St. Louis Cardinals 2022

Pitching to Albert had to be the stupidest move in the history of baseball. First base is open; a left handed pitcher; set up the double play; a rookie on deck who is a lefty.

But thank you...

Rick Hummel

The Cardinals had been held to one run or none 12 times this season while ace right-hander Miles Mikolas had been on the mound.
Mikolas was masterful Sunday at Busch Stadium, throwing his curveball as low as 65 mph and his fastball in the low 90s. He allowed just two hits and one walk in his eight innings. But he had no runs of support until ...
Albert Pujols came to the plate as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. Continuing his renaissance at age 42, Pujols smacked the second pitch he saw from Chicago Cubs left-hander Brandon Hughes for a two-run homer 429 feet into the left-field bleachers.
Pujols' 16th homer of the season was the 695th of his career. It scored Tommy Edman, who had doubled with one out ahead of him, and provided a 2-0 Cardinals win over the Cubs. The victory, saved by Ryan Helsley in a scoreless ninth, secured a series sweep for the Cardinals who are 24 games over .500 at 79-55.

Batting for Lars Nootbaar, Pujols jumped a 94 mph fastball on an 0-1 count for his second pinch homer of the season and seventh of his career. It also put him just one homer behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth place on the career home-run list.
A curtain call by the paid Busch Stadium crowd of 46,642 was demanded. And Pujols answered it, doffing his helmet.
The game had been delayed in starting for 1 hour 28 minutes because of rain but those who stayed-found the ending well worth it.

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Albert is amazing........................The Cardinals are playing their best baseball of the season since the All Star break and with the brewers loss today the Cardinals now led the division by 8.5 games.............

whatahack said:

Pitching to Albert had to be the stupidest move in the history of baseball. First base is open; a left handed pitcher; set up the double play; a rookie on deck who is a lefty.

But thank you...

Click to expand...

I gotta believe at this point Ross said pitch to him. Who cares if he beats you he beats you.

So I'm watching the
Padres - Dodgers game and I had to do a double take when Padres catcher Nola
came up to bat...
He is the spitting image of
Paul DeJong , even down to his mannerisms as he prepared to bat.
WOW....scary stuff

Did he strike out...

whatahack said:

Did he strike out...

Click to expand...

yep.....swung at a slider in the dirt.............................

Rick Hummel

The Cardinals had been held to one run or none 12 times this season while ace right-hander Miles Mikolas had been on the mound.
Mikolas was masterful Sunday at Busch Stadium, throwing his curveball as low as 65 mph and his fastball in the low 90s. He allowed just two hits and one walk in his eight innings. But he had no runs of support until ...
Albert Pujols came to the plate as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. Continuing his renaissance at age 42, Pujols smacked the second pitch he saw from Chicago Cubs left-hander Brandon Hughes for a two-run homer 429 feet into the left-field bleachers.
Pujols' 16th homer of the season was the 695th of his career. It scored Tommy Edman, who had doubled with one out ahead of him, and provided a 2-0 Cardinals win over the Cubs. The victory, saved by Ryan Helsley in a scoreless ninth, secured a series sweep for the Cardinals who are 24 games over .500 at 79-55.

Batting for Lars Nootbaar, Pujols jumped a 94 mph fastball on an 0-1 count for his second pinch homer of the season and seventh of his career. It also put him just one homer behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth place on the career home-run list.
A curtain call by the paid Busch Stadium crowd of 46,642 was demanded. And Pujols answered it, doffing his helmet.
The game had been delayed in starting for 1 hour 28 minutes because of rain but those who stayed-found the ending well worth it.

Rick Hummel

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado likes Albert Pujols’ chances of getting to 700 homers with four-plus weeks to go and five homers to be slugged. But if it doesn’t happen?
“I think he should come back next year,” said Arenado after Pujols’ two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning accounted for the Cardinals’ 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium on a rainy Sunday. “He has shown he’s still one of the best hitters in the game.
“Even if he does get to 700, I would like to have him back here next year. That’s how much he means to our team. But just think of the crowds we’ll have for the first week of the season.”
Arenado shook his head and said, “Every time he comes to the plate, the fans want him to hit a home run ... and then he does.

“I asked 'Waino' (Adam Wainwright) and Yadi (Molina), ‘Was this like it was when he was here before? And they said, ‘Yes. Every time we needed a big hit, he got it.’”
Pujols, who Arenado said should have been National League Player of the Month for August rather than himself, was Arenado’s favorite player as a youth when he was growing up in southern California.
The future Hall of Famer has 12 of his 16 homers off left-handed pitching this season — Brandon Hughes was Sunday’s victim — and he has 695 for his career, one shy of fourth-place Alex Rodriguez and five shy of 700, where only Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth have trod before.

Rick Hummel
Tommy Edman set an extra-base standard of his own Sunday when he doubled to left with one out in the eighth inning of a scoreless tie game with the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals shortstop extended his streak of having at least one extra-base hit to seven games, the longest current streak of the major league season.
But there are extra-base hits ... and bigger extra-base hits. Albert Pujols trumped that double with his game-winning, two-run homer as a pinch hitter following Edman.
“I was 100% confident he’d find a way to drive me in,” said Edman. “Pretty cool that it turned out to be a homer.”
But Edman did wonder what all the commotion was when he was in the batter’s box.

“I think he stepped in the on-deck circle right after their pitcher threw a strike and the crowd erupted,” Edman said. ”And I was like, why are they cheering for the pitcher now? Then I glanced over, Oh, Albert’s up next. That made a little more sense.”
Edman, a switch-hitter who had a hit from each side of the plate on Sunday, has 10 hits overall in 25 at-bats over his past seven games.
Tommy Edman's diving stop.
“His bat path is in the (strike) zone a little longer,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s (staying) off the ground. He’s in the air, and he’s using the whole field. He’s hitting the ball hard right now, from both sides of the plate.”

Jeff Gordon
Fans are getting a look at how Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol could direct his upgraded pitching staff in postseason play.
He pushes hard to find edges. He pulls his starters when he sees major trouble brewing. He sends reliever after reliever to the mound to gain more favorable matchups.
The Cardinals don’t feature much swing-and-miss stuff in their rotation. Maybe Jack Flaherty will add some — he struck out 34 batters in 27 minor league innings this season — but this pitching staff will need group efforts to make a deep playoff run.
Fortunately, the Cardinals are building a bullpen that can meet that collective challenge. Right now, Marmol has six relievers who can handle tough assignments.

Saturday night’s 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs produced reassuring signs.
Adam Wainwright helped carry the staff for much of the season when the bullpen struggled. Time after time Wainwright worked as deep into a game as possible to allow Marmol to limit his reliever use.
But Saturday, Wainwright didn’t have it. He allowed three runs in the first inning, then did well to muddle through five frames.
Naturally, Wainwright wanted one more chance to get his stuff right, but Marmol pulled him and sent relievers Andre Pallante, Jake Woodford, JoJo Romero and Giovanny Gallegos out for an inning each.
The Cardinals breezed to another victory.

Flaherty activated from IL. Dakota Hudson optioned to Memphis. Junior Fernandez DFAed.

Albert has some opportunities to hit a few home runs.

There are 28 games left.
14 games at home. Busch is 16th in home runs at .973.
14 games on the road.
9 against Pitt. 6 of them are in Pittsburgh. It is slightly a home run park @1.038 (14th) The pitching staff is 21st in total home runs allowed. Kinda surprising.
2 in Milwaukee and 2 at home. They are 6th @ 1.187. It doesn't show what the numbers are when the roof is open or closed. The pitching staff is 4th in most home runs allowed.
5 in St Lou against Cincy. pitchers are 3rd in most HR allowed.
West Coast trip with 3 in SD and 3 in LA. SD is about the same as Pitt and StL. 15th @.988 while LAD is 11th @ 1.108. SD pitchers are middle of the pack A 16th. LAD is excellent @ 27th.
That leaves the 4 games this week in St Lou against Washington. They have given up the most home runs this year.

Possible times to get a HR:
Late in a game against weaker bullpens like Washington, Cincy and Pitt. An AB or two in Milwaukee. LH pitching in general.
I can see Marmol letting him play a little more against certain RH pitching.
Stick him between Goldy and Arenado. Perhaps in front of them.

When playing at home is a disadvantage:

Tom Timmermann

The Cardinals’ 6-0 Labor Day loss to the Nationals was ultimately forgettable by everyone in red — “That game could not have ended quick enough,” manager Oliver Marmol said — but even in a lopsided defeat with an offense that managed three hits, only one of which got out of the infield, it managed to hold promise.
That was because of the return of staff ace Jack Flaherty, who made just his fourth appearance in a season that has been overwhelmed by shoulder troubles. He struck out six, walked one, hit a batter and allowed just one run in five innings, his longest big-league outing this season, which right there tells you how things have been going for him.
“Jack was encouraging,” Marmol said. “I thought he did a nice job. It looked good; it was promising. The fastball plays, the (velocity) was there, shape of the other stuff was also there, command in and out, but it’s only going to improve from here. Slider whiff rate was good. Got eight outs with it. Overall, I would describe it as an encouraging outing for us.”

Not that the Cardinals need much encouragement as they have taken command in the NL Central, but every bit helps. The Cardinals lost and the Brewers won on Monday, marking the first time since Aug. 13 that they lost a game in the standings to the Brewers, who are now 7½ games back.
The game was certainly not a straight line for Flaherty. The Nationals got a runner on in each of his five innings, including multiple runners in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
But Flaherty responded to those challenges. With a runner on second and one run in the third, he struck out the next three hitters. With runners on second and third and one out in the fourth, he got out of the inning without allowing a run. He did the same with runners on first and third and one out in the fifth. Had it not been for Tyler O’Neill’s failed attempt at a diving catch on a fly ball by CJ Abrams in the third that went for a triple and ultimately a run, Flaherty could have gotten through his five innings without allowing a run.

Tom Timmermann

Dakota Hudson lost his spot in the Cardinals starting rotation after his last outing, and on Monday, he lost his spot on the roster.
The Cardinals optioned Hudson to Memphis but plan to bring him back on Sept. 17 as their 27th player to pitch one of the games of the doubleheader that day against Cincinnati. Hudson gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings in his most recent start, also against Cincinnati. He’s gone past five innings just once in his past six starts.
Hudson will get two starts in with Memphis, the first one on Tuesday. He had been targeted to be the long man out of the bullpen with the Cardinals after losing his spot in the rotation.
“Our thoughts are his innings in the ’pen aren’t as meaningful as us continuing to have length for that start on the 17th,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “(We want him) just to continue to build on what he was doing. He does a nice job when he has multiple pitches working for him, like anybody would, and he’s just fallen into a trap where one start the sinker’s on and he doesn’t have a feel for slider and when he’s getting good misses on the slider, he’s inconsistent with the sinker and he’s walking guys. So when both of those are working for him, then it’s a good day. So just the consistency of that. I think that’s easier to do getting two starts down there and being ready for the 17th than throwing three innings over the next 10 days here.”

Hudson, who missed the end of 2020 and most of 2021 after Tommy John surgery, was 7-7 with a 4.43 ERA this season. He had just one win in his past nine starts.
“He understood it, and he obviously would want to stay here,” Marmol said. “But he understood that that gives us our best chance of winning that game. And that can be a meaningful game. And we want our best chance and our best starter available to be able to take that, and we believe that that’s him. So it allows (Jake Woodford) to stay in our ’pen and get meaningful innings. It allows (James) Naile to stay in our ’pen and be the ground-ball guy. I think both of those guys fit a role that Dak would have had in our ’pen with getting ground balls, giving us multiple innings. But it sets us up for the 17th, so he understood it. I did express that things were heading in the right direction for him because they were, and he’s looking forward to providing the team what what’s needed on the 17th.”

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Most of the comments regarding Hudson's being sent down to Memphis agreed with the decision............A couple of fans posted they thought Hudson should have been DFA instead of Fernandez................

I think it was a wise decision ....Could you imagine bringing Hudson into a pressure packed situation with his lack of control issues ???....Well , I can and the results make me sweat .....a bad sweat.....at least this way he can stay on schedule and be ready for one of the double header games on the 17th of this month against the reds............................

I really think DeJong and Hudson will be made available in this off season's trade talks.......I really really do...............

Ben Frederickson


Any interest in a positive angle from a lopsided loss to a struggling team?
Soft-tossing Nationals starter Anibal Sanchez handcuffing a Cardinals lineup wasn’t the only Monday occurrence that stirred some memories from 2019.
Jack Flaherty smiled.
Did you see it?
The right-hander met catcher Yadier Molina just off the mound after a CJ Abrams lineout ended the fourth inning.
After back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt put Nationals on second and third with just one out, Flaherty had encountered a tight spot with his team trailing by a run.

He then fell behind Josh Palacios two balls to none.
Gulp.
What followed: slider for a called strike; four consecutive Palacios foul balls; and then Flaherty firing a 96.6 mph fastball by a swinging Palacios for a swing-and-miss strike three.
That’s when Molina made his mound visit. Abrams lined out to Lars Nootbaar three pitches later. Inning over. Flaherty and Molina flashed quick grins.
Perfect, it was not. More efficient, it could have been. But Monday marked another step forward for Flaherty, who continues to provide reasons to believe what has at times looked like a lost season due to more shoulder trouble could end with him becoming a postseason X-factor for the Cardinals.

pruman91 said:

I really think DeJong and Hudson will be made available in this off season's trade talks.......I really really do...............

Click to expand...

They'll 100% be available, but I think pertinent questions are: 1. Who would want them; and 2. Would we be interested in whatever any team would offer for them?

I think Hudson may have some value. Not much, but some. DeJong has negative trade value I think we'd have to eat most of his salary and take junk in return, or have to package him with a good prospect (and take less in return), so I'd be surprised if it happens. My guess is we suffer through another year of DeJong and then buy out his option and he can go off into free agency.

the juiceman cometh said:

They'll 100% be available, but I think pertinent questions are: 1. Who would want them; and 2. Would we be interested in whatever any team would offer for them?

I think Hudson may have some value. Not much, but some. DeJong has negative trade value I think we'd have to eat most of his salary and take junk in return, or have to package him with a good prospect (and take less in return), so I'd be surprised if it happens. My guess is we suffer through another year of DeJong and then buy out his option and he can go off into free agency.

Click to expand...

Your thought's are fair and your opinion..................cool beans................................My thought's and my opinion are Mo & the FO try to package DeJong & Hudson
together in package deal.....First they need to find a target that fill's a need on our team and find if target is available ......If available , start with the duo package of Dak and PDJ , then add or subtract players as talks progress......

My thought is if you package those two together you might minimize their problems such as PDJ's terrible batting skills or Dak's control issues .......

Dak did win 16 games one season and PDJ did hit over 30 homer's and made an all star roster once ( I think he did but my mind wanders from time to time )

At least 3 reporters for the PD have stated a change of scenery would be best for PDJ............contract $$$$ aside.......

JMHO and case closed for me ............................

So, remember John Brebbia from the cardinals bullpen corp a couple of years ago ???...the dude with the beard deluxe ........The ticker at the bottom of the screen tonight show's him starting for the Giants and has a record of 6-1........I don't remember him ever starting for the Redbirds......fun fact ....

It really really is.........................................



WOW.....................................

Going into the top of the 8th the Cardinals lead the Washington Nationals 4-1..............Nolan Gorman has a double and a home run accounting for 2 RBI's and a new haircut........This young man has elite power and if he can adjust to the high fastballs and stop swinging at the ground level slider , he will be a fixture at second base......

The Cardinals with Jordan Walker and M. Winn coming to the show next year or later and with Gorman , Carlson (if he adjusts to all pitching ), B. Donovan and Lars Nootbaar , then the Cardinals have a young group of players to solidify the future and the veterans can continue to be injury free and competing for division titles , NL pennants and add to the 11 WS championships.......

St. Louis Cardinals/World Series championships
2011
4 - 3 - Texas Rangers
2006
4-1 - Detroit Tigers
1982
4-3 - Milwaukee Brewers
1967
4-3 - Boston Red Sox
1964
4-3 - New York Yankees
1946
4-3 - Boston Red Sox
1944
4-2 - St. Louis Browns
1942
4-1 - New York Yankees
1934
4-3 - Detroit Tigers
1931
4-3 - Philadelphia Athletics
1926
4-3 - New York Yankees

Cardinals win 4-1............Helsley made it interesting in the 9th but struck out the nationals batter on a 3-2 slider @ 90 MPH with 2 runners on base......


THAT'S A WINNER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Hummel

Left-hander Jose Quintana, one of two starting pitchers acquired by the Cardinals at the early August trading deadline, worked a fifth consecutive start of five innings or fewer on Tuesday night. But this five-inning stint was highly effective as he struck out five, walked no one and gave up just one run to the Washington Nationals.
The Cardinals’ crack late-inning bullpen took it from there to nail down a 4-1 win at Busch Stadium over the pesky Nationals, who had entered the game with three consecutive victories over the New York Mets and Cardinals.
Quintana has made seven starts for the Cardinals since coming from the Pittsburgh Pirates, whom he will face this weekend in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals are 6-1 in those starts and Quintana, though he has gone six innings only twice, hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in any of the games.

Jordan Hicks knocked off his fifth successive scoreless performance, working two scoreless innings and fanning one batter on a 100 mile an hour fastball.
Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley, who entered to a striking light show, finished up on a night when struggling Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan provided much of the offense.
Gorman, who had been 1 for 16 with nine strikeouts, cracked his 14th home run and also had a run-scoring double. Donovan hit his third homer —first since June 26 — after having been 0 for 12.

Rick Hummel


Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol says he plays Nolan Gorman at second base instead of fellow left-handed-hitting rookie Brendan Donovan because Gorman turns the double play better.
“Footwork around the bag. Arm strength. Pivot. (Gorman) actually does a really nice job with it,” Marmol said.
That double play thing is important because the Cardinals lead the major leagues by a whopping margin in double plays turned — former third baseman Gorman pivoted one in the first six innings on Tuesday. Marmol wants the best mix between offense and defense when Gorman and Donovan are in the lineup against right-handed pitching.
Neither had been hot at bat. Until Tuesday. Donovan still was hitting .286 but was 0 for 12 before he hit his first homer since June 26 in the fourth inning on Tuesday.

Gorman was 1 for 16 with nine strikeouts, and his average had dipped to .231, his lowest since July 27. His OPS was just .302. But Gorman also broke through Tuesday with a run-scoring double in a three-run Cardinals fourth and his 14th homer of the season in the seventh.
Marmol had seen Gorman swinging and missing at too many high fastballs.
“He’s having a hard time laying off of (the fastball),” said Marmol before the game with Washington. “There’s some things he’s working through mechanically in order to get to that pitch and lay off the ones that above the zone.
“Yeah, it’s been a tough stretch.”
Marmol, however, said that the 22-year-old Gorman would be a “30-plus-homer guy,” when he matures.

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Cardinals are 27-8 in their last 35 games............that's a .771 % winning clip..........not 17 in a row like last year , but I'll take .771 any day , anytime ..........


I really really would...............................





WOW....................................

Bring your Cards questions and comments to Tuesday’s 11 a.m. live chat.

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These chat's are uniquely interesting and entertaining.....sometimes you can pick up some nuggets of info you otherwise might have missed....................I like Derrick Goold's sense of humor , bordering on a Walken sarcastic level.........wow....

ENJOY !!!!

I just finished listening to "" The Best Podcast in Baseball " first published on August 17th , 2022 with Cardinals GM Michael Girsch and Derrick Goold..
It is almost 49 minutes long but well worth the listen ...........Entertaining and informative into all the different aspects of what being a Cardinals front office position is and how he came to be the 13th GM in Cardinals history............................I had not had much of an idea or opinion regarding Mr. Girsch , as Mo gets all the headlines , but after listening to the back and forth between him and Mr. Goold I have a better understanding of him and all the scenarios of front office responsibilities as it pertains to the team I love on the baseball front....

Girsch seems to be a highly intelligent individual and now I have a greater grasp on the behind the scene's goings on of how a trade is constructed and finished up...........

If you haven't listened to this podcast then I highly recommend it , and as I said earlier , it is almost 49 minutes long , but to me the time flew by as I imagined and tried to understand how , what and who make these trade deadline decisions......

JMHO.........................