Cards win! Cards win! Cards win!

[WSUCougar]

Sorry. It's been awhile.

[Fonzie]

Indeed it has. Too bad the win wasn't a bit more straightforward (I'm looking at you, Mr. Bullpen), but I'll take it.

I wonder how many World Series champions have had eight (or more) game losing streaks?

[WSUCougar]

In the bullpen's defense, some of those hits were bogus, and of course the Taguchi play was hideous.

[Honolulu_Blue]

So I take it that means inter-league play is over?

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

So I take it that means inter-league play is over?

We have one more series upcoming with the Royals.

[JeeberD]

At least someone in the NL Central won...

[hoopsguy]

Yet another reason to hate the Cardinals - getting to play the sad-sack Royals for their "rivalry" games every year

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Yet another reason to hate the Cardinals - getting to play the sad-sack Royals for their "rivalry" games every year

Yeah, after just playing the Whitesox, Tigers, and Indians.

[hoopsguy]

Mizzou, I'm pretty sure the other teams in the NL Central have to play the same schedule except for not getting extra helpings of the weaksauce KC club.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Yeah, after just playing the Whitesox, Tigers, and Indians.

Oh my!

[Ryche]

A win or two off of Chicago or Detroit would have been helpful. Thanks for nothing

Signed, Twins Fans

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Ryche

A win or two off of Chicago or Detroit would have been helpful. Thanks for nothing

Signed, Twins Fans

You're welcome.



Signed,

Cards Fans

[Ryche]

LOL

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Oh my!

Oh me o my...

[Cards4ever]

Hey Cub fans, why don't you worry about your own mess before you start worrying about the schedule.

The Cards bullpen has allowed too many inherited runners to score, I'm just hoping that we are the hot team in October this year instead of in June and July like the past 2 seasons.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Yet another reason to hate the Cardinals - getting to play the sad-sack Royals for their "rivalry" games every year

Yeah the rest of the National league is probably pissed that we get to play the sad-sack Cubs as our real rivalry game so many times a year as well!

[sterlingice]

(woo!)

SI

[Fonzie]

oof

[MizzouRah]

ugh

[primelord]

They are absolutely awful right now. Two nights in a row now they have the winning run on 3rd with less than two outs in the 9th and can't get the damn run home. That is absolutely ridiculous.

[kcchief19]

The Royals will make their season if they can whip out the brooms today. Beautiful.

Who would have thought the only thing Mark Teahen needed to look like a big league power hitter was a nice helping of Cardinals pitching?

[MizzouRah]

no Primelord.. LaRussa has been awful.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

no Primelord.. LaRussa has been awful.

Well you can blame LaRussa if you want (and the squeeze play was a bad call), but the fact remains we only needed a fly ball from Taguchi, Miles, or Eckstein and none of them could do it. LaRussa also didn't make Rodriguez look at three straight strikes in the 11th without offering a swing or for Luna to strike out looking on the exact same pitch that sat Rodriguez down the at bat before.

Not to mention LaRussa didn't give up 6 runs in the first 3 innings.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by primelord

Well you can blame LaRussa if you want (and the squeeze play was a bad call), but the fact remains we only needed a fly ball from Taguchi, Miles, or Eckstein and none of them could do it. LaRussa also didn't make Rodriguez look at three straight strikes in the 11th without offering a swing or for Luna to strike out looking on the exact same pitch that sat Rodriguez down the at bat before.

Not to mention LaRussa didn't give up 6 runs in the first 3 innings.

Considering I went to the Cleveland game on Tuesday, he lets Reyes bat in the 5th and then immediately takes him out for a relief pitcher in the next inning..wtf?

Why didn't he let Edmonds bat earlier with men on base then he did last night? A squeeze on 2 strikes? Letting players like Gall and Duncan rot in the minors while having the bench he has now.

It's not all his fault, but I'm growing tired of his managing style and ego.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Why didn't he let Edmonds bat earlier with men on base then he did last night?

Because Edmonds is crap? When would you have preferred he hit? I guess he could have hit for Encarnacion in the 7th with Albert and Rolen on and two outs, but then again Edmonds is hitting a whopping .233 with runners in scoring position and two outs. While Encarnacion is hitting .308 in those situations.

A squeeze on 2 strikes?

I agree that call was not a good one, but again they had AMPLE opportunity to win the game before that play. Eckstein's squeeze against the Cubs last year was with two outs as well. Everyone loved the call when Eckstein got it down in play. It was a gamble and it failed, but let's review the situation. Eckstein was 0 for 5 in the game and had just swung at strike 3 that was way over his head. He got lucky to get a slight piece and have it pop out of the ctahcers glove. I am not certain I would have faith he was going to get the ball in the air either and a double ends the inning. I don't agree with the call, but I can see why he made it.

Letting players like Gall and Duncan rot in the minors while having the bench he has now.

Are we talking about the John Gall who only has 4 HRs and 29 RBIs in 70 games at AAA? Not to mention 8 errors in the OF. His .284 avg is ok, but it is AAA. Hell Timo Perez hit more home runs in half as many at bats at Memphis. As for Chris Duncan it makes no sense for him to be up here now. He looks like he has some potential, but he is still very undisciplined at the plate and sitting on the bench every day and just getting pinch hit duty is not going to fix that. He needs to get his 4 or 5 at bats every day if he is going to develop.

It's not all his fault, but I'm growing tired of his managing style and ego.

He certainly makes some questionable calls here and there. He always has. However we are coming off back to back 100 win seasons. We have made the playoffs 6 out of the 10 years he has been here including a trip to the world series. I think I am going to go ahead and give him the benefit of the doubt. To be honest I though pinch running for Molina was the worst call he made that inning.

[MizzouRah]

All points can be argued. BUT he is the WORST manager in 1 run games and honestly he hasn't managed a Marlins or Royals team has he?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

All points can be argued. BUT he is the WORST manager in 1 run games and honestly he hasn't managed a Marlins or Royals team has he?

Todd you are killing me here man. You are talking like all these guys that call into KFNS and drive me nuts. Here are the facts. In the 10 years LaRussa has been here we are 169 games over .500. We have 6 trips to the playoffs and 5 division crowns. In the 10 years before LaRussa got here we were 2 games UNDER .500 with 1 division crown and 1 trip to the playoffs. He has the 3rd most wins of any manager in history.

Yeah he has had some good teams to manage, but all I know is that in the decade before he got here we were generally awful. In the decade since he has been here we are generally a contender. I am happy with that.

[WSUCougar]

We're trying really hard to lose another one, but...

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by primelord

Todd you are killing me here man. You are talking like all these guys that call into KFNS and drive me nuts. Here are the facts. In the 10 years LaRussa has been here we are 169 games over .500. We have 6 trips to the playoffs and 5 division crowns. In the 10 years before LaRussa got here we were 2 games UNDER .500 with 1 division crown and 1 trip to the playoffs. He has the 3rd most wins of any manager in history.

Yeah he has had some good teams to manage, but all I know is that in the decade before he got here we were generally awful. In the decade since he has been here we are generally a contender. I am happy with that.

How long as Jocketty been here? .. and the new owners?

I understand he's a hall of game manager, I just don't get his method of managing sometimes.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by primelord

Todd you are killing me here man. You are talking like all these guys that call into KFNS and drive me nuts. Here are the facts. In the 10 years LaRussa has been here we are 169 games over .500. We have 6 trips to the playoffs and 5 division crowns. In the 10 years before LaRussa got here we were 2 games UNDER .500 with 1 division crown and 1 trip to the playoffs. He has the 3rd most wins of any manager in history.

Yeah he has had some good teams to manage, but all I know is that in the decade before he got here we were generally awful. In the decade since he has been here we are generally a contender. I am happy with that.

I gotta say that's a bit of specious reasoning, tho. There are a ton of confounding variables. In the end, it's been statistically shown that managers don't have that much of an effect on games- they can cause a 10-15 game swing per year, max, going from the absolute worst to the absolute best. How was Joe Torre when he managed the Mets or Braves or the Cards (894-1003 before the Yankees)? A big payroll and good players make every manager look good.

SI

[primelord]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I gotta say that's a bit of specious reasoning, tho. There are a ton of confounding variables. In the end, it's been statistically shown that managers don't have that much of an effect on games- they can cause a 10-15 game swing per year, max, going from the absolute worst to the absolute best. How was Joe Torre when he managed the Mets or Braves or the Cards (894-1003 before the Yankees)? A big payroll and good players make every manager look good.

SI

That may be the base, but the fact remains we have been very successful since he has been here and he has been successful every place he has been. It's very common around here when things start going wrong to blame LaRussa. It gets especially bad on the call in shows and there really is no merit for it.

CARDINALS 11TH: MITRE REPLACED MURTON (PITCHING); MABRY BATTED FOR MAHONEY; Mabry tripled to left; LUNA RAN FOR MABRY; Taguchigrounded out (shortstop to first); On a bunt Eckstein singled topitcher [Luna scored]; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Cubs 1, Cardinals2.

That is from a Cards/Cubs game last year that I was at. Eckstein had two strikes on him and they ran the squeeze. Eck got it down safely and the Cardinals won. The next day everyone was talking about what a fantastic aggressive move LaRussa made. It's the same thing. Eckstein just didn;t get the bunt down this time.

Cards fans often also routinely forget the things that actually lost the game. Like the fact we got down 6-0 in the first place or that two other batters had an opportunity to get that runner from 3rd home with less than two outs and neither could do it. They instead want to focus on one call that LaRussa made that has not only worked before, but he was praised for doing.

I just get tired of hearing it. We have had great success the last few years. Even though we haven't won a ring we have been one of the best teams in baseball and despite what some other research might say I think LaRussa has been a huge part of that.

[MizzouRah]

Well, I get tired of hearing how great he is.

It's this lull the team is in right now.. I'm irked at everything right now. I wouldn't call a talk show an whine about him, but I'll post on an internet forum.

[JeeberD]

I heart this thread...

[Butter]

You Cards fans need a nice 2-3 year run in last place to show you what suffering really is.

[Fonzie]

oof

[WSUCougar]

:o

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

How long as Jocketty been here? .. and the new owners?

I understand he's a hall of game manager, I just don't get his method of managing sometimes.

Everyone praises joe torre for his record in NY, but he was an outcast in STL...a manager can prepare you, but the players win games.

[Poli]

Did we win again?

Can/did someone SLAP the fool that sent Brad Thompson down??

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Did we win again?

Can/did someone SLAP the fool that sent Brad Thompson down??

Uh... no... 14-4

Bobby Cox looks out of it though.

[DeToxRox]

Good news St. Louis fans!

Baseball Tonight announces the Angels trade Jeff Weaver to St. Louis for a minor league outfielder

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by DeToxRoxDVHStyle

Good news St. Louis fans!

Baseball Tonight announces the Angels trade Jeff Weaver to St. Louis for a minor league outfielder

Jeff Weaver - S - ANA - Jul. 5 - 10:42 pm et According to FSN, the Cardinals have acquired Jeff Weaver from the Angels for outfielder Terry Evans.
So much for the Angels getting any immediate help. Evans has big numbers in the minors this year, but he's been old for his leagues and isn't likely to develop into a regular. Weaver will almost certainly take Sidney Ponson's spot in the St. Louis rotation. Expect him to have quite a bit of value in NL-only leagues. Jul. 5 - 10:42 pm et


------------------


Evans is a 24 year-old AA OF. His stats this year:

Season Totals - Minors

BATTING Club Class AB H AVG HR RBI SB R CS 2B 3B BB K E Springfield (TEX) AA 57 17 .298 7 18 4 9 1 3 0 2 19 0 Palm Beach (FSL) A 238 73 .307 15 45 20 43 1 10 1 20 50 1

Sounds like a decent trade for the Cards. Weaver's a bit of a nutcase, but he's got some talent. Just the kind of guy Dave Duncan can turn around. And the price was right, it seems.

[WSUCougar]

For each ERA run over 3.00, we whack an inch off his hair.

[CraigSca]

I'm still dumbfounded that Sidney Ponson isn't the answer.

LOL.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I'm still dumbfounded that Sidney Ponson isn't the answer.

Well, he is the answer. We just haven't figured out what the question is.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Well, he is the answer. We just haven't figured out what the question is.

Question: where do they put all the fat drained off in liposuction procedures?

Answer: Sidney Ponson.

[MizzouRah]

Weaver? Are we grasping for straws here??

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Weaver? Are we grasping for straws here??

Yes. Yes we are. But limp straws standing motionless on the mound would probably be able to pitch better than our rotation right now.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Weaver? Are we grasping for straws here??

It's a low-risk move, although I don't know much about Evans and it's not like we are loaded with OF prospects.

[QuikSand]

Weaver has been really unlucky this season, honestly. He's been pitching okay, and watching all sorts of things go badly for him -- including a very high rate of balls in play dropping in for hits (which we generally attribute more to luck than to the pitcher's skill), and an unusually high share of his conceded fly balls leaving the park (a softer stat, but still looks unlucky).

If you're a believer of component skills being a better predictor than current surface results of future results... then there's certainly hope that Jeff Weaver is a better-then-replacement player for the balance of this season, even if he doesn't really "do better" than he has been thus far.

He's basically been a 4.00 ERA pitcher (or thereabouts) by the component skills, but has a 6.46 to show for it.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

It's a low-risk move, although I don't know much about Evans and it's not like we are loaded with OF prospects.

I'm less concerned about losing Evans who, at 24, is a bit long in the tooth as prospects go. I'm more concerned about Weaver's $8,325,000 salary, and what it'll do to the Cards' ability to pick up another OF bat.