2015.10.02 Cardinals at Braves Recap: cards lose 4-0, but it is cool

pre game

game

i do not like when people refer to games as "meaningless". yes, tonight's game will have no effect on the final standing, as most postseason spots are all but locked up. but they are never meaningless. for the young player getting his first taste of the big leagues, it is not meaningless. for the vet who has a certain innings pitched threshold to reach for a bonus it is not meaningless. for a player trying to show what he can do just to stay in the bigs, it is not meaningless. these types of games are some players last shot or their first shot or their only shot. calling them meaningless competely disregards that and I always try to avoid that phrase.

that rant aside, this game was boring and I do not really know how to go about unpacking it. the cardinals started a lot of those types of players that I mentioned above, and used this game as an audition of sorts to see who will make the postseason roster. Jaime Garcia was good, but not world-shatteringly spectacular. he struck out five in only four innings, but did allow six hits, one being a home run, and two walks, this game serving as more of a tune up for him. the Braves scoring was founded out in the eighth as Randy choate and Jonathan Broxton teamed up to allow two more runs to score. and that was pretty much it.

the big news for the night was Jason Heywards return to Atlanta, but he did not even play and may not - though I would think Matheny would try to get him a plate appearance if it meant that much to Jason because that sounds like something he would do. the other big story for the series is the effectiveness of the other Georgia native, Adam Wainwright. he looked pretty alright - I certainly would have no objections of him being in the bullpen, really.

at the end of the day, the cardinals lost and that is never the desired outcome, but the fact that remains is sometimes the sacrifice of a win that does not affect the club as a whole may help down the road win a game that does. even though these games seem boring or meaningless, we can still appreciate them for what they are and be glad that El Birdos have earned the luxury of them.

stray thoughts:

i wrote this on my phone after a bit of tequila so I apologize if this is not up to my usual mediocre standards.

i don't even like tequila (more of a Jameson gal) so I really don't know what I was thinking.

who am I kidding with mediocre standards...

anyway, I plan on fixing the really hideous formatting errors later.

post game

LIL SCOOTER'S PEST OF THE GAME/HONORARY PEDRO ALVAREZ AWARD:

eh, let's give it to Julio Teheran. .295 WPA in a pretty good pitching effort.

iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-10-02&team=Braves&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-10-02&team=Braves&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>

Tomorrow John Lackey takes on Shelby Miller at 6:05pm CST. Until then!