Lynn back on speaking terms with fastball (Gracias Dios)

05/28/2012

Cardinals 8 Braves 2

Dear Lance Lynn,

Thank you for not annoying me to pieces yesterday using your (four-seam) fastball yesterday. 

Batters typically do not hit your heater.  I have no idea why you were PLAYING AROUND in your previous starts and tossing beach ball-looking pitches when you have a pitch hitters flail at like it's crossing the plate a Mach 4. 

Anyway, great job. You are the league's first eight game winner, so I'll say you are a very good "replacement Carp." Shoot, Carp had, like, seven losses by this time last year, I think. (Which, granted, was due to run support issues.)

'Til Later

Bullpen tries to hand Arizona a victory

05/07/2012

Cardinals 9 Diamondbacks 6

'Birds--

I just want to vent:

Lance Lynn left the game after the fifth inning last night.  He was up 7-0 and I guess Mike Matheny thought he'll get his 6th victory in 6 tries.  I didn't have faith that the bullpen would be able to hold a lead for four innings.

JC Romero attempted to prove me correct in the sixth inning.

I watched in horror as JC Romero did not record an out in the sixth inning.  He faced FIVE batters. His ERA for the game is infinity. Infinite.  When Mike Matheny finally pulled him from the game, the Cardinals only led by three runs.  For some inexplicable reason,  Matheny then handed the ball off to the Cardinals' second worse reliever, Fernando Salas (trying to build confidence?).  He gave up 3 hits, but also recorded 3 strikeouts.  The Cardinals escaped the innning with a one run lead.

This loss would have been on Matheny and it would have been a painful no decision for Lance Lynn. Fortunately, Allen Craig and David Freese went back-to-back to (deep) center field in the seventh inning and the Cardinals won by three.

Crazy Power:

The first five batters had solo home runs. The five homers in one game were the most by a NL club this year, and the most home runs by the Cardinals in a single game since 2007.

'Til Later!

Pixie dust? Lance Lynn is 1st NL starter to 5 wins.

"Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again.  That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is."-- Bob Feller

05/02/2012

Pirates 3 Cardinals 12

Dear Carlos Beltran,

It's funny how on the day your slump reached the magnitude (3 for 32) that inspired a worried press to interview you before the game about whether you were actually in a slump, you proceeded to go 4 for 5 with two 3- run home runs, finishing the game with a career-best seven RBIs. You told the beat reporters that you aren't hitting because you've lost that hitting feel and that it has nothing to do with batting clean up.  (Although you did mention that you are being pitched differently in the fourth spot than you were in the second.)  I'm just impressed that a reporter at least questioned whether you were in a slump because of your new lineup position.  I mean, your slump started when you went to the clean up spot. I'm glad someone noticed and asked whether that was a problem instead of just saying you were just in a slump that happens to correlate with a new spot in the lineup.  But I digress.

I'm guessing that you have that "feel" back.  I think you got that feel back when you sent the Aj Burnett's sixth pitch of the game over the right field fence with a nice, easy swing.

Yes, I wrote AJ Burnett's SIXTH pitch.  The man threw only six pitches to the first four Cardinals batters and found himself down 4-0.  And there were no outs. What do you even do as a pitcher when that happens?  I guess you shouldn't wave the white flag,accepting that it isn't your night; you should buckle down, weather through it and refuse to give up any more runs.  AJ did a good job of weathering through the start-- his problem came because he still gave up runs.  Twelve runs in 3 innings look very good added to your ERA. No, it doesn't actually.

'Til Later

P.S. Congratulations to Lance Lynn on winning his first 5 games!

Just saying...

04/25/2012
Cardinals 5 Cubs 1

Dear Lance Lynn,

You are a stud. Don't hate me for thinking that you wouldn't be this good.

Please continue to prove me wrong.

Do you know that you are moving up in fantasy leagues?  I think it's all the strikeouts and the sterling ERA.

I hope that whenever you run into a rough patch, if you run into a rough patch, that it isn't that bad and you are able to weather through it.


'Til Later!

"Happy Flight!" meter: 4/6

Baby Birds are Making Noise, Causing a Ruckus

There are three types of ballplayers: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens. -Roy Campanella

04/15/2012

Cubs 3 Cardinals 10

Dear Baby Birds (previous members of the Memphis Mafia), 

You are awesome! You make it happen.  Last year, Jon Jay wound up playing in 159 games-- the most of any Cardinal.  When David was injured, Daniel Descalso played third base so well that he was a gold glove nominee.  Allen Craig and David Freese became a large part of the post season offense.  Lance Lynn excelled in his playoff bullpen role and has been an awesome starter so far this year.

On Sunday, Matt Carpenter had possibly the greatest day of his professional career-- he went 4 for 4 with five RBIs, a triple and a home run.   I say he was a pretty good sub for his childhood hero, Lance Berkman.

It came to Cardinals Nation's attention that Matt Carpenter will need a nickname-- simply because he shares two names with rather prevalent members of the St Louis Cardinals, Matt Holliday and Chris Carpenter.  A few suggested names (courtesy of St. Louis Post Dispatch's Cards Talk members) were Little Carp, Lil Carp, MC Hammer, T.O. (the other) Carpenter.  My favorite suggestion is knuckles. It definitely fits because he doesn't wear batting gloves!

My favorite thing about the Baby Birds/Memphis Mafia is the fact that you guys have experienced success together in the minor leagues and are now making memories together in the majors.  Plus, Puma says that the thing he likes about the Cardinals young players is that they all come up knowing how to play.  

'Til Later

P.S. Please win tonight-- I'll be in attendance! GO CARDS!

Tossed into the 'ssippi (i.e. those "in the dog house"):

Matt Holliday- Matty hit a long flyout Sunday, he was  warned.
Tyler Greene-  Ugly error on what looked to be a easy, routine play.

Can't Keep Us Down

04/08/2012

Cardinals 9 Brewers 3

Hey Redbirds,

IS THIS REAL LIFE?*

I hope this great start isn't a tease.  I'm afraid that the bullpen will do something to ruin it but so far the "blown save" hasn't reared its ugly head. The bullpen was great late last year, once Marc Rzepczynski (better known as Scrabble) and veteran pitchers who could pitch (imagine that!) were added.  However, like early last year, we once again have old pitchers (Linebrink, who-- thank God-- is on the DL, and Romero) in the 'pen who have to resort to smoke and mirrors to record an out.

In early April, it's hard to gauge a team-- hard to determine what is real and what is a mirage.   Last year, the resilience the team displayed in early April became characteristic of the team.  The blown saves were a trait, too.  I'm liking the patterns this team is displaying so far-- aggressive base running and plentiful hitting.  There's this aura about the team-- I haven't yet decipher it-- but it has something to do with the team's attitude and the way it goes about it's business....

If this is a team of extremes, I hope those extremes are good ones.  For example, I hope the high number of hits continue and I hope the high strikeout total doesn't.

THE RUBBER GAME

Yesterday afternoon, Lance Lynn made a fantastic start: 6.2 Innings Pitched, 2 Hits, 1 Earned Run, 1 Home Run, and 8 strikeouts.  And he still threw mid-90s!  Cardinal batters had FOURTEEN hits.  Relievers did give up two runs (boo), but the Cardinals still caught a "Happy Flight!" from Milwaukee to Cincinnati.

Beat those Reds!  Silence Jay Bruce and Joey Votto's bats!

'Til Later

HAPPY FLIGHT METER: 2/2

 *Gotta love David After Dentist