Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Andre Pallante Has Been A Bright Spot

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals own Paul Skeen. Sorry, perhaps that's a bit much, but they did beat him again last night, thanks to another stellar performance by one of their own young pictures. You are locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, they're Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafford and I'm a National Radio Sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou, and a lifetime Cardinals fan. and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Locktown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can obviously hit us up on Twitter X because we are available there, JD Sports Radio. You can do the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast.

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Starting point is 00:01:29 can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit fando.com to get started. So the Cardinals defeat the great Paul Skeens again on Monday night, which was awesome. That's right. Again, the Cardinals now the only team, the only team in Major League Baseball to have beaten Paul Skeens twice. That's right. Your St. Louis Cardinals handed the Pirates phenom, another loss to a lot. of his three losses this year, that crappy team out in L.A., known as the Dodgers,

Starting point is 00:02:04 they got him for a loss earlier this year as well. Clearly, they probably got lucky, whereas the Cardinals are a machine. They are a machine that devours pitchers day in and day out. All right, I'm kidding. Back to reality. They had a good approach against him, you know, and it's not like they lit him up or anything like that, you know, but they battled a little bit and took advantage of the Pirates bull pit. It's not that Paul Skeens didn't dominate them early on because he surely did. Not all that surprising, considering how subpar the Cardinals office has been this season. But Schemes, what was it, the first 10 cardinal hitters?

Starting point is 00:02:45 Boop in order up and down. They're gone. But then you get Alec Berluson, biscuits for the uninitiated, if you didn't know about his nickname. He singles. Then he gets the second base on a balk, clearly worried about. Alec Berlinson running. And then you get the 3-0 pitch. This was the big hit against Skeens.

Starting point is 00:03:04 Was a 3-0 pitch, the Grizzly veteran, Nolan Aronado, ends up smoking a ball up the middle. Base hit, scores Burleson, gives the Cardinals a one-and-nothing lead. And shockingly, that was all they needed on this night because the real story in this game was not Paul Skeens. It wasn't anything to do with the Cardinals' offense. It was Andre Palante.

Starting point is 00:03:23 That was the story in this one. He was absolutely brilliant on Monday night. ends up throwing seven innings, a career high, nine strikeouts. He gives up just four hits. He only walks one, which is very, very important. Just magnificent. Palante allowed one runner to reach second base in the first six innings. And then pitched out of that jam in the seventh inning.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Got a little, got a little help from the home plate umpire on that last strikeout. That was not a strike. That was a ball outside. We can admit that. But got the call. And overall, he was awesome. And I know the fan base likes to kick Dussie Blake around on the web. I get it.

Starting point is 00:04:02 But Andre Palante is certainly a success story that should be celebrated this year. And according to John Denton, it really kind of started with Palante requesting to become a starter again, which is something I wasn't totally aware of that it was kind of like something he wanted to do. I thought it was just an organizational decision to do it. But Denton says that Palanté asked and was granted a switch from a relief role to a starting slot in the and that in that role, Palante had enough pitches, both during off-day bullpen throwing sessions and during games, to finally cultivate the tailing sinker that would go in on Ritees and keep them off the plate. And that was the big problem with Palazzo. Remember, he could get lefties out, couldn't figure out how to get Rite's out, which has always been a little bit weird considering as a right-handed pitcher. But it wasn't all Palante. He ended up telling Denton, I know that guys on the coaching staff push for me to get that minor league opportunity and go down there and figure some stuff. out. That was something I talked to them about at the end of last year and they gave me that opportunity. I'm just proud of the way I went down there, stayed focused and took advantage of it.

Starting point is 00:05:06 And it was working on Monday night. That is for sure because he looked outstanding. And it's worked for most of the time since he's joined the rotation full time back in June. And yeah, of course, there's going to be some bumps in the road. It happens with young pitchers. And obviously, it's how you work through them that shows that you're developing and you're getting better at the major league level. All right. How do you handle those bumps in the road? September hadn't been great for Palante that starts against Milwaukee, Cincinnati, not good, you know. And the walks, which I pointed out, where he just walked one pirate last night.

Starting point is 00:05:47 You know, we had five walks in each of those games against Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Maddie, and we all know that that's a recipe for failure. That's not going to work. You cannot do that. Can't just put free people on and expect to come away with wins. And of course, he took the L's in those games. He wasn't good. He's had ugly starts this year against like the Giants, Houston,

Starting point is 00:06:10 the Mets was a rough one. He actually got the win in that game against the Giants, too. They ended up winning despite him allowing five runs in five and a third innings, but overall in the grand scheme of things since he's been a full-time starter, I've been impressed. And I think most people have, you know, it hasn't been a lot of, oh gosh, this Palante guy. I think everybody is on board the Andre Palante train into being somebody that should be in the rotation next year. You know, the changes he's made, the success that he's had, he's been better more times than he's been bad. Let's put it that way.

Starting point is 00:06:46 and it's been eye-opening for sure. You know, 17 starts since June, 6 and 7, let's not look at the record, but the ERA, important, 3.86 is FIPP, 3.80. And he's not a power arm that's just going to strike out a lot of people, nine strikeouts last night, obviously a career high. That's not going to happen very often, but he's good for like four or five in a game. And I believe has very much earned a spot at the back end of this rotation, at least in my eyes, for next year, which is good. because it allows you to feel a little more comfortable with moving on from the club options of Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson that will be something they have to make a decision on in this off season. And if you do move on from those guys, that in turn gives you some more payroll flexibility to use the money towards other guys to help shore up, you know, the ballpen, the offense. Maybe you'll get a better rotation arm if need be, which is, I mean, we're never going to say no.

Starting point is 00:07:46 don't go get more good pitchers. It's not something you're going to say. But we'll see how they decide to do it. And it really kind of depends on what the payroll is going to look like next year. You know, how are they going to stay the same? Are they going to drop it some? Or they're going to raise it a little bit? Probably not considering how things are looking at Bush Stadium as far as the gates

Starting point is 00:08:06 and how much money they're making there. I wouldn't suspect a rise in payroll by any means. But we'll have to wait and see. by all accounts from what I've been reading online and stuff is that it'll either stay the same or drop a little bit for next year, which, you know, when you're not paying a Kyle Gibson or a Lance Lim, that's going to bring it down, what, like $25 million. So that's good. And Andre Palante doing what he's done in the back app of the season here is a reason why they'll be able to do something like that. It'd be okay with it. Speaking of offense, the Cardinals got the Nato RBI, which was huge.

Starting point is 00:08:44 They get a couple of opposite field RBI hits from Pedro Pahas and Brendan Donovan off the Pirates bullpen, which you got to love the opposite field hits. I always, when I was playing a ball, I was that guy too, Deadpool hitter. It was tough for me to go to the opposite field. And when you do see it work and you see them getting pitched away and they take it that way and it shoots through the infield. I love it. It's beautiful. Good heading.

Starting point is 00:09:08 Sack fly by Newt also brought in a run. They score four. They win it four nothing. Yesterday we discussed some options for the Cardinals, some trade options, for them to take a look at to help improve the offense from what it is this year. So we're going to dive into some of the fan feedback about those names, including the Oakland A's Brent Rooker. We'll do that next on Locked on Cardinals. Price Fix is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with more than 5 million members. And it's the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports, unlike other apps,

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Starting point is 00:11:25 American League and the National League. So prepare for the fall classic with Sully, available every single day on Lockdown MLB, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. A reminder, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals' hometown broadcast with Sirius XM. Just download the SXM app and search the word Cardinals. Thank you for making Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:11:45 We're going to the fan feedback portion of the show. today now where we let you have the microphone. You get to either praise or destroy things that I've said, what the Cardinals are doing well, what they're doing bad. This is open mic time for you guys. And in yesterday's episode, we discussed the, you know, the offense and how it struggled this year, which was something that was a little bit surprising. If there was a spot on this team that we didn't think needed a lot of help, it was going to be offensively. And in the end, we were all wrong. because the offense has been an issue this year. And we talked about some changes that I would make,

Starting point is 00:12:24 things that I would target trade-wise, based off our story from Thomas Covain over at RedbirdRance.com. So the names we brought up were, or at least Thomas brought him up, but we discussed them, Yaddi Diaz, Taylor Ward, Brandon Lowe, and Brent Rooker. And I also jumped into, you know, wiping out all of the current hitting coaches and instructors moving on at the major league level.

Starting point is 00:12:50 I can't tell you what happens in the minor league level and how good somebody is or isn't. I'm not around that stuff, so I don't know. But I can tell you this, it ain't working at the major league level. So I'm ready to just kind of wipe them out, clean slate, move on, get some new eyes, get some new blood in here, try to figure out why the Cardinals hitters, young and old. It's not one or the other.

Starting point is 00:13:13 It's all of them continue to regress over the last two Cs. under the current regime. A lot of people are like fire Ali, fire Mo, sell the franchise. We got a lot of feedback like that, which, okay, great, that's fine. But I was hoping for a little more constructive chatter about what each player that we talked about yesterday brought to the table. So that's great. If you feel like you need to fire Ali and you need to fire these guys, that's fine.

Starting point is 00:13:42 But let's see what else we got in here about the actual players. we discussed. Let's start here with Ray, one of our everydayers, Ray always jumps in and has something to say, which is great. And it doesn't always have to be bad stuff. Doesn't always have to be good stuff. But the fact that you interact each day, appreciate you, Ray. All right, here we go. We don't need Rooker from the A's, Ray says. We need one of the new young pitchers that they've been getting quality innings out of since the All-Star break. Trade Jordan Walker and Stephen Matt somewhere to get younger and better pitching. They can step in right now. try to get Corbyn Burns or even Jack Flaherty in free agency,

Starting point is 00:14:19 but Moseilock must be gone for that to happen. By the way, J.D. Walker and speed in the same sentence, question marks. One reason he's so bad defensively in the outfield is because he's too slow and can't cover ground. He was fast as an 18-year-old. That hasn't been true at all now that he's bulked up. And no, the team is not comfortable with him in the outfield. They just recently replaced him in the late innings of the game for defensive purposes. That is correct.

Starting point is 00:14:43 they do take him out of, for defensive purposes, late in games, but they're willing to have him out there for seven innings. Not every guy you're going to put in the outfield is going to be a gold glove caliber outfielder. We have to get over the fact that every guy on our team needs to be a gold glover for this team to succeed. It's not feasible. We got a few years back when we had like five of them on one team.

Starting point is 00:15:06 That was incredible. That never happens. That's not realistic, all right? Sometimes you have to trade. some defensive stuff so that you can get better offense in return. It's a balance. They can't all be triple crown winners at the plate. They can't all be gold glovers in the outfield. There can all be Cy Young winners in the rotation. You have to find a balance and be able to build that and put it together to make a winning franchise. Okay. As far as Walker not being fast,

Starting point is 00:15:36 yes, he is. He's in the 78th percentile in all of baseball for sprint and speed in the league. the dude can run. He is fast. So you're completely wrong there, Ray. I hate to tell you. Does he get bad jumps? Yes. That is something that he's certainly working on is to get better jumps in the outfield so that he's able to cover more ground. I know we've all seen it where he comes down for a ball and he doesn't read it well. And then it looks like he's really slow coming to the line. But he's not slow. He just gets bad jumps. Bad jumps does not mean you can't run fast. All right. The dude can move quite well, very athletic. As far as trading him for starting pitching, I don't know. First off, you're not going to trade him right now when his value is probably lower than it was last year because he hasn't played all that much at the major league level. And what he has done hasn't been great. So that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. That's selling low on somebody who you think is going to have a bright future and is still a very, very young player. But again, going to get more pitching still doesn't help you score runs, which is,

Starting point is 00:16:41 also a problem of this team. You know, going to get another pitcher is not going to help you drive in runs with runners in scoring possession, okay? That is a huge problem for this team. Wilson Contreras being hurt a lot this year didn't help any matters. You know, obviously he was supposed to be a big part of how this offense was going to move and you didn't have him and you got bad years from Nato and bad year from Goldschmidt and it just collapsed.

Starting point is 00:17:09 Okay. So you need somebody. who can hit in these kind of situations. And that will take the burden on off thinking that you need five starters. You only give up two or runs a game. You know, it makes life a little bit easier when you can score five and six runs a game. So they're not going to pay for Corbyn Burns. So stop.

Starting point is 00:17:33 That's not going to happen. They're not going to probably pay for Jack Flaherty, who you've already had in just a year ago, everybody wanted him gone. And now you're seeing him succeed somewhere else and you're like, oh, bring him back. Cardiffith. You got to make up your mind on this stuff. All right.

Starting point is 00:17:49 And first off, if I'm Jack Flaherty, why would the hell would I want to come back to St. Louis? I'm prospering in Detroit and in L.A. Why would I go back to St. Louis? They're not going to pay you more than anybody else. So that's not going to happen. And it's not a Mo thing. It has nothing to do with John Moseilock when it comes to the payroll. That's not his choice.

Starting point is 00:18:13 I don't understand the thinking there either. That is ownership who comes up with the final number on the payroll. John Lohaac doesn't go, well, we're only going to spend this much this year. I decided that. No. The DeWitts above him. Make that decision each and every year of how much this club is going to spend. Mo doesn't set the payroll.

Starting point is 00:18:35 He gets a number. He gets a budget and then has to put the roster together under the number. Now, if he had $250 million to work with, he'd be using that money on players and spend that money. Now, would he choose wisely? Now, that is something that you can rip John Moseilac apart all day if you want to, because he hasn't made a lot of great decisions in recent memory. But you can't blame Mo for the DeWitts deciding not to spend more than they're spending right now, which is still a decent chunk of change.

Starting point is 00:19:10 We're not talking about they're spending 75, 80 million, and that's their payroll. They're still spending a lot. The guy doing the shopping has spent the money poorly on certain players on this team. So that you can make fun of Mo for all day, all night, and I'm fully endorsing that. All right, Team Big V says, I like all the players, this article suggested Rooker and Lowe are my favorites of the bunch. Gressopho Thompson and Roby are the only young arms I would consider trading, and I'm not real crazy about giving up Robe. Well, it's hard to judge on what Tocoa Robi is, you know, because he keeps getting hurt. We can't seem to keep him healthy.

Starting point is 00:19:47 Ten starts this year, two and three, six point eight seven ERA. Gricepho, we've seen a little bit of. He's had some success at the major league level. Obviously, he's had some decent success in the minor league. Zach Thompson, who you bring up kind of a forgotten man in this organization has been inconsistent. Still only 26 years old through five shutout headings this past Sunday, struck out nine, former first rounder. It's like you see glimpses of him.

Starting point is 00:20:12 And you're like, ooh, this guy could be nasty. And then something happens. And then he gets hammered. So the potential certainly exists. We've seen it. I am curious what they plan on doing with him. Moving forward, he's been a starter at Memphis. That's the role they've had him in.

Starting point is 00:20:30 So I assume they'll continue with that. But he's another name that may be throw into the hat coming up in spring training next year if they move on from not just Lynn and Gibson, But as some of the people have asked, you know, are they going to move on for Matt? Are they going to move on from Michaelis? You know, a lot of people would like to see that. And I'm okay with that, too. I just don't know how the cartels are going to approach that when they owe them so much money.

Starting point is 00:20:52 I mean, how are they going to, are they really going to eat $22 million of the $30 million that they owe these two guys for next year? I find that hard to believe. I find that hard to believe. So I wouldn't get my hopes up that Stephen Matt's and Miles Michaelis will not be around next spring, competing for a spot in rotation. George, another everydayer who usually has a lot of negative things to say, says that the problem with trying to make trades is you first must have players another team would want.

Starting point is 00:21:22 In order to get the kind of player or players that would help the Cardinals, it would mean giving up a player or players the fans would want them to keep. For example, you're not going to get a quality pitcher for Jose for me. Of course not. That's, yes, I agree with you completely there, George. The thing about trade talks, is this a good. This is just speculation. This is us having fun. This is us having a discussion throwing out names like Brent Rooker and stuff. How realistic is it? I don't know for for Brent Rooker. The other names, they're not too far off, but they're just not the impact bats that I'm hoping that the Cardinals would go after if they were to make a deal. But, you know, when you think about being willing to give up stuff to get stuff, it always takes me back to the Marcello Zuna trade with the Marlins, you know, and how the Cardinals, they were desperate for a bat. They wanted an impact. bat for their lineup. They needed to add a thumper. They go out and get Marcelo Zuna,

Starting point is 00:22:13 who was coming off that incredible year with the Marlins where he hit 312, 37 bombs, 12, 124 RBIs. Like, that was the impact bat. That was when the Marlins were getting rid of everybody. They were getting rid of, pardon me while I moved my chair. My chair is messed up and it keeps sinking on me all the time. I need to get a new one. Anyway, they were getting rid of Stanton. Cardinals tried to get him, didn't want to come to St. Louis. So he ends up going to the Yankees. They asked about Yelich and the Marlins weren't willing to move him at that time. So they landed on Marcelo Zuna. And to get him, they gave up Sandy Alcantra and Zach Gallin. And I don't recall. And I remember the day this trade happened. I was in my kitchen listening to

Starting point is 00:22:54 the radio when it all broke. And I do not recall many people being all that upset about that move. I really don't. Nobody seemed all that mad. They were like, dude, hell yeah. You got this silver slugger guy. What a gold glove, which we still have no idea how he did that. And here he is. He's going to be in the middle of our lineup now. Now we got a dude. We got a legit cleanup guy who's ready to roll for the Cardinals. And it cost you guys who were not even a thought for the roster at that point.

Starting point is 00:23:26 Like they weren't even really on the team. You would seen Al Contra came up for like a cup of coffee. But it wasn't like these were the top five prospects in their system at the time. And so people weren't all upset about it. You were like, yes, Ozuna. And then a couple of years later, Ozuna washes out in St. Louis, doesn't live up to those expectations.

Starting point is 00:23:49 And Alcantra and Galen take off and become stars for the Marlins and the Diamondbacks. The Cardinals failed to win anything with Ozuna, partially because when you go back and look at those rosters, they are disgusting, by the way. I mean, it was Marcelo Zuna surrounded by Jose Martinez, Jed, Jerko, Dexter Fowler, it was Colton Wong, Paul DeYoung. I mean, we're not talking about a lot of superstar hitters.

Starting point is 00:24:18 That first year he came back was that year where Matt Carpenter ate a bunch of salsa and went bonkers out of nowhere, had that huge year. But the rest of the line, it was pretty gross, to be honest with you. The pitching was the strong spot that first year they got him. So not surrounded by a great lineup. OZuna doesn't live up to expectations. He's done quite well since going to Atlanta after leaving St. Louis. They've had more talent to surround him, and he's thrived in their lineups. But the point was that the Mo gets creed for that deal.

Starting point is 00:24:49 And I'm not sticking up for Mo. I'm just saying that sometimes trades don't work. It is a risk every single time. The Cardinals have won plenty of them over the years. We have been very spoiled with amazing trades. Walt Jockety obviously used to take other teams to the cleaners all the time. Arnato and Goldie. You have to say those are the big ones recently where has fallen in favor of the Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:25:13 Now, I get that they've aged now, but you enjoyed those first few years together. Sadly, the Cardinals weren't able to do anything in the playoffs to show how much those trades really impacted the team and were able to do anything. You know, that was the sucky part about it. So, I don't know. It's a risk. It's always going to be a risk. And sometimes things aren't going to work out. That's just how it is when it comes to making moves and making trades.

Starting point is 00:25:41 So now when they go out and spend free agent money on guys who don't pan out, that's where the real problem has been for the Cardinals and John Mosey. Like it hasn't so much been that they made a ton of just brutal trades. I know people are upset about the Tommy Edmund right now. And you can feel that way. You can completely feel that way if that's what you want to do. But they were trying to improve something. they weren't sure about Edmunds health.

Starting point is 00:26:07 They were trying to improve the pitching rotation and get a guy with Eric Fetty, not only for this year, but for next year as well. This was more mindset about two years. But it's just a risk. It's a risk. And I get it. Again, I'm not sticking up for John Mosaic. I'm just saying, you don't always win the trades.

Starting point is 00:26:26 And that's just the way things go. All right. Thank you for all the comments. Keep them coming. I appreciate your guys as opinions, your thoughts, the good, the bad. Well done. Well done, everybody. Keep them going. Keep them going. Preview of tonight's game. We're going to get to that. Plus, we're going to look at the standings because the car knows mathematically. You eliminated from one thing,

Starting point is 00:26:47 still alive and one thing, but we all know how this is probably going to shake out. And some bad news about Wilson Contreras, that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. You've heard us talk about Fandul, America's number one sports book. Well, we have got something a little different for you. now through September 22nd, all fandal customers can bet $5. That's right, $5. And you get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. If you are an NFL fan, I'm telling you it's NFL Sunday ticket. It will change your game day experience Sundays.

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Starting point is 00:28:11 So visit fando.com slash lockdown to download America's number one sports book. Thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals your first listen today. Now go check out the Lockdown MLB podcast hosted by Sully, who has got it all covered every single day. You can find a link to Lockdown MLB in the description so you don't have to search for anything. It's part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. So bad news for Wilson Contreras. Sad. The injury marred season is officially over for Wilson Contreras. Fractured the middle finger on his right hand back on August 24th when he got hit by a pitch.

Starting point is 00:28:50 Underwent an evaluation on Monday, and it's been determined that he needs at least two more weeks of healing before resuming baseball duties, which means the season's over. It's done. And it's a bummer. Contreras was limited to just 84 games after getting hit by J.D. Martinez's swinging. bat, which fractured that left forearm on May 7th and missed 44 games there. Then he gets hit up and in from Pablo Lopez last month that resulted in the finger fracture that has cost him the past 20 games. It's going to cost him the rest of the year. It's just been a bummer of a season for Willie who, you know, wasn't having a bad year by any means.

Starting point is 00:29:27 Let's pull up his stats real quick. You know, if there was a guy that was actually doing his job to play this year and it wasn't a Boy, it was Wilson Contreras. Here we go. This year, 262, 15 home runs, 36 RBIs, OPS plus 136. I mean, him being gone as long as he's been, that's a huge piece of this Cardinals lineup. What would it be like to have had Wilson in there the whole year? Probably a lot better than we got. So let's get him healed. Let's get him back for next year. No need to push him to get him back this year. Mathematically, Cardinals got eliminated from the NL Central yesterday. The team is now seven back in the wild card. Seventy-five and 75. I'm just, I've said 84 wins

Starting point is 00:30:19 at the beginning of the year. They're not going to get there, but we're just hoping that they finish at least 500 and don't have a losing season. That's what we're pulling for right now. Mets and Braves fighting for that last spot in the NL. Diamondbacks trying to hang on. They've lost six of their last 10. They're still in the second spot, but just a game up on the Mets. And 2-1 Atlanta with the Padres in that top wild card spot under former Cardinal manager Mike Schilt, which I know makes a lot of people happy because we love Schiltie, but it also pisses everybody off because they're like, he should still be our manager.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And it's hard for me to disagree with you, okay? But that was something internally that happened. And I'm sure if everybody could go back and redo it, they wouldn't have done it the way things happen, but it's where we are. It's where we are. Over in the American League, the Yankees Guardians and the Astros area division leaders, the Wild Card, it's got the Orioles, the Twins. And then there's the Detroit Tigers, man. They've come to life and are one and a half back of Minnesota for that third spot. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It's incredible that the Detroit Tigers, after trading away, Jack Flaherty, have gotten better. They're now right. Right.

Starting point is 00:31:34 right there knocking on the door of that third wild card spot. It's, it's amazing. The Mariners are two back. The Red Sox are four back. But keep an eye on those tigers. That would be hilarious. If they're able to sneak in, I'll still be pulling for the Royals, are basically our brother from another mother over there in Kansas City on the other side of Missouri.

Starting point is 00:31:53 So I'll be pulling for them. And then in the, uh, and out if the, if it's, you know, the colonels are not going to make it. Um, I'm pulling for Mike Schill. I'm going to pull for Mike Schill. So I'm root for those guys now, and hopefully that's not the kiss of death for them. Tonight's pitching matchups. You've got Lance Lynn making a second start since coming off the I-L.

Starting point is 00:32:13 It's another left-hander on the mound tonight for the Pirates, though. Bailey Falter, Cardinals hitting just 230 against lefties this year, 25th in the league. It's been an issue. You know it. I know it. However, they did beat Falter earlier this year. Back in June, they scored three runs on eight hits against them in four innings, went on to win that game.

Starting point is 00:32:31 I think it was four to two. So it's not like they haven't had success against them. And hopefully they can continue that. He's 8 and 7, 4.20 ERA so far this year. First pitch, 645 St. Louis time. Also, before things get started game-wise, the team is going to be honoring Big City Matt Adams in a pregame ceremony. He announced his retirement.

Starting point is 00:32:51 And, you know, they're going to say thank you to Matt Adams. I mean, who will not remember that home runoff of Clayton Kirschaw in the Dodgers in the playoffs? What a moment that was back when Carlin. Cardinal baseball. Oh, it was so much fun back then, wasn't it? Thanks for making Locktown Cardinals, your first listen every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter, X, and at L.O. underscore Cardinals and at J.D. Sports Radio, like, subscribe on YouTube, and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason.

Starting point is 00:33:22 We'll see you next time on Locktime Cardinals.

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