Tag Archives: Yadier Molina

10 Years Ago Tonight: Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS

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Yes, it’s fun to look back five years ago into the AMF archives and see how we captured the magic of September and October 2011 during the blog’s first year. In fact, had that run not happened, I was planning to write about the fifth anniversary of the Cardinals 2006 World Series run.

Somehow, I’m glad I didn’t have that chance …

Still, tonight is the anniversary of another milestone in recent Cardinals history: the 10th anniversary of Game Seven of the NLCS between the Cardinals and the Mets. And, to honor that milestone, the three iconic plays from a truly incredible game.

From the sixth inning, with the scored tied 1-1.

From the top of the ninth inning, Scott Rolen on first, scored still 1-1, and the reason why Yadi is still booed by Mets fans today:

And, of course, from the bottom of the ninth with the Cardinals up 3-1. There were two outs, but the bases were loaded …

Ten years later, it doesn’t get old.

Just Four More Days …

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Ah, April at last! And while a year ago today, we already had an opening day win to savor, we now have 4 more days to wait for this year’s first regular season game. The current No. 4, however, certainly provides us with much to talk about, doesn’t he?

Then again, what is there to say about Yadier Molina that hasn’t been written here before? There’s been a love letter, there have been not just one, but two “Molina Monday” posts, he was our BAMF for the 2012 season (and, though unwritten, for 2013 and 2014 — and probably 2015 too), click the link in the first paragraph to read about his heroics last March 31 against the Reds … he’s likely the most written about Cardinal in AMF’s four-plus year history.

And why not? Yadi is the heart and soul of the Cardinals team, taking charge when he’s on the field and, just as likely, when he’s at the plate. What Cardinal fan doesn’t love him?

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He’s also rather svelte this spring too. (You can probably get a smaller size uniform pants now, Yadi …)

4-1We’ve watched him in action many times during games, taking that walk to the mound to calm and console a pitcher. It certainly appears to be a role he takes seriously — even during spring training, as the photo from this spring with now-fifth-starter Carlos Martinez shows. 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.

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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 →

And Now Another Amazing October Friday Win

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Friday nights in October seem to be made for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Looking back over the most memorable postseason games since 2011, some of the best were on Fridays. Game Five of the 2011 NLDS and the masterful performance by Chris Carpenter. Game Seven of the 2011 World Series (nothing more needs to be said about that, obviously!) The wacky and weird wild card game in 2012 against the Braves. Game Five of the 2012 NLDS with that incredible comeback against the Nationals.

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Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Then there was last October and Game Six of the NLCS, Cardinals up in the series 3-2. One more win against the Dodgers, though it would have to be a win against Clayton Kershaw — would send the Cards to the World Series. Kershaw gave up 7 of the runs scored by the Cards in the 9-0 pennant-clinching victory. No doubt a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Clayton Kershaw would never have that kind of night in the postseason again …

Especially in 2014, after his not just Cy Young but possibly MVP-worthy season in which he went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA.

Especially when Adam Wainwright unfortunately had a Game-Five-of-the-2012-NLDS-like night and allowed 6 runs to the Dodgers, leaving in the fifth inning with the Cards down 6-1.

Especially when Kershaw, after allowing the first-inning home run to Randal Grichuk then retired 16 straight Cardinals and struck out seven until Matt Carpenter homered to make it 6-2 in the top of the sixth.

Then came the seventh inning. 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 →

Our Worst Nightmare Is Now True

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It didn’t seem like a good sign that John Mozeliak was going to address the media at 2:45 p.m. Central Time, and then the rumors about Yadier Molina began flying around Twitter.

nurse-e1397756375763Unfortunately, Twitter rumors were correct for once.

Yadier Molina has a torn ligament in his right thumb and will have surgery tomorrow. He’ll be out eight to 12 weeks.

Some random thoughts …

Can the Cardinals PLEASE not ever have a Star Wars night again? To refresh your memory, here’s what happened last year and yesterday, of course, was this year’s special night.

Nothing at all against Tony Cruz, but my biggest fear (and that of probably every one of you also) has now happened.

To those tweeting about how the Cardinals now need to sign A.J. Pierzynski, please stop — and here’s why.

Finally, I’m blaming the Brewers for this. That video about Jonathan Lucroy being more deserving of Yadi starting the All-Star Game was a curse — since Lucroy will now, in all likelihood, be the National League starter behind the plate.

Sigh.

 

The Oh-So-Interesting National League Central

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The Cardinals won their 50th game of 2014 last night, their third straight victory over the had-been-hot-coming-into-St.-Louis Pirates. Combined with the Brewers losing their 40th game yesterday, St. Louis is now just two games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central division standings — with a three-game trip up north coming up on Friday.

NL CentralYes, the Central standings are looking very interesting these days.

Ah, baseball …

The Cardinals at the moment are the closest to first place they’ve been since May 27, when they were 1 1/2 games back. They’re a season-high eight games over .500 at 50-42.

The Brewers, on the other hand, are struggling right now. Just nine days ago, they began July with a 6 1/2 game lead. They lost that day and have lost six of seven since then, plus are 2-8 in their last 10 games.

Then there are the Reds, who are a half-game behind the Cardinals at the moment and thus 2 1/2 behind the Brewers. They spent the first two months of the season below .500, falling as low as six games under at the end of May. On June 24 they were 38-38 and 7 1/2 games behind the Brewers, but have since gone 11-4 (including winning two of three over Milwaukee last weekend) and currently have their second five-game winning streak of that stretch. This afternoon, they’ll look to sweep the Cubs in a five-game series before the Pirates come to town.

Continue reading →

All Streaks Must Come To An End, Unfortunately

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No streak lasts forever (except, perhaps, the 100-plus year streak of the Cubs not winning the World Series). And the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays brought numerous streaks to an end.

WachaTo begin with, the Cardinals three-game winning streak ended.

That also means, unfortunately, so did the consecutive shutout streak by the Cards pitchers after three straight games. The streak of not allowing a run did reach 30 innings before coming to an end, however — and that streak is a tremendous accomplishment.

The end of the pitcher’s scoreless streak also meant the subsequent finish to the Rays’ own such streak on offense, which had reached 31 innings (with 12 of those against the Cardinals).

Then there’s Michael Wacha’s streak this year of not allowing more than three earned runs in a game this season. He gave up four runs to the Rays in the fourth inning and he obviously was not at his best. Wacha walked four — two in the fourth inning — and didn’t strike out a batter, which not surprisingly was a career first (and thus another streak that came to an end).

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.

Trevor Rosenthal: 10 Saves The Hard Way

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Wins are wins, thus wins are always good, but Sunday night’s 6-5 Cardinals win over the Pirates was frustrating.

Sure, there were good points from the offense — taking a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Yadier Molina looking more like himself again at the plate with two hits and an RBI, the Cards scoring two more runs when really needed in the eighth (one courtesy of a Peter Bourjos RBI single in his first at-bat) — and, given the struggles with that part of the game this season, those were great to see.

TrevorRBut the pitching was a different story — just good enough, obviously, even Shelby Miller against the Pirates, and maybe I’m supposed to be content with that, get my sparkly pompoms ready for the homestand and move on. But I’m concerned about Trevor Rosenthal.

Yes, he’s 10 for 10 in save opportunities. Impossible to have a better success rate than that.

But earning those saves has rarely been easy, especially lately. The last time he faced just three batters in earning a save was on April 25 in a 1-0 victory against this same Pittsburgh team, the day Shelby Miller vanquished his demons and finally beat the Pirates — four appearances ago.

In two of Rosenthal’s three saves since then, obviously including last night, he’s allowed a run — meaning thankfully there was a two-run cushion in which he could work. A week ago today in Atlanta, as the Cardinals had a 4-3 lead, there was no cushion when he allowed a lead-off single and walk before getting Justin Upton on strikes for the final out.

Last night it certainly seemed like his allow-guys-to-get-on-base-but-still-get-the-job-done-despite-all-the-panic-that-ensues strategy was finally going to blow. Continue reading →