coming attractions?

by lboros on Sep 28, 2005 12:03 PM EDT in News

i noted yesterday that the cards' reg'r season wins vs the astros don't count in the playoffs. thankfully, the same thing holds true for the losses.

anyway, i saw what i wanted to see out of morris last night -- he was in the strike zone all night and getting outs. marquis pitched well too -- threw strikes, pitched aggressively, and got ground balls. gave up a dinger? yeah, but we already knew he was vulnerable.

for that matter, we already knew the cardinals were vulnerable vs the astros. if they do face houston in the nlcs, they are going to lose games like this one -- tightly pitched contests where a couple of jacks make the diff'nce. that's how the entire series went last season, you may recall -- the deciding runs scored on homers in six of the seven games (all but game 1). so last night's game was both an echo of last october and, perhaps, a foreshadowing of some 2005 nlcs games. hopefully no more than three on'm.

i'm less disappointed by the loss than i am by the news, as reported by david pinto, that the all-but-inevitable stl-sd series will follow the retarded tuesday-thursday-saturday schedule -- which means peavy can pitch game 1 and game 4 on normal rest. motherf**ker -- as if playoff inclusion itself isn't enough of a gift to a .500 team. nothing to do i guess but go out and beat the guy; the cards have been indiff'nt to circumstance all season long, dealt with each obstacle and found a way over or around it. so here's another little roadblock, and another occasion to buckle up and blast on through . . . . . we'll find out very soon how the vehicle has weathered a season's worth of nicks scrapes and dents -- and a month's worth of rust.

washington post ran a long article yesterday about the cards' departure from the mighty MOX. i didn't see that the p-d picked it up. anyway, the wapo web site is registration required, but if you haven't registered it's worth it for this article alone.

i'll be back w more this afternoon -- had an urpy kid last night, and it's knocked me off my usual rigid, lock-step time-management regimen . . . . .

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I'm so sick

of getting screwed over, year after year, by the TV skeds that force the Birds to have two days off between playing their first and their third playoff game.

What a HUGE disadvanatge to the team that compiled baseball's best record by having a deep rotation, going up against a sub-.500 opponent with one lights-out ace.

I guess I wouldn't care as much if this team could still hit.

by salvomania on Sep 28, 2005 12:29 PM EDT 0 recs

The Other Way

We need to buck our heads high, and look at this as an opportunity for the best team in baseball.

If, by some freak of nature, the Padres win the first two, we can throw the best pitcher in the National League in Game 3 on short rest. No matter what, we get the NL Cy Young winner pitching for us in Games 1 and 4.

Lighten up folks - who doesn't think that Albert is about to burst out of his slump with authority? Who wasn't enlightened by Walker's performance last night - his first base hit on an 0-2 fastball where he had been having trouble catching up to fastballs is a great portent for the postseason. Look - it's the last week of the season; people are tired, but they got Monday off, they get Thursday off, they get next Monday off, and a rush of emotions from the celebrations this weekend.

Let's try and see how this setup can work to our advantage (extra days off for our marginally nicked players - more starts for Carp, etc.)

It's almost playoff time - can you feel it?

by STLEdge on Sep 28, 2005 12:47 PM EDT 0 recs

i wish i could see an advantage

stl edge, but extra off days always help the weaker team. it may give us some add'l options too, but we don't need add'l options; we're already much better than the pads. there's no way to put a happy face on this; it makes the road harder, and we just have to deal with that.

by lboros on Sep 28, 2005 12:55 PM EDT 0 recs

Weaker

I see that in some occasions, but I would think a truer analysis here would be that off days help the older team. I assume Tony is determined to play Reggie and Larry - maybe you can make the counterargument that days off hurt Reggie because he is still trying to find his form, but ...

But if the day off between Game 1 and 2 is here, you could also make the argument that the days off help the home team since they're in their environment - especially against the Padres since they only come here once a year.

The alternative might have been to see Woody in a game 3 depending. I can't seem to find a definite answer on who they're 3rd guy would be, but I would think despite giving up 7 at Coors last week, Woody's experience would give him the nod. While Peavy owned the Cards in his own start against this year - you never know what Woody could do against his old mates.

All that being said, I'm just trying to be positive - I still can't believe that we're not getting a single home weekend playoff game - that's a travesty of colossal proportions.

by STLEdge on Sep 28, 2005 2:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

i appreciate the positive vibes

because after all thinking negatively won't help. but i am still grouchy about this and won't be deterrred. foul temper is a right of advancing age, and i exercise it at every opportunity.

here's where i am coming from: i look at each playoff series as a set of problems. solve the problems and you advance; fail and you're out. the schedule eliminates one of the padres' major problems --- how to mask the weak back end of their rotation. we don't have that particular problem, so the sched doesn't help us. advantage, padres.

re the cardinals' need to rest the vets --- not a big problem. the regular playoff schedule has enough off-days to cover that base.

once the series starts i'll stop bitching, because at that point you can focus on the games and forget all the other bullshit. but for now: grumble grumble

by lboros on Sep 28, 2005 3:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

If our hitters hit

there should be no problem vs. the Pads. And that's the problem....

by salvomania on Sep 28, 2005 1:36 PM EDT 0 recs

If a .700 OPS

is where you draw the line for replacement-level performance (and I don't know that it is), then too many of the Birds' more-or-less regulars have failed to meet that threshhold in September:

Birds' September hitting (approx PAs in parentheses)

(98) Pujols....... .321/.439/.531---.970
(18) Gall........... .278/.263/.667---.930
(76) Edmonds... .240/.288/.613---.901
(38) Walker....... .303/.395/.455---.849
(34) Rodriguez.. .296/.427/.407---.836
(104) Eckstein... .340/.404/.426---.829
(13) Schumaker. .333/.385/.417---.801

(74) Molina........ .265/.324/.368---.692
(14) Diaz........... .250/.357/.333---.690
(55) Luna........... .224/.304/.327---.630

(79) Taguchi...... .256/.263/.333---.596
(79) Nunez........ .240/.278/.253---.532
(59) Grudz......... .182/.237/.255---.492
(13) Seabol....... .231/.231/.231---.462
(33) Sanders...... .111/.265/.148---.413
(8) Duncan...... .125/.125/.250---.375
(29) Mabry........ .103/.103/.138---.241
(2) Mahoney..... .000/.000/.000---.000

Note that four "regulars" are below .600, and John Mabry has fallen off the charts.

The only thing saving Jim Edmonds (.288 OBP) is his 7 home runs.

by salvomania on Sep 28, 2005 2:16 PM EDT 0 recs