, Boggs had the look of confident determination on his face.  For a man who had to be sent back to the minor leagues last season after filling the team’s closers role with undeniable confidence issues, that was the look and the performance that Matheny had been trying to cultivate in Boggs ever since he took the job as the Cardinal’s manager, and in that moment, he decided to bring in Marc Rzepczynski instead of allowing Boggs to face a left handed pinch hitter even though Matheny had to know that the Nationals had other right handed batters available to pinch hit from the bench.  I wonder what the consensus would be if you polled the Nationals bench at that moment.  Do we really think for a second that they would rather face Mitchell Boggs, who was throwing in the upper 90’s with movement and a hard slider and had the confidence to be aggressive in the strike zone or the Cardinal’s lefty who has had as many games where he gives up runs as games where he is perfect.  I don’t think there is a doubt that the team would rather face Rzepczynski than a pumped up Boggs with good stuff and building confidence.  Shouldn’t that take some part in the decision making process for who to put in the game for Matheny.

And now that we are talking about Matheny, how about his management of the roster in general down the stretch?  We seem to be completely set on Daniel Descalso now at second base with no chance of seeing Skip Schumaker again to start at second base.  I know that Descalso is by far the better defensive player, but in a situation where this Cardinal’s offense is sputtering, no amount of defense is going to make up for the fact that their offense cannot put a run on the scoreboard.  The fact that Matheny could not see this day coming down the stretch has to be his biggest limitation as a manager.  I like Descalso as a player.  He is a solid defender and someone who puts together good at bats when they are needed, but he is not a starting player in the major leagues, at least not right now.  Descalso may one day grow into a productive major league starter, but as of now he needs to be a part of a platoon.  This is pretty bad timing to be realizing this.

The Cardinals may still have a chance to come back and win this series.  They may even have a chance to make a run in this postseason, but they are a team with issues right now that run pretty deep.  A few runs and a good start from Garcia will cure a lot of what ails the Cardinals, and these things are still a very real possibility.  They do need to make some adjustments though as an entire team, and unless they make them tomorrow, they will make them too late.   

Bradford Overcomes Injuries and Officials to Prove Rams Made Right Decision

So let’s all just admit it.  When the Rams started the game behind 7 to nothing before the game was 15 seconds old and was supposed to begin with the Rams receiving, we all groaned.  We have seen this before, I thought.  Same Rams sucking in the same ways which will end up in an embarrassingly futile attempt to come back after starting in a 7 point hole.  At least that is what we are used to from what has been the league’s most pathetic franchise over the past many years, but last Sunday, the Rams, and Sam Bradford specifically, showed us that it is ok to hope for him and this Ram team to be competitive at least this season.  It was like having a child who brings home nothing but failing grades on his report card and comes through with half A’s one day.  Who cares if it was in his easiest class, it’s a start.

The Rams did not have an easy road to their victory over the Redskins, and I think I spiked the television remote in unison with Steven Jackson after watching the NFL replacement officials mess up call after call in the first half.  That subpar team in the black and white jerseys missed two Ram touchdowns when you include the pass that was called incomplete in the corner of the end zone although replays showed that the both feet were down in bounds.  This play in particular had me screaming at my television for two different reasons.  For one, why would Fisher not challenge that call?  That is a play that could be a huge momentum booster if they can drive right down the field and tie the game after their embarrassing start of the game.  Fisher needs to throw the challenge there, especially for a team where things can roll downhill so quickly.  Once I was able to stop my convulsive screaming for Fisher to throw the challenge flag, my fury quickly went back to the referee who made the call.  Isn’t every scoring play in the NFL being reviewed?  And if that is the case, why not air on the side of calling plays that may get into the end zone a touchdown?  What do you have to lose as a referee in that situation?  Why not call every play that is close a touchdown unless you are 100% sure that the call is in fact not a touchdown? 

And then there was the Steven Jackson touchdown run which occurred right after the referees blew the call on a fumble only the play before, forcing the Rams to blow a challenge flag.  I could not blame Jackson at all when he came off the field screaming at the officials.  That was a pathetic and absolutely horrible call for which that crew should probably lose their jobs for if it was not for the fact that the NFL would be patrolling high school fields for officials at that point.  Another big call that did not get as much play after the fact, but was equally ridiculous in the moment was the unnecessary roughness called on the Rams when they tackled Robert Griffin III as he was running down the sidelines.  That was a 15 yard penalty which brought the Redskins into Rams territory on a drive where the Redskins ended with a touchdown.  To make a very long story short, the officials were horrible, and can we please get Ed Hochuli’s guns to come back to the sidelines?

I do not mean this to come off as nothing but a indictment of the NFL and its officials, an equally important story line unfolded as the game progressed, Sam Bradford showed us what the Rams were hoping to get when they drafted him.  He led the team up and down the field with apparent ease that we have never really seen from him.  Bradford ended the game with 310 yards, 3 TD and only 1 interception.  He routinely came through on 3^rd down and just gave us the sense that he was in control and that the game was not too big or too fast for him.

And Bradford was able to do most of this without the veteran presence and contributions of Steven Jackson.  Daryl Richardson filled in well, but he still was responsible for a fumble that could have been devastating had the Redskins made it down the field to score in their final drive.  I do not know anything about the injury vs. benching controversy that has been spoken about at length around St. Louis this week.  I was not on the sidelines, nor do I know anyone who was, but the reactions of the two do not seem to match with a benching.  For one, Jeff Fisher coached guys like Pacman Jones and Albert Haynesworth.  If he was willing to put up with the character issues of these guys and look at their physical talents, then do we really think that he would bench Steven Jackson for one passionate and angry moment?  Maybe for a series, not for the rest of a game.  And then there is the tough guy aspect of Jeff Fisher.  He seems to have the reputation as someone who is going to do things his way and be tough about it.  What good does it do to bench Steven Jackson only to be quiet about it later when asked?  What message does that send to his team?  That their coach is afraid of the media or fan reaction?  It does not seem to fit with the rest of his image.

The Rams won the bowl for 2013, and we can only hope that a combination of the Rams using the game as a springboard for continued success.  We can also hope that the Redskins can lose many more games in the near future, although after watching the poise and abilities of RGIII it is difficult to imagine that this could be true.  The Rams now need to get working on a game play that they can use against the Bears in Chicago, but there is nothing wrong with taking a short look back and enjoy the coming of age of Sam Bradford and the rest of the Rams who won a game despite things not going their way.

The Little Things

When I was younger, I used to love playing Nintendo 64.  I could not get enough of Mario, All Star Baseball, Madden, and NBA Live.  In NBA Live, I created myself as a 7 foot tall monster that could shoot as well as hold his own in the post.  Needless to say, the flaw in the game of being able to create literally perfect players made for games that became much too easy to win.  After a while, I wanted more of a challenge and after rising up the difficulty levels, I found a setting in the game called “Keep Games Close.”  This setting decreased the percentages that my players shot and increased the percentages for the other team, essentially keeping the game closer.  Watching the Cardinals play is far too similar to this game that I liked to play years ago, and like in the game, the games have not been kept close by dramatic, horrible innings but by the collection of little things that all seem to pile up.

In both of the second two games of the Dodger’s series, the Cardinals were able to pull ahead in the first inning, scoring 2 runs on both Saturday and Sunday to start off the game and 4 runs in the first 3 innings on Friday’s game.  Each of these runs came against pitching that was either inexperienced (Fife on Sunday) or pitchers who have a recent history of being hit and hit hard (Blanton and Capuano).  These are the types of pitchers that the Cardinal’s offense should pile runs on as the game goes on, but they seem to fail to do this with the exception maybe of Capuano who did not make it out of the 5^th inning even though the Cardinals scored no runs between the 3^rd and 9^th innings.  I have heard the arguments being made about good starting pitching being vulnerable in the beginning before settling down, but does this also work in reverse for the batters?  In a chicken or egg question, the Cardinals seem to score early and then put the bats away, hoping that their early lead will be enough to stick.

The reasoning behind this lack of ability to score runs, there seem to be so many reasons behind this.  I feel like the Cardinals, especially some of their pitchers, fail to execute the sacrifice bunt far too often.  These little, simple skills can and often are the difference between the cardinals winning a game and losing it.  Then there is the Cardinal’s hitting with runners in scoring position.  Let’s look at Matt Holliday for instance, batting third in the Cardinals order and hitting only .245 with runners in scoring position and .194 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.  I do not want to criticize Holliday too much here as he is having a very good season and putting up the kind of numbers that we have grow accustomed to over the course of a season, but this just illustrates how difficult it has been for the Cardinals this season to get runs in to score.  There is also the factor of Matt Holliday hitting with the kind of power that can make a runner on first in scoring position in addition to himself.

Then there are the defensive issues of the St. Louis Cardinals this season.  I wrote an article questioning how much they would miss Rafael Furcal because of his struggling offense and the increased at bats for Schumaker with Descalso playing short.  I am going to admit here that I was dead wrong.  Just as we saw last year, having Furcal to man the center of the infield with his quick feet and cannon for an arm (and I can only hope that the latter can still be possible next season without too much time missed) is vital to this Cardinals team.  It does not matter how sure handed Descalso is or at least we thought he could be, there is a reason he is not a shortstop, and this was on display against the Dodgers in this series.  He made two costly errors on Saturday night that ended up being the difference in a one run game that the Dodgers won in a walk off.  With this, I do not mean to point a finger at Descalso since I believe he is more of a part of the solution than the problem.  The sad truth is that with the exception of Descalso, Molina, a couple pitchers, and John Jay, the Cardinals are filled with fielders who either cannot run like Beltran, or are simply better with their bats than with their gloves like Freese, Craig, or Holliday.  They have been making an alarming amount of errors lately, and this is just not what you look for in a team that has aspirations of a playoff run.

And then there is the bullpen, which pitched admirably on both Saturday and Sunday with the exception of a Jason Motte blowup in the 9^th inning of the third game of the series.  Motte is always going to be prone to these types of games although more often than not, they will be decided by a homerun than multiple base hits.  The fact that I can say this with confidence though is scary.  In a game like Saturday’s where Garcia pitched like he is capable in a road start, and the bullpen came through to put them in position to win against a team that is vying for the Wild Card spot the Cardinals currently have a hold of, Motte has to find a way to close the game out.  That was just too much of a momentum and confidence killer for this team, and going forward, they will need all the momentum these Cardinals can get.

I do not mean to dwell on the negative although I am sure it appears that way.  The bottom line is that the Cardinals did what they needed to do against Los Angeles and got a split of the four game set.  After an extremely tough road trip after an equally tough home stand, the Cardinals find themselves in position to take this Wild Card spot over the next few series with the Cubs and the Astros, and for all the frustration about not doing the little things, I do have to admire this team’s toughness in coming back after difficult losses.  It is just frustrating to watch a team that appears loaded with talent come through so poorly when all they need is a solid defensive play here or a base hit there.  The little things have been adding up to kill this year’s Cardinals.  I just hope that they can correct these enough to at least be given the opportunity to defend their title.

The 2013 Bowl

It may sound odd, but a pretty strong argument can be made that tomorrow’s game against the Washington Redskins is the Super Bowl of the Ram’s season.  Yes, I know that the Rams would only have a .500 winning percentage at 1 and 1 if they win the game tomorrow, and yes, the Redskins are not exactly the best team that the Rams will be playing this season.  I guess someone could make an argument about the games against the San Francisco 49ers meaning much more for this team and their aspirations of playing in the playoffs not only this season, but also having the confidence that they can compete in the future.  All these things aside, there are two reasons that this game is going to be more important than any other on the schedule for this season.

The first reason is simple: the Rams need a win.  With games on the Rams Schedule against the Bears, Packers, Patriots, and Jets in addition to the games against division rival 49ers and Seahawks, there are not enough games that look winnable to not beat teams like the Redskins when they get them.  While the Redskins did just come off of a game in which they beat Drew Breese and the Saints in New Orleans, they are still a team with more sub .500 record seasons than competitive seasons.  For a team like the Rams who are starting a new era with Fisher and hoping to stick here in St. Louis, they need some victories to get momentum, and the Redskins may be the only game where that seems likely in their first four games.

This game will be particularly important to Sam Bradford.  How can he not look across the field and see a Quarter Back who he will be measured against for the rest of his career.  This offseason, the Rams needed to decide which direction they wanted to go for the future, and they chose Sam Bradford over Robert Griffin III.  It may be unfair to compare the two considering the differences in the athletic ability, but as a Rams fan, I will always be wondering how this team could be if they had someone like RGIII on the team as opposed to Sam Bradford.  This does not mean that Bradford needs to find some way to wow us, but he better be a competent manager of the game who makes the necessary throws to give the Rams a chance.

Then there is the big picture reason that playing the Washington Redskins is the biggest game of the Rams season.  The more the Redskins lose, the better the Rams will be next season.  The Rams will own the Redskins draft picks in 2013 and 2014 so quite simply, they need to beat this team and hope that the rest of the league does the same.  The Rams could get a whole lot better in a hurry if the Redskins could have difficulty losing games for the next couple seasons.  From that aspect, this game is worth much more to the Rams than it does to the Redskins.

Observations From Cards Dodgers First Two Games

The Cardinals are half way through the 4 game series with the Dodgers which could decide a whole lot about both teams going forward in the hunt for the second Wild Card playoff spot in the National League.  After watching these games, there have been a few things that have stood out for both teams.  In a way, the Dodgers and Cardinals are very similar, but in different ways.  Both teams struggle to score runs despite having offenses that should be capable of putting up crooked numbers.  Both teams also boast star filled rotations with some starters performing much better than their won loss record suggests (Lohse and Kershaw) along with other starters who pitch much worse than their resumes would suggest they are capable (Beckett and Garcia).  Both of these teams also have young managers who are lacking the type of success that they would like at this point in their careers, and that is where we will start.

Mike Matheny has done about a C+ job of managing the Cardinals this season.  He has been good enough to allow a roster of players who were talented enough to win the World Series last season minus their one superstar player who ironically left for greener grass on the other side of Los Angeles, to be in contention for the newly added second wild card slot.  This does not sound particularly flattering, and to be honest it is not meant to.  Matheny has made some questionable moves this season, but one particular move last night left me completely perplexed.  He went to Sam Freeman in the bottom of the 7^th inning last night against the Dodgers.  I know that the Dodgers had multiple left handed batters in the inning, but Freeman has done little right this season, and despite his potentially big fastball, he exited the game with an ERA over 6.  At that point in the game, I would rather see some combination of Rzepcyzynski (who is really not a whole lot better but at least more experienced and less shaky on the mound).  At that point the Dodgers were only up by 2 runs and the Cardinals were still at least in the game.  I understand that the bridge to Boggs and Motte is a perilous one filled with holes and rotten wood, how is Freeman a better option than mixing and matching with Salas and Rzepcyznski who have been there before.  No one would criticize Matheny if he used these guys and they failed.  He should be criticized if the guy who should be the emergency guy out of the bullpen when all else fails is called in with bullets still in the chamber.

We have been talking about the Cardinals’ line up being far less than the sum of its parts, but let’s look at this Dodgers’ team.  I almost felt like the Cardinals were doing ok after watching a combination of Victorino, Ethier, Kemp, Hanley Ramirez, and Adrian Gonzalez struggling to put up more than a one run in Game 1 of this series against the young and talented if not consistent, Lance Lynn.  While the Cardinals do seem to struggle to score with nothing but .300 hitters, the Dodgers have perennial All-Stars and legitimate super stars in their lineup the likes of which dwarf the one Cardinal who could be viewed as a legitimate superstar by the majority of people who do not follow the team’s daily performance, Matt Holiday.  While this roster is overwhelmingly frightening from the stand point of what it could do when/if everyone starts clicking, I can only hope that this roster can assimilate an underachieving Boston Red Sox 2.0 in Los Angeles for the rest of the season.

Lance Lynn looked like the man who pitched at the beginning of the season for the Cardinals.  He began the game looking almost unsure of himself and unconfident similar to how he had been looking in other games recently, but he warmed up as the game went along.  There was one point in particular when you could see Lynn transform into the pitcher that the Cardinals hoped he could be.  In the bottom of the 4^th inning, Lynn looked like he might have been running into his old demons.  He gave up a single to Matt Kemp and fell behind Adrian Gonzalez.  He then struck out Gonzalez with a fastball and Molina threw out Kemp trying to score.  The next batter was Hanley Ramirez, and Lynn started throwing like it was May again, blowing 95 mile an hour fastballs right by the talented shortstop of the Dodgers.

In speaking of Molina throwing out potential base stealers.  Is there anyone better than this guy?  I mean really, I get goose bumps just thinking about how amazing Molina is behind the plate as well as standing next to it with a bat.  He is 5 for 7 in this series so far with a homerun and 3 runs scored.  Is there any doubt that the Cardinals would be down 0 and 2 in the series if it were not for his throwing out runners and finding ways to score despite foot speed that rivals your average sloth?  If there is a player more deserving of MVP votes who will most likely get fewer votes than Molina this season, I would like to hear about it.  He is an MVP that you need only to open your eyes to see, not stare at line after line of numbers searching for some magical variable which tells us what we already know: Molina is amazing.

Other than Molina’s tremendous defense, these Cardinals are rough to watch for anyone who remembers the likes of Jim Edmonds, Mike Matheny, Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria, Fernando Vina or the other great Cardinal defensive players of the last decade.  David Freese seems capable of making both a great play on occasion and seems scared to get in front of a ball or just too slow to try the next.  He is good for probably one more runner a game at this point, and then there is the other side of the diamond, where Allan Craig’s stone hands reside.  Add in the playing of Matt Carpenter at second base and Descalso’s good glove but diminished range at short stop and you have quite possibly the worst defensive infield possible.  They might as well invite Ryan Theriot back to complete the ineptness.  I could talk much more about this, but I believe that the Cardinals of the future should look to move Freese to first base, Craig to the outfield, and let Carpenter or whatever other young guy coming up to play third base.  I believe that will give them a more capable infield defense which could compliment the pitch to contact philosophy of the pitching staff.

Finally, I am impressed with Matt Carpenter.  I think the guy is a good player, and should continue to get time down the stretch.  He is the type of scrappy guy who the rest of the Cardinals need to emulate as the post season approaches.  Carpenter plays with the type of energy and excitement that needs to stay in the lineup, even if a double switch is being made.  Oh and by the way, the Cardinals were putting Rosenthal in the 6^th hoping for only one inning right?  Then they would go to Mujica, Boggs, and Motte to close out the game.  In that case, why do a double switch when Rosenthal would just be pinch hit for in the bottom of the inning anyway?  Why burn matt Carpenter just to show that Matheny knows the nuances of the National League where a double switch is possible? 

Let’s just hope that the Cardinals can learn from the mistakes of Game 2 enough to give them a chance to win, and Garcia can figure enough out to last more than 4 innings this time.

Adam Wainwright’s Last Few Starts: Aberration or Wearing Down? The Power of Inning Number 160.

So many headlines on ESPN or whatever other source you use to get your sports and more specifically Major League Baseball news have been centered on Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals decision to shut him down after 160 innings this season.  He will make only two more starts this season even though his team is all but a lock to play in the postseason this year.  I am not sure of what magic that the National’s training staff has found in this number of innings but could it be that they have some kind of a point?  Stephen Strasburg is currently sitting at just over 156 innings for the season, but as someone who watched every pitch that he threw against the Cardinals, I feel confident in saying that he still looks pretty good.  But when we look at Adam Wainwright, the last two starts he has made, the Cardinal’s ace has looked very hittable and possibly just a little worn down as well.

On August 21^st, Wainwright looked about as good as he has ever looked in a game as a Major League pitcher, throwing 9 innings and giving up only 5 hits with 12 strikeouts.  That game brought Adam Wainwright to 160.2 innings pitched on the season.  At that time we all thought that he was just hitting his stride.  We figured that those Nationals’ training staff must be out of their minds with that 160 inning total for a pitcher after Tommy John reconstructive surgery, or at least Adam Wainwright was immune to such issues.  Then came life after inning number 160. 

In his next start, Wainwright cruised through 5 innings against the Cincinnati Reds, and he looked solid once again.  But then, at the beginning of the 6^th inning which corresponded to Wainwright at 165.2 innings, he gave up 2 earned runs and was knocked out of the game after recording only 2 outs.  Again, this was easy to shrug off for someone watching as more fatigue after 90 pitches against a very good Reds lineup than anything resembling a wearing down at 160 innings.  Well, here we are, two starts into Adam Wainwright’s season after crossing the 165 inning threshold and in the last two starts, he has thrown only 7.2 innings (173.2 innings on the season) and in that time he has given up 17 hits, 11 earned, and 5 walks.  His ERA of 13.75 is more than a small warning sign that he is not himself only a three starts since throwing a shutout.

Before we completely go all conspiracy theory crazy here and treat the number 160 like Jim Carrey turned the number 23 into something evil in the move The Number 23, there could be just as much of an argument for a two game aberration for Wainwright.  There is just as good of a chance that Wainwright could bounce back in his next start and become the pitcher who he was becoming once again as he hit a stretch where the Cardinals won 5 of his starts in a row.  The Cardinals will without a doubt need the version of Adam Wainwright that can be dominant, and not the Wainwright who has been cursed by the number 160.

As ridiculous as this theory about inning caps and such seems for a pitcher like Strasburg or Wainwright because of their surgery, it is impossible to completely discredit it as being stupid based on the amount that the Washington Nationals are going to be giving up based on this theory.  While they have set these innings limits more to protect Strasburg’s valuable young arm than because they are worried about ineffectiveness, but these things can definitely be linked.  A tired arm is an ineffective arm, and that could very well be part of what we are seeing now with Wainwright.  I guess we can only hope that Carpenter is able to come back in hopes of riding the two one armed horses to see if they can somehow make it through the playoffs.