Progressive Game Blog 5/30/2015

If you’re a UCB regular, you know what the progressive game blog is. If not and you haven’t read the previous three innings, I’ll give you a brief reminder: Basically, a bunch of members of the aforementioned UCB (United Cardinals Bloggers get together and blog a game inning by inning, which each blogger getting one inning. Sometimes those innings are filled with drama, making it easy on said blogger, while others are relatively boring, making it a little harder on the blogger. Even then, there usually an interesting tidbit to be found.

I got the 4th inning. Before I start though, here’s the link to the blogger who got the previous inning: My frend and podcast partner Dan Buffa. If you haven’t read his stuff before, I beg you to do so. He’s an awesome blogger and overall cool guy.

As I said, I got the fourth inning. Michael Wacha was pitching, and he has done good: giving up only a walk while striking out three. This is typical Wacha, as he’s 7-0 so far with an ERA below 2.00. This inning, at the very minimum, he gets the 2-3-4 hitters: Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzales and Howie Kendrick.

Turner, who has been performing well this season to the tune of a .306/.393/.531 slash line, strikes out swinging. Wacha appears in fine form today, as that’s already his fourth strikeout.

Next up is Gonzales. Gonzales is on fire this year, possessing a .331/.408/.605(!) line. He has 10 homers and 35 RBI’s, putting him on pace to have his third straight 100 RBI season. Even if you consider RBI’s luck driven, to (possibly) do it three years in a row would be impressive. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done it either, as he did it from 2010-2012. Wacha silences him though, striking him out. That’s his second set of back to back strikeouts for the day, as he did it in the first inning too.

Third up is the Dodger’s cleanup hitter for the day: Howie Kendrick. At first, he seems like an odd choice to bat cleanup, and the fact that Yasiel Puig isn’t playing probably has something to do with it. Still, Kendrick has a .297/.357./440 slash line, so he’s not exactly sucking. Kendrick has been a very good addition the the Dodgers. Here gets ahead of the count on Wacha with a 3-1 count and draws a walk on the fifth pitch.

That brings up Andre Ethier, another guy having a solid season going .305/.392/.523. really, this Dodgers lineup is pretty good. They may not be getting the expected performance out of some, like Jimmy Rollins, but they definitely have a solid core. Ethier grounds out weakly to first base, where Mark Reynolds gets the out unassisted.

That ends the Dodgers half of the inning, bringing up the Cardinals. Due up are the Cardinals 3-4-5 hitters, Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta and Randall Grichuk, who will be facing Carlos Frias, a youngster who’s filled in capably as an emergency start for the Dodgers, going 4-2 with a 4.29 ERA.

Holliday walks, extening his streak of getting on base to 44 consecutive games, already a club record. Overall, Holliday has a .318/434/442 line. He may not be hitting for power like he used to, and whether that’s due to a slow start or regression, he’s still been a great hitter this season. I’ll take that .434 OBP any day. While that OBP will regress, I still think he’ll end up with one over .400, making him very valuable, no matter how many homers he hits.

Next up is Peralta, who is having a good season to the tune of .304/.366/.500. If he keeps his hot start up, this would be one of the better seasons of his career. Right now though, he erases the momentum of Holliday’s walk by grounding into a double play.

Next up is Randall Grichuck, who at the age of 23, is starting to reach his potential by going .288/.323/.576. Admittedly it’s a small sample size with only 59 AB’s, but he’s making things difficult for Mike Matheny, who also has four other solid outfielders in Holliday, Peter Bourjos and the recently returned Jon Jay. Here though he’s struck out by Frias, ending the inning.

A relatively uneventful inning for both teams, but I had a good time recapping it all. Next up is On The Outside Corner, who takes the fifth inning.

 

As always, thanks for reading!

 

 

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TeamWLPct.GB
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