Let's Go Blues

LaRussa doesn't want to blame any individual in the bullpen since they are out there, alone, on the mound. And their psyche needs to remain in tact, if it isn't messed up already. Which is understandable.

However...
The bullpen is the biggest problem right now, it's not even close.
The offense, while it would obviously be nice to score more runs, is NOT the problem.

The Brewers are a good team and they are playing well. When you play good teams, chances are you aren't going to score a ton of runs and the game might be close.
So games are quite often determined in the late innings after the starters have left the game. Therefore, the responsibility of holding the lead or keeping your team in it so they have a chance to come back and tie or win, falls on the bullpen. And the bullpen isn't doing their job at all.
It's easy to say the Cardinals should score more runs...but they had a three run lead in the 7th. When that gets blown, barring errors or misplays, it's the bullpen's fault.

It also hurts that we don't have a closer. Izzy doesn't have anything left...Franklin has fallen off the table...Perez was sent down...McClellan served up a home run last night...blah. If we could acquire anyone, I would hope it would be a closer and a middle reliever. It has become painfully obvious in recent weeks that the bullpen needs help. Acquiring a middle reliever should come relatively cheap...considering what help in other areas would cost. But a closer might cost us a lot.

The offense is acceptable.
The defense has been very good (except for Ankiel occasionally taking the wrong path to the ball in CF...WTF?).
The starting pitching has been very good.
The bullpen has been piss poor.

LaRussa is just trying to protect his bullpen guys by dispersing the blame for the loss on the "team", instead of letting the press blame the single guy on the mound that night. You can't blame Tony for that...but anyone who's paying attention knows the bullpen has been to blame quite often lately.

We'll win tonight. I say we score a few early on Sabathia....and we actually hold on to win this time.

On the bright side, the Cubs are in a bit of a tailspin. I think the Cubs have finally realized they aren't the best team in baseball.

I'd agree that the offense isn't a problem when the Cardinals play anyone, except the Brewers. It's hard to explain - other than the bullpen thing - why the Brewers offense always comes through vs St Louis while the Cardinals struggle just to score three. There should be more offense there. 3 runs isn't going to win games for the Cardinals and hasn't all season.

Everything about the 'pen is well said. Which is why there needs to be more offense to support a pen which can't hold a short lead. Until a real closer is acquired, Perez gets the job, etc.. We'll see if they get Sherrill from Baltimore, but even with his nasty stuff, he doesn't seem to have the makeup of a closer.

stinkdified wrote:

Why? The Brewers are more talented and while the under manned Cards have been over achieving they have too many holes. A wild card is still possible for the Cards if Yost allows them to spit the bit again.

tsblue wrote:

stinkdified wrote:

Why? The Brewers are more talented and while the under manned Cards have been over achieving they have too many holes. A wild card is still possible for the Cards if Yost allows them to spit the bit again.

Cards should have had the first 2 if nothin else.

Obviously, this series has been huge for the Brewers, but I'm just happy the Cubs are starting to drop more games than they usually do and that this "5 games back" business is done with (knock on wood).

This is just effing ridiculous! This bullpen sucks and of course this offense has sucked against better teams.

Sweet save, Franklin.

I'm so pissed, I don't even want to talk about baseball right now. When does college football start again?

tsblue wrote:

stinkdified wrote:

Why? The Brewers are more talented and while the under manned Cards have been over achieving they have too many holes. A wild card is still possible for the Cards if Yost allows them to spit the bit again.

becuase i thought we could at least split the series. but with tonights blowhard 9th, im just disgusted.

These last 4 games has me wanting Blues hockey, RIGHT NOW!

stlmark wrote:These last 4 games has me wanting Blues hockey, RIGHT NOW!

Watching losing baseball has made you want to watch a losing hockey team?

OS wrote:

stlmark wrote:These last 4 games has me wanting Blues hockey, RIGHT NOW!

Watching losing baseball has made you want to watch a losing hockey team?

When did you become the negative nancy of the board?

On that note, I should dig up the old Blues fan Bipolar meter.

While the Brewers own the Cardinals this season, it's far from "over" as so many seem to think. The Cardinals pretty much own the rest of the division and most of the rest of the NL (Giants excluded). If St Louis and, god forbid, Chicago, can find a way to keep the Brewers out of the playoffs - I like the Cards chances vs the Cubs, Mets, Marlins, Phillies, whichever future loser wins the West, etc.

The only team I'd be worried about St Louis facing when the Cards make they playoffs is Milwaukee. St Louis just can't generate any offense against them and, yes, the bullpen is too weak to win games when the Cardinals don't score more than 3 runs.

wouldn't want to be a negative nancy or even bipolar

OS wrote:

stlmark wrote:These last 4 games has me wanting Blues hockey, RIGHT NOW!

Watching losing baseball has made you want to watch a losing hockey team?

Um............................................................yes.

The Brewers are a damn good team. Getting swept sucked...but the Cardinals probably should have won two or three of the four games.
That series was frustrating.
The only thing we're really missing is a closer...which is a big deal, but it's still only one guy.
If we had a closer, we probably win at least two of the four games...maybe three.
And to tell you the truth, if/when Wainright and Carpenter come back, then we have two starters possibly being moved to the bullpen, which should help tremendously. With Looper and someone else being moved to the bullpen, or maybe Wainright and Carpenter being put in the pen when they come back, and if they acquire a closer, then all of a sudden the bullpen should be pretty good.
I doubt they trade for a closer, but it is their biggest need by far. They should at least bring Perez back up and maybe give him the closer job for a while.
I dunno.

Saying the offense struggles against good teams is stating the obvious. Most offenses struggle against top-notch pitching. This isn't exclusive to the Cardinals. They scored enough runs to win three of those games against a good team, but they choked away the lead in the 9th or 10th in three of the four games.

WTF is with all of the Brewers players untucking their jerseys as soon as the game is over? All of them immediately untuck their jerseys when the final out is made and then congratulate each other on the field. They look like friggin' slobs.

Braun and Hall should be beaned the next time we play them. They admired their home runs a little too long if you ask me. Bunch of punks. If someone had done that to Gibson when he was pitching, he'd have drilled them the next time up and dared them to charge the mound.