Here we go, blunt and quick with bullets.
- Lance Lynn is overrated. He bumps a lot of four seam fastballs in for strikeouts and collects a lot of wins but does so because he receives a ton of run support. Honestly, he is a 4th rotation slot guy looking like an ace with his flaky record. He is 10-1 but is starting to break again in June. He got whipped by the Marlins and was saved by the bats. He blew a 3-0 lead tonight against the AAA Houston team and that is not acceptable. Losing to the Marlins is one thing. They have Jose Fernandez and Giancarlo Stanton to deal with. The Astros have Erik Bedard to put you to sleep on the mound and Brett Wallace to look disappointing. They don’t beat very good teams ever. At least not this week. Lynn pitched horrible tonight and except for coaxing the Cubs into looking like idiots, has struggled in June. What happens when the offense doesn’t spot him 6 runs?
- Speaking of losing to the Astros, if the Cards follow through and lose this game, they can find their own damn way to Oakland. An ass whopping will be waiting for them there. No excuse to lose to Houston when you are the Cardinals. They are pick me up games. Schedule makers giving you a night to rest your starters.
- The Blues can sign Patrik Berglund to a one year deal and Kevin Shattenkirk to a 4 year deal and I won’t bark. I just want to know what this team is going to do to put themselves over the hump for next season. Will the returning corps of Perron, Oshie and Berglund net us a deeper playoff plunge or offer more disappointment? We took a step back last season so what happens now. There isn’t a lot of money but hopefully Armstrong can be crafty and net us a difference maker. We can’t look at men on our roster to grow up anymore. They are who they are. They won’t get better. Alex Pietrangelo won’t turn into Al Maclinnis all of a sudden. The three potential all star kids won’t become Jarmoir Jagr next season. Chris Stewart will always be a streaky talent. What will be done? I know Hitch took over in midseason two years ago and had a lockout last year but this next season carries what kind of prediction? It can’t just be a playoff appearance. We expect more. We know Brian Elliot can’t find a way to stop LA in a playoff series. We know there isn’t a big time get the hell out of my way goal scorer on this roster. I do know Halak has playoff juice to spare but can he stay healthy or is he trade bait? So many questions and not one bit of certainty. That’s the Blues. There is a reason we haven’t won the cup since…well ever. Several coaches have left our team and went on to win Cups. Scotty Bowman. Joel Quennville now has two after being fired. It’s a sign of bad times. What happens next year? Please don’t let the Blues become the pitiful Chicago Cubs and have us keep punching out the painful proclamation, “Maybe next year”. We Deserve Better Than That.
- My kid got sick again today. A 104 degree fever and a high heart rate. My kid had major heart rate problems early in his life so when that spikes, he has our attention. Whenever the kid gets sick, he gets our attention. For the most part, he is a brute savage who is fiercely independent. However, he has spent a few rounds in the ring boxing at the tender young age of 21 months, so he has our attention. Damn kid.
- White House Down is genuine summer entertainment. More to come Friday.
- I was going to see Despicable Me 2 tonight(first one was aces) but well…see the post above about my kid. Shit happens. So do kids and fevers.
- The Cards just had problems pushing across Matt Holliday after a 1 out double and a steal. He was there with 1 out and Freese struck out and Shane Robinson(we know why he is playing) grounded out. You don’t waste scoring opportunities against the Astros. That’s like being handed a winning lottery ticket and dropping it in a sewer drain. It’s just stupid. If they lose, this one will frustrate the shit out of me. Very good teams don’t lose to awful teams after having a 3-0 lead early on. Lynn is to BLAME. He blew it.
- Ray Donovan is on Showtime On Demand right now and if you like hard boiled LA crime stories that mix in rough Boston accented tough guy family history and great character actor filled casts, check it out. Liev Schreiber, one of the most underrated actors in the business, anchors a fine cast as the title character, a “fixer” with serious daddy issues(who doesn’t when they were created by Jon Voight) and has an array of trouble to deal with when that particular dad gets out of jail too early. Bloody fists ensue and hot strong willed women stand by waiting to cuddle our hardened street warriors. This show is one to look forward to.
- Mowing the lawn sucks. Trying to figure out a lock cap on a gas can is in the brutal heat is worse. I pulled a deadly trick today. I let Vinny roam the backyard while I mowed the back strip. I got it done before the rain but poor Vinny got sick. Bad daddy move but life goes on. Kid is tough. Best thing about mowing is being done with it.
- I have three different coffees in my house right now and I trading off between them. I don’t drink a lot of beer or soda so I stick to coffee, sugar/aspartame free energy drinks and water. Mostly coffee and water. I like it, as you know, bold and black. As sophisticated as Helen Mirren and black as Viola Davis’ skin that makes this man sing like Buddy Guy. It’s almost iced coffee time and that(thanks to the brilliant Pj Nolan) can be made right at home.
- I am starting to put one foot off the Pete Kozma train. His average is dipping and his defense isn’t enough to let him hit .230. He has been steady and lasted just about as long as I hoped he would. Either let the red hot hitting Ryan Jackson come back up or take a look around the league for trade deadline options. Kozma is starting to trend down. He still gets big hits but they are getting fewer by the week. I don’t need him to hit .290 and bang in 60 but his offense is feeble at best right now.
- The Cards do have areas of need. Don’t let the nice record fool you. They have been steady in June but are failing to break out and get a bigger lead in the division. I won’t whine too much about being 18-21 games over .500 but when the team stays around that water mark for three weeks, there is a problem. The Cards starting pitching had frayed in June and their lineup is painfully eruptive yet still can’t solve lefties. The remedy. Get a power right handed bat off the bench and find a way to drop Ty Wiggington, who is slowly decaying in the dugout. Get rid of Shane Robinson(average player at best) and get a righthanded bat who can play some outfield and you can keep Kozma on the bench or bring up a kid from Memphis. I like our bullpen the way it is but there are so many moving parts its hard to put a finger on it, especially with a month to go before the deadline.
- Film-Addict Items posting this week. Channing Tatum piece. July Staff Picks. White House Down review. James Remar Charactor Actor spotlight.
- Lance Lynn went 7 innings and retired the last 8 he faced. Nice work but still doesn’t make up for the one horrible inning where you give up 4 runs to the Astros. Nope.
- The NBA Finals are done. Stop talking about them ESPN. Talk about football camps. BASEBALL. Tennis. Hockey. Lebron James is a big boy now and has 2 rings and more coming. Get with it and stand against it. The Spurs blew it big time. They let the hungry dog back in the cage and lost everything.
- The last 25 minutes of Dark Knight Rises is pure greatness. Christopher Nolan’s finale couldn’t live up to the Dark Knight but it was still a fabulous wrapup with a good bad guy and a sharp way of tying up the entire story. The chase scene at the end and the big reveal of the mysterious string pulling villain worked so well with the Gotham under nuclear attack mode and Nolan kept it all grounded. The final 7 minutes that includes a fine excerpt from the great American novel a Tale of Two Cities with Hans Zimmer and James Newton-Howard’s beautiful score is so fitting and poignant. Makes me wonder how much better Man Of Steel would have been if Nolan had produced and directed.
- My Man of Steel review may be toned back from a 4/5 to a 3/5. Just thinking about it more and more and putting it up against other summer and 2013 films. Snyder and Cavill made a good film but I don’t think it was a great one. That’s the blues of being a critic. You have a deadline and sometimes your mind changes days afterwards. I’d give it a B+. I don’t have a problem with Superman doing what he did in the end if you know what I mean. Sometimes bad men have to be STOPPED.
- Matt Holliday just struck out with Carlos Beltran on base. 3 more outs and this team loses to the Astros. This may release the hounds on the flaws on this team being camouflaged by a good record.
That’s all I got. Listen to The Lone Bellow, a folky new alternative band that’s perfect for a warm summer night.
Stay classy St. Louis,
DLB
Dose of Buffa 