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Cubs At Cardinals Recap 4/11: Cards Lose In A Train Wreck In Extra Innings

Murphy's Law was in full effect when the Cardinals faced the Cubs at Busch Stadium Friday night

By dr. howl
David Welker


supplied by Guayzimi during Gamethread

For my 2nd game recap, I bring you a game that Gwaza quite accurately calls "a steaming pile of suck".

Both Mike Matheny and Yadier Molina made questionable moves with the game on the line. Yadi's crucial at bat was a display of over-aggression. And Matheny's moves were a labyrinthine maze of uncertainty. Made all the more frustrating by the Cubs bullpen trying to give the Cardinals the game.


Source: FanGraphs

This game was rife with not only questionable managerial moves and player performance, it had plenty of truly awful umpiring. The strike zone was having a bad trip tonight. Gabe Morales is not an ump I would like to witness behind the plate again, to be blunt. It truly was some of the most horrid umping I have ever seen.


Gamethread Best Comment:

This umpire is godamn terrible

hes missed 3-4 strikes RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE tonight

by ViperLjs on Apr 11, 2014 | 7:34 PM
Best Reply:

There is a giant hole in the middle of the strikezone

by docB15 on Apr 11, 2014 | 7:36 PM
Runner-up:

craig looked pretty god damn exciting to be hit by pitch there

by rdub on Apr 11, 2014 | 8:24 PM
BernardGilkeyHasAPosse!

he should be

Takes his OPS over .200

"I like to think that in between 'Live Free or Die' and 'Famous Potatoes,' the truth lies. It's probably a little closer to 'Famous Potatoes.'" - George Carlin

by BernardGilkeyHasAPosse! on Apr 11, 2014 | 8:26 PM

VEBeer: gamethread was dominated by ducttape and his Oberon (which is a damn fine beer). There was a small Chicago meetup for some VEBeers including myself, Craig Edwards, and lately infrequent VEB poster albertfn aka @AaronBaronHill on twitter; and his wife (who apparently randomly talks in her sleep if you follow him on twitter).
We drank a variety of beers including Daisy Cutter, Snapshot, Blvd Unfiltered Wheat, & Revolution IPA mainly.
The environment for our meetup was at Sedgwicks, which was, even from before 7pm, very loud. We could talk to each other but it was not easy. Here are my in-game notes while hanging out with VEB writer Craig and the crew:
  • The game begins with Matheny talking to the umpire. It is too loud and the sound is off on the TV for me to know any reason why.
  • Yadier Molina gets the team a run in the early going... a somewhat important RBI at the least
  • I wondered why Matheny did not challenge the incorrect call at first base... but it was a close play so I can't fault Mike too much for that decision, if at all
  • Bonifacio at second base for the Cubs made a few great plays... one was pretty astounding when he threw out the speedy Joe Kelly
  • On the dropped ball by Castro, we all agreed that it would have been funny to hear what Mike Shannon's commentary was. Craig brought this up at the table, it was one of the more funny moments of the night
  • Peter Bourjos: the guy can flat out fly. At least the second time this season I've seen him turn a seeing eye single into a double. Astounding speed.
  • Joe Kelly pitched himself into a jam with 2 men on base, even with the umpire's help... yet still somehow got out of it, in what is becoming more and more a pattern with Joe...
  • Matt Adams displayed the ability to go the opposite way again tonight. But he is just getting singles out of it.
  • Kelly's luck ran out in the 7th inning. He looked out of gas and was mainly just throwing offspeed pitches. Part of the problem was Kolten Wong not being able to handle a hard hit ball by Rizzo... but Kelly is probably a 5 or 6 inning starter, if not a reliever/long man going forward (too early to tell though).
  • Gabe Morales' strike zone was perhaps at its worst with Carlos Martinez pitching... but Carlos still prevailed.
  • Another excruciating Neshek outing. Not only is he slow and seemingly random in his ability to locate pitches (perhaps a good thing with this ump), he also does a lot of chomping and hissing motions with his face for some reason (actually the most entertaining thing to watch about his pitching, at least in this game). He did however retire the side despite a lengthy at bat by the pesky Darwin Barney
  • Rosenthal has not looked too good lately. The Cubs definitely were not devastated by Trevor tonight. Both Schierholz and Wellington Castillo had his number.
  • I really don't understand Mike Matheny a good portion of the time, and that kind of makes me uneasy. This team can definitely overcome some mathenaging, but is it a moot point if he makes inexplicable calls in the postseason?
I could pontificate further upon this steaming pile, but is there a point? I leave you with a quote and a song by my friend's band that came on at random while thinking about this game.
Fate shall yield
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 232.
song to hear

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