Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - COLLAPSE: Riley O'Brien and St. Louis Cardinals WATCH 4-0 Lead DISAPPEAR in Philly Heartbreaker

Starting point is 00:00:00 It was all going so smoothly until it wasn't. One of the worst losses, if not the worst loss of the season, sends the Cardinals home on a three-game losing street. You are locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jady Haffron. And on today's show, we had a monster day for two of the top young prospects at Springfield. what's going on with Mason when?

Starting point is 00:00:36 Why didn't we see him much over the weekend? But let's get into what will certainly go down as one of the worst losses in recent memory. And in the end could be the worst loss of the season on Sunday in Philly. And before we start this, I just want to say that if you were angry after this game, or maybe you broke something of value that, was in the vicinity of your TV, or maybe you broke your TV. I was right there with you. I was.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Luckily, for me, I was not in front of the television during the final inning. With the score four to nothing, heading to the bottom of the night, my wife and I decided, you know what, let's get out of the house, take the dog for a walk. Four to nothing. I'm like, we can do that. Normally I would wait until the game is over to do something like that. But here I was supremely confident that no matter what the Phillies cooked up in that ninth inning, there's no way Riley O'Brien is blowing a four-run lead.

Starting point is 00:01:50 And I couldn't have been more wrong. And he did it in spectacular fashion. The park is not far from where we live. So as we walked around, I got John Rooney and the boys and the earbuds. I hear the lead off double by Bryce Harper after being up 02, which is going to be a theme. And as soon as I heard that, I kind of turned to my wife and said, crap. But I didn't say crap.

Starting point is 00:02:22 I said the word that rhymes with spit. I just immediately got this bad feeling in my gut. And I don't know where it came from. I don't know why. it's almost like my body knew that spit was about to hit the fan and then I should prepare myself mentally and that it was a good reason that I was outside among nature instead of in front of the television with all sorts of valuables around me.

Starting point is 00:02:57 So we continue this walk at a pretty brisk pace and the next two badders fly out. Now I'm almost skipping as we go along. It is zippity dood in my head. I'm like, all right, he's cool, he's cool. How great is this after a tough loss on Friday? And then the blowout on Saturday, the Cardinals will have found a way to beat the Phillies

Starting point is 00:03:22 with one of the best left-handers in the league, one of the best pitchers in the league. That's matter left or right in Christopher Sanchez, which would have been the second time they beat the Phillies. during a Christopher Sanchez start. The bullpen wouldn't be overly taxed in this final day. Each guy got an inning. You get to come home with the momentum after what would be a six and five road trip

Starting point is 00:03:47 against the Cubs, Reds, and Phillies where you played 800 games in 700 days. What a success. At least you went on a good one. We say that a lot here, that lockdown cardinals. And on a good one, right? Two out. Price Harper is still on base. At second, O'Brien goes up O2 on JT Real Muto.

Starting point is 00:04:11 And I'm just waiting for John to say, and that's a Redbird winner. But instead, Real Muto, who out of nowhere just gets hot during this series, smokes a single to center on a sinker up in the zone. Not where Riley O'Brien wants to be with a sinker. You don't throw them up there. First and third, but still two out. All right, all right. Typical Riley O'Brien, right.

Starting point is 00:04:35 We've seen this over and over. Guys get on base against him. It is what it is. He figures it out in the end more times and not. Next batter. Probably the weakest hitter in the lineup as far as like, you know, because there's other guys that like aren't good hitters,

Starting point is 00:04:54 but have been doing damage against the Cardinals. We'll get to them. But Justin Crawford is now in the box. This is the guy, right? You can get this guy. No. Riley O'Brien randomly cannot throw strikes to Justin Crawford, of all people. Dude's got two home runs all year.

Starting point is 00:05:14 This is the one guy that you feel like if you just throw it down the middle, you can get this dude out. With the movement that Riley O'Brien's got on his sinker, it's not going to put one over the wall on you. Lay the thing in there, Riley, but he walks him on five pitches. And that's when I tweet out, seriously, why is it always like this? why does it always feel like they are fighting to the very end to close out games that under normal circumstances would be easy finishes?

Starting point is 00:05:48 I don't have stats to back it up. It just feels like that all the time. They never can just do it the easy way. So I'm still on this walk. My pace begins to slow down a little bit. Why I'm starting to notice some uneasiness in my demeanor? Tying Run is now at the plate in the form of former Cardinal Edmundo Sosa. awesome. Talked about the revenge game of Edmuno Sosa and other former Cardinals. And for whatever reason,

Starting point is 00:06:22 the Cardinals just suck at getting out guys he used to play for them. Edmuno Sosa has three hits in the month of August against people not named the St. Louis Cardinals. Coming to this at bat, he had five against just the Cardinals. And after going up, One, two in the count. Again, we're a strike away for finishing this bad boy off. Sosa hits a sweeper down the line and left field. Wasn't hit particularly hard. But for whatever reason, the Cardinals don't have Blaze Jordan,

Starting point is 00:07:01 who is not the swiftest of people. They don't have him playing no doubles defense. He's off the line for whatever reason. And it sneaks past his die. effort for a three-run double to make it four to three. Now I have completely stopped in my tracks on this walk. The walk has stopped. The dog's staring at me like, the hell's going on, man. Edmundo Sosa now has six hits against the Cardinals this month in August. He's a 220 hitter with an OPS plus under 70 and he's destroying them over and over and over.

Starting point is 00:07:47 What voodoo is this? The guy's hitting 545 with three doubles and seven RBIs against the Cardinals this year. What the fudge? Why can everyone else get this guy out except the Cardinals pitching staff? It drives me up a freaking wall. Riley O'Brien, next hitter, again goes up O2 to the next guy, Brian Dela Cruz, who hits one off his shoe tops. That's not a strike.

Starting point is 00:08:18 That's not a bad pitch. But he does it. And it goes through the hole between short and third. Sosa scores. We are tied. At this point, I just want to turn the game off of my phone. But listening to this train wreck continue as part of my job. So I leave it on.

Starting point is 00:08:42 I'm like, I'm like a cartoon. There's freaking smart. coming out of my ears at this point. Ali comes out, leaves Riley in the game. I don't know who was left in the pen. If anybody had anything left, he obviously knew that they're tied. They're going to have to put somebody in next inning.

Starting point is 00:09:00 I'm trucking Riley O'Brien out again. And he leaves him in against Kyle Schwerber. Now, you don't want to walk Schwerber. I get it. Because you would put Dela Cruz in a scoring position. I get it. But at the same time, Kyle Schwabber or Trey Turner, righty lefty or righty righty.

Starting point is 00:09:24 What would you rather screw around with? I'm going to choose Trey Turner. I'm sorry. And just like multiple batters before him, Riley O'Brien goes up O'2 on Schwaber. But he can't put him away. And on a two-two pitch, he leaves a sinker up in the top of the zone. Pretty much the same spot that he threw it to Real Muto earlier. and it happens.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Schwerber hits it to the next county. 459 feet away to center game over. Phillies win their ninth in a row. Erase a four-run deficit with two outs against the NL league leader in saves. You've got to be kidding me. Now, I had just bought a new phone a couple of weeks ago, had this been my old one, I don't think it would have survived. I probably would have win Ari Gold style from entourage and chucked that sucker into a tree,

Starting point is 00:10:25 into the grounds, to bits. People at the park probably thought I had Tourette's or something, similar to the Clark Griswold outburst in Christmas vacation with way more bad words, began to spew from my vocal cords. People had to be frightened around me. How did this happen?

Starting point is 00:10:51 He had them down to their last strike on four different occasions. four and we couldn't put them away. And maybe this is karma for the ridiculous one on Thursday in Cincinnati that the cardinal should not have won, but the dead. But oh my gosh. Like I am still in shock about it. Like going to sleep last night, I couldn't get the image of Schwerber out of my head. Riley O'Brien with his, oh my gosh, look, I can't believe this just happened.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Schwerber circling the bases without a helmet on. He took his helmet off. Like, what the hell just happened? According to MLB.com, the Cardinals have had 62 save opportunities this year and have 38 saves. So that is 24 blown saves on the season. 24. For eight innings, things were great.

Starting point is 00:11:59 They were wore. So we're going to calm down and talk about the stuff. that was not so horrible on Sunday. That's next on Locked on Cardinals. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales. Somehow none of them talk to each other.

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Starting point is 00:12:53 It's about having everyone working together towards the same goal. And it's true in sports just like it is in business. You know, the Cardinals, we know, are pulling in the same direction as part of this reboot. They're trying to rebuild the farm system at the expense of winning games at the Major league level for at least this year. We knew this was coming. It was a coordinated effort across the entire organization. And it's working.

Starting point is 00:13:20 The farm system is getting better. Great organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get O-D-O-D.com slash locked-on. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-com slash locked-on. Thanks for making a lockdown. Carlos first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:13:45 Sometimes you've got to find the good and the bad. And again, Sunday's game for eight innings was going great. Kyle Leahy was fantastic again. And it stinks that we are getting to the point where his innings are capped and they won't use him anymore. Well, he's not, you know, not like to an extent of a normal starter. And there's a lot of questions online. A lot of people are like, why is this a thing? what if we don't even play next year because of the

Starting point is 00:14:21 impending strike or lockout, whichever one it is. I forget. I think it's lock. But you still got to move forward as if you are going to have a 2027 season. They got four innings out of them on Sunday, zero runs, two hits, two walks, fourth case, lowers his ERA to 3.13 on the year. It's been outstanding. Make it 11 straight starts with giving up two runs or less. in the month of August, four starts, three runs, only 19 innings.

Starting point is 00:14:53 But we knew that this was the plan. And those of you who are in the comments section and are shocked that he was taken out early, clearly have not been paying attention. You're not an everyday area because if you were, you would know that this was coming up. This is how it was going to be. The whole season has been about the future. not 2026. Yeah, they're going to compete.

Starting point is 00:15:24 They're going to say things like that. And, yeah, we're going to try to win ball games. We're not here to lose. But in the end, the eyes of the organization are, are staring at what they consider to be the next competitive window, which to me always seem to be leaning towards 2028. I don't think they ever gave a date like, this is when it's happening because you can't really do that.

Starting point is 00:15:50 Now, for most of this season, excuse me, we've heard the phrase ahead of schedule regarding this team. They were not expected to be where they are now. 66 wins before September was not expected, but a lot of good things have happened. You've got Jordan Walker and Alec Berluson. They have emerged as the top RBI duo in Major League Baseball. J.J. Weatherholt, NL. Rookie of the Year candidate, some say is still the favorite.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Andre Palante, fourth in the Nell and wins with 12. Kyle Leahy, 3.13 ERA. If he was qualified because he doesn't have the innings to be qualified, that would be seventh best in the national league. Riley O'Brien, despite how everyone feels about him today, leads the NL and saves. This team has outperformed what many experts thought they would. And that should be applauded.

Starting point is 00:16:48 Well done, Ollie, to the staff, to the players. and it's it's a weird situation because you do want to compete for championships and getting to the playoffs and the Cardinals have been right on the cusp for a lot of the season of being in a playoff spot. But that wasn't part of the plan. They didn't expect it. And they're not going to derail what has been put in place already. what was set in motion before the season started, they're not going to just veer off from that

Starting point is 00:17:29 because of where they are. You know, we compete, we play hard, we learn, we grow, we build for the future, which is disappointing some fans, and I get it, but the writing has been on the wall this entire time. Hardly any money spent on free agents this offseason, paying veteran players to go away and play Ellis. elsewhere, a lot of money to play elsewhere, guys who are thriving in other spots.

Starting point is 00:17:59 Sunny Gray and Wilson Contreras are the heartbeat of the Boston Red Sox. Nolan Aronado has been a huge piece for the Arizona Diamondbacks. They've loved them. These guys have played very, very well for those teams, teams that are in the playoffs, selling at the trade deadline. And now you want them to just tear up the plan, burn it, because, Kyle Leahy and the Cardinals are four and a half back of a wild card spot? No.

Starting point is 00:18:37 Stop it. No. We all want to win, but winning and then sustaining that level of winning is the ultimate goal here. We don't want to be a flash in the pan that sneaks in and then has to scramble to get back on track next year. That's not a good plan. That's what other franchises do. Let them freak out and make bad decisions. The Cardinals are trying to get back to who the Cardinals have always been.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Sustainable winning. And if it sacrifices 2026, which again, they're just a 500 teams. Do you really think the Cardinals are going to win the World Series if they make the playoffs? I know. You don't have a chance if you don't get in. I get it. But really, realistically, come on. And again, for next year, like, as some of the comments have mentioned, like, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:37 Is there even going to be a season next year? We don't know. Most people believe there's going to be a delay at the very least. But, yeah, Scott Leah, he looked good again, and yes, they want to protect him for the future. The one thing that stands out to me is 29 years old. We're not talking about a 22-year-old kid that needs protection. This is a 29-year-old man at this point.

Starting point is 00:20:01 But this is what they've decided to do. But even if he threw seven, an inning yesterday. Does that mean Riley O'Brien's not going to implode like he did? So I'm not, you're finding things to be mad about and you don't need to. There are plenty of things to be bad outside of protecting Kyle Leahy's arm. Now, the rest of the bullpen was good on Sunday, too. Luis Gastilum, rebounding from the loss on Friday. Rookie has been placed in some very tough spots. You got to remember, he had never pitched above AA till this year. And now he's coming in and throwing the ninth and 10th in games.

Starting point is 00:20:42 And you guys can be hard on him all you want, and that's fine. But he's going to be better for this moving forward. We've seen games where he has looked incredible. And then there's games where, you know, sometimes he get hit. But that's part of this process and learning. He keeps taking the ball.

Starting point is 00:21:01 He hasn't shown any fear. He has shown growth. And I like it. Justin Buell, George Soriano, scoreless innings. Ryan Stanick, who gave up a big grand slam and Sensi on Thursday, a shutout inning. Good for them. Good for them to pitch better their next time's out. Everything was working beautifully until the ninth inning. Offensively, four runs on nine hits against Christopher Sanchez? Hell yeah. No, I'm not disappointed in what I saw on Sunday. I hated the ninth inning,

Starting point is 00:21:32 but I loved what I saw the rest of the game from everybody. Like Sanchez is an absolutely, stud and you had to beat. Two infield singles, two stolen bases. Burley knocks in both JJ and Walker, who did the same thing in separate innings. Jose for Mean, the Fermanator launches another home run. JJ with the two-out RBI single, lefty lefty off of Sanchez. I was thoroughly impressed with what they did.

Starting point is 00:22:00 I thought they were great. The Cardinals deserved to win that game yesterday, but they didn't. That's three walk-off losses on that road trip alone, two of them in that series by Philly when they are gassed. In my opinion, you know, you took two out of three in Chicago. You earned those victories. They should have taken four out of five in Sensey. And now very easily could have had two out of three in Philly.

Starting point is 00:22:28 So we can pout about the loss or we can look at it as another stepping stone to become a better team by experiencing anguish like this and learning from it. It still sucks, though. Don't get me wrong. but that's the hope is that a young team is going to feel the pain of losing games like this and learn to overcome that later on and be better for it. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I get it.

Starting point is 00:22:54 Injuries have been catching up with the guys. We've lost Palante. We've lost Dobbins. Pereira. Mason Wend, not on the injured list yet. Got the latest on the gold glove shortstop where he's been. What's going on with him. Plus, what a day.

Starting point is 00:23:08 Let's sit in on some positive. stuff. What a day for Jesus Baez and Rayneau Rodriguez at Springfield. We'll talk about that next on lockdown Cardinals. A big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited break. This back to school season, spin less on your kids with Amazon. We all know how crazy back to school shopping experience can be. It starts with a few items on your list. Start checking them off. And suddenly you're shopping for it. Wait a second. Supplies. Uh, clothes, lunch gear. Tech. And about 10 of the things you didn't see coming. It all adds up quickly. When the teacher supply list arrives, somehow every item feels completely reasonable on its own. And then you add everything together and

Starting point is 00:23:50 realize just how much stuff one kid needs for one school year. When you buy clothes for back to school, then your kid has a growth spurt two weeks later. It happens. And you're right back where you started. Sometimes it genuinely feels like they're growing faster than your budget can keep up. When you're buying supplies, if you're yourself asking how a calculator became one of the most expensive items in the cart. Not expecting math, start costing me money before school even begins. It feels like there's a life lesson in there somewhere. We're still trying to figure it out though.

Starting point is 00:24:22 So remember, with Amazon's low back school prices, just spend less on your kids. Because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on that. Shop back to school at Amazon and spend less on your kids. Thanks for making lockdown. Carlos first listen of the day. And thank you for making lockdown on the number one sports. podcast network. Mason Wynn has been dealing with a thumb injury and didn't hardly play at all in the series against the Phillies because of this. I was getting an MRI done when the team got back

Starting point is 00:24:55 to St. Louis Sunday night. I have not seen any update. Well, we'll check live here and see if we got any updates on anything with Mason Wynette. Yeah, I'm not seeing anything yet here on Monday morning. So he jammed his thumb when he slid into second base on Tuesday. You might have seen him when he got up and he was like, oh, he was shaking his hand. Ended up leaving because of the swelling and the pain in the left hand. Played the next day, goes hitless. And according to Derek Gould over at SCL Today.com, he kept feeling significant pain while at the plate. It wasn't bothering so much in the field, but at the plate, really tough to swing. X-rays taken in Cincinnati, did not reveal any damage or a fracture.

Starting point is 00:25:40 Tried to play on Friday. The swelling in the pain, we're still there. Cardinals and win want to get a better look at things. X-rays can sometimes miss the small breaks that will be picked up by a CT scan or an MRI. So they're going to double check on it. Mason described the pain that he's dealing with in Gold's article as a very, very sharp pain. when he swings. He's hoping it's just a really bad jam or a really bad sprain or something. Ideally, he said he'd like to be back the day after the off day, which is today. And he said,

Starting point is 00:26:19 I thought I would be already. Take a day off and the swelling would go down, but the swelling never went down. So that's never good. I once had a really bad sprain as well. I was playing third base at the time. And a runner tried to steal third. And the throw from the catcher tailed into the runner, I kind of swipe tagged, but the guy went right into my thumb. We went to the emergency room afterwards because we thought I broke it. They thought I broke it, put a cast on me, took it off two weeks later to check it out. And whatever they saw on the x-ray looked exactly the same. So like, well, maybe it wasn't a break.

Starting point is 00:26:53 And a couple of days later, I was back on the field. Like I took batting practice the next day, kind of did some strength training on it to try to kind of get it going again, because that's part of the thing is you don't use it. And then I was back out there and I was playing. And hopefully that's what's going on with Mason. So if he spends time on the IL, we'll see. But at least if Mason's out, you do have some depth there. You got guys who can play shortstop.

Starting point is 00:27:23 J.J. can play there. Ramona Rias is back. So that's good. Brian Torres is back for mean. So you've got guys that you can move around on the infield and figure that out. and then you got guys on in, you know, Memphis. You can call C.C. up or Preato again if you have to.

Starting point is 00:27:40 But we all know how important Mason win is to this team, to this defense in general. So you want it back. But if there is a spot, you do have some depth at, it's in the infield. Springfield Cardinals had a really fun day on Sunday. I don't know if you guys saw this. They swept, which was sort of doubleheader against Arkansas.

Starting point is 00:27:58 They win four to two in game one, which was the completion of the game that they had started on Saturday. and then they won 11 to 4 in game 2. Now in game 1, Jesus hit his 17th home run of the season in the ninth inning to make it 4 to 1. And then in game 2, after being down 3-0, Rayneo Rodriguez hits a home run,

Starting point is 00:28:23 and Baez hit one right after him. They go back to back of the fourth to make it 3-2. Rodriguez is 16th, Bayez is 18th. So that's cool, right? Sixth inning. Hey, why not? That was fun the first time around. Let's do it again.

Starting point is 00:28:37 Randineo Rodriguez home run 17th for him 19th for bias. Cardinals, uh, Springfield Cardinals are up four to three at this point. That's Baez his third home run of the day because he hit one in the ninth inning in the game one. But wait, there's more. Then in the ninth inning up six four, Baez hits another home run. This time a three run blast to make it nine to four. Two home runs for Rodriguez, giving him 17 at Springfield and 21 on the season.

Starting point is 00:29:08 and three home runs for Baez in game two, four dingers on the day for Hesus, giving him 20 with Springfield and 34 total on the year. And all of them, all six home runs between the two guys were just missiles to left field. There was one guy, if you go watch the footage, there's one guy and he's like a beige peach colored shirt. He almost looks topless at first until they zoom in. But he's the only guy out there running around and trying to track down these home runs. that these two guys are hitting. Must have come away with a bunch of souvenirs. So that was huge. And that was cool. Remember, you got Baez and the Ryan Helsley deal with the Mets last year. And I don't know how Mets fans feel about that deal now. But whoo, Cardles are sure enjoying it.

Starting point is 00:29:59 We get the day off today on Monday. Tyler O'Neill and the Baltimore Orioles, Ryan Helsley's new team, are in town on Tuesday. They're 63 and 60. but they're only two back in the A.L. Wildcard. So they're playing for something right now. Pete Alonzo's been on a tear recently, hitting 345 with three dingers and five ribbies in his last seven games. Got to keep an eye on him. Jackson Holiday has not hit very well. He's hit 107 to his last seven. Our buddy Tyler O'Neill hitting just 125 over that stretch. But you know how those revenge games go? It's almost like they're telling them what's coming to the plate. So I would expect bro Neil to hit at least two home runs in the series.

Starting point is 00:30:42 If I was a betting guy, that's what I would say. Anywho, enjoy the day off on Monday, guys. It's baseball. Can't let it ruin our lives. Thanks for making Lockdown Cardinals. If you haven't already, give us follow on X at LO underscore Cardinals, TikTok, Instagram, and Lockdown Cardinals, like, subscribe on YouTube. Second listen, check out Lockdown MLB game night, every night until a World Series champion is

Starting point is 00:31:03 crown. Get local analysis on a national scale. You can find it on the Lockdown MLB YouTube channel. or wherever you listen to your podcast. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals, hopefully in a better mood.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - COLLAPSE: Riley O'Brien and St. Louis Cardinals WATCH 4-0 Lead DISAPPEAR in Philly Heartbreaker

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