Cardinals news and notes: Siegrist, 2003, Giants

Having to play the Giants in the postseason lately has not been a fun affair for the Cardinals. They smoked us in 2002 (remember the Mike Matheny - Kenny Lofton feud?), “out-devil magiced” us in 2012, and added Travis Ishikawa to postseason lore at our expense in 2014 (I can’t even bear to watch that again so you’ll have to find the link on your own if you feel so inclined). They have MLB’s worst record in the second half of the season yet hoping for a successful outcome in this current series at AT&T Park feels like more of an uphill battle than it probably is. Call it psychological.

It wasn’t always like this. My first clear postseason victory for the Cardinals was against these Giants in 1987 in a grueling seven games. After the Mets, that team was probably the biggest enemy to the late-80s Whiteyball teams. They had Jeffrey Leonard, who taunted us and mashed the ball that entire ‘87 series. And they had Will Clark, too.

Clark had the prettiest of swings. He went on to have a great two-month run with the Cardinals to end his career in 2000. That mended some fences because for a few years while he was with the Giants we all hated him. Almost all of that stemmed from this:

And if reports are true, he really was kind of a jerk.

Anyway, Cardinals-Giants is a rivalry that’s felt one-sided since ‘87. This week is a good opportunity to change the tide. I wrote about that yesterday and how this series presents an opportunity for them to separate their fate from the 2003 Cardinals team.

Unfortunately, last night they got off to a bad start as they barely put up much of a protest against Johnny Cueto. Regardless here’s Craig Edwards’s series preview if you need to catch up.

Here’s what else you may have missed yesterday at VEB:

Kevin Siegrist

Joe Schwarz wrote about Kevin Siegrists’s recent ineffectiveness and overall subpar year.

Carlos Martinez

Carlos Martinez is still helping out, still having fun, is still awesome.

VEB Podcast Episode 55

Craig Edwards (at least for a little while) joined John and Heather on the last podcast as they discussed the possible postseason rotation before taking a look back at Mark McGwire’s glorious ‘98 home run chase.

Have a great weekend, everyone.