Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Albert Pujols/Yadier Molina Inducted into Cardinals HOF, Church is RAKING, Starting Pitching Love

Transcript

Albert Pujols/Yadier Molina Inducted into Cardinals HOF, Church is RAKING, Starting Pitching Love · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes with Kyle Gibson, who is mobile. As I
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: understand it, Lance Lynn is making his way back from Italy. And, Kyle,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I know you like it when I do a mea
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: culpa to start the show, so you can pile on
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: after I make my apology. But our director, George, just
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: celebrated a birthday. It was like on a Thursday 11
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: days ago, whatever it was. And I meant to tell
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: him happy birthday, and I didn't. So he's probably mad
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: at me for bringing it up now. Happy birthday to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: our director, George. Kyle, that's on me.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Happy birthday, George. Yeah, he does a great job. He
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: does a great job. So I apologize that we didn't
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: celebrate the people behind the scenes because you can't do
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: this without them. So, George, happy birthday. Sorry we missed it.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Hopefully Jim sends you flowers or cookies.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I'll put them in the mail today. Seems like he didn't.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Seems like he didn't.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: No, I didn't. So the Giants are in town for
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: three games. Cal, as you know, the Giants swept the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Cardinals back in San Francisco last week in an ugly,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: ugly series. But let's talk about what the Cardinals have
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: done right over the years and just did it over
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the weekend. What a weekend it was celebrating that 2006
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: World Series championship team and also Yachty and Albert get
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: their red jackets and a very emotional ceremony. So Kyle,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: just being part of the Cardinals for a season, one
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: of the Cardinal players told me, Cardinal fans don't forget.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Has that been your experience being around the St. Louis
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: area that if you're a Cardinal, folks remember you?
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think Cardinals fans
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: just really enjoy their baseball. I mean, I think uh, St.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Louis people, especially since the Rams have not been here. Uh,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: obviously blues, you know, are, are very prominent here in St. Louis,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: but in St. Louis city, I think is, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: getting more and more prominent, but, uh, Cardinals normally take
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: precedence a little bit. So, um, yeah, it's not surprising that, uh,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they do their celebrations, you know, really well when they
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: remember good teams or great players such as, you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yachty and Albert. So, um, Those Hall of Fame celebrations
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: are going to run a little bit longer than other
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: teams and take a little bit more precedence because they
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: have a storied history here in St. Louis, and they
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: like to celebrate it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: You faced Albert quite a bit in your career. I
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: looked it up. If my numbers are right, you held
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Albert Pujols to a 200 hitter. He did get you
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: with three home runs, but he only hit 200 against you.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: What do you remember about facing Albert?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I just, to be fair, you know,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know that I caught him in his St.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Louis heyday where he was consistently slashing a one dot
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: plus all the time. What do I remember? I remember
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: marrying into a Cardinals family, going to Mizzou and seeing
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Albert in his heyday. And hearing about Albert Pujols and
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: admittedly growing up the latter years being a Cubs fan
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: because of Jake Fox, a family friend who played for
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: the Cubs. And just swearing to my wife's family that
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Albert was not going to hit a homer and I
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: was going to strike him out when I faced him
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: for the first time. And wouldn't you know it, yes,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I did strike him out the first time I faced him.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: But also, wouldn't you know it, he did hit, I believe,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: the first big league homer I gave up was Albert Pujols.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: So that Sunday dinner, next time back in town, I
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: got a little jabbed, but I also got to make
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: sure that I told him that I did strike out
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Albert like I said I was going to.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: As for Yachty, he told me something when he was
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: like in his third, fourth year that stayed with me.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: And as a pitcher, I know you'd appreciate it. He said,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you know what makes a great catcher? And I was like,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: what Yachty? And he said, when the catcher cares more
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: about how the pitcher does than the catcher does. And
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I was like, that makes a lot of sense. Like
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: that's the job of the catcher is to make whoever
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is pitching look good. And if it's Kyle Gibson or
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: whoever it is, that's the main job. Have you seen that?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Like from catchers, there's catchers that are worried about their
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: own numbers and may be worried about how they look.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: And there's other catchers who all they want is for
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: you to get the batters out and to put your
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: team in a position to win.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's some catchers that really care about
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: their catcher's ERA. And I think they take pride in that.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: And I think it's important that they handle a pitching
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: staff really well. And that can sound bad because that
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: means that there's some catchers that don't care about that.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: But there's also some offensive catchers that you know, tend
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: to worry more about the offensive side of the ball.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: And that's just kind of how their career has gone.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: But as a pitcher, I always, you could tell the
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: catchers that you threw to that when they made an
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: out at the plate or had a bad at bat,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: if they took that to the field, it was a
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: little bit challenging. And this goes back to the minor leagues,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: not just in the big leagues. And then there were
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: catchers where, It did not matter how they were hitting.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: You knew you were going to get the same guy
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: back there. And there was not going to be any
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: cloud of judgment when it came to the game plan.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: There was not going to be any him trying to
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: call angry fastballs or anything like that when, you know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: maybe that just doesn't match up with the game plan.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: But that was always, you know, very much appreciated from
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: pitchers when you got the same guy, no matter how
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: that last at bat went.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Give me a couple of names of catchers you work with.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Not the ones that Didn't help out. But the guys
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: that you've worked with, when you knew they were behind
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the plate, they were worried about you.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Real Muto was one of those guys. And maybe the
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: guy that took it as personal as anybody. And it
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: kind of showed because after the game... when the dust settled,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: he always came up to me and asked me about
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: certain pitches and why he called it. And that's Jose Truvino.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: You know, he would, he loved talking pitch sequencing and
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: strategy and game plan. And he would come up and
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: when a game plan went right, you know, he would,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: we'd get in there after the third inning or whatever
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and he was, and he'd look down the bench and
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: he'd smile at me. And, you know, that really meant
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: a lot to him. when we were able to make
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the adjustments at the right time and, and when we
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: were able to do, you know, those little things really well.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: And he, he took that very personal and there's a reason,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: you know, he is a platinum glove winner because of it.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: So he was, he was awesome back there to work with.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Now we'll talk Cardinals baseball after the quick break. I
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: know you wanted to talk about church who is surging
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and so JC, who is a ball player as Lance
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: would say, and has hit since he's been called up.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: like nobody's business. We're going to take a break here.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: It's Cardinal territory on the foul territory network. Eric Kratz.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: You're smart. We're a catcher in major league baseball for
• 7:52
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• 7:54
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• 8:14
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• 8:15
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• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Thomas Adjaye has put on a hitting clinic since he's
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: come back. Also, with the injuries to JJ and Mason Wynn.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Mason's back now. He's getting a lot of run. And
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: you see him sometimes second base short. Maybe a little
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: third base in there. But this guy is hitting, hitting hard.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: 320-something since his call-up. What do you think the Cardinals
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: have in Sejaisi? Some people are saying, put him at
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: third because that guy can hit. What do you think
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the Cards have in Sejaisi, who, by the way, has
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: hit at every single level, not so much at the
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: bigs until now, and the present is kind of important.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a ball player. You can put him anywhere
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: around the diamond and he's going to fit in. Outfield
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: might be the one spot where there's a little bit
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: of nuance to it that maybe he doesn't quite have
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: a grasp on that. But I bet if you talk
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: to Sags, he's played outfield plenty in his career. And
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: not maybe his professional career, but in his life. He's
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: been out there in the outfield and he knows his
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: way around the outfield. But I think he's a guy
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: that can play all three interceptions. positions and you're going
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: to get, I don't know what the metrics say, but
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I believe you're going to get above average defense at
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: all three of those positions. And I think you got
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: a guy that as he figures out, you know, who
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: he is at the big league level and how pitchers
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: are going to pitch him, you're going to see a
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: guy that's, you know, possibly an average to above average hitter. And,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I don't know what the slug is going to be.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Everybody loves slug. Everybody loves to be able to predict
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: that and use that as a guy's value and if
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: he's a good hitter or not. I think when you
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: are a utility infielder, which I think he has the
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: ability to be, and he really is, I don't necessarily
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: know that that's as important. I think you have to
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: be a guy that if you add something to the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: team offensively when you your guy that bounces around the field,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I think that's going to be a bonus to any lineup.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: So if he adds some extra base hit thump, I
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: think it's going to be just added value to the team.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: But defensively, I think he fits in with his Cardinals
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: team going forward because you're not losing anything when you
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: put him at almost any position on the field.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Now, another guy who's surging is Church, who's really played
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: excellent defense. I mean, that guy, plays recklessly out there
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: in a good way, right? He gets to a lot
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: of balls. And he's hitting now. Brian Brown, the hitting coach,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: said of all the players on the team, including guys
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: that are posting monster numbers, no one has better eyes
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: than Church. He sees the spin coming better than anyone.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: And now he's incorporated being able to identify pitches more.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And he's been going wild at the plate. Is he
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the guy in center for the Cardinals as you see
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: it as it stands today?
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think for right now, and I
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: don't mean that as, you know, rude and, you know,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: like the Cardinals have a backup plan. I just think
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: it's easy for us to look at a player, you know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: his last 30 games has been really, really good. Just
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: looking at him and Spacey's, you know, slash line for
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: the last 30 games, it's impressive, especially when you're adding
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: in above average defense in both of them. So, Yeah,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, do I think Nathan Church is this guy
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: over the last 30 games? I mean, hopefully, almost as
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: 800 OPS as you see right here and a 310 hitter.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Is he a 300 hitter? I don't know. But, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: if you can get this type of production, once again,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: out of a center field elite defender, it lengthens your lineup.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And now you're looking at a team that really can
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: do some damage consistently offensively. And that can really close
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: some gaps when other guys are struggling. You know, that's
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: what a lengthened out lineup does. You know, when Jordan
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Walker or Alec Burleson is going through a week where
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: they're just not feeling themselves and they're not in their,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: you know, in their rhythm. Now, all of a sudden,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Nathan Church, so JC at the bottom, don't give six
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: spots in the lineup as a let up. You know,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: it's only a couple maybe. Because when you have everybody
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: slumping at once, obviously that's tough. So, Um, that's why
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I think those guys at the bottom, if you have
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: those two guys consistently doing what they're doing right now,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: it really helps out.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about Kyle Leahy, who, uh,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: is now, you know, all the, uh, talk about limiting
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: his innings. Now he's getting a start. He's on the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: starters routine because the Cardinals feel like that's better for
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: him while you're limiting his innings, put them in the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: starters role so he can keep doing, you And in
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the end, they think that's going to benefit him. But
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: he told me it puts him in a weird spot.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Like after yesterday's game, pitch well. And I was like,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: how do you assess a three inning outing when you're
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: used to trying to push to go, you know, into
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the later innings? And he said, it's tough. You know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: he said he's totally on board with what they're doing.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: For the record, he said, these guys' guidance has gotten
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: me to this point. I wanted to be a starting pitcher.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: and I am now, and I'm having success. I'm going
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: to listen to everything they say, but he said it's
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: kind of weird. So I'm going to ask you, Kyle,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: if you're a pitcher who's used to trying to go six, seven,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: maybe more, and all of a sudden you know you're
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: not going to go three, I guess the process for
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: a starting pitcher is sometimes in the first inning you
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: figure things out, and maybe you save something for later.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: How much of a challenge is it for a pitcher
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: to be the same guy that he was when you
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: know It's going to be a small sample size each
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and every start.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: He has that experience of kind of just letting it
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: loose for one, two, or three innings. And you have
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: to fight that urge a little bit. I don't think
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden you say, oh, now I'm going
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: two or three innings. Now I'm just going to let
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: it all loose here right from the get-go. No, I
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: think you're getting starts because the goal is for you
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: to get more starting experience and to treat every start
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: like you would the first 25 of them before he
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: was limited. And I think that's the real benefit. So
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: kudos to him for being able to keep this in
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: perspective and understand that he is getting what he wanted
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: to do by being able to start, and he is
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: getting the full attention, a great game plan from the
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Cardinals when it comes to this part of it. you know,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: hats off to him for having the right perspective because
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: it can be tough knowing that you're going out there
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: and now you're only going three innings instead of going
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to full start. So hopefully he finishes the year healthy
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: and he can really build off of what he accomplished
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: this year because it's been a great year for him.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. We're going to take
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: another quick break. You're watching Cardinal Territory on the Foul
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Territory Network.
• 15:59
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• 17:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Kyle. So if you're a starting pitcher at
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: this point in the season, you've racked up 170 innings maybe,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you've been lucky enough to avoid injury.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: For pitchers, like let's say McGreevy, who, by the way,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: is still chugging along, just quality start, solid start when
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals really need it because of what's happened to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the rotation with injuries and guys on pitch limits. But
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: what does the body feel like? How close are you,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: generally speaking, to the pitcher you were on opening day
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: when you're 170 innings deep.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it just depends on how many adjustments
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: you've made throughout the year. There's a time in my
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: career where I really started to dial back workouts in September,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and I feel like that actually hurt me just a
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: little bit. So toward the end of my time in 2024,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I had decided to actually, you know, work out just
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: a little bit more than normal in September, and I
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: feel like that kept the body and kept kept things
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: feeling strong down the stress. Um, but you definitely modify things.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: And I think, I think, um, the other hard part
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I would say is being on a team that is
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: not in it and doesn't have that same, you know,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: fan engagement or adrenaline in the stadium. Uh, you tend
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: to feel the sluggish times and the soreness a little
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: bit more. You just don't have that same adrenaline flowing. So, um,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: that can be a little bit of a little bit
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: of a challenge, but and doing it for the first
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: couple times, man. This is somewhat uncharted waters for some
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: of these guys. So to be doing as well as
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: they are, you know, McGreevy throwing the ball well, Quinn
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Matthews threw the ball pretty well the other day as well.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: You know, those guys doing what they're doing here down
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: the stretch. With a couple starts left, you never want
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to give away innings. You never want to give away starts,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and you want to have that good feeling, you know,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: as you finish up here. So, you know, hopefully these
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: guys can have, you know, a good two, you know,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: A couple guys might have three starts left and finish strong.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So the Cardinals are a team that's in a rebuild, right?
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: A lot of young guys. You have energy in a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: clubhouse because these guys are kind of playing for each other.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I think that's a different thing. But you mentioned a
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: team where they know they're not going anywhere, but it's
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: not a rebuild. It's not a bunch of young guys.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: What's that like in the clubhouse, and is that something
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: that veterans have to police to make sure you guys
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: are still putting forth the kind of effort you want
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: to see.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: I think if you have the right culture built, I
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: don't think the veterans really have to do much down
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: the stretch on a team that, that has started to
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: struggle and fade a little bit. And not that I
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: want to say that the right way, not that this
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: team has faded. I just think, you know, they hit a,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: stretch where they had a couple tough series and and
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: obviously they weren't you know they're not in that playoff
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: picture the same as they were you know a month
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: ago even but um I think they've got good leadership
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: on this team I think they've built a good culture
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: on this team so I'm guessing they're not having to
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: worry about day-to-day, putting your work in, showing up ready
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: to play, and doing the little things well. It just
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: seems like they're playing consistent baseball. They're playing clean baseball.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: And I think that's going to be a big thing
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: for them to be able to build off next year
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: is understand that they've got the right guys in the
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: locker room. I believe they've got the right pieces to
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: the leadership. And when they bring in free agents next year,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: people are going to see that. You know, players that
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: are looking for a place to play in the offseason,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: they're going to look and see how these guys that
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: are going through arbitration, how these young guys, the rookies,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: have come up. And you're going to have starting pitchers
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: that are going to want to be in St. Louis.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: You know, not that starting pitching is a place that
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: they have a huge need, but, you know, boardroom guys,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: certain positions are going to want to come to St.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Louis now that they know the makeup of this team
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: and how they play baseball.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I can tell you from firsthand experience, these guys are working.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: because there's a feeling on this team that they are
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: part of something. And even if it's not this year,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: they want to grow together to be that team that's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: always in the mix for years to come. And I
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: think that's why you see them and the coaching staff
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: working just as hard, if not harder, today than they
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: did earlier in the season. This is a young team
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: that's built for the future, and they want to grow together.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it, Kyle, for this edition of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. We'll see you for the next edition. And hopefully,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: that one won't suck.