Some things I read that were interesting.

The Cardinals are 23-16 vs. Left handed pitchers. Since acquiring Matt Holliday, the Cardinals are 9-1 when the opponent starts a left-handed pitcher. So before getting Holiday they were 14-16. First, it is amazing what one right handed bat will do for your line-up. This is especially true because instead of using either Chris Duncan, Ankiel, or Rasmus (the Cards were putting 2 if not 3 out everyday when Ryan would sit) all left handers. Now they get Ludy and Holliday. Second, there seem to be a lot of lefties if the Cards have already faced that many. Why don’t the Cards have a lefty starter? Decided to look at what was coming up the farm system. Looks like Memphis has 1 starting lefty and 2 or 3 relievers. The only one that starts is Evan MacLane. Wouldn’t hold my breath for him to come up anytime soon. 4-11 with a 4.09 ERA on a team that is winning its division. Ryan Kulik is in Springfield (AA team) with a 5-9 record ERA above 5. Of course, they are a last place team in there division.

Another annoying thing. Throughout the Dodgers series all they kept talking about was Russell Martin and his catching. They always introduced him as “gold glove winner” Russell Martin. First of all, he looked horrible behind the plate. Secondly, Yadi should have won the gold glove in 07, not Martin. 14 Errors, 5 Passed Balls, .988 Fielding % vs. 6 Errors, 7 Passed Balls, ,991 Fielding %. Which stats do you think won the Golden Glove. The first, Martin. Martin did bat 290’s with almost 20 HRs. But it is the Golden Glove. They have a Silver Slugger award for batters. I can’t help it the Golden Glove has higher prestige. Martin is not a Gold Glove caliber Catcher. Last year when Yadi won, it was probably his worst defensive year with 11 errors and 986 Fielding %. But he had his best offensive year. I really wish they would not make the Golden Glove an offensive biased award but award the best fielder.

How annoying are broadcasters. I was watching the Cards last night on ESPN, so you would think they would be somewhat neutral. I guess they were for the most part, but what they were saying just didn’t make sense. The Dodgers had some knuckle ball pitcher pitching his first start. Everything he threw was about 6 inches above the strike zone. The problem was, the umpire was calling them strikes. The Cards were looking at these high strikes and getting behind in counts and so they had to swing at these high knuckleballs. So the brilliant commentators were questioning why the Cards kept swinging at these high balls but never commenting on why the high balls were being called strikes.

He threw 7 innings and only gave up 3 runs on 2 homeruns, but I would be interested to see what happens in his next game. If the ump does not call a high strike and he has to put it in the middle of the plate, that is when Cards were hitting it and go their 2 homers. Carp pitched well after getting out of a base loaded 1 out jam in the 1st by only giving up one run. Cubs lose again so Cards are up 6 games.

MILK

Jim was giving me a hard time about not writing about my Cards. My earlier post was written just before the All-Star break. Since then the Cards are 18-9. They have gone from 8 games above 500 to 15 games. Although that is a good stretch, Aug. has been even better. The Cards lost to LA on July 30, were 7 games above 500, and .5 game behind the Cubs. Since then they are 11-3 and the Cubs are 6-9 to give the Cards a 5 game lead. The Cards have still played the most games of any team in the league (tied with Padres at 119) while the Cubs have played the least (115).

Holliday, DeRosa, and Lugo have all been great. But, although they have been a boost for the offense, the pitching is what has been doing it. Carp is 3-0, Waino and Pinero 2-0 in Aug. We have won Pinero’s last 8 starts and Carp has won his last 7 decisions and Waino leads the National league in wins with 14. The Cards have had a easy schedule in Aug, and after our series in LA Aug continues to be an easy road, finishing with Padres, Astros, Nationals. Sept. is not going to be as easy a road. Cards play a lot of teams that are in races, so it is great that they are able to build this lead.

Still, everything will depend on health. Carp is doing some kind of exercise therapy to stay healthy. Last year Waino had some kind of freak finger injury. Pujols plays so hard, he is always vulnerable. But they are playing great right now. This is a big series with LA and they worked it out so that we have our Aces throwing tonight and Wed. Still questions about a 5th starter. Seems like every 5th game is a forfeit which means there is a lot of pressure to win the other 3 or 4 when or Aces and descent pitcher are pitching.

Sorry to Jim. Evidently this blog thing was a curse for his BoSox who are falling into oblivion.

I was looking at it, with all the off days the Cards have, Carp would have 10 more starts, Waino - 9, Pinero - 9, Lohse - 8, and other (looks like Boggs for right now) - 7. So they will be able to space out their question marks or they can rest their horses if this lead stays the same. The Boggs starts would also land against, Padres, National, Pirates, Astros, Brewers, Florida and Dogders, so not against any of the major forces they will be facing in Sept. 4 big series in Sept. Cubs, Rockies, Marlins, Braves, we should be starting Pinero, Waino or Carp in 2 out of 3 games in all of them, all 3 pitch in the Rockies series, and only 2 series, Nationals at the end of this month and Brewers the last series of the year, where we start Lohse and Boggs/other, 2 out of the 3. A playoff series that starts on Sept 6th would have Carp pitching on normal rest and Waino pitching on extra rest.

The Cubs do have a much easier hall than they have had the last couple weeks. A 4 game series against the Dodgers coming up, a 3 game against the Cards, and a 4 gamer against the Giants teh second to last week of the season. But their pitching is in such disarray, they may have a tough time against the lower ranked teams. Even if they don't falter and start winning, the Cards do have a coushin and the Cubs only have 3 scheduled days off and they have to make up the game from yesterday. They play 2 series against Pitt and both fall around a day off, so it is likely that the Cubs only have 2 more days off the rest of the way. That will be hard on an already thin rotation.

I guess if I wrote more often, I won't write so much. Maybe I will get better at that.

MILK