May 2011
Me and the Cards: Back with a vengeance
So the website was down for awhile, while MLBlogs was switching over to WordPress. So this is my first attempt to post with the new blog. I know it basically looks the same now, with a couple of minor changes, but if I can figure this thing out, I’ll add stuff as we go along.
Too much has gone on to catch up on, so I’ll make this short and sweet and just pick up where the Cardinals are now. And where they are is just having completed a two game sweep of the Phillies. Not too bad considering their mammoth rotation and that we had one of our worst starters (Jake Westbrook) going. But solid performances out of him and Garcia got the job done, together with a little bottom of the 9th excitement from Berkman. How many times has he done that against us in his career?
The only blemish on the game was once again poor defense. With the exception of a couple of guys, this is not a team that is going to be routinely making stellar plays. Which means making the routine plays is all that much more important. But that, too, has been a struggle this year. Tonight’s culprit? Tyler Greene. He booted the most routine pop-up ever in the 8th inning, which led to the game being tied up. Being that we won, I’m not as upset as I would normally be. Although these moments make me have visions of Matt Holiday dropping the ball in the postseason. Something needs to be done about this defense.
But in the end, it was another day, another win. Need another one tomorrow.
Let’s go ‘Birds,
Tiffany
Cardinals vs. Cubs: Bring it on
After an off day, it’s back to work for the boys in Red. And no better team to compete against than the Chicago Cubs. It’s usually a pretty good series with a lot of intensity. It doesn’t matter that the Cubs are playing under .500 and completely irrelevant this year. It’s ALWAYS fun to beat the Cubs.
I think Brandon Phillips was jealous of the rivalry we’ve had with
most of the division besides the Reds, which is probably why he’s always
trying to start crap. He’ll soon realize that the Reds are not here to
stay and will fade away just as quickly as they came on the scene.
A Votto-less Reds team beat the the Astros yesterday, meaning they were able to pull up a half game on the idle Redbirds. So it’s time to turn the engines on full force. You don’t want the Reds pulling even and thinking they have a chance.
And it starts today with sweeping or at least getting a series win against the Cubbies. Let’s go Cardinals!
First pitch in an hour,
Tiffany
The two big keys are coming through
I’ve never watched a perfect game or even a no-hitter live. And while I watch partial innings or games of various teams, I normally only watch complete Cardinal games. So I probably never will unless a Cardinal tosses one. Jaime Garcia sure thought about it last night. In the end he threw a 2-hit complete game, but I’ll take it.
One of the big keys this year for the Cardinals to be successful was Garcia being the same guy this year that he was his rookie year. And he has yet to disappoint. The southpaw has been nothing but dominant for the Redbirds this year, tied for 3rd in wins, 3rd in ERA and 9th in strikeouts in the NL. Not to mention being only one of two guys to throw to complete games and the only one to throw 2 shutouts.
The other big key was Lance Berkman. Could he stay healthy? Could he be the threat he once was? Check and check. Berkman has been tearing up the league, leading in RBIs (32), 2nd in average (.392), tied for 2nd in home runs (10), and 4th in runs scored (25) and the season is barely a month old. He easily has to be one of the most feared hitters in the NL right now. And it doesn’t hurt that the guy who is leading the league with a .410 average is hitting right in front of him. In fact the these two are also 1-2 in slugging percentage as well. What pitcher wants to face that? Albert’s not hitting like he once was, but having him be the 3rd best hitter on a team isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And at the end of the year, his numbers will be right there. The offense has been absolutely torrid.
Watching this team this year has certainly been frustrating at times (nearly every 9th inning), but it has also been a lot of fun, watching them hit well, score runs and have fun themselves. I rarely saw that last year. They are winning series after series (except when they split a 4 gamer with the Fish) and leading the league by 1 1/2 games. Time to sweep the Brew Crew and hope for a few more Cincinnati losses.
Having fun,
Tiffany
You make the call (half glass full version)
Again, vote and / or comment!
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Thanks for voting,
Tiffany
You make the call (half glass empty version)
Self-explanatory poll. Vote and explain in the comments below, if you’d like!
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Thanks for voting,
Tiffany
More 9th inning heroics
The bullpen held and Gerald Laird hit a TRIPLE. Somebody check hell ’cause I think it just froze over.
Broom time,
Tiffany
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