Tag Archives: Lance Lynn

And Now Another Cardinals Pitcher To The Disabled List …

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There’s another Cardinal name to add to the growing number on the disabled list: Lance Lynn.

nurse-e1397756375763During his start last Sunday night against the Dodgers, Lynn’s forearm tightened up. He left the game after throwing 98 pitches in five innings. On Tuesday, he traveled to St. Louis for an examination on his forearm and the current diagnosis is a strained muscle in his right forearm. More details from STLtoday.com:

Mozeliak added that the club believes Lynn’s 15-day stint on the DL, which will be backdated to Monday, will provide sufficient time for him to recover from the injury. Lynn is expected to miss two starts.

Taking Lynn’s spot on the roster is Tyler Lyons. Here’s further information from the Cardinals press release.

Manager Mike Matheny has tabbed Lyons to start tomorrow afternoon’s game against Kansas City.

Lyons, 27, will be making his second appearance of the season with the Cardinals, after having made three starts (13.0 IP/17 strikeouts) from May 5-16.

Following his option to Memphis on May 16, Lyons has been one of the top pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, going 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA (26.2 IP/7 ER) his last four starts at Triple-A. Lyons’ overall mark at Memphis is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA (seventh in PCL) in eight starts, striking out 56 (sixth) while walking only nine in his 48.1 innings of work.

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An Appropriate Score For Jackie Robinson Day

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There were pluses to the Cardinals win over the Brewers last night on Jackie Robinson Day. Just winning (duh) is one, and it was good to see the offense have 10 hits as well as cut back the number of runners left on base to 7 (an improvement over Monday’s 12) and go 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position (better than Monday’s 2 for 13).

Photo: Chris Lee, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Photo: Chris Lee, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Also a positive was that Lance Lynn only allowed 1 earned run while giving up 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4 even though he threw 99 pitches in just 5 innings.

And Mike Matheny’s new Tony La Russa-like rotation of relief pitchers into games paid off too — Seth Maness, Matt Belisle, Randy Choate (yay, actually being a LOOGY) and Jordan Walden combined for 3 scoreless innings and allowed 3 hits.

And while we never like to see Trevor Rosenthal allow a lead-off walk, it’s certainly not something we haven’t seen before. We’ve also experienced wild pitches on occasion and, unfortunately, Ryan Braun driving in runs.

Just this once, since the game was on April 15, we’ll be OK with it.

A final score of 4-2 on Jackie Robinson Day, when all the players are wearing No. 42 in honor of the Hall of Famer, is a nice tribute.

(Spin? Sure. Blame my full-time job. It’s what I do.)

There is a Cardinals connection to Robinson becoming the first African American player in MLB, since he was signed by Branch Rickey, who had a long history as Cardinals manager and general manager. Read more about it in this post from a few years ago.

It’s a quick turnaround for more baseball, as the Brewers and Cards close out this series this afternoon at 12:45 p.m. With a win, the Cardinals will tie the first-place Cubs (ugh, it’s true, in case no Cub fans have yet gloated to you about how they’re doing even before KRIS BRYANT!!! arrives) with a 5-3 record. Mike Fiers and John Lackey are the starters.

Mr. Lackey, please be better today than your first start. Mr. Fiers, you can just stay the same.

Opening Day Finally Just A Month Away

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Today is a milestone toward the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals regular season, with the spring training portion of games set to begin this afternoon. It’s comforting to look at the Cardinals website and see the banner at the top that Carlos Martinez will start against Dan Haren for the Marlins at 12:05 p.m. Central Time, and even better is that it will be broadcast on KMOX. (See the whole broadcast schedule here.) Hello again, Mike Shannon and John Rooney!

But this is just a step toward the real thing.

A big step, sure — the last remaining hurdle through what seems like an endless off-season (though I guess they all feel that way). And if you are headed to Jupiter to watch the Cardinals and enjoy the Florida sunshine, check out Stacy’s excellent guide to spring training before you go.

Yet today, March 5, is also another milestone: the start of the final month before real baseball. Yes, just Lance Lynn number of days until April 5, when the Cardinals will take on the media-darling new look Chicago Cubs (in whatever kind of still-in-renovation-progress Wrigley Field will be on display that night) during the season debut of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

At least we now have Grapefruit League games to get us through our 2015 countdown.

MLB: Chicago White Sox at St. Louis Cardinals

A Win For Lance Lynn With 3-Year Extension

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The most consistent member of the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation in 2014 has been rewarded for his efforts, as the team signed him to a three-year, $22 million extension and avoid salary arbitration. As the Cardinals news release also notes, Lynn is the National League’s third-winningest pitcher since 2012.

Lance+Lynn+CpfC91XpdNUmHere’s the rest of the news release.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have reached agreement with right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn on a three-year contract (2015-17), thus avoiding salary arbitration. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Lance,” stated Cardinals Senior V.P./General Manager John Mozeliak. “His performance has led to much success for both he and the Cardinals organization, and we look forward to his continued growth as both a pitcher and team leader.”

Drafted by the Cardinals in the first round (39th player overall) of the 2008 amateur draft, Lynn has compiled a 49-28 career won-loss mark with a 3.46 ERA in 119 games (97 games started). Since debuting in 2011, Lynn has been a member of a Cardinals team that has reached the postseason for a franchise-record four consecutive seasons with Lynn having appeared in a franchise-record 23 postseason games.

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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 →

Good, Bad, Ugly, Joy All In Game Two Win

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We all love happy game endings — no matter what it takes to get there.

Game2

Photos: St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLToday.com

Of course, we shouldn’t expect the 2014 Cardinals to do anything different in October than what they did the previous six months before they reached the NLCS, right? Why wouldn’t Game Two of the NLCS be filled with drama and a range of emotions, when it’s this team playing? The Cards had good, bad and ugly before the ultimately satisfying and joyful conclusion of a walk-off 5-4 win over the Giants.

Actually, we probably didn’t expect how they won last night. Four home runs from the team that hit the fewest in the National League during the regular season — even though they had turned on the power in the NLDS against the Dodgers.

You really can’t script October.

Although, if we could, we certainly wouldn’t want any kind of story to include an injury to Yadier Molina.

But that unfortunately happened, as a strained left oblique forced him from the game in the sixth inning. No update on his condition yet today, but we all know that kind of injury takes time to heal.

The game was tied 2-2 when Yadi left, after the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first on (who else but) Matt Carpenter’s solo homer and a 2-0 lead with a bases-loaded Randal Grichuk single. Both obviously contributed to the “good” portion of the game. 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 →

A Photo In Honor Of Today’s Cardinals Win

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After the sad photos to describe Friday and Saturday’s games, here’s one to summarize today’s 8-3 Cardinals win.

happypanda

Eight runs! Seventeen hits — although the first 13 of them were singles! Seven for 16 with runners in scoring position! Four hits for Kolten Wong! Two hits — including the first extra-base hit — and an RBI from Daniel Decalso! A home run by Peter Bourjos! Lance Lynn — not spectacular but good enough especially when he needed to be! Pat Neshek with six Orioles up and six Orioles down in order! Trevor Rosenthal with a 1-2-3 inning! (Thankfully, since it wasn’t a save situation.) No homers by the Orioles! Mike Matheny challenged a call and it was overturned! And a highly entertaining ejection of Buck Showalter! Continue reading →

Adams, Lynn Combine For Win

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With all the angst among Cardinals fans following Sunday’s game and the news Jaime Garcia and Michael Wacha were both going on the disabled list, safe to say we were hoping to see something positive from the team on Monday night as they faced the Colorado Rockies.

collage-624And we did.

Another dominant outing from Lance Lynn combined with another tremendous performance at the plate from Matt Adams gave the Cardinals a 8-0 victory over the slumping Rockies. (They’ve now lost seven in a row and are 3-7 in their last 10 games.)

Just to remind us this is a game from the 2014 Cardinals, though, they scored those eight runs on just six hits. Five walks and two hit batters provided the additional base runners. Matt Carpenter, for example, scored two runs despite the fact he was 0 for two — he was walked twice and hit once.

The other Matts had successful nights as well — the change to move Holliday up to second and bat Adams third is starting to pay dividends. Holliday drove in the Cards first run with a third-inning double plus singled in the ninth. And all three Matts were involved when Adams singled in the third, as the other two scored.

Adams, of course, had the biggest night of all. In addition to that two-RBI single, Big Nickname had two homers — a solo blast in the fifth and a three-run bomb in the seventh with Lynn (who walked) and Carpenter (hit by pitch) on base. Three for five with two homers and six RBI. Just the kind of game we’re coming to expect from him, right? Lately, at least. Since returning from the disabled list on June 13, he’s only hit .342 with a double, a triple, five homers, 14 RBI and a ridiculous OPS of 1.157.

Oh, and he has two more games ahead at Coors Field.

Then there’s Lance Lynn.

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