What a relief! The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen had a good game Friday night!

Okay, sorry for that first-sentence cheesiness.

But after the drama of Thursday night resulted in (more) necessary changes for the second time this week, new kids Carlos Martinez and Seth Maness had their chances to make an impact against the Milwaukee Brewers — and both shone in their debuts.

Combined with rookie Shelby Miller providing another great start and Fernando Salas finishing it off with a perfect ninth, the game was a nice look at the Cardinals pitching future.

And it’s a bright one. How can you not be excited?

Yet of course it takes more than just good pitching to win a game — and that’s where the Cardinals veterans made their mark Friday night in the 6-1 win.

In the case of Matt Holliday, it was literal. His third-inning two-run homer hit the Miller Park scoreboard — which you can see (and hear) for yourself. Jon Jay drove in two runs with a double in fifth, while Carlos Beltran hit a solo homer in the seventh and Holliday added the final run on a passed ball that inning too.

» Continue reading “Cardinals Pitching Future On Display In Win”

Dear Mike,

It’s a Monday and we’re writing a letter, which is not uncommon here at Aaron Miles’ Fastball. This one, however, is not a love letter.

Not today.

Not after last night’s St. Louis Cardinals loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Because we have some questions.

And they’re pretty obvious.

Like, what is the deal with your choice of relievers? Specifically, where is Joe Kelly?

Also, can you just give Mitchell Boggs a nice, long break?

And can you get past this bunting fascination — please? Or do you really think it’s successful?

Another: where is Joe Kelly?

And, oh yeah, WHERE IS JOE KELLY?

Obviously Joe Kelly is the hot topic — which makes sense when you have a guy who two months ago was in the mix for the fifth starter role. He’s a valuable piece of the bullpen now that Shelby Miller is in the rotation where he should be. But, and maybe this just makes sense to us, Joe kind of needs to pitch to demonstrate that value.

Right?

Sure, it’s great that Derek Lilliquist told you Joe is “a Ferrari sitting in the garage.” And, though I’m no car expert, it doesn’t seem like a Ferrari provides much benefit when it’s not being used. Yeah, maybe it’s impressive to the neighbors when they can see it, sitting there all nice and shiny — but isn’t a Ferrari more impressive when it’s out on the highway getting some action?

» Continue reading “Dear Mike Matheny: We Have Some Questions”

It was a forgettable night for the St. Louis Cardinals all the way around.

Now, granted, you might have been like me and were switching back and forth between the game and the live news coverage from Boston. (And, if you were really like me, just finding the Cardinals game was a challenge on DirecTV since Fox Sports Midwest was tweeting out the wrong channel number for its Plus channel. Perhaps that should have been the first sign …)

The curiosity began when the lineup to face the Philadelphia Phillies was announced. Well, sure, Yadier Molina needs a game off — fine. We all know he’s played every inning of every game so far. Interesting decision by Mike Matheny, though, to give him his first break on a night when Jaime Garcia was pitching and start Tony Cruz. Then again, we didn’t know if On-The-Road-Bad-Jaime was a bad memory from last year since Jaime was good in his only road appearance this season. So maybe it would all work well.

But then there was Matheny’s choice to play third base: none other than Most Hated Cardinal Ty Wigginton. (Seriously, I almost feel sorry for him. But only almost.)

So, with all of that in place, what could go wrong?

Everything.

Well, OK, Jaime started out fine — retiring Jimmy Rollins and Freddy Galvis in the bottom of the first.

» Continue reading “Rain, The Cardinals Needed You Earlier”

This might be a first: I learned something from Jim Hayes on Fox Sports Midwest last night. Even more amazing is that it was about poetry — specifically that yesterday was National Haiku Day.

The three of us here at Aaron Miles’ Fastball have stretched our creativity into poetry from time to time, going back to the Miguel Batista days when every appearance by The Poet resulted in some kind of verse to honor his (mostly bad) appearances. Last year Barret Browning’s lyrical name prompted the same response. And, exactly two weeks ago, I felt inspired to capture the saga of the 16-inning loss in poetry — haiku, no less.

So since yesterday was National Haiku Day, there’s no option but another creative work on last night’s Cardinals loss to the Pirates. (At least it’s not a love poem to a certain Pirate who shall remain nameless — even though love poems to Cardinals have also been written here.)

Cardinals vs. Pirates On National Haiku Day

A beautiful night.
Beautiful PNC Park.
Always picturesque.

Young Shelby Miller,
Cards talented young rookie,
Takes the mound for us.

Pirates have their ace,
A.J. Burnett, looking for
his first win this year.

1998
strikeouts for A.J. to start.
Will he get two more?

Jon Jay leading off
Quickly gives him one more K.
Uh oh, that’s not good.

» Continue reading “Cardinals Lose On National Haiku Day”

The 2013 season is now two weeks old. The St. Louis Cardinals have played 12 games. With 150 still to come, it’s difficult to panic already. But after yesterday’s 4-3 loss in 10 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cardinals are tied for the National League lead in one painful pitching category: blown saves, with four.

With the Chicago Cubs, no less.

Sorry, that’s a terrible bit of info to toss out there on a Monday morning.

But there’s unfortunately a pitching stat in which the Cardinals lead the majors that’s even worse: bullpen ERA. Yep, the relievers’ collective 6.09 ERA is No. 30 at the moment, while the Cubs 5.82 is No. 28. Interestingly, the Washington Nationals are between the two at 5.90.

It won’t be a surprise that Mitchell Boggs, who had a blown save yesterday and during the 16-inning game in Arizona on April 3, has the highest ERA at 11.37. That’s largely the result of the six earned runs he allowed in the ninth inning of the home opener a week ago.

Trevor Rosenthal is the owner of the other two blown saves, from April 3 as well and from the home opener. His ERA is not terrible, 4.50, but he wasn’t necessarily effective yesterday either as he gave up a single and then a home run to Ryan Braun to start the eighth and end the Cardinals scoreless innings streak at 39.

» Continue reading “Are Changes Needed In The Cardinals Bullpen? Vote Now”

Cards versus D-backs
Winner takes the first series.
Do red hats bring luck?

Not to the pitchers,
Or not tonight anyway.
Lose the red hats, please.

Lance Lynn was in first
And he threw many pitches.
Ninety-four in all.

Only four innings.
Four earned runs allowed — oh ouch.
ERA is 9.

Yet the offense struck
And scored four runs in the third.
Not enough, of course.

Three more in the sixth
From Matt A, Koz and Dan D.
Matt H drove in two.

Yet no lead was safe.
Joe Kelly gave up three runs.
And two were homers.

» Continue reading “Cardinals Lose In 16: A Haiku Review”

The start of daylight saving time — yet another step closer to real baseball. That makes the loss of an hour’s sleep worth it, right? Only 22 days!

Although there has been plenty of baseball going on, with not just spring training games but the World Baseball Classic as well.

The Cardinals participating in the WBC have all gotten into the action. Both Mitchell Boggs and Fernando Salas pitched an inning each in Mexico’s win over Team USA Friday night, with Boggs allowing only a hit and Salas two hits and a run. Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina have contributed to Puerto Rico’s two wins. Beltran is hitting .429 with an RBI and Yadi’s hitting .286 and has thrown out a baserunner. Those two and all of Team Puerto Rico are moving on to the second round — will Boggs and Team USA join them? That will be determined at 3 p.m. Central Time today when USA takes on Canada — winner moves on.

» Continue reading “Catching Up With The Cardinals: Spring Forward Edition”

Ugly games can happen any time — mid-April, early August, Game Two of the National League Championship Series. Last night’s 7-1 St. Louis Cardinals loss to the San Francisco Giants was ugly. Period.

Of course, for Giants fans and the growing legion of Cardinals haters everywhere (and they are everywhere now, aren’t they?) it wasn’t. No. It was revenge after Matt Holliday’s slide. It was justification after hearing endless hype over Chris Carpenter. It was FOX’s chance to show us all — whether we wanted to see him or not — Brian Wilson in the dugout. Repeatedly.

Thankfully, it was just one game. Although now we have to wait until tomorrow afternoon for Game Three.

There’s really little more to say about the slide. You’ve seen it, over and over and over again. Holliday did say this after the game:

“In hindsight, I wish I would have started my slide a step earlier,” Holliday said. “But it was happening fast, and you’re trying to get to him so he can’t turn the double play.”

Second, Holliday said he was not trying to hurt Scutaro, who departed with a left hip injury four innings later, the result of Holliday’s slide. With concern in his voice, Holliday repeated several times that he hopes that Scutaro is all right.

“I feel bad about it,” Holliday said. “I hope he is OK.”

And that was just one part of Holliday’s rough night, as he made an error in the outfield during the fourth inning — on a ball hit by Scutaro, of course — that allowed the Giants to score.

» Continue reading “Some Nights The Cardinals Just Need To Forget”

No doubt Edwin Jackson has fond memories of being at Busch Stadium — you know, he became a World Series champion there and all.

So should we be surprised that his first trip back to St. Louis resulted in him helping out his old team?

The Cardinals’ offense finally had a big night, scoring 12 runs on 11 hits with two home runs. It was the first time they reached double-digits in wins since Sept. 1, when they scored 10 — also off the Nationals. And it all began with Jon Jay singling to start the bottom of the first.

At that point, the Cards actually trailed 1-0 since Adam Wainwright allowed a Bryce Harper double and Adam LaRoche single in the top of the inning. But it didn’t take long to do away with that deficit.

The first out in the bottom of the first didn’t come until No. 7 hitter Daniel Descalso drove in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly. Following Jay’s lead-off hit were a walk to Matt Carpenter, singles by Matt Holliday and Allen Craig, Yadier Molina reaching on and driving in a run on a Ryan Zimmerman error and a bases-loaded walk to Carlos Beltran.

Whew.

» Continue reading “Edwin Jackson Still Likes The Cardinals”

A win for a shaky pitcher. A big save for the closer. Big hits. Yes, the Cardinals earned their sweep over the Houston Astros in spectacular fashion as they defeated the ‘Stros 5-4.

Let’s discuss!

* Jaime Garcia. He earned his fifth victory of the season Thursday afternoon. He pitched six innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs. He walked three but struck out five. Garcia. Jaime and the defense got into several jams but each time managed to work their way out with minimal damage. I’d say this performance, plus his no-decision over the weekend in Los Angeles, are good confidence builders for the young pitcher. He seriously needs it.

* Motte and Salas. These two gentlemen did stellar work out of the ‘pen. Fernando Salas pitched two-thirds of the eighth inning. He struck out both batters he faced. And Jason Motte earned his 38th save of the year as he pitched the ninth inning. Motte gave up one hit but struck out three. Awesome work from The Closer!

* Allen Craig. The Wrench hit his 22nd homer of the season during the first inning. It was a three-run blast to left center field. And it was a beauty. Check it out here! » Continue reading “Cards Defeat ‘Stros … SWEEP!”