The Cardinals:
The Cards did a great job in their win. The offense generated all the runs it needed to, putting three on the board. This was more than plenty for Adam Wainwright and the bullpen crew, as they combined for a shutout. Much was made of the fact that the Cubs stranded 13 runners. I don’t think that was due to the Cubs inability to deliver in the clutch, but rather the Cards staff rising to the occasion, especially Wainwright. He was as accurate as ever, striking out six and walking none., and shutting down the Cubs when they got runners on base. He overcame any opening day jitters he might have had. Will this be year the year he finally gets over the Cy Young hump? He’s certainly off to a good start.
Jordan Walden‘s jump. It was interesting to watch Walden for the first time, and see his little hop. It wasn’t as different a delivery, as say, Pat Neshek‘s, but it was still interesting to see.
Rosie strikes out the side. The announcers mentioned Trevor Rosenthal‘s control issues often once he came on, and he promptly shut them up with three straight strikeouts. People forget that Rosie is still young, so he’ll probably have a spurt of wildness or two, but overall the kid’s pretty good.
A few other notes:
The most underrated MVP Candidate in baseball:
Two teams had a shutout going on. On the mound was a Cy Young winner. Said Cy Young winner has a no-hitter going on and has two outs in the inning. A hitter steps to the plate, flares a hit to center field, steals second, and scores on a single by the following hitter, providing his pitchers (Dallas Keuchel, Tony Sipp and Luke Gregerson) the only run they’ll need, as Keuchel and his relievers combined for a shutout. Jose Altuve everyone!
Bartolo Colon and his 50 fastballs could be the next Jamie Moyer if he keeps this up. He beat Mega-Millionnare Max Scherzer on opening day as the Mets only gave up one run.
Kansas City mashes, but Yordano Ventura gets hurt. I hope the kid’s ok, he’s great to watch, and KC needs him if they’re to have any chance of making the playoffs again.
That’s all for now.
As always, thanks for reading.
