{"id":7478,"date":"2010-08-18T06:14:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T13:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=7478"},"modified":"2010-08-18T06:14:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T13:14:12","slug":"sigh-inducing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/18\/sigh-inducing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sigh-Inducing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when you start to believe in this team, to think that they’ve finally found that gas pedal on the team car, they stomp on the brakes. \u00c2\u00a0A four game winning streak to get into first place? \u00c2\u00a0Let’s follow that up with three losses against sub-.500 teams! \u00c2\u00a0I feel like I’m\u00c2\u00a0a driving instructor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, if\u00c2\u00a0Felipe Lopez<\/strong> could figure out how to handle a double play ball, perhaps we wouldn’t be having this conversation. \u00c2\u00a0Both his wild throw in the second and his inability to field a grounder in the third led to some problems. \u00c2\u00a0Jaime Garcia was able to pitch out of the first situation, since the bottom of the lineup was coming up. \u00c2\u00a0He did a pretty good job of pitching out of the second, but Casey McGehee took a pretty good pitch all the way over the center field wall. \u00c2\u00a0If Lopez fields that ball, though, odds are McGehee isn’t up there.<\/p>\n

Garcia\u00c2\u00a0looked pretty good last night<\/a>, for the most part. \u00c2\u00a0His ball was moving and, save for the McGehee at bat, he didn’t give up much. \u00c2\u00a0Three walks was much better to see and I’m thinking without having to face those extra hitters due to Lopez’s imitation of Dr. Strangeglove, he might have gotten through the seventh. \u00c2\u00a0The Cards need him to be solid down the stretch and it was good to see that it probably wasn’t overwork that has gotten to him in his last few outings.<\/p>\n

Nice to see\u00c2\u00a0Albert Pujols<\/strong> go yard again. \u00c2\u00a0Just when you start to get worried about AP being something around mere mortal, he hits August and goes ballistic. \u00c2\u00a030 HR for the 10th straight year, already 50th all time in home runs and just needs three more for 400. \u00c2\u00a0Absolutely incredible.<\/p>\n

The Reds won, which means that the Cardinals are exactly where they were before that Reds series–two games back. \u00c2\u00a0St. Louis really can’t afford to lose Garcia or Carpenter starts, but there’s no way they can lose Adam Wainwright starts and still plan on being competitive. \u00c2\u00a0Waino going is almost a gimme, one that you have to take.<\/p>\n

Wainwright will go this afternoon against Randy Wolf. \u00c2\u00a0Wolf being a lefty can give the Cards problems, and even this year, when his cumulative ERA is over four and a half, he’s limited to the Cards to a 3.66 mark the three times he has faced them.<\/p>\n

Good thing it is the Wagonmaker going, then. \u00c2\u00a0He has a 1.30 ERA in day games, a 1.22 ERA at home and a 0.50 ERA vs. Milwaukee in two starts this year. \u00c2\u00a0If the numbers mean anything (and I’m not sure they do, but let’s go with it), a Pujols home run might be all Adam needs today. \u00c2\u00a0Most likely, it’s going to be another pitcher’s duel, one the Cardinals really must win.<\/p>\n

With all the prospects signing, Derrick Goold takes a look at\u00c2\u00a0what that means for the top of the Cardinal system<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t think you can put anyone ahead of Shelby Miller, especially when you see what he’s been doing lately, but it’s nice to have some new talent to bolster those rankings. \u00c2\u00a0The UCB will be doing their Top 7 Projects come mid-September, so keep an eye out for that and see what we think about the baby ‘Birds.<\/p>\n

If this isn’t enough for you, a couple of more opportunities to put up with me. \u00c2\u00a0This week at Baseball Digest, they are running a series on competitive balance in baseball, with a focus on the economic side of things. \u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0first in the series<\/a> ran yesterday, and you should be able to see my entry today at BD if you look for it.<\/p>\n

Secondly, it’s Wednesday which means another\u00c2\u00a0UCB Radio Hour<\/a> at Blog Talk Radio. \u00c2\u00a0Tonight, Bill from i70baseball and myself will be talking with Rob Rains and, possibly, former Cardinal Andy Van Slyke. \u00c2\u00a0Should be a fun time and I expect we’ll be able to take some calls if you want to join us on air. \u00c2\u00a0If not, the chat room is always open! \u00c2\u00a0As always, 9:30 to 10:30 Central and the phone number is 646-929-1758. \u00c2\u00a0Hopefully we have a Cardinal win to discuss as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when you start to believe in this team, to think that they’ve finally found that gas pedal on the team car, they stomp on the brakes. \u00c2\u00a0A four game winning streak to get into first place? \u00c2\u00a0Let’s follow that up with three losses against sub-.500 teams! \u00c2\u00a0I feel like I’m\u00c2\u00a0a driving instructor. Of course, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":347,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[330,796,10022,524,5713,10019,1045,10020,2205,3731,9360,7486,1329,212,2755,218,2592,10021,844,3482],"class_list":["post-7478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-adam-wainwright","tag-albert-pujols","tag-brakes","tag-cardinals","tag-carpenter","tag-casey-mcgehee","tag-double-play","tag-driving-instructor","tag-felipe-lopez","tag-game-winning-streak","tag-good-job","tag-grounder","tag-home-runs","tag-jaime-garcia","tag-odds","tag-play-ball","tag-reds","tag-team-car","tag-two-games","tag-walks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}