Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Cardinals Quarter-Mark Check In

Transcript

Cardinals Quarter-Mark Check In · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: The Birds are sorrying Katie and Bernie back with you.
0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cardinal Territory, where all of a sudden, the
0:12
Speaker 1: tone of this podcast has become a lot more positive.
0:16
Speaker 1: The Cardinals played their fourth doubleheader of the season, which
0:18
Speaker 1: is crazy, but they did some nice work splitting double header,
0:21
Speaker 1: losing two to one in Game one and fourteen seven
0:24
Speaker 1: in Game two, with I think their most commanding and
0:27
Speaker 1: most impressive win of the season.
0:29
Speaker 2: I loved both games that doubleheader. I loved all.
0:31
Speaker 1: Three of those games from a series standpoint. To go
0:34
Speaker 1: into Citizens Bank Park and defeat a playoff caliber team
0:37
Speaker 1: like the Phillies and play three really competitive, compelling baseball games.
0:42
Speaker 2: I think we continue to learn more and more about
0:45
Speaker 2: the Cardinals.
0:45
Speaker 1: And my question for you, Bernie is when are you
0:48
Speaker 1: buying into this ball club?
0:50
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I'm buying into them now because they're
0:53
Speaker 3: winning games in a variety of ways. I know last
0:58
Speaker 3: year's team had that thirty three and eight team run.
1:00
Speaker 3: I get that, and so part of me always wants
1:04
Speaker 3: to be it's like pragmatic. It's like, well wait a minute,
1:07
Speaker 3: you know they they kind of petered out after that.
1:10
Speaker 3: So but there's something about this team I don't know
1:14
Speaker 3: whether it's the youth or the energy, or just maybe
1:18
Speaker 3: the culture has been really refined in a way where
1:22
Speaker 3: everybody's in this thing together. There's these clearly there's a
1:25
Speaker 3: there's a lot of baseball brotherhood going on. These guys
1:28
Speaker 3: love playing for each other, they love playing ball. They're intense,
1:31
Speaker 3: they're competitive, but they also know how to have fun,
1:35
Speaker 3: which I think helps them through the hard times. But
1:37
Speaker 3: I just I just like the way they have responded
1:41
Speaker 3: to so many challenges during this stretch. You know, they
1:43
Speaker 3: had a bullpen on fire and Ali Marmel and you know,
1:49
Speaker 3: Dusty Blake fixed it like in a hurry. I mean,
1:53
Speaker 3: you just don't see that very often where you retool
1:55
Speaker 3: the whole thing in like five minutes, you know. And
1:59
Speaker 3: they haven't gotten much from Walker or Gorman and Herrera
2:04
Speaker 3: miss thirty games, and yet you mentioned, you know, they've
2:08
Speaker 3: they've had to play three double headers since April thirtieth,
2:12
Speaker 3: and two of the doubleheaders were against really good teams.
2:15
Speaker 3: And the Cardinals won five of the six games of
2:18
Speaker 3: those three double headers. And they couldn't win on the road.
2:22
Speaker 3: Now they're winning on the road. They couldn't win one
2:24
Speaker 3: run games oh, okay, we can't do that. Well, now
2:26
Speaker 3: we're doing it, you know. And it's like so every
2:29
Speaker 3: challenge that is kind of put in front of them,
2:31
Speaker 3: they've kind of knocked it down and they've gotten past it.
2:35
Speaker 3: That's just a really good sign. But the old saying
2:38
Speaker 3: it's a long season, But I this is a very
2:42
Speaker 3: entertaining team, much more entertaining than last year because the
2:45
Speaker 3: offense is good among other things.
2:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I completely agree with you, and I'm going to
2:50
Speaker 1: read you this quote from Philly's manager Rob Thompson yesterday
2:52
Speaker 1: who told the Athletics Matt Gelb has thoughts about the
2:54
Speaker 1: Cardinals now.
2:55
Speaker 2: Looking at the series.
2:56
Speaker 1: The Cardinals went four out of six games against Philadelphia
3:00
Speaker 1: that Rob Thompson had to say, he said, they got
3:02
Speaker 1: a good club. You see today they swung the bats
3:04
Speaker 1: and they can match up against you too. They have
3:06
Speaker 1: enough left handed bats to match up with your right
3:08
Speaker 1: handed pitching and vice versa really good defense. I think
3:11
Speaker 1: the shortstop is a really good player. He makes that
3:13
Speaker 1: defense solid and they're pitching well right now. They can
3:16
Speaker 1: beat you in a lot of different ways. They can run,
3:19
Speaker 1: they can steal bases, they can play some small ball
3:21
Speaker 1: when they need to.
3:22
Speaker 2: They're a great ball club. Now raise your hand as
3:26
Speaker 2: we record this on Thursday, May fifteenth, if you had
3:28
Speaker 2: Saint Louis Cardinals and great ball club in the same sentence.
3:32
Speaker 2: I did not.
3:33
Speaker 1: But when I was watching, first of all, my first
3:36
Speaker 1: time at Citizens Bank Park, and I was excited to
3:38
Speaker 1: go because I'd never been there and I'd heard great
3:40
Speaker 1: things about the environment. When I was watching those two games,
3:44
Speaker 1: I missed the second one be writer travel had to
3:46
Speaker 1: miss the night game, I felt like I was watching
3:49
Speaker 1: a playoff like atmosphere, the intensity, the how every single
3:53
Speaker 1: pitch I felt like I was on my seat for
3:56
Speaker 1: and I realized just how much I missed watching baseball
3:59
Speaker 1: games like this, and how much fun it is to
4:01
Speaker 1: cover good winning baseball. I personally haven't experienced that in
4:04
Speaker 1: about two years, and this series is when I really.
4:08
Speaker 2: Started to turn the corner.
4:09
Speaker 1: As in, Okay, instead of being skeptic, let's try to
4:12
Speaker 1: look at this as what if this is who they are?
4:15
Speaker 1: And I don't think we're going to fully be able
4:17
Speaker 1: to buy in, or I think most people will push
4:18
Speaker 1: back a little bit. So I'm saying, let's compromise, Let's
4:21
Speaker 1: get them through the end.
4:22
Speaker 2: Of the month. Let's get through the end of May
4:24
Speaker 2: and reevaluate and see where the Cardinals are, because you'll
4:27
Speaker 2: have two full months in the season. But right now
4:30
Speaker 2: April to May completely different team results wise, but not
4:35
Speaker 2: style of play wise.
4:36
Speaker 1: And that encourages me because they've played a consistent brand
4:39
Speaker 1: of baseball since opening day and now things have been
4:42
Speaker 1: going their way the last couple of weeks, and you
4:44
Speaker 1: can feel the momentum, you can feel the energy.
4:46
Speaker 2: It just feels like the season could go in.
4:48
Speaker 1: A way that maybe we weren't thinking and when when
4:52
Speaker 1: spring training broke.
4:52
Speaker 2: But it's been really fun to watch, no.
4:55
Speaker 3: Doubt about it. And there's so many other things. And
4:57
Speaker 3: I'll try to be quick through this and not to
4:59
Speaker 3: just you know, just talking talk and talk and talk,
5:01
Speaker 3: you know, too long. But they you know, I was
5:05
Speaker 3: looking at, you know, since the April twenty fifth, which
5:09
Speaker 3: I think is sort of when the season restarted, because
5:11
Speaker 3: they had they had they fixed the bullpen. That was
5:14
Speaker 3: the first day. And they have the best record in
5:16
Speaker 3: the National League since, and they have the best record
5:18
Speaker 3: of the Major since April thirtieth, So April twenty fifth
5:21
Speaker 3: is when it started. So you think about everything they
5:23
Speaker 3: had to do. You know, I had to play the
5:24
Speaker 3: three doubleheaders, right, they were still competing without her era,
5:29
Speaker 3: they still weren't get anything from Gorman and Walker. They
5:32
Speaker 3: had a tougher schedule too, you know, the Mets were
5:35
Speaker 3: coming to town. They had had to go on the
5:37
Speaker 3: road to play the Phillies. I mean the you know
5:39
Speaker 3: there there was some good opponents, some winning teams, some
5:42
Speaker 3: real challenges, and they got knocked down a few times.
5:47
Speaker 3: They got knocked down yesterday. With that, to your point,
5:50
Speaker 3: that really tough loss in the first game. It's a
5:52
Speaker 3: great baseball game, You're right, but it was a really
5:54
Speaker 3: tough loss. And then I'm sitting home and I'm watching
5:57
Speaker 3: it and I'm like, you know, I'm really curious to
6:00
Speaker 3: see because I want to trust these guys, and I'm like,
6:04
Speaker 3: I want to see how they respond to this. It's
6:06
Speaker 3: a really tough loss. But oh my gosh, now they're
6:09
Speaker 3: down five to one at the end of the first
6:11
Speaker 3: hitting and it's like, you know, I gotta admit, I
6:14
Speaker 3: can't sit here and be a phony. I was thinking, well,
6:16
Speaker 3: probably gonna get swept.
6:18
Speaker 1: I was thinking, oh, if I had a list it,
6:21
Speaker 1: I'm glad I chose to keep my flight.
6:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's like boom, you know, and they just
6:25
Speaker 3: they outscored the Phillies thirteen to two the rest of
6:28
Speaker 3: the game. I mean, they were just going crazy. It
6:30
Speaker 3: was like a feeding frenzy. That was like a perfect response.
6:33
Speaker 3: And that's kind of what I wanted to see. And
6:36
Speaker 3: you know, I was thinking about this too. This will
6:38
Speaker 3: be my last thing on it. You know, they're winning.
6:41
Speaker 3: They're winning every style of game. Like during this fourteen
6:45
Speaker 3: and five stretch that I've obsessed over, they've had six
6:49
Speaker 3: one run wins, right, They've also had six wins where
6:54
Speaker 3: they won the game by five runs or more. So
6:57
Speaker 3: they like, if you want to you know, you want
6:59
Speaker 3: to play you know, you want to play the tight game.
7:01
Speaker 3: You want to turn into a bullpen game, low scoring,
7:04
Speaker 3: to come down to one player or two, Well, we
7:06
Speaker 3: can do that. The Cardinals think we can do that.
7:08
Speaker 3: We like that. It's like, well, Bernie and Katie, that's great.
7:12
Speaker 3: But do they blow teams out? Yeah, they actually blow
7:16
Speaker 3: teams out a lot, you know, because the offense is
7:19
Speaker 3: so much better than it was last year. You know,
7:21
Speaker 3: the Cardinals are now like seventh in the majors. Like
7:25
Speaker 3: runs per game and they're in the top nine in
7:27
Speaker 3: every other category. This is like a top nine offense
7:30
Speaker 3: as we record this today. The starting pitching is gotten
7:34
Speaker 3: really good, the bullpen's been remarkable, They're base running is
7:38
Speaker 3: a little the defense is fantastic, and there are some
7:43
Speaker 3: stars merging as well. So yeah, this has been a
7:47
Speaker 3: really good time to kind of you know, I hate
7:49
Speaker 3: to use the cliche, sorry, where it's kind of like,
7:51
Speaker 3: all right, show us what you got. They've showed out
7:55
Speaker 3: pretty well.
7:56
Speaker 1: And that is a perfect segue to the theme of
7:58
Speaker 1: this episode, which is the order mark check in. The
8:01
Speaker 1: Cardinals are twenty four and twenty, a season best four
8:04
Speaker 1: games over five hundred.
8:06
Speaker 2: We'll get on into maybe our entire summary.
8:08
Speaker 1: Of the first quarter of the season, which is crazy,
8:11
Speaker 1: right after we hear from our friends at PCHG.
8:14
Speaker 4: This is a straightforward show, so I'm going to be
8:16
Speaker 4: very straightforward with everyone about PXG. Fastest way to improve
8:21
Speaker 4: your performance on the golf course is to get yourself
8:24
Speaker 4: a PXG golf fitting. Go in there and let the
8:28
Speaker 4: experts help you.
8:30
Speaker 5: I've been using PXG for a few years now, Scotti.
8:32
Speaker 5: They are perfect. I love the way they feel. They
8:34
Speaker 5: fit them perfectly. To my swing. They wait at them,
8:37
Speaker 5: they put grips in them, they put shafts in them,
8:39
Speaker 5: they use their heads, and they fit my swing beautifully.
8:42
Speaker 5: They have definitely improved my game. They just recently hooked
8:44
Speaker 5: me up with their new Alan putter, which is off
8:47
Speaker 5: the chain. I was draining putts the other day left
8:49
Speaker 5: and right, So I definitely say go get your fitting
8:52
Speaker 5: at PXG. Nobody goes golf the way PXG does.
8:56
Speaker 4: Yes, and for a limited time you could save up
8:58
Speaker 4: to twenty percent on your entire order. Head over to
9:01
Speaker 4: p XG dot com slash fowl. That's p XG dot
9:04
Speaker 4: com slash foul to save up to twenty percent on
9:07
Speaker 4: your entire order. P XG dot com slash foul restrictions
9:11
Speaker 4: apply se site for details.
9:17
Speaker 2: All right, let's check in. I can't believe that they
9:19
Speaker 2: are a quarterway through the season.
9:21
Speaker 1: I feel like spring training was both a week ago
9:24
Speaker 1: and maybe four years ago. But it's crazy for me
9:27
Speaker 1: to phrase it this way. I thought you were spot
9:30
Speaker 1: on with your analysis, Bernie. I mean, the offense has
9:32
Speaker 1: been consistently good, even with von Herrera gone for thirty games.
9:35
Speaker 1: Jordan Walker struggling, Nolan Gorman struggling. You're seeing guys step
9:38
Speaker 1: up like Brendan Donovan, Victor Scott, the second, Wilson Contreras,
9:42
Speaker 1: Mason win starting to swinging a little bit more. I
9:44
Speaker 1: like what we're seeing out of the bullpen, and I
9:45
Speaker 1: do think that we deserve to give some credit to
9:48
Speaker 1: Dusty Blake and Ollie Marmel for how they addressed it.
9:50
Speaker 1: I know there was some frustration over Ryan Fernandez is April,
9:54
Speaker 1: but I did understand where they were coming from that
9:56
Speaker 1: early in the season, when it became clear that this
9:58
Speaker 1: was no longer beneficial for him, made that change. I
10:01
Speaker 1: like what we're seeing out of Grisepo pumping ninety eight.
10:03
Speaker 1: That's super fun. Steven Mattz has been great. The rotation,
10:07
Speaker 1: it's been good. It's kept them in ballgames. I think
10:10
Speaker 1: we can fairly wonder about the sustainability of this and
10:13
Speaker 1: that beyond the athletic tomorrow. I wrote about that for
10:15
Speaker 1: Friday morning, But for right now, they've done a very
10:18
Speaker 1: nice job of pitching to their strengths, keeping the ball
10:20
Speaker 1: in the ballpark, and utilizing what I think has been
10:23
Speaker 1: the most underrated aspect of the team. But the biggest
10:26
Speaker 1: reason why they've been so successful their defense. The Cardinals
10:30
Speaker 1: defense is stellar across the board. And when you look
10:34
Speaker 1: at the names, you think of Nolan Arnatto, Mason Win,
10:36
Speaker 1: Victor Scott the Second and you're like, yeah, of course
10:38
Speaker 1: it's good. But let me just put into perspective how
10:41
Speaker 1: good the defense is. The Cardinals have registered an MLB
10:44
Speaker 1: high twenty four out above average as a team. That's
10:47
Speaker 1: six more than the next highest team, which is the
10:49
Speaker 1: Astros at eighteen. They've also prevented the most runs nineteen
10:54
Speaker 1: and they're in a four way tie with the Astros, Bhillies,
10:56
Speaker 1: and Royals for the best team fielding percentage at nine
10:59
Speaker 1: to ninety. Victor Scott the Second he's got six outs
11:02
Speaker 1: above average, that's the third best in baseball. Mason went
11:05
Speaker 1: right behind him with five, same with Lolnarnado. And I'm
11:07
Speaker 1: going to give you one guess. If you're looking at
11:10
Speaker 1: first baseman in baseball, where do you think Wilson Contrera's
11:14
Speaker 1: ranks and outs above average?
11:16
Speaker 3: Oh? I know that answer. He was, well, he was
11:21
Speaker 3: either I'm trying to remember my notes in my head.
11:25
Speaker 3: He was like, I think he was tied for third
11:27
Speaker 3: and outs of above average fielding run value. I think
11:30
Speaker 3: he was tied for third defensive run saved. I think
11:35
Speaker 3: he was sixth. And I may throw this in too,
11:40
Speaker 3: And this is not a shot at the great Paul Goldschmidt,
11:44
Speaker 3: but a lot of Cardinals fans were convetching. It's like,
11:46
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, you know, Goldie's so good defensively and
11:49
Speaker 3: Contrereus I don't know about this. Take a look at
11:53
Speaker 3: the same numbers, yeah, take right. Take take a look
11:56
Speaker 3: at the same numbers that we just talked about, and
11:59
Speaker 3: see where Goldie ran. I mean, if Contreras has been
12:03
Speaker 3: better than Goldie defensively this season, I was I've watched
12:06
Speaker 3: some of these games recently where it's like, whoa, Like
12:09
Speaker 3: he just keeps making play after play after play. And
12:12
Speaker 3: how about the way he stretches out and like Diggs
12:15
Speaker 3: Arrant throws out. It's like, it looks like the guy
12:18
Speaker 3: can stretch. It looks like he's, you know, stretches like
12:22
Speaker 3: I don't I don't know an analogy, but it's it's,
12:24
Speaker 3: you know, it's like a gymnast or something, and he's
12:26
Speaker 3: this big guy. I mean, he's really good down there.
12:29
Speaker 2: So he is really good down there.
12:32
Speaker 3: And I think that's one of the pleasant things about
12:34
Speaker 3: the season, you know. So, yeah, their whole, their whole
12:36
Speaker 3: infield is really good. And Wilson Cardres has not a liability.
12:40
Speaker 3: He's the opposite of that. So I I totally agree
12:43
Speaker 3: Newt Bar's good, Victor Scott's good. Walker's so much improved.
12:46
Speaker 3: They say, See, they provide so much cover for that
12:49
Speaker 3: starting rotation, which doesn't have the high strikeout punch. Maybe
12:53
Speaker 3: maybe Sonny Gray does, and you know, maybe Livy does,
12:56
Speaker 3: but by and large it's groundball staff. They got to
12:58
Speaker 3: rely on their defense, and this defense, it's like you
13:03
Speaker 3: almost have to have this kind of defense for this
13:05
Speaker 3: starting pitching to put up some of the numbers we've
13:07
Speaker 3: seen them put up.
13:09
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's why I think this defense is so
13:12
Speaker 1: critical to the Cardinals' success and why it's fair to
13:14
Speaker 1: question the sustainability of the rotation. We've known for a
13:16
Speaker 1: very long time. Swing and miss and chase. It is
13:19
Speaker 1: what plays in this game. And the Cardinals rather outdated
13:21
Speaker 1: approach of pitching a contact weak ground balls and hoping
13:24
Speaker 1: a defense makes a play doesn't really work until this
13:28
Speaker 1: season where it's worked, and I again don't.
13:31
Speaker 2: Know how sustainable it is.
13:32
Speaker 1: But the defense alone has been so so stellar, and
13:37
Speaker 1: I don't know if we're talking about Contrarasts enough in
13:39
Speaker 1: first base. I know over the last week or so,
13:41
Speaker 1: several of his teammates have pointed out in their post
13:44
Speaker 1: media or post game scrums that, hey, Wilson Contraras is
13:47
Speaker 1: doing a heck of a job. Eric Fetti yesterday said,
13:49
Speaker 1: we're probably not talking about Wilson Contraras enough at first base,
13:52
Speaker 1: and I think you're right. There was a lot of
13:54
Speaker 1: comparisons to Paul Goldschmid and if the Cardinals would you know,
13:57
Speaker 1: if Coras would be able to make up for that,
14:00
Speaker 1: if he could fill the shoes of Goldie, because those
14:01
Speaker 1: were were some very big shoes and he's done an
14:05
Speaker 1: incredible job. I'm encouraged to see what the defense looks
14:08
Speaker 1: like and how they keep going because it will be
14:11
Speaker 1: pivotal for this rotation going forward.
14:13
Speaker 2: There are some things the Cardinals are doing.
14:15
Speaker 1: There has been a big emphasis on getting more swing
14:17
Speaker 1: and miss pitching to the favorable counts, right like attacking
14:21
Speaker 1: the zone early going to one, two and then you're
14:23
Speaker 1: purposely missing the zone to get some chase and swing
14:26
Speaker 1: and miss, Like there's a concentrated effort there but that
14:30
Speaker 1: doesn't mean the Cardinals are going to go away fully
14:32
Speaker 1: from what they're doing well, which is putting the ball
14:35
Speaker 1: in play and letting their league best defense do the work.
14:39
Speaker 1: That's been the story of the season for me. But
14:41
Speaker 1: I don't know, when you focus on the offense and
14:43
Speaker 1: the pitching, I always feel like, no matter what club
14:45
Speaker 1: it is, defense is on the back burner. This Cardinals
14:48
Speaker 1: defense we're not talking about enough in general, and I
14:49
Speaker 1: think Contreras is an individual example of that, right And.
14:53
Speaker 3: We saw the disaster that was twenty twenty three and
14:55
Speaker 3: one of the reasons they let their defense laps. There
14:58
Speaker 3: was a terrible defense, never cleaned it up, and Oli,
15:01
Speaker 3: do his credit, did clean it up for twenty twenty four.
15:04
Speaker 3: And they were good last year, but they're great this year.
15:07
Speaker 3: So no, I'm with you one hundred percent on that
15:09
Speaker 3: and the other thing. The other thing in this I
15:13
Speaker 3: think fits into the quarter mark check in like in
15:16
Speaker 3: other words, I'm not training. I'm not trying to change
15:18
Speaker 3: the subject because I think this fit. No, I think
15:20
Speaker 3: this fits. I was thinking about this today and I'm
15:24
Speaker 3: not overreacting. You know, I've been around a long time.
15:27
Speaker 3: I try not to overreact. I sort of have that perspective,
15:29
Speaker 3: but this team has got so much more star power.
15:35
Speaker 3: I think in the position player. You know, if you
15:39
Speaker 3: think about it, you know, yeah, Goldie's gone okay, but
15:43
Speaker 3: Wilson Contreras once he started hitting April twentieth or so,
15:47
Speaker 3: I mean, this dude is a star. Mason Winn is
15:50
Speaker 3: a star. Victor Scott is a rising star. I mean Donovan,
15:56
Speaker 3: I don't know how much run he gets nationally, but
15:58
Speaker 3: this guy does every thing well. And he's also the
16:01
Speaker 3: kind of ballplayer that I think most longtime baseball fans
16:05
Speaker 3: just love to watch this guy play. And you know,
16:08
Speaker 3: Newt bar has got that pizazz. You know, he's got
16:12
Speaker 3: that charisma. This team has got so much more charisma
16:17
Speaker 3: than any point since twenty twenty two, when it was
16:20
Speaker 3: just all kinds of charisma and a lot of it
16:22
Speaker 3: because pool Holes and Molina their final year together, plus Goldie,
16:26
Speaker 3: the MVP hour and out of third, I think from
16:29
Speaker 3: a position player standpoint, this this team's got swag. They
16:35
Speaker 3: think like stars, they play like stars. They love pressure,
16:38
Speaker 3: they love big moments, they don't get down, they continue
16:42
Speaker 3: to believe in themselves, they respond to challenges. I mean
16:47
Speaker 3: there's just something about them that is very, very appealing.
16:50
Speaker 3: Esthetically appealing, but also if you love good baseball, this
16:55
Speaker 3: team's very appealing. So I want to That's why I
16:58
Speaker 3: wanted to throw that in. Let's keep an eye on
17:01
Speaker 3: this kind of rising star power of this team. They've
17:04
Speaker 3: just got more sizzled than they've had in quite a while.
17:07
Speaker 1: I think they're they're chrismas off the charts in terms
17:09
Speaker 1: of what we've seen in twenty three and twenty four,
17:11
Speaker 1: where they're playing to win games. They're not playing to
17:16
Speaker 1: lose like they're not. They're other going to like trying
17:18
Speaker 1: to win instead of trying not to lose. I think
17:20
Speaker 1: is when I watched the Cardinals, and that's what I
17:22
Speaker 1: see this year. And it's super fun because some of
17:26
Speaker 1: these young players are supposed to fail, right, They're supposed
17:28
Speaker 1: to go through the struggle and the trials and tribulations
17:31
Speaker 1: of a baseball season. But what I've really enjoyed, my thing,
17:34
Speaker 1: if I had to pick one thing that I've really
17:36
Speaker 1: enjoyed the most about watching the Cardinals so far is
17:39
Speaker 1: that they are very rarely out of a ball game. Yesterday,
17:42
Speaker 1: for example, you're coming off a brutal to to one loss.
17:44
Speaker 1: And to be honest, I didn't have a problem with
17:46
Speaker 1: how they lost that game. Now, going on baseball games,
17:49
Speaker 1: you lose them in that style, I think you're going
17:51
Speaker 1: to be okay, that was a competitive one. Pitch really
17:54
Speaker 1: is going to dictate whether you want to lose that game.
17:56
Speaker 1: That's the kind of style of baseball you want to
17:58
Speaker 1: be playing. But then when you go out there and
17:59
Speaker 1: you're aces on the mound for the night cap, you're dragon,
18:02
Speaker 1: you're tired, it's travel day, You've already been on the
18:05
Speaker 1: road for a week. He gives up a five spot
18:07
Speaker 1: in the first Most teams are like, okay, deflated balloon.
18:10
Speaker 2: This sucks. We're gonna get our butts kicked and you know,
18:13
Speaker 2: lose the series.
18:14
Speaker 1: Right, And when I was woke up from my flight,
18:18
Speaker 1: I saw it was nine to seven, and I said, why,
18:21
Speaker 1: am I surprised?
18:22
Speaker 3: Why?
18:23
Speaker 2: Am I surprised to see that they erased that deficit
18:25
Speaker 2: and came all the way back and are leading because
18:27
Speaker 2: it's shown that tenacity and their ability to fight all
18:29
Speaker 2: season long. In April, they weren't coming out on the
18:32
Speaker 2: winning ends of it.
18:33
Speaker 1: Right, we know this, We know how many close knit
18:35
Speaker 1: ball games one run two run leads they were not
18:37
Speaker 1: able to overcome, but they were always in it. In May,
18:40
Speaker 1: they're finding out ways to not only be in it.
18:42
Speaker 2: But win those games. And when you are a team that.
18:46
Speaker 1: Can erase a five run deficit or four run deficit,
18:48
Speaker 1: excuse me the first, and can go out there and say, okay,
18:53
Speaker 1: so we got smacked around, but we have eight Inm's
18:55
Speaker 1: to chip away. Is not the first time we've seen
18:57
Speaker 1: the Cardinals do that. That to me is the sign
18:59
Speaker 1: of a lineup that and more importantly, the sign of
19:02
Speaker 1: a clubhouse that has trust each other and is convicted
19:04
Speaker 1: that they're never really fully out of a game.
19:06
Speaker 3: Right And especially that now that this bullpen is whole,
19:09
Speaker 3: and this bullpen's really really good, that even emboldens the
19:14
Speaker 3: offensive players on this team even more because they know,
19:16
Speaker 3: wait a minute, you know, all due respect to what
19:18
Speaker 3: was gone on, you know that stuff's not happening anymore.
19:21
Speaker 3: We got a really good pen. So not that they
19:24
Speaker 3: were going to give up on games, but now they
19:26
Speaker 3: have an extra extra motivation to fight. And one other
19:29
Speaker 3: thing I want to throw in because I mean, I'm
19:32
Speaker 3: sort of like the unofficial chairman of the von Herrera
19:36
Speaker 3: Fan Club, and I left him out of the rising
19:38
Speaker 3: Star category. You know, you know me with numbers. I
19:40
Speaker 3: was looking looking up something today. First of all, since
19:43
Speaker 3: he's been back, it's like, what, oh, you missed thirty games.
19:46
Speaker 3: You come back and it's like, oh, no problem, I'm
19:48
Speaker 3: going to hit four hundred and just hit line drives
19:51
Speaker 3: all over the place. Oh, I'll draw. I'll also draw walks,
19:54
Speaker 3: you know, I'll just I mean, the guy's just sick,
19:57
Speaker 3: all right. Since the start of last season, among major
20:00
Speaker 3: league hitters that have three hundred plate appearances of more,
20:04
Speaker 3: whether you want to use WRC plus waiter runs Greade plus,
20:07
Speaker 3: or you want to use OPS plus, he's the second
20:09
Speaker 3: best hitter in the major leagues. Wow, seriously, based on
20:13
Speaker 3: the number. Just based on those two metrics, the only
20:16
Speaker 3: guy that's been better over that time again minimum three
20:19
Speaker 3: hundred plate appearances, has been Marcelo Zuna. Herrera is like,
20:24
Speaker 3: it's scary to think how great a hitter this guy's
20:27
Speaker 3: going to because he's pretty great now. And I hate
20:30
Speaker 3: to say this, shame on me, but I was telling
20:33
Speaker 3: a friend that just in terms of a like physical presence,
20:38
Speaker 3: body type, kind of like an attitude, a good attitude,
20:42
Speaker 3: just a persona. I hate myself for saying this, but
20:50
Speaker 3: I haven't seen a young player of that size and persona.
20:54
Speaker 3: He reminds me of a guy I saw for the
20:57
Speaker 3: first time in two thousand and one. Now that guy,
21:00
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna say his name. People have to figure
21:02
Speaker 3: that out. Yeah, you know, but I'm not saying that
21:06
Speaker 3: her era is gonna have that kind of career. I'm
21:08
Speaker 3: not saying it, but just in terms of the persona,
21:11
Speaker 3: the physical power, the confidence, you know, smart play, knows
21:16
Speaker 3: how to take walks, not afraid to take walks. He's
21:18
Speaker 3: not swinging and everything. He's just a smart, smart guy.
21:22
Speaker 3: He reminds me of a young guy I saw twenty
21:26
Speaker 3: five years ago. Basically, yeah, he does. I won't say
21:30
Speaker 3: his name because that's too much. I don't want to
21:32
Speaker 3: put that on him. Like when the old man here says,
21:35
Speaker 3: you know, his kid reminds me of somebody that's and
21:40
Speaker 3: I don't say that lightly. I don't say that lightly. Again,
21:44
Speaker 3: not gonna. I'm not saying he's gonna have that kind
21:46
Speaker 3: of career because nobody is. But anyways, go ahead, I'm sorry.
21:49
Speaker 2: It's a big comparison. To make.
21:51
Speaker 1: But I think when you're looking at when the Cardinals
21:52
Speaker 1: are just how they've developed hitters in general, it's been
21:56
Speaker 1: a long time since they've had a homegrown talent look
21:58
Speaker 1: like von Herrera does right now, and that's what's encouraging.
22:02
Speaker 2: Now.
22:02
Speaker 1: Hopefully he can stay healthy and they got to figure
22:04
Speaker 1: out what this catching DH split is going to be.
22:05
Speaker 1: They don't necessarily have the luxury of having another DH,
22:09
Speaker 1: but for right now it's working. They're facing a ton
22:11
Speaker 1: of lefties, So run him out there as DH as
22:13
Speaker 1: much as you can. And when you have to make
22:14
Speaker 1: a decision about your catching, just like playing time, we
22:18
Speaker 1: go back to that. But right now he's he's transformed
22:22
Speaker 1: the lineup with his bat.
22:23
Speaker 3: Now he has also for a big man, he runs
22:26
Speaker 3: very well and see see my thing real quick. I
22:28
Speaker 3: don't want to see him catch, you know, because I
22:31
Speaker 3: don't want to see him get beat up. What's the
22:33
Speaker 3: point of that. You're really gonna need as bad, especially
22:36
Speaker 3: Walker and Gorman, don't you know pick it up like
22:39
Speaker 3: he's going to be a guy, an X factor who
22:41
Speaker 3: can really fill in a lot of that offense. I
22:43
Speaker 3: don't want to see him getting beat up behind the plate.
22:45
Speaker 3: You know, he's just a natural born hitter. He's great
22:49
Speaker 3: at it. Which is it to say that, Yeah, they're
22:52
Speaker 3: crazy to not give up on him a catcher, But
22:54
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, you know, given they have to me,
22:57
Speaker 3: they have you optimize your offence by making him the DH.
23:01
Speaker 3: You optimize your defense by having not not just pies
23:04
Speaker 3: but also poso as catchers. So both areas are stronger
23:09
Speaker 3: if you primarily use of her ADH.
23:14
Speaker 1: And I think we might see that just depending on
23:17
Speaker 1: how the trajuctory is over the next few weeks of
23:19
Speaker 1: Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker. Look, but that is a
23:22
Speaker 1: conversation for another time. We have one more segment for
23:24
Speaker 1: you all, But first a message from HelloFresh.
23:26
Speaker 4: Hey f T Fam. Hello Fresh As America's hey f
23:30
Speaker 4: T Fam. Hello Fresh as America's number one meal kit cam.
23:33
Speaker 4: Because we're busy and we would like all of the
23:35
Speaker 4: ingredients to cook up something nice and make us look
23:38
Speaker 4: like elite chefs at home.
23:41
Speaker 2: You know what I do.
23:42
Speaker 6: I've got kids in basketball, I've got soccer, I've got
23:45
Speaker 6: best I've got baseball, And when they get home there's
23:48
Speaker 6: a fresh meal and they think, oh dad, he's so great. Well, no,
23:51
Speaker 6: it's not me. It's Hello Fresh. It's nutritious, it's it's
23:55
Speaker 6: packed full of good nutrients. The kids have good energy
23:58
Speaker 6: and they look at me like I'm the greatest dad
23:59
Speaker 6: in the world. So make sure you go grab that
24:01
Speaker 6: Hello Frish, because you know what is doing my family all.
24:04
Speaker 4: The good cookup dishes like chicken dijon and pecon crusted trout,
24:09
Speaker 4: over one hundred seasonal snacks, sides and treats as well.
24:12
Speaker 4: Feel great with meals that fit your spring schedule and
24:14
Speaker 4: make the season even more delicious. Go to HelloFresh dot
24:17
Speaker 4: com slash ft ten FM now to get ten free
24:21
Speaker 4: meals with a free item for life one per box
24:24
Speaker 4: with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first
24:27
Speaker 4: box new subscribers only. Varies by plant.
24:31
Speaker 1: All right, so as we look ahead through the rest
24:33
Speaker 1: of May, Cardinals are in Kansas City right now on
24:35
Speaker 1: off day here across the interstate.
24:38
Speaker 2: Three against the Royals.
24:39
Speaker 1: They'll come back for a home stand three against Detroit,
24:42
Speaker 1: three against the Diamondbacks, and then they'll finish the month
24:44
Speaker 1: with four against the Orioles and three against the Rangers.
24:47
Speaker 2: That is off the top of my head. Please clap
24:49
Speaker 2: for me.
24:50
Speaker 3: Good job. Okay, yeah, great job.
24:53
Speaker 1: And I think that's a good mix of different kind
24:55
Speaker 1: of teams at different kind of levels. And I think
24:58
Speaker 1: over the next two weeks, if the what do you
25:00
Speaker 1: have to see from the Cardinals to convince yourself that
25:03
Speaker 1: this is real? Bernie, you are a little more optimistic
25:06
Speaker 1: than I am, but go ahead.
25:07
Speaker 3: Well no, I well, listen, I think it's unfair to
25:11
Speaker 3: expect the bullpen to perform exactly the way they have
25:13
Speaker 3: since April the twenty fifth, when the remodel kicked in.
25:17
Speaker 2: Right, they didn't allow run forever.
25:18
Speaker 3: Basically, Yeah, I mean, they're just sick. But I think,
25:21
Speaker 3: but I think, I still think they can be a
25:23
Speaker 3: high level bullpen. They have depth there. We've seen guys
25:26
Speaker 3: come up from the minor leagues and do really well,
25:28
Speaker 3: so I mean, I think they have a pretty good depth.
25:33
Speaker 3: I'm kind of I'm with you. I'm with you. In
25:35
Speaker 3: terms of the rotation. I like the rotation. I think
25:38
Speaker 3: it's it's good, it's solid, but there's not a lot
25:42
Speaker 3: of depth. And I know that Michael McGreevey is down
25:45
Speaker 3: at triple A. I get it. But Quinn, you know,
25:47
Speaker 3: Quinn Matthews isn't ready, not that they were counting on
25:53
Speaker 3: you know, Tank Cancer or Cooper Europe or Sam Robbers
25:57
Speaker 3: say I say all their names wrong. You know those
26:00
Speaker 3: guys are hurt. They're just complete non factor. Oh Matthews
26:03
Speaker 3: might be a factor late in the season. There's just
26:05
Speaker 3: not a lot. There's not a lot to lean on
26:07
Speaker 3: if there's a problem. Although you know they could fool
26:10
Speaker 3: around with some stuff. But again, I do worry about
26:12
Speaker 3: the starting pitching depth. With all due respect to McGreevy,
26:16
Speaker 3: he's just one guy. Suppose they have a couple of things.
26:19
Speaker 3: They have a couple guys and there's somebody I don't
26:21
Speaker 3: I really never want to see anybody get injured. But
26:23
Speaker 3: suppose that happens, you know, then all of a sudden,
26:27
Speaker 3: you're pretty vulnerable. Can Can as much as we all
26:30
Speaker 3: love the libatory pitching, you know, what's he going to
26:34
Speaker 3: look like in after the All Star break? You know
26:37
Speaker 3: he hasn't had innings like this in a long time.
26:39
Speaker 3: Polante's kind of been up and down. I just don't know.
26:43
Speaker 3: Sonny Gray way too many home runs again, dude, I
26:46
Speaker 3: mean it's like, you know, Michael is really good, but again,
26:52
Speaker 3: can you count on him like to have a two
26:55
Speaker 3: five sixths or whatever it is era over six starts
26:58
Speaker 3: over and over again the way he's done, and maybe
27:00
Speaker 3: it was a two eighty ninety or a you know
27:02
Speaker 3: that you're sort of you're sort of getting house money
27:05
Speaker 3: stuff from him right now. But again, I just don't know.
27:09
Speaker 3: I just don't know if that'll hold up. Eric Fetti's
27:12
Speaker 3: been up and down. If he pitches the way he
27:14
Speaker 3: did on this road trip, so far outstanding, but I'm
27:17
Speaker 3: not sure you know how much you can take that
27:19
Speaker 3: to the bank. So yeah, that's the one thing, and
27:22
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought it up, and I really look
27:24
Speaker 3: forward to reading your story, all your stories at the
27:26
Speaker 3: athletic about the rotation still being a little bit of like,
27:30
Speaker 3: I don't know, so I agree with that as much
27:33
Speaker 3: as I like the way they play.
27:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they deserve a lot of credit for
27:36
Speaker 1: being able to pitch to their strengths and being able
27:38
Speaker 1: to post and keep this team in ball games, because
27:41
Speaker 1: I think coming into the season, the rotation was projected
27:44
Speaker 1: to be probably the team's biggest weakness and it's actually
27:47
Speaker 1: been an underrated strength. And I think it's fair again
27:49
Speaker 1: the question can they keep it up. You want to
27:51
Speaker 1: see better numbers from Sunny Gray.
27:52
Speaker 2: Overall, I'm big.
27:54
Speaker 1: On Matthew Libertorre of the inning thing as a concern,
27:56
Speaker 1: it's been a very long time since he performed as
27:59
Speaker 1: a starting pick for an entire season. But honestly, if
28:02
Speaker 1: there's one picture that I could choose to where I
28:05
Speaker 1: think think they'd be okay, I think.
28:07
Speaker 2: It would be Libby.
28:07
Speaker 1: I just think he's got something really special going on
28:09
Speaker 1: this season, and I enjoy every Libby start day.
28:13
Speaker 2: Polante is progressing, It's getting there, you know, a little bit.
28:16
Speaker 1: You'd like to see a little bit more swing and
28:18
Speaker 1: miss from him, but he's never been that type of picture.
28:21
Speaker 1: So to come out here and expect him to be
28:22
Speaker 1: that and completely change his arsenal, that's not going to
28:25
Speaker 1: happen overnight, and.
28:26
Speaker 2: The Cardinals aren't expecting that too. Might's done a nice job.
28:29
Speaker 1: You wonder if that's sustainable and Fetti, you know, just
28:32
Speaker 1: cut down the walks and he's been serviceable. So if
28:34
Speaker 1: you have a rotation of mostly serviceable guys most teams
28:38
Speaker 1: in baseball around you know what the Cardinals are trying
28:40
Speaker 1: to do, which was play consistent balld If he's staying
28:42
Speaker 1: in their division.
28:43
Speaker 2: They don't have that, of course the powerhouses do.
28:45
Speaker 1: But even when they do, look at the Dodgers, who
28:47
Speaker 1: had like every single picture no man and are still
28:50
Speaker 1: scrambling for depth.
28:52
Speaker 2: It just goes to show.
28:53
Speaker 1: Like how intentional Ollie Marvel and Dusty Blake were with
28:56
Speaker 1: this six man hybrid schedule, six six game schedule. Intentional
29:00
Speaker 1: they were in April was for a reason because it's
29:02
Speaker 1: led to some really good success from the starting pitching.
29:05
Speaker 1: If they can keep that up through the month of May,
29:06
Speaker 1: you might be able to label me a Cardinals believer.
29:08
Speaker 2: But we will see.
29:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I want to tie up a loose end.
29:11
Speaker 3: You know, if they would have some injury issues, Matts
29:14
Speaker 3: could Matts could also you know, obviously pivot to the rotation,
29:18
Speaker 3: so you would have Matts mcgrievy. So it's probably not
29:19
Speaker 3: as bad as I then.
29:21
Speaker 1: Having back the bullpen because what Matt's is valuable and
29:24
Speaker 1: invaluable as well.
29:25
Speaker 3: I know that that would that would eat up some
29:27
Speaker 3: of your depth there. But I'm really encouraged by, you know,
29:30
Speaker 3: a lot of what we've seen and I did. I
29:32
Speaker 3: do think that Dusty Blake fixed Romero pretty good with
29:35
Speaker 3: finding a tweaking his flaw and his delivery. You know,
29:39
Speaker 3: he's throwing harder, he looks better. So yeah, I think
29:43
Speaker 3: their run prevention because of this defense. And I think
29:46
Speaker 3: all their pitchers are pretty smart too, they're starting pitchers,
29:50
Speaker 3: So I think that defense is kind of what we
29:53
Speaker 3: talked about already. I think they have their back and
29:56
Speaker 3: that's a reassuring thing. I yeah, this could get this
29:59
Speaker 3: with this voitation, unless it's one of Sonny Gray's, you know,
30:03
Speaker 3: nine to ten strikeout games or Libby's rowing them down.
30:07
Speaker 3: I can't. I mean, I cringe to think of what
30:10
Speaker 3: a bad defense with this pitching staff the eras would be.
30:13
Speaker 3: With a really bad defense like twenty twenty three, it
30:16
Speaker 3: would be pretty ugly.
30:17
Speaker 2: Well, thankfully we haven't had to see that yet. Before
30:21
Speaker 2: we go, I would like to admit that I severely
30:24
Speaker 2: overestimated my cheesteak eating ability. I had just two and
30:27
Speaker 2: a half.
30:27
Speaker 3: But the.
30:29
Speaker 2: Reputation of the Visiting Clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park having
30:32
Speaker 2: the best cheese steaks in Philadelphia, I can attest to
30:35
Speaker 2: that that was. Here's how good it was. I posted
30:39
Speaker 2: just a photo of Chip.
30:41
Speaker 1: Mark Sweeney and I holding our cheese steaks on my
30:43
Speaker 1: Instagram story and why did that picture get more likes
30:46
Speaker 1: than my last selfie? So if the goodness is we
30:50
Speaker 1: need to talk about that, let's be better Instagram followers.
30:54
Speaker 1: If the goodness transcends the screen, that's how you know
30:56
Speaker 1: it's a good cheese steak. But shout out to Chris
30:58
Speaker 1: Roycroft who eight eight and a half cheese steaks and
31:02
Speaker 1: they're like a foot long eight and half cheese steaks
31:05
Speaker 1: in two days because they were not at the ballpark
31:07
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and we probably.
31:09
Speaker 3: He probably went down there anyway. Yeah, go to one up.
31:13
Speaker 2: He won a thousand dollars. There was a running vet
31:15
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse.
31:16
Speaker 1: Whoever ate the most cheese steaks during the series won
31:18
Speaker 1: a grand and Chris Roycroft the winner, and from what
31:21
Speaker 1: I heard, no one was even close, So congrats he.
31:26
Speaker 3: I wonder I wonder if he lost any of that
31:28
Speaker 3: in the Red Beard there. I have no idea, but
31:31
Speaker 3: I like cheese cheese steak droppings. Yeah, I don't know.
31:34
Speaker 1: First game, so that must have helped, right because at
31:37
Speaker 1: the second game, we don't have anything like what you're
31:39
Speaker 1: not pitching, so you could just go out and hammer
31:41
Speaker 1: cheese steaks.
31:41
Speaker 2: What a life. I want to be a reliever so bad,
31:43
Speaker 2: you know.
31:44
Speaker 3: If the one one thing before we go, because I
31:46
Speaker 3: know you're in a tight fit, you know, I do
31:48
Speaker 3: want to say this next time, you know, maybe we
31:50
Speaker 3: can leave some room, especially if the Cardinals are winning.
31:52
Speaker 3: But it's not like I'm going to turn on Ali
31:54
Speaker 3: Marble if they have a bad series too. I don't
31:57
Speaker 3: think he's getting enough. And I've been critical of Oli,
31:59
Speaker 3: don't get me wrong. I don't have to state I
32:01
Speaker 3: don't think he's getting enough credit for the job he's
32:03
Speaker 3: done so far. I think he and the whole coaching
32:05
Speaker 3: staff too. But you can't talk about Ali and act
32:09
Speaker 3: like the coaching staff. They're propping him up. Ali. Those
32:13
Speaker 3: guys wanted to work for Ali. Ali went out and
32:15
Speaker 3: recruited those guys, and he gave him autonomy, He gave
32:18
Speaker 3: him power, He welcomes dissenting opinions. They work great together.
32:23
Speaker 3: I don't think they're enough enough. Praise is gone his way,
32:27
Speaker 3: and if they continue to win, my question, the Cardinals
32:31
Speaker 3: fans would be the one the ones that still like
32:34
Speaker 3: just don't like him or think he's bad. It's like, well,
32:37
Speaker 3: what you know, what what is it? Going to take
32:38
Speaker 3: for you to actually say, yeah, he's done a good
32:40
Speaker 3: job or is this something personal You'll never forgive him.
32:44
Speaker 1: Answer that, Bernie. You know, if you have nobody cares
32:47
Speaker 1: about the manager. If you're losing balls, everyone hates the manager.
32:50
Speaker 1: That's just what you said up for it when you're amazing,
32:52
Speaker 1: fair or not. But it's a great topic for next episode. Uh,
32:55
Speaker 1: because I actually do tend to agree with you, But
32:58
Speaker 1: if I say that too loudly, I'm just kidding.
33:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think he deserves.
33:03
Speaker 1: Some credit here too, and we'll see how the series
33:05
Speaker 1: goes against the Royals. Worlds are playing some good baseball.
33:07
Speaker 1: Cardinals are playing some good baseball as well. So another
33:09
Speaker 1: good weekend of good ball in the I seventy series.
33:14
Speaker 1: We'll be back with you to preview it or to
33:16
Speaker 1: summarize it after the weekend. Stephen mattch jumping on the
33:19
Speaker 1: show in the near future, so that's super exciting. He'll
33:21
Speaker 1: be our next player interview, and we have some fun
33:23
Speaker 1: things in the works as well. But I got to
33:26
Speaker 1: run because I am rapidly running out of time to
33:29
Speaker 1: hit my deadline story right for Bernie, I'm Katie. Thanks
33:33
Speaker 1: for mutching cardinal territory. We will see you next week.