You DO Win Friends With Salas

Salas has 8 saves on the year in 8 tries.

Unlike the conventional wisdom that you don't win friends with salad, Cardinals newly crowned closer, Fernando Salas is securing wins a-plenty.  The Cardinals bullpen is full of BAMF young talent.  Besides Salas there is also Eduardo Sanchez, Mitchell Boggs, a currently DL'd Bryan Augenstein and to an extremely lesser extent, Motte.  I can see a bright future of Salas as the closer, Sanchez as the set up guy and Boggs in mid relief.  That is a nice 1,2,3 punch. So for you non-Cardinal fans who only associate Ryan Franklin and maybe Motte as the Cardinals bullpen, you need to get with the program.  This is a young group of very talented arms that will be as solid as any bullpen in the league for years to come.

Ready to Take a Few from the Brew Crew

The Cardinals - Brewers series will decide which ultimate fan will get to take home a double dose of Jeff Bridges action.

Since the last post the Cardinals have been on a bit of a hot streak.  It goes a little something like this

2 out of 3 vs the Astros

2 out of 3 vs the Braves
2 out of 4 vs the Marlins

It is this middle series of the 2 out of 3 wins vs the Braves that had the most positive impact on the team me though.  I had substantial bets going with my 2 friends that are Braves fans.  Along with the series the Cardinals took home a 6 pack of beer and free pizza lunch (which they gave to me of course).  In an ironic show of bullpen melt downs, it was the Cardinals' pen that stood strong.  The Braves young gunz of Kimbrel and Co. proceeded to give up game winning hits to the likes of Laird and Descalso.  

In all seriousness I think the biggest series was splitting with the Marlins.  That team is looking extremely good and the Cardinals showed a lot of character to come out with 2 games, especially the final game in facing Marlin's ace Josh Johnson.  Eduardo Sanchez had a nice bounce back save after being tagged with the loss the day before.

Now it is time to look towards the future.  Today the Cardinals open a 3 game set at home vs the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Brewers have been in a bit of a rut offensively and ace Yovani Gallardo has yet to put it all together this year (much to my chagrin as I own him in my fantasy league).  Still I never count the Brewers out even if they are down.  It really only takes 1 series for a team to turn it around, as we saw the Cardinals start to do in the SF Giants series.  

Tonight's match up is Jaime Garcia vs Randy One-Man Wolf (Pack).  The Cardinals offense currently being led by Lance Berkman and Matt Holliday who should give the Brewers plenty of trouble though.  The Crew has powerful line up their own featuring Weaks, Braun, Fielder and McGehee.  Absent from both line ups is Cardinal favorite and in recent years NL Central mainstead Jim Edmonds.  Hopefully he gets on with the Pirates or Astros as he continues to make the circuit around the division.

As far as teams I dislike go, the Brewers have moved down in recent years to make room for the Reds.  That dislike reached its peak 3 years ago when the Cardinals kept trying to get some momentum going to make the playoffs.  This was the year of the Izzy meltdowns.  Every time the Cardinals would get going, they would face the Brewers who would promptly sweep them, untuck their jerseys and leave the Cardinals shaking their heads. 

By the way, I am issuing a public apology to Lance Berkman, I was very wrong about the Cardinals acquisition of him.  At the time I thought it was a terrible move.  I saw it as the Cardinals adding another old white guy to the team for TLR to reminisce about the good ole' days.  His early season tear has left me trying to take my foot out of my mouth. 

Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind with this series is the high stakes bet that has been made between myself and my friend, and fellow blog rant enthusiast, Frank Grimes.  A copy of Tron Legacy is riding on this series.  As you all know Tron Legacy is one of the best movies to come out in recent memory other than the movies Gamer and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.  How can you not enjoy a good flick with Jeff Bridges?  And in this movie he plays not 1, but 2 characters!  That is double your entertainment value.

However, if the Cardinals lose the series I will have to buy the Blue Ray version of it.  Ray Patterson doesn't own a blue ray player as you might have figured, but rather uses his (friends) original halo edition xbox to watch dvds.  Let the fat cat brewers fans spend their lavish earnings on fancy blue ray dvds, I'll stick with good ole fashioned vhs dvds.

Cardinals Closing Woes and Other Notes



Is Franklin getting ready to ride off into the sun set?  Or will he still be an important part of the Cardinals team?


Well I was wrong about the team sticking with Franklin.  Mitchell Boggs was named the closer and saved his first 3 tries, but last night in fitting fashion he blew his first game and earned the L.  The team has to stick with Boggs for a little while, but I think 2 or 3 more games like last night from him and you might see Eduardo Sanchez or Fernando Salas closing.  I don't like the idea of Motte in the position.  I think his clever game plan of trying to trick batters with yet another fastball isn't going to work.  Lets hope someone at the position sticks and can be the teams closer for years to come.  I still think Boggs can get the job done though and he has good stuff.  Of course I said the same thing about Franklin.  The team will continue their series with the Astros tonight.

Last weekend Recap

Before the weekend the Cardinals took 2 of 3 from the Nationals before the Reds came to town.  That is the only plug the Nationals get.  Sorry guys, get Strausburg back healthy and you will get more print space.

On the lighter side the Cardinals did take 2 of 3 against the Reds over the weekend, extending their dominance over them from last year.  They won 12 of 18 against the Reds in 2010, but couldn't beat the teams they "should" have beat and thus fell short of a bid to make the playoffs. 

Friday's game started out slow with a loooong rain delay.  A tornado even touched down in the area and did a lot of damage.  People are still recovering from the storm.  But the team did manage to play some baseball and the Cardinals won the opener.  TLR must have a meteorology degree as he played the forecast correctly.  He had Miguel Batista warm up to start the game before the rain delay.  He walked the first batter and was a pitch into the next one before the storm hit.  Batista joked that the storm ruined his bid at a no hitter. McClellan then came into the game after the rain delay and earned the W.  Theriot had 3 hits and Pujols a couple of RBIs.  Boggs earned the save in a 4-2 victory.

On Saturday the team was ahead thanks in part to a strong outing from Carp.  The only runs off him came in the 6th after he walked Phillips with a 3-0 pitch that Votto hammered into center for a HR.  The STL pitchers combined for a 4 hitter but the team couldn't hold on thanks in large part to walks and errors.  The Cardinals held the lead, but after a rain delay the Cardinals relievers combined to give up 3 in the 8th.  The rally got started after a Freese throwing error.  But that is how the game is, one bad inning can turn the momentum around and cause you to lose despite 8 other solid innings of play. 

On another note while listening to part of the game on Fox I was reminded why I am not a fan of Joe Buck.  There are certainly a lot of pompous announcers out there, but I think he is at the top of the list.  I for one am glad he did not follow Jack Buck's footsteps and stay an announcer for the Cardinals.  It wouldn't be so bad if what he said actually resembled anything close to being intelligent.  But mainly he jumps on the latest band wagon and bestows nothing but praise while vilifying the other side.  Tim McCarver is not that great either, but I can at least stand listening to him.  Whether its football or baseball I will eventually turn the sound off rather than listen to Buck.  For the most part though I listen in to the games on the radio to hear Mike Shannon and John Rooney. 

In the rubber match up Sunday the Cardinals Jake Westbrook on just 3 days rest came through big time.  He combined with Salas, Sanchez and Boggs to blank the Reds on just 4 hits.  Boggs earned his 3rd save of the year too.  Yadi hit a 3 run shot in the 6th and that was all the team needed to take their 11th straight home series from the Reds dating back to 2006.  The Cardinals starters have been nothing but consistent this year.

On another note Brandon Phillips was booed as much as any player I have ever heard of being booed at Busch Stadium.  But he apparently loves the boos and the attention that comes with it.  The series did not have any major incidents, and the Cardinals came out with 2 of 3.  You can't ask for a whole lot more than that against a team you will be competing against all year (along with the Brewers) for the division.

I (Don't) Love LA

Getting some serious air as the Cardinals celebrated their 4th win in a row prior to Sunday's match up

Randy Newman can keep the city to himself.  I have never been and have no desire to visit.  I hear that somehow the traffic is even worse there than it is in Chicago.  Sounds like a real garbage dump.  Regardless of my thoughts on the city the Cardinals have to be feeling pretty good with themselves as they leave it.  They took 3 out of 4 games from the Dodgers as the offense continued to dominate.

The Cards offense outscored the Dodgers 29 to 9 the first 3 games of the series.  Lance Berkman continued his tear, hitting 2 home runs in the series and swinging a hot bat.  Rasmus also continued his offense tear.  The Cardinals even got to the Dodgers young ace Clayton Kershaw who regurarly seems to strike out 8 or 9 guys a game but he only lasted 4 and two-thirds while giving up 6 hits and 5 earned runs.  During that game the Cardinals hit a home run for the 8th straight game.

The Cardinals were looking for the 4 game sweep Sunday but the early season familiar antics of Ryan Franklin kept that from happening.  In the 9th he gave up a 2 run shot to Matt Kemp to win the game 2-1.  After all those good vibes I sent him in my post directly prior to his 4th blown save too.  Although it probably wasn't a good idea to pitch to one of the hottest hitters in baseball either, but oh well.  Carpenter and Chad Bilingsly battled it out in a pitchers duel most of the game though.  Interesting fact these 2 have 2 of the top day time splits of any starting pitchers in baseball so their performance should not have come as a surprise.  I guess they are both early birds. 

Even with the way they lost the last game, you have to be happy with the way the Cardinals ended on the road trip. 
1-2 v the Giants (2 of which they could have just as easily won)
2-1 v the Dbacks
3-1 v the Dodgers

The Cardinals hope the good vibes that their hometown fans will be sending them will help them make a strong homestand.  They start a 3 game series with the Nationals and then the hated Reds come to town Friday.  I won't be profiling the Nationals, because well... they are the Nationals.  Even if the Nationals win the series, they still aren't worth doing a profile on.  There is no match up history between the two teams that I find overly intriguing.  Maybe next year I will. 

Instead I will do what coaches always tell you not to do, look ahead at the Reds.  I'll give you a quick preview... I can't stand the Reds, and I think Brandon Phillips is a first rate piece of garbage.  Outside of the cubs this is my 2nd most hated mlb team.  Plenty more of the rant to come before Friday.  Stay tuned.  And yes I will be posting this video Friday too.

Franklin the Turtle

Ryan Franklin poses in his ninja crouch as he prepares to stealthily pitch to the next batter. 

No. 31 Ryan Franklin (R) - Ryan Franklin and the Cardinals faithful have a love hate relationship.  Franklin starts his first full season as the team's closer.  His first season with the job he ran with it saving 38 games and posting a 1.92 era.  Last year his era rose to 3.46 but he still saved 27 games and blew only 2 saves.  Franklin is off to a rough start at the moment.  In 4 chances he has blown 3 saves and has a 9.64 era.  His job is safe at the moment which might have more to do with TLR not trusting his other options than it does anything else.  Still the season is early and I for one don't think any knee jerk reactions need to be taken by replacing him.


Franklin's career numbers are nothing special either.  He came up with Seattle and spent 6 years there going 35-50 with 4.34 era.  From there he spent a season between Phili and Cincy before signing with the Cardinals in 2007.   He was the set man before taking over closing position from Jason Isringhausen who fell out of favor.   


Franklin is not your typical closer and does not overpower batters.  And he is in fact no Bruce Sutter.  He does have a 4 or 5 pitches that allows him to keep the batters guessing though.  This year he has apparently added a knuckle ball.  While it would be nice for the Cardinals to have a dominate closer, but the important thing is just getting the job done, it doesn't matter how.  Despite having to drink heavily to deal with watching him pitch (not that it was any different with Izzy before him) I like Franklin.  He is a soft spoken nice guy and he gives it his all each time he goes out.  


Franklin is 38 and it is rumored that this will be his last season before he retires.  Look for him to get back on track and become a reliable and unexciting 9th inning option for the team.  After his tenure with the team it is anyone's guess who will step into the role of closer.  Options include Mitchell Boggs, Eduardo Sanchez and Jason Motte unless the team chooses to look outside of the organization towards a Ryan Franklin esque pitcher and turn a starter into a reliever.  Names that come to mind include Manny Parra or  Jeff Francis type pitchers.   I really, really, really, really hope they go with someone in house as opposed to options like this. 

Link's Link of the Week

Link is skeptical of this week's link of the week, but will allow it.

There are a few things you can count on from your family.  One is that you will be reminded to check your oil.  If I checked my oil as regularly as is suggested to me, I would be lifting up the hood 3 times a day.  Another is that you have someone to call and bother on your long commute home.  But the most important thing that you can count on family for is email forwards, articles on interesting things and brain stimulating exercises.  This is the latter of the 3.  The game is pretty self explanatory... Click on the ball.

Preview for Whats Ahead
Time for some housekeeping issues.  This weekend look for articles on the remaining relief pitchers that have not been profiled.  The names include Ryan Franklin and newly promoted arms Eduardo Sanchez and Fernando Salas.  Also since I have already profiled the back up OFs I will be trying to get to profiling the back up infielders of Gerald Laird, Tyler Greene and Danny Descalso.  Don't hold your breath for an analysis of every game, those will be posted as time permits, but I will try to give a recap and/or preview of each series. 

Enjoy your weekend!  Lets hope the Cardinals' bats stay hot!

Cardinals Win First Series of Season in Dominating Fashion

The years of fearing Berkman on the Astros are behind us and he still has quite a bit of pop in his bat.

Cardinals 15 - Diamondbacks 5
The hitting continued for the Cardinals as they put up a 15 spot on the Dbacks Wednesday night.  The offensive woes of the team at the beginning of the season appear to be behind them.  The Cardinals are currently 4th in runs scored in the NL.  

Berkman continued his hr streak hitting a grand slam in the 2nd.  What is even more amazing is how many of his homers are opposite field shots.  I must admit that I had my doubt about the team signing him, but if healthy Berkman is still a dangerous hitter.  Berkman along with Rasmus, Pujols and Holliday make up a deadly part of the line up that no pitcher is going to enjoy facing.  Adding to it is that pitchers must adjust to each batter because in order they face a lefty, righty, right, switch hitter.  

Rasmus also continued his scortching start to the year going 3-6 with 3 runs and 2 rbis.  On another note  he is the only guy keep me remotely in the butt kicking I am receiving in fantasy baseball at the moment.  At least I don't own Ian Kennedy who lasted only 3 innings and gave up 9 runs, all earned.  

Big Mac's coaching philosophy appears to be paying off as the team scored a total of 31 runs in the series with the Dbacks.  The runs came in part thanks to 8 home runs the Redbirds hit. 

Westbrook pitched with the lead and went 5 and a third giving up 9  hits but minimized the damage and gave up only 2 earned runs.  Eduardo Sanchez made his Cardinal debut filling in for Tallet and Begenstein who were both put on the DL.  In 2 innings of work he fanned 5, 0 hits, 0 walks and gave up 0 earned runs.  Not too shabby.  A profile of Sanchez will be posted momentarily.  Miguel Batista made an appearance also against his former team and was solid in his 1 and two thirds not giving up any runs.  The Dbacks put up 3 more runs, but they were not earned.

Saint Louis looks to take their momentum to LA where they start a 4 game series with the Dodgers.  Tomorrow's match up features up and coming ace Jaime Garcia.  Hopefully Garcia gets some of that nice run support that he has not had the benefit of in his first 2 starts.  

Sorry no funny puns or links, it's late and I am tired.  But you should be happy enough that the Cardinals won and we will leave it at that!