Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Short-handed Cardinals swept by Yankees

Transcript

Short-handed Cardinals swept by Yankees · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Well.
0:07
Speaker 2: The Saint Louis Cardinals have lost five straight games. They
0:09
Speaker 2: were swept by the New York Yankees on Sunday by
0:12
Speaker 2: a score of twelve to eight. They did not have
0:14
Speaker 2: Brendan Donovan or Wilson Contreras available for the entire series.
0:18
Speaker 2: They played eight of their nine games as home stands, shorthanded,
0:21
Speaker 2: and Victor Scott the Second went on the il with
0:23
Speaker 2: the left ankle sprain. This morning, welcome back to Cardinal territory,
0:26
Speaker 2: where the vibes are always high. It was not a
0:29
Speaker 2: good series for Saint Louis here at Bushadium.
0:32
Speaker 1: The Yankees came in, and you know, the Yankees are
0:34
Speaker 1: always the Yankees.
0:35
Speaker 2: I know they've been kind of going through it over
0:37
Speaker 2: for what seems like a while now, but anytime the
0:40
Speaker 2: Yankees come to town, it should be a big draw.
0:43
Speaker 2: And the Cardinals responded with a pretty lackluster performance. Let's
0:47
Speaker 2: break down a little bit of the news beforehand.
0:50
Speaker 1: Prior to today's game.
0:51
Speaker 2: The Cardinals placed, like we said, Victor Scott the second
0:54
Speaker 2: on the ten day injured list with the left ankle sprain.
0:56
Speaker 2: They were called outfielder Nathan Church. Victor Scott sustained the
0:59
Speaker 2: end the third inning of Saturday's game, when Aaron Judge
1:02
Speaker 2: swatted a lead off homer off Sunny Gray, Victor Scott
1:06
Speaker 2: came inches away from played off an incredible catch, but
1:08
Speaker 2: banged up into that wall pretty hard and sustained a
1:12
Speaker 2: left ankle sprain. He tried to stay in the game
1:14
Speaker 2: for multiple innings and actually made a pretty impressive catch
1:17
Speaker 2: on the closing out a liner either the inning or
1:20
Speaker 2: two innings after the play, and his speed looked all right.
1:22
Speaker 2: He looked like he could, you know, play pretty well
1:24
Speaker 2: out there. But he took a couple swings and his
1:27
Speaker 2: following in bat and he grimaced and seemed to be
1:29
Speaker 2: in a lot of pain, and the Cardinals just didn't
1:30
Speaker 2: want to push it. Imaging revealed the spray, and so
1:33
Speaker 2: he hits the iel this morning. No timetable for Victor
1:36
Speaker 2: Scott's return as of yet, but I do think my
1:39
Speaker 2: speculation is at least that it is encouraging that it
1:42
Speaker 2: wasn't an injury where he had to leave the game
1:44
Speaker 2: immediately and thought that he could play through it. Of course,
1:46
Speaker 2: anytime that a starter missed his time, it's not ideal,
1:50
Speaker 2: especially for Victor Scott, who defensively was having a really
1:53
Speaker 2: good season and continuing to work on things offensively as well.
1:56
Speaker 2: Hopefully we see him by the time the season ends
1:58
Speaker 2: a player we will be seeing a lot more. Nathan
2:01
Speaker 2: Church called up today started in center hit ninth for
2:05
Speaker 2: the Cardinals. Ollie Marmele said before the game today that
2:08
Speaker 2: we are going to see Church get a run in
2:10
Speaker 2: center field. What that means is he'd like to keep
2:13
Speaker 2: his outfield rotation primarily the same, just subbing out Church
2:16
Speaker 2: is playing or Victor Scott's playing time for Nathan Church
2:19
Speaker 2: is playing time.
2:19
Speaker 1: So you're still going to.
2:20
Speaker 2: See that same rotation of Lars newbarn left or Jordan
2:24
Speaker 2: Walker and right, working in Burlison in the corners.
2:27
Speaker 1: When Wilson Contreras comes back.
2:29
Speaker 2: All that stuff, but one thing that will the thing
2:31
Speaker 2: that will be different is that Nathan Church will be
2:33
Speaker 2: the starting center fielder going forward. Hopefully the Cardinals have
2:38
Speaker 2: more players to use than they did in this series.
2:43
Speaker 2: The Cardinals not having Brendan Donovan, not having Wilson Contreras,
2:46
Speaker 2: Nolan Arnatto remains on the il of course as well,
2:49
Speaker 2: really impacted their performance this weekend, to say the least.
2:54
Speaker 2: In both Friday and Saturday's game, Ollie Marbles bench was
2:56
Speaker 2: limited to two players, pinch runner Darren Hansen and backup
2:59
Speaker 2: cap Joel Pozo. Meanwhile, the Yankees bench had guys like
3:03
Speaker 2: Juan Carlos Stanton on it, Paul Gulshan on it for
3:05
Speaker 2: two days. You had Cody Bellinger off the bench for
3:09
Speaker 2: a day that he was not feeling well but still
3:12
Speaker 2: felt like you could taken a bat if needed.
3:14
Speaker 1: It just doesn't match up well.
3:16
Speaker 2: You combat that with a bullpen that also is missing
3:19
Speaker 2: a lot of key pieces in terms of just who
3:21
Speaker 2: they traded away, and you get another disappointing series for
3:25
Speaker 2: Saint Louis, and it's disappointing. I think when you think
3:27
Speaker 2: about how this home stand started, vibes were great, Yachtie
3:31
Speaker 2: was back, They took two of free from the Cubs
3:33
Speaker 2: on the heels of taking two a free from the Dodgers.
3:35
Speaker 1: Then they have a come from behind win.
3:37
Speaker 2: Donovan returns to the lineup last Monday, hits a two
3:41
Speaker 2: run double on Monday's win for that come from behind
3:43
Speaker 2: victory over Colorado, and your Cardinals are three games out
3:46
Speaker 2: of the wildcard picture, and you're thinking, hey, you know what,
3:49
Speaker 2: I'm not saying, they're a playoff team. But this is
3:51
Speaker 2: this makes for compelling baseball and that's all Cardinals fans
3:53
Speaker 2: want down the stretch given the season, and they followed
3:56
Speaker 2: it up with just five really truly disappointing games. Just
3:59
Speaker 2: not it's not what you want if you are the
4:02
Speaker 2: Saint Louis Cardinals. So we'll talk all about the why
4:05
Speaker 2: the Cardinals play shorthanded. What can you expect from Brennan
4:08
Speaker 2: Donovan when he could return to the lineup because the
4:10
Speaker 2: Cardinals don't necessarily seem super inclined to put him on
4:12
Speaker 2: the Il Wilson conturist should be back on the starting
4:15
Speaker 2: lineup from Monday's game in Miami against the Marlins. We'll
4:18
Speaker 2: get into all of that too, But let's find out
4:20
Speaker 2: what we need to know about Nathan Church, because I
4:22
Speaker 2: think one game is not really a sample size.
4:24
Speaker 1: You minor league enthusiasts will probably know.
4:28
Speaker 2: Church started the year in Double A, was selected from
4:31
Speaker 2: Triple From Triple A, played fifty three of his eighty
4:34
Speaker 2: six games this season with Memphis. He hit three thirty
4:36
Speaker 2: five there for the red Birds, a nine to twenty
4:38
Speaker 2: one ops, eleven doubles, and seven home runs. Like we
4:41
Speaker 2: talked about, he can play all three outfield positions, but
4:43
Speaker 2: the Cardinals plan to use him predominantly in center field.
4:46
Speaker 2: They did not have to burn a forty man roster
4:49
Speaker 2: move to select Nathan Church. Their forty man roster move
4:53
Speaker 2: currently or their forty man roster currently stands at thirty eight,
4:56
Speaker 2: so they do have some flexibility there. And if that's
4:59
Speaker 2: the case, you ask, then why did the Cardinals play
5:01
Speaker 2: shorthanded and why didn't they use their forty man roster
5:05
Speaker 2: to boost their bench into that?
5:06
Speaker 1: I say, very fair and very good questions.
5:08
Speaker 2: We'll get right to it, though we'll need to hear
5:10
Speaker 2: from our friends at DraftKings first.
5:12
Speaker 1: We will be right back.
5:14
Speaker 2: The dog days of summer are here, and in Missouri
5:16
Speaker 2: that means it's baseball season in full swing. Whether you're
5:19
Speaker 2: up in Kansas City or Saint Louis, it's your time
5:22
Speaker 2: to shine and score big. Download the Pick six app
5:24
Speaker 2: the easiest way to turn your baseball takes into cold
5:27
Speaker 2: hard cash. It's crazy simple. Just pick more or less
5:30
Speaker 2: on the stats for two or more of your favorite players,
5:32
Speaker 2: and boom, you're in the mix for big cash prizes.
5:34
Speaker 2: No gimmicks, no weird rules, and for folks in the show,
5:36
Speaker 2: me state there's something special. New Pick six players in
5:39
Speaker 2: Missouri can jump in for free. Download the app, sign up,
5:42
Speaker 2: and you'll get fifty dollars in bonus picks instantly.
5:45
Speaker 1: Don't miss out on this limited time offer Missouri.
5:47
Speaker 2: Download the DraftKings Pick six app right now and use
5:49
Speaker 2: code foul.
5:50
Speaker 1: That's code foul.
5:51
Speaker 2: Register a new account and get fifty dollars in bonus
5:53
Speaker 2: picks instantly. Ride the upside where a few bucks can
5:56
Speaker 2: turn into a bag only on DraftKings Pick six.
5:58
Speaker 1: The crown is.
5:59
Speaker 3: Yours mbling problem called one eight hundred. Gambler must be
6:02
Speaker 3: eighteen and over. Agent eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Void
6:05
Speaker 3: work prohibited. Register new Pick six account to receive fifty
6:08
Speaker 3: dollars in bonus picks that expire in seven days ends
6:11
Speaker 3: eight twenty four to twenty five at eleven fifty nine
6:13
Speaker 3: pm Eastern Time terms at Pick six dot DraftKings dot
6:16
Speaker 3: Com slash promos.
6:18
Speaker 2: Okay, So, if you're like me, you're asking why did
6:23
Speaker 2: the Say Louis Cardinals insist on playing shorthanded for the
6:26
Speaker 2: majority of the homestand when the ten day il exists
6:29
Speaker 2: and the forty man roster exists, and they didn't necessarily
6:32
Speaker 2: have to do that in the first place, but they
6:34
Speaker 2: chose to anyway. Let's break down where each player is
6:36
Speaker 2: with their injury. We'll start with Brendan Donovan was in
6:40
Speaker 2: friday starting lineup, originally batting leadoff, playing second base, and
6:46
Speaker 2: was a late scratch with that toe injury that plagued
6:49
Speaker 2: him for several games out in I believe he sustained
6:53
Speaker 2: it against Toronto in Saint Louis and he missed quite
6:56
Speaker 2: a few games starting in Milwaukee in mid June.
6:59
Speaker 1: This has been a lingering injury.
7:01
Speaker 2: It's technically termed a sprained capsule of the left toe,
7:05
Speaker 2: more commonly known as turf toe. Okay, that's what he's
7:08
Speaker 2: been dealing with for a couple of months now. And
7:10
Speaker 2: any time that you are dealing with an injury that
7:13
Speaker 2: starts at your contact, the plays of contact at the ground,
7:16
Speaker 2: it can spread up the leg. That's why Donnie, who
7:19
Speaker 2: missed two games and against the Cubs earlier in the
7:24
Speaker 2: homestand with left groin tightness, he attributed some of that
7:27
Speaker 2: tightness to the toe injuries. This has been a lingering,
7:29
Speaker 2: nagging thing that he's tried to play through all players
7:32
Speaker 2: have played through aches and pains, but he now thinks
7:35
Speaker 2: that he could be over compensating for the toe pain
7:37
Speaker 2: and it's leading to other injuries. So dealing with a
7:39
Speaker 2: couple of things pretty banged up, Oli Marmal made the
7:42
Speaker 2: decision to scratch him on Friday and hope that it
7:45
Speaker 2: was just a one to two day thing. It's looking
7:47
Speaker 2: like it's going to be a little bit more like
7:48
Speaker 2: four to five, if not six, But the Cardinals are
7:51
Speaker 2: still hopeful Donovan will be able to avoid the IL. Now,
7:55
Speaker 2: how do you justify as an organization being without a
7:58
Speaker 2: key player? And like Donovan is, in my opinion, the
8:01
Speaker 2: most pivotal player on this team.
8:03
Speaker 1: He's the most valuable, He's their lone all star.
8:05
Speaker 2: He can play around the diamond, He's one of their
8:07
Speaker 2: most consistent hitters. I know he's hit a little bit
8:09
Speaker 2: of a tapered off a little bit in July, but
8:11
Speaker 2: from an overall point, like he is a key, key,
8:14
Speaker 2: central piece in this ball club. So helping the Cardinals
8:17
Speaker 2: justify being without him for possibly five to six days
8:20
Speaker 2: and playing short without even factoring wilson touris availability, I
8:24
Speaker 2: will get there. Well, good question, We asked Ali Marmal that,
8:29
Speaker 2: and here was his answer. I'll read it for you.
8:33
Speaker 2: My goal is to stay away from the inter list
8:35
Speaker 2: if possible, even if that means giving donnav in the
8:37
Speaker 2: next two to three days off. Marmel said, this was yesterday,
8:40
Speaker 2: so Saturday. I prefer for him to be down or
8:43
Speaker 2: be short for three days than to have him down
8:44
Speaker 2: for a total ten. You're making the decision if it
8:47
Speaker 2: makes sense to lose those guys for ten days, or
8:49
Speaker 2: if you're better off playing short, based on who would
8:51
Speaker 2: come up and how you would use that body. We
8:54
Speaker 2: feel at the moment, and this could change that. Giving
8:57
Speaker 2: him three days and staying away from the inter list
8:59
Speaker 2: gives us the best chance after those three days are up.
9:02
Speaker 1: And that's not super uncommon.
9:04
Speaker 2: You will see teams throughout baseball when it comes to
9:06
Speaker 2: one of their best players play short for a couple
9:09
Speaker 2: of days in hopes that they won't have to miss
9:11
Speaker 2: eight days with their player on the injury list. So
9:14
Speaker 2: I don't fault the Cardinals for doing that. That it
9:16
Speaker 2: comes at a time where Wilson Controras's is not available
9:18
Speaker 2: and they're already playing short.
9:20
Speaker 1: New part out available for most of.
9:21
Speaker 2: The Rocky Series things like that, and leaving your bench
9:24
Speaker 2: to two players, that's where it gets a little iffy.
9:27
Speaker 2: But I thought Marbles quote here was much more telling
9:30
Speaker 2: about the state of the forty man roster then whether
9:33
Speaker 2: or not the Cardinals play short for two or three games. Again,
9:35
Speaker 2: we don't know if Brendon Donnan's going to be available
9:37
Speaker 2: for the Miami Series. I think they're going to test
9:38
Speaker 2: it out on Monday, same with Contreras. But if you
9:41
Speaker 2: don't have an option on the forty man where you
9:44
Speaker 2: feel comfortable bringing them up, and you'd rather play short
9:48
Speaker 2: for an undisclosed or undetermined amount of time. Again, because
9:50
Speaker 2: of the why the Cardinals think it's only going to
9:52
Speaker 2: be a three or four days for Donovan, They thought
9:53
Speaker 2: that for Contreras, and it's so far it's been five.
9:56
Speaker 2: There's no way to tell. If you don't have a
9:58
Speaker 2: viable option on your forty man ros to come in
10:01
Speaker 2: and help with that depth, what does that say about
10:05
Speaker 2: your forty man roster. It would say that your forty
10:07
Speaker 2: man roster construction remains a concern, And for the Saint
10:09
Speaker 2: Louis Cardinals it does. If you have they have a
10:12
Speaker 2: slew of infielders they don't use. They have a slew
10:15
Speaker 2: of players in Memphis they don't use on the forty
10:17
Speaker 2: man They would rather play short two players than call
10:21
Speaker 2: someone up and try to take advantage of three or
10:24
Speaker 2: four games where they could have their original starter back
10:27
Speaker 2: in the lineup, then play ten days with the backup.
10:30
Speaker 2: That to me and the organization can't say this. Olie
10:32
Speaker 2: Marmal can't say this, nor would he that to me
10:35
Speaker 2: says that the forty man roster players aren't factors.
10:39
Speaker 1: Why are they on the roster?
10:40
Speaker 2: This is something that's going to be a huge topic
10:43
Speaker 2: for Hein Bloom in the new front office to address.
10:45
Speaker 2: The Cardinals have to protect a ton of players coming up,
10:48
Speaker 2: off the top of my head, Nathan Church actually was
10:50
Speaker 2: one of them, so he's on there now. That's checkbox
10:52
Speaker 2: number one. Before this offseason, they have to add them
10:55
Speaker 2: to the forty man roster or risk exposing them in
10:57
Speaker 2: the Rule five draft. There are plenty of spots on
11:02
Speaker 2: the forty man roster that are clearly not going to
11:04
Speaker 2: be used by the active roster that they need to
11:07
Speaker 2: clear out so they can protect these players. The whole
11:09
Speaker 2: point of a forty man roster, if you will, is
11:12
Speaker 2: to help your active roster when your starters go down.
11:16
Speaker 2: This is not an issue that is just central to
11:19
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. This is something that Cardinals have dealt
11:21
Speaker 2: with in regards to their forty man dating back to
11:24
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three at the minimum. That's at least when
11:26
Speaker 2: it was first kind of exposed to me that hey,
11:28
Speaker 2: the players coming up in Triple A are death pieces, aren't.
11:32
Speaker 1: We don't really view them as death pieces. They're just there.
11:35
Speaker 2: That's an issue if you're not going to use Jose,
11:37
Speaker 2: for mean, why is he on the forty man? Because
11:39
Speaker 2: I understand there's a difference in talent and capability between
11:42
Speaker 2: Brendan Donnan and Jose for me, and I understand that.
11:44
Speaker 2: And if you'd rather be short Donovan for a couple
11:47
Speaker 2: of days then be without him for ten when you
11:48
Speaker 2: don't have to be I get it again.
11:51
Speaker 1: Teams do that all the time.
11:52
Speaker 2: It was more the fact that there is an unsure
11:54
Speaker 2: amount of time that Donovan will be gone, same with Contraras,
11:58
Speaker 2: and the Cardinals still didn't feel inclining to use their
12:00
Speaker 2: injured list until they absolutely had to when Victor Scott
12:03
Speaker 2: sprained his ankle one because the severity of the injury,
12:06
Speaker 2: and two because you cannot play a major league game
12:09
Speaker 2: with one bench player.
12:11
Speaker 1: I mean you can.
12:12
Speaker 2: I'm sure this organization would try it, but it just doesn't.
12:15
Speaker 2: It doesn't put anyone in a position to succeed. It
12:17
Speaker 2: doesn't put the current nine in a position to succeed,
12:19
Speaker 2: it doesn't put the coaching staff in a position to succeed.
12:22
Speaker 2: They have to quote a coach, one bullet don't miss
12:25
Speaker 2: to use, and it just kind of makes for an
12:28
Speaker 2: uncompetitive ball game.
12:29
Speaker 1: And I thought we saw three relatively.
12:31
Speaker 2: Uncompetitive ball games against the Yankees that has everything to
12:33
Speaker 2: do with the death. So what can the Cardinals do
12:36
Speaker 2: about the forty man roster construction? Great question for heim
12:39
Speaker 2: Bloom and his front office when they come in, it
12:41
Speaker 2: will be the first thing they address because after the
12:43
Speaker 2: World Series. I don't know the official date that heim
12:46
Speaker 2: Bloom will take over for the Cardinals, but the offseason
12:50
Speaker 2: ramp up in baseball, non tender deadline is usually in
12:53
Speaker 2: mid November, So these kinds of conversations need to be
12:55
Speaker 2: taking place right now. Who can the Cardinals use on
12:59
Speaker 2: the forty man, who do they need to protect and
13:01
Speaker 2: how can they start making the sporting man roster actually
13:04
Speaker 2: resourceful for their active roster, so they don't have to
13:07
Speaker 2: play eight out of nine games without a full bench.
13:10
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk a little a little bit about Wilson.
13:12
Speaker 2: Controra's left Tuesday's game after being hit by a pitch
13:17
Speaker 2: off his foot.
13:18
Speaker 1: Didn't love that. He was going to be out Wednesday.
13:21
Speaker 2: The Cardinals were hopeful the off day on Thursday would
13:23
Speaker 2: give him enough time to rest.
13:24
Speaker 1: That wasn't the case.
13:25
Speaker 2: Unavailable Friday, was hoping on Saturday he could be used
13:28
Speaker 2: off the bench. It poured on Saturday, so the Cardinals
13:31
Speaker 2: wanted him to go out and run around the bases,
13:33
Speaker 2: go get some work in, do some field activity before
13:36
Speaker 2: they made that decision. Because it was pouring, Controras wasn't
13:39
Speaker 2: able to do that. They just shut him down for
13:40
Speaker 2: the day. He was able to do those things Sunday
13:43
Speaker 2: before the game and came out and said he feels
13:45
Speaker 2: good to go. The Cardinals didn't use him.
13:47
Speaker 1: Off the bench.
13:47
Speaker 2: Of course, he should be in the lineup on Monday.
13:51
Speaker 2: If not, they have completely mismanaged the situation. So we'll
13:55
Speaker 2: see about that. Nolan Arnado is back still in Jupiter,
13:58
Speaker 2: Florida at Roger d saw him taking some reps on
14:01
Speaker 2: the infield practice field on his Instagram story. So he's
14:05
Speaker 2: ramping up a strength and conditioning program, but not yet
14:07
Speaker 2: cleared to resume baseball activity. He's taking ground balls but
14:10
Speaker 2: not throwing them. Has not resumed taking swings yet either.
14:14
Speaker 2: He does plan to meet the Cardinals in Miami. They're
14:16
Speaker 2: heading there probably right now, and watch at least one
14:21
Speaker 2: to two games. He'll be nice to see Nolan in
14:23
Speaker 2: catch up slow progression. I do think again that we'll
14:27
Speaker 2: see him. I know he would like to come back
14:29
Speaker 2: and finish the season in Saint Louis. I don't know
14:30
Speaker 2: what that means for the overall lineup construction, but I
14:34
Speaker 2: still think that we've seen Nolan Arnatto in a Cardinal's
14:36
Speaker 2: uniform at some point before the end of the season.
14:39
Speaker 2: We'll have a better idea after hopefully talking to him
14:42
Speaker 2: in Miami. I think those are all the injury updates
14:47
Speaker 2: for now, I think, But really, as we go forward,
14:51
Speaker 2: the thing I'm looking at the most in terms of
14:53
Speaker 2: what the front office can address immediately, it's this forty
14:56
Speaker 2: man roster construction. And this goes back to the organization's
15:00
Speaker 2: and player development and not really being able to consistently
15:03
Speaker 2: establish homegrown talent. Now, I'll get some pushback here, and
15:06
Speaker 2: I'll say it's fair for those who argue, Okay, look
15:09
Speaker 2: at the Cardinals today.
15:11
Speaker 1: The majority of their lineup has is homegrown.
15:14
Speaker 2: That's fair. Let's look at the talent of that lineup.
15:17
Speaker 2: Let's look at the talent of the forty man roster.
15:19
Speaker 2: Is this where the Cardinals organization should be? I would
15:23
Speaker 2: say no. So we'll see how the Cardinals manage what
15:27
Speaker 2: hopefully is not another shorthanded bench in Miami needs to
15:30
Speaker 2: take advantage of a Marlins club that's not really in
15:34
Speaker 2: much better position than Saint Louis. It was brutal, guys,
15:37
Speaker 2: It was kind of brutal to watch this team over
15:39
Speaker 2: the last three days. And I'll read a quote from
15:42
Speaker 2: Ali Marble's post game session. Let me cheet up for
15:44
Speaker 2: you so that I get it right. Of course, he
15:47
Speaker 2: was ejected from this game, and I believe the seventh inning.
15:50
Speaker 1: It's been a minute.
15:51
Speaker 2: Please not rejected once a month. It is really a
15:54
Speaker 2: Cardinal season. This I asked Ali this post game. I said,
15:57
Speaker 2: this is a challenging series for you guys in terms
15:59
Speaker 2: of who you had to bail the short bench all
16:01
Speaker 2: three games, and the kind of the growing pains as
16:03
Speaker 2: you finish out this season. What can the message be
16:05
Speaker 2: for some of these young players as they go through
16:07
Speaker 2: the rest of the year. And he said, the typical
16:10
Speaker 2: answer you'd expect from a manager. Get you know what
16:13
Speaker 2: I'm actually about to read Miles Michaelis's answer. Hold on,
16:17
Speaker 2: I asked them the same question, though, so just give
16:19
Speaker 2: me a second. Here's what he said. There's a lot
16:25
Speaker 2: that comes to mind with that. You take your best
16:27
Speaker 2: shot with what you have. Obviously, you don't have two
16:29
Speaker 2: of your best hitters and Donnie and contrase in the lineup,
16:31
Speaker 2: and that doesn't help. I think the guys that you
16:33
Speaker 2: do have in there competed. There are some youthfulness and
16:35
Speaker 2: how some of these games played out. But at the
16:37
Speaker 2: end of the day, this is what it's going to
16:39
Speaker 2: look like. At times, you can get frustrated, or you
16:41
Speaker 2: can continue to keep your head down and continue to
16:43
Speaker 2: teach and make sure that you're moving this in the
16:45
Speaker 2: right direction. And here's where things got interesting for me.
16:48
Speaker 2: It's a continuation of alling marmals quote. I will say,
16:51
Speaker 2: we can't afford to make mistakes, and I see that
16:53
Speaker 2: as a good thing. We're not good enough to give
16:55
Speaker 2: them four outs. We're not good enough to walk people
16:58
Speaker 2: and pitch to contact. You have to be that much
17:00
Speaker 2: more on point, which will make these guys better in
17:02
Speaker 2: the long run. We showed it right there, he referenced
17:05
Speaker 2: in the ninth inning. Today made a mistake. The Yankees
17:08
Speaker 2: found a way to put a four spot on you.
17:10
Speaker 2: Your room for arrow is your room for error, excuse me,
17:13
Speaker 2: is non existent. And that's a good thing. It's going
17:16
Speaker 2: to suck at times, but it's a good thing because
17:17
Speaker 2: it will breed excellence. And I understand that these players
17:21
Speaker 2: are going to have to learn by failure, such as
17:24
Speaker 2: the nature of baseball.
17:25
Speaker 1: Thomas A.
17:25
Speaker 2: Jac I thought had a pretty good homestand the quality
17:28
Speaker 2: of the bats are getting better.
17:29
Speaker 1: I'd like to see a little bit better pitch selection.
17:31
Speaker 2: But for a player who's learning to play baseball in
17:33
Speaker 2: the major leagues, at the major league.
17:35
Speaker 1: Level, I thought we saw some good strides there.
17:38
Speaker 2: He made that key error in the ninth that kind
17:40
Speaker 2: of led to that four run rally, and you don't
17:42
Speaker 2: want that for anyone, but that's a teaching moment.
17:45
Speaker 1: That's a learning moment for him.
17:46
Speaker 2: He learns how to not let the game speed up
17:48
Speaker 2: on him in that situation going forward, and sometimes with
17:51
Speaker 2: the way that the Cardinals are at in their season,
17:53
Speaker 2: that's the best way for these players to learn. Nathan Church,
17:56
Speaker 2: it didn't show in the box score, and it's his
17:58
Speaker 2: very first major league game. We'll cut the guy's in
18:00
Speaker 2: slack here, but he knows this, and he knew it
18:02
Speaker 2: as soon as he let the ball go.
18:04
Speaker 1: The cutoff should have gone.
18:05
Speaker 2: To second base, keep the game winning the go ahead
18:09
Speaker 2: run at first base. It was Aaron Judge at the time,
18:11
Speaker 2: and staid he comes up firing from centerfield and fires home.
18:14
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge advances from first to second. Now hit the
18:16
Speaker 2: game winning run at the time, is in scoring position,
18:21
Speaker 2: and he knew as soon as he let go of
18:22
Speaker 2: that ball that that ball needed to go to second base.
18:24
Speaker 2: You can see his body language. He kind of shook
18:26
Speaker 2: his head like I am better than that. You learn
18:28
Speaker 2: from those moments. So it's a young squad. We know this,
18:31
Speaker 2: and they did a nice job of playing competitive baseball
18:34
Speaker 2: about two weeks ago. There are some guys that are
18:37
Speaker 2: going to have I think a little longer with extension
18:40
Speaker 2: than others.
18:40
Speaker 1: We've seen it with Gorman. We've seen it with Walker, but.
18:42
Speaker 2: As we look at the new guys coming up, because
18:44
Speaker 2: I expect we'll see a set of rotation when you're
18:46
Speaker 2: looking at Sajac, when you're looking at Nathan Church and
18:48
Speaker 2: what he's going to be able to do, when you
18:50
Speaker 2: look at Herrera when he gets out there in the outfield,
18:52
Speaker 2: whenever that does happen, you're looking for incremental improvements. So, yes,
18:55
Speaker 2: Ollie Marmal's correct. This Cardinal's team is not good enough
18:58
Speaker 2: to make mistakes. They are not good enough to give out,
18:59
Speaker 2: so they are not good enough to get pitches away.
19:02
Speaker 2: They have to play perfect baseball to give themselves a chance.
19:04
Speaker 2: You add in a short bench, and I'm not just
19:07
Speaker 2: simply not surprised they got swept by the Yankees. They
19:09
Speaker 2: were not put in any position to succeed this weekend.
19:12
Speaker 2: Some of it is their own doing, some of it
19:14
Speaker 2: is the nature of injuries, and some of it is
19:15
Speaker 2: just where the organization is at this point of the season.
19:19
Speaker 2: But the way to look at it is to learn
19:23
Speaker 2: from it, and I think these players have responded to
19:26
Speaker 2: that mindset. It's not easy. No one wants to go
19:28
Speaker 2: out there and fail. No one wants to get out
19:30
Speaker 2: there and get swept in three games. No one wants
19:32
Speaker 2: to go out there and lose five straight. Fans don't
19:34
Speaker 2: want to see it. Bus shade and was half empty
19:36
Speaker 2: today for Cardinals the Yankees on a Sunday. But this
19:39
Speaker 2: is where the organization is and as they go forward,
19:42
Speaker 2: this only underscores how much more important it is for
19:45
Speaker 2: this Cardinals team and this Cardinals organization to finalize their
19:49
Speaker 2: forty man roster, make some cuts to it, revamp it,
19:52
Speaker 2: continue working what they're doing in the minor leagues because
19:54
Speaker 2: some good stuff is happening in the minor leagues. I
19:56
Speaker 2: do believe that, and continue developing players at the major
19:59
Speaker 2: league level so that this rebuild doesn't take longer than
20:02
Speaker 2: it needs to. This series was a big reminder that
20:06
Speaker 2: a lot of these players have a long ways to go.
20:08
Speaker 2: But sometimes that reminder is not a bad thing and
20:09
Speaker 2: the grand scheme of things.
20:11
Speaker 1: Was it a bad thing for Cardinals fans this weekend? Yeah?
20:13
Speaker 2: Absolutely, But in the grand scheme of things, players should
20:17
Speaker 2: the good ones will the ones that are going to
20:19
Speaker 2: stick around. We'll learn from this weekend. We'll learn from
20:21
Speaker 2: what worked and what didn't, the mistakes they made the
20:23
Speaker 2: things they did well and be better for it, and
20:26
Speaker 2: hopefully the next week in Florida three games against Miami,
20:29
Speaker 2: three games against the Rays goes a lot better than
20:31
Speaker 2: how this homestand ended. You can visit the Cardinal Territory
20:36
Speaker 2: shop dot com for your first look at new merch.
20:38
Speaker 2: My coffee mug came in and said in my notebook,
20:41
Speaker 2: So that was super excited. And I also bought a
20:42
Speaker 2: backpack and the lights turned off again. I think that
20:45
Speaker 2: means I've just been talking too much, so maybe well,
20:48
Speaker 2: maybe that's just the key to end episode right now.
20:51
Speaker 1: I got a fly to cash to Miami anyway.
20:53
Speaker 2: Mister three oh five, missus three oh five, that's what
20:55
Speaker 2: you guys can call me for the next three days. Hey,
20:57
Speaker 2: this weekend was tough. Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks
20:59
Speaker 2: for turning and tuning into this episode. We will see
21:01
Speaker 2: how the Cardinals address their forty man roster construction going forward.
21:05
Speaker 2: We will see what their lineup looks like and who's
21:08
Speaker 2: available on Monday. Hopefully they have more than two bench options,
21:12
Speaker 2: and hopefully for everyone involved, Brendan Donovan and Wilson Contraras
21:15
Speaker 2: are good to go.
21:16
Speaker 1: All right for those of you watching. I'm Katie.
21:18
Speaker 2: This is Cardinal Territory. We'll talk again next week. Thanks
21:20
Speaker 2: as always,