Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals Make Another Bone Headed Decision In Loss To The Brewers

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

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The St. Louis Cardinals get throttled by the Brewers on Labor Day, and one play in particular had me this close, this close, to throwing my remote at the television. 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. Haffern 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. Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio.

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Visit fandle.com to get started. So the Cardinals got railroaded by the Brewers on Monday. day. Happy Labor Day, by the way, to everyone. I hope you enjoyed your day off. I had to work like 11 hours. No rest for the wicked, right? Not complaining, just pointing it out there. And after bashing 21 hits and scoring 14 runs against the Yankees on Sunday, the team got slowed down by Freddie Peralta and the Brewers. They end up losing on Monday 9 to 3. And I know you're not going to like to hear this. You really are. But this Brewer's team, man. I know people don't seem to have a ton of faith in them moving on into the playoffs, you know,

when you compare the names that are on the roster of the Brewers, and then you go look at the rosters of some of the bigger teams like, you know, the Dodgers, the Phillies and the Orioles, and so forth. You know, there's other teams with bigger names, bigger attractions. But this Brewer's team, they just do all the little things right. they just do. They are a pain in the butt to pitch to, especially when the op is giving them, you know, extra strikes, which was going on early on.

Although when you go back and look at the umpire score card for Monday's game, actually did a really good job. 95% consistency, I believe. 94% of his strikes were right. But a couple of pitches actually went against the Cardinals. Couple went against the Brewers, too. but yeah, that was tough in the first inning. But the Brewers, they've got one of the most athletic teams,

defensive teams in the league. You know, guys are just flying all around the outfield, the infield, they can get to everything. Got a solid pitching staff, nothing like spectacular where you're just like, oh my gosh, these guys can come in and just dominate you. But they don't get hit hard very often. Like, it's just a good team.

They're not flashy, just a very businesslike demeanor when I see them on the field, but they're not overly serious where they're not smiling and having a good time out there. But they've got a plan. They stick to it. And that plan is usually very successful. And they've had a really, really good year under first year manager Pat Murphy, who every time he hit, hold on, let me see if I want to review this. Like, I don't know, he just looks so grumpy.

He looks so grumpy in that dugout. but they're getting the job done, man. And I know it seems like I'm gushing over these guys. And it's really because I'm jealous. I am jealous of how simple they make the game look. The cardals don't make it look simple. The cardals make it look like it's the hardest thing to do ever, where the brewers are just kind of out there and they just do their thing.

They just don't make a lot of mistakes, hardly. I mean, nobody's perfect, right? But they just don't make a lot of mistakes and just ruin innings for their team offensively like the Cardinals did on Monday. Now, the play that just had me absolutely livid, absolutely livid, happened in the top of the fourth inning. Cardinals are down three to one at this point, so very much still in the game. You got runners on first and third.

You got two outs. Lars Dupar over at first, Brennan's over at third base, and you got Jordan Walker coming up to the plate. Now, Jordan Walker is coming off that historic five-for-five day. at Yankee Stadium. He's flying high, right? He's getting all the interviews. He's smiling a lot.

He's seeing the ball well, obviously. Feeling good about himself. He's kind of beaming with the confidence that you want him to have because you know he's a really good player. And he's going to be a great player one day, hopefully, if you let the guy do what he does, all right? If you let the guy hit. And now he's up to bat with a chance to do some damage.

He did strike out in his first at bat, so what? This is the learning process of the final month of the season for Jordan Walker Part D. It was good last year. I had to restart things this year. But now he's in a situation in this inning where he has a chance to come through for you. First at bat, it wasn't a bad at bat. Seven pitch at bat. Paralta went away, away, away, away.

Get used to it, Jordan. That's all they're going to do. They're going to throw you away until they figure out that you can handle that pitch, take it the opposite way, hit it the opposite way for power, kind of the same stuff they've been doing to Aronado. All right? This is the Brewer's plan against Jordan and probably will be the plan for every team that he sees consistently. But these are the moments where Jordan was kind of, he has the upper hand in this situation.

You know, the brewers don't want to load the bases and put more pressure on, their starter Freddie Peralta. And it's a two-two count at this point in the abat. Jordan has laid off the first two pitches that Peralta went away with. He swung at a fastball up, so I'm going to change up down and they got him for strikes on there. But the two pitches that they went away on, he laid off of it. Okay. Wasn't able to do that in the first abat.

He's like, all right, this is what we're seeing. Okay. So you can see him learning, right? He's in the abat and this is a good spree. But he's having a good battle with a very good pitcher. Freddie Peralta is the top pitcher in the Brewers rotation. And you got this 22-year-old kid who's just trying to learn the game and try to figure it out. Next pitch is a curveball.

It's down. Walker lays off of it. But what are the Cardinals decide to do? Nupar attempts to steal second. And Contreras, not our contraris, but they're contraris, William. clearly realizes what the Cardinals are getting ready, are doing right now. He does like this double clutch because he's keeping an eye on the guy over at third.

Throw goes through because Donovan doesn't break. So the throw goes through, Newt stops, Donovan breaks for home, and they throw them out by, I don't know, 10 feet, innings over.

What in the actual hell are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you trying to get tricky and steal a run against a superior defensive team. They are very good with a guy like Walker at the plate. Who could easily put one either over the wall or shoot a gap and tie the game up anyways? Would you pull, would Ollie and these guys pull that nonsense

if Nolan Aranaanaata was at the plate? Or Paul Goldschmidt or Wilson Contreras? No. No. They'd let him swing the bat. Why are you doing this with Jordan Walker? Do you have that little confidence in him, even though he just went five for five at Yankee Stadium,

that your best bet is to try to sneak in a run in a moment where he has a chance to have a moment, rise to the occasion for your team? But instead, you take the bat out of his hand and rely on the Brewers, not being able to execute a simple play that high school kids have to do that that's what you went with i was flabbergasted by it let him hit let him hit stop it win or lose with him and win and baker and scott swinging the bat don't get cute

with crap like that in that situation you want to do that with somebody who doesn't have who isn't 6-6, 250 pounds, and can mash and has mashed and is a former first round pick was one of your top-hitting prospects and all of baseball? You want to pull that crap with somebody like, you know, a Siani or somebody like that

or a Jose Vermeen or something. Go ahead. Why would you do that with Jordan Walker? It kills the inning. It kills your momentum. them. And then two batters later, because now the brewers are out of it and feeling good, two hitters later, Hoskins, pops a two-run dinger and essentially the game is over. Just atrocious, atrocious stuff, in my opinion.

And I didn't hear if anybody has asked Ali about it or it was a sign mix. I don't know, but I don't care either. It looked pretty planned to me. And I just think it's dumb. I think it's dumb baseball. I think it's dumb for your franchise. I think it's dumb for your roster. Like, I don't get it.

I don't understand it. This is not some scrub hitter up there. This is the guy that's supposed to be one of your three, four, five guys of the future. Could be next year. And that's what you do with Donovan and Newt Bar, not even like a Victor Scott or somebody who would win with like legit speed. Like you try to pull it off with Newton, Donnie? Like, I just, it upset me.

It upset me. All right, let's talk about Palante's start next. And how bad is this Riley O'Brien decision become? It has turned out just, we'll talk about it all next on Locked on Cardinals. With the season winding down, there are only so many home games left to catch your Cardinals in action. And game time is your authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball. That makes getting tickets faster and easier. And as you've noticed, we do have plenty of good seats available at Bush Stadium.

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which is available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. Andre Palante has seemingly carved out a spot for himself, not only in the rotation this year, obviously, because he's, you know, be getting plenty of starts, but also next season. It seems like the team's got some confidence in him. They obviously love what he's been doing, and he's been good. He's been really good since moving into the rotation full time, but there are days, there are just days where you don't have your good stuff.

It happens. It happens to every pitcher. It happens to some pitchers more than others. But for the most part, Andre Palante has been exactly what you wanted to see out of them and didn't have his best stuff on Monday. There's not much more I can tell you about that. I mean, he didn't get a lot of help early on in this game

in the first inning home plate umpire. Alfonso Marquez missed two pitches that were strikes. one on Jackson Shurio, then on Bowers, and that was the big one on Bowers, because it should have been the end of the inning. It wasn't. He ends up getting walked. Adamas three run home or right after, right? And in that bat with Adamas, he goes three and one. And this was kind of, this was something that weirded me out too. And I didn't understand it. He falls behind three and one. And legitimately does not try to fool Willie Adamus one. whatsoever. Four straight, four seam fastballs. And I read that actually in that a batty through eight straight fastballs, uh, I didn't notice that. I noticed that the next four were forcing fastballs.

And they were all like right in the exact same spot. Like if you were to break up the strike zone, it was right on that inside, low inside corridor, like that little area. And you, I mean, you just can't do that with a hitter that, you know, someone like Willie Adomas, who, to have it a career year is just crushing the ball five straight games now with home runs for willie adama's like he's on fire eventually he's going to hit that and hit it he did with that dinger to left field you know you're in a batting cage and the ball's always like right in the same spot it doesn't matter how hard they throw it eventually you'll figure it out because it's just right there and that's really all it was like there wasn't any two seamers that i noticed it all fours um We know walks will kill you.

You know this. I know this. The Cardinals pitching staff knows this. They're not trying to walk people. But when you fail to execute at the major league level, you know, you're going to get burned more times than not. Palante walks a career high five guys in the five innings that he pitches on Monday. You got the two that end up scoring on that three run home run by Adamas. Career high five guys, he allows the three run homer to Willie, then a two run homer to Reese Hoskins.

in the fourth inning. And that's not something normal for Palante either. And I know Milwaukee's, it's a hitter's ballpark, a ballpark, a ball flies out of there pretty easily. But he'd only allowed one home run in his past seven starts. So it's not like this is something that's been a problem for Andre Palante. That's why I'm not freaking out about this game. Some days you just don't have it.

Okay. It does happen. Fun stats from Rob Brains over at STL Sportspage.com, Adamas's home run is third. three run homer of the season, which ties the major league records set by King Griffey Jr. back in 1996. What? That's crazy, right? I know he's been doing good because he's on the fantasy team, but the Cardinals have hit just in comparison. Willie Adama's got 13 right now. The Cardinals, the whole roster has nine three run home runs this year. Only three coming since the All-Star break.

So situations like that, the brewers are coming through. Cardinals are not as far as the home runs go. They're not. Cardinals aren't usually hitting well with the recorders in scoring position either, despite recently doing better. The brewers on the season. And when we talk about comparisons of like, you know, how good the brewers are, look at their record,

look what they're doing and what the Cardinals are doing, the Brewers have actually only hit 10 more home runs than the Cardinals. 154 to 144. But 57 of the home runs have come with at least one runner in scoring position for Milwaukee. The Cardinals have only hit 25 with a runner in scoring position. They're getting a lot of solo shots, including the two home runs from Pedro Pahas on Monday. 81 of the Cardinals home runs have now come with nobody on base. Brewers, they just got that clutch gene.

and if there was any doubt about this game, it went out the window in the sixth inning, that's when where the Cardinals still within striking distance, mind you. It's a five and three ball game at this point. So it's still right there. We still still for the take. Still for the taking. Cardinals go to Riley O'Brien.

Again, he just pitched on Sunday. They want to go to them again in this one, which shocked me a little bit. I was shocked that they were going to go back-to-back games with O'Brien, considering he's coming off the injury. and considering he hasn't been all that good. Now, Sunday, he did throw technically a shutout inning. He didn't give up any runs.

There were his. They were Michaelis's runs. But at the same time, he allowed the two runners to come in. He didn't stop anything. So they bring O'Brien into this game for Palante. And he has one of the worst innings I've seen this year for a relief pitcher of the Cardals. lead off walk to Hoskins. Big no-no. We know that. Tough that bad by Sam Freilich, who ends up hitting a double. Credit to him,

good piece of hitting was inside and fouled off a lot of good pitches there. It was a battle. And then another five-pitch walk to the number nine hitter, the number nine hitter, Joey Ortiz, another big no-no. Like if there's a guy, you're going to throw it over the plate to, it's their number nine hitter. But no, walking five pitches. So we know that he doesn't have his good stuff. All right, he doesn't look all that good. Next batter, Bryce Terang, rips one over to first base.

And if it wasn't for a leaping stab by Goldschmidt, great play by Goldie. That would have been probably down in the corner. But at least you got it out, right? But its bases are still loaded. And that brings in rookie of the year candidate Jackson Shurio, who gets a slider up and over the plate and deposits it into left field for a grand slam makes it nine to three game set match hanging slider O'Brien to cap things off walks the next hitter contraris so he gets another one on before he gets Bowers to strike out and that's when Ali finally comes out and gets him they bring in Kyle Leahy

who gets Adamson strikes ends up getting all seven hitters that he faced like how he looked good but O'Brien's line two-thirds of an inning four runs two hits two hits two hits hits, three walks, one strikeout, one grand slam. After being on the IL most of the year, O'Brien has appeared now in five games total. This is counting that first game against the Dodgers when he got hurt. He's now allowed eight runs in four innings, has given up eight hits, has walked five,

has given up two home runs, has struck out six, his ERA is now at 18. ERA plus is 26. League average is 100, mind you. He has been terrible. In every sense of the work. There's no way to sugarcoat it.

Hey, six strikeouts. But you're getting your brains kicked in. You're walking people left and right. And it's causing even more pushback, not like there wasn't enough already, on the decision to let Sean Armstrong go. Who was pitching well for you? Who was doing his job?

And whom you traded Dylan Carlson for. And instead of Armstrong, you're getting this mess with Riley O'Brien, and Armstrong is now pitching for one of your biggest rivals, a team you're trying to catch in the wild card in the Chicago Cubs. You couldn't find any use for them. The team ahead of you who has been playing very, very well. I think they've won six in a row, something like that. I think that's where they were at.

But anyway, they're winning ball games. They're like, yes, we'll take Sean Armstrong. Thank you. Just more salt into the wound. That is the decision-making by this Cardinals, front office. And I know they want to see Riley O'Brien. They want to see if they got something in him for next year. I get it. But you're not totally out of this yet. And he's not helping. I frankly was surprised they brought him up at all. Like I thought they would just leave him down

to Memphis and let him finish out the year there. I thought that's what was going to happen. But they wanted to force the move. Sean Armstrong gets claimed by the Cubs. Hasn't pitched great for them and the two appearances he's had. But still, that would have been a more Sean Armstrong situation. And instead, you got O'Brien who can't find the zone and gets pumbled.

So the Brewers win at 9-3. Offensively, again, Pedro Pahas, it's two jacks, which was cool to see, you know, any offense you're going to get from him, and Ivan Herrera is nice as they tag team this catching position with Contreras out. Paul Goldschmidt, one hit, extended his streak with at least one double to five consecutive games,

the longest by a Cardinal since Matt Carpenter in 2017. Luka and Baker sack flying this one. He's now driven in a run in each of his last five games that he's appeared in. Love that for him. Keep him going. Keep him in the lineup. He's producing. He's producing.

Let him hit. But overall, not a great day offensively. And again, Freddie Peralta is a very good pitcher. So I'm not taking anything away from him. Tough day. Six hits, five walks. You were in the game. until the Grand Slam, until the Riley O'Brien massacre.

But offensively, there wasn't a whole lot going on. And when there was, they try trick plays to steal runs instead of letting one of their top prospects swing the back. Brilliant. All right. Stephen Mats gets the ball tonight in game two. We'll discuss it next on Lockdown Cartons. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandall, America's number one sports book.

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On Cardinals, your first listen today. Now go check out Locked-on MLB podcast prepared by the one and only so. He's going to get you all set up for the fall classic. You can find the link to Lockton MLB in the description. Part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. So for the first time since April 30th, Stephen Mats will be on a Major League mound tonight in pitching when he gets the knot against Aaron Savali. For the Brewers, the move was they want Matson. They're going to go to a six-man rotation.

and Sunny Gray got his game pushed back to Wednesday. What are we going to get for Matt's? I don't know. I don't know. Now, if memory serves correctly, I believe he usually, when he comes off, he usually looks pretty good. Am I wrong? I feel like he usually comes back and does pretty good,

whether it's in the bullpen or as a starter. Hopefully it looks good. Hopefully he stays healthy. You can keep the ball in the ballpark tonight. Matt's decision's got to be made next year. I mean, obviously he's got, he's done one more to year on his deal. heel and the Cardinals need to figure out what the hell they want to do with them.

Like who's going to be in this rotation next year? Is he going to be a bullpen guy? I don't know. But they're going to get a look at him tonight. And it's not an easy matchup. The Brewers are tough. Another pitcher looking to come back is Lance Lynn. Ali said that the club is still deciding on how to proceed with them.

Loud seven hits, Fivert runs two walks and three and two-thirds innings and a rehab start with Memphis on Sunday, which is not good. MLB.com's John Denton reported on Monday afternoon that the decision doesn't have to be made until next week with Stephen Matt's back. St. Louis is going to use the six starting pitchers. What do we need to see from Lance Lynn? What's the point of him right now? I want to see Michael McGreevy. I want to see Gordon Gricepo.

I want to see somebody who's going to actually be on this roster next year. I don't think Lance Lynn is. I appreciate who he is and what he's done for this club, and I'm sorry that he got hurt. But what is the point of sending him out to the mound to start again this year for the cardals? You've got six guys. Who are you taking out? Are you going to move mats to the ball? He sucks tonight, you're going to the bullpen with him.

Tell me you're not moving to Plante. So what are you doing? I just, I don't know. It's kind of a conundrum, if you will. So they'll figure it out. They'll probably make a decision we don't agree with. But I don't know. I'm just saying, Lance, maybe tell me your knee hurts a little bit more.

And we'll just, you know, we'll call it a year. We'll get you back up to the team and then the clubhouse and you can hang out. But maybe that's it for 2024 for you. So anyhow, enjoy the game tonight. Thanks for making a lot of Carlos your first listen every day. I'm sorry that it took a while to get this one out today. I had a busy, busy morning. So appreciate your patience on that.

If you haven't already, give me a follow on Twitter X at Hello underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube and help our channel in love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.