Be careful with the slider... or not - A recap from September 7, 2017

"Be careful with the slider," Jim Edmonds muttered, his knuckles white as he clutched his notes tighter and tighter in his fist.

"Be careful with the slider," I mimicked in my dreary state, eyelids drooping closed with fatigue as the game continued on later and later into the night.

"Be careful with slider," my dog repeated frantically looking from me to the television.

Was that last one just an exhaustion-induced hallucination? Perhaps. But the point remains.

I am not exactly sure how to interpret Fangraphs pitch values and I will not pretend to do so, but if you look at Seung Hwan Oh's slider in 2016 and in 2017 the drop off is very clear. While it used to be a swing and miss pitch, now, a large portion of the time it is just a swing pitch. And when it is swung at it sometimes gets hit. Hard.

Tonight in the bottom of the seventh Wil Myers hit an Oh slider into the stands for two runs.

The Padres also hit fourteen (maybe more like five?) infield singles of the game, most of which seemed to occur in the first inning. A delayed steal of second (very well done, by the way), a perfectly placed bunt, and then an infield single scored the other Padres run.

The Cardinals did not score any runs. The only time the team was really close to scoring runs was the top of the ninth when the Birdos loaded the bases with two outs. Dexter Fowler struck out to end the threat and also the game.

For the Birdos not scoring any runs, the team did rap out eleven hits. They put a runner on every inning but the fifth. In this game hits must be strung together, however, so while that is a nice consolation, it does not really change the bottom line.

Lance Lynn continued to do that thing he has done all season where he allows about a hit per inning(six hits, six innings this game), strikes out as many as he walks (three and three this game), yet allows very few runs (one this game). I do not know how, to be honest. I do not have these answers. It just happens. I really do not know.

Anyway, this is not the best recap, but it is the recap this game deserved, I feel. I hope you enjoyed it. Meanwhile the Cubs won and it looks as though the Rockies will win against Clayton Kershaw, who apparently pitched like he faced a team of Matt Carpenters (heehee).

Tomorrow things get really interesting as the Cardinals take on the Pirates. Luke Weaver will face Trevor Williams at 7:15pm CST.