{"id":8152,"date":"2010-09-22T06:41:05","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T13:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=8152"},"modified":"2010-09-22T06:41:05","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T13:41:05","slug":"expectations-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/22\/expectations-met\/","title":{"rendered":"Expectations Met"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it was a road game against a cellar-dweller. \u00c2\u00a0Was there really any doubt how\u00c2\u00a0last night’s game<\/a> was going to turn out?<\/p>\n

Just for kicks, here’s something interesting. \u00c2\u00a0The last time the Cardinals won on Tuesday, they had a brawl during the game, as it was that sweep in Cincy that had everyone fired up. \u00c2\u00a0That was six weeks ago. \u00c2\u00a0Sadly, that doesn’t bode well for this evening, either, as that series was the last time they won on a Wednesday. \u00c2\u00a0Then again, when you are 13-24 in that stretch, it’s not too surprising that it’s hard to find a day that you have been successful.<\/p>\n

Albert Pujols<\/strong> had a nice night, with two hits and two RBI, while\u00c2\u00a0Jake Westbrook<\/strong> did a 180 from his game last Thursday, allowing three runs in the first and five runs in the four innings he pitched. \u00c2\u00a0It really makes it tough for the fans to sit through a game when a team like Pittsburgh scores three in the first–and you are pretty sure those three are going to hold up.<\/p>\n

What else can you say about them? \u00c2\u00a0Tony La Russa is right, they at least had some chances last night, unlike on Monday when it was like they didn’t bother to show up. \u00c2\u00a0However, that’s been the story most of the year. \u00c2\u00a0They have chances, but they don’t capitalize. \u00c2\u00a0They get shut down by pitchers that get blown up by the rest of the league.<\/p>\n

At least some of the youngsters are getting to play. \u00c2\u00a0You had Tyler Greene and Allen Craig in the first two slots of the lineup and Joe Mather got into the game as well. \u00c2\u00a0‘Course, you had Craig go out on a double switch and eventually Aaron Miles inserted into the game, but it’s a step.<\/p>\n

What was more newsworthy than the game, though, was the fact that\u00c2\u00a0Felipe Lopez was unconditionally released yesterday afternoon<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0The given cause was that his tardiness to the Florida game yesterday was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” according to Matthew Leach on Twitter. \u00c2\u00a0I can see that you have to do something if a player is repeatedly not listening to authority, but I’m a little surprised that they flat-out released him.<\/p>\n

For one thing, it could be a reward for him if someone like Atlanta or San Francisco picked him up for the next two weeks, trying to push to the playoffs. \u00c2\u00a0I doubt that anyone will do that, but it’s a possibility. \u00c2\u00a0Secondly, you’d think they’d have done something more subtle, like tell him he could go home or not play him at all, subtly showing the younger players that you don’t do things right, you sit. \u00c2\u00a0(Then again, for some of the younger players, they may feel like even if they do things right, they sit, but that’s a whole other story.)<\/p>\n

It’s also telling that they made this move, apparently with La Russa’s agreement, even though he was Lopez’s “biggest advocate”. \u00c2\u00a0That could mean TLR doesn’t care, that he’s not going to be back next year, but I don’t think that’s the case. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t think TLR cares as much about sending a message if he wasn’t returning.<\/p>\n

What it may mean is that TLR is willing to be a little more flexible with the front office, not necessarily pushing for the veterans. \u00c2\u00a0He’s seen how it worked this year and, for the most part, those guys (Miles, Randy Winn, Jeff Suppan) haven’t been difference makers. \u00c2\u00a0Will he take that info and factor into his calculus next year, perhaps letting a player like Craig stay instead of reaching into the Proven Veteran bin? \u00c2\u00a0We’ll have to see.<\/p>\n

Cards play Pittsburgh again tonight, of course. \u00c2\u00a0You know, Pittsburgh has four wins in 10 tries against the Cards. \u00c2\u00a0Without them, their winning percentage would be .343 instead of .347. \u00c2\u00a0Yeah, I know, not a big deal. \u00c2\u00a0Kyle Lohse, who has pitched somewhat better but you still figure Pittsburgh can get him for three or four, goes up against Charlie Morton. \u00c2\u00a0Morton is a righthanded pitcher with an 8+ ERA that the Cards haven’t seen this year. \u00c2\u00a0You can imagine what the results will be this evening. \u00c2\u00a0Then again, Pittsburgh’s won four in a row, so stretching it to be five might be, well, a stretch.<\/p>\n

Things for you to check out today. \u00c2\u00a0Nick over at Pitchers Hit Eighth has his first post up about our Fox Sports Midwest trip, so head over there to\u00c2\u00a0read his thoughts on the TV truck<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Also, over at\u00c2\u00a0i70baseball<\/a>, you’ll find Bill’s comments about Social Media Night, including the first group picture of the UCB. \u00c2\u00a0You might want to, but you’ll never be able to unsee it, especially with the big ugly thing right in the middle. \u00c2\u00a0And for you fans of the now-defunct\u00c2\u00a0Fire Joe Morgan<\/a>, the brains behind it will be running\u00c2\u00a0Deadspin<\/a> today, so keep an eye over there.<\/p>\n

Finally, it’s Wednesday, which means\u00c2\u00a0UCB Radio Hour<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Tune in tonight or drop by our chat room as Justin from\u00c2\u00a0Intangiball<\/a> and I talk about Lopez and the team in general, and Matt Sebek will stop by and we’ll deconstruct Social Media Night. \u00c2\u00a0Should be a great one, so hope to see you at 9:30 this evening!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it was a road game against a cellar-dweller. \u00c2\u00a0Was there really any doubt how\u00c2\u00a0last night’s game was going to turn out? Just for kicks, here’s something interesting. \u00c2\u00a0The last time the Cardinals won on Tuesday, they had a brawl during the game, as it was that sweep in Cincy that had everyone fired up. […]<\/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":[796,5910,11054,11052,2205,11051,9814,5862,5136,402,7617,432,665,11053,2444,11055,1836,321,11056,11057],"class_list":["post-8152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-albert-pujols","tag-cellar-dweller","tag-cincy","tag-double-switch","tag-felipe-lopez","tag-florida-game","tag-jake-westbrook","tag-last-thursday","tag-leach","tag-mather","tag-nice-night","tag-pitchers","tag-rbi","tag-road-game","tag-six-weeks","tag-tardiness","tag-tony-la-russa","tag-twitter","tag-yesterday-afternoon","tag-youngsters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8152","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=8152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}