thin ice

I'm about two games like last night away from abandoning my possibly-misplaced belief that this team still has any kind of remote chance at winning the wild card this year. I hate to be negative (really I do) but you can't play like that and expect anything good to happen.

Houston was creamed last night in a disaster that had nothing to do with baseball. You know what I don't understand about hurricanes?... Why people don't evacuate. I'm not saying that everyone should have the good sense to get out when they can, because I realize that there are extenuating circumstances. I also realize that evacuating is more than just putting some things in a car and driving until you get somewhere safe. There are things you have you take care of at home. There are pets and family members to worry about. There are valuables and mementos you can't leave behind. There are decisions to be made. There is also the task of figuring out where to go. Where are the shelters? Will you have to sleep in the car? I've never done it, but I can imagine the stress and fear and confusion. What I don't understand is the absolute inability of people to do anything. People who wait to see what happens. People who would rather risk the weather than have to pack up and leave. People who put others at risk by staying and then calling for help when it really is as bad as they said it would be. People who have to be plucked off their rooftops when the water rises that high. Especially when it's not just a handful of people but the majority of residents. Why do people abandon their good sense when things get bad? I wonder, too, how many of those residents were scratching their heads about people who didn't evacuate New Orleans before Katrina hit. And now here they are in the same situation. I choose to believe that if a natural disaster threatened my town I would not hesitate to find a safe place to go.

Okay, back down off the soapbox, but I don't want to talk about the Cards. They will pull out of this tailspin, I just hope they do it before it's too late.

swept not away, just a little off-course

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in [Arizona], we shall fight [in Pittsburgh], we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in [Cincinnati]. We shall defend our [stadium], whatever the cost may be. We shall fight [at Busch], we shall fight [at Wrigley], we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!

(This was borrowed from Sir Winston Churchill and disfigured by me.)

Swept by the 'Stros.

So maybe my plan needs a little revision. I still think the 'Birds have it in them, but now is the time to bring it out. No more waiting. Get Carp in the bullpen, and put a little ben-gay in the jock straps.

Tell you what, I'll bake a pie for every player that hits a home run in September. Any flavor. Will that help?

NEVER SURRENDER!!!

Come on, Cards fans, I know you're out there. We can't give up now. There's too much left to play for! So gather up what's left of your cojones and jump back on the wagon. It's go time, people. The money's on the table, the horses are at the gate. The race for the end is beginning.

Nothing's over! Nothing's decided! It's September! Isn't this what it's all about?

just playing a little baseball

First inning: Big hits. Ankiel hit a three-run home run. Looper gave up six runs before getting a single out. Boy, he could not buy a strike, and the 'Stros took advantage.

Third inning: Was it a catch or wasn't it? Skip Schumaker laid himself out in center and came up with a ball that Hunter Pence was sure wasn't caught, and he got himself doubled-up running. Upon further review (on the replay) it was shown to have been a trap rather than a catch. It was ruled a catch, however, by the umpire.

Al Hrabosky:

I'm sure he trapped that ball, but let's get in the dugout quickly.

Oh, Al.

After the break, we learned that Cecil Cooper had been ejected from the game. The crowd steadily booed the whole umpiring crew for the rest of the game.

(I tell you what, if roles had been reversed, I would have been standing on my head screaming and probably cursing the umpires 'til next week.)

And here is where instant replay will begin its inevitable morphing process. It will start as a tool to judge fair vs foul balls where home runs are concerned, but people will not remain happy with the limitations on it for long. Eventually Selig will give in and expand the uses to which IR can be put, and then, watch out.

Fifth inning: That f***ing hill should be outlawed. Why it isn't a rule violation, I can't figure. Schu almost made a spectacular play out there, but came up just a foot or so short, and then the next batter took Looper deep for the third time. Springer, who gave up the game-winner last night, got right back on the horse that threw him (got a hair of the dog that bit him, or some other cliché of your liking), and struck-out his two batters, no problem. Goes to show what a difference a day makes. I like that Tony will send a guy right back out there as soon as possible. For one, it shows that he still has confidence in his pitchers (and sometimes that's as important as anything), and for two, it gives the pitcher a chance to show what he can do. To show that he isn't going to let one mistake define him. To shake it off and make good.

Seventh inning: Albert crushed one to left. Okay, maybe he didn't exactly crush it, after all you only have to hit a ball about 150 feet to make it out in left field at MM Park, but he hit it hard enough and fair enough (bounced it off the "fowl" pole) to give the Cards two more runs toward coming back in this one.

Ninth inning: My hopes were dashed, and I wonder how when there's a down-by-two or three situation where we need big hits, it seems like it's always the rookies at the plate.

Blah. I felt going into this post that I would be writing about a loss, but there's still plenty to play for: individual player statistics, spoiling the season for other teams, getting some big league playing time for AAAers, and so on. After all, it's not all about the post-season, right? It's supposed to be fun. That's what I'll be looking for.

try to keep up

Wow. Everything happens when I'm sick. Let's see if I can recap it all.

Franklin made me eat my words. He pitched a stellar 9th inning in game 3 at Houston, striking out the side.

Wellemeyer and Wainwright are both hurt. Adam will probably go on the DL, Todd will probably be back in the rotation for his next start.

The Cards capitalized on a bunch of errors/mistakes by the 'Stros and reminded everyone that a win is a win is a win.

Pujols is hurt. And it's terrible. But Duncan will most likely be back up to replace him on the roster when he's officially DLed. As upset as I am to lose Albert, you gotta know how excited I am to have Chris back.

Boggs held his own in both first starts and will undoubtedly be a huge asset to the team depending on how things go with (insert name of most-recently injured pitcher here).

Speaking of Piñeiro, he's going to start Thursday. Hopefully it'll be a good thing.

♥ In other news, Michael Strahan is retiring. Football will ne'er be the same again. ♥

what's up?

I know it's only been a couple of days, but it feels like I haven't written anything in a while. Must be that I keep staring at a blank page searching for words to express myself, and I keep coming up short. Is that writer's block? Does it apply to blogging? 

Barton hit his first ML home run in the dreadful loss to Houston the other day. 

Looper looked terrible--4 runs in the first inning--and Berkman, along with the rest of the Astros line-up, looked très haute. So good, in fact, that I realized it would be a travesty of justice if he didn't make it to the All-Star Game. 

What a mess that whole situation is. I'd say it's a complete joke, but since home-field goes to the winner's league, it's really more serious than that. Stay with me. I'll think of the word.

Boy, when our pitching is on, it's on, and when it's not, it just pulls everything else down with it. The last two games were a perfect example. There is no particular difference between Chacón and Rodríguez, but when Looper came out Tuesday and gave up four runs in the first inning, the Cards were unable to get those runs back. Then Wainwright shut down the same lineup on Wednesday, and our boys came through with the big hits. 

Tonight it'll be Lohse (4-2)--with some good games and some bad ones--against Oswalt (4-4)--who's had some very good luck pitching to the Cardinals. But I won't speculate or try to predict anything, as that usually only gets me in trouble. (I think it's best if I stick to picking apart games after they're over.) 

One more thing... I'm not touching the Chris Duncan issue. Okay, I'll say this, I have the utmost respect for Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan, and I have a bit of a bias towards Chris (he's my hero), and I would never, never, never in a million years believe Tony would put a player in the lineup for any reason other than merit. 

Chris earned his spot. 

Period. 

Think what you want, I know what's up.

time to get back to it

It was nice for everyone to have the day off for my birthday yesterday, even my sister and brother-in-law in London. Well, it's Tuesday and that means I'm thinking about pitching again. 

Sounds like Piñeiro is going to miss his next start (tonight). It works out alright, though, because of the off-day yesterday. 

Wellemeyer didn't fare as well on Sunday as he has in starts past, mostly because of the offensive slump rather than any decline in his performance. 

The Cubs' Carlos Zambrano had 4 hits in his last start (and I mean HE hit the ball, not that he gave up 4 hits). God, what I wouldn't give to have him on our roster. Can you imagine what the crowd's reaction would be the first time he took the mound? Mixed, to say the least. Of course, the mayor of Chicago would probably declare war on St Louis. 

Anyway, we're going to see Chacón, Rodriguez, and Oswalt in the series with Houston. I could've sworn that's whom we saw in the last series with Houston. Deja vu, I guess. 

Here's how we match up tonight:

 

Looper

Looper (6-3) ERA 4.34 WHIP 1.41 26K

 

Looper is the Cardinals' first 6-game winner. He gave up 3 runs in each of his last 2 starts--got a W for one and an L for the other.

NOT Chacón

Chacón (1-0) ERA 4.11 WHIP 1.40 40K 

Despite having started 10 games, he only has one decision--he finally got his first W last week against the Cubs. 

The 'Stros are 5-5 in Chacón's starts. He goes about 6 innings into games, with the exception of the May 16 game at Texas when he gave up 8 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

what was he thinking?

First of all, I'm beginning to wonder if rain is bad luck for the Cardinals. 

Opening day, they were leading the Rockies 5-1, and the game was called after 3 innings. Then they lost the make-up game the next day. 

Friday, April 25, the game was delayed for two hours before the first pitch, and the Cardinals lost to the Astros. 

Last week in Milwaukee, even though they played with the roof closed, the weather outside was rainy and cold for the whole series--which the Cards lost. (Okay, I admit this one may be stretching it.) 

Tuesday they had a 27-minute rain delay before the game started, and lost to Pittsburgh in extra innings. 

Today it rained steadily throughout the entire game, and they gave up a 5-1 lead before eventually losing to the Pirates 11-5. 

Secondly, Glaus certainly seems to have found his stride. He went 2 for 3 on Sunday, drew 3 walks on Monday, hit his second home run of the season on Tuesday, had three hits yesterday, and got another three hits and an RBI today. 

Now on to my original point. 

The game situation: it's the top of the eighth at home and you have a one-run lead. 

The reliever situation: Your closer very recently asked to be removed from his duties because of his inability to locate pitches/get batters out/finish off innings/et cetera. You want him to get some work, but part of his problem earlier in the season seemed to be connected to having too much work. He just pitched yesterday and although he retired all three batters he faced, he didn't seem to have his best stuff (all three hit fly balls) and may have been saved by his outfielders. And I repeat, he just pitched yesterday. 

Which part of this scenario leads to the decision to send him out there? Was it the fact that he just pitched yesterday? Or maybe that HE JUST PITCHED YESTERDAY? In summation, I was completely un-shocked that Izzy gave up, what was it? FOUR runs before recording a single out, seeing as HE JUST PITCHED YESTERDAY. Did I mention that he just pitched yesterday? Right.

tensions running high

For those of you unaware, there was a confrontation last night when Wainwright took one a little bit inside on Ausmus and the Astros believed it was retaliation for LaRue getting HBP in the previous inning. Both benches cleared and the umpires issued warnings to both managers.

Apparently, however, those warnings didn't carry over to today's game. 

Backe, the pitcher for the 'Stros, upset after giving up 4 runs, was giving Yadi some lip after the HP umpire called time while Backe was in the middle of his wind-up. 

Then the very next pitch nearly took off Yadi's head. Yadi was understandably upset and charged the mound, both benches cleared again, and somehow Backe was allowed to stay in the game. 

I thought for a second Yadi was going to rip his head off--and he should have. How do the umpires leave Backe in after that? You're just asking for trouble, if you ask me. (Nobody ever asks me.) 

But it all turned out fine. The Cardinals won, the Astros are headed to the desert to get their traseros handed to them on a plate, Rick can move on to something else, and...

...Glaus can get some sleep tonight. That's right, after going almost all the way to the end of April homerun-less, he blasted one 417 feet to dead center this afternoon. It was so good to see him finally break that streak. It's been a long time for both him and the team (thank you for reminding us, Rick). The relief was absolutely palpable.

I heard that Rolen also hit his first of the season today. Maybe there's some weird psychic/long ball connection between the two. At any rate, the elephant is gone and we can all breathe a little bit easier. How long 'til we play Houston again?

at least it didn't last very long

Okay, first of all, call me the newest biggest Troy Glaus (pronounced «gloss») fan. Yeah, I never thought I'd say it, but good riddance to bad rubbish, and sign me up for an "I heart Glaus" tshirt. 

Second, I guess you can't win 'em all, right? It's alright, mostly because Rodriguez pitched like some kind of machine. Wellemeyer was good, but not as good as Wanda or Wendy or whatever the hell his name is. 

And sure, it's easy to criticize Tony after the fact for not putting Izzy out there for the 9th inning (even though it wasn't a save situation), but at the time it seemed like McClellan was as good a shot as anyone. So I'm not going to pout or hang my head, I'm going to applaud the Astros for winning (it was their home-opener after all), congratulate the Cardinals on a well-played game, collect my things, and move on.