Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinal's Offense Continues To Head In The Right Direction

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Cardinals knock off the Orioles on Monday - Sonny Gray/Oli Marmol Relationship - Michael Siani's Huge Night - Power Rankings - Tuesday Night Preview Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTube Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Ibotta Right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code LOCKEDONMLB when you download the app. Yahoo Finance For comprehensive financial news and analysis, visit the brand behind every great investor, YahooFinance.com. LinkedIn Right now, you can try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDON. Policygenius Check life insurance off your to do list in no time with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/lockedonmlb to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. PrizePicks Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay Motors From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. FanDuel FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The communication and the trust among the coaches and the players was evident on Monday in the Cardinals' big win over the Baltimore Oriole. 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 in a lifetime Cardinals, and I'm your host for Locked-on Cardinals, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at Judy Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube.

Stop by, like, subscribe, comment, hit the notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball. All of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Prize Picks, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. go to prizefix.com slash locked on MLB. Use the code all overcase, locked on MLB for your first deposit match, up to $100. So the Baltimore Orioles, we know they are good. They're one of the best teams in baseball.

They were 29 and 15 coming into last night's game. And for good reason, they've got talent everywhere, littered all over the field so much that the number one prospect in baseball, Matt Holiday, Sun Jackson holiday, is not on this team right now. isn't really needed either. They brought him up for a bit. He struggled mightily. I think he was like two for 34 or something like that. It was really, really bad.

And they sent him back down. He's doing fine at AAA. But when you look at their team, they don't need them. They're okay without them. They've got plenty of offense. They lead the major leagues in home runs. They're sixth in OPS.

They've got pitching. Sixth in ERA, fourth in wharf, fourth and batting average against. The defense is really good. You know, and it took years of being a terrible. team, a terrible team to finally build their team up into this powerhouse that it has become. Now, they haven't won anything yet. Okay, let's not just hand the trophy over to them, but they've got a very, very good team. I think a lot of organizations in Major League Baseball are jealous at what the Baltimore Orioles

have been able to put together. I know as a Cardinals fan, you know, I would love to see a farm system like that for the Cardinals. You know, the Cardinals got a couple of pieces from them and Cesar Prieto and Drew Rom and Showalter. So they did take a little bite out of what the Orioles have built. But on Monday, the Cardinals, that's right, your fourth place, St. Louis Cardinals were the ones who came out on top. And it had a lot to do with Sunny Gray. Now, Sunny Gray, we know, brought in to be the ace of this pitching staff, brought in to be the man to set the tone.

And on Monday night, he did all of that. He did all of that and then some against these mighty Orioles. He had, he had him hitless for five innings, was just moving right through him, carving him up, struck out six, a bunch of ground balls. I mean, he was dominating this Orioles lineup. And during this time, the Cardinals were able to take a five to nothing lead. So Sonny and the boys were sitting there comfortably. Although, if you do remember, Sunny had a five run lead against the angels that evaporated

in his last outing. but things ended up getting hairy in the sixth inning. When the Cardinals defense, which has been outstanding, I'm not here to bash the defense by any means, because other than what happened in the sixth inning, this defense was awesome in this game on Monday. But they let Sunny down on back-to-back plays. First setter, Sedge, Codick Mullen pops on into shallow left,

and it just kept carrying and carrying and floating into left field. The Mason went kept drifting out there, and the ball ends up going off his glove and falls in shallow left field. it was ruled an error on Mason, although if it was me, I probably would have, I probably would have gave him a hit, but I don't know if it had to do with the fact that it was still a no hitter going on or not, but that's a tough error. But anyway, clearly Donovan or Siani should have called Mason went off on that play. They were both there.

And when you saw the fall fall, you saw both of their reactions like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Simple play should have been made, but you got to move on from that, right? It happens. then your next sitter on the very next pitch, in fact. Jorge Mateo, he rips one right at Mason Win at shortstop. This is a perfect double play ball. And it handcuffs Mason Wynn, boots it.

Now you got two on, nobody out, back to back errors on Mason win. Bad spot to be against a good team, right? You know, the good teams like the Orioles, you give them an inch and they're going to burn you. And that's exactly what happens. The reigning A.L rookie of the year, Gunner Henderson comes up next as a tough at bat against Sunny Gray ends up ripping a three-run shot to center field for the O's first hit of the game, their first runs of the ball game. And all of a sudden, what looked like might be a little bit of a laugher for the Cardinals for Rub 5-0. Now you're looking at a 5-3 ball game, and now things are

a little bit tight because you know how good that Baltimore team is. The pitch that Henderson hit was a sweeper, one of Sonny's best pitches, one of the pitches that's made him. an elite pitcher in the major leagues. And in fact, according to John Denton at MLB.com, he hadn't given up a home run on that particular pitch, on the sweeper since 2022. We entered Monday having thrown a hundred of them without giving up an extra base hit through 578 of those in 2020

and allowed just four extra base hits. None of them home runs, making it the game's most effective pitch of that season per baseball Savant. So this is not normal. But it's another home run given up by Sunny Gray, who continues to have a little bit of trouble with the long ball in his last couple of games. I'm not like, it's not this alarming rate where you're just like, oh, my God, he's terrible. He's like on a Lance Lynn projection from last year.

It's nothing like that. But it's still something to keep an eye on considering the Cardinals pitching staff continues to give up home runs, a lot of them. So far this season, Sunny Gray, who only gave up eight last year, is getting close to already matching that here. and we are in the back end of May. So long season to go. So back to the game on Monday, like the old Energizer Bunny, you know, the inning just kept going and going and going.

He gets Adley Rushman to fly out after a tough eight pitch at bat. Then you get a single to center field. Then an end field single where Nato did everything he could to try to get the runner at first. And now the O's are threatening to grab the lead. You've got the tying runs on base. You've got the go ahead run at home plate. He gets Anthony Santander to fly out on a six pitch battle.

And that's when, Sonny made the motion that everybody saw on camera that he was like, if you're watching me on YouTube, he kind of did this with his glove, like, come and get me because he was cooked. And I know some fear that Sunny was injured at that point. I didn't think that at all. I'd think he was just like, I'm exhausted, dude. I mean, he was profusely sweating. I mean, it was a tough inning for Sunny, 31 pitches, a lot of high leverage and tough.

at Bats. It was a warm night at Bush Stadium. It was sticky out there. And it just, it just did Sunny Inn, you know, he had everything going for him, rolling into that sixth inning. And then a lot of things happened. And Chip Kerry and Brad Thompson even pointed out on the telecast, the amount of armside misses that the gray had going on there where you could see the fatigue was setting in. And instead, and give credit to Sunny Gray on this, instead of trying to gut his way through it. which a lot of people would have done, right? One final batter to get through six innings.

I could do it for my team. I can do it. Graded the smart thing. He knew his limits. He knew what was going on with his body, with his arm, how he was feeling, the fatigue that was setting in. He'd given everything he'd had.

And the smart play was to let a fresher arm come in and try to get him out of the inning. And that's what they did. After the game, Gray said as much as I want to be like, oh, Oh man, I'm tough. I just thought leaving the game was the right thing to do.

I was just kind of saying to Marmel, hey, I've got nothing left. And it takes a big man to admit that. The competitor inside any athlete sometimes isn't the smartest voice to listen to it. In that particular moment, Sunny sided with the side of caution. And it was what was better for the team. And it proved out to be the right move. because Jojo Romero comes in next and finishes the inning off. And it really speaks to the relationship.

And I think fans are going to respect this, even the ones that aren't so happy with Ali, that it speaks to the relationship that Ali has built with Sunny Gray in a very short time in just a couple of months and a relationship that continues to develop. And I'm guessing he's having a similar type of relationship building process going on with other guys in the clubhouse. I mean, much to the chagrin again of the folks who want Ollie fired and want him out of here.

These players like him and they trust him. You've never heard anything different from anyone so far this season. And Sonny spoke on this too, saying that's kind of the relationship that's being developed and I was just being honest. I know that Ali has given me some leeway in the last game and I can honestly tell him that I felt good in those situations. And I can honestly say that I hit a wall there in the middle of that Santander at bat. then after the abat was done, I was just being honest. And Ali clearly trusts his guys to give him an honest opinion on how they're feeling and what they're doing out there on the field.

So he's going to give his boys the benefit of the doubt. Even when they're wrong, he's going to stick up for him and give them the benefit of the doubt. Remember the learning moment not too long ago. Yvonne Herrera earlier, you know, he hits the double. Runners coming around third to score. and Herrera gets gunned out at third base with two out ending the inning. And you saw Ali pull him aside and go, hey, what were you seeing there? Why were you getting thrown out at third when there's two outs already?

You know, that's a big no-no in the game of baseball. And he got an honest answer from Yvonne Herrera, who said I was just trying to make sure that the run scored. I wanted to make sure it got in because that was the tying run at that point. And Ollie was like, okay, I get it. I see it. It's a learning moment. maybe don't do that next time, but they communicated well, they moved on. And in this situation, he trusted Sunny Gray, which he should to tell him how he felt.

Talked about it after the game, saying there's a lot of trust there. He's as direct as anybody. It makes things easier when they are good self-evaluators. And they're aware of the situation and communicate clearly. It goes both ways with us. And that's the kind of guys you need. You need honest guys out there. You know, Sunny Gray's not a quitter because he wanted to come out of that.

game, he was doing what was best for the team in that situation because he didn't think he had enough left to go get that guy and he didn't want to give up the lead. You know, it was too important. He knew how big this game was for the team. And it's just another sign that things are headed in the right direction with this team mentally, physically, you know, you're starting to see things mesh a little bit. Nothing's perfect. I'm not saying all of a sudden they're on the run and they're going to be making a push for the

NL Central leader or anything anytime soon. I'm just saying you're starting. to see some good things about a team that is starting to come together and play well together, enjoy their time on the baseball field together. Like you can just sense it. You can just see it in the way they're going about their business. And it's nice. It sure makes games a whole lot more fun to watch, doesn't it?

Especially, you know, because they're winning, but even because the games are more competitive and they're at bats are more competitive, you know, it's not like just this dull offense that's just got nothing ever. Like these games have been fun to watch. And, you know, it doesn't hurt when you're getting production from the bottom of the lineup, too. The bottom half of the order was huge last night, specifically Michael Siami. I want to talk about him because he had a monster night. So we'll get into that next here on Locked on Cardinals.

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Let LinkedIn Sales Navigator help you sell like a superstar today. Just go to LinkedIn.com slash locked on and get started today. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day? Got to turn the volume down because I keep shouting at each other. Well, stop watching it. Make the switch to Lockdown Sports Today. Free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. It's now streaming on 24-7 on YouTube and the free Amazon Fire TV channels app.

It's part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. Remember, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals hometown broadcast. We've got a long way to go on this homestand with Sirius. XM, just download the SXM map and search the word cardinals. And thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals, your first listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on TwitterX anytime you want feedback. Always welcome and encouraged. I would love to get your thoughts on Michael Siani because that's who we're talking about next.

And it brings me a lot of joy. You can see it in my face on YouTube. I love watching Michael Siani play. And one game normally does not change the outlook on a player's full body of work during the season. But as we venture into this back end of the month of May, I think a lot of people are starting to think a lot more highly of Cardinals center fielder Michael Siani. I'm going to throw some stats at you here in a little bit,

which might open your eyes a little more and be like, whoa, gosh, I did not realize who was that good. So for those who don't know, Michael Siani, a player that the Cardinals claimed off of waivers at the end of last year from the now last place Cincinnati Reds, who wish they had a centerfielder like Michael Cianney. on he playing for them right now. Last season, they grab him. And so far this year, he's become an everyday fixture with the Cardinals lineup, not something that we thought was going to happen.

If you go back to spring training, we weren't even sure if the guy was going to make the roster. It was actually kind of frowned upon that you would have to keep him considering the amount of talent that you already had built up in your outfield, enough talent where you felt comfortable enough to trade away Tyler O'Neill. Obviously, there were other reasons involved there, but you were like, well, I think we're going to be okay without Tyler O'Neill. You thought Siani would be somebody that would end up in Memphis. And, you know, you had Newpar and Edmund and Walker and Carlson, Burleson, Donovan as an outfielder as well. But things changed rather quickly before we got to spring training when we found out about

the severity of Tommy Edmund's wrist injury. He was going to be your starting center fielder, and then we found out how bad things were, and we weren't really sure when he was going to come back. We still don't know when he's going to come back. All we've heard is that he's making progress and things are headed in the right direction, but he's continuing to work. So we still don't have an answer on when he might be back, but then you had more injuries. Newbar gets hurt again.

Dylan Carlson gets hurt again, which propelled Siani back into this. opening day picture. But I don't think the cardals ever expected him to be a major piece of this everyday lineup by any means. I mean, if the cardals had that much faith in what Michael Ciani could bring to the table, they probably wouldn't have kept Victor Scott the second on the roster to start the year. They would have still slow played it with him like the plan was and just had him start in Memphis, but because they weren't really sure about Michael Ciani, they kept Victor Scott the second around to see if they could find lightning in a bottle. And it didn't work.

The scouting report said that Siani was a, you know, a very good defensive player, offers a lot of speed. He runs very well in the outfield and on the base pass, but offensively challenged. He didn't have a lot of upside on the offensive side of things. But for the Cardinals needs, which was just a fifth outfielder at the time, that was okay. And I was all on board with this.

I was like, no, this is a great guy to have because when you've got dudes in the outfield like, you know, like Jordan Walker, not to bash on him or anything, but when later in games, when you want better defense out there, if you have somebody who could come off the bench and be that guy and take over in that spot, it's nice to have that. So a good defensive substitute, a good guy for bunting situations. We've learned that this year. But when Victor Scott struggles at the play just became too ugly to ignore anymore,

you started to see Ali put in Michael Ciani more and more. And although the offense early on it wasn't all that special. he was at least participating like when the bun situations were coming up, you know, who was the guy that you wanted to see at the plate, Michael Ciani. And then watching him in center field was like, wow, I did not know he was this good. I mean, elite level center fielder talking about defense, and we know Cardo fans love defense, and I'm one of them. Out's above average right now for Michael Ciani, he's a plus seven,

which is third among all players. not just outfielders, all players in baseball. His plus six and runs prevented also tied for third in all of baseball. And then in center field exclusively, because he has played in the corners a few times, his plus five outs above average is tied for first, and his plus five and runs prevented in center field. He's all alone in first place. He's the best defensive center fielder in baseball.

And there was a time where I thought Dylan Carlson was more than capable of playing center field at a high enough level that it wouldn't matter. But you go see Michael Siani go for a ball and then you see Dylan Carlson do it. And boy, it is night and day. Ciani is just so smooth and he's quick and he gets these great jumps on the ball. Reminds me a lot of what Harrison Bader used to do. He makes D.C. look like he's running a quicksand out there. Like I don't really want to see Dylan Carlson in center field anymore after how we've seen Michael

Ciani perform out there. We said at that beginning of the season start, that any offense that you get from Michael Ciani added bonus. Okay, that's not what he's in this game for. Added bonus if you get something from him. But it's hard to remove him from the lineup. You know, the offense was, it was, you know, so bad for a while there that they kind of were like, do we got to put Dylan Carlson in there to see if we can get any offense. And Dylan wasn't delivering either. So, they went back to Siani and we're like, look, this guy's playing elite level in center field. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to take him out anymore because when you have a pitching staff that doesn't have as much swing and miss as a lot of other teams, you need that kind of player running things down in the outfield. And just about every game, if you've been watching, he makes some sort of running catch or a sliding play that saves a run or prevents a big inning from getting out of control.

He's been huge out there. And then on Monday, he's just a big reason why the Cardinals were able to jump out to that five to nothing lead. He was the main reason. You know, the Cardinals go up one to nothing on, guess what? A two-out RBI by Michael Ciani in the second inning. That scores Gorman, who had walked and stole second base. Cardinals had four stolen bases on Monday. It was awesome.

Then in the fourth inning, Burleson and Herrera lead off with singles, Gorman whiffs, which brings up Mason Wend, who rips an RBI double to make it two to nothing. Then Siani steps in. He falls behind 02. should have been punched out on the O2, the pitch after the O2 count. That was a strike. It was, like not even close. How the home plate umpire missed that I don't know,

major blown call by him. Fortunately for the Cardinals, it gave Siani some extra life because on the two to pitch, he rips one, just rips one, a four seamer inside part of the plate, into the Cardinals bullpen, three run shot, blows things open, five to nothing and the Cardinals are off and running.

Siani's first Major League home run, 103 off the bat. And that swing tripled his RBI total on the year. He only had two coming into the game. Now I've got six after yesterday's game. According to John Denton, Siani plans to give the home run ball to his parents,

Ralph and Kristen, who they will see next week when the Cardinals have to play in Philadelphia, which is where they live. Siani now hitting 3.41 in the month of May. Pretty awesome. pretty awesome. The Cardinals have been one of the worst power hitting teams in the league, and technically they still are, but they now have home runs in each of their last eight games

that are up to 39 on the year, which I know doesn't sound great. But in the last 15 days, they've hit 16 dingers, which is fourth most in the league over that time. Some other notables on the offensive side last night. You also had Alec Berluson, going two for three, had a walk. He's now hitting 301 on the season. Alec Berluson out of nowhere. surprising a lot of people. I'm not hearing so much Burleson hate online anymore. Mason Wynn, two for four, two RBIs. I believe I heard 11 game hitting streak for Mason Wend. You love that. Also heard that his jersey sales are tops among the new city connects. The Cardinals also drew seven walks in this game. You got two for new two for Herrera.

Even if they're not getting hits, at least you're getting on base, which is what we love about Lars Newbar. If he goes one for four in a game, big whoop, because he usually has a walk or two on top of that. Normally with Goldie and Aronado are a combined 0 for eight, this offense would just suck. Like they would just, they would nothing. You would get nothing because they didn't do anything. Nobody would do anything. But you're starting to see other guys in this lineup begin to step up and when other guys don't come through. When it's not on Nato and Goldie and Gorman, when they're not coming through, other people are doing it. And that's what good teams do. Good teams don't just rely on two to three guys to where the burden of the entire all. And

offense every single night. And you're seeing the confidence continue to rise in these other guys and in the team. And it's leading to better at bats. You're seeing more competitive games, more competitive at bats, as I mentioned earlier. And the big thing is more wins. The Cardinals have not won six of their last eight. They're six games back. First place, Milwaukee, two and a half back in the NL wild card. And you're starting to see the belief at Bush Stadium. Like, and I realize that, you know, with school being out and stuff that people are starting to start. are going to go to games more. But when they're winning, people really want to be there. And you saw it last night. It was a fun, festive crowd who I know a lot of people wanted to see the Orioles because they're a great team. But at the same time, their Cardinals are starting to play some pretty good baseball. So it's fun to watch.

It feels more like St. Louis Cardinal baseball again. So we'll take a look at the new power ranking, see if those moved at all. And we'll preview tonight's game next on Locked on Cardinals. Baseball season is in full swing, so don't miss your chance to add your favorite players from the diamond and your prize picks entries, whether it's strikeouts, RBIs, or first-ditting runs, take your pick of more or less and add them to your price picks entry today.

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Garrett Crochet against the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, they've got him down for more or less than five strikeouts right now, for Garrett Crochet. Nine of his 10 starts this year, he has either reached that mark or had more than five strikeouts in a game. And I know the Blue Jays offense is pretty good, but Crochet, he gets strikeouts, a lot of strikeouts. So that is my pick for tonight.

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In the Free Fire TV channels app, Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day. With the local experts of Lockdown Plus, we've got our national shows covering every league. You can find Locked on Sports Today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. So the new power rankings are out. So let's put that up. into the screen there for you on you too.

There you go. And for my audio people, here's what the top five looks like right now. Coming in at number one, best record in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies. Great team. I was asked by somebody the other day, who's my pick to win in the national league? Because a lot of people are still on board with the Dodgers and the Braves. And I'm like Philly, man, because when you get the pitching outside of Nola and Wheeler and you've still got two guys that are just lighting it up, that's dangerous. That's dangerous with that Philly lineup. Dodgers come in at number two.

Then the Yankees who just had their seven game winning streak snapped on Monday. Then it's the Orioles and then the Braves. Now your bottom five of things, you've got the Oakland A's in at number 26. Then the Rockies who had just one seven in a row, but have now lost three straight, coming in at number 27. Then it's the Angels who the Cardinals just took two of three from and the Marlins. And then the White Sox, where the Cardinals lost two of three, two, which was kind of a stain on the

way things were going at the time. As for the Cardinals themselves, they've scooped up to number 23 on the list. So slowly but surely kind of making their way up a little bit. They're now one spot ahead of the Reds who the Cardinals will see next week, beginning on Memorial Day in Cincinnati. The NL Central leading Brewers land at number seven on the rankings. The Cubs, who the Cardals will see a Bush this weekend for the first time. They're coming in at number nine. And then you've got the pirates who have been rejuvenated a little bit by the. By the the call-up of top pitching prospect, Paul Skeens, who was amazing in his last start. They're at number 21 on the power rankings right now.

So that's how it's all shaking out. Like I said, Cardinals right where they should be right now, even though they're playing better, but they're going to have to sustain the winning for a little bit long and before they even think about jumping into the top 20 on the power rankings. As far as tonight, the Cardinals will send Lance Lynn to the mound. He's got one win on the season and nine starts. hasn't really been all that effective recently, which is not so great. When you consider that Stephen Mats is out, so we're having some trouble with that number five spot anyway.

And then one of the guys that you kind of were relying on to be better than this is not doing quite so well. Kind of makes things rough, you know, his last five starts. O and two, 5.84 ERA, opponents are hitting 299 against them. He's walked 13 hitters and he's thrown only 24 and two thirds. in those five starts, so a little bit less than five innings per game, you know, as far as stats, but he's usually pretty much at the five inning mark and then it's over for Lance Lynn. In fact, he's only made it past five innings in one start so far this season when he went seven innings against the Oakland days, which, by the way, is the only game that he has picked up

a W in so far this year. We know the Orioles can hit the ball a long way. They like to hit home runs and they're good at it. So Lance Lynn going up against this offense a little bit scary, thought to think about when it comes to previewing tonight's game. But, you know, we'll see what happens. The Orioles are going to counter with Kyle Braddish, who so far has only made three starts on the season, hasn't picked up a win yet, but he's been pretty good in those starts.

But he's a guy that doesn't go very far in games either, at least so far this year. And, you know, the Orioles bullpen got used a little bit on Monday night. So maybe that'll fall in favor of the Cardinals. We'll see what happens. First pitch is going to be at 645 from, Bush Stadium. I hope we get another, a big crowd out there tonight. That was fun to see, man, seeing people standing up and clapping and enjoying Cardinals baseball the way we normally do.

It was good to see. It was made me happy. All right, hopefully it made you happy to. Thanks for making a lockdown Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter X at L.O. underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube. We continue to make that push for 10,000 subscribers. We'd love to have you on board if you're not already because you're the best fan. and baseball and I'll see you next time on locked on cardinals