The Hunt For A RED October

Pitching, pitching, pitching, but Walt: from within..

2005-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's an unreal and very unfortunate circumstance that the Cardinals wasted a magnificent play that will now always be viewed in a lesser light.

But the fact of the matter is, talent plays up to its level. And we didn't have the talent -- toeing the rubber or at the plate -- to keep up with the Astros' starting three.

Such a painful conclusion at least eludicates why even mediocre starting pitchers like Matt Morris will be driving a Wells Fargo truck this offseason -- teams are so desperate for those shutdown players that number in the very, very few that they'll toss piles of money at even the imposters. The Red Sox are the perfect example of why this is the case: in their 2004 offseason arithmetic, they concluded that their bats could make up for a lesser pitching staff; Ramirez, Big Papi, how could that be wrong? Yet, the great Dominicans were swept away in three games.

Theo Epstein was proven wrong on this count and it's certainly likely that you could see Manny traded for pitching talent this offseason. So the cycle will continue and even more money will be wasted on the average pitchers who won't accomplish a thing in the postseason.

From the Cardinals perspective, the most damning part about the Mulder trade, other than his inept performance in NLCS Game 6, will never be Barton; certainly, we could find any number of good hitters to hit .188 in a postseason series like the other guys currently taking up spaces 4-6 in the postseason lineup. It'll always be Haren, a guy who, for the most part, showed himself to be an admirable performer in the Fall Classic.

Even if he doesn't turn out to be the total stud that some are predicting, such individuals are the most precious commodity in baseball and should not be traded under almost any circumstances. The main focus for Major League teams, thus, will never be hitters; the vast amount of resources should remain on developing postseason-capable pitchers.

GM Larry Pleau..A Disaster, but a Mitigated One..

2005-09-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

The NHL's free-agent frenzy has crawled to a stop as teams get set to open training camp in two weeks and then drop the puck for real in 33 days.

Only four transactions were reported Thursday, down from more than two dozen on the busiest August days.

"It was active," Blues general manager Larry Pleau said. "There were lots of spots to fill, so you knew it would be active. Most teams are going to have a lot of different faces. For the fans, it will be real exciting."

Blues fans may be among those excited about the return of hockey, but the enthusiasm has been curtailed by their team being one of the least active in the free-agent market since it opened Aug.

While I'm with the contingent of throwing Larry Pleau into the Superdome for a few nights, I'm of the mind that it's good for Blues fans that he didn't blow his wad all this year.

The fact of the matter is, there were way too many stupid contracts that did not at all appreciate the new collective bargaining agreement (Mike Modano and your five year $17.5m contract at age 35, COME ON DOWN!) and those teams will suffer mightily as a result.

Let's hope that the new owner does with Larry what should be done to Larry and the team starts off with bountiful payroll opportunities and a blessed new General Manager.

Katrina..And LA's Crime

2005-08-31T01:59:00.000-07:00

One could argue quite persuasively that earthquakes are a force of nature that cannot in any way be prevented or otherwise tempered. We build earthquake-proof buildings, but if one of a enough magnitude strikes, it can destroy indiscriminately any building in a city.

However, this is so damning in that Ivan should have been a massive wake-up call or hurricane prevention, a natural disaster, however rudimentarily, we can respond to. Although this situation probably couldn't have been entirely prevented, enough could have been done to allieviate the suffering and perhaps save The Queen of New Orleans.

But LA slept. Anybody in office from then to now should be excused by a large electoral mandate. If keeping your constituents safe isn't job one, what the hell is the point?

Rumours are out on the Internets...

2005-08-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

that Roger Clemens and a Red Sox (Johnny Damon?) have tested positive for steroids.

Bad for baseball? In the short term, perhaps. But more likely, it's part of the more painful and decidedly positive process of regaining integrity rather than losing it.

TSN Interview with The Rocket:

TSN: Steroids are a hot topic. They supposedly give players an advantage in their workouts, allowing them to do more, enabling them to recover more quickly. For those reasons, have you ever considered using performance-enhancing drugs?
CLEMENS: Steroids are great because for my mother (Bess, who suffers from emphysema), they are great. They keep her chest cavity strong, and she has to take them. For others, they abuse them, and they're not good for you. I hate the fact that they're just making this such a big topic because one or two guys (have) come out about it. I don't think there's any secret about the guys who were doing it -- you can tell. But to each their own.

Everybody brings green..

2005-05-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

After an event sponsored by Harrah's with six southeast Asian Ambassadors, I sat down to have a beer at Caesars Palace. The bar was hopping just as much as a dead rabbit so chatted a little bit with the New Yawkah bahtenda.

His most memorable line: "Las Vegas is environmentally friendly -- everybody brings green." He didn't know much about the impending merger of Harrah's/Caesars and its affect on workers, but he brought up the interesting fact that the consolidation of properties will result in a harder working environment for Las Vegas. What if you get fired from MGM or Harrah's? Where will you work? You're out of the market for over half of Vegas.

A small, small town, we are.

Game On...

2004-10-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite stories about the Cardinals -- if you knew me in grade school, you got REALLY TIRED of this tale -- was during the 1985 season. Vince Coleman was my favorite player. He liked to run, I liked to run. There was a bond, okay?

And like any little kid, I loved my autographs. So one day, I was down there with a baseball in hand, or a card, or something, and I leaned at the rail as hard as I could, and tried to see Vince and how far along the signing line he was. The game was about to start, and he was too damn far away. This was going to end badly.

So as a kid who knew his stuff -- I, uh, knew that we were born in the same hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, but we'll deal with the Cardinals obsession later -- I yelled, "I'm from Jacksonville, too, Vince!"

And it worked. It was magic. The guy skipped over whole rows of people, signed my autograph, and went on to play the game.

Heard some parent muttering, "I've got to remember that one." It was a brilliant day.

Game on, Cardinals. Game on.

Some Non-Rocket Related Thoughts on the game today..

2004-10-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Everybody else is performing fellatio on Roger Clemens, so I'm going to stay out of that. Some other thoughts on today's game:

The Juicebox is horrid, horrific, use whatever word you like. The Kent HR reminded me that perhaps this game was taking place on a Little Leaguers field.

Imagine that for a second. Everything would go over the fence -- what fun. What kind of BASEBALL is that, though, when a pure home run competition breaks out? Sadly, it's not. It's a question of who can hit the ball to a middling depth. It doesn't involve strategy or a particular challenge for a major league hitter. It may be arena baseball, but the Doubleday version? Forget about it.

Steve Lyons was fond of repeating a seemingly honest quote from Jed, "that if it hit the barrel of my bat, it would be out." You don't need Johnny Cochran for that to be an indictment of the worst ballpark in MLB. (The connotation of its first name, of course, told us this as well.)

Second thought: Was Thom Brennamen on drugs? He commented during Rolen's first AB Saturday that "he broke the tie on Thursday night." Huh? He didn't "break the tie" on his first HR, and Alberto broke the second tie. Thommy went on to call Suppan a ".270 hitter" during the season. I almost lost my lunch. We all have bad days, but he just seemed a little above or below that nice little thing we refer to as reality.

Third thought: We need one more win to pretty much grab Houston by the lapel and dangle them off the cliff. And if we get that next win tomorrow, the Cards can drop them off the canyon in any of the next three games, two of which will be held at the Busch Broadway Revue. Worry not.

Pray for rain, Houston.

2004-10-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Perhaps ESPN will showcase the Rocket with a headpiece and a rain dance tomorrow. It may be the Astros only opportunity to survive the managing of Scrap Iron.

Three keys to victory tonight:

1) Timely Offense: The Cardinals opened up the vaults and displayed their winning formula for all of MLB to see. One part, competent pitching, both starters and relievers, one part bulletproof defense, two parts deadly offense. Seven of the Cards 10 runs came with two outs.

2) Horrendous Managing By Phil Garner: Let's only mention a few, shall we, to protect the guilty Garner. First inning, why pitch to Albert Pujols? Later, Rolen beats you with a hit, but would he have hit a home run in that position? The chances were lower than Albert chopping out out of there, that's for sure. No such call from Phil. And no such luck for the Astros with Al.

Another woeful Garner decision was his Backe strategy. The Houston native gave a surprisingly strong performance in the early innings with a wicked breaking ball that Renteria, Edmonds, and even Pujols couldn't lay off of. There was no guarantee that his luck would continue, but it sure was better than the alternative: the Astros bullpen.

A defense for Garner may be, he wanted to keep him fresh for Game 5. But that latter game strategy was not one Phil deployed all year, and when the manager begins to tinker with his success, red flags should be waved. (Aside: TLR often raised these flags in the postseason, e.g. strange batting order in 2000 NLCS that was never seen before or since.) At any rate, rest assured, Phil, if you keep this up, you won't have to worry about Game 5!

3) Few Questionable Decisions By TLR: One of TLR's problems, if you stare at the ghosts of NLCS past, has been severe overmanagingitis. Probably because he has such a destructive lineup, he doesn't suffer from such demons this year(at least not so far.) He puts his starting nine out there, and suprisingly, shockingly..............he leaves them alone! No double switches, no defensive changes, just let the local gang beat up on the opposition.

Even his pitching decisions this year and in the postseason have been solid. Haren tonight? Ehhhhhhhhh, okay Tony, I'm sure it has something to do with getting him some work and only using him for 9 pitches, but your stated strategy is Danny as safety net. There. That's it. All we have to quibble about.

Tony, is that you?

Rest in Peace, Ken Caminiti

2004-10-13T01:27:00.000-07:00

What a sad story. It's almost like the media writes off his death as, oh, he's one of "those." The guy took drugs, wasted life, end of story. How disposable these athletes are in modern society.

Think about how much happiness that guy brought hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people, in his career. That means nothing?

In matters of addiction, only you can help you -- that's the bottom-line. And yeah, maybe Ken was too far gone to be helped. Who knows?

Regardless of the circumstances, what an indictment of MLBPA for not taking good care of a family member, and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come as they allow their mates to continue to face the competitive-fueled usage of steriods and other drugs alone.

Edmonds And The Half-Shirt Pictures!

2004-10-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Let's give some love to...er, well, he deserves it...

2004-10-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

TLR.

#1: He gets Marquis out of there before it causes any lasting damage. In another world, a TLR we've gotten to know well in the postseason would leave Marquis in there, for reasons of creating confidence or some flimsy excuse.

This year, he goes to the bullpen quickly, and while Eldred made it interesting and eventually emerged unscathed, it wouldn't have been Tony's fault if that wasn't the result. Has a vaccine been found for overmanagingitis?

Which brings us to point #2..No overmanaging in later innings. Perhaps this is a byproduct of the rallies by the bottom of the order, but there were no double switches, strange uses of the bullpen, all hallmarks of previous Tony postseason teams. He let the guys play.

In the past, Tony has severely tested the adage that "good players make the manager look good", trying to flip it around to satisfy some urge to M-A-N-A-G-E, all caps.

I never thought I'd say this, much less in the playoffs, but it needs to be spoken aloud: all praise the Squire.

I just set a non-female record for getting out of tickets..

2004-09-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I got pulled over for speeding. I was going 60 in a 45 and glanced back and saw a black and white. I cursed, slowed down, but by that time, it was too late. He had moved up behind me and while we sat in the left turn lane, I only waited for the inevitable.

And the inevitable happened right after the turn.

So I pull over, roll down my window and put my arm out like a good ol' boy, and he asked for all the usual -- license, reg, insurance. He asked me, do you know why I pulled you over, and I feigned ignorance. He said I was speeding and my right brake light was out.

Great. And oh yeah, I couldn't find my insurance card.

And oh yeah, I still had my Missouri's drivers license after living in Nevada and Maryland the last five years. With a brutal burst of honestly, I told him I didn't have time to wait at the DMV.

So -- four ticketable offenses. I was heading back to work and dressed in a suit, but I figured that wouldn't help. I made a last-ditch plea to my friend over the phone, "I need to borrow your boobs for a few minutes."

And so as he meanders back to my car and starts speaking, the cop says the most unexpected things.

"So you were speeding, but I'm not going to write you up for that..."

"So you can't find your insurance, I'm not going to write you up for that.."

"You seem like a busy guy, so I'm not going to write you up for the drivers license.."

"But what you have to do is fix the brake light. Okay?"

And I couldn't help it: "Thanks, Officer!"

And he said, "You're welcome. The reason I noticed you was you were passing all the other cars."

I added "not something you want to be noticed for." And the cop laughed(?!) and said, "You take care, slow it down, okay?"

Okay. But WTF?! I've never gotten out of a ticket in my life, and I just got out of FOUR of them in one sitting. Any cops out there? How the hell did this happen? Would it have come up that I serve on a Police Board?

Wow.

Happy birthday to me....And yeah, I had a cop write me a ticket on my birthday (09/10) a few years ago, so this happening yesterday doesn't mean crap.

2004-09-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

Heading home from Dallas, I was in the rental car bus going to the airport, and what do I look over the row to see?? My favorite thing.

A Scrubs fan.

He had on a C hat as well as a "Bleacher Edition" Wrigley t-shirt that he undoubtedly mortgaged a few children to buy. Usually, I would have said something snide, but today, I just chuckled to myself, and thought, what's the point? What could I say that the Cardinals haven't possibly said to him already?

I had my STL cap on, so if he wanted to blurt out something, he would have.

But on the other hand, what could HE have said to me that the Cubs haven't already stated?

It was a fun time, the silence and all.

A Throwaway Game

2004-08-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, with a double-digit lead on the Cubs and a sure shot to the postseason, the Cardinals just want to get out of this weekend alive. Only a scrappy Pirates bunch stand in their way.

Since the days of Bonds and Bonilla, or rather, since the awful days AFTER Bonds and Bonilla, I've always had a fondness for the Bucs. As a historic ball franchise, they deserve a better fate in the House of Selig than constantly being bottom-feeders in the NL Central. With a shrewd trade, dealing a middling pitcher like Benson, and the obvious development of young guns, the Pirates could very well be in contention at a ballpark near you.

And throw away the record -- they WERE in contention tonight, outplaying the consensus best team in MLB.

Tolstoy once wrote "All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family
is unhappy in its own way." That same analogy does not apply to this baseball team, as this unhappy family of Cardinals is usually unhappy in familar ways. All of our losses seem to come off a game filled with defensive gaffes, offensive woes, and complaints about the umpires.

But the Cardinals made their own deluxe King sleeper. Let's lie in it tonight, get a good night's rest, come back and win two tomorrow.

He stood up today, though...

2004-08-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

And there we are.

Tony just reverted back to the real Slim Shady, leaving Morris in instead of pinch hitting in today's Marlins game, in a SERIES that has been one of the low-scoring of the year.

In most cases, this is an inexcusable decision on its face. But what makes it worse is the murderers that are on the Cardinals bench today -- Rolen, Renteria, etc.

I posted too soon with my paen to the normalcy of TLR.

Take after Warren Harding, Tony.

Will The Real Slim LaRussa Please Stand Up?

2004-08-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

I would imagine that Tony LaRussa is not big on Eminem, but here we go, anyway: What happened to the real Tony LaRussa?

Earlier in the season, I faulted TLR, with rather colorful language, for his dreadful mismangement of the starting pitching on the June 22nd tilt against the Scrubs. If you remember, Marquis was pitching a gem of a game, but the guy had no business pitching into the 8th inning, up over 100 pitches. He had already showed signs of weakening in earlier frames.

Flaw number one of typical TLR style: overriding common sense and overmanaging. Instead of just facing up to the reality of the situation -- your starter was tiring and needed to be replaced -- Tony let Marquis remain in the game, sent him on up to the mound to put on his butler suit, and enter the dining room to set the table for the Cubs to go ahead and win an important game.

Considering the Cards possessed a well-rested bullpen, it was obvious what would happen when you toy with fate and logic, for God only knows what reason (Marquis' pride? TLR's ego?) -- the Birds would lose.

And when that grim fate came to pass, I was convinced LaRussa would squander a solid bullpen and exceptional lineup by often overmanaging the team throughout the 2004 campaign. And, much to my surprise, it really hasn't turned out that way. The real LaRussa, or at least what we've seen of him since 1996, hasn't stood up.

Last night's game is a perfect example of how to manage a starting pitcher, just on the smell test alone. Suppan was dealing a two-hitter to the World Series Champion Marlins, grappling with their ace Pavano and coming away the better dealer. He had thrown 99 pitches going into the ninth, and showed no signs, particularly, of losing his control.

Meekly, Marlins' leadoff extraordinare Juan Pierre stunted a hit up the first base line to open the frame, and used his speed to get on-board. It was one of those plays that doesn't exactly quiver the red heart of a Cardinal fan. But the sensible and cautious -- we'll go as far as to say the common sense thing to do -- would be to utilize your stable of strong relief pitchers and allow them the opportunity to close the deal.

Tony LaRussa proceeded to do the sensible and cautious thing. I never thought I'd see the day.

The Fascination Over the Lovable Losers Is A Little Odd

2004-08-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

The national media is atwitter. Local columnists are using tremendous amount of ink to point that the home side is headed to the World Series. The fans are delirious.

Only problem is, your team is 10.5 games out of the division lead and recently got beat like a red-headed step child in a few recent tilts against the guy ahead. Such is the life of the Chicago Cubs.

Let's refute some Scrub arguments, shall we? I'll do one of these a day for the week.

1) Once Our Pitching Comes Back, We'll Roll into the Wild Card and/or World Series Let's forget for a moment that the reason the Cubbies lost the NLCS last year was less the dude with the turtleneck and headphones and more the guy with the big calves on the mound. The best argument against the Scrubs is on Wall Street: Past Mark Prior and Kerry Wood results don't predict future success.

Huh? Let me tell you, it's not coincidence that Michael Lewis wrote about the machinations of bond traders and ballplayers. High finance and baseball use a similar toolkit -- stats -- to pencil up a winning formula. Although General Managers, are, of course, playing with house money, there aren't any words of wisdom posted at stadium plazas for wayward General Managers. But Wall Street offers a few clues.

"Statements about the company's past performance are not necessarily indicative of its future results." "Past results do not predict future events." It goes something like that, in what's called the Safe Harbor provision, mandated from Congressional litigators' little 1996 election wet dream(US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Anyway, without getting too much off track, it's basically the US Congress warning you: What this company did last year, two months ago, YESTERDAY, doesn't mean they'll do it tomorrow, two months from now, or next year. So don't be a dumbass.

You can connect the dots. Don't be a dumb ass, Scrubby.

Tomorrow: Nomar, the vastly overrated savior.

Carpenter v. Williams

2004-07-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ichiro for Beat The Streak today.

Cards win 6-4, I predict.

I've got a 5-game one goin'

http://www.mlb.com

In other news, will the Cardinals continue pitching to Barry Bonds? I hope so. Just think about it. Even the best hitters, of which strangely Barry Bonds has become at the age of 40, only get on .370% of the time. The majority of situations, you're getting the guy out. (OBP for BB is an unreal .600-odd. This is because other teams walk him. Other teams = stupid.)

The thing about Bonds, whether or not you think he's juiced: the dude has mad talent. I could put pump ten gallons of Holy Water into my system and I wouldn't go out and hit 688 home runs by 40. Get real.

Bull Durham never mentioned off-days

2004-07-29T23:49:00.002-07:00

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. - Bull Durham

Well, Ron Shelton, what the hell do you do during off-days?! Ah well, I guess it's more of a problem for the rabid fan than the players themselves. You know what they're doing on the off-days! Or at least I can think about what I would be doing if I had Bud Selig-mandated days off.

Whereas in early April, you wondered, what the hell are they doing taking a day off after a lackadaiscal ST, now you know why they need it. The dog days are here.

A ball team at this stage of the season is nothing more than a glorified multimillionaire MASH set, marching marauders to city after city, destroying other ball clubs (Hello, Cincinnati!) or simply being plundered (CinCin, once again.)

It's easy to wax poetic about baseball -- put Walt Whitman, Ken Burns, James Earl Jones on your bench, and there you go. Bench of Dreams. But the more appealing aspect to me is the hardnosed, dirty uniform -- here's 25 guys that are probably tired of luggage and hotel rooms, and just want to take that agony out on some(other ball team) and have a modicum of fun doing it.

Not all teams have the luxury, of course, to get psychologically healthy by beating the crap out of a baseball and other Major League ball teams, but the hometown side, if your hometown has an Arch in it, is one of them. A club that gives a shout out to Freud every time they come from behind to lay out another opponent.

Come to think of it, maybe they deserve that off-day after all.

2004-07-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

this is my first post. I am tired.