Redbird Rundown IX

[popcornhog]

1-2-3

[popcornhog]

Bases loaded no outs.

[clutch]

Murphy bomb double sucks. Forgot to put him in my fantasy lineup today. Played Travis from Toronto and he sat out because of a tweaked shoulder.

[popcornhog]

Grichuck's double.

[popcornhog]

Huge inning.

[clutch]

Is Wacha still in? If so, throw him as long as humanly possible tonight.

[popcornhog]

Through 6 1/2

[popcornhog]

Is Wacha still in? If so, throw him as long as humanly possible tonight.

[popcornhog]

1 more down.

81 pitches for Wacha

[popcornhog]

1-2-3

[pigture perfect]

Finally scoring some runs.

[popcornhog]

Still 10-2

[popcornhog]

Finally scoring some runs.

First time this year to score 10 runs, I believe.

[popcornhog]

Fun fact.

[popcornhog]

Are the Hogs on TV tonight in the SECT?

[jrulz83]

Good to get a laugher after last night.

[popcornhog]

Randy Choate was just walked in his first at bat since 2004.

Haha

First time in his career to get on base.

The Mets are a dumpster fire tonight.

[popcornhog]

Tuivailala getting a shot at a more low key appearance here in the bottom of the 9th.

[popcornhog]

Sammy T ends it with a K.

Now to the SEC Network to watch the Hogs.

0-0 top 2nd with Killian on the mound.

[popcornhog]

Final

[The Boar War]

So if you're Grichuk, do you pretend to stumble when you're rounding first so you can hit for the cycle?

[The Boar War]

I'm about convinced that we have to make a trade at some point. Our  whole staff looks tired and bruised egotistically.

I agree but I'm interested to see what happens when 1) Jaime Garcia returns on Thursday and 2) Jay gets over his injury.

We've been playing with a short bench for some time now.  It's understandable because of the injuries to Wainwright and Walden but I think it's safe to say that Manness is not who we want to bring in to bat when the game is on the line. 

If Garcia can give us the innings that Lyons couldn't we might be able to send one of the extra relievers back down to Memphis.  Jay's return would allow us to send Borjous to the bench (or platoon them).  Grichuk and Reynolds are decent bench players but it really drops off after that.  Cruz is not a good hitter but he's a necessity as a backup catcher.  There is no way Kozma should be getting the major league at bats he's been given.  I would rather see the back up middle infield time go to Dean Anna.

Either way I think bringing Garcia in and replacing a pitcher like Harris with a player like Jay would benefit the club.  For the long haul I think you're right.  If we're really going to compete we're going to have to make a trade.  I wonder what we're willing to give up?

[popcornhog]

I agree but I'm interested to see what happens when 1) Jaime Garcia returns on Thursday and 2) Jay gets over his injury.

We've been playing with a short bench for some time now.  It's understandable because of the injuries to Wainwright and Walden but I think it's safe to say that Manness is not who we want to bring in to bat when the game is on the line. 

If Garcia can give us the innings that Lyons couldn't we might be able to send one of the extra relievers back down to Memphis.  Jay's return would allow us to send Borjous to the bench (or platoon them).  Grichuk and Reynolds are decent bench players but it really drops off after that.  Cruz is not a good hitter but he's a necessity as a backup catcher.  There is no way Kozma should be getting the major league at bats he's been given.  I would rather see the back up middle infield time go to Dean Anna.

Either way I think bringing Garcia in and replacing a pitcher like Harris with a player like Jay would benefit the club.  For the long haul I think you're right.  If we're really going to compete we're going to have to make a trade.  I wonder what we're willing to give up?

I agree with most of what you're saying but I love what we've seen from Harris. Tuivailala is the first guy to go back to Memphis in my opinion.

As for Grichuck -- right now he's a solid guy to have on the bench, but I think he will end up being much more than that.

[The Boar War]

I agree with most of what you're saying but I love what we've seen from Harris. Tuivailala is the first guy to go back to Memphis in my opinion.

As for Grichuck -- right now he's a solid guy to have on the bench, but I think he will end up being much more than that.

I agree about Grichuck.  He just needs major league at bats.

[popcornhog]

Cards up 7-0 in the 3rd.

I'm not able to post a lot of updates tonight, but Grichuck has been great in the field and at the plate.

Heyward had a lead off solo shot in the 3rd and Adams had a 3 run bomb in the 3rd.

[popcornhog]

Grichuck'd RBI double makes it 8-0.

[pigture perfect]

Mets seemed to have cooled of some, from the first of the year. Good news for the Braves fans.

[popcornhog]

Mets seemed to have cooled of some, from the first of the year. Good news for the Braves fans.

I've still got the Nats winning the NL East. I suspect they'll run away with it.

But the Mets and Braves could certainly compete for a wild card spot.

And of course, the Phillies aren't as far back as you would think.

[popcornhog]

That's a winner!

[jrulz83]

Need to bottle a little of this offense!

[The Boar War]

First time I can remember the Cards getting to Colon.

Really nice couple of games.  Time to win the series tommorrow.

[DeltaBoy]

Keep the Pedal down Red Birds !!!

[popcornhog]

First pitch in about 30 minutes.

Garcia (2015 debut) v DeGrom (4-4, 3.21 ERA)

Hopefully we can keep the hot bats in Jaime's season debut. I'm excited to see how he looks.

[popcornhog]

So I haven't gotten to watch at all until just now.

But the Cards are down 5-0. Maness just got the Cards out of a 1 out bases loaded pinch with back to back K's.

I heard Jaime pitched 7innings though, which is huge.

[popcornhog]

DeGram 1 hit the Cardinals through 8.

[popcornhog]

Cruz grounds out to 2nd to start the 9th.

Bourjos and Wong up.

[popcornhog]

Familia with the K against Bourjos.

[popcornhog]

2-0 to Wong.

Cards down to last out.

24 in a row have been retired for the Cards.

[popcornhog]

Wong fouls off the 4th.

2-2 to Wong.

Down to our last pitch.

[popcornhog]

Base hit for KW on Familia.

[popcornhog]

Carp is up with 2 down and Wong just stole 2nd.

[popcornhog]

0-2 to Carp.

[popcornhog]

Familia gets his 2nd K to end the game.

11 K's for DeGrom and 2 for Familia.

Cards shutout and failed to win a series for just the 4th time this year.

Headed to KC after a split with the Metropolitans.

[popcornhog]

Ready to welcome the Cardinals to town for a 3 game series this weekend.

It'll be Lance on Friday, Lackey on Saturday, and Wacha on Sunday afternoon.

I've got tickets in the Craft and Draft section tomorrow, nosebleeds behind home plate on Saturday, and 17 rows behind the plate on Sunday.

[The Boar War]

Sometimes you just have to tip the cap.

We've faced some amazing pitching over the last couple of weeks.

[popcornhog]

Should be a fun series.

[jbell96]

Okay I don't want to be a jerk, but I don't think the PBP's need to happen anymore. This thread has usually been about discussing the team, their performance, trade rumors, etc.....

It's tough to follow discussions when there are tons of PBP posts in between them. I know some people appreciate the PBP, and I have a lot of respect for popcornhog, but in this day and age of technology, PBP for an MLB team on  message board seems like overkill.

[popcornhog]

Okay I don't want to be a jerk, but I don't think the PBP's need to happen anymore. This thread has usually been about discussing the team, their performance, trade rumors, etc.....

It's tough to follow discussions when there are tons of PBP posts in between them. I know some people appreciate the PBP, and I have a lot of respect for popcornhog, but in this day and age of technology, PBP for an MLB team on  message board seems like overkill.

Certainly didn't mean to hijack it. Was thinking of it as more of a service.

I'll be at the games this weekend anyway, so no PBP.

I'm happy to cut it out entirely or just give scoring updates rather than PBP if that's preferable. I'm typically not able to do PBP the entire game, anyway.

The biggest reason that I've been doing it is that I learned that most people in Arkansas get close to zero Cards games on TV unless they have a comprehensive mlb package -- and some of those packages are even blacked out in Little Rock and east Arkansas.

[popcornhog]

Nice comparison of Cards/Royals historically and recently.

http://www.foxsports.com/midwest/story/let-s-crunch-some-numbers-relevant-to-st-louis-cardinals-kansas-city-royals-series-052215

[DukeOfPork]

Tough break for the Cardinals: Duffy apparently felt some stiffness in his shoulder and they are going to skip him in the rotation.  This puts what would have been an almost sure Cardinals victory on Saturday night back into play.