back slaps all around

The way I read DG’s article was he was concerned that if he waited a few more years to have it done he might not heal as quickly. He stated that it hasn’t really bothered him this year and he has been in a groove this year that wouldn’t have been possible last year because of the pain.

I don’t want to get too panicky here, but it sounds to me like he wants to make sure nothing gets in the way of him having a monster season during his walk year. I mean if it is not bothering him now and he is willing to put his 30/100 streak at risk, then what other reason would their be? Is the healing potential of a 28 year-old really that much better than a 30-31 year old?

That said, I would much rather have had him give up the balance of this season in July to heal up for the start of 2009 rather than waiting to have the surgery in October or November and giving up part of 2009, when ideally the club will be better.

they made reference to the Phillies, but I’ll apply it to the Cards

if the Cubs win just one game per series from here on out, they’ll go 6-13 and finish 92-70. To tie them, the Cards would need to go 15-4

so our best chance at the playoffs (sadly) still involves the Cubs winning the division and the Cards taking the wildcard.

the Cubs can help us alot if they roll over for us then sweep Houston(3) and Milwaukee(6) (we will need some help from the Fish against the Astros and Phils too)

the Phillies have a lot of Atlanta and washington on the menu, so I’m not even sure who to root against in their 4 game set with the Brew crew this coming weekend

and for those who took their protonix today (if you haven’t STOP HERE and take it before reading further):
the stros have 6 with the priates, 3 each with the braves and Reds

I wholeheartedly agree on this viewpoint for the rest of 08.

…but it doesn’t really matter who they’re playing at this point; the cards will have to win every game, no matter how tough the opposition.

This is the time to jell as a team and recreate early April magic. Great starts, excellent D, timely hitting and close out the game.

since you said this is the playoffs already, I didn’t shave this morning.

What’s are goal this series, 2 of 3?

I agree that the playoffs have arrived. Execution (or everyone executing at the same time) has been a problem of late. So here’s my piece. The two concerns are 1) can the team make the playoffs, and 2) is the team ready for the playoffs.

This series might settle both questions neatly. Especially if we don’t have A.D.A.M. — he can’t pitch all the games… though I could see him trying to, since he’s A.D.A.M.

What does everybody think needs to be done with him next year? I see alot of predictions that have him starting on the ML roster in the pen. Personally, I’d rather see him start in Memphis and keep working on that slider, or a change-up. Just don’t think he will be ready for a full season on the big league roster.

Since Lee got hurt, the only players on the current astros team with an OPS+ significantly over 100 are Lance Berkman and Ty Wiggington. Pence and matsui are both right at 100, but they have 2 everyday players with OPS+ in the 50’s. They are somehow 10 games over .500 with a -22 run deficit differential, and are outplaying their pythag by 7 games on the year.

For the love of god, Aaron Miles is outhitting miguel tejada, and tejada has GIDP 28 times… yet they are 27-10 since aug 1st. Over just those 37 games, they have a 34 run positive differential, and have overplayed their pythag by 4.5 games; they should be 22-15 or 23-14 in that time period.

Over that same time period, we’ve only played 32 games, and have gone 16-16 despite the exact same positive run differential (34) in 5 fewer games. We’ve underplayed our pythag by almost 3 wins; we should be 19-13 or 18-14. Had we merely played to our pythag win expectancy over the 5 weeks, we’d be tied for the WC lead.

Our offense has outscored the astros and our pitchers have outpitched the astros in the stretch run, yet they have won almost twice as many games. Amazing.

what is up with this Marti myth? is he actually going to make it to the majors?

2010?

What’s up with the Leach chat? I logged in late but don’t see anything there and the site won’t let me access a log. Did it get postponed or something?

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080909&content_id=3443092&vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

I see ankiel picked all along the watchtower, one of my favorite songs

will be? Generally in very important games, Tony likes to go to the ‘vets’ like Adam Kennedy and Aaron Miles in place of a hot bat like Lopez. I don’t know why he does it, maybe it is a psychological thing of Big Game = Guys he trusts the most. However, it seems like over the last few years, he turns to a guy like Juan over Duncan, or Skip vs a LHP over a better hitting RH OF’er in ‘important’ games.

The best lineup he could put out tonight?

Skip – CF
Glaus – 3B
Pujols – 1B
Ludwick – RF
Lopez – 2B
Molina – C
Ankiel – LF
Lohse – P
Izturis – SS

But I doubt very much he’ll bury Ankiel that deep.

Q: How likely is it that Dave Duncan will be back next year?
Leach: Clearly, you are a Viva El Birdos reader. I think in the end it’s likely that they’ll make it work. But my personal opinion is that he won’t come cheap, and it won’t be an automatic. I’d put the odds at something like 1-to-2.

link

but I totally agree with everything in Gorden’s article today.

Is it too late for a mass letter email drive to have APu reconsider reconsidering?

Go Nats!

Poor John Lannan.