Cardinals vs. Pirates, May 15

The only good thing that happened Thursday was that Jim Edmonds struck out, hit into a double play and left seven runners on base in his disgusting debut with the Cubs.

But, unfortunately, the Cardinals stunk so badly I'm sure Edmonds could smell them standing in the outfield in Chicago.

The Redbirds had a four-run lead and were two-hitting the Pirates mid-way through their game. But the persistent feeling that several missed offensive opportunities to pile on some runs would come back to haunt them became reality when starter Joel Pineiro blew up in the fifth to cut the advantage to one run.

And then there was Jason Isringhausen's contribution.

It started in the traditional way, with a walk of the leadoff batter. Followed by a single. But then Izzy got creative and threw a sacrifice bunt attempt into left field to surrender the lead. A batting practice quality to Jason Bay was deposited beyond the left field wall, and that was all it took...

It's hard to think about a View From the Cheap Seats Cardinals Star of the Game after this mess. But Troy Glaus was all over the bases and his bat is starting to show some sings of life. Izzy was the Cardinals lowlight.

It's starting to appear that April was all smoke and mirrors and the real Cardinals, unable to hit, unable to pitch and unable to field, have finally emerged.

The woeful roadtrip the Redbirds just finished, followed by losing two of three to the Pirates at home, ought to serve as a wakeup call for management.

Enought of this doing things on the cheap garbage. If the Cardinals are going to have any chance to compete, they need to do something to shake things up and add some talent to the mix. And they need to do it NOW.

Comments

[Jesse]

I can only wish that the Cardinals will pony up and maybe attempt to trade for Holliday/Fuentes. The Rockies have thought about trading them and they cannot resign Holliday, where we potentially could. Throw back Reyes, Mather, Anderson to reel them in.

Probably never gonna happen but we can always dream(the Cubs have for 100 years).

[Fred McTaggart]

It's all too easy to pile dirt on Izzy at this point, but we lost this game because the offense once again was unable to drive in runs. By all rights, we should have to give back the one victory we got over the Pirates. 15 LOB!!!

The difference between the two teams today was not that we had one or two poorly pitched innings but that the Pirates took advantage of their opportunities when they had them. We didn't.

The Pirates are the kind of team our management is striving for. They are young and cheap and good. But it took these guys several years of being terrible before they finally started to produce like major leaguers. Who would you rather have in your outfield: Ludwick/Duncan, Ankiel and Shumaker or Bay, McLouth and Nady? Except for 1b, 3b and C, the Pirates simply have a better team than we do, and I think John Russell (unlike other managers the Pirates have hired) knows what he's doing. If the Cardinals are looking toward 2009 or 2010 as the year they expect to be competitive, they'd better haul in some talent. Because the team we have is not good enough to beat the Pirates, let alone anyone else in the division.

[Antoine]

Say what you want about the offense, Fred -- and you're right, it stinks -- but in case you've forgotten, there IS such a thing as holding a lead after you get one. Yes, adding to the lead is helpful -- and necessary most times. But in the Cards' defense, they've GOTTEN a lead in several games of late.

Come on, fellas. We've got to break this total collapse. I think I've seen more blown leads in the past two weeks than in all of the 1980s.

[Antoine]

And I once again say, WHAT THE HECK is Parisi doing in the big leagues? He has pitched all of THREE times in two weeks since being called up.

He is a STARTING pitcher, and the Cards need a RELIEVER for that seventh spot because they REFUSE to use Flores as anything but a lefty specialist for the most part. Do you realize he has pitched 11 friggin' innings so far this year? There are squirrels that have spent more time on the mound this year for the Cards.

I once again call for the promotion of Perez and/or Motte, even as middle relievers.

-- First, they'd be available more often than once every four days.
-- Second, with more solid middle relief from them, you could give McClellan more responsibility, Franklin and Springer more responsibility and leave Izzy out of the equation.
-- Third, Perez is 23 years old and Motte is 26. It's not like they're David Clyde. These guys have been around a bit. And Motte is already on the 40-man roster. Chances of "ruining" them are slimmer than for younger guys.
-- Fourth, they're cheaper options than trading for someone.
-- Fifth, they might as well get some MLB experience this year because I can't IMAGINE, in my wildest dreams, that Izzy or Springer will be back next year.
Who knows? They might be unhittable and quickly move to the closer's role. Or they might find out they need a bit more seasoning and head back to Memphis for a bit.
What's wrong with trying them out?

[Fred McTaggart]

We did hold the lead last night, Antoine. And, with the exception of Izzy, the bullpen, when not overworked, has been effective all season and will continue to be. I don't mind bringing up Perez or Motte or anyone else, but I do think that such decisions are not made by one or two people but a whole staff of coaches and managers who know the players better than I do.

As Tony said, Izzy is problem No. 1, at the moment, but I have no doubt in my mind that he will come back to his old form very shortly. But the lack of RBI punch is going to haunt us for years unless something is done about it. It's dragging Pujols down as well. Did you see him talking to himself the other night, convincing himself that he should take the walk and give Ludwick a chance to drive him in? Then Ludwick popped up on the first pitch.

If we're going to continue leaving 13 to 15 runners on base, we really don't need a closer because we're going to be a last place team.

[Joe]

jesse,
don't know if holliday is really the answer. i wouldn't mind getting him, but i wouldn't want to give up the farm for him. he's very much a product of Coors.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=hollima01&year=00

check out those home and away career splits. ugh.

you can argue both ways: they need to come up with the big hits and stop leaving so many guys on base. then again, sometimes i think the LOB stat is looked at too much. had they scored 1 run or no runs and left a bunch of guys on base, that's a problem. but 5 runs against the pirates, of course there are gonna be guys left on base. 5 runs should be enough to beat the pirates. sorry fred, but the pirates aren't good. xavier nady is playing WAY over his head, and bay has kinda tapered off since the end of 2006. outside of those two, what is there? freddy sanchez.......help me out here. they stink. i sure hope the cards aren't striving to be a bunch of low .200's hitting scrubs.

they've been in a funk since they blew the 3rd game of the colorado 4-gamer, some form of shakeup is in order, even if it's just a players only meeting to get everyone re-focused. i don't think it's fair to write off everything before last wednesday as smoke and mirrors. it's a long, 162 game season, and EVERY team goes through a funk. they've had 5 1/2 good weeks, and 1 bad one. let's be patient. Go Birds!

[Antoine]

Holding a lead one out of every five games is NOT a good percentage. I agree that the offense has to show some mental toughness, but let's not let the pitchers off the hook here!

I don't like booing Izzy; I'd like to think we've learned our lesson after 2006. But good golly, isn't there some way we can express our dissatisfaction?

There should be six other options in the bullpen -- we're carrying seven in the pen, after all. Oh, wait, Parisi only can pitch once every five days. So that leaves five other options. Oh wait, Flores can only face one batter every third game. So that leaves four other options. Nevermind.

[Jesse]

Good point about Holliday, I didn't realize those stats. I do think that he is the best thing that is within reach personally. I don't want to kill the farm either, but why let our prospects rot in positions where we have long term blockers in the majors(Pujols, Molina) and with Mather, he is blocked by Duncan, Ankiel, Rasmus, Skip, Barton, Ludwick. This is assuming they stick to the philosophy of not changing player's positions.