First off, I would like to say that I was really surprised to hear that Mike Shannon is 74 years old. I am sure that if I really sat down and thought about it, I could get close to that number if you think back to him playing in the 60′s.

But when you listen to Mike call baseball games day in a day out, you forget that he is really starting to get up in years…he still calls the game with such a youthful joy and exuberance. Time takes its toll on everyone, and sooner or later you knew Shannon would have to cut back.

Now granted, he’s cutting back from 15 games off to 30 games off (primarily the 3rd leg of road trips when they happen), so Cardinal Nation will still hear a lot of Mike Shannon this season.

But reading the article just made me realize how much I will miss Mike when he is gone. He has received many accolades over his long-tenured and storied career, but in my mind, will always be a guy who’s legacy  lives in the shadow of Jack Buck.

To me, the two go together. Both were great in their own right, but each made the other better.

Shannon is not the most precise announcer.

Often, he fumbles his words (life-long St. Louisans all have their own “Shannonisms” they like to share with one another).

When I was younger it seemed like there were games his cackly laugh got a little “cacklier” as the innings wore on (as he indulged himself in another “cold frosty budweiser), but the man knows how to call a baseball game in a very entertaining way without becoming a sideshow.

He understands the history of Cardinal baseball and what it means to the city better than anyone alive today.

Last summer, I had the chance to go to Wrigley Field for the first time. One thing I love about Wrigley is how close you can get to the field and to the players.

As is my tradition, I like to get to the games right when the gates open to catch batting practice. Mike was walking out to the batting cage in right field to interview Matt Holliday for the pre-game show. It was fun to watch up close how all the guys lit up when walked into the cage.

Mike waddles right into the middle of all the players waiting to take BP hollering “hey fellas, hey fellas, hey fellas, gotta get one back today” (Cardinals had given up a lead and lost the day before). Then he looks around and notices that Matheny is still a ways away, en route from the dugout. He leans in a little closer and says, “If Matheny would have played the right *&*&#$ lineup yesterday, you guys would have got that W”, to which the whole room erupts in laughter.

Only Mike Shannon could walk in there and say something like that and get away with it. And it obviously wasn’t a jab at Matheny- whom he well respects- he was just being one of the guys before the game. It was a fun moment to take in.

So I wanted this opportunity to give a short tribute to my favorite announcer still calling games, and someone who means a lot to Cardinal Nation.

Enjoy the extra time off this year, Mike, but don’t leave us just yet. That will be a sad day in Cardinal Nation…one that I just don’t think we are quite ready for.

It could easily be argued that no town and its sport hero has ever had, or will ever have the love affair that St. Louis and Stan the Man had. He was the bridge between the GasHouse Gang and the modern era, reconnecting with new generations of Cardinals fans each season he appeared at Busch Stadium. He was revered, and you could feel the electricity and awe in the stadium every time he was there.

I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, but everyone who did said he was such a kind and giving man. One of my favorite recent memories of him, was a picture his grandson (who ran his twitter account) posted the day he was awarded The Presidential medal of freedom. It meant so much to him that he was still wearing it on the plane ride home. Awesome.

On a personal note, I am a fourth generation Cardinals fan. My grandfather was born in 1927 and would often tell me stories of Stan the Man and the Cardinal teams of his day. Many a summer night growing up, I would listen to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon tell stories about him during late innings of blowout games. He was the kind of guy who had the character to go tell management to cut his pay after one poor season (at least by his standards). That kind of stuff just doesn’t happen anymore.

His passing brings about a lot of sadness and nostalgia for me in the wake of watching Albert Pujols leave for LA and Josh Hamilton follow him a year later. If there were ever guys I thought would stay loyal to a team and city for a career, it was those two. But, as we are unfortunately reminded all too often, the game of baseball is ultimately a business. And although Musial played before the free agent era, I would like to be naive enough to believe that there was a time this was less the case.

I will not even attempt to give The Man the tribute he deserves. I will leave that to the Bernie Miklasz’s of the world. But above are just a few of so many things I will always remember about Stan the Man.

But I would like to make a proposal….

Right after the news of Musial’s death, I tweeted “Busch-Musial stadium has a nice ring to it”, to which I quickly got three replies all basically to the same effect. They suggested Musial Field at Busch Stadium.

I think that is beautiful and fitting. If you agree, help make it happen Cardinal Nation.

There are 9 awards for actual St. Louis Cardinals, and 9 awards for Cardinal bloggers.

Award 1: Player of the Year

Nominees: Allen Craig, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina

The Cardinals had a great offensive season (with over 5 players hitting 20 home runs), but this award has to hands down go to Yadier Molina. Molina followed last season’s career year at the plate with an even better year this year. In addition, he was the glue that held the pitching staff together through many injuries and helped young guys like Joe Kelly, Trevor Rosenthal, and Shelby Miller adjust to the majors. Yadi also was a coach on the field while Mike Matheny was acclimating to the big league game.

This is another no-brainer,Kyle Lohse.From June through the end of the season, Lohse ripped off 18 of 22 quality starts and had an ERA under 2 in June and August. He was consistently good night-in and night-out, and is about to reap a big payday for it somewhere other than STL. He is as much to thank for the Cardinals playoff berth as Yadi.

Award 8: Acquisition of the Year

Nominees: Carlos Beltran, Edward Mujica

Both were great acquisitions. Mujica solidified the bullpen, and was absolutely tremendous in the 7th inning. However, Beltran just had too good of a season to pass him up for this award. I would venture to say Mozeliak was pleasantly surprised that Beltran put up even better numbers in 2012 than he did in 2011.

Award 9: Most Anticipated Cardinal

Nominees: Carlos Martinez, Oscar Taveras, Kolten Wong

There are so many exciting prospects coming up through the ranks right now, but this one has to go to Taveras. The guy is top 5 prospect in most every list that I see, and Mozeliak said the best bat to come through the minors since El Hombre.

Award 10: Best Individual Cardinal Blog

Here is the tough part, essentially picking amongst a bunch of great friends. There are so many good Cardinals blogs to pick from. c70, Cardinals GM, Fungoes, On the Outside Corner, and the list goes on.

I’m not going to go with any of the ones listed above however. I’m going to vote for a guy that I’ve gotten to know the last year who I really enjoy reading his work. There’s nothing overly flashy about what he writes, just good solid consistent content. I really enjoy his insights on all things Cardinals, so my vote goes to Kevin Reynolds at CardsNStuff.

Award 11: Best Team Cardinal Blog

I’m going to wuss out and not vote on this one This one is just honestly too hard for me to call.

Award 12: Best Cardinal Media Blog

Nominees: Bird Land, By Gosh It’s Langosch, Cards Beat

Bird Land by Goold. He’s great.

Award 13: Best Rookie Cardinal Blog

Nominees: CardsBlog, Keene on MLB, StanGraphs

Another very hard call, but I’m going to go with Keene on MLB.

Award 14: Post of the Year

Nominees: Cardinal Executives Candid With Bloggers (RetroSimba), Darryl Kile’s Final Inning (Aaron Miles’ Fastball), On Life, Love and Baseball (I70 Baseball), STARS for Baby Reesa (Pitchers Hit Eighth), We Don’t Get To Write The Endings (C70 At The Bat)

Gotta go with i70′s post. All were great, but thatone was tops for me.

Award 15: Best UCB Project

Nominees: Buck/Kile remembrances, Roundtables, Top 5 Iconic Moments, Top 7 Prospects

I’m going to go with On the Outside Corner for this one. Bob always helps Cardinals fans come off the ledge when something crazy happens (like Matheny bunts) to remind us it’s a game we all love, and we have been in that situation before and made it out ok. Very therapeutic for me during games

-Albert Pujols: gone

-Tony LaRussa: retired

-Dave Duncan: gone

-Octavio Dotel: gone

-Lance Berkman: essentially lost for the season

- Carpenter: thought to be lost for season, makes miraculous comeback for three regular season starts

-Rafael Furcal: lost for the stretch run

-Mike Matheny: learning on the job, bunting a lot in key spots

Then there was all the nicks and bruises throughout the season, the bullpen implosions in the first half, a prolonged second half slump from Carlos Beltran, a second half slump from Lance Lynn, etc.

Throughout all of that, Mozeliak never panicked or waivered from the plan. He made one seemingly unimpressive trade deadline move (Edward Mujica for prospect Zach Cox), and many Cardinal fans took that to mean he was waving the white flag for this season as the Reds began to pull away with the division lead.

Somehow, the club kept hold of the second wild card start….the bullpen became a strength rather than a weakness with the addition of Mujica and the emergence of Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller, and Trevor Rosenthal, and the club started playing some pretty good baseball in September to hold off the Dodgers, Brewers, Phillies, and Diamondbacks.

Then the October magic started happening. We all know what happened against Atlanta and Washington.

It has been pretty incredible to watch this formula for success work two years in a row. Build a solid core of hitters with great plate discipline, pitch-to-groundball starting pitching, and nasty heat out of the bullpen from young relievers. Much credit is due to Mark McGuire, John Mabry, and Derek Lilliquist for instilling disciplined approaches across the board. You can see the hitters adjust their strategy to either swing early or be patient depending upon the matchups and game situations. If you haven’t noticed, the Cardinals are a lot better at moving runners over and using outs to get runs home this season than they were last season (example Shane Robinson at bat last night).

The pitching coaches and advanced scouts really have the pitchers prepared for success as well. Joe Strauss reported that an advanced scout informed Cardinal coaches the Nationals would be susceptible to high fastballs, so the strategy changed in the Washington series and the bullpen locked them down when it counted the most.

Now, let us not forget that the NLCS is far from over. These same Giants came back and won three in a row to close out the NLDS. One key difference, however.

They are no longer playing the Cincinnati Reds. These are the St. Louis Cardinals. A team Mozeliak has built for October success.

#12in12

I was just talking with my Dad and he told me how much he wants a Cardinals/Yankees World Series, because he remembers watching the 1964 Cardinals/Yankees series with his father, and hopes someday I will have a son and we can watch a Cardinals/Yankees World Series. How cool is that?

But that’s the thing about nostalgia, isn’t it? Yesteryear always seems better. We don’t often think about the challenges and hardships, we remember the good times. There’s that slight pain of bittersweet emotion, wishing you could go back to a day when “life was simpler” and “things were better”. The danger of that kind of thinking is that you run the risk of not fully appreciating the moment you find yourself in.

“Great analysis Dr. Phil”, you may be thinking, what does this have to do with baseball or the 2012 Cardinals? Well all of these thoughts started swirling in my head yesterday morning after I read Bernie Miklasz’s tremendous recap of Game 5 of the NLDS.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/bernie-resilient-redbirds-refuse-to-lose/article_a1787f78-14f5-11e2-8952-0019bb30f31a.html

Quick side note: Please read that article, bookmark it, save it in your favorites, whatever…it is a treasure for Cardinal’s fans. The clip of that article that I couldn’t shake was when Bernie said:

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On a bracing Friday night that felt chilled and charmed, just like the enchanted autumn of 2011, the Cardinals gave us one of the all-time shockers. It was something out of the imagination, a baseball fable that couldn’t be real. Except it did really happen, and if you closed your eyes and listened intently, you may have heard the echoes of the late Jack Buck barking “Go crazy, folks. Go crazy.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am 30 years old. I grew up on the “Whiteyball” teams of the 1980′s. My earliest memories are of the 1985 team, but I remember the 1987 team much more. I often find myself wishing I could go back in time and watch those teams play every day again. I often find myself wishing I could have watched Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roger Maris, Joe Torre, Mike Shannon, and Ken Boyer wear the Birds on the Bat in the 60′s and 70′s. And of course I would have loved to have been around to see Stan the Man, The Gashouse Gang, and Rogers Hornsby. Some of those teams were the “golden age” of Cardinals baseball, right?

Well, maybe not. Over the last 13 seasons, two teams have made the League Championship Series seven times – you guessed it – the Cardinals and the Yankees. Over those 13 seasons, the Cardinals have put together a pretty amazing run.

2000 – Lost in NLCS to New York Mets

2001 – Lost to Arizona in NLDS  (the Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson team that went on to beat Yankees in World Series)

2002 – Lost to San Fransisco in NLCS (fought hard after losing Kile and Buck, but came up just short of World Series)

2003- missed playoffs

2004 – Lost to Boston in World Series (curse of Bambino broken, Cards won 100 games)

2005 – Lost to Houston in NLCS (104 win season, final season at Busch II)

2006 – Beat Detroit for World Series title

2007 – missed playoffs

2008 – missed playoffs

2009 – Lost to LA in NLDS

2010 – missed playoffs

2011 – Beat Rangers for World Series title

2012 – TBD, advanced to NLCS against San Fransisco

Here are a few more interesting stats for you. Since 2000, three teams have won more than 1 World Series title: New York Yankees (2000,2009), Boston (2004, 2007), and St. Louis (2006, 2011). No team has won three.

You begin to see how the Cardinals stack up against other organizations in Baseball. Here is a breakdown of World Series appearances by teams since 2000:

4 – Yankees

3 – Cardinals

2- Rangers, Giants, Phillies, Red Sox

1 – Rays, Rockies, Tigers, White Sox, Astros, Marlins, Angels, Diamondbacks, Mets

Four victories sometime in the next nine days would give the Cardinals their fourth World Series appearance the last nine seasons. Over those same nine seasons, only two other teams have appeared more than once: the Red Sox and the Rangers. All three other LCS teams this year are going for their second World Series appearance since 2004.

A pretty impressive resume for sure, and I haven’t even mentioned the fact that this team has provided two of the greatest elimination game comebacks  (2011 World Series Game 6, 2012 NLDS Game 5) in the history of baseball. These two games will go down in baseball lore forever.

A case could be made right now that the Cardinals have been the most dominating team over the last decade. If they win another title this year, there is certainly no debate. Who could you reasonably put ahead of them?

All of this while being the 24th largest market out of 30 MLB teams. All of this while re-hauling their minor league system and player development strategy since new GM John Mozeliak took over in 2007. All of this, for this season specifically, while replacing a Hall-of-Fame manager (Tony LaRussa) with a rookie manager (Mike Matheny), and losing the best pitching coach (Dave Duncan) and hitter (Albert Pujols) of our generation.

And if you haven’t been following, the Cardinals minor league pipeline is quite full. This team will be loaded for years to come without the burden of a 250 million contract to Pujols. And that young talent is fun to watch…some of it has made its way to the big club this year: Trevor Rosenthal, Pete Kozma, Ryan Jackson, Joe Kelly, Shelby Miller. Waiting in the wings are guys like Oscar Taveras, Kolten Wong, Seth Manness, Jordan Swagerty, Matt Adams, Garret Wittels, Michael Wacha, and so many others.

Buckle up, this team is not going away for a while. And even if they did- even if they didn’t win another game this postseason- one day we will all look back and appreciate just how special this era of Cardinal baseball has been.

So while it is great to remember and draw upon our storied history as Cardinal fans, don’t let this moment pass you by.

I share another article with you from Bernie Miklasz.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/the-story-of-the-comeback-in-the-players-own-words/article_ad89829d-aec3-5940-b860-c88ff288a7af.html

Just read through it and think about the response and expectation of this team of battle-tested warriors in the face of a six-run deficit in a hostile environment. I contrast that with what I saw from the Cincinnati Reds, when they themselves were down 6-0 in their fifth NLDS game against San Fransisco, just a day before. And while it is hard to tell from an outsider perspective, here is what I saw while the Reds were trying to rally back to victory…guys sitting in the dugout, one-off conversations with smiles and joking, some guys not even paying attention to what was happening on the field.

The point here is not to bash the Reds. The point is to help you appreciate how truly unique this Cardinals group is. They seem to embody “team-first” mentality, even against the greatest of odds.

So, as you settle in and get ready for tonight’s Game 1 of the NLCS, hopefully you understand just what kind of team you are cheering for. If 2011 was all about “Happy Flight”, I think 2012 is all about “Never Give Up“.

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25398677&topic_id=37975482&c_id=stl

Even though Pete Kozma interviews like Ricky Bobby (“I’m not sure what to do with my hands right now”), he embodies better than anyone else the resiliency of this team. The long- forgotten first round draft pick that everyone had given up, gets the game-winning RBIs.

And at the risk of throwing in one too many “warm and fuzzies” in this article, perhaps this team represents well another legend of the game, who’s foundation has the very motto “Never Give Up”.

In an era of steroid scandals, the Cardinals give our greatest game something to be proud of. As Cardinal fans, we hold to our storied history, but pause for just a minute to wonder if we are living right in the middle of the Golden Era of Cardinal baseball.

Here is to “12 in 12″.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dERCZGpsRVFFMGpEdUFBYU92LUdERmc6MQ#gid=0

St. Louis Cardinals (80-70) vs. Chicago Cubs (58-92)

All Eyez on Me:

There has arguably never been a more anticipated game of the 2012 season for the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans than the September 21st contest against the Chicago Cubs. Thrown into the mix of the already exciting September playoff chase for the WildCard is the return of the Cardinals oft-injured, but greatest warrior, Chris Carpenter, making his first appearance since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. Carpenter could fittingly echo the words of the late, great urban poet Tupac Shakur and claim “All Eyez on Me” when he takes the mound, as the baseball world will no doubt be watching with great interest to see what he does today.

No other player affects the pennant race and playoff landscape than a healthy and effective Chris Carpenter, and you can bet everyone will be watching. If healthy, Carpenter could make 3 regular season starts.

My name is Chris and you can find my work for the United Cardinal Bloggers at www.birdsonthebat82.com, and also find me on twitter @BirdsontheBat82.

It is with great excitement that I write today’s Bird’s Eye View, with the Cardinals currently sitting on a four-game winning streak as they head to the friendly confines for the final time this season. The only thing better than writing this column would be to actually be at Wrigley Field today, so for those of you that get that opportunity, soak it all in!

The Rundown:

The Cardinals enter today’s contest riding high after sweeping the lowly Astros. This was a nice pick me up after a disappointing, bunt-filled 2-5 road trip out west against the Dodgers and the Padres. While the national baseball media speaks to the Cardinals advantageously “soft” schedule the rest of the way, let’s not take lightly sweeping an Astros team that was 8-7 in September heading into the Cardinals series. On top of that, the Cardinals defeated Lucas Harrell, who has been one of the NL’s top pitchers the second half, and Cardinal killer Bud “Naughty” Norris (I made that nickname up). The team certainly caught a break due to Norris having the flu yesterday, but I will take any win against Norris the Cardinals can provide.

The landscape of the chase for the second Wild Card spot has changed dramatically over the last week and a half. Here is a quick rundown of the teams in the hunt, what they have done, and their upcoming schedule.

St. Louis Cardinals (80-70) Record Last 10: 5-5 2012 Run Differential: +92 2nd Wild Card Standing: +2.5

The Cardinals (as mentioned above) are riding a four game winning streak heading into Chicago

Upcoming Games:

Chicago (3) Sept 21-23, @Houston (3) Sept 24-26, Washington (3) Sept 28-30, Cincinnati (3) Oct 1 -3

With the hard-charging Brewers fast closing, it seems important that the Cardinals win at least 4 of the next 6 contests, and perhaps even 5. The variable here is what Washington and Cincinnati’s approach will be during the final two series after having already clinched the division title. They obviously paid attention to Philadelphia last year in their Braves series the final weekend, and will attempt to adjust accordingly while keeping their playoff rotation intact.

This writer is on record saying that the Cardinals need to go 8-4 over their final twelve games to secure the second Wild Card Berth

Milwaukee (77-72) Record Last 10: 8-2 2012 Run Differential: +51 2nd Wild Card Standing: -2.5

Milwaukee has been very hot of late and made a surprising run to pass the Dodgers, Phillis, and Pirates in the Wild Card standings. They swept Atlanta, took 2 out of 3 from New York, and then dismantled the Pirates in a 3-game sweep. Ryan Braun is having a monster year (40 HR, 105 RBI, .311 BA, 28 SB), and Rickie Weeks and Norichika Aoki have been on fire of late, giving the Brewers enough offense to back a solid rotation and excellent bullpen. Over the last month, Aoki has put together 3 HR, 16 RBI, and 11 SB, while batting .327. Over that same time, Weeks has compiled 7 HR, 17 RBI, 7 steals and batting .284.
This team has power, pitching, and speed. Fortunately for the Cardinals, they may have waited too late to make a run, if the Cardinals take care of their business. While all games are crucial at this point, there is extra emphasis for the Brewers on the upcoming 7-game roadtrip to Washington and Cincinnati.

Upcoming Games:

@Washington (4) Sept 21-24, @Cincinnati (3) Sept 25-27, Houston (3) Sept 28-30, San Diego (3) Oct 1-3

LA Dodgers (77-73) Record Last 10: 3-7 2012 Run Differential: +12 2nd Wild Card Standing: -3.0

The Dodgers have been in a severe funk, despite upping their payroll considerably the last two months under new ownership. Matt Kemp (seemingly playing hurt), has been terrible the last month, batting .213 with only 2 home runs. Adrian Gonzalez hasn’t been much help either, hitting only .221 with 1 HR the last month. All the while, the pitching staff is an absolute mess. Beckett has been mediocre at best, Blanton terrible his last 7 starts, and Kershaw is out indefinitely with a hip pointer. Rookie Stephen Fife has been injected into the fifth starting spot due to all the injuries (Kershaw, Billingsley, Lilly) but has been bad when he has pitched, and it remains unclear how the Dodgers plan to solve the pitching problem. It does not bode well for their playoff chances, however.

Upcoming Games:

@Cincinnati (3) Sept 21-23, @San Diego (3) Sept 25-27, Colorado (3) Sept 28-30, San Fran (3) Oct 1-3

Philly (76-74) Record Last 10: 7-3 2012 Run Differential: +10 2nd Wild Card Standing: -4.0

Philadelphia was charging hard before dropping 3 out of 4 to the Astros and falling behind Milwaukee. They did rebound nicely, however, to sweep 3 games from the Mets. Any team that has Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Cole Hamels, always has an outside chance, which is precisely what the Phillies have at this point in time. Leapfrogging three teams in 12 games is no easy task, but they are worth keeping an eye on, in spite of a very difficult remaining 12 game schedule.

Upcoming Games:

Atlanta (3) Sept 21-23, Washington (3) Sept 25-27, @Miami (3) Sept 28-30, @ Washington (3) Oct 1-3

For the sake of time and space I’m going to omit the Pirates and Diamondbacks, who have dropped to 5.5 games out.

Season Series: Cardinals lead 8-6

The Cubbies: We have talked about all the other teams in contention, I suppose we should talk about the team the Cardinals are playing the next three days. As most of you reading this probably know, the Cubs are bad. They are in full rebuilding mode, and after a stretch of winning 7 of 9 earlier in September, they come into today’s series having lost 5 of 6 to the Pirates and Reds. They rank 26th in the league in batting average (.241), 29th in OBP (.303), 24th in ERA (4.45), and 18th in batting average against (.256). This series is certainly there for the taking for St. Louis

One of the bright spots for the Cubbies has been rookie Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo has 14 HR, 45 RBI and batting .296 in 294 AB since being called up. Another surprise for Chicago has been the resurgence of Alfonso Soriano. He has 30 HR and 103 RBI for the year, with 8 of those HR coming in the last month. The Cardinals pitchers will need to pay special attention to those two this weekend to stay out of trouble.

Pitching Matchups:

September 21: Chris Carpenter (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Chris Volstad (3-10, 6.26 ERA)

Volstad is coming off shaky outing on the 16th against Pittsburgh, allowing 6 earned runs in 4 and 2/3 innings. Volstad has not registered a quality start since August 19th and is giving up close to 2 home runs per game. He is a ground ball pitcher, but is susceptible to the long ball.

September 22: Adam Wainwright (13-13, 3.97 ERA) vs. Travis Wood (6-12, 4.25 ERA)

Wood has been farily solid in August and September. Five of his last 6 outings have been quality starts. His k/9 is 6.8 on the year, and over his last six starts an ERA of 2.77. He has cut down on HR given up over those starts even though half of balls in play are fly balls. The Cards need to muscle up on him with doubles to the gap and put a few over the fence onto Clark and Addison.

Wainwright has struggled a bit of late, with 3 quality starts in last 6, but he has looked better the last two times out against San Diego and LA, giving up only 4 ER in 14 innings. His k/9 has been consistently over 8 all season and his bb/9 under 3. The fluctuations for Wainwright center mainly around the long ball. When he gets over 1 per game, he struggles, when he keeps it under 1 per game for an extended period he does well. While seemingly over simplifying the issue, my point is he has been consistent on outs per balls in play, and striking out as many guys as he always has, as well as limiting fly balls (25%). What he has yet to show since return from TJ surgery, is the same ability to limit home runs, and that is what gets him in trouble at times.

Sept 23: Kyle Lohse (15-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. J. Germano (2-8, 5.58 ERA)

What more can be said about Kyle Lohse other than he is having a career year and should receive some Cy Young consideration (although he probably won’t).

Germano is a 30-year old journeyman pitcher who has not been good this season (1 quality start in 10 outings). While his numbers above speak for themselves, it is interesting to note that he gives up runs in bunches. 40% of baserunners that reach against him, score. This is about 10% above league average.

Hot Birds:

Carlos Beltran is starting to heat up. A strong presence from him in the lineup would make a world of difference for the stretch run. He has 7 hits in his last 17 at bats.

Allen Craig (aka professional hitter) keeps on doing what he does….hit. He has 2 HR, 9 RBI and 8 hits over the last 6 games.

David Freese is starting to get his groove back after an extended slump. He has 4 HR and batting .300 this month.

“MuBogMot” as our friends at Viva El Birdo call our innings 7-9 team of Edward Mujica, Mitchell Boggs, and Jason Motte, have been lights out. Mujica has given up an earned run only once in his last 25 appearances. Over the last month, he has an ERA of 2.03 with 13/2 K/BB. Boggs and Motte have continued to be consistently solid as well. One area of concern is that Matheny has ridden them pretty hard lately, so the Cardinals could use a couple of blowouts in Chicago to get them some rest. Otherwise, we may need some other relievers to step up big in some “close and late” situations

Interesting Tidbit:

I just realized this week about the roster craziness that may ensue the first week of October. Expanded rosters (40) is obviously in effect until the end of the regular season. What I did not know (or think about) was the fact that the 25-man roster for the Wild Card Play-In Game does not have to be the 25-man roster for the NLDS. So if the Cardinals make it, Lohse is currently in line to be the starter for the play-in game. Since the Cardinals have several guys that can throw 3 or 4 innings out of the bullpen (Rosenthal, Miller, Kelly), they might not even have to take another starter or one more at the most, into that game.
Matheny now has 3 or 4 extra roster spots available for an extra bat off the bench or more relievers. Could you imagine if La Russa was still managing? We might have seen 9 different pitchers get the last 9 outs. I hope you grab a Snickers for the Wild Card Play-in Game, because you might not be going anywhere for a while. The game might last 5 hours with all the extra relievers each team will be carrying. Of course, Matheny now has several more options for incorporating bunts into late game situations

Podcast Links:

UCB Radio Hour (9/19) with Dathan Brooks and yours truly. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ivieleagueproductions/2012/09/20/ucb-radio-hour-brought-to-you-by-cardsdiasporacom

Gateway to Baseball Heaven (9/16) with Daniel Shoptaw and Bill Ivie http://www.blogtalkradio.com/seamheads/2012/09/17/gateway-to-baseball-heavenbaseball-by-the-bay

I’ll save tweets and posts of the week for next time, as first pitch in Chicago is fast approaching.

Thanks for reading.

Now back in the friendly confines of Busch, they take the first two from the Mets and have a chance to sweep here in a couple of hours. The Pirates continue to drop in the standings as do the Braves. It appears to be a three-horse race for two wild card spots (Dodgers, Cardinals, Braves) with 26 games to go. The Pirates could jump back in, but nothing they have done over the last month (except for their series against the Cardinals) suggests they are a serious contender.

Here is something interesting I noted this morning.

Mike Matheny has faced a lot of challenges this year, injuries to key players being one of them. Now guys are getting healthy and the rosters have expanded. Now the challenge for Matheny will not be managing from a position of shortage, but how well he manages from a position of depth…yes I know Furcal is out and that creates a huge challenge at SS. That notwithstanding, everyone is for the most part healthy even though several guys are banged up (including Holliday who left last nights game with back spasms).

Matheny now has Ryan Jackson, Adron Chambers, and Lance Berkman available to add to the leagues’ best statistical offense. He has to figure out how and when to get gold-glove caliber Daniel Descalso into a lineup while not relegating .300 hitter Skip Schumaker to the bench. Matt Carpenter would be an everyday starter on most NL teams, but fills the role of super-sub spelling Freese at 3rd, Craig at 1st, and the corner OF’s. AAAA Pete Kozma can give guys an additional day off. Not to mention Tony Cruz is a more than capable fill-in when Molina needs a day off.

Now the possibilities open up quite a bit for Matheny in late-game situations. He has more pinch hitters available. He can put Chambers in key spots to steal a base or bolster the OF defense to protect a lead. Descalso can come in as a defensive replacement.

On the pitching side, things have worked out quite nicely. Jaime Garcia has thrown two tremendous games at home. Lance Lynn shows signs of getting things right again. Joe Kelly has pitched very well since moving back to the rotation. Shelby Miller is now available after terrorizing AAA for the last couple of months. Trevor Rosenthal (.174 opp BA) is back to help Edward Mujica, Mitchell Boggs, and Jason Motte, who have been the best innings 7-9 combo in baseball over the last two months.

And, lest we forget, that Chris freaking Carpenter might be in the mix to help the rotation in September. I have not even mentioned Kyle Lohse, who is having a career year, Adam Wainwright who has looked back to 2009 form most of the last three months, and Jake Westbrook who has put together a lot of quality starts this season.

Matheny has a lot of options both offensively and defensively. Despite the Cardinals falters last week, they remain in the lead for the second wild card spot, and have a fairly favorable schedule over the final 26 games.

Matheny has a chance to earn his stripes during his first ever playoff chase, and a lot of things are falling in line to give him the necessary weapons to make a substantial run once again.

Let’s see how he fares on his biggest test yet. October is just around the corner.

I am concerned about the St. Louis Cardinals…and my, what a difference a few days can make. Monday night, the Cardinals were sitting on top of the world. They had just swept Houston, took 2 out of 3 in Cincy, and won the first game of a huge series in Pittsburgh. Then, IT happened. Huge collision between Josh Harris and Yadier Molina at home plate in a blowout game. The run would have meant nothing, but the play could change everything. For all the numbers geeks (like myself) that pore over statistical analysis, it’s frustrating when you can not quantify situations like what happened in Tuesday’s game. But it has an impact. These are baseball players with emotions, concerns, feelings, etc. Yes they are supposed to be professionals and play “no matter what”. But momentum matters. Big plays like this matter. Don’t believe me? Look at the results since Tuesday. The Cardinals have lost 4 games in a row and scored 1 run over the last 3. Seems like an odd time for such a coincidence to happen.

It reminds me of the brawl between the Reds two seasons ago when Johnny Cueto jump-kicked Jason LaRue into retirement.

The date was August 10, 2010. The cardinals had a big 3-game series with the Reds and won the first game 7-3. Game 2 would give them the chance to pull even in the division if they could win. This was the game of the huge brawl (as I mentioned). The Cardinals won that game 8-4 and won the next day 6-1.

Then all hell broke loose.

They finished up August 5-12. Then the Cardinals went 14-15 in September. Not exactly a strong pennant race push to end the season. When 162 games were finished in 2010, the Cardinals found themselves 5 games back of Cincinnati for the division crown and 4 games behind the Braves for the wild card.

I don’t know why these kind of plays can affect the course of a season, but it seems they do. When I saw Harris slam into Molina, Tuesday night, the 2010 incident was the first thing that came to mind.

Perhaps I am making too much of the whole thing. I hope I am. Hopefully, momentum shifted from the Cardinals playing really good baseball to really bad baseball around that time, not because of that play. Hopefully, it’s just a 3-game funk in the middle of the biggest road series of the year.

But I think there is something more in play here. Let’s hope this team will be different than 2010, and right the ship quickly. Let’s hope they can take on the grit their manager showed on the field as a player, and the grit the soul of their team (Yadier Molina) has played with all year and buckle down for the pennant race.

This team is too good to collapse.

In the midst of all that, the Cardinals have remained quiet to this point. Does Mozeliak have something up his sleeve?

Today, Victor Marte was designated for assignment and the Cardinals bought the contract of Brian Fuentes from AA-Springfield. This now creates an interesting scenario whereby the Cardinals have three left-handed relievers in the bullpen. Although Matheny said earlier today, that he was fine with carrying three, what exactly is he supposed to say?

MLB Trade Rumors and other national sources have the Cardinals in talks with the Angels about trading Marc Rzepcynski for Peter Bourjos. This move would make a lot of sense to give the Cardinals some needed speed, depth with Berkman on the mend and Greene never performing at acceptable level, and because of Jon Jay’s struggles.

My guess is Fuentes will be put in early and often the next couple of days if at all possible for the front office to assess just what they have with him, so they would still have time to get a deal done with the Angels before July 31.

I don’t see the team carrying three left handed relievers all season. And I think Bourjos would be a nice extra outfielder to add to the club.

Then they went 0 for the world with RISP and lost 5 of those first 6 games. The crazy thing was the 5 total losses were by a total of 6 runs. Agonizing, particularly since the Pirates and Reds have a long streak of games against very bad teams coming up. The Cardinals missed a golden opportunity to make up some much needed ground. On the heels of that loss, I wrote the following post for I-70 baseball.

http://www.i70baseball.com/2012/07/20/will-matheny-find-mojo/

One day after I posted this article, Wainwright publicly challenged his team, stating they were severely underperforming. He felt the Cardinals a championship caliber team, playing at an unacceptable mediocre level. I echo his sentiments. I am glad someone finally stepped forward and challenged the team.

Last weekend, the Cubs came to Busch on a stretch of playing really good baseball. It became a pretty important home stand for the Cardinals at 5 games back and the Dodgers getting ready to come in for four games. Something amazing happened….the Cardinals swept the Cubs and turned the tables on the recent trend for both teams. The Cubs were the ones who went without a hit with runners in scoring position, and the Cardinals unleashed the floodgates of runs sweeping the series.

The question in my mind became, “Was the wake up call by Wainwright received by the team, and this the start of a stretch of really good baseball?” The Dodgers series loomed large, but following that is six games with the Cubs and Rockies. Perhaps the Cardinals were turning a corner and about to go on a tear.

A tear is needed because the Reds and Pirates aren’t losing. The Cardinals didn’t make up any ground over the weekend because the Pirates and Reds both swept their series as well.

Last night, the Cardinals ran into a pitcher (Billingsley) who shut them down. Joe Kelly gave us what we figured Joe Kelly would…6 innings and 2 earned runs. It wasn’t a terrible loss, but a loss nonetheless.

Is this more of the same inconsistency and inability to build momentum or a small blip against a good team? I obviously hope it’s the former. The Cardinals really need to win 2 of these next 3 against the Dodgers to not fall further back in the standings.

Interestingly, the Cardinals have stayed very quiet in the trade market. It begs the question of what is really going on behind the scenes. Is Mozeliak quietly orchestrating a big move in the final week of July? Perhaps he lacks confidence in the club’s ability to catch the Pirates and Reds and isn’t going to risk a top-tier prospect for a rental to the Wild Card play-in game ? Or maybe he thinks this team is really good enough to win as is.

We will have our answer to both the team’s response to Wainwright’s wake up call, and how Mozeliak views the strength of this roster within the next week.

These next three games are huges.