Skip to main content

Using The "E" Word

By
From the PD: Sorry, wrong number: zero again
They have discussed the merits of aggression and the need for patience.

They have talked about squeezing every at-bat like it was more precious than a paycheck.

Sunday afternoon, after watching another 2 hours, 28 minutes of offensive futility, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa suggested his team try yet another approach.

Apologize.

Two days after San Diego Padres ace, power arm and budding Cy Young Award candidate Jake Peavy throttled the Cardinals with 10 strikeouts, recent waiver claim Justin Germano used a softer approach to suppress the defending World Series champions for seven innings of a 3-0 Cardinals loss.

Out of fresh theories and increasingly running out of patience, La Russa sided with exasperation in dealing with a familiar line of questioning. Noting starting pitcher Anthony Reyes' five serviceable innings that left him 0-6 in seven starts, La Russa directed reporters to his players for answers.

"Ask the hitters," La Russa said. "Was their approach different? Everything I would ask, I would ask them. They're the guys with the bat. It would be interesting. I haven't had a chance to ask them."

As for what should be said to Reyes?

"Apologize to him. The team hasn't been taking care of him very well," La Russa said. "Apologize. 'Sorry, man, you deserve better.'"

Added La Russa: "I'm just disappointed we didn't do more to win the game and for Anthony. It's embarrassing."

He's right about one thing: It is embarrassing.

Has anyone else noticed that the Cardinals are in a perpetual state of being banged up? Rolen, Edmonds, Pujols, Eckstein, and Encarnacion are more or less always fighting some sort of injury. I know it is a long season and playing with nagging issues is part of the game, but doesn't that presuppose there's at least a little time when players were completely healthy, for at least part of the season? Why were we banged up in the first week of May like it was the first week of September? The result is we are enfeebled. So the fans are left with the walking wounded out there, doing their little zombie shuffle from the dugout to the plate and back to the dugout again.

What makes it all more of a shame is that the pitching has held up surprisingly well, given Carpenter's injury and Wells' general sucking.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Note of Optimism About the Note

By
 If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...
Post a Comment
Read more

Matt Damon: "James Bond Should Be A Wuss, Like Me."

By
Alright, maybe Damon didn't say that exactly, but he might as well have : Hollywood star Matt Damon has dismissed James Bond as being stuck in the past. The actor, who appears in the Bourne thrillers, said: "The Bond character will always be anchored in the 1960s and in the values of the 1960s." The suave spy was "so anachronistic when you put it in the world we live in today", he said, but added that Bourne was no better or worse than Bond. Damon was speaking in London, where The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the franchise, is having its UK premiere. "Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it, and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes," he told reporters. "Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her." Bourne mooning over his dead girlfriend is something we should be excited to see? Give me a break. At least Bond lives in a world where it is killed or be ki...
5 comments
Read more

Early Thoughts on City 2025

By
There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous.  German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...
Post a Comment
Read more