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Nolan Arenado's big weekend charges Cardinals to series win over Brewers · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: A short but sweet three game homestand the same wist
0:07
Speaker 1: Cardinals take two of three from the Milwaukee Brewers. Something
0:11
Speaker 1: about playing at home, I don't know. Between the Cardinals
0:13
Speaker 1: and the Blues. Maybe Saint Louis Sports teams should just
0:16
Speaker 1: petition to play only home games for the rest of
0:18
Speaker 1: the season. Maybe that would help Katie and Bernie. Back
0:20
Speaker 1: at you for a recap of the series. Happy Monday, Bernie,
0:25
Speaker 1: how are you.
0:26
Speaker 2: I'm doing good? And you know the Cardinals are what
0:30
Speaker 2: ten and five at home? You know, the Blues have
0:32
Speaker 2: won fourteen in a row at home. But I might
0:37
Speaker 2: point out that you know, at least the Blues are
0:39
Speaker 2: playing before packed houses the Cardinals are. Cardinals are getting
0:42
Speaker 2: about twenty five, twenty three, twenty five thousand per games.
0:45
Speaker 2: So I don't know why the Cardinals have a home
0:47
Speaker 2: field advantage with such small crowds, but they do.
0:51
Speaker 1: They do. I maybe they can figure out a way
0:54
Speaker 1: to replicate some of that energy on the road. This
0:56
Speaker 1: will be a good test at Great American Small Park
0:59
Speaker 1: and since Ana for four days. But now it's becoming
1:02
Speaker 1: a trend. We're one month into the season and it's
1:04
Speaker 1: like two completely different teams on the home first road
1:08
Speaker 1: splits sense, But I thought it was a really strong
1:11
Speaker 1: series from the Cardinals. They fell on Sunday seven to
1:13
Speaker 1: one in the series finale, but all in all played
1:16
Speaker 1: good baseball. Just gotta win series and it was good
1:18
Speaker 1: for them to get back on track after another not
1:21
Speaker 1: so great road trip.
1:22
Speaker 2: Well that's right, and that's I'm all about that. Just
1:25
Speaker 2: win series. You know, we all get greedy if we're
1:28
Speaker 2: fans of a certain team. You know, when they have
1:31
Speaker 2: opportunities to sweep for the season, and if they get
1:34
Speaker 2: they let you know, three or four of those go by,
1:38
Speaker 2: and you know, it's frustrating. But if you can consistently
1:41
Speaker 2: win series, you're gonna have a really good season. And
1:44
Speaker 2: I like that they won this series. I didn't like
1:46
Speaker 2: Sunday's clunker. It was pretty much not much to talk about,
1:50
Speaker 2: no offense and Eric Fetti a bad start, but they
1:54
Speaker 2: look they won the series. And what I liked about
1:57
Speaker 2: it is these were the games that you know that
2:01
Speaker 2: we're getting away from them the road. I mean, they
2:03
Speaker 2: could have lost, for they could have blown Friday's game,
2:06
Speaker 2: they almost you know, messed up Saturday's game, but they
2:10
Speaker 2: in each time they found a way to win and
2:13
Speaker 2: so that those tipping point moments in those games went
2:16
Speaker 2: their way. And I know we're going to talk about
2:17
Speaker 2: Nolan Aronato who played a large role in that.
2:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's interesting to see where these Cardinals are at.
2:24
Speaker 1: And I had a stat today. They played twenty eight games.
2:27
Speaker 1: They're twelve and sixteen. That's ultimately what matters here. The
2:30
Speaker 1: record matters. Four games under five hundred, it's not what
2:32
Speaker 1: you want. But in those twenty eight games, eighteen of
2:35
Speaker 1: them have been decided by three runs or fewer. So
2:38
Speaker 1: we're back on track with last year's team of the
2:41
Speaker 1: slim margin for air and margin for victory. The difference
2:44
Speaker 1: between last year was that the Cardinals were able to
2:46
Speaker 1: win those one run, two run games this year not
2:49
Speaker 1: so much. A lot of that does have to do
2:50
Speaker 1: with the bullpen. But when you think about the style
2:52
Speaker 1: of games the Cardinals are playing right now, when every
2:55
Speaker 1: single game is a dogfight we saw this last year,
2:58
Speaker 1: it can really take a toll on the bullpens. I
3:01
Speaker 1: have a feeling those two things are correlated. You'd like
3:03
Speaker 1: to see a better offensive approach. You score a lot
3:05
Speaker 1: of runs, you don't have to worry about the holds
3:08
Speaker 1: or the saves or any of the late and in
3:10
Speaker 1: fiasco's that you know, we've actually come to expect with
3:12
Speaker 1: this club. So they played a lot of tight ballgames.
3:16
Speaker 1: I don't hate their style of play, and I know,
3:18
Speaker 1: you know there's Ollie says this a lot, and it
3:21
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily always land with the fan base, but that
3:24
Speaker 1: they are playing competitive baseball. And yes, the standards in
3:26
Speaker 1: Saint Louis should be a lot higher than that. But
3:29
Speaker 1: you know, if they have two or three games where
3:31
Speaker 1: their lead isn't blown all of a sudden, you're much
3:33
Speaker 1: close to five hundred than you think. And as we
3:34
Speaker 1: wrap up April, which is crazy to think that we're
3:36
Speaker 1: wrapping up April, you're feeling a lot better about your
3:38
Speaker 1: club if they're around five hundred. That's why I think
3:40
Speaker 1: this next upcoming four game series on the road in
3:43
Speaker 1: Cincinnati is important because you can kind of bridge that gap.
3:46
Speaker 1: There's a big difference in being two games under five
3:48
Speaker 1: hundred in April and four games under five hundred in April,
3:51
Speaker 1: So really important for the Cardinals to end the month
3:54
Speaker 1: with a good series win against a division opponent.
3:57
Speaker 2: You know, my overview with the card it's pretty simple
4:01
Speaker 2: I'm not getting too deep into the weeds here. I
4:04
Speaker 2: really like their starting pitching. I mean, I really do.
4:07
Speaker 2: I know Fatty was bad today, but I mean, I'm
4:09
Speaker 2: we're talking about overall, the starting pitching has been really good,
4:13
Speaker 2: you know, Libator, If you look at some of the
4:15
Speaker 2: underlying statistics, like you know, fielding independity, ra strikeout walk ratio,
4:22
Speaker 2: things like that, he he is statistically one of the
4:25
Speaker 2: best starting pitchers in the majors this year. He's averaging
4:28
Speaker 2: over six innings per start. He's been wonderful. And you know,
4:32
Speaker 2: but the whole, the whole rotation, even Miles Michaels, is
4:35
Speaker 2: on a good run. And when you have good starting pitching,
4:39
Speaker 2: it opens up a lot of possibilities for success. And
4:41
Speaker 2: their defense is, as you know, and I think most
4:44
Speaker 2: fans know, really really good. Really, there are no complaints there.
4:47
Speaker 2: They're really really good. Base running is pretty okay. You know,
4:51
Speaker 2: I'd still like to see him try to steal more bases,
4:53
Speaker 2: but uh, the offense is pardon the cliche, hit or miss,
4:58
Speaker 2: I don't I don't really know what they' fact, the
5:00
Speaker 2: consistency isn't there anymore as it was real early in
5:03
Speaker 2: the season. And we all know that the bullpen's horrendous
5:07
Speaker 2: and probably will be a problem all season long. So
5:10
Speaker 2: that's don't you think that's like the simple but accurate
5:14
Speaker 2: kind of overview of the Cardinals so far.
5:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think so. And it's funny. I was
5:18
Speaker 1: actually talking to pitching coach Dusty Blake about their rotation
5:20
Speaker 1: today because they have been good and I couldn't figure
5:23
Speaker 1: out why. And you know, they're not just a ton
5:26
Speaker 1: of quality starts, you know, and that matters, quality Indians matters.
5:29
Speaker 1: They are keeping the ball in the ballpark. You know,
5:31
Speaker 1: Miles Michaelis has not a lot of home run this year.
5:33
Speaker 1: If that's how good they've been at keeping the ball
5:34
Speaker 1: in the park and they're not walking a lot of guys.
5:37
Speaker 1: What they need to do to continue the sustainability is
5:40
Speaker 1: working on incorporating more swing and miss. And we've talked
5:42
Speaker 1: about this with rotation for years. What the Cardinals are
5:44
Speaker 1: doing right now in terms of their starting rotation is
5:47
Speaker 1: great because it's effective and it's getting results. But is
5:49
Speaker 1: it sustainable? Are all these ground ball outs going to
5:52
Speaker 1: actually turn into ground ball outs? They did not today
5:55
Speaker 1: against Eric Fetti, And sure that's an outlier. You can say,
5:57
Speaker 1: given how well the rotation has pitched this month, but
6:00
Speaker 1: the Cardinals need to up their strikeout rate and they
6:02
Speaker 1: know that. Other than that, I'm comletly on board with
6:04
Speaker 1: your synopsis of this team. Look, they're going to be inconsistent.
6:08
Speaker 1: We knew this is it going to be like maddening
6:10
Speaker 1: inconsistent sometimes. Sure, but when you look at where the
6:14
Speaker 1: club is starting, pitching seems to have locked it down.
6:17
Speaker 1: The offense missing some key bats, especially with Herrera. I
6:19
Speaker 1: did not expect Herrera's absence to really stifle this offensive
6:23
Speaker 1: way that it did, and the Bullpennant they got to
6:25
Speaker 1: figure it out. So here we are recordings on April
6:28
Speaker 1: twenty seventh. Cardinals will before given a five hundred. Like
6:31
Speaker 1: I said, it could be a lot worse, it could
6:33
Speaker 1: also be a lot better, And I think that's kind
6:35
Speaker 1: of just the theme of the season.
6:37
Speaker 2: I want to ask you something because I tend to
6:40
Speaker 2: just look at this as I'm not going to say
6:42
Speaker 2: an outliar, but I don't know that they're as bad
6:46
Speaker 2: as they look on the road. But their record says
6:48
Speaker 2: they're bad on the road. I don't know that they're
6:50
Speaker 2: as good as their home record says they are. But
6:54
Speaker 2: what I wanted to ask you is being around the
6:57
Speaker 2: ballpark talking to various people. I mean, is does anyone
7:01
Speaker 2: have any theories as to why they are ten and
7:03
Speaker 2: five at home and two and eleven on the road.
7:06
Speaker 2: Is there anything or is this just early season noise
7:09
Speaker 2: that'll level off.
7:11
Speaker 1: We talked about it with Oli for a couple of days.
7:12
Speaker 1: He actually asked, He said, how many road games have
7:14
Speaker 1: you played? And I said, I don't know, but you've
7:16
Speaker 1: won two of them? And then he said, was that
7:18
Speaker 1: what I asked?
7:19
Speaker 3: So?
7:20
Speaker 1: But you know, there are jokes and banter in the
7:22
Speaker 1: pregame session, and that was one of them. I felt
7:24
Speaker 1: like I got him pretty good. He didn't. He didn't
7:26
Speaker 1: appreciate it, but I thought it was funny. But no
7:29
Speaker 1: one can figure that out, and I think it might
7:31
Speaker 1: and this is just me spitballing here have something to
7:34
Speaker 1: do with managing the bullpen and the options you have
7:36
Speaker 1: because it changes whether you're on the road versus whether
7:39
Speaker 1: you're at home and how you deploy your best relievers.
7:42
Speaker 1: So as the Cardinals kind of struggle through their inconsistency
7:44
Speaker 1: in the bullpen, I'm wondering if the game strategy and
7:48
Speaker 1: how they deploy their relievers and the believers they have
7:50
Speaker 1: to be used very important here are kind of impacting
7:53
Speaker 1: in the late games because you see how they've lost
7:55
Speaker 1: most of their games on the road. It's been in
7:57
Speaker 1: the late Indians. So I wonder if you know, in
8:00
Speaker 1: the ninth inning, you feel pretty good at home on
8:02
Speaker 1: Hellsley in the ninth Yeah, I know he blew the
8:04
Speaker 1: save on Saturday, but that's why you have a good teammate. No,
8:06
Speaker 1: And I'm not how to pick you up, but you can't.
8:08
Speaker 1: The way that you use your bullpen, your late inning
8:10
Speaker 1: guys high leverage. It's different on the road versus at home,
8:13
Speaker 1: and you certainly have the advantage at home, and I
8:15
Speaker 1: think that might play into it.
8:17
Speaker 2: I agree, no doubt, that's a good theory. And it
8:20
Speaker 2: seems like they're bullpen and because of that, because they don't,
8:24
Speaker 2: you know, because of Ali's policy. You know, he's going
8:27
Speaker 2: to save Helsley for He's going to keep them in
8:31
Speaker 2: reserve for like traditional save opportunities. That works against them
8:35
Speaker 2: on the road. So that's part of it. But I
8:38
Speaker 2: think just in general, you know, that's what the bullpens
8:42
Speaker 2: have o their biggest blow ups on the road, and
8:44
Speaker 2: it's probably related to what you just discussed, the fact
8:46
Speaker 2: of how they deploy their relievers. You do, pardon me,
8:50
Speaker 2: you do deploy them differently on the road than you
8:52
Speaker 2: do at home. To repeat what you said, absolutely, yeah.
8:56
Speaker 1: So we'll see. We'll see if that strategy changes. I
8:58
Speaker 1: don't think it will change with Hellsley, but maybe with
9:00
Speaker 1: you know, Mayton Lady. They tried to stay away from
9:03
Speaker 1: them for at least one of the three games, and
9:04
Speaker 1: they were able to do that. We'll see what O'Brien
9:07
Speaker 1: looks like. Jojo looks better today, So baby steps, we
9:10
Speaker 1: will see. I want to get into the series specifically
9:13
Speaker 1: we have there's a roster move coming up, and I
9:15
Speaker 1: would like to talk a lot about Nolan Arnatto because
9:17
Speaker 1: he just really had a great series. First, let's hear
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10:23
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10:31
Speaker 1: You love those guys. Just incredible work, all right. So
10:35
Speaker 1: minor transaction, well kind of not so minor. It is
10:37
Speaker 1: a big deal the Cardinals, they're gonna call up Jose
10:41
Speaker 1: Borero Thomas to JC will be optioned tomorrow. These moves
10:45
Speaker 1: are not yet official, but they will be on Monday.
10:49
Speaker 1: So Jose Burrow, as a rule five pick, he is
10:51
Speaker 1: now required to stay on the active roster for the
10:53
Speaker 1: remainder of the season or risk being returned to his
10:56
Speaker 1: parent club, Thomas, the JAC going down. I have a
10:59
Speaker 1: feeling that's more of it, just a sense of playing time, right.
11:02
Speaker 1: Cardinals have always operated this way. If you're a top
11:05
Speaker 1: prospect or a young guy that they think highly of,
11:07
Speaker 1: if there's not consistent playing time for you every day
11:09
Speaker 1: at the big league club, they're going to send you
11:10
Speaker 1: to Memphis where there is going to be that opportunity.
11:13
Speaker 1: And we saw with both Mason win healthy, Nolan Gorman
11:17
Speaker 1: looks healthy, there just wasn't consistent playing time for the
11:20
Speaker 1: JAC up here, So I understand this. I think you'd
11:22
Speaker 1: rather have Jose Berrow ride the bench, and he's a
11:24
Speaker 1: versatile guy from the right side. He can play over
11:26
Speaker 1: the infield and can play the outfield as well, so
11:29
Speaker 1: that versatility helps. As the twenty sixth man. We will
11:32
Speaker 1: see to the JAC at some point again this season.
11:34
Speaker 1: I thought he did a nice job serving in the
11:36
Speaker 1: last month or so here. Clearly some things in the
11:39
Speaker 1: game that he needs to continue learning, but that's the
11:41
Speaker 1: point of the process. What I do not know, and
11:43
Speaker 1: hopefully I will know by Monday morning, Jose Berrero will
11:46
Speaker 1: require a forty man spot, and I'm not sure who
11:49
Speaker 1: that's going to be. The Cardinals have not yet said
11:51
Speaker 1: this either. No, as far as I can tell, no
11:56
Speaker 1: one is eligible to be transferred to the sixty dil
11:58
Speaker 1: So that means we're likely looking at a df baituation
12:00
Speaker 1: when I know more so will you. But that's the
12:03
Speaker 1: roster transaction the Cardinals plan on making before their four
12:07
Speaker 1: games set in Cincinnati again, Jose Burow up, Thomas and
12:10
Speaker 1: jac down and a corresponding forty man roster move to follow.
12:14
Speaker 1: But let's get to the third basement. For the Saint
12:17
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals, who had a heck of a series, Nolan
12:20
Speaker 1: Arnado saved the game on Friday with a defensive play
12:23
Speaker 1: that Ollie Marmle said only he can make and I
12:26
Speaker 1: would agree, And then he won the game on Saturday
12:28
Speaker 1: with a walk off home run, his sixth walk off
12:30
Speaker 1: homer of his career. All around, I think we're seeing
12:34
Speaker 1: just a better version of Nolan Arnado on both sides
12:37
Speaker 1: of the ball. Offensively, the strikeout rate way down. He's
12:40
Speaker 1: striking out six point four percent of the time. That's
12:43
Speaker 1: in the ninety ninth percentile of the sport. The thing
12:46
Speaker 1: about Nolan is he's always gonna want to do better.
12:49
Speaker 1: So you're gonna see an ops just under eight hundred,
12:52
Speaker 1: which is over one hundred and fifty points up from
12:54
Speaker 1: where it was at this point last year. You're gonna
12:56
Speaker 1: see the slugging up almost one hundred and fifty points
12:57
Speaker 1: from where it was last year. And he's still gonna
12:59
Speaker 1: tell you, yeah, but I could be a lot better.
13:02
Speaker 1: So I say this knowing that he's not satisfied. But
13:04
Speaker 1: let's point out the storys he's made. Offensively, defense looks great,
13:08
Speaker 1: he looks like primetime Nolan Arnatto. But the biggest change
13:11
Speaker 1: that I've seen from Nolan so far the season is
13:13
Speaker 1: his mindset. It's his mentality. And I asked him after
13:15
Speaker 1: the game, you seem to be playing with a more
13:17
Speaker 1: rejuvenated mindset. Do you feel that way? He said absolutely.
13:21
Speaker 1: You know this is important. He said he was not
13:22
Speaker 1: in a good place last year. He said, I don't
13:24
Speaker 1: like talking about it, and then he laughed in a
13:26
Speaker 1: way that people like laugh about their trauma, but you
13:28
Speaker 1: know that you're laughing to cover up the pain. That
13:30
Speaker 1: was the kind of laugh that he gave. And I
13:32
Speaker 1: think he deserves a ton of praise for how he's
13:34
Speaker 1: handled the first month of the season, really dating back
13:37
Speaker 1: to spring training actually, because when you think about the
13:40
Speaker 1: offseason trade saga, what didn't happen? What was said that
13:44
Speaker 1: can sour a relationship between a player and an organization
13:47
Speaker 1: like that, And credit to both Nolan and the Cardinals,
13:50
Speaker 1: they did not let that happen. And he's come in
13:52
Speaker 1: here and he's just totally let everything go and he's
13:55
Speaker 1: just focusing on being a better baseball player, and Bertie,
13:58
Speaker 1: we're seeing a better baseball player on Nolarnato.
14:02
Speaker 2: That was an excellent summation of him. It really was,
14:05
Speaker 2: and just from someone that you know, pours through the
14:10
Speaker 2: stats and you know everything he says, right. I mean,
14:12
Speaker 2: there's a lot of really positive indicators. And his bat
14:15
Speaker 2: speed continues to be a good bit higher than it
14:19
Speaker 2: was last year. So all of his off season work
14:21
Speaker 2: paid off. And I think that's great for a player
14:24
Speaker 2: morale and aging players morale when they really put everything
14:28
Speaker 2: into it in the offseason and they see that they're
14:30
Speaker 2: getting results because of it. That's that's good for his
14:34
Speaker 2: for his whole attitude, his whole morale. So anyway, but
14:37
Speaker 2: the thing that jumps out at me. You know, the
14:39
Speaker 2: performance is one thing, and I know these two things
14:42
Speaker 2: are connected, but his body language is so much better.
14:47
Speaker 2: You know, you can see that he's really having fun.
14:50
Speaker 2: He's really enjoying himself, even though you know he's playing
14:53
Speaker 2: for a losing team. Yeah, he wants to do well.
14:58
Speaker 2: You know, he will brood over his own failures, but
15:01
Speaker 2: I think he really enjoys this group of teammates. I
15:05
Speaker 2: think he kind of likes the youthfulness of it. I know,
15:10
Speaker 2: you know, of course he loves, he still loves, always
15:12
Speaker 2: will love Paul gold Schmidt. But I wondered how Arnatto
15:16
Speaker 2: would take to not having Goldment and having although we
15:21
Speaker 2: all overstate the whole youth of the Cardinals, there's a
15:24
Speaker 2: lot of these guys who are still played quite a
15:26
Speaker 2: bit even though they're young. But he's taken to that
15:29
Speaker 2: adjustment really well, not having Goldie and being surrounded by
15:32
Speaker 2: guys or that are his juniors, so to speak. So
15:36
Speaker 2: those those are all really positive things, and I hope
15:39
Speaker 2: he keeps it up because you can tell it from
15:42
Speaker 2: a distance just watching on TV that when those guys
15:47
Speaker 2: see Nolan Arno in a good mood and very upbeat,
15:50
Speaker 2: and you know, wanting to have some fun and wanted
15:52
Speaker 2: to let it sort of flaunt it a little bit,
15:55
Speaker 2: like he did after hitting that home run yesterday. I
15:58
Speaker 2: think it fires the young guys up too.
16:00
Speaker 1: They love that, oh absolutely, and you can see that
16:04
Speaker 1: with the how they celebrated the walk off.
16:05
Speaker 4: Look.
16:05
Speaker 1: Obviously everyone's going to celebrate a walk off homer, as
16:07
Speaker 1: you should, but I thought we saw such a display
16:10
Speaker 1: of emotion out of Nolan and he is a he's
16:13
Speaker 1: an intense guy, but he's also a very humble guy.
16:15
Speaker 1: The way that he plays the game. He's not super flashy.
16:17
Speaker 1: He doesn't really show about and not that he was
16:19
Speaker 1: doing either of those things as he was running the bases,
16:21
Speaker 1: but you saw that dug out. My favorite thing to
16:24
Speaker 1: do when I watched walkoff homers is to watch the
16:26
Speaker 1: dugout react to the ball off the bat, and that
16:30
Speaker 1: dugout lit up for him. Of course, Lars Newbar is
16:32
Speaker 1: the first guy out there pumping up his guy, but
16:35
Speaker 1: Mason Wynn all about it. Brendan Donovan's right in the
16:38
Speaker 1: middle of there, and you see Victor Scott all in
16:40
Speaker 1: and it's it's cool to see the young guys kind
16:43
Speaker 1: of pick up their their their veteran, and Sonny Gray
16:46
Speaker 1: said it perfectly after the game. That was our guy
16:49
Speaker 1: saying I've got this, don't worry. And I thought that
16:52
Speaker 1: was perfect because I don't think Nolan's had a lot
16:54
Speaker 1: of those moments where he felt like he even though
16:56
Speaker 1: he has. He's such an intense player. I think he
16:58
Speaker 1: always feels like he can do better in situation. And
17:01
Speaker 1: in that situation, I mean, you could just feel like
17:04
Speaker 1: he was fired up for the team and they were
17:06
Speaker 1: fired up for him. But honestly, Bernie, what I liked
17:08
Speaker 1: even more was his reaction on Friday when he saved
17:11
Speaker 1: that game with one of the top five best defensive
17:15
Speaker 1: plays I've seen him make, probably top three. Ground ball
17:18
Speaker 1: from selfree like, looks like it's going to be a
17:20
Speaker 1: short hop, slow roll at a shortstop and maybe Mason
17:22
Speaker 1: Wynn can make the play. He charges and uses that arm.
17:25
Speaker 1: We have a bird's eye view at busheting him in
17:26
Speaker 1: the press box, so I can see the whole field.
17:28
Speaker 1: I Nolan came out of nowhere to me because I'm
17:31
Speaker 1: only looking at Mason and his body is taking him
17:34
Speaker 1: across the diamond to first base, and he fields the
17:36
Speaker 1: ball cleanly, somehow I don't even know how like a
17:39
Speaker 1: body moves like that or how an arm bends like that,
17:41
Speaker 1: throws a dart to Pedro who's in perfect spot in
17:43
Speaker 1: front of home plate to get Jackson Churio, who's you know,
17:46
Speaker 1: he's no slow guy as to play on a bang
17:49
Speaker 1: bang play, And he was so fired up about it.
17:52
Speaker 1: He fist pumped, he was yelling behind the mound. It
17:56
Speaker 1: was one of the most athletic things I've seen him do,
17:58
Speaker 1: and it did save the game because you know, preserves
18:01
Speaker 1: the tie there. That was, to me was even more
18:03
Speaker 1: impressive than the walk off homer because it was like
18:05
Speaker 1: a vintage third base Nolan Arnatto saying, don't worry, still
18:08
Speaker 1: got it. I'm still one of the best third basement
18:10
Speaker 1: of this generation. Yeah, there's a lot of things outside
18:13
Speaker 1: my situation right now that I can't control, including much
18:15
Speaker 1: team I'm on. But I'm here to be a cardinal
18:17
Speaker 1: and I'm going to give it my best until i'm not.
18:19
Speaker 1: And I think he summed it up this weekend, well.
18:21
Speaker 2: He's embraced it. He's made a great transition to you know,
18:24
Speaker 2: pretty much expecting to go and then that awkward, you know,
18:29
Speaker 2: phone call and effect, like right before spring training, everyone,
18:33
Speaker 2: you know, Moe's getting in touch with him, Marmal, it's
18:34
Speaker 2: getting in touch with him. It's a little awkward, you know,
18:37
Speaker 2: and we didn't think he was going to be here.
18:40
Speaker 2: He handled it beautifully from the day he reported to
18:44
Speaker 2: spring training. He could not have handled this any better.
18:46
Speaker 2: And I really respect him for that. My hope though
18:49
Speaker 2: it's listen, there will be times where his patience and
18:53
Speaker 2: his morale is challenged, because every player goes through that,
18:57
Speaker 2: and I just hope he can keep the positive vibes
18:59
Speaker 2: going that get too down, not revert to kind of
19:02
Speaker 2: the you know, the bad body language guy, you know,
19:05
Speaker 2: just and that's going to be a real test for him,
19:07
Speaker 2: a real challenge. But I think he's he seems much
19:10
Speaker 2: better prepared to handle that now and I really hope that.
19:13
Speaker 2: I really hope that that's true.
19:14
Speaker 1: I would agree there, and he's talked about it where
19:16
Speaker 1: he just said, you know, like last year, a great
19:18
Speaker 1: question by John Denton on that pitch from Tremor Maygiel
19:21
Speaker 1: high and inside ninety eight and on hands. John asks
19:24
Speaker 1: if that's a pitch that no one can get to
19:26
Speaker 1: and he was like, no, probably not like absolutely not
19:28
Speaker 1: thinking about what I was doing last year and where
19:30
Speaker 1: I was at. And then he said, you know, mentally,
19:31
Speaker 1: that also plays a part. He's like, mentally, I feel great,
19:34
Speaker 1: and Olie Marmal said that's absolutely helping him on both
19:36
Speaker 1: sides of the ball, and I tend to agree. I
19:41
Speaker 1: don't know what Nolan ar not his future is. I
19:43
Speaker 1: don't know how much longer he'll be a Cardinal. I
19:45
Speaker 1: think a lot of that depends on where the team
19:46
Speaker 1: is at come July. But we can't predict that. It's
19:49
Speaker 1: only April. So for now, Cardinals fans enjoy him while
19:52
Speaker 1: you have him. You could have him for another season.
19:55
Speaker 1: You could have him for a couple months, you could
19:56
Speaker 1: have him for the duration of his contract. We don't know.
19:58
Speaker 1: But right now it's nice to see a healthy and
20:00
Speaker 1: happy Nolan Arnado playing third base for the Saint Louis Cardinals.
20:05
Speaker 2: And I think, real quick, I think the fans did
20:07
Speaker 2: a lot to foster this great feeling that Arnatto has
20:13
Speaker 2: just the way the reception he got on the Hope
20:16
Speaker 2: of the opening day of March twenty seventh of Bush
20:18
Speaker 2: Stadium was really special and he was clearly moved by it.
20:22
Speaker 2: And I think that just set him. He was already
20:24
Speaker 2: he was already in a good place emotionally and in
20:27
Speaker 2: terms of his happiness, he was in a really good place.
20:30
Speaker 2: But that just made it even better. And I think,
20:34
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if he had got some
20:36
Speaker 2: kind of mixed reaction on opening day, there would have
20:38
Speaker 2: been first of all, there's no reason to do that.
20:40
Speaker 2: But if he had had gotten a mixed reaction or
20:43
Speaker 2: kind of a flat reaction, Listen, I'm not saying I
20:46
Speaker 2: think he would have gone in the tank, not at all.
20:48
Speaker 2: But this helped propel him even more because his emotions
20:53
Speaker 2: are a big part of what he does on the field.
20:56
Speaker 2: His emotions really can influence how he plays. So the
20:59
Speaker 2: fans deserve a lot of credit for getting behind him
21:02
Speaker 2: and letting him know with one hunder do they love
21:05
Speaker 2: them and they're glad he was still here.
21:08
Speaker 1: And he spoke to that on opening day. I to
21:10
Speaker 1: hit that go ahead home run or insurance run home
21:12
Speaker 1: run in the eighth, he said, I was not expecting
21:14
Speaker 1: that from the fans, and I just really had to
21:16
Speaker 1: take it in coming off on the four trucks across
21:18
Speaker 1: the warning track. You got with him. He got his
21:20
Speaker 1: first ovation, He got an ovation when he was announced,
21:23
Speaker 1: he got his ovation, his first a bat and then
21:25
Speaker 1: he gets a curtain call and you could just see
21:27
Speaker 1: that it means a lot for him to say, Okay, look,
21:29
Speaker 1: I have not been my best self in the last
21:32
Speaker 1: two seasons. We have disappointed a lot of the fan
21:35
Speaker 1: base dating back to that twenty twenty two Wildcard series
21:37
Speaker 1: and now you know he and gold Schmidt still feel
21:40
Speaker 1: so responsible for that. But for him to have that
21:42
Speaker 1: reaction from the fans and say, look, I really want
21:44
Speaker 1: to try and be my best while I'm still here,
21:47
Speaker 1: I think that said a lot for him as well.
21:48
Speaker 1: So the track well on as always, Bernie. Speaking of
21:51
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, did you know that you can now stream
21:53
Speaker 1: them on FanDuel Sports Network. Let's hear from him. Take
22:00
Speaker 1: me out to my TV.
22:02
Speaker 4: We a band.
22:03
Speaker 1: Sports now work? Yeah?
22:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, watch me some dingers and not be eyes.
22:09
Speaker 2: I'm just glad they have.
22:10
Speaker 1: My local Dean, my bullets, rude real room for the Cardinal.
22:17
Speaker 2: Bands.
22:18
Speaker 3: Sports now with the Gardins games, the grab with the
22:22
Speaker 3: Birds on the band stringer.
22:29
Speaker 1: Still that song is still gonna hat me. Not over
22:32
Speaker 1: it yet. Let's I like it?
22:35
Speaker 2: You like it?
22:36
Speaker 1: Yeah?
22:36
Speaker 2: I kind of like it.
22:37
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of there any like.
22:40
Speaker 2: What's it fits the animation and the way the way
22:43
Speaker 2: they have all the cuts it does.
22:46
Speaker 1: I like the grab cameo. Do you have a favorite
22:50
Speaker 1: like end of where the Cardinals don't do this and
22:52
Speaker 1: they should separate tangent? Do you have a favorite thing
22:56
Speaker 1: that like a team does when they win a game
22:58
Speaker 1: after game, like a favorite song. It's not popular. I
23:01
Speaker 1: don't want to say it on the show.
23:02
Speaker 2: I'm stumped. I'm sorry, Yeah, I'm stumped.
23:05
Speaker 1: I like go Cubs go. I'm not saying I like
23:09
Speaker 1: hearing it.
23:10
Speaker 2: Oh boy, here they go.
23:12
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I like that the Cubs have something
23:14
Speaker 1: that their entire stadium gets behind when they win. The
23:19
Speaker 1: Dodgers do this. I love l A. The Yankees do
23:21
Speaker 1: this San Francisco. So we need to get the Cardinals
23:25
Speaker 1: on board.
23:26
Speaker 2: You know now that you mentioned it, and gosh, I
23:28
Speaker 2: spent so many nights and days in LA covering Cardinals Dodgers.
23:33
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought it up because now that I
23:35
Speaker 2: you know, you were helping me with my memory. I
23:38
Speaker 2: think I think I love LA is perfect.
23:43
Speaker 1: A lot for these Cardinals Dodgers games a lot, because
23:45
Speaker 1: the Dodgers always win. But I really like the environment
23:48
Speaker 1: and the vibe that it brings to.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know when they had that fundraiser
23:51
Speaker 2: after the you know, just horrendous fires in LA. And
23:56
Speaker 2: you know the band Goshwick band was that was it? Dawes.
24:00
Speaker 2: I can't remember now, and that's that's awful that I
24:02
Speaker 2: can't remember the name of the band. But they're an
24:04
Speaker 2: LA band, you know. And they let off that that
24:06
Speaker 2: fundraising show, which was a huge success. They let off
24:09
Speaker 2: the the show with I Love l A their rendition
24:13
Speaker 2: and it was it was like awesome, and I almost
24:16
Speaker 2: I almost got a little choked up. See I do
24:18
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. I'm like Saint Louis fans will
24:21
Speaker 2: know who I'm talking about. Of course, you know, I'm
24:23
Speaker 2: kind of like Dick for me, you know, the old
24:25
Speaker 2: Rams coach. He would just he you'd see him just
24:28
Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, rubbing his eyes over everything.
24:31
Speaker 2: I get like that. And I tell you what that was.
24:33
Speaker 2: Really that's a great song. It's a great song. Maybe
24:36
Speaker 2: for non LA people it's probably you know, more challenging
24:40
Speaker 2: to like, but I mean I think it just captures
24:42
Speaker 2: that whole city very well.
24:44
Speaker 1: I agree, And that's what I think the Cardinals did
24:45
Speaker 1: to get behind I mean.
24:48
Speaker 2: Lois me different. What they got to do is get
24:54
Speaker 2: like sort of a hard rock or punk version of
24:57
Speaker 2: that song, which is rip it up, Meet me in
25:00
Speaker 2: Saint Louis. Just go real fast, you know.
25:02
Speaker 1: Okay, Look, anything is better than nothing. And right now,
25:05
Speaker 1: the fireworks and the three cannons, which are so loud,
25:08
Speaker 1: by the way, it's been five years and they scare
25:09
Speaker 1: me every single time.
25:10
Speaker 2: But something from Chuck Berry, something from.
25:13
Speaker 1: Nelly, something something, if you're listening, figure it out.
25:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's many other local artists we could name, but
25:22
Speaker 2: I digress.
25:23
Speaker 1: I have some options. I don't think the people, the
25:26
Speaker 1: good people at Bushading would like Sexy Red, but she
25:28
Speaker 1: is local.
25:29
Speaker 2: I do know who she is, believe it or not.
25:31
Speaker 2: Sixty six year old man, I do out of you.
25:34
Speaker 1: All right, Bernie, let's hear from a scouting report from
25:37
Speaker 1: fan Duel Sports Network. This stat right here, I'm going,
25:41
Speaker 1: I'm going off your playbook. I'm gonna get you with
25:42
Speaker 1: some numbers. These stats are courtesy of Cardinals pr wizard
25:46
Speaker 1: Michael Whitty. Getting defensive the Cardinals lead major League Baseball
25:50
Speaker 1: coming into play on Sunday in out above average at seventeen,
25:54
Speaker 1: runs prevented fourteen, and fangrafts defensive runs above average at
25:59
Speaker 1: nine point four. They also ranked third and defensive run
26:02
Speaker 1: saved with fifteen, and they're tied for third and fielding
26:05
Speaker 1: percentage at nine to eight nine and fifth in ground
26:09
Speaker 1: ball out percentage seventy seven point six. Bringing you talked
26:12
Speaker 1: about the defense earlier in the show, I'm so glad
26:14
Speaker 1: you did. This Cardinals defense is a lock down. They're
26:18
Speaker 1: playing some really good baseball. There's gonna be some growing pains,
26:21
Speaker 1: of course, with a little bit of the younger guys,
26:23
Speaker 1: but take your pick. Across the diamond. We talked about.
26:25
Speaker 1: Nolan Contreras looks great at first, Burlson's played a great
26:28
Speaker 1: first base. Two the outfield. Across the board, Victor Scott
26:31
Speaker 1: the second, Jordan Walker making strides, Lars Newbar also making strides.
26:35
Speaker 1: I like what we're seeing defensively out of this Cardinals club.
26:38
Speaker 2: No, that's right, and I love all the metrics and
26:40
Speaker 2: I'm into them, you know, but there's sort of a
26:42
Speaker 2: I hate to say it's an old fashioned stat but
26:45
Speaker 2: it's not quite as new as some of the metrics
26:48
Speaker 2: are very much in vogue now. But at Baseball Reference
26:51
Speaker 2: is a thing called defensive efficiency, and it's a really
26:55
Speaker 2: simple calculation. It's like, Okay, how many of the balls
26:59
Speaker 2: put into play do you convert into outs? Right? I mean,
27:02
Speaker 2: that's about as basic as it get. But yet it
27:05
Speaker 2: tells you a lot And the Cardinals, I think this
27:08
Speaker 2: was going into the Milwaukee Series. There's nothing that would
27:11
Speaker 2: have changed it. They were either third or fourth in
27:13
Speaker 2: defensive efficiency where they were getting this like seventy two
27:17
Speaker 2: percent of the balls in plate they were converting an
27:19
Speaker 2: ounce that's really good. So I only bring it up
27:24
Speaker 2: because it fits all of the other things you talked about.
27:26
Speaker 2: It fits right in there with that.
27:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we talked about the stunning pitching staff. They're
27:31
Speaker 1: ground ball heavy. I mean, Sadie Gray has some swing
27:33
Speaker 1: and myths, but the rest of them pretty ground ball heavy.
27:36
Speaker 1: So it's important that you have a defense that could
27:38
Speaker 1: convert those ground ball outs. Is this an outdated method
27:41
Speaker 1: in terms of pitching, yes, but what the Cardinals have
27:44
Speaker 1: right now, and when you have a lockdown defense that
27:46
Speaker 1: certainly allows things to be a lot better. I think
27:50
Speaker 1: you know, Pedro Paul has has done a really nice
27:52
Speaker 1: job defensively behind the plate the bats coming around. But really,
27:58
Speaker 1: you think about the work that Stubby Clapp does with positioning,
28:01
Speaker 1: and you think about the work John Jay does and
28:03
Speaker 1: making sure that these guys are ready to go with situations,
28:06
Speaker 1: and the extra work both people are putting in. I
28:08
Speaker 1: was talking Ollie Marvel about the coaches and why that
28:11
Speaker 1: he thinks the defense is better, and he would not
28:13
Speaker 1: stop crediting Stebbe Clapp and John j for their work.
28:15
Speaker 1: Stebby behind the scenes in terms of studying charts, all
28:18
Speaker 1: of that, and Jay going out there. He's with the
28:19
Speaker 1: outfielders every day. You see it with Victor, you see
28:22
Speaker 1: it with Jordan, and you are also seeing it with Lars.
28:24
Speaker 1: And it's not like Lars was not a good outfielder
28:26
Speaker 1: to begin with, but he's just getting that much better.
28:29
Speaker 1: That's what I'm looking at when I'm evaluating the early season,
28:32
Speaker 1: is our guys taking steps forward. I already think we're
28:34
Speaker 1: seeing a much better version of Jordan Walker in right field.
28:37
Speaker 1: Victor Scott the second and he's worth the price of
28:39
Speaker 1: admission right now. Whether it's I know he's having a
28:43
Speaker 1: hard time hitting left these right now. But what he's
28:44
Speaker 1: doing on the field when he gets on base, the
28:46
Speaker 1: perfect nine for nine and stolen base attempts, that kind
28:49
Speaker 1: of stuff is fun to watch. So shout out to
28:51
Speaker 1: John Jay for the work that he's putting in with
28:53
Speaker 1: those outfielders. I think the defense across the board looks
28:55
Speaker 1: really good.
28:56
Speaker 2: You know. I'm glad you mentioned positioning of the fielders,
29:00
Speaker 2: and I think that's really important. In twenty twenty three,
29:03
Speaker 2: when the Cardinals were just awful, they were embarrassing defensively
29:06
Speaker 2: as a team. Some guys were good, but they were embarrassing.
29:08
Speaker 2: It was one of the things that drove me crazy
29:10
Speaker 2: about them that year. Their base running was terrible. I
29:13
Speaker 2: mean they just fundamentally they were a wreck and there
29:15
Speaker 2: was no need for that. I used to give Ali
29:17
Speaker 2: Marvels so much crap, and all of my writing and
29:20
Speaker 2: sports talk to said Ali, come on, man, clean this
29:23
Speaker 2: stuff up. And one of my friends in the business,
29:28
Speaker 2: I can't tell you who he works for, but he's
29:30
Speaker 2: a really good analytics guy for another team, and he said,
29:34
Speaker 2: I saw what you said, and he said, you ought
29:37
Speaker 2: to look at how they're positioning their fielders because they
29:39
Speaker 2: have no idea what they're doing. And I said, what
29:41
Speaker 2: do you mean. He said, well, I'm not going to
29:43
Speaker 2: read you that. They just take my word for it.
29:44
Speaker 2: They have no idea what they're doing when they position
29:47
Speaker 2: their fielders. And sure enough, big time defensive improvement in
29:52
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four and that's carried through to this year.
29:58
Speaker 2: And I checked with my friend. I also checked at
30:01
Speaker 2: Sports Info Solutions some of their data, and the Cardinals
30:05
Speaker 2: of the last two seasons have done a really good
30:08
Speaker 2: job of positioning their fielders. I don't know why it
30:11
Speaker 2: took them so long, but they finally realize, well, we're
30:13
Speaker 2: being kind of dumb here. Maybe we ought to find
30:16
Speaker 2: maybe we had to position them better. It's amazing to
30:19
Speaker 2: me how many balls are hit directly to where the
30:22
Speaker 2: Cardinals are in some kind of I won't I wouldn't
30:24
Speaker 2: call it an over shift, but it's definite shift. And
30:27
Speaker 2: it's like it's right to Mason win when he's like
30:30
Speaker 2: close to second base, things like that. So they're doing
30:33
Speaker 2: a really good job. But a lot of it is
30:34
Speaker 2: the players, of course, But a lot of it, as
30:36
Speaker 2: you said, is the teaching and the instruction to make
30:39
Speaker 2: individual guys better, and a lot of it also has
30:42
Speaker 2: to do with them being a lot smarter about where
30:44
Speaker 2: they set their fielders up from better to better.
30:47
Speaker 1: So I have an answer for you on what changed
30:49
Speaker 1: with the positioning Prior to the twenty twenty three season beginning,
30:53
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball ban the shift right and the Cardinals
30:56
Speaker 1: were one of the best teams in baseball at positioning
30:59
Speaker 1: when you're allowed to shift. I mean, that's why they
31:01
Speaker 1: were such a good defensive. They had good defensive players,
31:03
Speaker 1: of course, but where they were on the field mattered,
31:05
Speaker 1: and then they had the athletic ability to make the play.
31:08
Speaker 1: And I remember going in right.
31:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, they didn't know how to just once they the
31:12
Speaker 2: shift was out well though.
31:14
Speaker 1: And I had talking to a couple of people and
31:16
Speaker 1: spring training in twenty twenty three, and I said, are
31:19
Speaker 1: you concerned about the shift and how it's going to
31:21
Speaker 1: impact your positioning? And I was told I was making
31:23
Speaker 1: a big deal out of nothing. And I was like,
31:26
Speaker 1: are you sure, because at twenty three surprised they had
31:29
Speaker 1: another ground ball heavy staff and I was like, your
31:31
Speaker 1: pitchers are on the ground a lot. You can no
31:33
Speaker 1: longer shift the way that you could. And you guys
31:34
Speaker 1: were really good at that and I basically was like,
31:37
Speaker 1: you know, when I say this, they weren't dismissed by
31:39
Speaker 1: any means. I'm just glad to have a relationship with
31:41
Speaker 1: pretty much everyone in the organization where you can talk
31:43
Speaker 1: shit and go back and forth. Is essentially what it was.
31:46
Speaker 2: That's what you did do.
31:47
Speaker 1: They were like, no, we will be fine, and then
31:49
Speaker 1: half I was gas lip per usual by the Saint
31:51
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals halfway through the season, we were talking about
31:55
Speaker 1: how the shift has impacted their ability to position players
31:58
Speaker 1: and I just had to sit there and wear it
31:59
Speaker 1: like I wasn't see the and like I asked about this,
32:03
Speaker 1: but I think it was just goes into across the board.
32:07
Speaker 1: When you are an organization that is used to doing
32:09
Speaker 1: things a certain way, you don't really understand how much
32:13
Speaker 1: that change is needed. And we've seen this with the
32:15
Speaker 1: Cardinals a lot. Credit to Stubb. Klapp works his ass off.
32:18
Speaker 1: I come and to the game every day and he's
32:20
Speaker 1: in his little room, computers up, monitors up, and he's
32:23
Speaker 1: making sure those guys are prepared for every single play.
32:26
Speaker 1: So yeah, positioning wasn't good in twenty three, much better
32:29
Speaker 1: in twenty four and really paying dividends in twenty five.
32:31
Speaker 2: And if I could add to that, the other thing is,
32:33
Speaker 2: you know, one of the things about John mose lex
32:35
Speaker 2: regime towards the end in the previous seasons that really, really,
32:41
Speaker 2: really really was unfortunate is that their analytics department, which
32:46
Speaker 2: used to be one of the largest of the majors,
32:47
Speaker 2: became one of the smallest and the majors and very underfunded.
32:52
Speaker 2: And my point being, there's a lot of fans, including
32:54
Speaker 2: some I'm sure watching us, who hate when you mentioned analytics.
32:58
Speaker 2: It's like the dirtiest most seen word in their their
33:02
Speaker 2: baseball lexicon. They you know, they want to like perform
33:06
Speaker 2: an exorcism on anybody who's who mentions or praises analytics.
33:11
Speaker 2: And I never understood that because, for example, the smart
33:16
Speaker 2: defensive positioning that we're seeing is analytics based. You know,
33:21
Speaker 2: analytics are not your enemy, my friends, They're not the
33:24
Speaker 2: Cardinal's enemy. If the Cardinals tap into the right information
33:29
Speaker 2: and put it to use, analytics are their friends, exactly.
33:33
Speaker 2: But in the past we've seen them be really really
33:36
Speaker 2: stupid about how they put now I'm serious about how
33:40
Speaker 2: they implement analytics. So that leads fans to say, see
33:43
Speaker 2: this analytics stuff's a bunch of garbage, you know, it's not.
33:46
Speaker 2: It depends on who's using the information, if they understand it,
33:51
Speaker 2: and then are they implementing it wisely. If they are,
33:54
Speaker 2: you have an advantage.
33:56
Speaker 1: And I think we're seeing that more and more. And
33:58
Speaker 1: I caution you, my best fans. In baseball, analytics is
34:02
Speaker 1: just another word for information, Ollie Marmo says a lot,
34:05
Speaker 1: and I get it. Analytics can be a scary word.
34:08
Speaker 1: All it means is more information. So if you, by
34:11
Speaker 1: the way, need more information on how you can stream
34:14
Speaker 1: the Cardinals on Candlesports Network, I'm your girl. I got you.
34:18
Speaker 1: You can now stream the Saint Louis Cardinals through FanDuel
34:21
Speaker 1: Sports Network and if use the promo code Baseball thirty,
34:24
Speaker 1: you can start it off with a thirty day extended
34:25
Speaker 1: free trial at fandelsportsnetwork dot com slash packages. The steal
34:29
Speaker 1: expires May second, twenty twenty five, nineteen ninety nine, a
34:32
Speaker 1: month after your free trial canceled. During your free trial
34:34
Speaker 1: to avoid charges eligibility restrictions supply, visit fandalsportsnetwork dot com
34:39
Speaker 1: for details. That was one of my better transitions. I
34:42
Speaker 1: will I was.
34:42
Speaker 2: Gonna say man, Look at look at the look at
34:45
Speaker 2: the segue queen right there? My goodness, what grow?
34:49
Speaker 1: This is what happens when you prioritize development and giving
34:51
Speaker 1: people chances to succeed in real trying to learn from
34:54
Speaker 1: their mistakes. They get better.
34:58
Speaker 2: Yeah. Do they have an analytics department?
35:00
Speaker 1: Actually we do. That was basically our wonderful producers telling
35:05
Speaker 1: me to be better, and I agree better.
35:07
Speaker 2: No, it's great. The whole Foul Territory, Cardinal Territory, all
35:12
Speaker 2: the other team territories. What a nice network for fans
35:14
Speaker 2: really is. Yeah.
35:15
Speaker 1: I really enjoy and I'm thankful to be a part
35:17
Speaker 1: of it. So shout out our Foul Territory guys. Look
35:21
Speaker 1: another week in the books. The Cardinals head on to Cincinnat.
35:24
Speaker 1: They're actually there already. I'm not going to Cincinnati. I
35:27
Speaker 1: just did twenty eight straight games in a row. Remind
35:28
Speaker 1: me to never do that again. So I am off
35:31
Speaker 1: this series in Cincy. We'll still have some content for
35:34
Speaker 1: you here on Cardinal Territory and of course at the Athletic.
35:39
Speaker 2: So what is it is it you don't like like
35:44
Speaker 2: staying all night and staying up all night getting blatto
35:46
Speaker 2: across the river? In Newport, Kentucky. Is it?
35:49
Speaker 4: That?
35:50
Speaker 2: Is it?
35:51
Speaker 1: You?
35:51
Speaker 2: Really? You just don't dig the Cincinnati style chili.
35:55
Speaker 1: I don't.
35:56
Speaker 4: I do.
35:56
Speaker 1: I'm not a Skylin chili. Yeah, yeah, I will say
35:59
Speaker 1: that they have good ice cream. But yeah, I saw
36:04
Speaker 1: four days in the middle of the month or the
36:07
Speaker 1: middle of the week where they were going to be home.
36:09
Speaker 1: It was an ideal time for me to take off
36:11
Speaker 1: because I have not. As I like to tell Chip Carry, I,
36:13
Speaker 1: I've done more games than you have, because he is
36:15
Speaker 1: supposed to do all one sixty two this year, and
36:18
Speaker 1: of course you lose a couple for national games. So
36:20
Speaker 1: the Cardinals had a Fox game, so he lost one,
36:23
Speaker 1: and I was being so insufferable in the hallway and
36:25
Speaker 1: the clubhouse, saying I have done every game. I'm the
36:28
Speaker 1: only media person who's done every single game except for
36:31
Speaker 1: John Reney. So John Riddy and I holding it down.
36:34
Speaker 1: But that streak ends for me on Monday, and I'll
36:36
Speaker 1: be back with the team this weekend.
36:38
Speaker 2: And then are you going to be making that trip
36:40
Speaker 2: to DC, Philly and Kansas City after the homestand that I'm.
36:43
Speaker 1: Acuer pane, so I'm doing the whole three city road trips.
36:46
Speaker 2: I actually think those are three good cities so that
36:48
Speaker 2: you go to.
36:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I love DC because I like the history,
36:52
Speaker 1: I like walking around. We do howk girl walks, the
36:55
Speaker 1: broadcasters and I So we'll probably walk around the Washington Mall.
36:58
Speaker 1: I've never done Philly. Philly my last National League city.
37:02
Speaker 1: A city always a good time. I've never gone to
37:04
Speaker 1: Kansas City and had a bad time. Even when I
37:06
Speaker 1: got food poisoning. How much fun that I had before
37:08
Speaker 1: that made up for the fact that I got.
37:10
Speaker 2: No, that's a good road trip. That really is. That's
37:12
Speaker 2: a good road trip for scribes too. So yeah, no doubt,
37:15
Speaker 2: no doubt.
37:16
Speaker 1: Trip all around Bernie. Before we go, I know that
37:19
Speaker 1: you have been working on some thing. Some sad news
37:21
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals. Walt Jackety died at the age of
37:23
Speaker 1: seventy four over the weekend and architect of the team. Yeah,
37:27
Speaker 1: just so influential in so many ways for the game
37:29
Speaker 1: of baseball.
37:30
Speaker 2: Just a couple of things real quick, and I give you,
37:32
Speaker 2: I really thank you for giving me a chance to
37:34
Speaker 2: promote this. I'm proud of who I work for now,
37:38
Speaker 2: which is sportshobestl dot com. You know, as soon as
37:42
Speaker 2: the word came out about Walts passing Dave Green, my
37:44
Speaker 2: friend and my boss. He got on the text messages
37:48
Speaker 2: and started saying, Hey, we're going to do a live
37:50
Speaker 2: stream in reaction to this. No one else is going
37:53
Speaker 2: to do this. We're going to do it because we
37:55
Speaker 2: should do it. And I hosted it and Mike Claiborne
37:58
Speaker 2: was my guest for about a half an hour, and
38:00
Speaker 2: then I continued for another twenty minutes with some of
38:03
Speaker 2: my personal thoughts on Walt. I'm probably not going to
38:07
Speaker 2: do a separate video on that, but people can go.
38:10
Speaker 2: They can find it really easily if you're interested, you know,
38:14
Speaker 2: by going to sports hub stl dot com and then
38:16
Speaker 2: the other thing. I've been working all day and by
38:19
Speaker 2: the way, I'm not looking for any ATA boys, but
38:21
Speaker 2: I've been working all day on a basically what amounts
38:24
Speaker 2: to a retrospective tribute to Walt Jackety because I followed
38:30
Speaker 2: him so closely the whole time he was here. I
38:32
Speaker 2: knew all the ins and outs. I have some stories.
38:35
Speaker 2: So this thing's massive. And I'm warning people because my
38:38
Speaker 2: whole thing, as I told you before, we went on,
38:41
Speaker 2: if I'm going to if I'm going to pay tribute
38:43
Speaker 2: to Walt Jacketty's impact on this franchise. I ain't holding back.
38:47
Speaker 2: I'm just going to write and write and write and
38:50
Speaker 2: write and write, and I do break it into categories,
38:52
Speaker 2: but I'm just about finished with that. I'll probably finish
38:55
Speaker 2: it up tomorrow morning. But I'm I'm proud of it.
38:59
Speaker 2: Not because I'm proud, like look at me, but I'm
39:02
Speaker 2: proud of it because any anything that honors Walt Jockety,
39:07
Speaker 2: whoever does it, should be proud just just for the
39:12
Speaker 2: act of of honoring him. And can I say one
39:16
Speaker 2: more thing? You know, I'm on that that Cardinals uh
39:21
Speaker 2: Red Ribbon Committee, and you're like, we learned on the
39:24
Speaker 2: committee and we're basically it's it's it's one confidential and
39:29
Speaker 2: we all know that those are the ground rules. We
39:31
Speaker 2: can't really discuss anything outside that room. That's just and
39:34
Speaker 2: I honor that, well, you have to honor that, or
39:37
Speaker 2: if you don't want to honor it, then you should
39:39
Speaker 2: be on the committee. But we were told, you know,
39:41
Speaker 2: we were told that that day in January after the
39:45
Speaker 2: winter warm up, that the de Wits were going to
39:48
Speaker 2: put Walt Jockety into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. And
39:50
Speaker 2: you know again, we're all we all can't say a
39:53
Speaker 2: word about it, and I understand, but but Tony LaRusso
39:57
Speaker 2: also told us that day, and I don't I don't
39:59
Speaker 2: mind share in this, and Tony wouldn't mind. He told
40:01
Speaker 2: us that day that Walt was in bad shape, and
40:04
Speaker 2: I went, oh, my goodness, and you know, it sounded
40:06
Speaker 2: really dire, and as it turned out, it was dire.
40:10
Speaker 2: So it's one of those things. I mean, I was
40:12
Speaker 2: really saddened by his loss because I love covering Walt
40:14
Speaker 2: Jackety and the teams he built. But also I was
40:18
Speaker 2: frustrated because he wasn't in the Cardinals Hall of Fame,
40:20
Speaker 2: and I thought it was a tremendous oversight. But build
40:24
Speaker 2: a wit and build a Witt that they're they realized
40:27
Speaker 2: that they and they were going to do something about it.
40:29
Speaker 2: They didn't know how ill Walt Jockety was. They didn't
40:32
Speaker 2: even though Build de Witt Junior and Walt Jackety had
40:36
Speaker 2: definitely repaired their relationship. They were on good terms because
40:39
Speaker 2: Walt had a health scare a couple of years ago
40:41
Speaker 2: and he came out of it, so they they didn't
40:43
Speaker 2: really know. They didn't have the play by play what
40:45
Speaker 2: was going wrong with him. So I was so happy
40:48
Speaker 2: to hear this would be the year, because I've been
40:50
Speaker 2: lobbying for it hard. And but then then your heart
40:54
Speaker 2: broken to realize that you know, he won't be able to,
40:58
Speaker 2: you know, stand there and get the red jacket and
41:00
Speaker 2: have everyone just wash over him with praise and thanks
41:04
Speaker 2: and gratitude and all those former players coming back. And
41:09
Speaker 2: our mutual friend Derek Gould, you know, had a line
41:12
Speaker 2: in something he wrote today where he said, you know,
41:14
Speaker 2: the Cardinals did call Walt. I assume it was the
41:17
Speaker 2: Duits before when he was in the hospital earlier this year,
41:20
Speaker 2: and they let him know that he was going to
41:22
Speaker 2: be in and so yeah, and Tony Lusa told me
41:26
Speaker 2: that Walt was really, really, really happy and it was
41:29
Speaker 2: great for his morale. And Walt was so fired up
41:32
Speaker 2: to get the news. He's laying in a hospital. He's
41:34
Speaker 2: in a hospital or a special care center for about
41:37
Speaker 2: a year a year, and that motivated him so much
41:44
Speaker 2: that that dear person sat in his hotel not hotel,
41:49
Speaker 2: pardon me, hospital bed and started to write his acceptance speech.
41:54
Speaker 2: I mean, that's enough to make you cry too, But listen,
41:58
Speaker 2: the Cardinals will do what up right on September sixth.
42:02
Speaker 2: I know Walt's family will be there. You know, Tony
42:05
Speaker 2: Larusa will be there. I don't know who will speak
42:07
Speaker 2: on Walt's calf. I suspect it'll be Tony Larusa. But
42:11
Speaker 2: I'm really really glad that he's going to be in.
42:13
Speaker 2: I'm really really happy it was overdue. But listen, I'm
42:16
Speaker 2: also not gonna I'm not going to rip the duits
42:19
Speaker 2: for taking a little longer than they should. I'm just
42:21
Speaker 2: not going to do it because at time like this,
42:24
Speaker 2: that's kind of cheap shot stuff. I'm just not going
42:26
Speaker 2: to do it. You know, his death, you know sadness
42:29
Speaker 2: them as well. And you know, these Hall of Fames,
42:32
Speaker 2: I don't care if it's on the team level or
42:34
Speaker 2: the national level. These Hall of Fames always have things
42:36
Speaker 2: that should have been done and they're not. Or this
42:39
Speaker 2: guy should have been voted in, he's not. This guy
42:41
Speaker 2: had to wait. It's just the wrong time to like
42:45
Speaker 2: just sort of take gratuitous shots at the Cardinals as
42:48
Speaker 2: a you know, as an ownership management group. He knew
42:52
Speaker 2: he's going to be honored. He knew he was going
42:54
Speaker 2: to be honored, and it made him really happy and
42:57
Speaker 2: not down corny, but and he had happiness that a
43:01
Speaker 2: dying man can cling on to is a positive thing.
43:04
Speaker 2: So thanks for letting me say all that stuff.
43:07
Speaker 1: No, I'm glad you did, Bernie. There was no one
43:09
Speaker 1: I think you could do it just right if they're
43:12
Speaker 1: the best, So non things you can say about mister jockety.
43:14
Speaker 1: And I know a very sad day for Cardinal Nation
43:16
Speaker 1: and for baseball over the weekend. So very glad that
43:19
Speaker 1: he's getting the recognition he deserves by all means the
43:21
Speaker 1: definition of a Cardinal's Hall of Famer. We will be
43:24
Speaker 1: back with you at some point next week. Two more
43:27
Speaker 1: episodes to go. I can't but this is our fortieth episode.
43:31
Speaker 1: That's crazy. We just keep getting better with age, Bernie.
43:34
Speaker 1: But I gotta figure out something fun for our fiftieth,
43:38
Speaker 1: not anniversary, our fiftieth episode. Some ideas, and I have
43:41
Speaker 1: some really fun player interviews in the works as well
43:44
Speaker 1: that we'll get out over the next couple of weeks
43:45
Speaker 1: or so. You guys have been very, very great with
43:48
Speaker 1: your commentary or feedback from the Lars and Pedro episode,
43:51
Speaker 1: the Miles episode, and it's clear you like the player interviews,
43:54
Speaker 1: so we'll get you more until then, though, you know
43:57
Speaker 1: where to find us. I'm on the athletic Bernie's everywhere.
44:00
Speaker 1: If you want information, you know where to get it.
44:02
Speaker 1: Let's see Bernie. Tomorrow's Monday. So you have Gas House
44:04
Speaker 1: Gang as well?
44:05
Speaker 2: You got Gas House Gang, Well, no, guess I got
44:09
Speaker 2: the Redbird Rush Hour tomorrow and then I have But
44:12
Speaker 2: I have Gas House Gang in one form or another
44:14
Speaker 2: five days a week, and I do a lot of
44:16
Speaker 2: video and columns for Sports Hub, SDL and what else.
44:20
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this thing called the Cardinal Territory.
44:22
Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, if you In case you didn't know,
44:25
Speaker 1: you can also listen to Bernie every Tuesday at noon
44:28
Speaker 1: on Camo X with Ollie Marmel. It's some really great
44:30
Speaker 1: just talking ball stuff. I really enjoyed. It's must listen
44:34
Speaker 1: TV or radio for me anyway. So hopefully you guys
44:37
Speaker 1: feel the same way about Cardinal Territory. Kind of a
44:39
Speaker 1: long one for you this week, and hopefully you don't
44:40
Speaker 1: mind a good series win for your ball club. Let's
44:43
Speaker 1: see if they can do the same in Cincinnati for Bernie.
44:45
Speaker 1: I'm Katie. We thanks. It's always for watching
45:01
Speaker 4: Time.