Results tagged ‘ Joey Votto ’
Back where we belong
What a roller coaster series. Taking the first game against the Reds was awesome. But the celebration couldn’t last too long because the next thing you know, the Cardinals bullpen is completely imploding in the 8th inning. A loss is never fun, but this one was a total group effort.
Quick: How many Cardinal pitchers does it take to blow a game?
And now the rubber match. And of course it was on national TV, so instead of enjoying a nice 1:05 start time, we had to wait until 7:15. I was still hanging out with my family for the holiday, so we turned the game on. And the next thing I know, Westbrook is neck deep in a pitchers duel. Being that Westbrook has a track record of pitching good for 3 innings or so before falling apart, I kept waiting for the bottom to drop out. But despite 3 walks, Westbrook managed to throw 6 scoreless innings. I’ll take it.
The real problem was that Reds starter, Edinson Volquez was matching Westbrook inning for inning. That is….until the bottom of the 6th. It was a small rally and short lived, but it would be more than enough against the non-producing offense of the Reds today. It started with a 1 out Matt Holliday double down the line, followed by the intentional pass to the red-hot Lance Berkman. And can you blame them? Berkman ended up 2 for 3 and continues to have multi-hit game after multi-hit game. Daniel Descalso popped up for the 2nd out and it looked like the Reds just might wiggle out of the jam. Then Yadier Molina stepped to the plate and cranked a 3 run shot for his first long ball of the season. And what a time to debut it. Yadi isn’t known for his immense power, but he is known for his great timing. He has a history of hitting well-timed home runs.
Funny how Phillips and Molina, the two guys who started the scuffle with each other last year have seemed to hit the other team well. Maybe their adrenaline gets up for these kind of series? Who knows? But on this one Yadi got the last word loud and clear. So Phillips can go back to playing around on Twitter. He seems to be more interested in hearing himself talk than playing baseball and that’s fine by me.
The bullpen pitched an uneventful 7th and 8th inning, including Eduardo Sanchez who continues to impress. We’ll see if he ends up being as great as he appears to be, but for now I can’t get enough of this guy. His scoreless inning today makes 6 innings over 4 games that he has pitched without a single run and only 2 hits. And the really ridiculous part? 10 strikeouts. Yup, 10 Ks over 6 innings. That’s a quality I like in a relief pitcher. No drama, no fuss, no mess.
The 9th inning came and Votto hit a 1 out double. Uh-oh. This sounds familiar. Luckily, the Reds don’t have the kind of protection that Votto deserves, so no free passes for the Reds team. With a runner on 2nd and one out….time to bring in Franklin! Oh wait. No just kidding. Boggs settled down and struck out two for the save. That’s how you do it!
Cool fact: The Cardinals were able to give the Reds their first shutout of the season!
Back to 1st place,
Tiffany
The worst kind of loss
Man, today was the kind of game that is absolutely heartbreaking when you lose, but so fun when you’re on the winning side. Sadly for me, the Cardinals were not on the winning side of this (mostly) well played game.
Carpenter was extremely sharp, save one minor hiccup, where he allowed the game to be tied up at 2 runs a piece with a walk and a home run by the reigning MVP, Joey Votto. For all those that thought he had a lucky year last year, let me tell you right now that he’s here to stay. He’s no Albert Pujols (who is???) but he definitely has what it takes to be in the thick of the competition.
Now I have begun to dread games started by our ace because he normally gets no run support. The one game he did get run support he was not good at all. And if it’s neither of these things, the bullpen will probably blow it for him, as was the case today.
He left, still in line for the win, because of Albert’s solo home run. So 3-2, he hands the ball off to the bullpen, where the implosion happens. First, an error by David Freese. Normally a top tier defender, it’s possible he was dealing with a slick ball from the wet conditions. Or maybe he just made a bad play. Whatever, the case, he flung the ball far out of reach of Albert, letting the tying run get onto 2nd. At this case, Votto is intentionally passed and I agree that’s what you gotta do here. You make the guys behind beat you and not the most dangerous hitter on their team.
With an 0-2 count on Gomes, I was pretty confident we were going to escape the innning without damage. And then Batista plunks him. At that moment, all of my hopes sank. The bases are loaded and I just had one of those feelings that this was not going to end well. Indeed Trevor Miller comes in and walks the next batter tying the game. I was still nervous, but as long as we could escape tied up, there was still a chance. And then they bring in Franklin. Not one person in Cardinal Nation has hope in Ryan Franklin right now. And because of his comments to the media nobody really is crazy about the guy either. But the fans didn’t boo, as they have before. That’s the thing. They were going to give him a chance. Ok, Franklin, you say you’re so misunderstood, that it’s been “one bad outing,” let’s see. Show us that closer like mentality and get the out. The bases are loaded but you only need one out. Let’s see you do it.
Instead, he proceeds to give yet another game-winning hit, a single by Miguel Cairo, that would drive in two Cincinnati runs. And that, Ryan Franklin, is why you should only pitch with no runners on base. The ironic part is that Batista gets the loss because that error was made while he was on the mound, so Franklin’s ERA actually GOES DOWN despite his incompetent pitching.
Winning this game would have guaranteed yet another series win at worst and in line for another sweep at best and put us a very nice 2 games up on the Reds. As it stands we are back to being tied with them, but hopefully can still pull out the series win in the rubber match.
Tomorrow is Easter, which I will be spending with my family. Luckily, they are all die hard Cardinal fans so the TV being turned to Cardinal baseball is pretty much a must at any get-together we have. I hope you have a wonderful Easter whatever your plans are for the holiday and let’s hope the Redbirds get back to having 1st place all to themselves again soon.
Needing another series win,
Tiffany
Cardinals show they can beat Pittsburgh
In a disappointing season that is quickly coming to a disappointing end, the Cardinals reached down deep and pummel the Pittsburgh Pirates today, in honor of my birthday. The Redbirds knocked out 9 runs on 15 hits including, including a rousing 7 for 11 from today’s 3-4-5.
Maybe it’s the youngsters energizing the clubhouse. Maybe it’s sending the Lopez away that’s lit a fire under the Cardinals. Maybe it’s just because we’re playing the Pirates and we’ll again get swept by Chicago.
However, you slice it, it was fun watching the Cardinals do their thing.
Don’t hand that MVP to Votto just yet. Pujols let voters know he’s not backing down by going 3 for 4 today with 2 home runs, 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Pujols leads the league in homers, RBIs and runs scored. The only category he’s lower in his average and today he raised it .03 points to become 5th best in the league.
He is also only one of two players with over 25 home runs and less than 80 strikeouts. (Any guesses on the other guy? Don’t look it up….that’s cheating!) Votto has 116 Ks. Gonzalez? 126. Pujols once again shows power and precision.
I’m not saying it’s 100% his yet, but I am saying it’s up for grabs. Let’s see where the numbers fall after 162 games.
Loved my birthday present from the Cardinals,
Tiffany
Individual Awards, part 1 (MVP)
Since the chance of October for our Redbirds is slowly disappearing before our eyes, I have turned my attention to rooting for the individual awards. The Cardinals have a very legitimate chance of bring home the 3 biggest pieces of individual hardware this year. The Cardinals competing for these awards are:
- Albert Pujols for MVP
- Adam Wainwright for Cy Young
- Jaime Garcia for Rookie of the Year
Two things to note before I talk about each of these guys. One, I would give up each of these awards for another World Series ring. And by their comments, I know each of them feel the same way. Two, even though I would like to see the Cardinals win, I try not to be biased. So that’s why I’m going to compare the number and look at who I think, legitimately, should be the winner in each of these categories. But, of course, as always, you can feel free to agree, disagree or tell me I’m crazy. On to the awards!
MVP
Albert is a candidate every year for this award. The awesome thing about Pujols is that even when everyone says he’s having a “down year,” his numbers are still through the charts. Most players would kill to put up half the numbers he does in a season. The same thing happens whenever people say he’s “slumping.” Or most recently, they said he wouldn’t be able to hit as well because of his left elbow. Then, he promptly went out and hit 2 home runs in the same game. That is Albert Pujols in a nutshell.
The last time I argued for Pujols as MVP (here, if you’d like to read it), I felt his only major competition was Joey Votto. Since that time, however, Carlos Gonzaelez, has definitely wiggled his way into the conversation. And this late in September, I feel very confident asserting that the MVP will go to one of those 3. So, if the season ended today, who gets it the award? Let’s break it down.
Triple crown categories
Pujols .308 .AVG (6th), 39 HR (1st), 104 RBI (1st)
Votto .321 .AVG (3rd), 34 HR (2nd), 103 RBI (2nd)
Gonzalez .337 .AVG (1st), 32 HR (4th), 101 RBI (3rd)
Other categories
Pujols 85 walks (2nd), 69 Ks, .401 OBP (3rd), .595 .SLG (2nd)
Votto 83 walks (3rd), 112 Ks, .423 OBP (1st), .594 .SLG (3rd)
Gonzalez 77 walks (4th), 103 Ks, .374 OBP (14th), .610 .SLG (1st)
Clutch hitting
Pujols RISP .341/.508/.651, RISP & 2 outs .348/.595/.652, Bases loaded .125/.200/.250
Votto RISP .381/.503/.678, RISP & 2 outs .326/.475/.674, Bases loaded . 300/.364/.600
Gonz. RISP .317/.359/.561, RISP & 2 outs .263/.344/.456, Bases loaded .250/.286/.500
Other factors
Even though the numbers should be based on 2010 alone, some voters will not be able to help but look at Pujols’ body of work. He’s been consistently great for 10 seasons. They might see this as a lucky year for Votto. However, that could work for Votto. Some voters will be tired of seeing the same guys get it year after year and want to go with someone new like Votto or Gonzalez. There is also the factor of getting your team to the postseason. It shouldn’t be a factor, but it is for some. If the Cardinals are out, but the Reds and Rockies make it, that could make a difference.
The verdict?
Still too close to call. One day it looks like Pujols is the winner and the next day Votto will put up good numbers and take the lead. So this is a race that I think will not be able to be determined until the last day of the season. After all 162 games have been played, the winner will be determined and even then there will likely be disagreement. It’s not a “shoo-in” year for anybody.
So that’s my analysis of the MVP award this year. I will be excited to properly debate it once the season is over and we have the final numbers to look at.
I will look at the Cy Young and the Rookie of the Year in a future post. Wainwright’s performance (or lack thereof, so far) tonight will change his numbers and how he stacks up in that competition.
Bring home the hardware,
Tiffany
Mourning the loss of the Cardinal offense
First, a comment: I want to say a HUGE thank-you to all those of you who read my blog, especially
those who come back on a regular basis. I know from my stats there are a
lot more that read than comment, so I would invite you to leave your
two cents on any post. I respond to every comment and would love to
discuss the Cardinals with you. In any case, in my first month back to
blogging, I already made the top 50 at number 47 of all blogs on
MLBlogs. I would love to climb the standings each month, so come back
often and comment! K, on to your regularly scheduled post!
I’m a bandwagon football fan. While I will always say the Rams are my favorite team, I tend to only follow them closely when they’re doing well. And yes, that means I have only casually followed the Rams since they last were decent about 10 years ago.
It’s not like that with baseball. I am a Cardinal fan always. Good, bad or indifferent. That means I will be following my Redbirds to the bitter end. But that doesn’t always mean it’s easy. The scuffling ‘Birds have gone 5-13 since sweeping the Reds in early August. Never in a million years would I have dreamt that would be the case.
We have dropped series after series against awful and last-place teams, practically giving away the division title to the Reds. The wild card has been there for the taking, but it’s slowing slipping out of our grasp as well. But I still think that’s our best chance of post season play. Yes, it’s two teams to overtake instead of one, but right now, Cincinnati is playing high-caliber post-season baseball. And we are not.
It will be interesting to see how we do against them in the upcoming series. Brandon Phillips, maybe we need you to run your mouth again. That seemed to spark something in the Cardinals, the last time these two teams met up.
As the chance to be central champs gets further and further away, so does the bid for Albert and Adam to win MVP and Cy Young. Right now Pujols is neck and neck with Votto. That vote will probably come down to the end of the season. And if they are still dead even at that point, it will probably go to the guy whose team is playing in October. And if the season ended today, the Cy Young has to go to Halladay, no questions asked. Wainwright will have to pitch a few incredible games to once again take the lead in that race.
But honestly I don’t care about any of that. I care about getting to October. I care about playing in another World Series. I care about not seeing my team playing like a bunch of bums. This is their last off day for awhile, so I hope they take full advantage of figuring out what has been going horribly wrong.
Wanting to party like it’s 1982 (or 2006),
Tiffany
Cardinals…the Pirates are the WORST team in baseball
I didn’t get to see last night’s game against the Pirate and I am not sad about that at all. Losing a series to the worst team in baseball is not how I anticipated this series going. How frustrating to see the Cardinal offense to run hot and cold. A couple games we’re scoring 9+ runs and then we can’t even squeak out more than a few hits. The pitching has been more than adequate, but the offense is simply not producing. We have plenty of guys who can hit, but they actually need to do it. The only good news if we do make it to October is that against good pitching, we seem to do alright.
It’s frustrating, but it’s over. Hopefully, we can put this Pittsburgh series behind us and move on to playing the Nationals. It’s still somewhat worrisome though because this is another sub. 500 last place team, playing spoiler and playing with nothing to lose. But if anybody can get us back us track, it would be once again, Chris Carpenter. He did against the Giants in his last start and let’s hope he has his good stuff again because you just simply never know about the Cardinal offense these days.
We remain 3 1/2 games behind Cincinnati in the central and 1 game behind the Phillies for the wild card. Luckily, Houston has been our friend, beating the Phils in some very tight games. Did you see the extra inning game where Roy Oswalt had to play left field? I love stuff like that. These guys grew up playing baseball; they’re athletes at the professional level. Don’t tell me he doesn’t know how to catch a fly ball. And he got a chance to prove that he indeed can, in the very first batter of the inning. It never should have happened though. He was inserted when Ryan Howard was ejected by the third base umpire. Watch the replay. That guy was itching to throw Howard out. I’ve never seen a more visual display of an ego or a power trip in my life. It was ridiculous.
Both Pujols and Wainwright, serious contenders for the awards of MVP and Cy Young, respectively, are starting to have serious competition. There was a time I was ready to give the award to both of these guys hands down, but for now, I would say in both races, it’s simply too close to call. Pujols and Votto are neck and neck. Pujols leads Votto in home runs and RBI, but not by much, especially after Votto went yard twice last night. Pujols was gaining ground in average, even being as close as .01 point away. But is 0-fer tonight did not help his cause there.
And the same goes for the Cy Young race. At this point, I see it only as a two-horse race between Wainwright and the Phillies, Roy Halladay. Again, Wainwright and Halladay are neck and neck in this race. Wainwright narrowly edges out Halladay in ERA and wins, while Halladay has a pretty comfortable lead in strikeouts.
In both of these races, hands could still change several times the rest of the season. I don’t see any of these four guys letting up, so it looks like it will probably come down to who gets extra-hot this last month of the season. To make matters even more interesting, all three of the clubs these four represent (Reds, Cardinals, Phillies) could theoretically see the postseason.
Moving past Pittsburgh,
Tiffany
Too many unknowns
What will happen tonight? I honestly have no clue. The Cardinals have started playing a new game called, “Let’s stress out our fans as much as possible.” Back and forth, they have gone all season with the Reds between 1st and 2nd place. Finally, after slipping back to 2 games and being at the risk of going 5 games back, if they would get swept.
Instead, they do what very few thought was possible. They swept the Reds, once again claiming first place by themselves. Things are looking up! Wait, no, just kidding. False alarm. Now, the Cardinals go 1-4 in the next 5 games, losing 2 of 3 to Chicago and a 2 game sweep by the Brew Crew. Really? To make matters worse, the Reds go on a tear against their opponents (even when Votto wasn’t in the lineup) and we’re back in 2nd place. Not only that, but we’re back by
3 1/2 games, the most games that have separated us and the Reds all season.
Aaaaaaah.
Oh, but wait. Something is very different about this year. Most years, we’re contending for and fighting off opponents only for the NL Central. But for the first time in awhile, the Cardinals are actually in striking distance of the wild card as well. In fact, our opponent tonight is only a game ahead of us in that race.
So a lot going on. And I have no idea what’s going to happen. The Cardinals play good, they play poorly, then they rip multiple home runs in the same game, they they are getting shut out by some hack pitcher. Which Cardinal team will show up tonight? Your guess is as good as mine.
Add to the mix, a still fairly new Westbrook, a new guy at 3rd to go along with that ever-revolving door at 2nd base, Rasmus who may or may not be in the lineup, Brendan who still can’t hit, but suddenly looks like the Wizard out there with his defense, and a recent call-up of a backup catcher and it’s too much for me. All we can do is wait and see what will happen between us and the Giants and the Reds and the Dodgers.
All I know is that I don’t enjoy being 3 1/2 games back and I’d like the Cardinals to start playing like they’re capable of. There’s definitely talent on the team, but I’d like to see a little more desire. The will to win. What scares me is not the Reds lineup, their pitching or any of that. It’s the fact that they believe in themselves to win every game, even when they’re behind. Am I crazy or does that remind anybody of the ’06 Cardinals?
Takin’ down San Fran,
Tiffany
Making lemons out of lemonade: tough loss, but two important home runs & MVP talk
This game was frustrating in so many ways. To name a few:
- Kyle Loshe, proclaimed healthy from surgery. was his same unproductive self.
- The Cardinals’ rally was too little, too late because they let the game get away early.
- We let the Cubs have their first series win since the last time they played us. Why can a team 17 games back only beat us?
- Coupled with a Reds loss, this means we’re back in 2nd place.
And on and on and on it goes.
We all know how awful this game was, so no point in rehashing every last detail. Instead, let’s talk about the couple meager good things about this game. Both things are home runs from two different players at two very, very different points in their career.
The first was a surprise home run by recent call-up, Steven Hill. This guy’s life sure has
changed in the last week. He’s probably the only guy in the free world who appreciates 
Johnny Cueto’s Bruce Lee impersonation. As a result of Jason LaRue going on the DL from Cueto’s antics, the Cardinals needed a back-up catcher. For only logistical reasons (the Memphis Redbirds were too far away), the call-up went to AA catcher Stephen Hill, as opposed to AAA catcher, Matt Pagnozzi. There was talk of sending Hill down and bringing up Pagnozzi (yes, he is the nephew of famed Cardinal catcher, Tom Pagnozzi), but when the game initially got out of control today, LaRussa decided to give Yadier Molina a rest. Yadi has caught more innings than any other NL catcher this season. In his second major league at-bat ever, Hill got his first major league hit via the long ball. Barely over the fence and barely fair, but a home run is a home run. This sparked the only Cardinal rally of the day.
The second was certainly nowhere as unexpected as Steven Hill’s. This home run was by Albert Pujols, a man who has done that very thing 395 times before. Still this was a very significant home run, as it gave Pujols his 30th home run of the year, meaning he has done that in his first 10 years of playing. No other play IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME has even done that their first 7 years of playing.
Albert has been really heating up in August as I mentioned here. This should surprise no one as, historically, August has been his best month hitting-wise. But until recently, many people had pretty much written his season off as merely “good” as opposed to “ridiculously awesome” as it’s previously been. But those of us who have had the privilege of watching Albert game after game for the past 10 seasons can tell you that any “slump” he has does not last for long and he will continually to be an MVP threat every year. I’ve read a few articles not really even giving Albert a chance. I think that once you have been so good for so long, people tend to take what you are doing for granted and not realize that we literally are watching history in the making every time he takes a swing. In a separate article, a writer stated that there were three guys that had a possibility of making a run at the Triple Crown this year: Miguel Cabrera, Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto. All great players for sure, but how do you not put Pujols on the list? Sure, his average was low at the time (and by “low” I mean around .300), but one hot streak and he’s right there.
Recently, I looked at Wainwright’s bid to be the 2010 Cy Young winner and tonight, I would like to look at Albert’s numbers to see if he could possibly be the NL MVP for the 3rd straight year. We’ll also look at his competitors and break it down similar to how I did the Cy Young award.
The Numbers
Obviously, the place to start, what do the numbers say about Pujols and the guy that many think is the possible MVP / Triple Crown threat.
G AB .AVG .SLG HR RBI BB SO
Pujols 115 435 .315 .586 30 86 71 54
Votto 110 404 .322 .594 28 79 67 90
Pujols is 2nd in home runs, 1st in RBI, 4th in .AVG, 2nd in .SLG, 2nd in .OBP
Votto is 3rd in home runs, 3rd in RBI, 1st in .AVG, 1st in .SLG, 1st in .OBP
Basically, Pujols leads in 2 of the three triple crown categories, but Votto has him on average, slugging and on-base. The question will be how long Albert continues on this tear. In the matter of a couple weeks he has managed to raise his average from slightly below .300 to a fantastic .315 only .07 points of the lead. One more home run will tie Adam Dunn for the lead there and he maintains a safe distance as the leader in RBI. If Albert manages to raise his average, he will definitely be a favorite to repeat as the MVP.
Pujols also leads Votto in walks (2nd in NL), while striking out a whole lot less. He has also hit more doubles and stolen more bases, but Votto has scored more runs.
The Intangibles
Not a year goes by without the debate of what “valuable” really means. Is Albert Pujols more valuable because of his monster numbers, despite having a slugger like Matt Holiday on the team? Or is Votto more valuable because no one expected the Reds to be in 1st place this far into the season? Is Albert more valuable because his ability to do this year after year or is Votto more valuable because you look at 2010 and 2010 alone. No matter how you answer these questions, other factors will always figure in the MVP voting that you can’t always know. A big one is getting your team into the postseason and remains to be seen which of these guys (or if maybe both) will do that.
My Conclusion
This is a two horse race between these two guys at this point. Other guys have good numbers, but not GREAT numbers like Votto and Pujols have put up so far. The other power hitters don’t have the average and the high average guys have low power numbers. But these two are examples of the perfect combo. The remaining 1 1/2 months of the season will reveal who has in him to complete the 162 game grind still producing for his team.
But for now? It’s too close to call.
According to my stats, a lot of you are reading but not very many are commenting, so let’s change that. I’d love to hear what you have to say. You can start now by weighing in on this discussion.
-&nb
sp; Who’s your call between these two?
- Do you think I should have shown love to guys like Dunn or Gonzalez as MVP candidates?
- Will Albert ever win the Triple Crown? Will anybody???
- Do you think Stephen Hill slept with his home run ball tonight?
Or anything else that tickles your fancy…..
Glad to be done playing the Cubs,
Tiffany
Votto’s ejected while Derrek Lee & Albert Pujols play HR derby
What an interesting turn of events we have. I just saw that Joey Votto was thrown out of game in the first inning. Votto seems to always be counted for 2-3 hits per game and an RBI or two, so I can’t say that I’m too sad to see him out for a game. This should definitely hurt the Reds chances today of a win. I’ll be interested to hear the details as they are released and to see the video of the whole thing It was a 1-1 count, so it wasn’t even strike 3 he was arguing. Did he say something very insulting to the ump or did the umpire just overreact? We shall see. As for now,the Reds are all tied up with the Marlins in the 6th.
On the Redbirds side of things, it is the story of the home run so far this game. I mentioned two days ago (here) and again yesterday (here) how much I dread seeing Derrek Lee. He loves to bring his best against the Redbirds and after homering in his first two games this series, he has homered two times already in this game. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 4 home runs in 3 games. Ridiculous. They better walk him next time up.
After Lee’s first home run, Albert immediately answered with a long ball of his own to give him 30 for the year. Let’s hope he can answer back again this inning.
Albert going deep,
Tiffany
mlblogsredbirdfever
Recent Comments