Series Thread: Cards @ Pirates

[theohall]

Friday, July 11 STL Kyle Lohse, RHP (10-2, 3.61) @ PIT Zach Duke, LHP (4-5, 4.23), 6:05 PM CT

Saturday, July 12 STL Todd Wellemeyer, RHP (7-4, 3.94) @ PIT Yoslan Herrera, RHP (0-0, 0.00), 6:05 PM CT (Was Dumatrait)

Sunday, July 13 STL Joel Pineiro, RHP (3-4, 4.17) @ PIT Ian Snell, RHP (3-7, 5.84), 12:35 PM CT

Time for some road cookin' against the lowly Pirates. Or to get the friggin' offense going again.

Move Glaus back to 5th in the order and rotate some other guys through the #2 and #4 slot to see what happens. It seems any time the Cardinals settle on one of the new guys being #2 or being #5, they start tanking.

Why not try Mather at #4 with Luddy at #2? Heck, the way Molina had been hitting, why not throw him in the #4 slot and see what happens? Shake it up again, TLR.

[stlmark]

Man do we need a sweep! There's a chance of this, but we always seem to blow a game in any given series.

[Kreegz2]

we need to sweep this, we're 2-4 in the past week.

[stlmark]

Good start to the series. Lohse was good tonight.

[theohall]

Dumatrait went to the DL and won't start tonight for Pittsburgh.

RH Yoslan Herrera will make his major league debut against the Cardinals.

Herrera, 27, defected from Cuba three years ago and signed with the Pirates Dec. 18, 2006. He's 5-8 with a 3.11 earned run average in 17 starts for Altoona. He also won a spot start for Indianapolis June 27, allowing Columbus two runs in seven innings.

"He's a strike thrower with a three-pitch mix," said general manager Neal Huntington, who watched Herrera pitch in Altoona last week. "He's not afraid. Hopefully he'll come up and attack the [strike] zone."

[stlmark]

We blew a 10-4 lead in the 8th. Took a lead in 10th and then blew that effing lead.

I don't think this team is a playoff team if they continue to blow games.

[dmiles2186]

I cannot believe we blew that friggin' game. Our bullpen blows.

And that was our "strength" coming into the season.

[stlmark]

I'm still pissed about that craptastic loss.

[BoxCar]

I stopped watching after the top of the 9th. Thought we certainly had that wrapped up. Didn't know we lost until I read it here. I think picking up a reliever has become a glaring need. Mo better take care of that soon...

[stlmark]

2 out of 3 ain't bad, but dammit I wanted that sweep.

[dmiles2186]

2 out of 3 ain't bad, but dammit I wanted that sweep.

Honestly, I'm tired of 2 out of 3 at this point. I mean, how many series could the Cardinals have swept if they wouldn't have blown a game? There's been several series where we win the first two and lose the 3rd one. Normally, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, but when the Cubs keep winning, we just have to pull some sweeps sometimes. It especially hurts when our loss in this series came after holding a 10-4 lead in the 8th inning.

[stlmark]

2 out of 3 ain't bad, but dammit I wanted that sweep.

Honestly, I'm tired of 2 out of 3 at this point. I mean, how many series could the Blues have swept if they wouldn't have blown a game? There's been several series where we win the first two and lose the 3rd one. Normally, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, but when the Cubs keep winning, we just have to pull some sweeps sometimes. It especially hurts when our loss in this series came after holding a 10-4 lead in the 8th inning.

Exactly, We've blown so many games this year it's sickening me. We could have had at least 5 or 6 sweeps. It's starting to remind me of 2003.

[richtedm]

2 out of 3 ain't bad, but dammit I wanted that sweep.

Honestly, I'm tired of 2 out of 3 at this point. I mean, how many series could the Blues have swept if they wouldn't have blown a game? There's been several series where we win the first two and lose the 3rd one. Normally, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, but when the Cubs keep winning, we just have to pull some sweeps sometimes. It especially hurts when our loss in this series came after holding a 10-4 lead in the 8th inning.

Exactly, We've blown so many games this year it's sickening me. We could have had at least 5 or 6 sweeps. It's starting to remind me of 2003.

I read this post and laughed at Dmiles for sneakily editing the "Blues" back to the "Cardinals" in his previous post... only ol' stlmark busted him.

[cprice12]

We blew a 10-4 lead in the 8th. Took a lead in 10th and then blew that effing lead.

I don't think this team is a playoff team if they continue to blow games.

Every team blows games once in a while. It's the teams that blow the fewest leads that do well.
The Cardinals have blown too many games...no doubt.
That needs to be corrected if they want to get into the playoffs.

[theohall]

On the blown saves thing...

I'm surprised we haven't blown more. This is essentially what the Cardinals have:

The 2 best middle relief guys are starters (Welly and Looper)
The other guy who should be long middle relief, Thompson, keeps getting thrown in to games in the 1st or 2nd inning as essentially an emergency starter. So that's the 3 guys who should be holding down middle relief.

Our best closer used to be Izzy. It appears age has finally caught up to him as his stuff just isn't what it used be on a consistent basis.

Franklin became the best closer, but the league seems to be catching up to him as he hasn't been as effective as he was during the first two months of taking over that role. He's still best suited to being an 8th inning set-up guy.

Then this is the rest of the Cardinals relief pitching staff:

McClellan - rookie
Perez - rookie
Villone - another inconsistent lefty
Springer - whose doing well for his age, but can he maintain this for a season at 39.

If anyone had said the Cards would be relying on two rookies as keys to longer inning middle relief before this season, they'd have written the Cardinals even further off the board than was already done.

And all of this is without discussing the revolving door which has been the Cardinals 4th/5th starters this season.

Whether the Cardinals make the playoffs this season or not, lots of young players - especially young pitchers - are getting some outstanding exposure to prepare them for future seasons.

[stlmark]

We blew a 10-4 lead in the 8th. Took a lead in 10th and then blew that effing lead.

I don't think this team is a playoff team if they continue to blow games.

Every team blows games once in a while. It's the teams that blow the fewest leads that do well.
The Cardinals have blown too many games...no doubt.
That needs to be corrected if they want to get into the playoffs.