Series Preview: The FIRST PLACE St. Louis Cardinals head to the Colorado for another four game series in the Rocky Mountains. The Cardinals split a four game series in Colorado last season, with Kip Wells and Braden Looper getting roughed up in the first two games and Todd Wellemeyer and Brad Thompson providing good outings to get the split. The Rockies are struggling, losers of eleven out of their last fourteen games. Their pitching staff is scuffling, and the Cardinals will face three starters with ERAs around 6 or higher. However, they will face three left-handers in this series, and the Cardinals are only 6 – 5 versus lefties so far this season.
Here are the pitching probables for this series:
May 5th – Joel Pineiro (2-2, 3.75 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (1-2, 5.90 ERA, 1.93 WHIP)
Pineiro is coming off his best outing of the season, a nifty seven inning, one hit scoreless effort against the Cincinnati Reds. A thing to watch is that Pineiro experienced back spasms over the weekend and it is possible he might either not make the start or will go as long as he can, with recent call-up Mike Parisi waiting in the wings.
Jimenez has yet to recapture the form he displayed down the 2007 stretch drive for the Rockies. His main issue: free passes. What have the Cardinals done better than any other team in the major leagues so far this season: draw free passes. This could get ugly for Jimenez. His silver lining is his only win came in his only start this season at home against the Braves.
May 6th – Braden Looper (4-1, 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) vs. Mark Redman (2-2, 6.99 ERA, 1.52 WHIP)
Looper is coming off a solid six inning effort versus the Cincinnati Reds in which he earned his fourth win of the year. Here is the thing to watch for with Looper: Coors Field has not treated him well in the past, as he has posted a very large 9.53 ERA over the past three seasons. Ugh.
Redman is back in the rotation after a brief relief appearance in his last outing. He has had some solid outings and his overall record is skewed by a disastrous outing against the Dodgers in which he allowed ten earned runs in six innings.
May 7th – Adam Wainwright (3-1, 2.60 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) vs. Jeff Francis (0-3, 5.26 ERA, 1.41 WHIP)
Even though some out there on the message boards (and you know who you are!) do not want to give Waino the credit he deserves as the ACE of the staff, this guy is one of the top starters in the league and a horse to boot. His last start was the first of the season that he did not last at least seven innings, but that had more to do with his previous outings pitch count (a hotly debated topic for sure) than the trouble the opposition was giving him. This was also the second game of the young season that he left with a lead and the bully yakked it up. The guy is money, and if you got the cash, lay it on him.
Francis in the past has given the Cardinals fits in the past, but he certainly has some of the same inconsistency the rest of the Rockies’ starters have displayed thus far this season. I think that the Francis mystic over the Cardinals is over.
May 8th – Kyle Lohse (3-1, 3.79 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (0-1, 20.25 ERA, 3.00 WHIP)
Lohse tossed out a clunker his last time out against the Cubbies. He lost touch with reality in the fourth inning after he looked untouchable for the first three innings. Actually he lost touch with location and the Cubbies made him pay. Look for Lohse to get healthy against the free swinging Rockies.
De La Rosa somehow, someway, got ANOTHER Major League opportunity. The numbers speak for themselves. He tossed 100 pitches in only four innings pitched against the Dodgers and gave up nine big earned runs. Knowing how this works, he will probably shut out the Cardinals in order to prevent them from sweeping the Rockies.
May 5th – St. Louis 6 Colorado 5
When my head hit the pillow last night, it was tough to get to sleep. Reason being was the Cardinals victory over the Rockies, a victory they earned when the pushed across a runner from 2nd base on an infield out. So many thoughts rolled through my head, but the one I kept coming back to was that this was the type of game that the Cardinals found a way to lose, not win.
So many things stacked up against them. Joel Pineiro threw batting practice to the Rockies in his short three innings pitched. I think that the Rockies actually demoted anyone that did not hit a line drive off Pineiro. Chris Duncan flashed some stone hands in left field which lead to an unearned run. His two gaffes certainly provided fodder for the message boards and IT nerds across the country had the pagers ringing, with their servers asking for more power.
Finally, home plate umpire Bob Davidson had a flashback to another game in another dimension when he decided that Yadier Molina did not beat an off line throw on a drawn in infield in the eight inning that should have given the Cardinals a 6-4 lead at the time.
But, they did not quit, they did not give up, and they persevered. Mike Parisi had a pretty good MLB debut in relief of Pineiro, and Ron Villone continued to tell Father Time it is not yet time for him to leave the game. And the boo magnet that is Jason Isringhausen nailed down his 11th save with a pretty solid showing in the 9th.
Albert Pujols provided the “moment” when he deked the Rockies by acting like he tweaked his back going back into the bag at 2nd base on a pick off play after he had doubled with one out in the top of the 9th. AP took off on the next pitch for 3rd, a pitch that Rick Ankiel grounded meekly toward the second baseman. The Rockies second sacker never looked at AP as he rounded 3rd and made the play on Ankiel at first. That gave Pujols just enough time to slide in ahead of Todd Helton’s throw to the plate.
Observations/Suggestions:
Mike Parisi – Stay within yourself man. I know you were facing heavy hitters in Holliday and Helton, but it appears when you overthrow your fastball, it flattens out. Trust your stuff and you will be fine in that role.
Jason Isringhausen – That cutter will get someone hurt. Matt Holiday almost killed your SHORTSTOP last night with the laser he hit to lead off the 9th. Trust your stuff, meaning your fastball and curveball until you can command the cutter. You threw two last night, and the first had basically zero movement, and second Holliday almost made disappear into vapor.
Adam Kennedy/Yadi Molina – whatever you are eating, whatever you are drinking, whomever you are doing, keep it up.
May 6th – St. Louis 6 Colorado 5
WOW! WOW! WOW! Some real great individual performances added up to an exciting Cardinals victory Tuesday night and moved the Cardinals to a season high 10 games over .500.
The victory was led by Braden Looper, who came within two outs of his first major league complete game. Looper was good, not great, in his 8 plus innings, and his four earned runs is a bit deceiving as Ryan Franklin had a hiccup in the 9th that cost Looper two runs.
Ryan Ludwick hit clean-up and did his best Albert Pujols impression, going 4-4 and reaching base all five times plate appearances with two singles and two doubles.
But those performances could not hold a Yankee Candle to what Rick Ankiel did on the field. Not only did he go 2-5 with a solo home run that padded his league lead in game winning hits, but had not one but TWO eye-popping outfield assists that will make the season’s highlight reel and be shown time and time again. Simply amazing.
May 7th – St. Louis 3 Colorado 4
For seven innings, it was hard not to get carried away and start daydreaming. <starting dream sequence – NOW> The Cardinals gaining ground on their two nearest competitors, the Cubs and the Brewers, who suddenly are stinking up the joint; the Cardinals moving 11 games over .500 and a real shot at sweeping the series tomorrow; could I get away with wearing red to the celebration of 100 years of futility on the Northside as I ready my travel plans for the playoffs…….> then SNAP! whipped back into reality when the Cardinals could not get out of their way in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Oh sure, the message board maniacs were collecting the torches and pitchforks and heading over to Izzy’s house, but this was a TEAM LOSS. Plenty of guys other than Izzy had opportunities to lead the team to victory. Albert left a boat load of runners on base AND ole’d a foul pop up that would have limited the Rockies to one run in the bottom of the 8th; Rick Ankiel grounding into a double play with the bags juiced, continuing a disturbing trend of him not getting the runner in from 3rd base with less than two outs, Kyle McClellan and Randy Flores bringing the gas to the mound and not reminding Izzy to leave the matches in the bully.
Don’t get me wrong, Izzy deserves blame as well. What really confused me is that Jason LaRue called seven straight fast balls to Ryan Spilborghs. Don’t you have to at least show the guy a different pitch? The curve, the dreaded cutter, something to at least mix it up? And Izzy can think for himself, so if that means calling off LaRue, then by all means, do it.
Anyway, a fantastic opportunity went by the boards as the team continued the season long trend of not getting key hits with runners on and runners in scoring position, leaving 10 runners stranded as a team.
And, finally, another wasted strong start from Adam Wainwright. Wainwright now sits 6th in the NL in ERA and is to the point that you expect him to go at least seven innings every time out and that you can count on him leaving the game with the lead. The kid has come a long way in a very short period of time.
May 8th – St. Louis 3 Colorado 9
The second piss poor outing in his last three starts by Kyle Lohse has the red flag a flying. Is this an anomaly and he will revert back to the form that he displayed over his other five good starts, or is this more of what we should come to expect moving forward? If that is the case, Mo has got a job to do along with Duncan.
The only Cardinal to show up for this one was Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick continued his hot streak with a couple of solo shots to run his homer total on the season to seven and his RBIs to 21. Other than that, not much more to say except, moving on……
