The Cardinals lost Friday in extra innings to the Phillies, 5-3.
Jason Motte, the Closer, served up a nice pitch, ripe for the swing of Hunter Pence, who unloaded his 11th homer of the season to right field.
Prior to the Mot-tay incident, Kyle Lohse pitched six and one-third of an inning. He gave up six hits and three runs, two of which were earned. Mitchell Boggs was credited with his second blown save of the season after pitching an inning and two-thirds. He gave up a hit and a walk. Motte pitched two innings, gave up two hits and was credited with giving up two earned runs after Hunter Pence’s two-run homer. The is Motte’s second loss of the season.
OK, OK … let’s just go ahead and let out a collective sigh. Whew. Better? No! Well… I tried.
It does appear the Cardinals are trying a little hard to do something, though. After the game, the Twitterverse exploded with this news:
Cardinals have called up pitcher Chuckie Fick, whose dad, scout Chuck Fick, played the Angels catcher in the film “Naked Gun”
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) May 26, 2012
Chuckie Fick, son of scout Chuck Fick, is 1-0, 3.86 ERA at Memphis. No word on corresponding move. Several options including Salas #stlcards
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) May 26, 2012
Woo! A new pitcher! And here’s some information about Fick. But! Who is he replacing? Mitchell Boggs? Fernando Salas? Eduardo Sanchez? SOMEONE ELSE? Should be interesting as there are at least two members of our bullpen that could use an extensive break to work on a view things to better themselves.
UPDATE: It’s Salas.
#STLCards recall RH reliever Chuckie Fick, option Fernando Salas.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 26, 2012
And
#Cardinals confirm Fick call up and Salas option to Memphis. #stlcards
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 26, 2012
Happy with the move? Comment below!
Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also senior reporter at Aerys Offsides in the NFL section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.
Aaron Miles' Fastball 
As solid as Salas was much of last year, it’s tough to watch him struggle so much.
But, I think it’s a good call to bring someone else in and see if they’ve got more to work with. Can’t keep giving up leads like this with the Reds settling in!
As solid as Salas was much of last year, it’s tough to watch him struggle so much.
But, I think it’s a good call to bring someone else in and see if they’ve got more to work with. Can’t keep giving up leads like this with the Reds settling in!
Here comes the science:
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is basically home runs, strikeouts and walks divided by innings pitched. The formula is a little more complicated than that, but basically it measures only those things over which a pitcher has some control.
So if a pitcher’s ERA is higher than his FIP, you know he’s actually been pitching better than his results. Jaime Garcia (tonight’s starter against Philadelphia) is a good example: his ERA is 3.55 but his FIP is 2.50. That tells us he’s been victimized by his defense and some bad luck — which is the case if we take a look at the opponents’ batting average on balls in play against him this year: .353. Then consider the major league-wide median on BABIP is .283.
If you were considering Jaime Garcia in a fantasy league, his stock would be a solid buy. So would Adam Wainwright, by the way.
Kyle Lohse would be a sell: his FIP is 3.24 while his ERA is 2.90. So he hasn’t been pitching as well as we might think. The story is similar with Lance Lynn.
Here’s the rest of the story:
Practically the whole bullpen has a higher FIP than ERA. Except one: His FIP was 2.85 but his ERA was 6.32, with a pretty horrific .458 on balls in play. So you figure he just pitched in some really bad luck, not that he was pitching all that terribly.
Guess we’ll see if Fernando Salas can get better luck in Memphis.
Gee, sounds like you guys need a Theo Epstein type guy. Oh wait, he’s with the Cubs MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA *11 game Cubs losing streak* I’ll shut up now.
That was a stellar ending last night too — walk-off hit-by-pitch. Heard it on the radio while driving on the highway (and may or may not honked the horn).
As for the Cards, it’s a cliche but the season is a marathon and not a sprint. There’s time to get the right pieces into place, and division standings — or at least the first place team — matter little on May 27. Except how deep the Cubs hold on last place gets.
Here comes the science:
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is basically home runs, strikeouts and walks divided by innings pitched. The formula is a little more complicated than that, but basically it measures only those things over which a pitcher has some control.
So if a pitcher’s ERA is higher than his FIP, you know he’s actually been pitching better than his results. Jaime Garcia (tonight’s starter against Philadelphia) is a good example: his ERA is 3.55 but his FIP is 2.50. That tells us he’s been victimized by his defense and some bad luck — which is the case if we take a look at the opponents’ batting average on balls in play against him this year: .353. Then consider the major league-wide median on BABIP is .283.
If you were considering Jaime Garcia in a fantasy league, his stock would be a solid buy. So would Adam Wainwright, by the way.
Kyle Lohse would be a sell: his FIP is 3.24 while his ERA is 2.90. So he hasn’t been pitching as well as we might think. The story is similar with Lance Lynn.
Here’s the rest of the story:
Practically the whole bullpen has a higher FIP than ERA. Except one: His FIP was 2.85 but his ERA was 6.32, with a pretty horrific .458 on balls in play. So you figure he just pitched in some really bad luck, not that he was pitching all that terribly.
Guess we’ll see if Fernando Salas can get better luck in Memphis.
Gee, sounds like you guys need a Theo Epstein type guy. Oh wait, he’s with the Cubs MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA *11 game Cubs losing streak* I’ll shut up now.
That was a stellar ending last night too — walk-off hit-by-pitch. Heard it on the radio while driving on the highway (and may or may not honked the horn).
As for the Cards, it’s a cliche but the season is a marathon and not a sprint. There’s time to get the right pieces into place, and division standings — or at least the first place team — matter little on May 27. Except how deep the Cubs hold on last place gets.