This article is courtesy of our friends at C70 At The Bat
Technically, they didn’t leave anything in San Francisco, or at least not that we know of yet. They were still in the city yesterday when they had that kind of flop. I just wanted to see if Matt Sebek was looking for punny titles that weren’t in the Post-Dispatch. After a game like yesterday’s, you got to look for fun where you can, because you weren’t necessarily going to find it on the field or in anything related to the squad. Save for Matt Holliday being the Hero of the piece with a home run and three RBI, there wasn’t much to take out of their matchup with the Giants.
The Cards were able to jump on Matt Cain early and came back after the Giants took the lead, but Adam Wainwright and, more significantly, the defense behind him couldn’t keep San Francisco from coming back and winning the game. Wainwright hung in there, but he didn’t have the command that we are used to seeing out of the almost-Cy Young winner. Still, being that San Francisco doesn’t have much in the way of offense (walking Buster Posey every time is almost a legitimate strategy), Wainwright was able to limit the damage early, until the defense betrayed him (and the wild pitch he threw didn’t help matters either, putting another runner in scoring position for Brandon Crawford, who drove them both in).
There were some other good offensive days, though Cain was able to get out of most of his jams.
Yadier Molina hit a home run in the eighth, a bit of too little too late,
Lance Berkman had a couple of doubles, and
Matt Carpenter had three hits. So even though the Cards didn’t win, it still probably was Cain’s worst outing of the year.
Our Goat would have to be
David Freese. Not only did he go 0-3 (though he did have a sacrifice fly) his error in the sixth right after Wainwright left allowed the go-ahead run to score on a play that should have been routine. If the game stays at 4-4, perhaps it goes in a different direction.
You could also claim that the game might have wound up different had
Kyle McClellan not come into pitch, but at least there’s an excuse on his part. McClellan, as well as
Allen Craig, will be
placed on the disabled list today. For McClellan, it doesn’t really sound good and he’ll probably be out a significant amount of time with elbow pain. Anytime a pitcher cites the elbow as a problem, you have to get worried. McClellan had been pitching better of late and losing him in the bullpen, especially since he was going to be expected to get lefties out with the waiving of
J.C. Romero, could be costly.
Not sure who will get the call to replace McClellan.
Adam Reifer has a solid line down in Memphis, and though his splits are pretty extreme, they are in favor of him getting left-handed batters out. That’d make him more of a LOOGY, which may not be what the club wants right now. He looks like the guy most likely to make the trip up the ladder, but as always, it’d be intriguing if the club decided to use
Shelby Miller in the Wainwright-of-2006 role, letting him learn in the bullpen at the big league level. That’s not going to happen, but it’d be fun to think about.
As for Craig, I knew when he went after
Madison Bumgarner‘s fly ball on Wednesday night that he didn’t look good coming up. This seems like more of a precaution and the fact that they don’t want to play shorthanded in the upcoming series with the Dodgers. Which is a refreshing change from the typical “sit on the bench 10 days and then go on the DL” philosophy that the team has had in the past. I expect
Adron Chambers will get the call to replace Craig and, indeed, he wasn’t in Memphis’s lineup last night (though Reifer threw an inning, which may or may not mean he’s staying put).
Cards head down (up? I’m not up on my California geography) the coast and face Los Angeles in historic Dodger Stadium. (If you’ve got MLB.tv, you also get the added treat of flipping to the opponent’s TV feed and listening to Vin Scully, which is always awesome.)
Lance Lynn goes today for the Redbirds, looking to get back on the winning track. Lynn has yet to face any of the Dodger hitters, so perhaps the element of surprise will work in his favor.
On the other side, the Dodgers send out
Ted Lilly. Lilly’s always been a guy that’s given the Cardinals fits and the numbers prove it.
|
PA |
AB |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS |
IBB |
HBP |
GDP |
| Yadier Molina |
35 |
31 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
.194 |
.265 |
.290 |
.555 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Lance Berkman |
34 |
31 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
.097 |
.147 |
.194 |
.341 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Carlos Beltran |
15 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
.273 |
.467 |
.818 |
1.285 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Rafael Furcal |
15 |
14 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
.214 |
.200 |
.500 |
.700 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Skip Schumaker |
13 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.077 |
.077 |
.077 |
.154 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Matt Holliday |
11 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
.125 |
.364 |
.125 |
.489 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Kyle Lohse |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Adam Wainwright |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Total |
130 |
115 |
17 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
9 |
12 |
23 |
.148 |
.225 |
.287 |
.512 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
What little damage done off of him has been via the long ball, but again, it’s been minimal. Carlos Beltran has the best numbers off of him, but there’s no guarantee he’ll even play (though, with the other injuries, he probably better).
Technically, they didn’t leave anything in San Francisco, or at least not that we know of yet. They were still in the city yesterday when they had that kind of flop. I just wanted to see if Matt Sebek was looking for punny titles that weren’t in the Post-Dispatch. After a game like yesterday’s, you got to look for fun where you can, because you weren’t necessarily going to find it on the field or in anything related to the squad. Save for Matt Holliday being the Hero of the piece with a home run and three RBI, there wasn’t much to take out of their matchup with the Giants.