St. Louis Cardinals 2022

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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Benjamin Hochman

John Mozeliak, who is forever the architect of a World Series champion, annually builds a team that contends for the playoffs.
But the St. Louis Cardinals have not won a game in the National League Championship Series since 2014. That year, they won one.
That’s a lot of years of being close, but not that close.
Now, cracking the playoff code is tricky. Heck, even with their payroll, the Yankees haven’t even been to a World Series since 2009.

So in St. Louis, here we go again, another chance for the Cardinals to attempt to win title No. 12.
And while this column could have a short shelf life — especially if Jose Quintana is shelled in Game 1 — Mozeliak deserves credit for not only building the 2022 team, but also bolstering this club in early August.
In the days and hours before the trade deadline, the Cards' president of baseball operations traded for Quintana and Jordan Montgomery.
“I’m not sure it’s talked about enough — it was an unbelievable trade deadline for us,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Thursday, prior to the team’s postseason workout.
Quite simply, Quintana had a 2.01 ERA in his 12 St. Louis starts and Montgomery had a 3.11 ERA in 11.
 
#1,882      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Ben Frederickson


I'd go with Q for Game 1.
Jose Quintana, the veteran left-hander who emerged as one of the Cardinals' steadiest and most efficient arms down the stretch, would be my pick to start off this wild-card series against the Phillies.
The Phillies have been a hair more powerful against southpaws like Quintana (.774 on-base plus slugging percentage) than against right-handers (.731 OPS) but not enough to keep you from starting a seasoned starter who since his trade-deadline arrival from Pittsburgh has produced a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts and 62.2 innings pitched. That’s lower than all but six qualified major league starters during that span, and better than guys like Shane Bieber (2.10), Blake Snell (2.42) and should-be National League Cy Young Award winner and former Cardinal Sandy Alcantara (2.84). And Quintana has been even better since September. In his last six starts he has limited opponents to a .183 average, a .217 on-base percentage and a .226 slugging percentage. During that span his ERA is 0.81, with 28 strikeouts in 33.1 innings, and just four walks.

The 33-year-old Quintana has allowed just one home run while wearing the Cardinals uniform, and that feels like an important thing to note considering the power that can be found in this Phillies lineup. Philadelphia (205 homers) was one of four National League clubs to sock 200-plus home runs this season. Quintana and his 48.9 percent groundball rate as a Cardinal have his chance to keep the Phillies grounded. Quintana has allowed no more than two earned runs in any of the five games he's started as a Cardinal at Busch Stadium, and he surrendered one or fewer in three. He experienced the pressure of the postseason with the Cubs in 2017. He's well rested after pitching three sharp tune-up innings (38 pitches) on Monday. Is he going to go seven innings? Probably not. Is he going to go eight or nine? No chance Newsflash: No starter in this rotation is. Especially not with this manager. But Quintana can give the Cardinals their best chance to win Game 1, and their best chance and perplexing the Phillies as the series evolves.
 
#1,883      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Jeff Gordon

At least the Kansas City Royals didn’t let Mike Matheny twist in the wind.

Executive vice president/general manager J.J. Picollo gave Matheny the short haircut after the team’s regular season finale. Pitching coach Cal Eldred also got clipped and wholesale change is expected throughout the baseball operation.

The Royals staggered to a 65-97 finish this season, when they were supposed to take a big step forward with their young talent. That failure prompted owner John Sherman to fire president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, the man who hired Matheny, and promote Picollo late in the season.

At that point Matheny became a Dead Manager Walking.
 
#1,884      
I know right.

I will be using my phone to help watch both events. I will have the Illini on the tv to start, and the Cards on my phone, and may swap them at some point.

I'm going to be multi screening it all somehow but I haven't figured out how. I have the Illini game, Cardinals game, and another event I'm watching on Peacock all going on Saturday night. I may have my TV, laptop, and phone all going on at once with the different things going on. I'd really prefer not to have to watch the Cardinals through WatchESPN or the ESPN app but I may be forced to. I know I'll have to watch tomorrow's game via the ESPN app or plug in my small radio at work.
 
#1,887      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold

As his team waited, some thumbs poised against cork and others still gripping and shaking the Champagne for maximum spritz, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol stood recently in the middle of a clubhouse and chronicled a season highlighted by individual achievements.
During the team’s second-half surge to earn a celebration as National League Central champion, the box scores overflowed with signature numbers, the games soaked in milestones. Albert Pujols hit his 699th and 700th career home runs in back-to-back at-bats, and that came not too long after Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina set an all-time record with their 325th start together as a battery. Paul Goldschmidt led the NL with a .981 OPS. He and Nolan Arenado had matching 100-RBI seasons and strong statistical bids for what would be either infielder’s first MVP award. Marmol, the youngest manager at 36 to win a division title, had notable numbers of his own, specifically Year One in the role.
Before letting loose the bubbles and suds to commemorate a playoff berth, Marmol noted that not once did the swirl of individual feats cloud the team goal. Now that the postseason has arrived, all the history made is history, those numbers, no matter how big and gaudy, are replaced by the one that matters most.

Twelve.
A 12th World Series title.
“That’s a championship,” Marmol said, “and here we are.”
The Cardinals resume pursuit of their 12th World Series pennant Friday afternoon at Busch Stadium in the wild-card round of Major League Baseball’s new, expanded playoffs. The spoils of a division title without a top-two record is home-field advantage for all games in the best-of-three opening series.
 
#1,888      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold , Rick Hummel


Whatever gaze Jose Quintana gave manager Oliver Marmol during that start for the Cardinals in August radiated with such a “sense of purpose” that the manager returned again and again to that look as his way to describe the lefty’s mentality with his new team.
“He is,” Marmol said, “on a mission.”
“Since starting to pitch for the Cardinals, I feel like — an energy,” Quintana said.
The Cardinals’ most successful starter of September got the nod to lead them into October with the Game 1 assignment Friday as the National League Wild Card round opens against Philadelphia at Busch Stadium. Quintana did not allow more than two earned runs in any of his dozen starts for the Cardinals and had a 0.81 ERA in 33 1/3 innings spread over six starts in September. Giving Quintana the opener for the best-of-three series allows the Cardinals to start right-hander Miles Mikolas in Game 2 and separate lefties Quintana and Jordan Montgomery if a Game 3 is necessary and Montgomery is the starter.

That also gives Mikolas, the Cardinals’ All-Star and steadiest starter, the pivotal appearance in Game 2, which will either be a clinching game or an elimination game.
“Knowing the importance of Game 2, one way or the other, (Miles) loved the thought,” Marmol said, “and the accountability of shouldering that.”
For both the Phillies and the Cardinals, the Game 1 starter is crystal ball into what almost was, or what could have been. The Phillies will face Quintana, who they aggressively attempted to trade for at the deadline before the Cardinals finalized a deal with Pittsburgh. The Phillies acquired power right-hander Noah Syndergaard soon after. The Cardinals can empathize. Philadelphia’s Game 1 starter Zack Wheeler was a trade target for the Cardinals at the deadline in 2019. But Wheeler’s team at the time, the New York Mets, wanted either outfielder Tyler O’Neill or Harrison Bader as the centerpiece of any deal.


The Cardinals passed.
 
#1,889      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Daniel Guerrero

Shifted over from his natural shortstop position for the first time in his professional career, Cardinals infield prospect Masyn Winn went one-for-four with an RBI single and two walks on Tuesday as Salt River’s starting second baseman in the Arizona Fall League.
Aside from 16 games at designated hitter and a one-inning appearance on the mound in 2021 for Class High-A Peoria, Winn played 198 games at shortstop since making his pro debut a year ago with Class Low-A Palm Beach and had not played as much as 1/3 of an inning at other position in the field. He made the switch with Blue Jays prospect Addison Barger starting at shortstop.

During Tuesday’s action, Winn was joined by outfielder Mike Antico and right-hander Ryan Loutos who also made their fall league during Salt River’s lost 11-9 to the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Here’s how the trio of Cardinals prospects did on Tuesday:
Winn: The 20-year-old’s only hit of the day came with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning. Facing left-hander Sammy Peralta, a 24-year-old with experience in Class AA and AAA within the White Sox organization, Winn smacked a low-and-away changeup to the opposite field to bring home a run. Winn grounded out and struck out looking in his other three at-bats. He turned a 4-6-3 double play and didn’t commit an error while playing the field.
 
#1,890      
You have to wait 3 minutes between posts?
When I tried to post them back to back it said I had to wait another 181 seconds!
aint nobody got time for that GIF
 
#1,892      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
He must've reduced my time by a lot.
Have you tried to do 2 posts in a row quickly ????.............................lately ??

Question for you 2 guys........................When you log in to loyalty . what room do you click to enter ??

My course of action for the last couple of years has been clicking on the new posts room.................shows all the most recent posts in all threads instead of being on say the BB room....................faster to read and reply to posts of interest....

I think a lot of posters don't do it and miss some interesting discussions......disregard this question if already been there before.......

Heady betty has surrounded me in a warm glowing buzz this morning so my posts henceforth might be a little risque and full of gifs galore......

Just a public service announcement......................................it really really is ...............................................

psyc3.gif
 
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#1,893      
Have you tried to do 2 posts in a row quickly ????.............................lately ??

Question for you 2 guys........................When you log in to loyalty . what room do you click to enter ??

My course of action for the last couple of years has been clicking on the new posts room.................shows all the most recent posts in all threads instead of being on say the BB room....................faster to read and reply to posts of interest....

I think a lot of posters don't do it and miss some interesting discussions......disregard this question if already been there before.......

Heady betty has surrounded me in a warm glowing buzz this morning so my posts henceforth might be a little risque and full of gifs galore......

Just a public service announcement......................................it really really is ...............................................

View attachment 20372
Yes, let me see what my wait time is. Also I do the same I will go to new posts......unless I have notifications then I will check those first and see if anyone replied to me or mentioned me....That is my course of action.........it really really is.......