Tag Archives: Jhonny Peralta

If We Can’t Watch A Game, Did It Really Happen?

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Oh, where to begin with last night’s Dodgers-Cardinals game?

Or should I say alleged game? For all I know, it could have been an elaborate hoax like a modern day version of “The War of the Worlds” since the game was only on the radio for many of us.

And perhaps I wouldn’t have gone to such dramatic lengths to find and keep up with the game were that contest not the one chosen for the annual United Cardinal Bloggers Progressive Game Blog — I had the first inning to recap, so knowing exactly when it started was obviously of prime importance. Here’s more on the UCB progressive blog, plus an intro for the game. This is the eighth year for the project, and the game chosen is traditionally one on FOX that’s available to all the bloggers involved regardless of where they live (since many of us don’t live in St. Louis).

Unfortunately, FOX did not cooperate with the UCB plan in choosing their games and who would see see what in their home market. That was the first glitch, as evidenced by the broadcast schedule from 506Sports.com.

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Yes, lots of Cardinal red on that map — much of the U.S. would see the game. But I live in the Quad Cities, which is represented on the map above right on the border of Iowa and Illinois with the QC … in green. Yes, green for Royals and Cubs as my FOX game of the week. Because we didn’t have enough of those teams last Saturday, apparently.

Yet as game time approached, I discovered Mother Nature must be a Cardinals fan — the Royals and Cubs were rained out. Hooray! That had to mean I’d get the Dodgers-Cardinals game, right? There’d be no way I’d end up with the Red Sox-Rangers, not when that was being shown in so few markets.

Then we discovered Mother Nature must really be a Sawx fan, or perhaps a Josh Hamilton fan. Because she made it rain in St. Louis too. Enough that everyone got to see the start of the Sawx-Rangers. Not that I really paid attention …

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My Voting For The United Cardinal Blogger Awards

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Each November, the United Cardinal Bloggers vote for awards on that year’s Cardinals season, as well as the best of our peers. Here’s a look at my choices for 2014.

united-cardinal-bloggers-lgCardinals Team Awards
Player of the Year

Nominees: Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta

My choice: Jhonny Peralta. He did what he was acquired to do, which was increase the offense by the shortstop, and even led the team in homers with 21 for good measure. Plus he was very good defensively, with the fifth-best defensive WAR in the National League at 2.6.

Pitcher of the Year

Nominees: Lance Lynn, Pat Neshek, Adam Wainwright

My choice: Lance Lynn. While a case could be made easily for either of the other two (and especially Adam Wainwright), my pick is for Lynn because of the complete season he put together. No post-All Star slump, as he had a 2.22 ERA after the break compared to 3.14 before, plus he had a 3-0 record and 1.99 ERA in August to lead the team when Wainwright struggled through a “dead arm” period. Lynn also had career bests in ERA at 2.74, WHIP at 1.26 and bWAR at 3.7.

Game of the Year

Nominees: May 20 (Adam Wainwright one-hitter), May 31 (Oscar Taveras debut), NLDS Game One, NLDS Game Four, NLCS Game Two

My choice: NLDS Game Four. Beating Clayton Kershaw once in October, after the tremendous regular season that would earn him both the NL Cy Young and MVP awards, was terrific. Doing it again, to clinch the division series, with Matt Adams doing all the damage with a three-run seventh inning homer? Incredible. Just take a look at that homer again, and the reactions from Kershaw as well as the Cardinals players, the crowd (go, Mrs. DeWitt!) and of course Adams himself. Continue reading →

Cards NLDS Win Is So Much Deja Vu

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The Cardinals against Clayton Kershaw — again.

The Cardinals trailing the Dodgers in the seventh inning — again — with Kershaw dominating — again.

Matt Holliday leading off the seventh with a single off Kershaw, followed by Jhonny Peralta singling — again.

A big hit by a Matt to stun Kershaw and the Dodgers and give the Cardinals the lead — again.

In Game Four, however, it was Adams instead of Carpenter — and he launched a no-doubt-about-it-even-Joe-Buck-got-crazy-excited-3-run-bomb into the Cards bullpen (which of course you want to see again and again even though you’re already watched it countless times).

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Another classic Cardinals postseason home run, this time from Matt Adams (Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Huy Mach)

In the ninth inning, Trevor Rosenthal in for the save and makes it interesting — again.

Yet that’s a winner — again!

And a win that’s a division series clincher — again, like in 2013. And 2012. And 2011. Continue reading →

A Hard Team Not To Love, Mike? Well …

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“It hasn’t been easy,” Matheny said. “There haven’t been a lot of laughers one way or the other. They show grit. They show fight. It’s a hard team not to love.”

571eea2e-3e4e-4d1d-acab-86c899b22278The Cardinals won last night 5-4, their second straight walk-off win over the Reds — this one on a walk-off hit by pitch to Jon Jay (although it wasn’t the first time this season the Cards won in that way.) The victory put them at a season-high 11 games over .500. And, following the game, manager Mike Matheny said the above words.

It’s a hard team not to love. Hmmmm. How many fans feel that way about the 2014 Cardinals?

There’s certainly been a lot of discontent among Cardinals fans this season, more than I remember seeing in a very long time, and I am right there with those not enjoying things much. The main reason: Mike Matheny.

In a post from Monday at Viva El Birdos — Mathenaging: Mike Matheny doubles down on double standards — Ben Humphrey really captures the discontent well. If you just need a quick summary, the subhead from that post will do: “Manager Mike Matheny is not the Leader of Men the Cardinals sold us upon his hire.”

Sure, I know not every fan feels that way — I see the giddy social media posts and the tweets exclaiming how their record is even better now than it was at this point in 2011 and the continued gushing over Matheny’s looks. Continue reading →

How Much Do The Cardinals Miss Yadier Molina?

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When Yadier Molina tore a ligament in his right thumb sliding into third base on July 9, the St. Louis Cardinals were 50-42 following their victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that night. The Cardinals were in second place in the NL Central, two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers. They’d scored 340 runs on the season, while allowing 318.

yadiLast night, the Cardinals lost to the Miami Marlins 6-5. Since Yadi went on the DL, the team has gone 12-13 and is now 62-55. At the moment, they’re in third place in the Central — three games behind the Brewers and a half-game behind the second-place Pirates. They’ve jockeyed back and forth with the Pirates for second place since July 29.

That run differential looks a little different now too, as they’ve scored 436 runs this season while allowing 444. Although losses of 12-1, 12-2 and 10-3 in that span will definitely change the look of things …

Now, granted, 2014 Yadi wasn’t quite hitting like 2012/2013 MVP finalist Yadi either. On July 9, his stats were .287/.341/.409 with seven home runs and 30 RBI. Decreased offensive production this season, however, certainly hasn’t been limited to Yadi alone.

Who’s stepped up the most in the past 30 days? Interestingly enough, according to the stats on the Cards website, the guy leading the team in hitting in that span is someone who’s only been on the team since July 26: A.J. Pierzynski. In his 11 games as a Cardinal, AJP is hitting .308/.357/.410 with a double, a homer and five RBI. He drove in the first run last night, just before Jon Jay homered to momentarily tie the game at 3-3. Continue reading →

Matt Attack! Cardinals Score Four In The First

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If you were going to create a perfect Saturday afternoon for baseball, chances are good it would look a lot like St. Louis did yesterday afternoon — bright blue skies, sunshine, temperature of 83 degrees at 3 p.m. on July 19.

collageOf course you’d want a really compelling match-up to go with your perfect afternoon, like two teams battling for the top spot in their respective divisions.

All those elements came together yesterday, with the 54-44 tied-for-first-in-the-NL-West Dodgers and the 53-44 one-game-behind-the-Brewers-in-the-NL-Central Cardinals doing battle. Since it’s a Saturday home game, the Cardinals are wearing their alternate uniforms (which just add to the perfect day ambiance even more).

Plus, to make it even better for people like me who will take any available television option besides Dan McLaughlin on FOX Sports Midwest, the game is being broadcast on FOX Sports 1 with Kenny Albert and Eric Karros announcing — in addition to FOX Midwest with McLaughlin and Tim McCarver.

Oh, and this game just happens to be the United Cardinal Bloggers annual progressive game blog — and I’m leading off the coverage with the first inning.

O happy day! Hopefully, that is …

Yes, the Dodgers and Cardinals are back at it again after Friday night’s 3-2 Cards win in which Matt Holliday drove in all three runs with a double and home run, Kolten Wong scored the two runs Holliday didn’t, Lance Lynn allowed two runs and struck out nine, and the bullpen — Seth Maness, Pat Neshek and Trevor Rosenthal — threw three scoreless innings and allowed just one hit.

In addition to the bright blue sky and sun, the green of the field looks extra vibrant on the FOX 1 telecast — much more than on FOX Midwest, as I had to change the channel and check once I noticed. Hmmmm, guess FOX 1 has some super-duper extra-green camera.

The starting pitchers, Zack Greinke and Joe Kelly, have faced each other before — last October, to be exact, in Games One and Five of the NLCS. Game Five was the last time Kelly faced the Dodgers, while Greinke started against the Cards three weeks ago today in Los Angeles. Here’s to a better performance from Kelly, as he gave up four earned runs that last game and was the losing pitcher, and a worse one from Greinke, who gave up one run, four hits and struck out 10. Continue reading →

From 5 Back To First Place, 7 Days Later

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It’s been quite a week for the Cardinals, hasn’t it? Last Sunday, after two straight disappointing losses to the Miami Marlins, the Cards were five games back in the National League Central and in third place behind the Brewers and Pirates.

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Love the sign! (Photo: STLToday.com)

Now, with winning five of the past seven games including a 10-2 victory over the Brewers on Saturday, the Cardinals are tied for first place.

If it seems like it’s been a while since they were in first, it has. The last time? April 5. Not that we need a reminder of what most of the first half of the season has been like …

So it’s definitely good to see this position once again. First place!

Of course, gaining so much ground so quickly wouldn’t be possible without the Brewers having lost each of the last seven games and 11 of their past 12. And, given what they were dealing with as a team yesterday with the death of Jean Segura’s infant son, it seems wrong to gloat too much about yesterday’s Cards win in particular.

Instead, what about the five Cards wins this week — and especially Friday night’s comeback win?

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When Cards Starters Are Good, They Can Be Very Good

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The one thing that’s been fairly consistent through the mediocrity of the Cardinals going 31-31 has been the starting pitching. Yes, there have been those occasional clunker game from each of them — those things happen on occasion.

ShelbyBut when the starters have been good, they’ve often been very good. The Cardinals are tied with the Rangers for the MLB lead in shutouts with 11 (which is three more than the teams tied for second) and, as of yesterday, now has the big league lead in shutouts with four.

That’s thanks to Shelby Miller, who joined Adam Wainwright with two and Lance Lynn on that 2014 Cards shutout list. And, as Jenifer Langosch writes at Cardinals.com, his performance might have been even more impressive than last year’s leadoff-single-then-27-straight-retired performance last year: “While Miller may have relied on an overpowering fastball to mow down 27 Colorado hitters in a row in a start last May, this time he toyed with Toronto purely by pitching.”

It was pretty spectacular to watch.

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The Cardinals Last Walk-Off Homer Was When?

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As yesterday’s game went into extra innings (and perhaps the less said about the game, the better — another frustrating loss in a season filled with them), the thoughts of Cardinals fans turned to walk-off wins. The 2014 Cardinals have had two so far, both within the past two weeks and both decided in odd ways: the walk-off hit-by-pitch against the Cubs on May 13 and last week’s walk-off throwing error by the Diamondbacks in extra innings.

In the end, wins are wins and however they are achieved works. But when was the last time we experienced the joy and thrill of a walk-off home run, that unbelievable feeling like in Game Six of the 2011 World Series?

Uh … then.

WalkOffHR

Wow. And nearly three years now since the last regular season walk-off homer.

Of course, hitting a walk-off homer requires actually hitting a homer — something the 2014 Cardinals are definitely not doing very often. They have 26 home runs as a team this season, which is last in the National League. It will take a bit to catch up with the 14th place team too, as the Mets have 34. Overall in MLB, the Cards rank 29th — the Royals trail then with only 20 homers. (Fun fact: the major’s current home run leader, Nelson Cruz, has 16.) Continue reading →

Walk-Off Hit By Pitch? That’s So 2014 Cardinals

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In a thus far inconsistent and mediocre St. Louis Cardinals season …

GarciaWhen Adam Wainwright finally, sort of, maybe figured out the 2014 Cubs and only allowed two runs in six innings on a Luis Valbuena homer …

During a game when the Cardinals had the same number of strikeouts as hits (nine), were walked eight times and left 13 runners on base while scoring just three runs through 11 innings …

When Trevor Rosenthal finally did what was seeming inevitable and blew a save …

Yet the rest of the bullpen — Kevin Siegrist, Carlos Martinez, Sam Freeman in his 2014 debut, Pat Neshek, Seth Maness — combined to allow just one hit and no runs in five innings …

And, in the 12th inning, when the Cubs bullpen started to resemble what we would expect the Cubs bullpen to be with Justin Grimm walking Allen Craig and Yadi to load the bases with one out after Jhonny Peralta singled …

Up stepped Greg Garcia to pinch-hit. It was Garcia’s 14th plate appearance yet he had just 10 official at-bats, thanks to one walk and two hit-by-pitches.

He still has just 10 official at-bats, thanks to his third hit-by-pitch. Plus he now has his first RBI — and it’s a game-winning RBI.

Thank you, Justin Grimm. And thank you, Greg Garcia.

Whatever it takes to win.

Especially for the 2014 Cardinals.