Dude, Aren’t You a Little Old For That?

Since my last word spew the Cardinals had just taken the first game of a 4 game set with the Chicago Cubs. They went on to take 2 of the next 3 and 3 of 4 in the series with the only loss being in a game in which Adam Wainwright surrendered 4 runs in the 1st inning before settling in and being normal Wainwright. That game featured yet another dominating start by Jeff Samardzija against the Cardinals. Regardless the Cardinals looked to have some momentum in their favor heading into a measuring stick series against the World Series runner up from 2011 Texas Rangers.

Going into the series it looked as though the Cardinals had the edge in games 2 and 3 as far as starting pitching goes with the Rangers having the edge in Game 1 with the matchup of Tyler Lyons vs. Derek Holland. To be honest  I’m really not sure why Joe Kelly wasn’t handed the ball for this start but nonetheless Lyons was given 1 last opportunity to shine but was rudely greeted by the Rangers in the 2nd inning for 4 runs and a free pass to Shower City. Joe Kelly did his part tossing  5 scoreless and keeping the Cardinals in the game which they would eventually lose.

Game 2 featured Shelby Miller matching up against Martin Perez. I was at this game so my point of view wasn’t the greatest or the most sober. First off, I didn’t think Perez was supposed to be that good but he sure fooled me from my 300 level view. Give credit to Nelson Cruz and A.J. Pierzynski  for jumping a couple early count pitches in a game in which the Cardinals publicly made it a point that Miller needed to be more efficient early in games. The Cardinals had all kinds of trouble getting much established offensively and much of this was due to grounding into some costly double plays. I felt like Matt Holliday grounded into one in each plate appearance. So a frustrating loss indeed.

On a side note from this game there was some interesting activity below me right above the Rangers dugout. Essentially there was a man who appeared to be in his late-ish 30’s sporting a shirsey begging for baseballs as the Ranger players exited the field between innings. This guy ended up taking home 2 balls while the kids seated a couple rows up around 5 seats over took home none. And don’t worry, this guy was a perfectly ‘normal’ dude who was pounding beers and high fiving his buddies. As far as things that annoy me at a baseball game go, adult men clamoring for baseballs like morons tops the list. It should be viewed as a baseball by adults but it’s everything to a young kid. The wave bothers me, but I just avoid it. I understand that they could have kids at home but I’m pretty sure dude in the shirsey is very much single and not a father but of course I could be wrong. The only thing that may top this is idiots who throw opposing team homeruns back on the field. Leave that noise in the Wrigley bleachers. If you throw a homerun back rather than hanging on to it or giving it to a young kid then I think it’s time for some self evaluation.  So to recap, Saturday night featured a rain delay, very little Cardinals offense, and the wave while simultaneously a grown man waved his arms wildly yelling Ian! Ian! Ian, throw me a ball Ian! But I was drinking beer and watching baseball so whatever.

Now Sunday night’s game I admittedly did not see much of live due to the late start. I did catch most of the abbreviated replay on mlb.tv. Most of the attention has been pointed at the Adam Wainwright and Mike Matheny stuff that went down in the 7th inning along with the Pete Kozma error. Personally I’d like to know why the Cardinals couldn’t score more than 1 run against Nick Tepesch? Regardless of reasons the Cardinals dropped all 3 in the weekend series and now need to set their sights forward.

The Cards start an 8 game AL West swing tonight in Houston. The Cardinals send Jake Westbrook to the mound hoping to build off of his last start. The Astros are a team like the Marlins that you can’t take lightly. A team that’s rebuilding always has MLB players in evaluation mode trying to prove they can be an asset. I really hope the Cardinals don’t think they can just take the 2 games by merely showing up. The Astros send Missouri native Lucas Harrell to the mound who has been solid as of late. Here’s how the Cardinals have done against him:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Allen Craig 15 13 6 0 0 0 1 1 0 .462 .467 .462 .928
Matt Holliday 15 12 4 0 1 0 2 3 3 .333 .467 .500 .967
Yadier Molina 13 12 7 0 0 1 4 0 1 .583 .538 .833 1.372
David Freese 12 10 5 2 0 1 2 2 1 .500 .583 1.000 1.583
Jon Jay 12 12 4 1 0 0 1 0 3 .333 .333 .417 .750
Matt Carpenter 9 7 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 .143 .333 .286 .619
Carlos Beltran 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .167 .000 .167
Daniel Descalso 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .167 .000 .167
Pete Kozma 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
Matt Adams 3 3 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 .333 .333 1.333 1.667
Tony Cruz 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667
Shane Robinson 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667
Lance Lynn 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000
Adam Wainwright 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .500 .000 .500
Ty Wigginton 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000
Total 108 95 31 4 1 3 13 11 13 .326 .389 .484 .873
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2013.

 

Ian! Ian! Ian, throw me a ball! Until next week. @DJ_McClure

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