July 17: Quick Takes on the Cardinals
Happy Friday to everyone and I wish you a great weekend…
1. Things I’m Looking Forward To Watching as the Cardinals Resume Play: (A) Watching Colby Rasmus continue to develop; (B) seeing if Albert Pujols is gassed from the All-Star Experience and if so, how much; (C) seeing if Todd Wellemeyer can get his head together; (D) how long manager Tony La Russa will run Rick Ankiel or Chris Duncan out to LF without receiving production; (E) whether it possible for Joel Pineiro to keep pitching in a way that saw him walk only 12 and give up 3 HRs in the first half; (F) if Brendan Ryan can stay in the lineup and also become more of an RBI threat; (G) wondering if the latest round of optimism over Mark DeRosa’s return is based on reality or hope.
2. Speaking of DeRosa: If there is any doubt at all, do not rush him back. Do not increase the risk that he’ll reaggravate the wrist injury and possibly reinjure it in a way that will keep him out of the lineup for a long time.
3. I’m Ready for Rams Training Camp: Just to change the mix, and give us something else to talk about. I still wish the team had done more to improve the depth at WR. I wish they had done more to find a reliable No. 2 RB. I wish the Rams had made more of an effort to beef up the defensive line. That said, I think they had a positive offseason, simply because of the regime change at Rams Park, and the installation of new leadership in the form of GM Billy Devaney and heach coach Steve Spagnuolo. And from a roster standpoint, I appreciated the effort to improve the offensive line. I think Spagnuolo is a good man, and I know he was an excellent defensive coordinator. But you never really know what you have in a first-time head coach until the real games begin, the bullets start flying and adversity hits.
4. Welcome Home, Max Scherzer: The Arizona pitcher won’t pitch this weekend, so we won’t get to see the hometown son who graduated from Parkway Central HS and Missouri. But Scherzer is having a fine season for the D-Backs, having gone 5-6 with a 3.64 ERA. That won/loss record is misleading; Scherzer’s run-support average of 4.20 is nothing great. But like most power arms who enter the majors, Scherzer is going through the natural process of working to become more efficient. And that’s an area where he’ll need to improve. Compared to rookie (2008) season, Scherzer is throwing more pitches per inning (but the increase is slight, from 16.6 to 18.1). His walk rate is up a bit. His BR/9 rate is slightly up. But Scherzer has maintained a healthy strikeout rate and only six NL starting pitchers have gotten a higher percentage of swings and misses from the hitters. Getting more ground-ball outs will help. Scherzer still throws fastballs around 73 percent of the time, but he’s working hard to develop a slider, and he’s used it more often against lefthanded hitters. One more note about Scherzer: because of his work-in-progress ground-ball rate, hitters are able to elevate the ball on him. And in that regard, he pays a price for pitching in Arizona’s home ballpark, which favors hitters. In his MLB career, Max’s ERA at home is 4.18, and on the road it’s 2.69. The slugging percentage against him is 40 points lower on the road. Also: in recent starts, Scherzer hasn’t gotten much help from his defense, which has committed multiple errors behind him. All in all, the Diamondbacks have every reason to be thrilled with Scherzer. He’s a formidable talent. He’s refining his pitching.
5. Bernie Bytes: According to STATS LLC, Rasmus is one of only five rookie outfieldets since 2000 to have 40+ runs and 30+ extra-base hits at the All-Star Break. The others were Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, Rocco Baldelli and David Murphy… when the Cardinals homer in a game, they’re 37-18 (4th best in the majors in that category). When they don’t homer, they’re 12-24… thanks to my friend Dave G for his tip on the band Great Lake Swimmers and their relatively new release “Lost Channels.” It’s outstanding … I’m waiting for the new Wilco to really grab me but it hasn’t happened yet… when Springsteen comes to Scottrade Center on Oct. 25, it’s in the middle of a hectic football weekend; Texas is at Missouri on the 24th, and the Rams host Indianapolis on the 25th. And of course, the Cardinals will be in the World Series, NLCS, right? Right? … so from what I can tell, the Cardinals will use Troy Glaus the way they used a limping (knee) Mark McGwire in the 2000 MLB postseason: a deluxe pinch hitter to be saved for a very important late-inning AB…. Congrats to Mizzou football icon Roger Wehrli; the Charlotte Touchdown Club announced today that Wehrli has been named recipient of the 2009 Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, which recognizes the “best of the best” of college defensive football players from the past 40 years.
Thanks for reading…
-Bernie
Bernie, just cover the football games and I’m sure you can squeeze in the concert. When Springsteen comes to town on the 25th, the Cards might be involved in the NLCS, but the World Series starts October 28. Brock looked up the dates to make sure he wouldn’t be missing his Cubs in the World Series in order to see the Boss. LOL
Given Glaus’ traditional fast start and the proposed pinch hitting strategy, he should be on fire come December.
Bernie, huge Wilco fan here, but the new album is not doing it for me yet either.
Bernie, take 5 to ask the commish why he invited the president to throw out the first pitch when he had to know we had plans for Stan. Inquiring minds want to know.
“seeing if Albert Pujols is gassed from the All-Star Experience and if so, how much”
that’s garbage. if you are a world class athlete (as albert is) two days off after a home run derby and an exhibitin game should be plenty to be rested and reeady to go ( i know i know, he was also the “host” and had many interviews and meetings im sure). I’d be very dissapointed if an all star game really “gassed” an elite professional athlete.
Bernie, glad to see you’re enjoying the GLS. Great band. If you haven’t already, purchase their previous record ONGIARA soon. There are no duds on that entire record. Tracks 1 and 7 are highlights for me. Enjoy.
Should DeRosa have another MRI before he gets activated? I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t, but maybe you could enlighten me. Don’t they need to totally walk on eggshells before he plays again? I’ll be thrilled to see him back in there, but a relapse would be catastrophic. They cannot take any risk at all.
From the sounds of it, the whole team appears gassed except for Ludwick. Is this team ready for the dog days of summer push????????? Does this first place finnish at the ALLSTAR break underscore the fact that this team has over achieved again and gassed themselves out to acheive that? Albert has set himself up for a great year…possibly a TRIPLE CROWN player. The likes of which the National league has not seen since when…Joe Medwick in 1937??? I hope Pujols plays every game. The second half offers more off days so he can get his rest then. It won’t be long and they will have 150 days off from competition, unless of course they play deep into October. Bring Wallace up. I’ll bet he won’t be tired.
Bernie,
How come there’s no talk about a trade for Haren? The D’Backs are in the cellar, he’d be a lot cheaper than Halladay and he’s got Cardinals roots. He’d fit in the rotation just as good as Halladay if not better do to egos. Finally, the rotation of Carpenter, Wainwright, Haren, Lohse and Pineiro would be nearly as imposing as one with Halladay.
So athletes should never get tired under any circumstances?
Wow. That’s a pretty high standard. Also impossible to live up to.
-B
You’re right Bernie. I was a little hard on them was’nt I. I’ll man up here and admit my bad. Thanks for taking the time to set me straight. Your Point is taken with all due respect.
I cannot even begin to imagine how tired Albert had to be when he got home Tuesday evening. I hope he did nothing but sit around the house on Wednesday and Thursday. But something tells me the perfectionist in him didn’t allow for that.
Apparently Albert wasn’t tired … at all.
The guy is remarkable.
-B
Wow; Bernie’s still scanning the board at 1:36 a.m. I took my wife to dinner last night (the lasagna at Carino’s is THIS close to being as good as Tumo’s on S. Hampton), and TiVo’d the Cards game. Followed the game on my BlackBerry, and I noticed that right after the count on Pujols went to 2-0, my BB refreshed and the score was 2-0 in the 6th. I called my son, who was watching the game, to ask why Garland would throw anything close to the plate on a 2-0 count. He said Pujols’ second HR came on a 3-0 (!) count. Number 5 IS remarkable.
Since you mixed in a little Rams football, Bernie — the kind of season Pujols is having reminds me of another humble pro athlete who helped bring a championship to St. Louis; Kurt Warner. To paraphrase Mike Martz — we’re really watching something special that doesn’t come around very often.
Wow, another expensive pinch hitter taking up valuable bench space. Not good.