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Thursday, October 13, 2011
It was more than a little bit scary—terrifying at times, to be perfectly honest—but it still counts. The Cardinals took control of the National League Championship Series with an agonizing 4-3 victory over the Brewers on Wednesday night. St. Louis is now two wins from its third trip to the World Series in eight years.
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While Carpenter was the winning pitcher, he was also the least effective man to take the mound for the Redbirds in an ulcer-inducing victory. Five Cardinals relievers combined to get the last 12 outs as the home team made the early lead stand.
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1. cardsfanboyBut, I taught my 11 year old dog a new trick- he can now high-five with both front paws ;)
to be honest, the bullpen has been terrific all year....with one major exception, 1 run or tied game in the ninth.... outside of that situation(which yes I know that this game qualifies, which is why every cardinal fan was on the edge of their seat) the bullpen has actually been pretty impressive.
I do not know what the stats say, but as a Cardinal fan, a 1 run game in which the bullpen takes over in the fifth or so doesn't bother me, the pen only really scares me when it gets to the highest leverage situations because they seem to blow that frequently....
Best quote of the day on Motte, from the Red baron, at VEB:
Really is hard to believe- his motion must be incredibly deceptive, because even 98 mph, straight on, isn't effective against MLB hitters. But he seems to just keep knocking them down, with his ridiculously straight, 98 mph wrench. (Though he did manage to get a called strike on a slurvy thingy tonight, to Weeks).
Corey Hart needs to show up pretty quickly. He killed the Cards during the season.
Tony has hit and run several times this series. Between that and the Cards looking to take the extra base its pretty clear TLR is working to push the Brewer defense.
What has folks confused about Milwaukee is what propelled them to the division in July/August was the pitching. The starters in particular were tremendous. The offense, thanks to Casey hitting 5th and Yuni being Yuni, was pedestrian.
If the starters do not start contributing the series may well not return to Milwaukee. And even then it requires Ron to pass over Marcum for Game 6 and then expect Gallardo and his poor history against St. Louis to turn around. I really wonder if RR has the gumption to tell a key contributor to sit down so a Chris Narveson or Marco Estrada can take the mound.
Well, I supported Ron's choice of centerfielders last night and that could have worked out better.
Sigh
While prone to spectacular blowups (see the game against the Mets) the bullpen has been great since they got rid of the guys who, you know, sucked. THe Franklins, Batistas, Tallets and Millers.
I'd put Boggs in before McClellan. Also Scrabble is going to be one of the lefties. But I agree, thats a lot of talent, for next to no money.
This sucks. Of course, we already conceded tonight's game by trotting out Wolf, so I think management has just given up entirely.
Pitching Wolf is not a sign of surrender. Ron just doesn't have that many options.
Bring back Mr. Fussypants on short rest? That didn't work so well last time and one could suggest there have been lingering effects on his performance since that time.
Nah, the starters just seem to have run out of gas. Which is pretty amazing given that nobody can point to excessive use. Ron handled the staff quite well once he got past his Loe fetish.
Who knew his limit was 249 innings? He was pretty great in the 240s.
And who knows with Lohse tonight. He's been good lately, but his starts are all over the map.
The one counter I do grant is that Kotsay could have played for Hart with Gomez in centerfield.
But Hart has hit the Cards hard this season and NOBODY could have predicted that CC would struggle. Ron was thinking the offensive gain of Kotsay would offset any defensive issues.
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