Still in play
I was at the game Saturday and it was the strangest game I have personally witnessed. The pitching was terrible but carried a no hit shutout into the 8th. It looked like we should have been losing the whole game but it was a W. I have to also say it was the coldest game I have sat all the way through in St. Louis but I stayed to the end with my son and grandson. You have to bring 'em up right! Let's keep that 161-1 season going.
Cardinals dodge trouble of their own making, score win vs. Toronto for Jack Flaherty
Flaherty walks a career-high seven but sidesteps any trouble and holds Toronto hitless through his five innings, wins 4-1. Gorman has key two-RBI, two-out hit.www.stltoday.com
Before they could slip away with their first win of the season, the Cardinals first had to find a way to slip by all the chances they gave Toronto.
The Cardinals sidestepped 10 walks, including seven gifted by starter Jack Flaherty, to gamely snag a 4-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium and their first triumph of the regular season. Despite issuing seven walks in the first four innings, the Cardinals held Toronto hitless and seized on one error to take a lead. Nolan Gorman’s two-out, two-run single widened the Cardinals lead and gave Flaherty the chance for a win his first start of 2023.
Ryan Helsley faced the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning and struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to regain control of the inning.
He finished the ninth for a five-out save.
Two days after the teams combined for 34 hits and 19 runs, the Blue Jays managed 14 baserunners, but only three hits. Toronto went zero-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Thanks for posting.Cardinals, Nolan Gorman jump on Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt early on way to 9-4 win in series finale
Cardinals hit four home runs in a series-ending win over the Blue Jays at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Lynn Worthy
Nolan Gorman’s second career two-home run game helped spark a pair of big innings as the Cardinals drubbed Toronto Blue Jays’ pitching to the tune of nine runs on 16 hits in a series-clinching victory on the opening weekend of the season.
Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson also crushed home runs as the Cardinals offense got started early on its way to a 9-4 win over the Blue Jays in front of an announced sellout crowd of 45,525 at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals offense chased Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt from the game before he could get through the fourth inning. They tagged him for nine runs on 10 hits, including four home runs, in 3 1/3 innings. The Cardinals did not walk nor did they strikeout against Bassitt.
The nine earned runs allowed by Bassitt without a walk or a strikeout were the most since former Cardinals pitcher Mark Moulder gave up nine to the Chicago White Sox on June 20, 2006.
Through their first three games, the Cardinals had 41 hits.
I'd had more than my share of cold baseball games. Not all in St Lou. My wife and I went to a Saturday double header in Chicago with the wind blowing in off the lake. It was cool but comfortable on ground level but we were in the upper deck facing into the wind. I wished we had dressed warmer. We stuck it out and the Cards one both games.
Woodford was really good last season and I don't think got as many chances as he should have. I hope he seizes this opportunity. We certainly need someone from our rotation to step up!Jake Woodford’s improvements first showed over offseason, Oliver Marmol says: Cardinals Extra
Jake Woodford is set for his first-career April start when the Cardinals face Atlanta at Busch Stadium.
Daniel Guerrero
Whether by plane or by car, Jake Woodford tallied his share of miles going from the majors and minors in 2022. Woodford, 26, began last season on the Cardinals’ opening-day roster in a bullpen role. He was optioned and recalled to and from Class AAA Memphis, where he was used mainly as a starter, four times before ending the year with the big-league club.
However, the start of 2023 provides a different role for Woodford. He is a part of the Cardinals’ rotation. That led to a different feeling when manager Oliver Marmol informed him of his roster inclusion to being the season.
“When you worked as hard as Jake has worked, and then you task him with certain things in the offseason and then he comes back and he does it, it becomes a lot tougher to say, ‘You’re not making the team,’” Marmol said. “Not only to tell him that, ‘Hey, you’re on the roster but you’re going to be in the rotation,’ was equally as fun for someone in this seat as telling Jordan Walker” he had made the season-opening roster.
Woodford is set to get his first start of the season on Monday night, when the Cardinals welcome the Braves to Busch Stadium for the start of a three-game series. Monday’s start would mark his first in April of Woodford’s MLB career.
I think so much praise needs to go to Jake for doing what he needed to do to sway the FO into a more positive opinion about his
Well, if the first series is any indication, no win or loss will be certain until the game is over (I know, duh right?). The offense is too good to give up and the bullpen is shaky at best.
It will be interesting to see if the average runs scored/runs allowed stays consistent this year. So far, we give up an average of 5 a game, but score 7.
You may want to consult your doctor to see if watching Cardinals baseball is right for you. However, if you didn't consult your doctor after watching Illini BBall this year, no worries at all
Pitch clock will be important. Yesterday, despite the two teams combining for 26 hits, the game only took 2:29 to play.
Agree with most of this, but I don't think the bullpen will be "shaky." I think the starting rotation will be.Well, if the first series is any indication, no win or loss will be certain until the game is over (I know, duh right?). The offense is too good to give up and the bullpen is shaky at best.
It will be interesting to see if the average runs scored/runs allowed stays consistent this year. So far, we give up an average of 5 a game, but score 7.
You may want to consult your doctor to see if watching Cardinals baseball is right for you. However, if you didn't consult your doctor after watching Illini BBall this year, no worries at all
Once we get Gallegos back, I think some order will be restored as well. But you can't deny it was shaky this past weekend.
The key is no !!%%#!## lead off walks.......late in the game it's like adding gasoline to a towering inferno.......nothing good ever comes after doing that.............it really really never does.....................
These changes SHOULD increase fan's interest , but the ghost runner change holds me back from him saving baseball......And I still don't like the 3 batter minimum for relief pitchers........
The game in the middle, (I think we won 4-1) was played in brutal cold conditions. I think weather like that influences all players, pitchers, fielders, and batters alike. That Saturday game, I thought the bullpen held up their end. Hope it doesn't rain in StL tonight.
I am personally a fan of the ghost runner myself. Extra innings games impact the standings and also the livelihoods of so many relief pitchers. Teams, win or lose, have to play the next few games on their schedule with either not having a rested bullpen or having AAAA bullpen and sending the guys with options down. Plus, it does add a lot of drama EVERY extra inning, not just the inning when the heart of the lineup comes up.
fair enough........to each his own....................
