Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Cardinals win Phillies series, but lose Masyn Winn to the IL. What's the plan at shortstop?

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Cardinals win Phillies series, but lose Masyn Winn to the IL. What's the plan at shortstop? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: The Saint Louis Cardinals big series win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
0:09
Speaker 1: They capped off the rubber match on Sunday with the
0:11
Speaker 1: convincing seven oh shutout. Wilson Contreras, Homer, Jordan Walker did
0:15
Speaker 1: the same. Matthew Libertore was excellent, and we're here to
0:18
Speaker 1: break it down for you. Welcome back to Cardinals territory.
0:21
Speaker 1: I am Katie Wu back with Bernie Nicholas again. Bernie,
0:24
Speaker 1: it was I'm not sure that I would have thought
0:26
Speaker 1: a series win was on the horizon after giving how
0:30
Speaker 1: the Cardinals ended their road trip.
0:31
Speaker 2: But hey, I guess I don't know ball because here
0:33
Speaker 2: we have one.
0:34
Speaker 3: Well long season. They anything can happened. But you know,
0:37
Speaker 3: they hadn't beaten the Phillies in a season since twenty seventeen.
0:40
Speaker 3: I know a lot of those players weren't part of
0:42
Speaker 3: those teams, but I mean, they've just got smoked by
0:44
Speaker 3: the Phillies. And then the Phillies coming to town. They
0:47
Speaker 3: have no pitching on Friday and then Dak Wheeler on
0:49
Speaker 3: Sunday and they lose both games. And I got to thinking,
0:53
Speaker 3: because I got to think about what the right in
0:54
Speaker 3: the morning, and it's like it's kind of like, oh,
0:57
Speaker 3: those wacky Cardinals. You just never know what to expect
1:01
Speaker 3: from them. Like when you think they're gonna be good,
1:04
Speaker 3: like against the Pirates, they're not good. You know. When
1:07
Speaker 3: you think when you think they're gonna get rolled over
1:09
Speaker 3: by the Phillies, They're like, no, we're we're gonna beat
1:12
Speaker 3: Nolan and we're gonna beat Wheeler. And the crazy thing
1:15
Speaker 3: about this team is the games they've lost, a lot
1:18
Speaker 3: of them have been to kind of just running the
1:20
Speaker 3: mills starting pitchers. But you know, they've beaten Pablo Lopez,
1:25
Speaker 3: They've beaten Paul Skeyens, They've beaten Aaron Nola, They've beaten
1:29
Speaker 3: Zech Wheeler. It's like, scratch my head, go figure, I can't.
1:33
Speaker 3: I don't figure. I can't figure these guys out. Sometimes
1:35
Speaker 3: I guess that's a good thing. They keep it interesting.
1:38
Speaker 1: They certainly keep it interesting. And I, like, you have
1:41
Speaker 1: no idea what I'm watching every day. I just show
1:43
Speaker 1: up and I'm here to enjoy.
1:45
Speaker 2: But I did thought.
1:46
Speaker 1: I thought that we saw some really a well pitched
1:49
Speaker 1: series across the board. And I thought you saw three
1:51
Speaker 1: starters from the Cardinals under Plante, Miles Michaelis and Matthew
1:55
Speaker 1: Libertre who needed to take some steps forward or at
1:57
Speaker 1: least show some progress, all in different ways, all for
2:00
Speaker 1: different reasons, and they did exactly that. And the Athletic
2:03
Speaker 1: tomorrow will have a breakdown of how all three starts
2:05
Speaker 1: from Polonte, Michaelis and Libertore helped the Cardinals lock up
2:08
Speaker 1: that big series win over the Phillies.
2:10
Speaker 2: Look, that's a tough those team.
2:12
Speaker 1: They can hit, and given that matchup of Nola, Sanchez Wheeler,
2:18
Speaker 1: I thought this could have gotten ugly Bush Jadium. But
2:20
Speaker 1: to shut out the Phillies, not once but twice. What
2:23
Speaker 1: nice job from that pitching staff.
2:25
Speaker 3: The Cardinals two least experienced starting pitchers, Andrea Polante and
2:29
Speaker 3: Matthew Libertor, are not in that order. Libby's the youngest,
2:32
Speaker 3: but anyway, in chronological order, so Aaron so Andre Polante
2:37
Speaker 3: is the second youngest Cardinals starter. He clearly out pitched
2:40
Speaker 3: Aaron Nola the other night, and Aaron Nola was really good.
2:43
Speaker 3: And then libittor, Wow, what a performance on Sunday and
2:47
Speaker 3: he outpitch Sack Wheeler. Who's what is he a top
2:49
Speaker 3: five starter in the Major League Baseball? I think he is,
2:53
Speaker 3: That's what I mean, see, those things are really good signs.
2:56
Speaker 3: And I think the Cardinals like their second time through
2:58
Speaker 3: the rotation this year was awful. The RA was over
3:01
Speaker 3: ten the first time through. It was good, second time
3:05
Speaker 3: a disaster. Third time through, I think it was a
3:08
Speaker 3: one twenty seven or one twenty ninety RA. Their starters
3:12
Speaker 3: only allowed four runs and three were given up by Michaels,
3:15
Speaker 3: which means the other four guys gave up one run
3:17
Speaker 3: between them. I mean, once again, it's like, go figure.
3:21
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I don't. I don't rule out that
3:24
Speaker 3: they'll get some good starts, but that good. I mean so,
3:28
Speaker 3: I guess we could say, Katie, the consistency will be
3:31
Speaker 3: the big question because we have seen what they're capable
3:34
Speaker 3: of doing on both sides of the ball, as they
3:37
Speaker 3: say in football, right, I mean, we've seen them pitch
3:39
Speaker 3: at a high level. We've seen them hit at a
3:41
Speaker 3: high level. Then one one area kind of recedes and
3:45
Speaker 3: the other one sort of goes up. It's kind of
3:48
Speaker 3: fun to watch, but they're they're nuts. I mean, I
3:53
Speaker 3: just they've got a kind of identity that sort of
3:56
Speaker 3: swerves all over the place. I like watching the team, though.
4:00
Speaker 1: It's definitely an interesting team to watch, and I feel
4:02
Speaker 1: like this is going to be a maddening season in
4:05
Speaker 1: terms of not that the product is an enjoyable I've actually,
4:08
Speaker 1: over the first fifteen games, found this to be a
4:09
Speaker 1: very enjoyable product to watch. I think it's just the consistency.
4:14
Speaker 1: I think that's the perfect word to describe it. I
4:15
Speaker 1: think they're going to have some highs and they're going
4:17
Speaker 1: to be some lows. And this is a team that's
4:20
Speaker 1: balancing winning and development simultaneously, which means they're going to
4:23
Speaker 1: have games that they win and they're gonna have games
4:25
Speaker 1: that they lose. And either way it's you know, oh
4:27
Speaker 1: we're developing, or oh we need to win. And I
4:30
Speaker 1: think that's the exhausting part. But all things considered, after
4:33
Speaker 1: fifteen games, the Cardinals are seven and eight. They're right
4:36
Speaker 1: about where I thought they'd be to start the season.
4:37
Speaker 1: I didn't expect it to be so many hills. But
4:40
Speaker 1: if that's the way that this Cardinals team is going
4:42
Speaker 1: to play out over the season, at least we will
4:44
Speaker 1: not be bored.
4:46
Speaker 3: And I want to ask you something because you were
4:48
Speaker 3: obviously down there and you were talking to the pitchers,
4:51
Speaker 3: but Matthew Libertor was so impressive today, so impressive, and
4:55
Speaker 3: I have actually liked him at all three starts, even
4:58
Speaker 3: though maybe the you know, they arn't run weren't good.
5:01
Speaker 3: But I'm just the way he went at it, the
5:03
Speaker 3: way he went at it, like his aggressive mindset, and
5:06
Speaker 3: you could see his confidence growing at each start. But
5:08
Speaker 3: today the dude was just in charge. And as you
5:12
Speaker 3: mentioned a minute ago, the Phillies have some great bats
5:15
Speaker 3: in that lineup, and the dude was just in charge.
5:18
Speaker 3: It was just like, you know, no, no, no, no, no,
5:21
Speaker 3: there'll be none of that. Today I got this one.
5:23
Speaker 3: And the way he was painting the outside corner with
5:27
Speaker 3: strikes like all three or four pitches, but his three
5:31
Speaker 3: primary pitches, he was just painting the outside corner. He
5:34
Speaker 3: was putting it out of reach. That was just a wonderful,
5:37
Speaker 3: wonderful thing to see because I, like you, I have
5:39
Speaker 3: really felt for this guy because of the yo yo
5:41
Speaker 3: they put him on and he never knew he was
5:43
Speaker 3: a starting relieving And I want to ask you a question,
5:46
Speaker 3: how much is this just the fact that they, for
5:48
Speaker 3: the first time ever, they've said to him, in effect,
5:51
Speaker 3: you're in the rotation, we believe in you go get them.
5:54
Speaker 1: I think it's huge, and that's part of the reason
5:56
Speaker 1: they're doing this the way that they are. It's part
5:58
Speaker 1: of the reason. When one of the Cardinals camp and
6:00
Speaker 1: Allie Marmal said, Matthew Libertore is our fifth starter, he
6:03
Speaker 1: was adamant. He doubled down and said, this is not
6:06
Speaker 1: a spot start opportunity. This is not something where we
6:08
Speaker 1: throw him in there for a month and reevaluate. We
6:10
Speaker 1: are going to give him the chance to be a
6:11
Speaker 1: legitimate starter where he's not questioning his role. He's not
6:14
Speaker 1: questioning if he's going to go back down to Memphis
6:16
Speaker 1: after a bad start. We're giving him the runway. If
6:19
Speaker 1: he struggles, he's going to have the opportunity to pitch
6:22
Speaker 1: through it. And talking to Livy, that was the exact
6:24
Speaker 1: question I asked him today postgame, was how does clarity
6:27
Speaker 1: about your role really help you and continue to help
6:30
Speaker 1: your grow and your progression. And he says, you know,
6:32
Speaker 1: it's allowed him to completely reevaluate how he does his processes, how.
6:36
Speaker 2: He prepares for starts.
6:37
Speaker 1: He said, now that I have a more clear runway
6:39
Speaker 1: of what I'm doing, everything else is then much easier
6:42
Speaker 1: to fall into place and to game plan and that
6:44
Speaker 1: just just wonders for guys like this, and in a
6:46
Speaker 1: season like this transitioneer that Saint Louis has said is happening,
6:50
Speaker 1: this is the exact time to try this out with
6:52
Speaker 1: Matthew Libertorre. I understand the reluctance at first, maybe from
6:55
Speaker 1: the fan perspective because he was so effective in that relief.
6:58
Speaker 2: Role in twenty twenty four.
7:00
Speaker 1: But if you are trying to figure out who is
7:02
Speaker 1: on your roster and who you can build around given
7:04
Speaker 1: the astronomically high prices of starting pitching, if you believe
7:08
Speaker 1: that you have someone in your organization that can pitch
7:11
Speaker 1: as a starter at the major league level right now,
7:14
Speaker 1: you need to see what you have in him and
7:16
Speaker 1: if that is a legitimate reality, and it's worth three
7:19
Speaker 1: starts in. I've been encouraged, but a lot of season
7:22
Speaker 1: to go. But again, this is exactly the type of
7:24
Speaker 1: decisions you should be making for the Cardinals in this
7:26
Speaker 1: transition year. And I really like the early returns on
7:29
Speaker 1: Matthew Liberture so far. I think he's really helped by
7:32
Speaker 1: understanding and having a clear usage and a clear plan.
7:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's so important that he establishes himself as
7:39
Speaker 3: a starter for twenty twenty six, where the Cardinals go
7:42
Speaker 3: into laten the season and start looking ahead to next
7:45
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Libby's in. What's so we got him there?
7:47
Speaker 3: See and you mentioned it. The cost starting pitching is ridiculous.
7:51
Speaker 3: The Cardinals have not developed enough of their own, not
7:53
Speaker 3: not even close. It's been pretty much a drought. But
7:57
Speaker 3: you can always find relievers, and so I know Libby's
8:00
Speaker 3: been was effective in the bullpen, but you can always
8:03
Speaker 3: find those guys. My goodness, the Cardinals found a gem
8:06
Speaker 3: in film Meyton. Oh and I'm exaggerating intentionally, but they
8:11
Speaker 3: signed him like five hours before the season started, you know.
8:14
Speaker 3: And they're always out there, and you can always take
8:18
Speaker 3: guys you have in your own system and convert them
8:21
Speaker 3: to relievers like at Tocoo Robie for example. I'm not
8:24
Speaker 3: saying I'm just offering hypotheticals guys like that. They have
8:27
Speaker 3: some guys in the miners that they can plug in
8:29
Speaker 3: I think later in the season. So no to establish
8:32
Speaker 3: a Libertore if they can as a guy that's a
8:36
Speaker 3: definite piece of the rotation next year. That's exactly what
8:40
Speaker 3: a Runway season supposed to be about, and that would
8:42
Speaker 3: be a really big check mark on sort of things
8:46
Speaker 3: to do in the off season. They'd already done it
8:48
Speaker 3: if he's going to be one of their starters in
8:50
Speaker 3: twenty six I.
8:51
Speaker 1: Couldn't agree with you more, Bernie, and there's a couple
8:53
Speaker 1: more pitchers. I would like to have it a little
8:55
Speaker 1: bit more of Polante and michaelis first, though. Let's hear
8:57
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10:16
Speaker 1: All right, back to it, But before we talk about
10:19
Speaker 1: Michaels and Polante, Bernie, where did you get that hat?
10:21
Speaker 2: I want it?
10:23
Speaker 3: You know, I was wondering if you'd notice that because
10:25
Speaker 3: we determined a couple of videos back that we were
10:27
Speaker 3: both cat fans, huge cat fans, right, all right? This
10:31
Speaker 3: was actually a cat born by a minor league baseball
10:34
Speaker 3: team in Kansas City. They were called the Kansas City
10:36
Speaker 3: Cats Katz. Now why that spelling of the name, It's
10:42
Speaker 3: because they the owner owned a chain of family owned
10:46
Speaker 3: business a chain of drug stores in the Kansas City area,
10:49
Speaker 3: Cats Drugs or Cat's Pharmacy, whatever it is, and he
10:52
Speaker 3: he the family also owned this minor league team, and
10:55
Speaker 3: I think there's another one in Chicago or something. But anyway,
10:58
Speaker 3: I don't know if I should plug those sight or
11:00
Speaker 3: not let them. They can pay for some time here
11:02
Speaker 3: one Felt Territory in Cardinal Territory. But no, uh, there's
11:07
Speaker 3: a site that's got all all of these replica classic hats.
11:11
Speaker 3: Some of them are like really obscure, like this. I
11:14
Speaker 3: just love that stuff. But when I saw that, I
11:16
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, right off, we have we have five cats,
11:20
Speaker 3: and we keep rescuing him, and yeah, I'm gonna I'm
11:22
Speaker 3: gonna wear this proudly.
11:23
Speaker 2: Right I can hear my cat.
11:25
Speaker 1: She's so mad at me right now because I came home,
11:27
Speaker 1: I went to Bush, did the game, went out to
11:30
Speaker 1: Marylin Heights to do Channel four for their Sunday Sports show,
11:33
Speaker 1: walked in my door, threw my purse down, picked her up,
11:35
Speaker 1: and put her in my room up and started this podcast.
11:38
Speaker 2: And she is mad. She wants attention, but she's gonna
11:41
Speaker 2: have to wait.
11:42
Speaker 3: So you'll make up for it.
11:44
Speaker 2: Make Yeah, we'll talk.
11:46
Speaker 1: Let's talk briefly about the jobs that Andre Polante did
11:49
Speaker 1: and Miles michaelis as well. Polante, that's seven innings, two hits,
11:54
Speaker 1: four strikeouts. It was by no means his ideal situation.
11:59
Speaker 1: Mason Winley in the first inning with back spasms. We'll
12:01
Speaker 1: have more on that later in the show. And all
12:03
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you have your ideal infield alignment of
12:07
Speaker 1: Thomas de jac and Pedro Pajes at shortstop in second base,
12:11
Speaker 1: and Polante is now throwing to a catcher Joel Poso,
12:15
Speaker 1: who he has never worked with before, and this all
12:17
Speaker 1: takes place over the course of an inning change. Brendan
12:21
Speaker 1: Donovan probably the first and last time we'll see him
12:23
Speaker 1: at DH and talking to Alie this morning, you know,
12:26
Speaker 1: a couple of days had passed and they'd won the game,
12:27
Speaker 1: so we're allowed to make fun of him. Sat down
12:30
Speaker 1: in the chair and I was like, so, first and
12:32
Speaker 1: last time you make Donna your.
12:34
Speaker 2: DH, right, and he just gave me the slogans shut up.
12:36
Speaker 1: But like the method behind that was coming off the
12:39
Speaker 1: scheduled off day was to give Donnie a day and
12:42
Speaker 1: a half of rest, right, Otherwise we'd have never seen
12:45
Speaker 1: that and just so happened to be the time that
12:47
Speaker 1: Mason win gets pulled after, you know, the third out
12:50
Speaker 1: of the game.
12:50
Speaker 2: So Polonte.
12:52
Speaker 1: The reason that they just didn't put Donovan in at
12:56
Speaker 1: short was because they would have lost a DH and
12:57
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you have Polonte hitting. You
13:00
Speaker 1: don't want that he had. I don't think he's taken
13:01
Speaker 1: in bat since twenty two, so I thought he did
13:03
Speaker 1: a nice job with all the exterior factors. Nothing ideal
13:07
Speaker 1: about that game, just locking in and pitching.
13:09
Speaker 2: I want to commend that.
13:10
Speaker 1: And then Miles Michaelis, I'm going to get some flak
13:12
Speaker 1: for this. I don't think pitched poorly on Saturday. You know,
13:17
Speaker 1: some calls didn't go asway. That should have been strike
13:19
Speaker 1: three against Kyle Schwarber before the Nick Castiano's double, But
13:22
Speaker 1: that's baseball.
13:23
Speaker 2: I don't want to get too hung up on that.
13:25
Speaker 1: I thought how Michaelis recovered after that, retired twelve straight,
13:28
Speaker 1: struck out five six total on the day, was much
13:32
Speaker 1: more effective with sequencing, with command. He's not necessarily a
13:36
Speaker 1: swing and miss guy, as you know, Bernie, but he
13:38
Speaker 1: certainly has that. I mean he's struck out eight, struck
13:40
Speaker 1: out eight nine guys before.
13:42
Speaker 2: He's just efficient. He prefers the early contact. We contact
13:46
Speaker 2: early in counts.
13:47
Speaker 1: But one thing that they're working on, as you and
13:49
Speaker 1: I both know, is because Miles throws so many strikes
13:53
Speaker 1: and is so continuously in the zone, it's easy to
13:56
Speaker 1: square him up.
13:57
Speaker 2: So when he gets to an O two one two count,
14:00
Speaker 2: he's purposely missing.
14:01
Speaker 1: He's purposely throwing ball something he's never done before in
14:03
Speaker 1: his career, and he's essentially on learning all the things
14:07
Speaker 1: that he learned in his career. That can be hard
14:08
Speaker 1: to do for a thirty six year old veteran. But
14:11
Speaker 1: I thought on Saturday, sure, the line isn't much to
14:14
Speaker 1: write home about three and runs over five Indians. But
14:17
Speaker 1: I thought he pitched really well given what the Cardinals
14:19
Speaker 1: are trying to have him do, and he certainly seemed
14:21
Speaker 1: a lot more confident after the game.
14:23
Speaker 3: Talking to him, Well, I try to be fair, and
14:26
Speaker 3: you know i've been. I've been kind of ruthless. That's
14:31
Speaker 3: too hard on myself, actually, I've been just Hey, the
14:34
Speaker 3: stats are the stats, yeah, and the stats have been
14:36
Speaker 3: horrible for a long time. And you know, when you're
14:39
Speaker 3: down near the bottom, like bottom three in Era since
14:42
Speaker 3: it started twenty twenty three, and you're down at the
14:44
Speaker 3: bottom and like strikeout right, swing at miss rate, that's
14:47
Speaker 3: pretty established that the things you have going for you
14:50
Speaker 3: are not working very well and you're you're not capable
14:53
Speaker 3: of getting throwing pitches by hitters, And you know, if
14:58
Speaker 3: that happens for a month, you say, well, that's just
15:00
Speaker 3: a phase. This this has been going on for two
15:02
Speaker 3: plus years. So to be fair, that was a different
15:05
Speaker 3: guy on Saturday because the swing and miss was there.
15:09
Speaker 3: The strikeouts when he needed him were there. Now can
15:12
Speaker 3: he keep it up? It sounds to me and I
15:14
Speaker 3: can't wait to read your piece in the Athletic tomorrow.
15:16
Speaker 3: It sounds like they have found some things you mentioned sequencing,
15:20
Speaker 3: maybe the way he uses certain pitches depending on counts,
15:23
Speaker 3: and maybe they're trying some different things with him. But
15:26
Speaker 3: I take that. I got to give him credit. That
15:28
Speaker 3: was a good start. I mean, that was a legitimate
15:31
Speaker 3: good start. I'm like you, I don't really care what
15:33
Speaker 3: the line score says or the you know, the pitching
15:35
Speaker 3: line says, because yeah, bad bad balls and strike guy
15:40
Speaker 3: behind the plate the other day. But you know what,
15:42
Speaker 3: but after that, he kind of shut it down. You know,
15:44
Speaker 3: except for maybe one one more run. He kind of
15:47
Speaker 3: shut it down. He overcame it, as you pointed out.
15:49
Speaker 3: So I like the way pitt I'm going to be
15:51
Speaker 3: a little skeptical. And I seen him repeat repeat that
15:54
Speaker 3: a few times.
15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, repeatability is key here.
15:57
Speaker 1: And one thing that I have grown to appreciate about
16:00
Speaker 1: Miles is that he's candid and he's honest about every start.
16:03
Speaker 1: And talking to him on Saturday, he said, you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit more convicted. I feel a
16:06
Speaker 1: little bit more sure of the plan, more confidence, and
16:09
Speaker 1: that really helps. Uh. I'll be interested to see what
16:11
Speaker 1: Miles has to say. He will be a guest next week.
16:14
Speaker 1: I believe that episode will drop Wednesday, so stay tuned.
16:17
Speaker 1: But I think repeatability is key here. I'm not saying, oh,
16:19
Speaker 1: Miles michaelas is fixed because he had one, you know,
16:21
Speaker 1: all things considered, decent start, But in terms of what
16:25
Speaker 1: he's trying to work on with Dusty Blake is incorporating
16:28
Speaker 1: and their and their plan, a lot of steps in
16:30
Speaker 1: the right direction for Miles michaelis.
16:33
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm sorry that I wanted to circle back briefly
16:35
Speaker 3: on one thing. There's a lot of rage, uh, I know,
16:39
Speaker 3: go figure rage on social media. You know, I'm surprised
16:44
Speaker 3: a lot of rage about Donovan being the d H
16:46
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, even in the comment section at
16:48
Speaker 3: the Athletic under your story about the wind injury. Yeah,
16:51
Speaker 3: and I'm you know, Ollie took a risk there, but
16:57
Speaker 3: it's hard to explain. It wasn't something that I was
17:01
Speaker 3: getting all bent out of shape about or just like
17:03
Speaker 3: looking racing racing to x to just start, you know,
17:08
Speaker 3: blasting the guy. You said what needed to be said.
17:12
Speaker 3: He probably won't do that again. I don't blame him
17:15
Speaker 3: for doing at that time. I mean, Mason Win has
17:18
Speaker 3: been indestructible just about and you know they do have
17:22
Speaker 3: Sir j C up here and no one would want
17:25
Speaker 3: to see c j C playing shortstop twenty games in
17:27
Speaker 3: a row. But he did a fine job the other night.
17:30
Speaker 3: So it's one of those things where okay, Olly tried
17:34
Speaker 3: something Donovan d H maybe to give him a little
17:37
Speaker 3: bit of a breather, and lo and behold, Mason Win
17:40
Speaker 3: gets hurt. Did it cost them? Did it cost them
17:44
Speaker 3: the game?
17:44
Speaker 1: No?
17:45
Speaker 3: Did it cost them and he runs in the field. No,
17:48
Speaker 3: So he was resourceful enough to figure out what to
17:51
Speaker 3: do after that. To me, that was impressive. You know,
17:54
Speaker 3: we can question the decision to use him as a DH,
17:56
Speaker 3: but he had contingents. He's lined up in the contingent,
18:00
Speaker 3: he's worked. So what, I'm sorry, what's the problem.
18:03
Speaker 1: The only problem is that we didn't get to see
18:05
Speaker 1: page Pa has turned double play.
18:06
Speaker 3: I know, that's right.
18:07
Speaker 2: I was begging for six four to three double play.
18:10
Speaker 1: I actually kind of wanted to see a five four
18:11
Speaker 1: three because I think that's probably the most complicated one
18:14
Speaker 1: to turn.
18:15
Speaker 2: But alas, I did not get what I wanted. But
18:19
Speaker 2: that's all right, no, I you know, it was a
18:21
Speaker 2: weird series.
18:22
Speaker 1: I don't know how the Cardinals won that Friday game,
18:24
Speaker 1: but they took care of business.
18:25
Speaker 2: And I think they're in good shape into the Houston series.
18:29
Speaker 3: And how I'm sorry, I'm like, I'm like, so so
18:33
Speaker 3: jacked up about this. I almost I interrupted again, bad meat.
18:36
Speaker 3: Just mute me, just mute me. Anyway, how about these catchers?
18:42
Speaker 3: I mean, this is this is really funny. Actually, you
18:45
Speaker 3: know it's not only Okay Herrera awesome, just offensively awesome.
18:51
Speaker 3: And then Pie Hayes Katie Wu called it. You know,
18:54
Speaker 3: it was actually capable of hitting a lot better than
18:57
Speaker 3: we assume. They signed this guy out of nowhere. I
19:01
Speaker 3: had no idea who he was, and all of a sudden,
19:04
Speaker 3: both of these guys are hitting up a storm, and
19:07
Speaker 3: you know, and then one of them is playing second base,
19:11
Speaker 3: and it's like it's like, whatever you need to do,
19:13
Speaker 3: they'll do it. They're they're hitting their playing defense, They're oh,
19:16
Speaker 3: I need an emergency second basement, get on out there.
19:18
Speaker 3: I mean, what are they gonna do? It's really it's
19:21
Speaker 3: really interesting to see, like what a strength this catching
19:25
Speaker 3: position is. All of a sudden, you know, where they
19:27
Speaker 3: have options and they funny. It's funny. It's funny, it
19:32
Speaker 3: really is. I won't interrupt anymore.
19:35
Speaker 1: You're fine, Bertie. There are no rules on this podcast,
19:37
Speaker 1: as you know maybe there. If there were, I would
19:39
Speaker 1: have my my life here a little bit more. Let's
19:42
Speaker 1: let's take a break. We'll hear from the fan Duel
19:44
Speaker 1: Sports Network, and then we'll launch right into the Mason
19:46
Speaker 1: Wind discourse.
19:47
Speaker 2: Stay with us, Me out too.
19:52
Speaker 3: A band now, Yeah, watching and not be eyes.
19:59
Speaker 6: I'm just bullets room.
20:03
Speaker 3: For the Cardinals.
20:07
Speaker 6: Sports, the Cardinals, the Birds on.
20:12
Speaker 2: The stream.
20:19
Speaker 1: Cardinals games, Chippin' Brad Birds on the bat. What more
20:24
Speaker 1: could you ask for? You can, as you know, find
20:28
Speaker 1: your Cardinals on FanDuel Sports Network. They are streamable now,
20:31
Speaker 1: So that's exciting. Something not super exciting is that Mason
20:35
Speaker 1: Winn did land on the injured list.
20:37
Speaker 2: You know this by now already.
20:39
Speaker 1: He's eligible to return off the ten day IL April
20:41
Speaker 1: twenty second. I believe that's the second game against Atlanta
20:45
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Good news first is that this doesn't seem
20:49
Speaker 1: to be something more than the normal designation where the
20:53
Speaker 1: Cardinals don't think he's going to miss that much time.
20:55
Speaker 1: I know Mason came out Friday, and I was hesitant
20:57
Speaker 1: to tweet this out because players only have so much say,
21:01
Speaker 1: but he said it. Mason Win came out Friday and
21:04
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, my back flared up. I turned up
21:06
Speaker 1: early and Nolan Arnatto and I said I got to
21:08
Speaker 1: come out of this game. And then he told the
21:10
Speaker 1: trainers that he would not be going on the IL,
21:12
Speaker 1: that he was just going to miss a couple of days.
21:14
Speaker 1: But it's not always that easy as a player saying
21:17
Speaker 1: yes and no and talking to Ollie Marmal the next morning,
21:21
Speaker 1: it was both Allie and Mason knew it was going
21:23
Speaker 1: to be more than a couple of days before he
21:24
Speaker 1: was ready. They don't want to push him in early April.
21:28
Speaker 1: Weather's cold. New York is about to be freezing. I
21:30
Speaker 1: think I haven't checked.
21:31
Speaker 2: The weather, but it looks like it and it was
21:34
Speaker 2: more or less.
21:35
Speaker 1: The big issue here on why Mason went on the
21:37
Speaker 1: IL was because his back spasms were flaring up and
21:41
Speaker 1: causing him to impact his pregame routine. Normally, when you
21:44
Speaker 1: have a back injury or clearly any kind of injury
21:46
Speaker 1: where something's bothering you, you kind of lessen your workload
21:48
Speaker 1: pregame and then you come into the game.
21:51
Speaker 2: So that you can go all out, all for whatever
21:54
Speaker 2: you have. But that's not what the Cardinals want for Mason.
21:57
Speaker 1: That's not what's best for Mason long term, so they
21:59
Speaker 1: put him on the injured list and they're going to
22:00
Speaker 1: patchwork with Thomas the JC and Brendan Donovan.
22:04
Speaker 2: We talked about this.
22:05
Speaker 1: There's no true shortstop, but it's not like the Jayc's
22:07
Speaker 1: never played it before. He played shortstop for seventy games
22:09
Speaker 1: from Memphis last season. I think the big issue here,
22:12
Speaker 1: or the bigger question, is how often our backs are finicky,
22:17
Speaker 1: So how often. Is this going to continue being a
22:19
Speaker 1: problem with Mason right now? Though it seems like he's
22:21
Speaker 1: not going to miss much time, and that's a good
22:23
Speaker 1: thing all things considered.
22:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, he had a problem with it last year, and
22:26
Speaker 3: he missed some games here and there, and I thought
22:28
Speaker 3: Ali Marma was early responsible for giving him, you know,
22:32
Speaker 3: a couple of days off here and there when he
22:34
Speaker 3: really needed it. And I know Mason Wynn is a
22:37
Speaker 3: prideful guy and a great competitor and a high intensity player,
22:43
Speaker 3: really terrific player. And I know he wants to play
22:46
Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty two games. I don't know that
22:49
Speaker 3: that's good for him or you know, most major league
22:51
Speaker 3: position players. I think everybody needs to get away from
22:53
Speaker 3: it from now, you know, every now and then. So
22:55
Speaker 3: my question that I would have is, I don't think
23:01
Speaker 3: I don't think the Cardinals are going to overreact to
23:03
Speaker 3: one relatively minor setback. But do they need a backup shortstop,
23:10
Speaker 3: like someone who really has played the position, or because
23:13
Speaker 3: this is a runway season, does it make sense to
23:16
Speaker 3: just say, well, we got a good look at him
23:19
Speaker 3: at shortstop at Memphis last year. Hey, we have no
23:21
Speaker 3: problem using him as a backup shortstop this year. We
23:24
Speaker 3: can also play in some other positions. Now, I don't
23:27
Speaker 3: know if they're willing to commit to to JC, because
23:29
Speaker 3: I know what they would say, Well, we don't want
23:31
Speaker 3: him up here unless he's going to be playing a lot.
23:33
Speaker 3: Well he can also you can move him around, so
23:35
Speaker 3: he could probably play more than you think. But I
23:37
Speaker 3: don't think they'll go that way. But I'm just wondering,
23:39
Speaker 3: is that something worth considering, especially if it means you
23:43
Speaker 3: educate me because I'm probably missing this. If you keep
23:46
Speaker 3: to JAC, does that mean Siani's gone? You know, like
23:51
Speaker 3: I don't like who's subtracted, is what I'm trying to say.
23:54
Speaker 1: I you know, I think there's reasons as so. I
23:57
Speaker 1: mean we could have gone with, you know, as someone
24:00
Speaker 1: Michael Sianni. But at the start of the season, you
24:02
Speaker 1: know why did he make the roster and always been
24:04
Speaker 1: clear it's for defensive replacement reasons. I just haven't seen
24:07
Speaker 1: that opportunity come up too often after the opening series.
24:10
Speaker 1: But I think you're right about s JC. I think
24:12
Speaker 1: that makes sense to keep him up on the roster
24:14
Speaker 1: right now. He can play shortstop, he can play second base.
24:17
Speaker 2: Third if you need it. Although the Cardinals have like
24:19
Speaker 2: six third basement already, all of them most of them
24:22
Speaker 2: play out a position.
24:23
Speaker 3: Now.
24:24
Speaker 1: I think with s JCE offensively, he's also a guy
24:26
Speaker 1: that where he's not going to necessarily hit for power,
24:28
Speaker 1: he's got a good contact right he puts the ball
24:30
Speaker 1: in play, you might as well see what you have
24:32
Speaker 1: with him when he has this rare opportunity. Given how
24:34
Speaker 1: the lineup is constructed to play mostly every day, we
24:37
Speaker 1: know how the Cardinals are going to structure this. It
24:39
Speaker 1: won't be a strict platoon, but most times, if it's
24:43
Speaker 1: a lefty starter, you'll see s JC at short and
24:46
Speaker 1: Donovan at second. If it's a righty starter, you're going
24:49
Speaker 1: to see Donovan at short, Nolan Gorman at second. Nolan
24:52
Speaker 1: Gorman will have an opportunity to hit against some lefties.
24:54
Speaker 1: That's part of the plan, but they also want to
24:57
Speaker 1: get some reps for s JC too. I have zero
24:59
Speaker 1: issue with how the team is patchworking this until Mason
25:01
Speaker 1: comes back. Now Mason was missing or scheduled to miss
25:04
Speaker 1: more than two weeks of the season, I'd kind of
25:06
Speaker 1: be like, I don't know, And it's not like the
25:09
Speaker 1: Cardinals have.
25:10
Speaker 2: This heavy swing and miss pitching staff.
25:12
Speaker 1: Having a solid middle endfield is important given how much
25:15
Speaker 1: weak contact they generate and how much of that is
25:17
Speaker 1: part of the starting pitching and most of the rotations game.
25:21
Speaker 1: It's not the most ideal situation. Really, nothing about the
25:24
Speaker 1: roster has been. But I get it for whether or it's.
25:28
Speaker 2: A fine solution given the amount of time Mason is
25:30
Speaker 2: slated to miss.
25:31
Speaker 3: And so Jason gives you another right handed bat. You're
25:33
Speaker 3: over loaded with left handed bed so it gives you
25:35
Speaker 3: a little balance. But again, I think it is important
25:39
Speaker 3: that he plays pretty regularly. So we'll just see how
25:42
Speaker 3: this develops during the course of the season, you know,
25:45
Speaker 3: but we'll see. Yeah, he's shown that he's not scared
25:50
Speaker 3: as they say. You know, he comes up here and
25:53
Speaker 3: he's poised and he's done well that experience he got.
25:57
Speaker 1: Yes, because it's not an easy thing to come in
25:59
Speaker 1: and that you're going to be somewhat of eventual and
26:01
Speaker 1: stay prepared. But you're seeing guys like Luke and Baker
26:04
Speaker 1: really take their time and really figure out a way
26:07
Speaker 1: with their prep work to stay ready. I thought Burlassen
26:09
Speaker 1: coming off the bench when needed has been nice and
26:11
Speaker 1: I you know, small sample sized fan Nolan Gorman so far,
26:14
Speaker 1: but it's not you know, it's fine again, it's fine
26:17
Speaker 1: for what they're doing. Obviously, you want Mason back as
26:19
Speaker 1: soon as possible. It's a different lineup without Herrera and
26:23
Speaker 1: Mason Wyn because you're missing Herrera's overall back to all skills,
26:26
Speaker 1: you're missing his power, Mason and Victory.
26:28
Speaker 2: We talk about that speed dynamic at the end of
26:30
Speaker 2: the lineup, but with.
26:32
Speaker 1: Contrera's scuffling, Herrera's place was even more pivotal. So it
26:37
Speaker 1: was nice to see Wilson Contrera's kind of come out
26:40
Speaker 1: of it this weekend. Humble Flex and some background for
26:43
Speaker 1: those of you who are so interested in how the
26:45
Speaker 1: bushet and press box works. When I was an intern
26:47
Speaker 1: in San Diego in twenty eighteen, the writers there played
26:51
Speaker 1: a little game called Yard, and you hear the rules.
26:53
Speaker 2: You get one pitch a game to call yard. That's it,
26:58
Speaker 2: and you don't.
26:58
Speaker 1: As soon as you say it, you can't take it back.
27:00
Speaker 1: You win absolutely nothing. By the way, it's just bragging rights.
27:04
Speaker 1: So I have bought that game to Saint Louis. Jeff
27:06
Speaker 1: Jones has won the last two years in a row.
27:08
Speaker 1: I was in a drought in twenty twenty two, I
27:11
Speaker 1: won nothing except bragging rights because I had four yard
27:14
Speaker 1: calls in a season. I used all four of them
27:16
Speaker 1: on Albert Pools. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
27:18
Speaker 1: It was a great strategy. But since then I have
27:22
Speaker 1: gone over for two whole seasons until today when I
27:25
Speaker 1: saw Wilson Contreras three to one against Zach Wheeler, and
27:28
Speaker 1: I knew Zach Wheeler was going to have to throw
27:30
Speaker 1: him at fastball. And I knew Wilson Contreras knew that
27:32
Speaker 1: Zach Wheeler was gonna have to throw him at fastball,
27:34
Speaker 1: and he did, and I went over the fence.
27:36
Speaker 2: So I'm officially on the board.
27:37
Speaker 1: I actually think my correct like the direct sentence on
27:40
Speaker 1: contact was put my name on the freaking board, boys, EXU,
27:44
Speaker 1: I didn't say freaking And yeah, that's why people are
27:47
Speaker 1: continuously tired of me at work.
27:48
Speaker 3: Well, I need to hear more about this. So how
27:52
Speaker 3: do you make sure you declare yourselves without people not
27:56
Speaker 3: hearing it or not sure what you said? Does one
27:59
Speaker 3: when you're you're about to call yard? Does one? Whether
28:01
Speaker 3: it be Katie Woo or any of the other fine
28:03
Speaker 3: baseball writers there, do you have to like stand out,
28:06
Speaker 3: stand up in your seat and scream it out, like
28:09
Speaker 3: how does this works in the yard, and you.
28:11
Speaker 1: Make sure some if no one acknowledges it, like I personally,
28:14
Speaker 1: I don't want to risk it. I need to make
28:16
Speaker 1: sure someone acknowledges it. So this was Benjamin Hawkman was
28:19
Speaker 1: like Katie called it. So everyone was all on alert.
28:22
Speaker 1: And then everyone was definitely on alert based off my reaction.
28:24
Speaker 1: No cheering in the press box obviously, but I was
28:26
Speaker 1: cheering for myself.
28:26
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, harbless game, harmless game.
28:30
Speaker 2: Yes, why not?
28:31
Speaker 1: So yeah, that was I'm positive. I feel very positive
28:35
Speaker 1: about what where Wilson Contraras is at. And he definitely
28:37
Speaker 1: talking to his post game was pretty positive too. It
28:39
Speaker 1: was funny on Friday, that scheduled off day he had,
28:42
Speaker 1: he was in the clubhouse and there were like three
28:44
Speaker 1: boxes of bats that he was clearing out of his locker.
28:47
Speaker 2: I looked a him, I was like, are you out
28:48
Speaker 2: on those?
28:48
Speaker 1: He goes, yep, they're going away, bye bye, And he
28:51
Speaker 1: got rid of like I don't have to say twenty
28:53
Speaker 1: bats and he's like, I'm not using them anymore now
28:55
Speaker 1: He's using a torpedo bat, started using that on Saturday,
28:58
Speaker 1: so he was officially the fever and it seems to
29:01
Speaker 1: be paying off so far.
29:02
Speaker 3: Anybody else using it there Donovan.
29:05
Speaker 1: Used something similar, not an exact torpedo bat, but I
29:08
Speaker 1: think from my understanding, Conteris is the first one in
29:11
Speaker 1: that clubhouse to use the real deal there.
29:15
Speaker 3: Why not? It's obviously it's obviously legal, there's nothing shady
29:20
Speaker 3: about it. You know, friend will Leach you who I do,
29:24
Speaker 3: seeing Red with a podcast every Monday morning about the Cardinals.
29:27
Speaker 3: You know, he wrote a great column for the Washington
29:30
Speaker 3: Post and he was talking about, Hey, I love baseball
29:32
Speaker 3: fans because I am one of them. So he wasn't
29:34
Speaker 3: like putting down baseball fans, but he was saying, what
29:36
Speaker 3: is it about baseball where fans just like constantly or
29:41
Speaker 3: just like things become a scandal, Like immediately, you know,
29:46
Speaker 3: this is a scandal. All this this this is not good.
29:49
Speaker 3: They can't allow this, and it's just and he actually
29:52
Speaker 3: he actually went through a history this like every single
29:55
Speaker 3: time you know, baseball fans getting an uproar over something,
29:59
Speaker 3: you know, it's a sc it's a scandal. They're violating
30:02
Speaker 3: the spirit of the rule. They're doing this, They're doing
30:04
Speaker 3: that and where will is kind of like, you know,
30:06
Speaker 3: most of these things that you know, we as fans
30:08
Speaker 3: holler about their fun and they're harmless. So enjoy the game.
30:11
Speaker 3: Quit looking for scandals that don't exist.
30:13
Speaker 1: We are supposed to enjoy baseball every ting, And I know,
30:16
Speaker 1: I know how you feel. We're all in a toxic
30:18
Speaker 1: relationship with the Sand Louis Cardinals, all of us. But
30:21
Speaker 1: it is a sport and we should try to enjoy it.
30:24
Speaker 1: And that is something that I am reminding myself of
30:26
Speaker 1: every day. But I really had to remind myself after
30:28
Speaker 1: that road trip, which I'm finally recovering from.
30:30
Speaker 3: But yeah, and I think they're enjoyable to watch there.
30:33
Speaker 3: They're also baffling at times, they're exasperating at times, but
30:37
Speaker 3: they keep it interesting. And that's kind of been a
30:40
Speaker 3: theme of the season because you know, when you think
30:42
Speaker 3: you got them boxed in about what to expect, to
30:45
Speaker 3: go the other way, you know, they zig and the zagg.
30:48
Speaker 3: They're all over the place. But that's what's kind of fun.
30:50
Speaker 3: But it looked like the vibe in that dugout today
30:52
Speaker 3: was pretty pretty great. I mean, it looked like a
30:55
Speaker 3: party time, which you want to see in that dugout
30:58
Speaker 3: when they're having a good game.
30:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like keeping it fun. The worst thing, as
31:02
Speaker 1: you know as a b writer, is having a boring team.
31:04
Speaker 1: And I don't know if we have like an I'll
31:07
Speaker 1: Pennant team on our hands burning, but they are given
31:10
Speaker 1: all the things that are going on at least interesting.
31:13
Speaker 3: Well, the NL Central, every team's got problems. The Cubs
31:17
Speaker 3: are losing Justin Steele for the year, Tommy John surgery.
31:22
Speaker 3: Every single team in the NL Central has got problems.
31:26
Speaker 3: So I'm not again I'm like you, I always have
31:29
Speaker 3: to feel like I'm going to preface everything. I'm not
31:31
Speaker 3: saying the Cardinals can win the division. I'm just saying
31:34
Speaker 3: everyone's sort of taking a couple steps forward, one step back,
31:38
Speaker 3: two step backs to forward. Everyone in the division is
31:41
Speaker 3: kind of doing that. So the Cardinals are fortunate to
31:45
Speaker 3: just you know, grind out enough wins to where they're
31:49
Speaker 3: in the thicket things. They're in a position to make
31:51
Speaker 3: the best of it if they're capable of consistent ball.
31:55
Speaker 3: They're keeping themselves in the game, so to speak.
31:58
Speaker 2: And I like that.
31:59
Speaker 3: It's never too early to establish yourself as like, well,
32:02
Speaker 3: we're not going to let this thing get away from us.
32:04
Speaker 3: We're going to we're going to We're going to be here.
32:06
Speaker 3: We're going to be right in the middle of this.
32:08
Speaker 3: For whatever that's worth.
32:09
Speaker 1: I like that.
32:09
Speaker 3: It makes it. It makes the season more interesting even early.
32:12
Speaker 2: It does, Yeah, definitely.
32:14
Speaker 1: And if the Cardinals hover around five hundred, I know
32:16
Speaker 1: fans are They've been conditioned, and I totally get it
32:19
Speaker 1: to expect a lot more than that from their local
32:21
Speaker 1: ball club. But given what the Cardinals are doing right now,
32:24
Speaker 1: given how off the rails things have been behind the
32:26
Speaker 1: scenes and player development where they're at, and from a
32:29
Speaker 1: financial standpoint, if the Cardinals can stay five hundred in April,
32:33
Speaker 1: the division allows for that, and then they can make more,
32:35
Speaker 1: you know, they can make choices depending on how the
32:37
Speaker 1: season goes. That should allow them to remain in contention.
32:39
Speaker 1: That is, of course, unless they don't. If they claim out,
32:41
Speaker 1: then we're not talking about it, and they could season. Bernie,
32:44
Speaker 1: we have so many games left. It's only April thirteenth.
32:49
Speaker 3: So that's right, we got thirteenth, all right. Well, yeah,
32:53
Speaker 3: I still think they're going to be a you know
32:58
Speaker 3: about it, somewhere from seventy nine to like eighty two, wins.
33:03
Speaker 3: I'm not going to come off that yet, but I
33:06
Speaker 3: think they've got some components that might be better than
33:09
Speaker 3: I thought, at least so far. Then again, coming into today,
33:14
Speaker 3: their last five games they average like two and a
33:16
Speaker 3: half runs, So I mean, you know, the offense had
33:18
Speaker 3: been shut down before today, starting in the Pittsburgh series.
33:22
Speaker 3: So again, we're going to see a lot of fluctuations.
33:25
Speaker 3: I got to try I should know better at my age.
33:27
Speaker 3: I got to try not to basically overreact to the
33:29
Speaker 3: negative or the positive because it's going to be like
33:32
Speaker 3: that all year. They're going to be going back and
33:33
Speaker 3: forth between those two things.
33:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you want consistency, this is not the ball
33:37
Speaker 1: club for you, right, this is don't expect that, So
33:41
Speaker 1: you'll be on your toes.
33:42
Speaker 2: At least. Last thing, Bertie, before we head out for.
33:45
Speaker 1: The day, I want to highlight the player to watch
33:47
Speaker 1: for the upcoming series against the Houston Astros.
33:50
Speaker 2: We'll have an episode up Monday morning. By the way, I.
33:53
Speaker 1: Crossover with Crushety Territory Chandler Rome, a beat writer for
33:57
Speaker 1: The Athletic covering the Astros, and I will take it
33:59
Speaker 1: through that series.
33:59
Speaker 2: But now here's what.
34:01
Speaker 1: I'm looking at our fantual Sports Network player to watch
34:04
Speaker 1: going into the series. For me, it's Nolan Gorman because
34:08
Speaker 1: all spring, all off season, and then in a spring
34:10
Speaker 1: training we heard Nolan Gorman.
34:12
Speaker 2: We need to see what we have in Nolan Gorman.
34:13
Speaker 2: We need to give him a chance to play every day.
34:15
Speaker 2: This is a huge year for him, and so far
34:17
Speaker 2: we haven't really seen much of him. Now part of
34:19
Speaker 2: that was because he was outplayed in spring training.
34:21
Speaker 1: Alec Berlson absolutely deserved to be up necessary like on
34:24
Speaker 1: the totem pole, if you will, based off spring performance.
34:27
Speaker 1: The missing ten games with the minor hamstring strain didn't
34:30
Speaker 1: help either. But as Oli Marmal said, and as we
34:33
Speaker 1: referenced earlier in the show, Gorman's going to have some
34:36
Speaker 1: opportunity here to start every day, and I really would
34:39
Speaker 1: like to see where he's at from a pure hitter profile.
34:43
Speaker 1: He's so strong, has so much power. Anytime you have
34:47
Speaker 1: a player like that, swing and miss is going to
34:49
Speaker 1: be part of their game. Obviously, you don't want it
34:52
Speaker 1: to be nearly forty percent. So I'd like to see
34:54
Speaker 1: if Brenton Brown's approach, which is seemed to rub off
34:56
Speaker 1: on quite literally everybody else down. That lineup has also
35:00
Speaker 1: off on Nolan Gorman, and I'm excited to see what
35:02
Speaker 1: he does with consistent playing time in Mason Win's absence.
35:06
Speaker 3: My player to watch would be Wilson Conterras because he's
35:08
Speaker 3: feeling it. I mean, he was just lost and we
35:10
Speaker 3: all knew he would it would click in eventually, and
35:14
Speaker 3: he's feeling it. I mean watching him today, you know,
35:17
Speaker 3: it was just, oh, okay, he's back. You get this
35:20
Speaker 3: body hit, his body language, his smiles, his emotion, everything,
35:25
Speaker 3: it was all restored. So I'm looking forward to I
35:28
Speaker 3: just got a feeling about him and we can People
35:30
Speaker 3: can make fun of me if I'm wrong. I don't
35:32
Speaker 3: mind that because I like self deprecating humor, so you
35:34
Speaker 3: can take shots at me. It doesn't matter. It just
35:37
Speaker 3: looks like he's about to go on one of those runs,
35:39
Speaker 3: you know, So I'm looking at least I'm looking for
35:42
Speaker 3: that to happen, so we'll see.
35:44
Speaker 2: I'm with you.
35:45
Speaker 1: I thought the single on Saturday to right center, that
35:47
Speaker 1: was my first indicator that I was like, oh, that's
35:49
Speaker 1: we might be coming back. Because when Wilson Conterra's is
35:51
Speaker 1: at his best, he's driving the ball to that part
35:53
Speaker 1: of the ballpark, and then the homer was loud, the
35:57
Speaker 1: double off the wall was loud, and the demeanor was
35:59
Speaker 1: comply different. I thought Wilson did a really nice job
36:02
Speaker 1: of keeping his composure. That was not a fun two
36:04
Speaker 1: weeks to start the season, but he should have every
36:06
Speaker 1: day in the same goofy mood. Always had something to
36:09
Speaker 1: say to me like why are you looking at me?
36:11
Speaker 1: I'm not but just playing around, and you know, kept
36:15
Speaker 1: it really loose and in seasons prior, I don't think
36:17
Speaker 1: you would have done that. So Nolan Gorman and Wilson
36:20
Speaker 1: contraras two players to watch with this upcoming series.
36:24
Speaker 2: Again that's our player to watch.
36:25
Speaker 1: Presented by FanDuel Sports Network, you can now stream the
36:28
Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals game through Fanuel Sports Network and if
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36:49
Speaker 2: For details.
36:51
Speaker 1: A fun week ahead for the Saint Louis Cardinals, three
36:53
Speaker 1: games against Houston, four games in New York. I always
36:56
Speaker 1: love going to City Field, although some crazy shit always
36:59
Speaker 1: happens when we're at City Field, So keep me in
37:01
Speaker 1: your thoughts everyone, Bertie, We'll be back you and I'll
37:04
Speaker 1: be back later in the week. Like I met, a
37:06
Speaker 1: new episode of a crossover I think this is my
37:09
Speaker 1: first crossover podcast with Crush the Territory, and then an
37:13
Speaker 1: interview with Miles Michaelis That should be out by Wednesday,
37:16
Speaker 1: and Bernie and I will wrap up the Astros series
37:18
Speaker 1: shortly after that. As always, my friend, it's good to
37:20
Speaker 1: talk to you the vibes after a big series win
37:24
Speaker 1: for Saint Louis, let's see if they can keep it going.
37:26
Speaker 2: For Bertie Hucless, I'm Katie Wu. We'll see you next time.