The Entertainer Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 [quote][b]The news is out: NL Central race is open again[/b] By Bernie Miklasz ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 06/04/2006 The Cardinals have put the invitations in the mail, on the way to Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago and pissburgh: Please attend the grand reopening of the National League Central race. A week ago, it looked as if the Cardinals were about to bust loose on another breakaway in the NL Central. The Cardinals were completing a 7-3 trip, and the rest of the division was lagging and about to wave bye-bye to the Birds on the Bat. It's amazing how quickly and dramatically things have changed. First, center fielder Jim Edmonds went out with an abdominal injury. Then the Cardinals bullpen coughed up wins over Houston and Chicago. Houston signed Roger Clemens. Manager Tony La Russa and general manager Walt Jocketty inexplicably left their team vulnerable and exposed by playing with a short roster. So much for respecting the opponent; the Cardinals didn't even bother to have 25 players available for the series against the Cubs. For the second time in less than a week, starter Mark Mulder melted down and failed to compete once a game situation turned against him. It happened Sunday in San Diego and again vs. the Cubs on Saturday at Busch Stadium, where Mulder fell apart after his defense made fielding errors in the five-run fourth inning of a troubling 8-5 loss to the North Siders. And then the final blow to the gut: Albert Pujols, reigning MVP and new king of the baseball world, will be out at least two weeks (and probably much longer) with a strained oblique muscle. Heading into Saturday, Pujols had been responsible for a staggeringly high percentage of the team's offense: 45 percent of the homers, 25 percent of the RBIs and 19 percent of the runs scored. The Cardinals were ninth in the NL in slugging percentage with Pujols; imagine the scratch-and-sniff attack we're likely to see with him gone for a while. Together, Pujols and Edmonds accounted for 36 percent of the RBIs up to this point. "We're going to put a team on the field that I know is going to be very competitive," La Russa said. "If we compete and do things the right way, we'll get our share of wins." Hmmm ... Think it might help to play the games with an actual 25-man roster? Considering how La Russa constantly lectures about the need to always respect opponents and take nothing for granted, it seems awfully arrogant of the Cardinals to willfully line up against the Cubs with 23 available players. That's the case because Edmonds still hasn't been placed on the disabled list, and utility man Scott Spiezio is sick and unable to come to the ballpark. Edmonds can't play at all, but the Cardinals are waiting to reactivate pitcher Chris Carpenter before going the DL route with Edmonds. And Spiezio probably will be out for a few more days. OK, so what's the point of having guys like Skip Schumaker, John Gall, Chris Duncan and others on the 40-man roster if you won't call them up from Class AAA Memphis in an emergency? And in reality the Cardinals were playing with 22 players, because the second catcher is usually held out as insurance should an injury hit the starting catcher. So on Saturday, in addition to backup catcher Gary Bennett, the Cardinals had only three reserve position players available, and all were lefthanded hitters: John Rodriguez, Larry Bigbie and Timo Perez. When Pujols went out, that left two reserves, plus Bennett. Apparently the Cardinals think they can handle the Cubs without a fully stocked roster. Which is strange, because the Cubs have routinely upended La Russa's Cardinals since Dusty Baker became manager in 2003. During that time, La Russa has a .467 winning percentage against Baker and a .615 winning percentage vs. all other managers. The needlessly short St. Louis bench was a negative factor in Friday's 14-inning loss to the Cubs. And the reduced manpower may have played a role in Saturday's defeat, because La Russa went with the same lineup he used for all 14 innings Friday night. Maybe it would have been better to go with some fresh players. But the only thing that changed Saturday was Pujols getting hurt. This hasn't been among La Russa's finest 48 hours as Cardinals manager. So how do the Cardinals survive the loss of Pujols and Edmonds? You can't expect this stripped-down lineup to suddenly power up, so the burden falls on the pitching staff to prevail in lower-scoring games. And that won't happen if Mulder continues to fold when things go bad. In his past two starts, Mulder has been strafed for 22 hits, 13 earned runs and five homers in 11 innings. "Pitching around (trouble), whether it's a bad break or a blooper, disagreeing with an umpire's call, or a defensive play not being made - that's part of competing and winning," La Russa said. Saturday's loss dropped the Cardinals' record to 13-14 against NL Central rivals this season. The invitations are in the mail. The NL Central is open again.[/quote] [url="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/berniemiklasz/story/445F4F1FC5F76859862571830019825B?OpenDocument"]St. Louis Today[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmer4HOF Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 Like i said in another thread... IT AINT OVER TIL ITS OVER ..... bunch of haters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nati Ice Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 notice how the article failed to mention the reds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK Cincy Connection Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 I admit, I jumped off the bandwagon with that terrible May they turned in...June has started off well... I don't want another April-give me 5 games above .500 for June and the Redlegs are still in this thing... I will not jump on the bandwagon until I see the Redlegs in contention at the All Star break... needless to say this series against St Louis looms large... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm00th_kw Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 The Reds were never out of the race. They played 12 - 16 baseball in May and were ONLY five games back...which, around the league is pretty much average for the 2nd place team. Certainly not dead by any means...and then you still have the Wild Card after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 [quote name='Nati Ice' post='277467' date='Jun 4 2006, 01:20 PM']notice how the article failed to mention the reds[/quote] Read the first sentence again. Otherwise most of the reat of the article is about the Cardinals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nati Ice Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 [quote name='Jason' post='277903' date='Jun 5 2006, 01:04 PM']Read the first sentence again. Otherwise most of the reat of the article is about the Cardinals.[/quote] the first sentence says they play cincinnati among other teams... whoop-dey-doo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 i hope that this month would be a good month for them. but arroyo man that dude can bat for a pitcher. i bet you right now he's the best batting pitcer in the leauge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 [quote name='Nati Ice' post='277917' date='Jun 5 2006, 01:13 PM']the first sentence says they play cincinnati among other teams... whoop-dey-doo![/quote] The [b]only[/b] mention of any team other than the Cardinals (aside from documenting Cardinals game results) is mentioning that Houston signed Clemmens. And the first sentence says: "The Cardinals have put the invitations in the mail, on the way to Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago and pissburgh: Please attend the grand reopening of the National League Central race." I don't see that article as a slight to the Reds, or an implication that they won't compete. It's 99% an article about the Cardinals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 [quote name='Nati Ice' post='277917' date='Jun 5 2006, 01:13 PM']the first sentence says they play cincinnati among other teams... whoop-dey-doo![/quote] Oh, and did you notice, this was a [b]St Louis Dispatch[/b] article??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nati Ice Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 im not sure i get whatever it is your insinuating but all i ever said was that the article fails to mention the reds in any fashion. and it only touches on the recent shitty play from the cardinals... so, yea, who cares, we can read the standings quite easily in short, there is no mention of other teams taking back the top spot. only an indication that the cardinals need to step it up, once again, not exactly shocking news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 [quote name='Nati Ice' post='277978' date='Jun 5 2006, 03:24 PM']im not sure i get whatever it is your insinuating but all i ever said was that the article fails to mention the reds in any fashion. and it only touches on the recent shitty play from the cardinals... so, yea, who cares, we can read the standings quite easily in short, there is no mention of other teams taking back the top spot. only an indication that the cardinals need to step it up, once again, not exactly shocking news[/quote] I guess I thought you thought the Reds were getting slighted or discounted. If that is not the case, and you are just wondering why this is in the Reds forum, I appologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK Cincy Connection Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 [quote name='BK Cincy Connection' post='277869' date='Jun 5 2006, 12:14 PM']I admit, I jumped off the bandwagon with that terrible May they turned in...June has started off well... I don't want another April-give me 5 games above .500 for June and the Redlegs are still in this thing... I will not jump on the bandwagon until I see the Redlegs in contention at the All Star break... needless to say this series against St Louis looms large...[/quote] good start to the month, those bats are heating up nicely and Griff is starting to look more and more like, well, um, Griff circa 1999... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.