Tag: STLCards

The Cardinal Way Appears At Fenway

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I believe in the Cardinal Way.  While the Boston Strong moniker is wearing thin on me, this brand name sticks because it connects to the way the St. Louis Cardinals play baseball.   At their best, the Cards grind out at bats, make the plays, get timely hits and present young guns on the mound to make the other team squirm or look like old haggard sluggers.   On more than one occasion, Boston right fielder Shane Victorino stared out into space after striking out against Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez.  Dustin Pedroia went to a knee reaching for a Martinez delivery.  Johnny Gomes looked as useless as a plant in the winter time at the plate against Trevor Rosenthal.   Throughout their two years under Mike Matheny and the final portion of the Tony La Russa managerial streak, the Cards have been a team that strings the little hits together, doesn’t quit until the end and makes every effort count.  We are either universally loved or hated for never putting these attributes to rest.   As I said in the NLCS, the Cards play like they all grew up together and became a team and weren’t merely assembled to win.   Here is what happened Thursday night for the Cards to win 4-2 and pull the World Series even at 2 games.

*Michael Wacha pitched very well without his best stuff.  The Red Sox stuck to their sickening trend and made the young hurler work for his outs, but Wacha didn’t break.  Sure, David Ortiz hit a changeup above the green monster for a brief Boston lead, but that was all the Sox could score off the kid.   Wacha shut down another offense for 6 solid innings.  He is 4-0 this postseason.  I have a feeling he will adjust more to the Red Sox than they will to him for the next game.

*Carlos Beltran, fresh off a shot of painkillers to his bruised ribs, collected 2 key hits and knocked in a huge insurance run in the 7th inning where the Cards netted their lead taking charge to reclaim the game.   Beltran is a smooth easy going presence that could make walking across a tight rope look easy.   He has saved this team many times this postseason with different methods.  Deemed a slowing down player in September, Beltran slammed a 3 run bomb to open the playoffs at home against Pittsburgh.  He put on a one man show in the first game against the Dodgers, throwing out the winning run at home plate before knocking in the eventual game winner.  He saved a potentially back breaking embarrassing grand slam in Game 1 against the Red Sox on Wednesday night.  Under the shadows of playoff glory, Beltran is working his October magic.  I am glad it’s on our end and not like in 2004-2005 when he helped make our life a living hell while playing for Houston.   He is a Cardinal now and it will be hard to let him go after this season.

*Matt Holliday is quietly putting together a big postseason.  He isn’t collecting a ton of hits but he has made them count.  He hit a solo HR in game 1 and tripled and scored the first run last night.  In the first series’, he seemed to collect that HUGE HR and get the hits when needed.   It would be amazing if this long ridiculed left fielder won the World Series MVP.  That would shut all the haters up.  For all the errors on the infield and NLCS hijinks in the outfield, Holliday has played a solid outfield for the Cards.  He handled the green monster in Games 1 and 2.  He doesn’t make many flashy plays but he makes the routine ones and has a better arm than either of his center fielders.   Holliday is a secret weapon.

*The Young Arms reveal themselves to the Red Sox hitters.   Carlos Martinez, after being used here and there for most of the season, has broken out during the past month.   Once again, Matheny was keeping a hot sports car in the garage as long as he could until he had to use it.   Down the stretch run to the division title and through the playoffs, Baby Carlos is proving to be the late inning setup man to Rosenthal with his eye popping fastball and wicked breaking pitch and nearly folked Victorino up last night.   He threw a crucial 2 inning last night to form the bridge to Rosenthal’s shutdown 9th inning and is starting to lose the baby tags.   He is a mult-tool threat for the future that could contribute in the bullpen and rotation.  One of many.  Nice to see Rosenthal climb the rubber at Fenway and blow 11 fastballs past the Red Sox and silent their postseason momentum and that stuffed crowd of raucous beantown fanatics.  If we win this series, it will be on the heels of our great young pitching.

*Our defense stayed strong.  In a ballpark known for sending opposing players into fits, the Cards made the plays last night.  The highlight of the night was Pete Kozma redeeming himself with a misdirection grounder field and throw in the 7th inning that reminded people why he started so many games this summer for the Redbirds.   Kozma is a plus defender with a great arm and helped the defense hold the fort yesterday.

Instead of being down 2-0 and looking fatally wounded, the Cards come home with a 1-1 series and 3 games at Busch.   Sure, Allen Craig will probably be on the bench, but then again Boston will lose either David Ortiz or Mike Napoli.   Each team will lose an offensive bullet so its even.   The series will be defined by how little mistakes are made and how great the relief pitching can be.   So far, it’s tied and looks like a 7 game series.  At the moment, the momentum belongs to the Cards.

Thanks for staying,

D.L.B.

@buffa82 on Twitter

 

Fenway Torture in for The Cards

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Ladies and gentlemen, the St. Louis Cardinals are in the danger zone in the 2013 World Series.  On Wednesday night, the Redbirds were coldly introduced to the horrors of playoff baseball in a park famous for making visiting teams show their ugliest color.  Right from the outset of Game 1, bad things were in store.  Bad defense, subpar pitching and a lack of the big hit kept the Cards from breaking out on top early.  The rest was sad to see.   Just in case you had the pleasure of not watching last night’s game, allow me to tell you what happened and why we lost Game 1.

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Adam Wainwright Doesn’t Bring His A Game

It happens more often than people give his stat line credit for.  Lately, Adam Wainwright had found a way to escape his worst inning, the 1st frame, without much damage.  Last night, things weren’t going well for our ace pitcher.   His curve ball didn’t have the bite it usually had.  The cutter was out of the strike zone.  His mistakes came on his fastball up in the zone and on bad changeups.   Waino wasn’t bad last night but he was far from sharp and got beat up.   Out of all the hits given up, Mike Napoli’s three run double was the hardest hit.  Others were seeing eye singles through the holes or bloop hits.  If madness had a name, The Cardinals found it and don’t forget, the rough pitching of Waino was the start.   He could have exited the game without throwing 95 pitches but since Shelby Miller is missing yet on the roster, the Cards would have further exposed their bullpen if Waino hadn’t made it out of 5 innings.   Waino’s runs allowed weren’t all earned, but if you asked him, he will take responsibility for all of them.  He couldn’t get a patient Red Sox lineup to bite on any of his pitches so he had to come to them and the results weren’t pretty.

Bad Defense Blues Strike

In my blog yesterday, I picked the Cards in 7 but I pointed out that the one thing that could hold them back or make them fail is their bad defense.   In nearly every category, the Cards ranked near the bottom in defense in 2013.  The Red Sox play solid defense and don’t make too many errors.   The Cards are capable of shooting themselves in the foot.  Last night, it happened early.  Pete Kozma is a pretty good defensive shortstop and may be our best choice at shortstop but he had a horrible night.  He didn’t get a hit but he allowed a few runs to be possible with his defense.  With a runner on base, David Ortiz hit a ground ball to a shifted infield and Matt Carpenter fielded the ball.  Kozma, forgetting where he was, moved to his left first and then had to back up to the second base bag.  Kozma received a weak toss from Carpenter and dropped it.  The second base umpire ruled the runner out but after a discussion with the fellow umpires, the ruling was reversed.  Two on and only 1 out.  Eventually, the bases got jammed and cleared by Napoli’s shot into left center.  In the regular season, you can make errors and survive a game.  Here, in this game, in Boston in the World Series, an error can break a ball game in half and futility can define your game for the night.   The Cards couldn’t overcome bad luck, bad plays and bad pitching last night and lost miserably.  In the 3rd inning, a pop up dropped between Waino and Yadi Molina.   Two runs scored that inning.  Another grounder went off Kozma’s glove.  A few more singles and walks led to runs.  Ortiz missed a grand slam but eventually took Carlos Beltran out of the game when the postseason hero pulled back the fly ball for a mere sacrifice fly.   The Cards committed 3 errors and have committed 6 errors in 12 games this postseason which leads all teams.  Defensively, they are a liability and in Game 1, the Red Sox used that to get ahead in the series.

Beltran Goes Down and Out

Our star rightfielder, playing in his first World Series game in his storied career, made the wonderful catch over the wall on Ortiz but damaged his ribs on the right field wall.  One of the crazy features in Fenway is the right field wall that comes up to a normal sized player’s rib cage.  It isn’t like the outfield walls around the major leagues where you basically bounce off it and make a throw.  Fenway’s right field wall may as well have thorns sticking out of because when Beltran made that catch he bruised his ribs, left the game, and may be affected by it the rest of the series.  Remember what happened to Hanley Rameriz in Game 1 of the NLCS?   The Cards got a dose of that feeling last night with Beltran going down.  With Allen Craig unable to play the field as of right now, losing Beltran would be detrimental to the chances of a title.

Fenway Park Familiarity 

The Cards don’t have it and looked like a team lost in space last night in Boston.   Both teams deal with the conditions there, but the Red Sox are used to it because it’s their home.  The Cards looked out of sorts and homesick last night.   The green monster in left field.   The way it is set up, you think the left fielder is standing right behind the shortstop.  A base hit to left doesn’t score a runner from second.  A ball off the wall is probably a single and not a double.   Right center is a potentially hazardous situation.  The place seats less than 40,000 people and when stuffed to the gills, it resembles a very crowded church.  People are everywhere and the smaller the environment, the more noise can be made.  The Cards aren’t used to that and have played in some hostile places(San Francisco) but not like this.  This isn’t Chavez Ravine in LA where a lot of seats are empty.  Fenway Park is a cathedral of baseball heaven in its own right and for visitors it can be hell.   Busch Stadium is a great place to be and works in the Cardinals advantage, but it doesn’t have the quirky confines like Fenway does.   If you aren’t ready for it, Fenway can swallow you whole.

The Offense Fails to Produce The Hit

Two chances.  Two double plays.  The Cards had chances to get back in the game but David Freese and Yadi Molina hit into double plays.  Chances erased.  We had 7 hits, as many as Boston, but could only produce a single run, which was a Matt Holliday bomb in the 9th inning of a 8-0 game.  Forget the pitching and defense for a minute.  The Cards have to find a way to score.  In the last 3 games of the Dodgers series, they were starting to break out.  There isn’t a living and breathing defensive handicap like Yasiel Puig in right field anymore.  The Cards have the offensive firepower, with or without Beltran, to score at Fenway.  On Wednesday night, they put runners on base but couldn’t score.

Let’s talk about the hairy elephant in the room…..

The Gooey Substance on Lester’s Hand

Maybe it’s nothing.  Maybe it’s something.  Either way, I would like to know what was on Jon Lester’s glove throughout the game.  A Cardinals minor leaguer spotted it and you can see it in pictures.  I don’t care who put it up first, social media or a private source.  I want to know what it was and if it gave Lester an advantage.   Excuse me for looking out for the sanctity of the game here but if there was cheating going on, something needs to be done.   In the cold weather, two things are effected.  Your feet and hands.  Pitchers have a hard time getting a grip on the ball.  The substance looked like vaseline.   If Lester was using it, I am not sure if he was, then that is a huge advantage.  Throwing a good curveball is all about the grip on the baseball.  If Lester cheated, hopefully the MLB investigates.  If there is a shed of doubt about his innocence, go after it.  What was it?  What is the name of it?  What does it do?  Why were you using it?  Tell me now.

Looking ahead to Game 2 With Wacha Taking The Mound

The good thing is rookie sensation Michael Wacha goes in Game 2 tonight.  The same guy who was pitching to college players last year takes the mound in rowdy Fenway Park tonight with the hope of sending the Cards back to Busch on Saturday with an even series.  Going back down 2-0 would be like escaping quick sand.  Wacha shut down the Pirates and Dodgers.  Now he goes into the toughest place to pitch and will try to create magic again.   The bats need to make an appearance.  Score early.  Get Wacha some runs.  Create an aura of confidence because right now, it’s non-existent.  The Cards have to take the series back tonight and along with the necessary needs, good defense will be required or you can call this series over.  It’s that simple.

Thanks for taking the time,

Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

Reasons Why The Cardinals Win the World Series

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Tonight, the Cardinals and Red Sox open season on the World Series at Fenway Park and it’s hard to find a part of me that isn’t excited to see the Redbirds compete for their 12th championship title.   Baseball isn’t an easy sport to love.  It takes patience, exasperates your nerves and requires a particular brand of devotion only developed at a very young age.  It was hard to tell what would come of the 2013 Cardinals but if any team has earned the right to return to the center stage of the playoffs, it St. Louis.   Minus three starters, a shortstop, closer and their RBI machine first basemen for the most important stretch of the season, the Cards used 20 different rookies to climb their way back to the top.  They beat their division rival Pirates in 5 games and outlasted the hapless and mercenary assembled Dodgers in 6 games to reach the World Series.  It’s a helluva story that will see an end in about 10 days.   The best team in each league meets this week in the World Series and the winner will be justified.   Who wins and why?   I believe the Cards will win in 7 hard fought stressful games and here are a few reasons why that can happen.   I will leave the ridiculously detailed observations to the stat hounds on twitter.  I am going to swing the blunt stick here for the pleasure of my readers who don’t have all day.

4 Reasons Why The Cardinals Win The Series.

*The Cardinals have a better 1-2 punch in their rotation at the moment and that means everything because these two will pitch twice in the series and determine the initial momentum and the outcome.  For the last month, no combo has pitched better than Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha.   Wainwright has been nails for the better part of September and all of October.  He is an ace and has pitched like one.  If he can make it out of the first inning,  Waino has been nearly unhittable.   Coming up behind him is the rookie sensation Wacha.   He didn’t just pitch good the past 2 weeks.  He has dominated hard hitting good teams.   He dominated the Pirates in the division series to keep the Birds in it and proved his mettle by beating the Dodgers twice in the NLCS.   What makes you think the Red Sox will have a shot against him at Fenway or Busch Stadium?  Wacha is the deal breaker when it comes to which starting pitching has the edge.   I am sorry but Jon Lester, Jake Peavy, Clay Buckholtz and John Lackey don’t scare me and neither of them form a 1-2 combo better than Waino and Wacha.

*Allen Craig is back and that is great for many reasons.  First, his bat in this lineup instantly it deadly.   This is a guy who drove in 97 runs in about 5 months.   Craig doesn’t do it by bashing home runs.  He collects his RBI by knocking in runners with 2 outs and the stress levels higher than the roof of a stadium.   He doesn’t have to crush the ball or swing the bat like Thor like his teammate Matt Holliday.  Craig has a nice and easy going swing that lobs base hits to all fields.  His timing won’t be an issue.  If he had to catch up to the Cards’ young arms fastballs there would be problems.   Most of the Red Sox rotation relies on command and offspeed pitching, and Craig has shown the ability to hit any breaking ball.   He is a smart sound RBI machine that is the offensive X-Factor for the 4 games in Boston.    There is a chance he could play first base for 1 of the 3 games at Busch and the good thing is he has until Saturday to prep his legs for that.   Home field advantage is nice but without it allows the Cards to see what Craig can do on the base paths.  If he plays first, Mr. Matt Adams carries his sledgehammer back to the bench for late inning heroics.  If not, Craig sits at Busch as the most deadly man in the stadium waiting for his chance to make a dent.  A healthy and effective Allen Craig makes the two lineups seem pretty even.  Allen Craig and Wacha are difference makers ladies and gents.

*Our bullpen is better than the Red Sox pen.   Sure, the team gave Edward Mujica a guest spot again but still bolster a group that throws hard moving heat and can break off the curve when needed.  Have a problem with David Ortiz?  Bring out Randy Choate or Kevin Siegrist.   Need a double play?  Ask Seth Maness to spin a sinker up there and the inning is over.  Have a problem with switch hitters?  Siegrist can handle them and there also is a guy named Carlos Martinez down there waiting to make an impact.  Martinez has been pitching lights out of the pen lately, filling himself with confidence and arrogance on the mound.   At the end there is a man named Trevor Rosenthal who has been a door slammer this month.   Rosenthal is also pitching with more confidence since taking over the closer role.  He shut down Washington in the final week of the season and didn’t run in any problems with Pittsburgh or Los Angeles.    Just remember this.  The Red Sox outlasted the Detroit Tigers because the Detroit bullpen pathetically blew two fine games pitched by Max Scherzer.   If Waino, Wacha or Joe Kelly hand a lead to this Cardinal bullpen, it won’t be blown and it definitely won’t happen twice.  The turning point in the Detroit-Boston series was the Tigers pen blowing a 5-1 Game 2 lead.   Once that happened, the series was swung in the other direction towards Boston.   They were given a life and took advantage.  Against our hard throwing arms, they won’t see a shred of that advantage this next week.

*Carlos Beltran.   Yeah, I am getting sentimental here but I have a feeling Beltran will finally capture his long awaited World Series ring.   He has waited 15 years to get here and I doubt the Cards will let this opportunity slip away.  There is no guarantee Carlos will return next season so this is the best shot to deliver the veteran a smooth ride home.  Beltran has been a great teammate and ambassador of the game in St. Louis and came here to win it all.   This team may get down but it won’t let sadness reach their savvy old right fielder again like it did in 2012.  Beltran is a postseason beast and will take care of business.  We wouldn’t be here without his heroic efforts in game 1 of the NLCS and I have a feeling we are in for a couple more signature Beltran moments the next week or so.  Sure, the Red Sox are playing for the grieving city of Boston, which is still reeling from the bombing earlier this year.   The Cards are playing for simpler reasons that include Beltran and a guy named Stan Musial, who passed away right before spring training.  The Cards have honored their fallen legend by playing in a manner that would make Stan proud and that won’t stop this week.

One Reason The Cards may have trouble

*The defense playing in Fenway park.   Left and center field are deal breakers.    Matt Holliday was taking fly balls off the green monster in left field and Jon Jay will be manning a center field with an awkward and potentially hazardous layout.   The two games the Cards lost in the NLCS were games the defense let the pitching down.   The Cards either play great defense or throw the ball around and drop pop ups and miss fly balls.  Make a mistake in this sandbox American League park and the entire game and series could be flipped in another direction.   The Cards must play GOOD DEFENSE.  Avoid errors, make the throws and catch everything you can.  Simple duty if you let it be.

Both the Cards and Red Sox finished 97-65 and got to the World Series.  It’s a rare moment where the best of the best meet in the final round and picking a winner isn’t easy.   Both teams are playing with momentum but I think the Cards are on a higher level due to their takedown of Clayton Kershaw twice in the League Championship series.   The Red Sox couldn’t solve Max Scherzer in two start lasting nearly 14 innings and needed the horrible Detroit bullpen to cough up the leads.   The Cards got to the World Series by destroying Kershaw and the Dodgers.  After that raucous triumph, no one on the Red Sox pitching roster scares me.   Bring it on Boston!  Your city will be quite strong without another world championship ring.  Prepare to fall.  At 730pm tonight, the 2013 World Series begins and I can’t wait.

Thanks for staying and GO CARDS,

Dan L. Buffa

Game Day Notes On The Cards

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I am fresh out of a job interview and a screening of Captain Phillips(excellent, review to come) but I will try to hit everything I can in the following clips.  Lots of action and thoughts flying around the social media waves today.  Here we go.

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*Lance Lynn did as well as we could possibly ask for last night.  He bent but he didn’t break.   No blowup with one bad inning that brought in 2 runs but mostly solid over 5.1 innings with a few strikeouts.  I prefer to see Lynn out of the bullpen these days but apparently Miller is at an inning wall and saw his fastball command linger in September(his numbers go against that theory).  Lynn didn’t lay down explosives in the field last night.  He did alright and laid down a perfect bunt to boot.  Something Lynn has on Joe Kelly is the ability to bunt correctly.
*Jason Motte is your future closer.  With no offense to Trevor “Super Smoke Stack Special” Rosenthal, let’s not forget what Motte did the past 2 seasons.  After assuming the closer role towards the latter part of 2011, Motte was shutdown brilliant.  He was great in the World Series run and was tied for the league lead in saves in 2012.  He shut down Bryce Harper in the NLDS and was good in the NLCS before our whole team imploded.  To say he is trade bait or doesn’t need to come back or is too costly is premature.  The Cards have good problems with their pitching depth.   Motte won’t be back until May and even then he will need time to get right again and build up his innings.   He will be your setup man until the All Star Break and if he is good to go, he assumes the closer role with Rosenthal moving back to the 8th inning.  You are paying him to close and when his contract is up, this avenue can be examined further.  It’s not like Motte sucked and was banished.  He had Tommy John Surgery.  Brian Wilson is working his way back to being a closer but he will close somewhere else in 2014 because the Dodgers have Kenley Jensen(younger and cheaper).  Wilson came back from two Tommy John surgeries and still looks good.  Motte is my man until his pitching proves otherwise.  It was bad luck for the Cards.  They signed him to a 3 year deal I believe and then lost his first full season.  He will need time(maybe more than the All Star Break) to be ready for the 9th and that is where you have Rosenthal.
*John Axford is waiting down there in the pen and basically being pushed to the side for the hot hand at the moment which is Carlos Martinez.  That is just fine.  Not sure if Ax returns next year.  Mujica is a free agent in 2014 and I don’t think the Cards bring him back due to their surplus of pitching.   Like Fernando Salas, Mujica will be commended for services rendered and get a closer job somewhere else.
*The sometimes forgotten man in the bullpen is Seth “Sorry I Don’t Throw 99 mph” Maness.  He has came in with runners on base and induced 17 double plays.   Forget his ERA and batting average against(he isn’t a starter and those are bulky inning load stats).  Just look at his inherited runners allowed to score.   Pretty damn sharp.   He doesn’t do well when he starts an inning.  He gives up a lot of singles but when he is called on to help the team escape a jam, Maness gets the job done.  Look at last night.  Ground ball in the hole and Kozma turns it and the Cards escape a threat.  Since his callup in June, that is what Maness has been doing.   He is just one of the many weapons down there.
*I am not worrying about the winter, offseason deals, or Carlos Beltran’s future in this city until we are cleaning up the parade off Clark Avenue in 2 weeks.  Forget it.  Forget offseason crap.  Focus on today and Greinke.  Friday with Kershaw and so on if needed.   All this team has is what it’s going after.   Right now it’s resisting the urge to flop and blow another 3-1 series lead.   One advantage.  The Dodgers had no clue how to solve Kelly, Wacha, or Wainwright without assistance from our defense.  Another one is unlike last year, the last two games are played at Busch and not on the road in San Francisco.  The advantage is ours and there is no momentum going the Dodgers way.  Only pain, as in Hanley Rameriz walking his bruised cracked ribs to the shortstop position today.  If we make it to the World Series, cancel the AL’s home field advantage because we may have Allen Craig as our DH.
Hope this helped answer some questions and theories.  Go Cards!
-DB
I still want Shane Robinson in there to start but he proved last night that our power surge may come from unlikely places.   Start Jay and sub in Shane later in center field and not for a hitter who nearly hit a baseball off the Hollywood sign last night in Holliday.   Two hits the past week from Holliday but two vital bombs that decided games.   The 2 run smash in Pittsburgh and the 2 run absolute bomb last night.
PHOTO CREDIT-WASHINGTON POST

Riding The Waino Wave

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As game 3 enters the lenses tonight in Los Angeles between the Cardinals and Dodgers, things are looking pretty good for the home team redbirds.  Why are things looking shiny red for the team in the craziness and zany lost soul depravity that is LA, here are some reasons.

Liga Nacional Serie de Campeonato de Juego 4 en St. Louis

*They won two games started by the Dodgers’ best starters.  While only scoring 4 runs in two wins, the Cards managed to sneak past both Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw on full rest, and used the strength of a man named Wacha, their young bullpen, The Beltran and other cameo clutch appearances by guys wearing birds on the bat.   If they see the two hurlers again, it may be on short rest which might not bode well for the Dodgers.  Instead of escaping Busch with a win, the Cards got 2 and put the Dodgers and Don Mattingly in a pressurized situation that may seem worse than Sandra Bullock’s space odyssey in Gravity by the end of this evening.   We got first blood and more.

*In a freak wild fastball, Joe Kelly broke one of Hanley Rameriz’s ribs and has thrown the hot hitting shortstop into a panic trying to get ready for Game 3.  The young man will wear everything except an medieval armor set to play tonight but won’t be near 100 percent.  That means he won’t be so hot hitting anymore.  He doesn’t have to swing viciously to connect but Hanley will be wincing in pain and could tear a muscle or harm other vital pieces of his torso trying to play baseball with a broken rib.  This isn’t football or hockey where men are thrown into a phone booth to wrestle with other human beings for 3 hours.  This is a finesse game.  Watch out Dodger fans, you may see the cart tonight.  Adding insult to injury, Andre Ethier isn’t 100 percent and may be scratched or pulled midway through tonight’s game.  This LA team is built on mercenaries and when they fail there is no waiting option like Matt Adams or Trevor Rosenthal.  There is a far lesser threat waiting in Nick Punto for Rameriz.

*Yasiel Puig is very human and can be solved.  His patience and mental game are way off.  In 10 at bats at Busch this weekend, he struck out 6 times physically and 40 times mentally.  He looked lost, mad and resembled Lance Lynn with a bat after strike calls.  Mark McGwire tried to console him to no avail.   He had to be talked to several times.  This guy was happy as pigs in shit in August but now looks like a man who has only played MLB for 3 months.   He isn’t ready for this stage and while he has the dripping juicy talent, he is a liability until the Cards make a mistake to him.   He looks like the untrained kid lurking near the lions den.  This young Cardinal pitching may just eat him up.  He is still dangerous but the Cards have written a book on how to stop him over 2 games.

*Adam Wainwright going tonight is Chuck Norris leading you into foreign territory.   He is mentally tough and stronger than any pitcher alive right now in another team’s park.  In his past 6 starts, Waino has been as dominant as one pitcher can be.  Deep into games.  Strikeouts.  Deadly curve or not Wainwright is money bags right now.   He only gets better as the game progresses.  Having him in Games 3 and 7 is like having a Tommy Gun waiting at the vital and end point of a knife fight.  Lights out ladies and gents.  Can the Dodgers beat our ace or will we just own the Hollywood hills tonight?

*Allen Craig is taking swings in batting practice.  No offense music fans but that is like seeing the original group of Led Zeppelin performing a soundcheck in a Walmart parking lot.   It’s gravy.  If he can make it back for the World Series, the American League team has ZERO home field advantage.

*Trevor Rosenthal’s right hand is still on fire from the 14 fastballs he threw on Saturday.   Holy thunderbolts from Zeus’ ass did we see him doing that after going 3-2 on the first hitter.   Unless you told Andre Ethier to swing 5 seconds before Trevor pitched, he had no chance.  I call him Super Smoke Stack Special.  SSSS.  Rosenthal deserves a barbecue joint to be named after him.  For every strikeout, a free rack of ribs.  Go ahead.  You can use that until it goes dry.

*What else?  After further testing, Carlos Beltran isn’t a postseason monster.   He is just the calmest man in the ballpark at the moment.  Every night.  Remember when Marc Bulger was awesome and he was so quiet and blank.   Beltran is the same thing minus the 256 sacks.   He is a stone cold killer.

*Chris Carpenter is retiring. It was suspected but now confirmed.  My take.  Good for him.  Get out before your arm falls off and you can’t pick up your kid.  When nerve damage entered the equation in February, any chance of a Carpenter comeback was incredibly rare.  He came back from 5 potential career ending injuries.  He has more additional parts than Robocop and Iron Man combined.  He is a true pro, future coach and my favorite Cardinal of all time.  I will miss seeing him take the mound.  Truly miss it.  It was a special night and while Waino is almost there and Wacha is starting to resemble the older men, Carpenter is one of a kind.  When his rehab mission short circuited, I wrote this column about him for my site.

https://doseofbuffa.com/2013/07/24/chris-carpenters-fight/

That’s all I got.  Go Cards and let’s take one more step towards a World Series visit.

For Max Scherzer, I am sorry man.  There’s getting kicked in the testicles and then there is what happened to you last night in Boston.

Thanks for staying to the end,

Dan L. Buffa

Photo Credit-Jackson Rossi

A Stream of Unfiltered Prose

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Now that the Cards blog is out, the gym is done, food is down and the body has been rebooted, allow me to fire out a random dose of material.  I can spin yarn about a various amount of topics and dig a little deep when required so consider this your afternoon dose of Buffa.   First, a little baseball news.

*The decision to start Lance Lynn in Game 4 is peculiar and makes me question Mike Matheny’s motives for Shelby Miller in the NLCS.   Lynn threw 29 pitches last night in 2 innings and got the win and now will be asked to head back to the mound on Tuesday for Game 4 when Miller is completely rested and ready to roll.   Let’s look at it this way.  Lance Lynn has worked out of the pen and as we saw last night, can do well there.  Miller has never been asked to come out of the pen on a regular basis and is a much more effective starter.  When Lynn worked last night, I figured Miller was set for Game 4.   If this is an innings limit matter, save me the analysis.   Miller has plenty left in the gas tank and doesn’t need to be shut down or limited.  You see how that went for Strasburg after his Tommy John Surgery.   Why rest and limit young pitchers?  Michael Wacha seems to be doing just fine.  Is there a problem with Miller that we don’t know of or is Matheny showing tough love or what the hell is happening?   Lynn coming out in relief and starting four days later isn’t arm threatening but makes me wonder further about Miller’s status.  He pitched one inning in Game 2 against Pittsburgh a week ago and hasn’t pitched since.  Why do managers always like to play mind games and withhold reasons?  We’ve followed your team for 6 months and deserve a reason.  If Matheny is so loyal to his young players, what is wrong with Shelby Miller?  Don’t answer too quick.  Matheny takes his thoughts one word at a time.  I’ve supported Matheny and defended him for months.  Just want to know what’s going on in his head.

*Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, the last two men to beat Manny Pacquaio, step into the ring tonight to wage war on each other.  Classic boxing match between two guys on an emotional high but still seeking more.   Bradley won a ridiculous decision over Pacquiao but impressed me and fight pundits more when he survived a vicious battle with Russian power punching machine Ruslan Provodnikov.  After getting knocked down and wobbled, Bradley recovered, exchanged blows and fired at will and won a controversial decision.   We all know what Marquez did last.   A little less than a year ago, Marquez went toe to toe with long time nemesis Pac-Man and scored a one punch knockout win.   After three close fights, Marquez left nothing to chance and knocked out Pac cold with one punch.   He saved himself in that fight because Manny was bloodying Juan’s face and busted his nose open.   In my mind, those two men deserve to fight again because of how well Pacquaio was fighting before getting stupid and because they produce such great fights.  That’s for later discussion.   Who wins the fight tonight?  You have two counter punchers who have been to war and made it out alive.   Marquez is 40 years old but fighting like he’s 30.   Bradley is still undefeated(wrongfully) and hungry.   I am going with Marquez because he is too smart and so agile in the ring these days that I think he will be able to control the action in the ring.   Both men can dish and receive and keep coming but JMM is the better boxer and can bang in the middle if needed.  Bradley will be overly aggressive and try to hunt Marquez down and we know what happens there.   I don’t expect a knockout but I think Marquez wins on 2 cards and takes Bradley’s belt.  If Pacquiao defeats Brandon Rios next month, he more than likely gets the winner of this match.  This will be a spirited, action packed and entertaining fight tonight.

*I am eager to see Captain Phillips and will do so this coming week.   The true story starring Tom Hanks as a ship captain who sees his rig overtaken by Somali Pirates is supposed to be one of the better films of the year and I want to see what’s really there.  First, I will address something about the movie’s director, the great Paul Greengrass(who helmed the last two Bourne films), taking some liberty with the true story.   Certain ship mates of Phillips have come out and said the movie paints him as a hero too much.   Well, to that, I say this, loud and clear….IT’S A FREAKING MOVIE.  Make believe, full of actors and made with a budget.  Why do people fail to recognize that just because a film says based on a true story does it mean every little detail will be flushed out perfectly on the big screen.   It’s called creative freedom and a cinematic process of taking something real(actors, story) and turning it into a watchable film.   No one wants to watch something boring.  This is NOT a documentary with interviews and flashbacks(like a movie that opened this weekend called The Summit, about 18 mountain climbers taking on the K2 mountain).  It is a movie, pure and simple.   Phillips wrote a book about his experience and the movie takes its cue from that point of view.  If the crew doesn’t like it, they can get their own movie funded and produced.   Until then, I will watch and enjoy the captain’s version of the story and not worry about fact checking.

*The Blues are 3-0 but don’t get excited.  Chastise me for saying this but last season we opened fast out of the gate and then hit a brick wall.    I like this Blues team and I like Jaro Halak getting the reins this season in a walk year but I will not lose my view of the past.  You got a talented bunch of people here.   Tarasenko is back.   Alexander Steen and Chris Stewart.  David Backes already has two goals.   Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester are a solid defensive duo.   New guys Derek Roy and Brendan Morrow are fine veteran additions.   Brian Elliot is ready to go and will start soon.  Ken Hitchcock isn’t satisfied and who would be in their first full season?  My point is take it easy and go game to game.   Hockey is a brutally inconsistent game and can snap a good mood with one bad bounce.  A few quick thoughts on the Zig Zag Kings.

-I like Halak as the starter bc when healthy he is a great goaltender. Most shutouts, playoff able and a true gamer.

-The Bou-Pietro combo on defense is one of the best in the NHL. Smart stretch passer and a competent leader on the other side.

-When he is on, the baby jesus smooth hands of Chris Stewart are as efficient as any winger in the league.

-Big fan of Ryan Reaves. He can skate, play, exist on the ice for a role AND…pound the shit out of players.

-TJ Oshie is still a Blue because he’s cheap, versatile and is capable of wow plays and doesn’t flop like Perron.

The Blues are once again built to contend and are as talented up and down the roster as Chicago, who they beat in a brutal and exciting final second battle on Wednesday.   They can have a great regular season but won’t have everybody’s belief until they prove to be as strong in the playoffs.   Touche Note!

*This just in.  Hanley Rameriz is sitting out today due to his ribs being sore from Joe Kelly drilling him last night.   Oh poor little Hanley.  Roy Hobbs played with a bullet lodged in his rib cage in the Natural.   Come on baby Hanley.   I wonder if we can get Chris Carpenter to make him piss his pants again.  Skip Schumacher is in for Andre Ethier so the Dodgers look a little naked today.  Go Cards!

*Charlie Hunman, who is great on FX’s Sons of Anarchy as Jax Teller, has abruptly pulled out of Fifty Shades of Grey, a highly erotic and wildly popular sex novel that is being brought to the big screen.   The controversial role of Christian Grey, who liked to spice things up in the bedroom and started dating a young innocent woman, wasn’t for just ANY actor.   Hunman took it on, but dropped it today apparently due to his overloaded TV schedule.  He also could be doing Pacific Rim 2, a monster blockbuster which propelled his name this past summer above the ranks of television stars.   I like Charlie but find myself happy for him and his future for pulling out of a role that may have twisted his career up.  No offense to the guy who does play Grey, but he needs to be more of a nobody to fully inhabit the role.  Just my three cents.

*Music to listen to.   The Heavy, the British band that put out the well known and frequently used track, “How Do You Like Me Now”.   They have a solid collection of bluesy rocking tunes that carry a shade of pop and jazz.   Look for their song Short Change Hero.  Good stuff.

*The Rams scored an ugly layup victory over the hapless Jaguars on Sunday.   Great, now they must go on the road and deal with a pissed off Houston Texans team.   Good luck.  Another test for a team that is 2-3 yet showing as many signs of ugly as they do of progress.   What will Bradford do this week and if he is healthy I think Zac Stacy deserves 20 carries.  Against a bad defense, he rushed 14 times for 78 yards but shows more promise than Darryl Richardson.   The defense will need to find a way to stop Andre Johnson, who is a gametime decision but even at 75 percent a decent threat.

What else?  That’s all I got.  It’s almost time for Game 2 of the National League Championship series and for my Cardinals to go up 2-0 in the series before heading west.   It’s time to take in a little baseball.

Thanks for staying,

Dan Buffa

Slaying The Dragon in Pittsburgh

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With the series tied at a game apiece, The St. Louis Cardinals walk into the temple of doom in PNC Park today in Pittsburgh to attempt to slay the dragon that is Francisco Liriano. Every giant has a nemesis that’s hard to break than others. Muhammad Ali had Joe Fraizier. Mike Tyson had Evander Holyfield. Why use boxing references in a friendly game? When the playoffs begin, everything is a fight. The Cards have to find a way to beat this crafty lefty or they risk putting their 97 win season to rest without barely a whimper. It’s not time to panic ladies and gentlemen, but it’s okay to reach for the pain medication and talk to your priest. This was never going to be easy.

How do you beat man who dominated you during the regular season three separate nights? Watch more film, find a different approach at the plate or use a different bat and rub voodoo beads on it. There are several ideas but no true course of action. Cardinals starter Joe Kelly will bring his A game to Pittsburgh but can the bats support his methods? Will they wilt under the left-handed sun of Liriano’s changeup or rise up and stomp him in the first inning? If I knew the answer I’d tell you but this movie isn’t over yet and the script hasn’t even been finished. As die hard fans and bleeders for the game, we will just have to watch and see if Liriano’s 3-0 record and 0.75 ERA against the Cardinals is a thing of the past or a preview of the future. Let’s just hope for the best.

PNC Park will be rocking, with their fans pledging this two day period the ultimate sports holiday with the fate of their football team looming in the dungeon of the NFL and the hockey team just getting started.  For the first time in over 2 decades, the Pirates can clinch a chance to go to the National League Championship series.  It’s the Cardinals job to show up today and remind the Bucs who rules the Central and who has been to the postseason 10 times in the past 14 seasons.  In 2006 and 2011, the Cards were propelled by unexpected rookie contributions and a never say die will to survive in close games on the road, so they are built for this madness.   Remember Shea Stadium in 2006 against the Mets?  2011 with Chris Carpenter taking on his friend and foe Roy Halladay in high noon showdown for a chance to advance to the pennant?  The Cards have clinched big time series’ on the road and did the deed in hostile environments.   Areas unfit for a visiting team but tromped by the notion that when you are used to the playoff fever and have it running through your veins, settings don’t seem to matter.   What is the best way to quiet down a screaming crowd?   Take the field today and put up a 3 spot on the scoreboard.  Send Joe Kelly to the mound with a changeup that has befuddled the Pirates for the past two months.  Bat Yadi Molina in the cleanup spot and slide down the youthful power of Matt Adams to the sixth spot to load the guns.   Have young guns Kevin Siegrist and Trevor Rosenthal ready to light up home plate with 100 mph fastballs.   Don’t feed the Pirates team too many fastballs because they love them.

Why did Lance Lynn not do well in Game 2?  No matter how effective his curveball was, he kept going back to his fastball to finish off hitters and it was punished for big hits.   Why in the world do you throw Pedro Alvarez a fastball in the 3rd with a man on and the game only 1-0?  It makes no sense to feed that hound some bloody cheese there.  Pound him with the changeup and curve.  Don’t feed these big Pirate hitters heaters unless you can throw it past them.  Shelby Miller showed a shade of why he isn’t starting Game 4 when he allowed an eighth inning solo home run to Starlin Marte.  Miller relies on his fastball to get outs and the Pirates love fastballs.  Kelly is a guy who sets up his fastball with his changeup and keeps the hitters off balance.   Michael Wacha is the same way.   Set up your heater with your changeup and also have the ability to finish them off with your changeup if the situation calls for it.   In the playoffs, it’s about adjusting to what works and what doesn’t work.  Kelly and Wacha have the mindset and arsenal to get it done.  Lynn and Miller do not.  End of story.

Will the Cards get another game at Busch Stadium this year?   It’s so hard to make predictions in sports because anything can happen and expectations can easily be tromped.  The Cards need to at least do what the Bucs did at Busch over the weekend?  Win one game and bring it back home.  Don’t worry about Gerrit Cole’s and his evil rookie sharpness looming in Game 5.  You’ve seem him now and have tape to work off of.   He isn’t invincible.  He is young and talented yet beatable and hasn’t pitched a Game 5 winner take all before.  Another guy wearing Cardinal Red named Adam Wainwright has pitched in several of those games.    Yes, I am typing hopeful thoughts because at this point it’s important to remind fans that the series is tied 1-1 and up for grabs.  Forget the PNC Park madness and go out and play baseball.   Keep it simple.

I leave with these words.   Every day is another chance to turn it all around.   The Cards sucker punched the Pirates in Game 1 and they turned the tables in Game 2.  What does Game 3 have in store for the Postseason Kings(Cards) and the mad hatters in Pittsburgh?   Does Liriano dominate and sour the minds of Cards fans everywhere and send us prepping for a cold winter?  Do the Cards scrap, take a patient approach, find a way to hit his slider and score runs and get Joe Kelly up early?   You just don’t know or can tell what will happen next between these two teams.  That is what makes baseball great.  That is what makes October baseball legendary.  Unpredictable sporting events keep the blood flowing in a world where so many things can make your body go cold.

Go Cardinals!

Thanks for staying,

Dan Buffa