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Cardinals debut six-man rotation: How will it work? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Cardinals territory. Another Saint Louis Cardinals
0:07
Speaker 1: series win. We are recording this on Wednesday, April sixteenth.
0:10
Speaker 1: You're going to see it on Thursday, April seventeenth.
0:13
Speaker 2: Though.
0:13
Speaker 1: The Cardinals took two out of three games from the
0:15
Speaker 1: visiting Houston Astros. Another well pitched series, some good things
0:20
Speaker 1: to talk about. I'm your host, Katie Woo, back again
0:22
Speaker 1: with Bernie Miicholas. Bernie, what do you got?
0:26
Speaker 2: I thought this was a great homestand for the Cardinals.
0:29
Speaker 2: I mean it's not just that they were foreign too,
0:31
Speaker 2: but it could have been so much worse. But they
0:33
Speaker 2: won the third game against Philly, they won the third
0:36
Speaker 2: game against Houston, so they win each series instead of
0:39
Speaker 2: losing both series. And I did. I'm very limited when
0:42
Speaker 2: it comes to maths unless I have a calculator, but
0:46
Speaker 2: let's just say the Cardinals would have lost the third
0:48
Speaker 2: game to the Phillies and the third game to the Astros.
0:52
Speaker 2: Their record would be seven and eleven. And you know,
0:57
Speaker 2: nine and nine is not like a great record, but
1:00
Speaker 2: if you're a Cardinals fan, it's surely preferable to be
1:03
Speaker 2: you know, it's preferable to seven and eleven. Right, So
1:07
Speaker 2: so in a way those are like big wins early
1:10
Speaker 2: in the season because you don't want to get too deep.
1:12
Speaker 2: You don't want to get in the mud. You don't
1:13
Speaker 2: want to be seven and eleven. I have to just
1:15
Speaker 2: like pull your way up from that. So I thought
1:18
Speaker 2: they I thought they were two good saves, you know,
1:21
Speaker 2: for the series. I thought, yeah, you know, you know.
1:25
Speaker 1: The phrase winning teams win series, and I thought the
1:28
Speaker 1: Cardinals that are I mean, another really well pitched series. Again,
1:31
Speaker 1: Sonny Gray was fantastic on Monday, just so dominant, seven innings,
1:36
Speaker 1: two hits. Then Eric Fetti comes out, there's a quality start,
1:40
Speaker 1: and then of course even Matt Stable get into that performance.
1:42
Speaker 1: But when you pitch like that and you continue carrying
1:45
Speaker 1: on the rotation the way that it has to the
1:47
Speaker 1: last turn, I mean, you're gonna win a considerable amount
1:50
Speaker 1: of ball games. And I honestly, I don't even think
1:53
Speaker 1: this series was necessarily that entertaining.
1:55
Speaker 3: Bernie. I know we talked about it before we turn
1:56
Speaker 3: the cameras on, but the.
1:58
Speaker 1: Houston Astros were like really boring to watch for three days.
2:02
Speaker 1: And I know we previewed the Cardinals Astro series with
2:05
Speaker 1: Krush City Territory and the Beat writer Chandler is one
2:08
Speaker 1: of my good friends, and we were talking about how
2:10
Speaker 1: the similarities between these two teams coming into the week.
2:14
Speaker 1: But I would call out on a limb here and say,
2:17
Speaker 1: I think the Cardinals are much more entertaining ball club
2:19
Speaker 1: right now than the Astros are. I mean, those were
2:21
Speaker 1: it was a good series, and I still felt like
2:23
Speaker 1: all three of those games were relatively uninspiring, and I
2:26
Speaker 1: think that's just the carryover from the way that the
2:28
Speaker 1: Astros looked.
2:29
Speaker 2: I thought the way the Cardinals, you know, took such
2:33
Speaker 2: great bats against from ber Valdez was see I get
2:36
Speaker 2: into that stuff. And I think because listen, the last
2:39
Speaker 2: couple of years, you know, we've all watched so many
2:42
Speaker 2: dreadful at bats, non competitive at bats, and so you know,
2:47
Speaker 2: they go into that the first game in the series
2:50
Speaker 2: against Houston's ace or co ace, whatever, and I thought
2:55
Speaker 2: it showed just a surprisingly positive indicator about how smart
3:02
Speaker 2: they're becoming. Like Valdez is known for his curveball, it's
3:05
Speaker 2: really good, it's really outstanding. In fact, he'd given up
3:09
Speaker 2: like one hit on the curveball all season, first first
3:13
Speaker 2: three starts or whatever. So I think they I think
3:17
Speaker 2: the Cardinals noticed that he was having a hard time
3:19
Speaker 2: locating it and he was leaving it up a little bit,
3:23
Speaker 2: and they went hunting for that curveball and they got it.
3:26
Speaker 2: I mean, they had like five hits on that pitch
3:28
Speaker 2: and that's basically what ruined Valdez that night. And see, yeah,
3:34
Speaker 2: there were and there were some. There were some like
3:37
Speaker 2: big hits that were kind of like got the got
3:40
Speaker 2: the you know, the crowd off fired up. So I
3:42
Speaker 2: just thought, I keep looking for signs that tell me
3:45
Speaker 2: this is a different lineup, because it's a lot smarter
3:49
Speaker 2: and they they go into games, they're looking for certain
3:53
Speaker 2: things and if they don't, if they're a little caught
3:56
Speaker 2: off guard, then then they seem to be able to
3:59
Speaker 2: adjust better than they have in the past. So I thought, See,
4:01
Speaker 2: I thought that was exciting. I'm a nerd. I love
4:04
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. So, but it was a workman
4:07
Speaker 2: like victory. They beat their top guy. I thought Hunter
4:10
Speaker 2: Brown was excellence against Cardinals in the middle game. There
4:12
Speaker 2: wasn't much they could do with him.
4:14
Speaker 3: Hunter Brown.
4:15
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about the pictures that the Cardinals
4:17
Speaker 1: have beaten. Paul Skens Aaron Nola, Zach Wheeler from La Valdez.
4:20
Speaker 1: Hunter Brown is just as good and could be even
4:24
Speaker 1: better than some of the names we just mentioned. He's
4:26
Speaker 1: relatively new and are young in his career. He was dominant.
4:30
Speaker 1: I mean there was literally nothing they could do. I
4:31
Speaker 1: agree with you.
4:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, he started throwing a sinker to left handed hitters,
4:35
Speaker 2: which he hasn't done all the early the season, and
4:38
Speaker 2: I think the Cardinals this might have been an example
4:40
Speaker 2: where they were perhaps surprised by what the other pitcher
4:44
Speaker 2: chose to do. But surprise or not, he was just
4:46
Speaker 2: really good. And I thought today was a game where
4:51
Speaker 2: you just did Wednesday. I just didn't know, because, okay,
4:54
Speaker 2: what would be fair to expect out of Steven Mattz
4:57
Speaker 2: And I know the astro starter today. You know, he's
5:01
Speaker 2: had one really good start, but he's gotten beat up
5:04
Speaker 2: a little bit too, so I wasn't entirely sure what
5:07
Speaker 2: to think he would do. But I think the big
5:10
Speaker 2: question was, Okay, how would Steven Matts pitch after re
5:14
Speaker 2: entering the rotation, after working how many games? Was a
5:17
Speaker 2: four or five games in relief? And I think we
5:19
Speaker 2: got our answer. He was very impressive.
5:22
Speaker 1: He was Steven Mattz five innings, pitched, two hits, one
5:25
Speaker 1: in run, no walks, five strikeouts and seventy one pitches.
5:28
Speaker 1: He came into the game today on a rough pitch
5:31
Speaker 1: limit of sixty five.
5:32
Speaker 3: It was good to see him get through five. He
5:33
Speaker 3: was really efficient.
5:35
Speaker 1: What I liked about Matt's is outing is he let
5:37
Speaker 1: off the game with two singles up the middle, and
5:39
Speaker 1: I think Victor Scott the second would like that cutoff throwback.
5:42
Speaker 1: I think on that second single, he'd go to second base,
5:44
Speaker 1: not third, and that ended up costing Matt's a run
5:47
Speaker 1: because the next play is a ground ball to second base,
5:50
Speaker 1: probably a double play ball there. Then you're gonna get
5:52
Speaker 1: out of the inning. Instead it's a put out to
5:54
Speaker 1: second and a run scores from third. But after that,
5:57
Speaker 1: Matt shut the Astros down fifteen straight. Like I mentioned,
6:01
Speaker 1: five strikeouts, and I agree with you. I wasn't sure
6:05
Speaker 1: coming into the start what was the best way to
6:07
Speaker 1: evaluate Matts what would be fair.
6:09
Speaker 3: He looked great in spring.
6:11
Speaker 1: He's been in long relief, he's had to pitch kind
6:13
Speaker 1: of in a role that's relatively unfamiliar to him, and
6:15
Speaker 1: then he just comes in and he looks like he
6:17
Speaker 1: did in spring and it was really encouraging to see.
6:19
Speaker 1: We talked to Stephen after the game and he said, honestly,
6:22
Speaker 1: like it can be difficult, and we'll get into the
6:25
Speaker 1: six man rotation in the second segment of the show, but.
6:27
Speaker 3: Think about this, Bernie.
6:28
Speaker 1: The Cardinals were so intentional about deploying a six man
6:31
Speaker 1: rotation that we knew that Steven Mattz's first start of
6:34
Speaker 1: the season would be April sixteenth, dating back to the
6:37
Speaker 1: last day of spring training. And the reason they did this,
6:40
Speaker 1: we'll again get into the majority of the reasons, but
6:42
Speaker 1: one of them was to ensure that Matthew Libertour could
6:45
Speaker 1: have that consistent starting role in the rotation that we've
6:47
Speaker 1: talked about. And if you think about where Stephen mats
6:50
Speaker 1: is in his career, he's thirty three years old, he's
6:52
Speaker 1: in the final year of his contract before a free agency.
6:54
Speaker 3: He's a veteran of the game. Some veterans will not
6:59
Speaker 3: take it well.
7:00
Speaker 1: An organization comes up to them and says, hey, we
7:03
Speaker 1: have to do what's best for the younger guy here.
7:06
Speaker 1: So even though you pitched really well, we're going to
7:07
Speaker 1: put you in the bullpen and we'll give you some
7:09
Speaker 1: starts when we can, but we have to do what's
7:11
Speaker 1: what we think is best for this player long term.
7:13
Speaker 1: Some veterans could easily be like, uh, okay, what about
7:16
Speaker 1: what's best for me? What about what's what's best for
7:18
Speaker 1: my contract? I'm going to be a free agent soon.
7:21
Speaker 1: And Matt's was, in the words of Allie Marmal, a
7:24
Speaker 1: total pro. I'll read this quote because I asked Matts
7:28
Speaker 1: after the cameras turned off why that was his reaction,
7:32
Speaker 1: why he was so easy going about this, and why
7:35
Speaker 1: he agreed to it, and basically why he didn't really
7:38
Speaker 1: have an issue with it, and.
7:40
Speaker 3: He said, here's this quote.
7:42
Speaker 1: I've had some frustrating points throughout my tenure with the
7:44
Speaker 1: Cardinals so far from a personal standpoint, injuries, not having
7:47
Speaker 1: the success I wanted this year.
7:49
Speaker 3: My main emphasis is to enjoy wherever I'm at.
7:51
Speaker 1: I'm healthy, I had a really good off season, I
7:54
Speaker 1: had a good spring training. I feel really good. So
7:57
Speaker 1: whatever they decide, I'm just going to enjoy it and
7:59
Speaker 1: I'm going to compete. I think it's been really helping me.
8:02
Speaker 1: That first start, Bernie I mean certainly speaks to that.
8:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I admire you know what he did, and he
8:08
Speaker 2: really is a terrific teammate. And the one thing I've
8:11
Speaker 2: said about Steven match like in his first three seasons
8:14
Speaker 2: as a Cardinal, I mean, he's really really rough stuff.
8:16
Speaker 2: He only averaged eleven starts and they per season. They
8:18
Speaker 2: signed him to be forty four million dollars to be
8:21
Speaker 2: a regular starter, but he kept getting hurt. And the
8:25
Speaker 2: only thing I would ever try to say, there was
8:27
Speaker 2: no really no defense in terms of his bottom line
8:31
Speaker 2: per formance record because he just didn't he wasn't able
8:33
Speaker 2: to bitch enough. But I always tried to say, and
8:37
Speaker 2: I don't blame fans for being upset that, you know,
8:40
Speaker 2: the Cardinals weren't getting their quote, getting their money's worth.
8:43
Speaker 2: But I always try to make people understand, like he
8:46
Speaker 2: he's not trying to steal anybody's money. He cares. He's
8:49
Speaker 2: a good guy, Like he's he was more disturbed about
8:53
Speaker 2: his inability to do what they signed him to do
8:55
Speaker 2: for three years. That really bothered him. I mean it
8:58
Speaker 2: really kind of kind of hit his pride. He doesn't
9:01
Speaker 2: want to be a bum. He doesn't want to be
9:03
Speaker 2: a guy that's got a reputation is like, well, he
9:05
Speaker 2: took the money. Yeah, he took the money and ran
9:07
Speaker 2: and I think he wanted to really kind of repay
9:11
Speaker 2: the Cardinals for that investment. And so listen, you're right though,
9:14
Speaker 2: there was be some veterans that would just raise hell
9:16
Speaker 2: about this, maybe not publicly, but they'd raise hell behind
9:19
Speaker 2: behind closed doors in the manager's office. But he didn't
9:22
Speaker 2: do that. He was a good teammate. He likes his
9:24
Speaker 2: he likes his fellow pitchers, and he fits in and
9:28
Speaker 2: he helps out and he's got a really good personality
9:31
Speaker 2: and a really good attitude. So you know, on a
9:34
Speaker 2: personal level, I'm really rooting for this guy to have
9:36
Speaker 2: a nice year because because I again it's not like
9:40
Speaker 2: he wanted to come to Saint Louis and get hurt
9:43
Speaker 2: all the time and be unavailable. In fact, there's no
9:47
Speaker 2: way he would have been happy under the circumstances. So
9:51
Speaker 2: this is his time, and obviously he still has a
9:53
Speaker 2: lot to prove. But that was that was really good today.
9:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I agree with you.
9:58
Speaker 1: I was happy for him and getting to know Stephen
10:01
Speaker 1: over the last three years. I mean, you talked to
10:03
Speaker 1: the starting pitchers a lot, because there's.
10:04
Speaker 3: Really only one day where you can't and then.
10:06
Speaker 1: You know, they're in the clubhouse, they're hanging out, they're
10:09
Speaker 1: cracking jokes. So I've gotten to know Stephen well over
10:11
Speaker 1: his cardinal's tenure.
10:12
Speaker 3: In each injury, you.
10:13
Speaker 1: Could just feel the disappointment like radiating from his body
10:16
Speaker 1: each time he wasn't able to answer the bell or
10:18
Speaker 1: he had a step back, and you could just tell
10:20
Speaker 1: he felt I don't want to speak for him, but
10:21
Speaker 1: it almost was like he felt a little guilty that
10:24
Speaker 1: he had come over here and he had not been
10:26
Speaker 1: able to consistently start. We're seeing a really healthy version
10:29
Speaker 1: of Stephen Mattz, maybe some less anxieties, just more free
10:33
Speaker 1: flowing going out there and pitching. I thought Wednesday was
10:36
Speaker 1: a great first step. We'll see him start at least
10:38
Speaker 1: one more time. I think he lines up for April
10:40
Speaker 1: twenty second against the Braves same day Mason when as
10:43
Speaker 1: eligibles come off the injured list. By the way, but
10:45
Speaker 1: we still do not know if he's going to require
10:47
Speaker 1: some of bats in Memphis or what he will not
10:50
Speaker 1: be in New York. He might rejoin the team in Atlanta.
10:52
Speaker 1: Stay tuned, But Bernie, you and I have other pressing
10:54
Speaker 1: things to discuss, kind of about Steven Matts about the
10:56
Speaker 1: rotation as a whole. We'll get all into the car
11:00
Speaker 1: those plans for that six man squad in our next segment.
11:03
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11:05
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11:07
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11:09
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11:15
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11:16
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11:19
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11:22
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11:24
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11:27
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11:30
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11:33
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11:35
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12:07
Speaker 1: So we've known for a long time that the Cardinals
12:11
Speaker 1: six man rotation would officially start today, and the reason
12:15
Speaker 1: that we're seeing that is because the Cardinals are currently
12:18
Speaker 1: in the midst from April eleventh to May seventh, just.
12:21
Speaker 3: One scheduled off day. So up on the.
12:24
Speaker 1: Athletic Thursday morning, you should see it, we broke down
12:29
Speaker 1: why the Cardinals hope this is the second time in
12:32
Speaker 1: three days my cat has crashed the party.
12:34
Speaker 3: I don't know where she's.
12:35
Speaker 1: Hiding when I start this, but it's like she knows.
12:37
Speaker 1: I'm busy, Okay, sorry.
12:39
Speaker 2: It's a nice tabby. There's very very pretty pretty girl.
12:42
Speaker 2: And the second I have a cat in the next room,
12:44
Speaker 2: she was. She was hollering to get in, but I
12:48
Speaker 2: just had to say no for now.
12:50
Speaker 1: I get it because she's not supposed to be out here.
12:52
Speaker 1: But my suitcase is out, I'm packing for New York.
12:54
Speaker 1: I leave tomorrow, and I.
12:55
Speaker 3: Think she she knows.
12:56
Speaker 1: So with it back to our scheduled on the Athletic,
13:02
Speaker 1: we detailed why the Cardinals hope a six man rotation
13:05
Speaker 1: will keep their starting pictures healthy.
13:07
Speaker 3: This is the reason you're going to see the Cardinals
13:09
Speaker 3: use a six.
13:10
Speaker 1: Man Sure, it has a little bit to do with
13:12
Speaker 1: working mats in like we talked about, but there were
13:16
Speaker 1: many reasons when I sat down with Allie Marmel and
13:18
Speaker 1: Dusty Blake about why six man rotation is so important.
13:21
Speaker 3: And we'll break it down by categories.
13:23
Speaker 1: First one, protecting picture health, MLB released or port as
13:28
Speaker 1: I'm sure you all know in December, highlighting the rises
13:32
Speaker 1: of pictures injuries and the month where it happens the
13:34
Speaker 1: most is March in early April, so that's always going
13:37
Speaker 1: to be cognizant in the Cardinals' minds about how to
13:40
Speaker 1: protect their starting pictures.
13:42
Speaker 3: And then we're going to go down another thing.
13:47
Speaker 1: The lack of depth presents another layer to consider. The
13:50
Speaker 1: Cardinals don't have a tun of depth outside of Michael
13:52
Speaker 1: McGreevy that they consider major league ready. So are there
13:56
Speaker 1: guys that could be ready at some point like Quinn
13:59
Speaker 1: Matthews tink Hens. They're both on the injur list at
14:01
Speaker 1: this time. But yes, but if something happened to a
14:04
Speaker 1: picture right now, that they feel like outside of Matha McGreevy,
14:08
Speaker 1: there's really no option that could come up and be
14:10
Speaker 1: a formidable starter. This is going to keep Matthew Libertore
14:14
Speaker 1: in the rotation as well. We've talked about this importance
14:16
Speaker 1: of this all season. It's been something the Cardinals have
14:18
Speaker 1: been really adamant about. And lastly, Bernie, as I'm sure
14:21
Speaker 1: you figured out, the six man rotation is.
14:23
Speaker 3: For now, but it's not forever.
14:25
Speaker 1: The Cardinals will reevaluate after the off day against the
14:28
Speaker 1: Brave Series. I believe that's twenty fourth and they I
14:31
Speaker 1: highly doubt just based on the scheduling, they will continue
14:33
Speaker 1: to do it after May seventh.
14:36
Speaker 3: So now that's good.
14:39
Speaker 2: Very it was a very fine presentation. I felt like
14:41
Speaker 2: I was sitting in a classroom again.
14:43
Speaker 3: Like a professor.
14:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, professor, woo, all right, I like it. No, go ahead,
14:48
Speaker 2: I'm sorry I interrupted because trying to be a little mirthful. Anyway,
14:51
Speaker 2: go ahead.
14:52
Speaker 3: Well it's okay.
14:52
Speaker 1: I have maybe five total brain cells right now, so
14:55
Speaker 1: we'll just roll with it together. Knowing what we know
14:58
Speaker 1: and how this is laid out. Is the city spend
15:00
Speaker 1: rotation necessary?
15:02
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I don't know how to answer that. You know,
15:04
Speaker 2: I was talking Olie about this too, and you've spent
15:07
Speaker 2: more time with him than I did. But you know,
15:09
Speaker 2: he pointed out that he thinks his pictures can benefit
15:13
Speaker 2: from having that fifth day of rest, and so I
15:17
Speaker 2: was doing some research on that because that's what I do,
15:19
Speaker 2: and you know, I found out and I want to,
15:22
Speaker 2: you know, hat tip to Mike Pattillo MLB dot com
15:27
Speaker 2: because back in late January he wrote and he wrote about,
15:30
Speaker 2: you know, the idea is a six man rotation coming.
15:33
Speaker 2: It seems like these teams want to do it. But
15:35
Speaker 2: he didn't have an entire list, but he went and studied,
15:38
Speaker 2: like how the percentage of days between starts continues to increase,
15:46
Speaker 2: Like pictures now are are more and more and more
15:50
Speaker 2: pictures are operating on five days rest rather than the
15:53
Speaker 2: traditional four days rest. And Patrello seemed to think that
15:57
Speaker 2: that's a sign of things to come. Although there won't
16:00
Speaker 2: be enough teams that are going to go all in
16:02
Speaker 2: and the Cardinals aren't going all in. As you pointed out,
16:04
Speaker 2: this is probably temporary, but I don't know how to
16:08
Speaker 2: have a hard time. I think it's all conditional. Like,
16:10
Speaker 2: for example, we all know the worst case scenario is
16:15
Speaker 2: if your starters, you know, just get bombed out of
16:17
Speaker 2: starts early, your bullpens is going to get crushed. And
16:21
Speaker 2: Ali said, well, yeah, but we have more flexibility now
16:25
Speaker 2: because we have more guys that we can send out
16:28
Speaker 2: on options. They have options left, so we can be
16:30
Speaker 2: more flexible using that Memphis shuttle and so forth. So
16:34
Speaker 2: I mean, I understand his point, but these guys can consistently,
16:37
Speaker 2: most of them can give you six innings. Maybe that's
16:40
Speaker 2: too much to ask for, but they get enough of,
16:42
Speaker 2: say six innings starts. They can make this work. And
16:46
Speaker 2: I think there are benefits to it, but there is
16:48
Speaker 2: a downside. There is a potential risk your bullpen will
16:51
Speaker 2: get gassed. So I have to wait and see how
16:54
Speaker 2: it plays out. And you know, the other thing too
16:57
Speaker 2: is Okay, what do they do?
16:58
Speaker 3: Yeah?
17:00
Speaker 2: What did they do? And I don't want to keep
17:02
Speaker 2: picking on Miles Michaels, but what did they do? It
17:04
Speaker 2: was great on the show the other day, that was good.
17:06
Speaker 2: But what do they do if Matt's is pitching really
17:09
Speaker 2: well and Michaelis has a couple of really bad starts?
17:12
Speaker 2: What do they do there? How would they justify being
17:15
Speaker 2: able to like bounce Matts back to the bullpen. They
17:17
Speaker 2: could justify it by saying, oh, but he's so good
17:19
Speaker 2: in relief too, so I I you know, and I
17:21
Speaker 2: don't think Miles would be. I could be wrong about that,
17:24
Speaker 2: So that's kind of my take on it.
17:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for what they're trying to do right now,
17:33
Speaker 1: preserving picture health, I think it makes sense because when
17:37
Speaker 1: we talked about this in McGreevey didn't make the roster
17:39
Speaker 1: outside of camp. They really don't have a lot of
17:41
Speaker 1: depth in Triple A and sorry, hold on, sure, this
17:46
Speaker 1: is gonna be.
17:46
Speaker 3: A lot You have to go.
17:51
Speaker 2: Or Baby.
17:52
Speaker 3: The people what they want, but you have to go.
17:54
Speaker 3: I'm sure or Baby.
17:56
Speaker 2: I know she she knows moms, she knows she's got anxiety.
18:01
Speaker 3: I know she can use their attitude changes.
18:03
Speaker 2: Cat Cats always sent stuff. They're brilliant that way. They
18:08
Speaker 2: know they just know anyway, go ahead.
18:11
Speaker 1: But what was really important about this strategy was, and
18:15
Speaker 1: this is something that both Ali and Dusty reiterated and
18:17
Speaker 1: our brief conversations even today, that.
18:20
Speaker 3: Five days rest is real. All the way through this up.
18:24
Speaker 1: Until Wednesday, only one starter one time, Eric Fetty versus
18:28
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh on April ninth operated on the traditional four days
18:32
Speaker 1: of rest. Every other starter, because of the scheduled off days,
18:35
Speaker 1: has been able to be on the five day rest
18:38
Speaker 1: and that helps everybody, especially early on, especially in the season,
18:42
Speaker 1: part of the season where injuries for pictures are you know,
18:46
Speaker 1: the most common. And Eric Petty talked about it yesterday
18:49
Speaker 1: and he said, yeah, that extra day of rest, Like,
18:50
Speaker 1: obviously we want the ball as much as possible, but
18:53
Speaker 1: our goal is to be pitching in meaningful games in
18:54
Speaker 1: August and September and October two. So this extra day
18:58
Speaker 1: of rest in April is super important. And if the
19:02
Speaker 1: Cardinals have a stretch like the next three weeks or
19:04
Speaker 1: I know we're halfway through Week one where they don't
19:07
Speaker 1: have anything but one scheduled off day, and this is
19:10
Speaker 1: going to keep their guys on that five days rest
19:12
Speaker 1: and keep them sharp so that they are effective in
19:14
Speaker 1: the during the rest of the season.
19:16
Speaker 2: I get it.
19:17
Speaker 3: I have the same.
19:18
Speaker 1: Issues as you with a bullpen that you know is
19:20
Speaker 1: gonna have to cover innings and could be taxed easily.
19:22
Speaker 1: But Allie is right. They can use the Memphis Express.
19:25
Speaker 1: They have that ability. They also have many multiple guys
19:28
Speaker 1: in that bullpen that can pitch multiple innings if necessary.
19:31
Speaker 1: Isn't the most perfect plan, No, but the logic behind it,
19:34
Speaker 1: and I encourage you all to read it in the
19:36
Speaker 1: athletic I think is sound, it's solid, and it's justified.
19:40
Speaker 1: If someone goes down in the rotation, you have McGreevy,
19:44
Speaker 1: and I think everyone's okay with that.
19:45
Speaker 3: Mcgreevy's ready now to come in the rotation.
19:48
Speaker 1: If someone else goes down, who do you have? And
19:51
Speaker 1: are any of those options better than what you currently
19:54
Speaker 1: have in the rotation my personal opinion, no, so, and
19:58
Speaker 1: the guys that were supposed to be there that we're
20:00
Speaker 1: bought starters, Zach Thompson, Drew rom they're hurt, so they
20:03
Speaker 1: really have virtually no depth behind McGreevy. If this is
20:07
Speaker 1: what is the best path that they believe is going
20:10
Speaker 1: to keep these starters healthy so they are pitching in
20:12
Speaker 1: meaningful games in the second half, Doing a six men
20:15
Speaker 1: rotation for two and a half weeks is I'm really
20:17
Speaker 1: not going to lose that much sleepover.
20:18
Speaker 2: No, I there is no question about it. The Cardinals
20:21
Speaker 2: are very thin on depth right now. And I'm not
20:23
Speaker 2: trying to say that Quinn Matthews was on the verge
20:27
Speaker 2: of being called up and certainly Tink Hence is not.
20:30
Speaker 2: But you know, some of my friends who follow prospects
20:34
Speaker 2: and are really knowledgeable, thought that, hey, you know, Cooper
20:37
Speaker 2: Jeapy will be up here. He's really good. So they've
20:40
Speaker 2: got so the all three of those guys are sidelined,
20:42
Speaker 2: you know, you know, for example, a guy that could
20:44
Speaker 2: have maybe emerged as a depth option later in the season,
20:47
Speaker 2: a guy like Japy, he's got that weird delivery that
20:50
Speaker 2: you know, the fuddles hitters. He's not an option. Hence
20:54
Speaker 2: is not an option. Matthews is not an option, and
20:57
Speaker 2: you know they're going to be really really careful with him.
20:59
Speaker 2: To co Roby's been really impressive. Now is he moving
21:02
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use the word runway. Is he moving up
21:07
Speaker 2: on the runway a little bit? I mean, he's been
21:09
Speaker 2: really impressive, but I'm not saying, Okay, he's ready for
21:11
Speaker 2: the majors, but he's worth monitoring for sure. It's been
21:15
Speaker 2: pretty it's been pretty great what he's been able to
21:17
Speaker 2: do so far.
21:18
Speaker 1: He's nasty, he's got great stuff. The issue with Tako
21:20
Speaker 1: Robi's that he's only thrown forty innings. In the last
21:22
Speaker 1: two years, so they have to build him up. They're
21:25
Speaker 1: not going to just rush him and throw them in there.
21:27
Speaker 1: He has to build some sort of a foundation. And
21:29
Speaker 1: for those of you who missed it, twenty twenty two
21:31
Speaker 1: first round pick Cooper Jerpy, the organization announced on Tuesday
21:34
Speaker 1: he underwent season ending Tommy John surgery. His timeline it
21:38
Speaker 1: will be back hopefully midway through twenty twenty six. Really
21:41
Speaker 1: disappointing news for Jerpy. Matthews is on the injured list
21:44
Speaker 1: as well. That's just kind of more of a general
21:47
Speaker 1: soreness and they don't think it's going to be super long.
21:49
Speaker 1: Tink Hens of course, started the year on the il
21:51
Speaker 1: with right ribcage discomfort or strain.
21:56
Speaker 3: So yeah, really they're not lying to you this time.
21:58
Speaker 1: The Cardinals don't have a ton of up outside of mcgreeby,
22:01
Speaker 1: and they really need to preserve their starting pitching so
22:03
Speaker 1: that if mcgreeby starts pitching well and forces away in
22:08
Speaker 1: the conversation, that's a different story. But right now his
22:10
Speaker 1: biggest value is in Memphis because the second something goes down,
22:14
Speaker 1: they're gonna need them.
22:16
Speaker 2: Now, it's all makes sense, it really does. In other words,
22:20
Speaker 2: you know, if I thought they were doing it for
22:22
Speaker 2: other reasons, that it had had very little to do
22:26
Speaker 2: with very careful planning and also taking really good care
22:30
Speaker 2: of their starting pitchers, because as Ali told you and
22:35
Speaker 2: he told me the other day as well, you know,
22:37
Speaker 2: April April and you know, getting on in early May.
22:41
Speaker 2: Those are the kind of the danger zones. You know,
22:43
Speaker 2: there's a lot, there's a lot of injuries. And how
22:47
Speaker 2: many times have we seen rotations in general, the starters
22:51
Speaker 2: are really good. They may have like three really good starters,
22:53
Speaker 2: they get to the postseason and two of them are cooked.
22:56
Speaker 3: You know, let's talk about Eric Fetty.
23:00
Speaker 1: They traded for him last year because he was so
23:03
Speaker 1: dominant for the White Sox. I mean, it's hard to
23:05
Speaker 1: win games for the White Sox. And on the first
23:07
Speaker 1: day of the trade, he gets in the an ally's
23:09
Speaker 1: office and he goes, hey, look, I'm happy to be here,
23:12
Speaker 1: but I am gassed. And you could see the way
23:14
Speaker 1: Betty pitched over the last two most of the season.
23:16
Speaker 1: He wasn't a different picture because he was tired. Because
23:18
Speaker 1: the White Sox did not prioritize player health and longevity.
23:22
Speaker 1: And I think the Cardinals are really trying to do
23:23
Speaker 1: that here, and.
23:24
Speaker 2: That's a sign of progress because they're too tough, and
23:27
Speaker 2: they have been. They've had an aversion to you know,
23:31
Speaker 2: quote think think outside the box. You know, they even
23:36
Speaker 2: when they were winning and they were proud of their
23:38
Speaker 2: analytics department and everything else, they stayed with the traditional model.
23:43
Speaker 2: They were stubborn about staying with the model. I think
23:46
Speaker 2: Jeff Luno probably wanted them to do, you know, to
23:49
Speaker 2: try to go out there and break new ground on
23:51
Speaker 2: some things. They just wouldn't do it. They were so
23:54
Speaker 2: interesting in those times because we're all all of the
23:57
Speaker 2: really good work that was being done by the analytics department.
24:00
Speaker 2: The Cardinals were sticking to their their old school doctrine.
24:04
Speaker 2: They would never acknowledge it, but they were so I
24:07
Speaker 2: personally really like just what this represents. It represents a
24:11
Speaker 2: smarter organization and that can only help the team in
24:14
Speaker 2: the you know, now and in the future. So it's
24:18
Speaker 2: a really good discussion, isn't it. I've enjoyed this because
24:21
Speaker 2: there's it's it's there's a lot of layers to this
24:24
Speaker 2: that and and I appreciate what you wrote today, and
24:27
Speaker 2: I know that a lot of people will read it
24:29
Speaker 2: because it really does explain a lot. And I know that.
24:33
Speaker 2: I know so many Cardinals fans are skeptical of everything.
24:37
Speaker 2: I get it's one of those times.
24:39
Speaker 1: When the organization hasn't been super transparent for years.
24:43
Speaker 3: I get it.
24:45
Speaker 2: And listen, you and I both know this too. It's
24:49
Speaker 2: it's still going to come down to resentment of Miles Michaelis.
24:54
Speaker 2: You know that's that. I think that's part of it,
24:56
Speaker 2: that he's one of the six. I don't feel that
24:58
Speaker 2: way because I understand that he's got to be part
25:01
Speaker 2: of the six if you're going to go with six
25:02
Speaker 2: right now, they really don't want to do anything to
25:06
Speaker 2: take McGreevy out of his routine, you know. But I
25:10
Speaker 2: get that fans are saying, well, wait a minute, but
25:12
Speaker 2: we know mcgreevy's better than Michaels. People are gonna get
25:16
Speaker 2: mad at me for saying this, because listen, I'm not
25:18
Speaker 2: a fan of Michaelis's pitching, believe me. But I do
25:23
Speaker 2: understand their thinking on this, at least for now.
25:25
Speaker 1: Now.
25:25
Speaker 2: A couple months from now, I may not understand their
25:27
Speaker 2: thinking on this, so we'll have to wait and see
25:29
Speaker 2: how it plays out. But I thought he was pretty
25:31
Speaker 2: good to let Michael's is pretty good the last time out.
25:34
Speaker 2: And I don't mean to ramble, but I wrote a
25:36
Speaker 2: piece today and it was really interesting. If you put
25:39
Speaker 2: you put Fetti in Michael's side by side, you know,
25:43
Speaker 2: it's really interesting because Fetti, Michaelis has a higher strikeout
25:47
Speaker 2: rate than Fetti, and he's got a better walk rate
25:50
Speaker 2: than Fetti. But what's happening is Fetti's the batting average
25:54
Speaker 2: against him, balls and plays like one to eighty three
25:56
Speaker 2: against Michael's. It's three fifty six. In my eyes, I
26:00
Speaker 2: mean is I'm not saying Miles Michaelas is great, but
26:02
Speaker 2: we all look at Fetti as being really superior. You
26:05
Speaker 2: look at his fielding independent era and his expected era.
26:09
Speaker 2: Michaelas has actually been better than Fetti so far this season.
26:11
Speaker 2: I know that's weird. I know that's counter and two
26:14
Speaker 2: of it, but it's true if you sort of dig
26:16
Speaker 2: underneath the surface numbers, I think it's.
26:18
Speaker 1: Worth monitoring Miles Michael's for at least two more starts
26:21
Speaker 1: and seeing how he does. And you know, maybe this
26:22
Speaker 1: is a conversation that we forget about because he turns
26:25
Speaker 1: it around, or maybe it's not, but it is something
26:28
Speaker 1: to monitor.
26:29
Speaker 3: I agree with you.
26:30
Speaker 1: As the Cardinals adventure through the six man rotation. We'll
26:33
Speaker 1: get to more about the series against the Astros, but
26:35
Speaker 1: a first, a quick message from FanDuel Sports Networks.
26:44
Speaker 5: Thoughts now work, Yeah yeah, watch these a digger and
26:48
Speaker 5: not be yes.
26:49
Speaker 2: I'm just glad they are my local dean for it
26:52
Speaker 2: through real room for the Cardinals. Sports that way got the.
27:06
Speaker 3: Extreamly all right.
27:10
Speaker 1: So during this Cardinal's four to homestand uh, Brendan Donovan
27:15
Speaker 1: continued his electric April Uh.
27:19
Speaker 3: He is our fandual Sports Network player to watch.
27:22
Speaker 1: Going into a four game set in Queens against the
27:24
Speaker 1: New York Mets, Brennan Donovan after today he's hitting three
27:28
Speaker 1: eighty that is the highest average in the National League
27:31
Speaker 1: and is twenty seven for seventy one. Those twenty seven
27:34
Speaker 1: hits the most hits in the Major League for Anie.
27:38
Speaker 3: What have you seen from Brendan Donovan?
27:41
Speaker 2: Man, He just has he just has like such sharp
27:45
Speaker 2: awareness of everything, Like he is just every cliche in
27:48
Speaker 2: the book. He's just so locked in. He's seeing every pitch.
27:52
Speaker 5: Uh.
27:53
Speaker 2: He's he's he knows his own strengths. He's not trying
27:58
Speaker 2: to stray from it. He's really really dissip when every
28:00
Speaker 2: now and then he'll take a hack to try to
28:01
Speaker 2: hit one out of the park. But there's just no
28:04
Speaker 2: complaints there. And I've always enjoyed watching him play, really
28:07
Speaker 2: love watching him play. He's such a great competitor, He's smut,
28:10
Speaker 2: he's such a smart, smart player. So would I like
28:15
Speaker 2: to see him maybe take a few more walks? Yeah,
28:18
Speaker 2: but again I call, you know, he's a twelve game
28:20
Speaker 2: hitting streak, you know, the Donnie doesn't I mean, he's
28:23
Speaker 2: just killing it right now and so so don't you know,
28:26
Speaker 2: don't change a thing at the moment. But he's fun
28:28
Speaker 2: to watch and you can put him anywhere in the lineup.
28:29
Speaker 2: He pretty much put him anywhere on the field. He's
28:32
Speaker 2: really he's really a high value player for the Cardinals.
28:34
Speaker 2: Really like him.
28:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
28:37
Speaker 1: And I remember when we first saw the Open Day
28:39
Speaker 1: lineup and I talked about it and I said I
28:41
Speaker 1: didn't love Donovan in the three hole because I didn't
28:43
Speaker 1: think he profiled as a.
28:44
Speaker 3: Number three hitter.
28:46
Speaker 1: But this just goes to show how much I know,
28:47
Speaker 1: because he looked real good right there, and I would
28:50
Speaker 1: agree it would be nice for him to walk a
28:52
Speaker 1: little more but if he's having numbers like this, I
28:53
Speaker 1: don't think anyone's going to complain. He is, so I'm
28:56
Speaker 1: getting eaten alive by my cave right now. This is
28:58
Speaker 1: such a disaster episode.
29:00
Speaker 3: That she snagged my sweater.
29:02
Speaker 2: You just got to take you got to take a
29:03
Speaker 2: little box of those temptations and just scatter them on
29:07
Speaker 2: the floor and then.
29:08
Speaker 3: She'll well, I don't know where she came from. I
29:10
Speaker 3: should be away.
29:12
Speaker 2: She'll be preoccupied by the treats.
29:15
Speaker 1: But with Donnie, okay, out, well, we're gonna do this
29:18
Speaker 1: for the rest of the episode.
29:19
Speaker 3: With Donovan, this is great. He's so he's your everyday player.
29:26
Speaker 1: And as we look at the the I don't know
29:28
Speaker 1: the transition season, the runway. If you're looking at players
29:32
Speaker 1: to build around, I'm building around Brendan Donovan.
29:34
Speaker 3: He like you said, he can play around the diamond.
29:36
Speaker 1: You can hit him one, you can basically one through nine,
29:40
Speaker 1: and he just goes out there and he plays every day.
29:42
Speaker 1: If you ask the Cardinals clubhouse what they respect about
29:44
Speaker 1: him the most, it's the fact that he posts and
29:46
Speaker 1: he's not going to take games off. And you have
29:47
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that in this day and age
29:50
Speaker 1: probably aren't going to do that. So even though he's
29:52
Speaker 1: with twenty seven to twenty eight, I think he plays
29:54
Speaker 1: with the maturity and the sense of a veteran, and
29:57
Speaker 1: he's I don't think there's any questions about his law
30:00
Speaker 1: long term future with the Cardinals from my perspective. Of course,
30:02
Speaker 1: to the new front office, that could change. But if
30:04
Speaker 1: I'm building a team, I'm centering around Brendan Donovan.
30:08
Speaker 2: I think I think he's a high bloom type of player.
30:11
Speaker 2: I really do so. And then I'm looking forward to
30:14
Speaker 2: you know, and I probably shouldn't do this, but I
30:17
Speaker 2: sort of link Donovan and Neutbar because you know, they
30:23
Speaker 2: they could be game changing players for the Cardinals. And
30:26
Speaker 2: you know Newtbar you know, of course hasn't been able
30:28
Speaker 2: to stay healthy and has been made way too many
30:30
Speaker 2: injury related disruptions. But we're seeing, we're seeing it just
30:35
Speaker 2: how good he really is. Like if anybody was questioning
30:38
Speaker 2: his talent, which they never should have in my opinion,
30:41
Speaker 2: this was all about durability. But when he played, he's
30:44
Speaker 2: really really good player and Ali made a terrific decision
30:49
Speaker 2: to put him in the leadoff spot. This guy has
30:51
Speaker 2: been exceptional as a leadoff hitter. I mean he's given
30:55
Speaker 2: you high on base four to twenty two, he's slugging
30:59
Speaker 2: four sixty three, he's got three bombs, he's driven in ten,
31:03
Speaker 2: scored seven runs. I mean that that's the kind of
31:06
Speaker 2: thing where you're like, Wow, that's what a leadoff hitter
31:08
Speaker 2: should be. I'm not hung up on leadoff hitters stealing
31:11
Speaker 2: a lot of basses. I want to see them get
31:14
Speaker 2: on base at a high rate. I don't give a
31:16
Speaker 2: damn about them stealing bases. If they're not built to
31:20
Speaker 2: steal bases, there's just no point in forcing the issue.
31:22
Speaker 2: So so Donovan and Newtbar are like as a tandem.
31:27
Speaker 2: They are so essential to the success of this offense.
31:31
Speaker 2: And one of the reasons why the offense is so
31:33
Speaker 2: good coming out of the gate is both of these
31:35
Speaker 2: guys are playing and they're in great form, and it
31:39
Speaker 2: just shows you what they can do because both of
31:41
Speaker 2: these guys, I'm sorry to ramble, but I actually get
31:44
Speaker 2: very enthusiastic talking about these two guys are also unusual
31:50
Speaker 2: in that it's not like they're helpless against left handed pitchers.
31:55
Speaker 2: In fact, you know, Bar's got a terrific career ops
31:58
Speaker 2: against left handed pitchers. Donovan not quite at Neutbar's level,
32:02
Speaker 2: but Donovan is more than respectable against left handed pitching,
32:05
Speaker 2: so you never have to worry about Oh, geez, i've
32:08
Speaker 2: bet oh, I better sub him out and pinch hit
32:10
Speaker 2: you know, right handed hit her here, or or oh
32:14
Speaker 2: they're starting a left hander today, so I bet oh,
32:16
Speaker 2: I can't start both of those guys. Now, they're they
32:19
Speaker 2: defy that old school norm They're really they're really really different.
32:23
Speaker 2: They're unique in a way, and that's such a plus
32:26
Speaker 2: for the Cardinals if neot Bar especially can stay on
32:28
Speaker 2: the field.
32:30
Speaker 3: I agree.
32:30
Speaker 1: I really like what we're seeing out of those two
32:31
Speaker 1: lefties at the top of the lineup. Case you missed it,
32:35
Speaker 1: Brendan Donovan, and we'll throw an audible mention to Lars
32:37
Speaker 1: new barbik three run homework today in that four one
32:39
Speaker 1: win over the Astros.
32:40
Speaker 3: Your FanDuel Sports Network players to watch.
32:46
Speaker 1: You can now stream the Saint Louis Cardinals games through
32:49
Speaker 1: fandel Sports Network, and if you use the promo code
32:51
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Speaker 1: a month after your free trial canceled. During your free
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Speaker 1: trial to avoid charges, eligibility restrictions apply. Visit fandulsportsnetwork dot
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Speaker 1: com for details. All right, Bernie, before we get out.
33:13
Speaker 2: Of here, but I had fan Duel Sports Network. I
33:15
Speaker 2: was giving it a workout last night, going back and
33:17
Speaker 2: forth between the Blues and the Cardinals.
33:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, hey, can we get an LGB on the show?
33:23
Speaker 3: So Blues heading.
33:24
Speaker 1: Back to the playoffs, only you know, eighty two games
33:26
Speaker 1: had them all the way. I mean, I think there's
33:30
Speaker 1: as you know, Bernie is such excellent sports writers and
33:32
Speaker 1: throughout Saint Louis. But my pal Jeremy Rutherford at the
33:35
Speaker 1: Athletic had a great recap of last Tuesday's big wins.
33:39
Speaker 3: So yeah, let's go Blues.
33:40
Speaker 2: That's my guy g R.
33:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's wonderful.
33:43
Speaker 1: All right, big road trip ahead to the New York
33:46
Speaker 1: Mets and the scuffling Atlanta Braves. But the Cardinals seemed
33:49
Speaker 1: to never really play Atlanta all that. Well, here's what
33:51
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about. Four games and city field. And I
33:55
Speaker 1: love going to New York. It's one of my favorite cities.
33:57
Speaker 1: In general, I don't necessarily love covering baseball there because
34:02
Speaker 1: it's kind of just hard. I'm say, in Manhattan, you
34:04
Speaker 1: take the seven to Queen's. I'm a subway girl. But
34:08
Speaker 1: it's not that that I'm worried about Bernie. It's the
34:10
Speaker 1: fact that every time I've gone to City Fields, some
34:11
Speaker 1: just absolute crazy shit has happened between the Cardinals and
34:14
Speaker 1: the Mets. And I don't know if I'm there yet,
34:16
Speaker 1: but I'm encouraged, you know, I'm excited for the for
34:18
Speaker 1: the road trip. You'll see Andre Pilante on Thursday, Miles
34:23
Speaker 1: Michaelis Friday, Matthew Libertur Saturday, Sunday, Gray on Sunday, and
34:28
Speaker 1: then the three against Atlanta. So do you have anything
34:30
Speaker 1: that you're looking for in particular against the Mets. It'll
34:32
Speaker 1: be a good test for this Cardinals ball club.
34:34
Speaker 2: You know, I haven't been following the Mets that close age,
34:36
Speaker 2: you know, full disclosure, because You'm not going to try
34:38
Speaker 2: to fake it. So I just assume the Mets are
34:40
Speaker 2: going to be good, and I know they've had their
34:41
Speaker 2: ups and downs, but I just look at this whole
34:45
Speaker 2: thing as a really big test for the Cardinals. And
34:48
Speaker 2: I know me I'm probably overdoing that. Everything's a big
34:50
Speaker 2: test because it is April to sixteenth. But this team
34:54
Speaker 2: was awful on the road. You know, this team's eight
34:57
Speaker 2: and four at which stadium, and this team was so
34:59
Speaker 2: so bad in Boston and Pittsburgh so bad that you know,
35:05
Speaker 2: you know, I know a lot of fans, I know
35:07
Speaker 2: a lot of fans are looking at this as like
35:09
Speaker 2: a real credibility check for the Cardinals. It's not like,
35:12
Speaker 2: you know, people are expecting them to go in there
35:14
Speaker 2: and take three out of four of the Mets and
35:16
Speaker 2: then go down beat the Braves two out of three.
35:18
Speaker 2: But they just can't have another travesty the way that
35:23
Speaker 2: one in five in Boston Pittsburgh was. So this is
35:27
Speaker 2: a real opportunity for them to kind of prove something
35:29
Speaker 2: to people that might be really skeptical about them. And
35:32
Speaker 2: I know they don't think that way, but I'm just
35:34
Speaker 2: saying it. I think that's there. I think that's going
35:36
Speaker 2: to hang hang there as long as they struggle on
35:39
Speaker 2: the road.
35:40
Speaker 3: That's how I'm looking at it too.
35:42
Speaker 1: I'd like to throw that road trip from a baseball perspective,
35:44
Speaker 1: the Boston pittsbrohng out Pittsburgh went out the window because
35:47
Speaker 1: it was not a good trip at all. And we'll
35:49
Speaker 1: see how this one goes. Four days in New York,
35:51
Speaker 1: three days in Atlanta. You'll see every starter, You'll see
35:54
Speaker 1: Stephen Matts again.
35:55
Speaker 3: So let's just see how it goes.
35:57
Speaker 1: Let's see if the Cardinals can can maybe fix their
36:00
Speaker 1: road wows from their last week.
36:03
Speaker 3: We'll certainly see.
36:04
Speaker 1: Look, we will say this all throughout April, that it's early,
36:08
Speaker 1: but nine and nine on April sixteenth, I think it's
36:13
Speaker 1: a fine place to be, given what even what they
36:15
Speaker 1: sought out to accomplish, given what their messaging is.
36:18
Speaker 3: Let's see how they stack up against another contender.
36:21
Speaker 1: They did a nice job against Philadelphia and against Houston
36:24
Speaker 1: and Atlanta. I know they're off too, like a really
36:26
Speaker 1: bad start, but there's still a competitive club.
36:29
Speaker 3: They still have a lot of talent out there.
36:30
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to learn a little bit more about
36:32
Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Cardinals over the next week or so.
36:35
Speaker 2: I am too. And you just keep winning series. You
36:39
Speaker 2: just win series, and if you've got to play for
36:41
Speaker 2: a draw, you get the draw rather than losing three
36:44
Speaker 2: out of four. Again, I talked about this at the
36:47
Speaker 2: beginning and I'll be real quick, you know, by winning
36:49
Speaker 2: the third game of the Philly series and the third
36:52
Speaker 2: game of the Astro series. Right, if they would have
36:54
Speaker 2: lost those two games, which was entirely possible, we'd be
36:58
Speaker 2: sitting here today talking about it how the Cardinals had
37:00
Speaker 2: lost five out of their six series played so far.
37:03
Speaker 3: Right, that's exactly what I would have left with, because that.
37:07
Speaker 2: Would have been what everyone's talking about. See, we knew
37:10
Speaker 2: they were gonna be bad, and so I I really
37:15
Speaker 2: admire the way, you know, they're just like, Nope, we're
37:18
Speaker 2: gonna win these games, We're gonna win the series. I mean,
37:21
Speaker 2: I maybe I'm having these new Rockney fantasies or something.
37:24
Speaker 2: It's probably not that simple, but this team's this team's
37:28
Speaker 2: got a mental toughness and a great, great energy and
37:32
Speaker 2: energy surge, and they're hungry. And I think when they
37:36
Speaker 2: do what they did this in this homestand where they
37:38
Speaker 2: were this series is up for grabs. Whoever wins game
37:41
Speaker 2: three for them to get both of those things, that's
37:43
Speaker 2: I thought that was a really good indication of uh,
37:47
Speaker 2: maybe their competitiveness. Maybe they're gonna get after it. They're
37:52
Speaker 2: really gonna get after it. So there. These are good
37:56
Speaker 2: early signs. Whether they'll translate over one hundred and sixty
37:59
Speaker 2: two have no idea.
38:01
Speaker 3: We'll see. It's a long season.
38:03
Speaker 1: We have so much time together, Bernie, as always, love
38:05
Speaker 1: when you hop on the show.
38:06
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
38:08
Speaker 1: We at some point we'll touch base with you all
38:11
Speaker 1: after the Mets series, maybe some way somewhere in between
38:14
Speaker 1: the Atlanta series. I don't know. I got a lot
38:15
Speaker 1: of things up in the air right now. Most importantly, though, Bernie,
38:18
Speaker 1: you have a hit at KMOX to do. I have
38:20
Speaker 1: a suitcase to pack, so Cardinal Territory. Thanks as always
38:23
Speaker 1: for listening. We'll check back with you next week. Appreciate it.