St. Louis Cardinals 2022

#602      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals notebook: Herrera gets call at catcher, gives first look at position's future

BOSTON — There are many early morning hours spent crouched next to Yadier Molina during spring training when young catchers in the Cardinals system get more than a workout blocking
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Derrick Goold
BOSTON — There are many early morning hours spent crouched next to Yadier Molina during spring training when young catchers in the Cardinals system get more than a workout blocking baseballs. They get prepared, through practice and conversation, for a moment that never may come for some — the moment they make the majors and take the wheel to direct a game.
Billed as the Cardinals’ top catching prospect and future at the position, and prepared as such, Ivan Herrera got the call for the first time Sunday.
“You still have to prove yourself,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Yes, everyone has done their part, including Herrera. At the end of the day the game starts and it’s real. You have to prove that you can do it. That’s why it’s an awesome accomplishment, but yeah.”

Eighteen years to the month after Molina made his first big-league start and a few days older than Molina was, Herrera made his debut as the starting catcher for the Cardinals in the series finale at Fenway Park. He will get regular playing time over the next several weeks to a month as Molina recovers from knee pain.
Herrera, who turned 22 this month, worked with fellow rookie Andre Pallante and got more in sync with his pitch-calling as the game got later. Herrera pounced on a meek grounder for the first out of the game, and Pallante nodded to him.
 
#603      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

‘Next man up’: Cardinals lose O’Neill and Sox series, still search for relief solution

Outfielder sparks rally, leaves game with hamstring injury as Cardinals lose to Red Sox 6-4 when decisive runs again are allowed by middling middle relievers.
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Derrick Goold
BOSTON — Within the same inning in which outfielder Tyler O’Neill rounded first and took a turn toward the injured list Sunday, the Cardinals had a quick reminder of the replacement they have ready, willing, and swinging should they need him.
Their search for such depth and solutions coming out of the bullpen to fill a void continues for yet another week.
Juan Yepez, limited to pinch-hit detail all weekend at Fenway Park, drilled a three-run homer over the Green Monster five batters after O’Neill left the game because of a hamstring injury.
The bolt from Yepez, who could start in O’Neill’s absence, helped the Cardinals get the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning. But a relief rupture an inning earlier — one all-too familiar for the Cardinals when trying to chase down an opponent — assured they would again fall short, losing 6-4 to Boston and dropping the interleague series two games to one. St. Louis native Tanner Houck secured his second save of the weekend for Boston with a strikeout, the 14th strikeout of the game by the Cardinals.

The decisive runs came on a three-run homer off right-hander Drew VerHagen in the eighth. Instead of a two-run gap within reach of the offense, the bridge collapsed into a five-run chasm Yepez’s homer could not span no matter how high above the Monster it soared.
“Needs to get better,” manager Oliver Marmol stated, bluntly. “I’ve said it before. I’ll continue to say it. I’m not using Gio (Gallegos) down two. Gio is here to pitch when we’re even or ahead. (Ryan) Helsley is here to pitch in high-leverage situations, not down two. We need a right-hander to get outs in the middle innings.”
 
#604      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Hochman: First place on line as Cardinals-Brewers series puts premium on pitching

This series could sway summer in a good way … or solidify yet another June swoon.
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Wow, the Cardinals’ front office sure looks good with all these rookies it groomed.
Wow, the Cardinals’ front office sure looks bad with all these free-agent signings it botched.
Both are true as the Cards head into their biggest series of the season — a series that could sway summer in a good way … or solidify yet another June swoon.
Sixty-eight games into this season, the Cardinals are 38-30 and the Brewers are 38-30. The two first-place clubs play Monday-Thursday in Milwaukee’s hitter-friendly park — in a series that’ll be defined by pitching.
Even with the whiffs on free agents Drew VerHagen, Nick Wittgren and T.J. McFarland — the jury is still out on the injured starter Steven Matz — that shouldn’t have discouraged the Cards from making an in-season pitching addition. Perhaps you recall the pleading from this column space in late May, following some injuries and considering how June of 2021 was bungled by a slow hand on arm reinforcements.

Well, the Cards are 10-9 in June 2022, and while you can say they solved the rotation problem with starter Andre Pallante, they have yet to replace and replicate … reliever Andre Pallante.

The Cardinals’ bullpen comes with an emphasis on “bull.” There are three rather reliable relievers — Ryan Helsley, Genesis Cabrera and Giovanny Gallegos. Everyone else seemingly is just a batting practice pitcher lately.
 
#605      

wpr

wpr
wpr
Middle relief pitching will certainly help but they need to step up against playoff caliber teams. StL has a 15-18 record against teams over .500. They have a winning record against SD 3-0 and SF 4-3. They are 23-12 against teams with a losing record. 8-2 against Pitt is a huge part of that.
 
#607      

wpr

wpr
wpr
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
I think Pittsburgh is something like 2-17 against the Cardinals, Braves, and Brewers. They're a .500+ team against anyone else.
Click to expand...
I was surprised to see Pitt is 5-1 v. LA. But it's baseball. Cubs were on a 10 game losing streak and Atl on a 14 game winning steak. Cubs took 2 of 3. Go figure.
 
#608      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
wpr said:
I was surprised to see Pitt is 5-1 v. LA.
Click to expand...

Guy I work with is from SoCal originally and is a big Dodgers fan. I have loved giving him grief about this. Thing about it is that if you watch the highlights of the games, especially the ones in L.A., Pirates looked like a World Series contender in those games.
 
#609      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
front row cleavage girl is back at Miller Park.......awesome..........................
 
#611      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals Quick Hits: Brewers' Burnes outduels Mikolas, 2-0, in clash of Central contenders

Mikolas didn't allow much, but Burnes allowed nothing as the Brewers pulled ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central standings.
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — A June showdown between two rivals tied atop the National League Central standings began with two of the division’s finest starters setting a tone for a week in Wisconsin.
Miles Mikolas did not allow much.
Corbin Burnes allowed nothing.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 Cardinals in seven scoreless innings to pilot Milwaukee to a 2-0 victory Monday night at American Family Field. The Cardinals slipped two base hits into Burnes’ line but were otherwise overwhelmed by the right-hander. Milwaukee (39-30) inched out to a one-game lead in the division against the Cardinals (38-31) with three games remaining in this series.

The other three teams in the NL Central have left these two to tussle all summer for the division crown, and both teams are trying to cover for fraying pitching staffs. The Brewers put a third member of the rotation on the injured list Monday; the Cardinals auditioned another right-hander for the hole they have in the middle innings. And while the thin spots on the pitching staffs could sway the series later, Monday’s opener was a showcase of stalwarts. Through four innings, the two starters had combined to allow two hits.
The only runs that came with the starters in the game were from the same swing — a two-run homer in the fifth inning by Tyrone Taylor. Mikolas winced as soon as Taylor connected on his 93 mph sinker and cursed as it carried over the center-field fence.
 
#612      

BillyBob1

BillyBob1
Champaign
BillyBob1
Wonder what the actual length of that home run by Gorman was? It sure would have gone further than 426 feet I not for hitting the wall.
 
#613      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
Gorman's homer was his 5th of the season ..........all 5 have been over 400 feet......................fun fact....................it really really is ....................
 
#614      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
Gorman with his second homer of the game ........dude is gonna be a stud for the Cardinals for many years...................he really really is...........
 
#617      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals Quick Hits: Gorman has a blast, launches Cardinals, Flaherty past Brewers

Rookie hits two home runs, drives in career-high four to knot the top of the division standings with Cardinals' 6-2 victory at Milwaukee.
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — It took two monster swings by rookie Nolan Gorman to put just enough distance between the Cardinals and Milwaukee for the visitors to get a chance to flaunt the best they can bring out of their bullpen.
On his way to four hits and four RBIs, Gorman hit two home runs — one to break a tie and the other to extend the Cardinals’ lead. His 428-foot smash toward the scoreboard in center field at American Family Field snapped a 2-2 tie and opened the way for the Cardinals to get as many outs as they could from their relief tandem, Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley. The Cardinals’ combo closers collected the final 12 outs in a 6-2 victory Tuesday.
The win moved the Cardinals back into a tie for first place in the NL Central, level with Milwaukee, at 39-31.

Before Gorman seized the headlines and the relievers earned the spotlight, the stage was set for Jack Flaherty to make a significant stride back from injury. He stalled. The right-hander had difficulty maintaining command of innings and at-bats, eventually walking five Brewers and having to tiptoe through lengthy innings just to keep Milwaukee from capitalizing on his gifts. Flaherty completed three innings and was seen in the dugout spiking things in apparent frustration.
Rookie Zack Thompson earned his first major-league win and was the first reliever into the void. He started the six scoreless innings from the bullpen with 1 2/3 in immediate relief of Flaherty. With the bullpen getting a grip on the game, Gorman’s second homer doubled the Cardinals’ lead, and his eighth-inning RBI single punctuated his game by tying a career high for RBIs and hits, marks set earlier this season against Milwaukee.

-------------------------------------------------

BTW , Gorman's 2nd homer of the game was listed later at 396 feet instead of 383...........Glad they brought him up and LETS GO CARDINALS......
 
#618      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals notebook: Goldschmidt rests to keep back pain from 'lingering'

Days of striving for 162 games are over when workload management and proactive rest are latest competitive edge teams can calculate. Also: ASG votes.
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — Back in 2015, Paul Goldschmidt blitzed his way toward being a starter at the All-Star Game with a batting average around .340, an OPS better than 1.000 and 70 RBIs to go with an appearance in all 87 games Arizona played.
Seven years later, Goldschmidt leads the voting for the All-Star Game at his position again, has an average of .339, an OPS greater than 1.000 and 58 RBIs to go with no way he was playing in every game the Cardinals have had.
Consider it a lesson learned.
“In July and August of that year, I just felt tired that whole (time) and ended up having to take more off days in the second half and felt like it affected (me),” Goldschmidt said. “OK, you’ve got to just take your off days. It would be cool to play 162. I’ve got 161 and 160, and obviously that’s not going to happen this year. It hasn’t been a goal because I think if you can be smart about it, hopefully you help the team more by taking a few days.”

A day after starting at designated hitter to give him a break from the field, Goldschmidt was not in the Cardinals’ lineup Tuesday against Milwaukee. He had some continuing lower back pain that he played through Monday, but the team opted to rest him Tuesday and not risk aggravating the soreness.
The proactive rest the Cardinals have given Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado throughout this first half — sometimes by using the DH as a break — has been beneficial, the team and players assert. Goldschmidt is in the midst of one of the finest first halves of his career, staking an early claim the NL MVP conversation. He won the Player of the Month award for May and on Tuesday received the NL’s Player of the Week award. Goldschmidt hit .467 (14 for 30) in the week with four homers and 11 RBIs. He slugged .967 in seven games. According to results released Tuesday, Goldschmidt’s 930,441 votes lead the NL to start at first base in next month’s All-Star Game.
 
#619      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Rookies rush to rescue, adjusting on the fly vs. Brewers and reshaping Cardinals' season

Gorman hits two homers, drives in four, and Marmol says rookies' 'ability to not rely on their talent but develop it is going to be the key for our success.'
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — When one of the catalysts they counted on elevating them this season could not take control of his start, the Cardinals turned within a game Tuesday where they increasingly have found solutions this season.
Rookies rose to the rescue.
With a leg kick he’s modified for the majors, Nolan Gorman catapulted two home runs, including a tiebreaking bolt that traveled 428 feet, and he tied career highs with four hits and four RBIs to lift the Cardinals to a 6-2 victory against Milwaukee at American Family Field. Flaunting the curveball he’s learning can deft big-league hitters, Zack Thompson steadied the game with 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his first major-league win.

The adjustments they’ve made to improve in prominent spots have come at the same time the Cardinals are becoming more and more reliant on young players growing on the go.
“That would be key to the whole year, in my opinion,” said manager Oliver Marmol, a rookie in his role, too. “I think you just nailed it. Their ability to not rely on their talent but develop it is going to be the key for our success.”
When the Cardinals exited spring training, they did so as they entered it – with incumbents at every position, a rotation with no room for rookies. Even with an expanded, 28-man roster on opening day the Cardinals had one player, Andre Pallante, who had yet to appear in the majors. Fast forward 2 ½ months, and three of the top five hitters in Tuesday’s lineup were rookies. The first pitcher into the game to relieve struggling Jack Flaherty was a rookie. Four of the six runs scored and five of the six RBIs collected, yep, by rookies.
 
#624      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals Quick Hits: Arenado's homer upends Brewers, seizes first MLB win for Oviedo

Oviedo pitches 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for Wainwright and gets his first major-league win in 25 appearances. Cardinals retake division lead.
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — A decisive element of the Cardinals’ ongoing search for that reliever who could seize a middle inning and steal time for the offense to rally was, of course, banking on their offense to at some point conjure that rally.
They had not always been able to sync the two.
They did Wednesday, emphatically.
In his 25th appearance in the majors, Johan Oviedo, emerging on this trip as the answer to the Cardinals’ middle-relief riddle, earned his first big-league win. He had been 0-9. But the win only came when he froze the Brewers’ one-run lead in the fifth and Nolan Arenado reversed it in the sixth inning. Arenado’s two-run homer coupled with Oviedo’s 2 1/3 scoreless innings lifted the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory against Milwaukee and back into first place in the National League Central Division at American Family Field.

In relief of starter Adam Wainwright, Oviedo entered in the fifth inning with two of the veteran’s runners still on base and one out to get. Oviedo got the groundball that kept Wainwright’s ERA from bloating and, more essentially, the Brewers’ lead from swelling. The young right-handed picked up the pace from there, striking out three of the next six batters he faced to deliver a one-run game to the back end of the bullpen.
With Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley unavailable after splitting four innings of work Tuesday, Genesis Cabrera pitched two innings, looking only briefly into the abyss of a blown save in the ninth.
 
#625      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Cardinals notebook: For Gorman to grow into everyday fixture, he must get started vs. lefties

A day after two homers and a career-best four RBIs, Gorman remains in lineup against a lefty to help him develop despite a matchup that vexed him in minors.
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Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — For rookie Nolan Gorman to build beyond games like Tuesday’s and develop into an everyday power source the Cardinals believe he can be, he’ll need to improve against left-handed pitchers.
Of course, he’ll first need to start against them.
A peek at that process came Wednesday.
Fresh off his two-homer, four-hit and four-RBI game against Milwaukee, Gorman remained in the lineup Wednesday against Brewers lefty Eric Lauer. Lefties have had success against Lauer this season, and in his career, he does not have the dramatic splits or high strikeout rates that lead to facing a lineup chocked with right-handed batters. The timing was right, manager Oliver Marmol said, for Gorman to get the start — his first step toward more.

“No doubt about it — he needs to be able to be an everyday guy that plays against both sides,” Marmol said. “We’ll have to pick our spots to put our best lineup out there while also developing (him). There are some that make more sense than others. We’ll see what it looks like.”
In the minors, Gorman had significant gaps between his production against right-handed and left-handed pitchers. The 22-year-old, left-handed slugger batted .379 with an .828 slugging percentage and a 1.254 OPS in 87 at-bats against right-handed pitchers at Class AAA this season. His average against lefties was .174 with a .655 OPS in 46 at-bats. Small sample sizes compared with full seasons, but his 2021 was similar with a .319 average and .977 OPS against right-hand pitchers and limited starts and a .167 average vs. lefties. All six of his hits vs. lefties at Class AA in 2021 were singles.