2013 St. Louis Cardinals

[crowmst3k!]

The cardinals are a great org. I wish Baltimore was as much of a baseball town as St Louis

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[Migrant Redbird]

Having a plan

While the Cardinals stay green by choosing to reduce, reuse, and re-purpose at the big-league level with a move to a four-man rotation for this road trip (per Rick Hummel), Class AAA Memphis continues to gather momentum with what's become an ancillary rotation.

At the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate are at least three starting pitchers who are being prepped and readied to contribute later this season in the majors:

• Carlos Martinez,
  an electric talent who you read about this morning in Joe Stauss' dispatch from Memphis
  .
• Michael Wacha,
  who is on a break to "bank" innings for later in the season, presumably so he can spend them in the majors.
  
  
• And, Tyler Lyons ...
  
  

Recently returned to Memphis and its rotation, Lyons had his first start back with the Redbirds on Tuesday evening. He looked a lot like the lefty that the Cardinals saw in his first two major-league starts.

Lyons allowed one hit and struck out four through seven innings as the Redbirds downed the Cubs' affiliate, 7-0. Lyons did not walk a batter. He combined with Mitchell Boggs and Deryk Hooker to complete the shutout, the Redbirds' second in three days. Lyons improved to 3-1, 3.88 ERA in nine starts for Memphis.

And then there's the divine influence, which has some folks irritated.

And others feelking queasy.

I'm an infidel, but these things don't bother me much.

[OFFNY]

.

The Cardinals had been hot as a pistol, winning their last won 7 out of 9 games before the All-Star break, and their first 5 out of 6 games after it (12 out of 15 overall) before the Braves took the first 2 games of the series between the two division leaders.

Joe Kelly pitched an excellent game yesterday (6.33 shutout innings which probably would have been 7 if the outfielders hadn't let a routine fly ball drop for a double), but only got a no-decision. One inning after Kelly left, the Braves scored 2 runs to win it.

The Redbirds look to salvage the series finale on Sunday Night Baseball tonight.

[OFFNY]

.

After losing 7 straight games, the Cardinals beat the Pirates 13-0, and then beat the Reds 13-3 in back-to-back games.

Talk about a team breaking out of their offensive slump (as well as their looooooong losing streak.)

Jim Hart hit Mel Gray in the corner of the end-zone, Jim Bakken booted 2 field goals, and the defense held the opposition to a Horst Muhlmann field goal in the Cardinals' victory at Riverfront Stadium last night.

[Migrant Redbird]

Cards scored 44 runs in their last 4 games, compared to only 10 in their previous 7.

Yadier Molina's knee is better, and Tony Cruz has hit .280 filling in.

Matt Carpenter was in a 10 game slump but Carlos Beltran showed him what he was doing wrong. Matt had his league leading 41st multi-hit game on Sunday.

Daniel Descalso went through a sophomore slump last season and had a horrible April. I knew he was hitting better but didn't realize he is hitting .305 since April 30th.

Holliday, Beltran, Freese, and Matt Adams all seem to be hot or getting hot right now. Lynn and Miller have pitched better lately. Joe Kelly hasn't allowed a run in either of his last 2 spot starts.

Now to put the kibosh on the Dodgers road winning streak. I like the pitching match ups in this 4 game series.

[OFFNY]

.

In light of rookie Carlos Martinez' career debut as a major league starter tonight ......

Cards' Rookie Show Rolls on

(By Bernie Miklasz)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bytes-cards-rookie-show-rolls-on/article_eb1f30a3-fc44-50b5-938e-e4040265615a.html

* The Cardinals have used 11 rookie pitchers this season.

* Tonight's start will be the 36th made by a rookie pitcher, with Shelby Miller topping the list with 22 starts.

* Overall, the rookies are 22-15 with a 3.45 ERA, and have supplied 341.33 innings.

* Rookie starters Miller, Tyler Lyons, Michael Wacha, and John Gast have combined for 35 starts, 190 innings, a 16-11 record, and 3.69 ERA.

* Seven rookie relievers have 146 appearances, 6 wins, and 37 holds. They've struck out 160 hitters in 151.67 IP.

* Rookies have worked roughly 34 percent of the total innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers this season.

* Rookie relievers have combined to account for 49 percent of the bullpen innings.

* Only Texas (43), Milwaukee (41), and the LA Dodgers (36) have received more starts from rookies. And we should probably put an asterisk next to the Dodgers because Rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has made 21 of the 36 starts, pitched more than 1,000 innings in seven seasons of professional baseball in South Korea before signing with the Dodgers last winter.

* The Cardinals' 22 wins by rookies leads the majors.

* The Cardinals' 146 relief appearances by rookies ranks first in the majors by a significant margin; only one other team, the Seattle Mariners, has more than 100 relief appearances by rookies in 2013. In the National League, Pittsburgh ranks second to St. Louis with 91 relief appearances by rookies.

[OFFNY]

.

Another big series for the Cardinals (actually, they're all big at this point, unless you are sitting comfortably atop your division by more than 10 games, as are the Atlanta Braves.)

(AUGUST 26th)

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Matt Carpenter - 2B

Jon Jay - CF

Matt Holliday - LF

Allen Craig - RF

Yadier Molina - C

Matt Adams - 1B

David Freese - 3B

Daniel Descalso - SS

Tyler Lyons - LHP (2-4, 5.09 ERA)

[2-4, 5.35 ERA]o (STARTER) OO [0-0, 0.00 ERA]o (RELIEVER)

CINCINNATI REDS

Shin-Soo Choo - CF

Todd Frazier - 3B

Joey Votto - 1B

Brandon Phillips - 2B

Jay Bruce - RF

Ryan Ludwick - LF

Devin Mesoraco - C

Zack Cozart - SS

Mike Leake - RHP (11-5, 3.12 ERA)

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

[OFFNY]

Another big series for the Cardinals (actually, they're all big at this point, unless you are sitting comfortably atop your division by more than 10 games, as are the Atlanta Braves.)

(AUGUST 26th)

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Matt Carpenter - 2B

Jon Jay - CF

Matt Holliday - LF

Allen Craig - RF

Yadier Molina - C

Matt Adams - 1B

David Freese - 3B

Daniel Descalso - SS

Tyler Lyons - LHP (2-4, 5.09 ERA)

[2-4, 5.35 ERA]o (STARTER) OO [0-0, 0.00 ERA]o (RELIEVER)

CINCINNATI REDS

Shin-Soo Choo - CF

Todd Frazier - 3B

Joey Votto - 1B

Brandon Phillips - 2B

Jay Bruce - RF

Ryan Ludwick - LF

Devin Mesoraco - C

Zack Cozart - SS

Mike Leake - RHP (11-5, 3.12 ERA)

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

A. The Cardinals won this game, and took 2 out of 3 from the Reds (GOOD.)

B. The Cardinals went 12-4 from August 11th through August 27th (GOOD.)

C. The Cardinals have gone 1-4 from August 28th through the present (NOT GOOD.)

[OFFNY]

.

Wainwright, Freese Deliver Big Answers

(By Christina Kahrl)

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/40080/wainwright-freese-deliver-big-answers

[Migrant Redbird]

A. The Cardinals won this game, and took 2 out of 3 from the Reds (GOOD.)

B. The Cardinals went 12-4 from August 11th through August 27th (GOOD.)

C. The Cardinals have gone 1-4 from August 28th through the present (NOT GOOD.)

The Cards kicked off a 5 game winning streak with a 3 game sweep of the Pirates.

The Pirates bounced back with a 3 game sweep of the Rangers. Looks like the division will come down to whomever has the best pitching down the stretch.

This is where you'd like to be focused on passing the Braves to secure home field advantage, but those pesky Pirates and Reds won't go away.

This makes the second of three seasons that having two wild card teams looks like a bad idea. Barring a monumental collapse, the NL Central had the wild cards locked up by the end of August.

[Migrant Redbird]

Oh happy day!

With all that, we've got a "faction" that thinks we ought to fire our manager. ????

[OFFNY]

.

In light of rookie Carlos Martinez' career debut as a major league starter tonight ......

Cards' Rookie Show Rolls on

(By Bernie Miklasz)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bytes-cards-rookie-show-rolls-on/article_eb1f30a3-fc44-50b5-938e-e4040265615a.html

* The Cardinals have used 11 rookie pitchers this season.

* Tonight's start will be the 36th made by a rookie pitcher, with Shelby Miller topping the list with 22 starts.

* Overall, the rookies are 22-15 with a 3.45 ERA, and have supplied 341.33 innings.

* Rookie starters Miller, Tyler Lyons, Michael Wacha, and John Gast have combined for 35 starts, 190 innings, a 16-11 record, and 3.69 ERA.

* Seven rookie relievers have 146 appearances, 6 wins, and 37 holds. They've struck out 160 hitters in 151.67 IP.

* Rookies have worked roughly 34 percent of the total innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers this season.

* Rookie relievers have combined to account for 49 percent of the bullpen innings.

* Only Texas (43), Milwaukee (41), and the LA Dodgers (36) have received more starts from rookies. And we should probably put an asterisk next to the Dodgers because Rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has made 21 of the 36 starts, pitched more than 1,000 innings in seven seasons of professional baseball in South Korea before signing with the Dodgers last winter.

* The Cardinals' 22 wins by rookies leads the majors.

* The Cardinals' 146 relief appearances by rookies ranks first in the majors by a significant margin; only one other team, the Seattle Mariners, has more than 100 relief appearances by rookies in 2013. In the National League, Pittsburgh ranks second to St. Louis with 91 relief appearances by rookies.

And the Cardinal rookie show goes on.

A dazzling postseason debut for Michael Wacha with his team back up against the wall in front of 40,000 frenzied Pirate fans.

[OFFNY]

.

In light of rookie Carlos Martinez' career debut as a major league starter tonight ......

Cards' Rookie Show Rolls on

(By Bernie Miklasz)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bytes-cards-rookie-show-rolls-on/article_eb1f30a3-fc44-50b5-938e-e4040265615a.html

* The Cardinals have used 11 rookie pitchers this season.

* Tonight's start will be the 36th made by a rookie pitcher, with Shelby Miller topping the list with 22 starts.

* Overall, the rookies are 22-15 with a 3.45 ERA, and have supplied 341.33 innings.

* Rookie starters Miller, Tyler Lyons, Michael Wacha, and John Gast have combined for 35 starts, 190 innings, a 16-11 record, and 3.69 ERA.

* Seven rookie relievers have 146 appearances, 6 wins, and 37 holds. They've struck out 160 hitters in 151.67 IP.

* Rookies have worked roughly 34 percent of the total innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers this season.

* Rookie relievers have combined to account for 49 percent of the bullpen innings.

* Only Texas (43), Milwaukee (41), and the LA Dodgers (36) have received more starts from rookies. And we should probably put an asterisk next to the Dodgers because Rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has made 21 of the 36 starts, pitched more than 1,000 innings in seven seasons of professional baseball in South Korea before signing with the Dodgers last winter.

* The Cardinals' 22 wins by rookies leads the majors.

* The Cardinals' 146 relief appearances by rookies ranks first in the majors by a significant margin; only one other team, the Seattle Mariners, has more than 100 relief appearances by rookies in 2013. In the National League, Pittsburgh ranks second to St. Louis with 91 relief appearances by rookies.

And the Cardinal rookie show goes on.

A dazzling postseason debut for Michael Wacha with his team back up against the wall in front of 40,000 frenzied Pirate fans.

Wacha followed that up with 13.67 shutout innings over 2 games in the N.L.C.S. against the Dodgers.

In the 2013 postseason, Wacha has allowed 1 run over 21 innings, for an E.R.A. of 0.43.

In those 21 postseason innings, he has a W.H.I.P. of 0.571.

Also, aside from one intentional walk, Wacha has walked 3 batters in those 21 postseason innings, for an average of 1 walk every 7 innings.

[OFFNY]

In light of rookie Carlos Martinez' career debut as a major league starter tonight ......

Cards' Rookie Show Rolls on

(By Bernie Miklasz)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-bytes-cards-rookie-show-rolls-on/article_eb1f30a3-fc44-50b5-938e-e4040265615a.html

* The Cardinals have used 11 rookie pitchers this season.

* Tonight's start will be the 36th made by a rookie pitcher, with Shelby Miller topping the list with 22 starts.

* Overall, the rookies are 22-15 with a 3.45 ERA, and have supplied 341.33 innings.

* Rookie starters Miller, Tyler Lyons, Michael Wacha, and John Gast have combined for 35 starts, 190 innings, a 16-11 record, and 3.69 ERA.

* Seven rookie relievers have 146 appearances, 6 wins, and 37 holds. They've struck out 160 hitters in 151.67 IP.

* Rookies have worked roughly 34 percent of the total innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers this season.

* Rookie relievers have combined to account for 49 percent of the bullpen innings.

* Only Texas (43), Milwaukee (41), and the LA Dodgers (36) have received more starts from rookies. And we should probably put an asterisk next to the Dodgers because Rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has made 21 of the 36 starts, pitched more than 1,000 innings in seven seasons of professional baseball in South Korea before signing with the Dodgers last winter.

* The Cardinals' 22 wins by rookies leads the majors.

* The Cardinals' 146 relief appearances by rookies ranks first in the majors by a significant margin; only one other team, the Seattle Mariners, has more than 100 relief appearances by rookies in 2013. In the National League, Pittsburgh ranks second to St. Louis with 91 relief appearances by rookies.

And the Cardinal rookie show goes on.

A dazzling postseason debut for Michael Wacha with his team back up against the wall in front of 40,000 frenzied Pirate fans.

Wacha followed that up with 13.67 shutout innings over 2 games in the N.L.C.S. against the Dodgers.

In the 2013 postseason, Wacha has allowed 1 run over 21 innings, for an E.R.A. of 0.43.

In those 21 postseason innings, he has a W.H.I.P. of 0.571.

Also, aside from one intentional walk, Wacha has walked 3 batters in those 21 postseason innings, for an average of 1 walk every 7 innings.

Wacha gave up a 2-run home run to David Ortiz that just got over the green monster in left-centerfield.

He still pitched a good game, allowing 2 runs over 6 innings, and getting the W.

In the 2013 postseason, Wacha has allowed 3 run over 27 innings, for an E.R.A. of 1.00.

In those 27 postseason innings, he has a W.H.I.P. of 0.704.