Cards with 7 in the 9th!

[Buccaneer]

Knew the Cards would win today. Pads starter was/is no better than an AA pitcher.

[Ksyrup]

I figured this was the best thread to pick up on the discussion of Tony LaRussa's "genius." He lets Marquis bat - and not just bat, but swing away - with 1 on and none out in the 8th inning of a tie game, and then pinch hits for Jim Edmonds with Albert Pujols simply because of the lefty/lefty matchup Edmonds would have been faced with. I realize he doesn't hit lefties all that great...but c'mon, he's Jim Edmonds, not John Mabry. Plus, had Marquis bunted and Eckstein followed with his single, they would have scored before Edmonds even came up. They got 2 hits, 1 walk and a HBP, and were lucky to score 1 run that inning, plus used up their best pinch-hitter to pinch hit for one of the top 3 or 4 hitters on the team.

Then in the 9th, after using Pujols the previous inning, he's got no one worth using to pinch-hit for Marquis with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd. So Marquis hits for himself. Now, he's a very good hitter. But with a runner on 3rd in the 9th inning, did he really have a chance? Pitchers will lose their concentration with the pitcher at bat in the 4th inning with 2 outs. Cheap hits are (relatively) easy to come by in that kind of situation. But with the game on the line, Marquis had no chance, even against Cormier. They failed to score, King was brought in in the 9th, and they lost.

Just a comedy of bad decisions brought on by over-thinking the situation and getting caught short.

[WSUCougar]

He's an "over-manager" to be sure. He pinch hit So Taguchi for Edmonds the previous game for the lefty/righty matchup. Edmonds has been struggling/injured, so there is some just cause, but those are moves I wouldn't make, either.

Yeah, you gotta bunt Marquis in the 8th. I didn't see the game, but perhaps even a hit-and-run would've been a better choice.

[MizzouRah]

Hey, Marquis is the leading hitter on the team. :P

[Ksyrup]

Speaking of Edmonds and getting hurt, he made another beautiful catch in CF last night. HOWEVER...you know how there have been long-running critics of Edmonds, suggesting that he times his catches just so he can leap for them? Well, last night, as the ball was in the air, I noticed it right away, too. The camera angle was such that I could see the trajectory of the ball and him running (jogging) for it at the same time from up above and behind the catcher. And I was able to, in a split-second, judge where the ball was going to come down and immediately had the thought that he knew it, too, and was not running fast enough to make a clean catch. And then I remembered it was Edmonds out there and immediately became suspicious. And of course, he did his 30 second "I look like I broke some ribs or something...no, I'll be all right" recovery thing right after it happened, too.

I'm convinced that catch was one of those that other players have made comments about in the past. He made a great play, but if he had really sprinted for it, he would have caught it without the leap. There's no question in my mind. I'm now officially on the list of people who think he does those things to artificially grow his legend as a great fielder.