We Won!

 06/04/2012

Cardinals 5 Mets 4

Dear Cardinals,

Considering that the one run win (heck, wins in general) last afternoon is a very rare thing, like-- I don't know-- as rare as the Sun, Venus, and Earth aligning (which is happening this evening and won't happen again for 105 years-- there's a joke about the Cubs there, but it's way too easy), I think this is cause for celebration.

How should we celebrate?  

Water balloon fight? No.

Barbecue? Good one. But no.

Wet T-shirt contest? In your dreams.

No. We will celebrate by winning another game. Tonight.

Til Later

"Happy Flight!" meter: 9/15
From The Big Apple to H-town Houston

But They/We Scored a Run (It's almost like a victory)

"I hate losing more than I even wanna win."

-Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in Moneyball

06/03/2012

Cardinals 1 Mets 6

Dear Redbirds,

Another day, another loss.  When is it going to end?

I've noticed that during this VERY HORRIBLE stretch, I have been confused about whether to us they or we when referring to the team.  I'm still mostly using we (yes, grouping myself in with losers), I think.

Some people hate when fans say "we."  I like "we."   It means you support the team, you are (hopefully) there through the winning streaks and the losing streaks.  People say we when they identify with the team, when they have accepted the team as part of their identity.  Is it harder to accept a team that is losing as part of your identity?  Or do you stick with the we during losing streaks because you see the traits that can make the team special?

I really hope the Cardinals figure this out.  I hope we are still within striking distance at the All-Star Break.

It is never easy.  It wasn't easy last year, either.  I don't think we were ever under .500 last year, though.  Actually, we were 4 games under on April 9th, 2011.  Last year was a tough summer (August was ugh), but we were still over .500.  We definitely can't have a bad August this year, we don't have enough early season wins to support a failure like that.  We are at .500 now a third of the way through the season.  Where will we be when half the games have been played?  Hopefully we start trending upward.  And soon.

I watched Moneyball last night.  Maybe we'll go on a winning streak like the 2002 Oakland A's!

Til Later

It is obvious

06/02/2012

Cardinals 0 Mets 5

It is obvious that the birds are never going to score again.  Well, they might.  Perhaps five games from now.  Perhaps.  I'm sure they're out to set some type of record-- most consecutive games without scoring.

Okay, I guess I'll stop treating the team like my black sheep uncle and address the boys directly...

Dear Memphis Redbirds edition of the St Louis Cardinals,

Um. Yeah. I love ya'll. We'll go get 'em tomorrow!

And this has been a spectacular road trip!  You've really improved your record against Eastern division teams. (There's that darn sarcasm. Sorry.)

Guess what? You can still finish this trip at .500 if you win the rest of the games-- take them one day at the time. ( I can be sincere.)

A short aside: my dad thinks Jon Jay is "factor x." "When he's in the line up, we win," he says.  I just hope that Jon is fully healthy when he comes back.

'Til Later

P.S. The knuckleball is a mean and unusual trick, R. A. Dickey.

Oh, Bitter Irony

06/01/2012

Cardinals 0 Mets 8

Both Adam Wainwright and Johan Santana both had no hitters through three innings, only Adam eventually allowed seven runs, and Santana never allowed a hit.  (Actually, a ball Carlos Beltran hit down the left field line should have been called a hit, but was ruled foul. That, unfortunately, is the way the cookie sometimes crumbles.)

Yup, my birds were no hit yesterday. (First no-hitter in the Mets history, ugh). Can you believed that this was the next game after my last post where I praised the offense, and completely fried the pitching staff?  Yesterday, I hoped that this month the offense would keep up what it did in April and May, while the pitching found a (very) happy medium between being awesome (April) and thoroughly disappointing (May).  And the last night happened-- the offense did poorly; and the pitcher who showed improvement his last starts, regressed. Or something.

At least when you start a month this poorly, there is no way to go but up.  Right?

Til Later :)

Pitching: Weighing Down the Team

Dear Redbirds,

When I picture the 2012 Cardinals, I see this: a bird attempting to take flight with a lead ball and chain attached to its feet.  Figuratively, the pitching is that ball and chain.  The offense does all it can-- it still leads the NL in most offensive categories!-- while the pitching is keeping this team from flying away from the division.

Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch wrote an article going into detail about how the poor effort by the pitching staff lead to a sub .500 May.  He mentions that in the last 20 games the Cardinals are  7-13 with SIX bullpen losses. SIX.

Is this team going to deal with a BLOWpen all  year like last year's?  It's annoying because it is the ONLY really glaring problem with this team (well, that and the starters not pitching deep into games, which could alleviate some to the bullpen problems...).  We've had the best offense in the National League for a season and two months now.  This team gets its pitching together, it is most definitely a better team that 2011 because our defense is also (mostly) good.

Basically, he says what we all know, what I said all last month: the pitching sucks and its making the team lose games the offense had done MORE than enough to win.

The offense is still clicking even with weekly losses of key components-- that's because this team is DEEP.  I cannot wait until everyone is healthy again, because right now we are playing our depth.  And that's scary.  But it's also great that the depth is keeping it up.  I just hope they don't decide to falter in June-- ugh, imagine if they have a funk this month along with the pitching-- ugh!  I'll die!

Anyway, PITCHERS-- shape up! Starters, your goal for June is to go deep into games! Aim for seven innings, go no less than six.

The worse part about the losses is how close we came to winning most of them. If the starting pitchers had gone deeper into more games in May, if the bullpen wasn't overexposed and overused, we wouldn't be looking at the Reds right now.  They'll still be looking at us.

Oh yeah, I hope you all enjoyed your unhappy flight from Atlanta to the Big Apple.

'Til Later

"Happy Flight!" meter: 8/14