Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Double (play) Trouble!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals' offense can't seem to find the big head and keep sitting into double plays and their frustrating loss to the red. 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. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L1 underscore Cardinals. We're on YouTube. Make sure you like, subscribe, and comment. Hit the notification button so you don't miss out on anything that we drop for you. Also available on TikTok and Instagram and Locked on Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation, giving the best fans of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode being brought to you by Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Turn any TV into your Xbox. No console is needed. Head to Amazon.com slash Fire TV locked on to learn more. So the St. Louis Cardinals are kind of becoming a laughing stock right now when they're on the road.

Starting point is 00:01:09 You know why sugarcoat this thing? Whatever magic that they seem to be able to find at home, which has led them to a 10 and 5 record at Bush, vanishes. One of my favorite lines ever from Shawshank Redemption, vanishes like a fart in the wind when they go on the road. Out the window completely, where they are now a dismal two and 12. after their three to one snooze fest of the game on Monday in Cincinnati against the Reds. I was at this game. If you follow me on X, you saw the pictures. I was in left field.

Starting point is 00:01:43 The sun was blinding. Like it was ungodly, bright. And I know it's the sun. Of course, it's going to be bright. But like, it just pounds you in left field. So I was as blind as Lars Neupar as Gavin Lux for the first couple of innings. And after the moment of silence, for Walt Jockney, the former Cardinals and Red GM who passed away this weekend.

Starting point is 00:02:07 It was down to business. And the boys got off to that nice start, which had me a little excited, you know, when I am the only person in a Cardinals uniform in an entire section of people. It was all people in black L.A. D.A. Cruz gear all around me. Some kids are wearing red. We got kids that are chirping. Lars Newpar, the entire game behind me, in a good way. They weren't being rude or anything saying anything. They were like, hey, your shoes untied, stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:02:35 It was funny. But I was the only Cardinal fan out there. And so to see them get on the board first was pretty exciting. I didn't get cocky or anything like that. But it was nice. You know, Newt rips that double into right field just below the top of the wall. I thought it was gone off the bat. Same thing with Aronado's double.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Like when it went up and I could barely see it. Like I saw it when it went up. And then it goes into, you know, that big fireball in the sky, known as the sun. And I was very much like Gavin Lux was. We're like, where is it? Where is it? Where is it?

Starting point is 00:03:09 Where is it at? I just thought trajectory-wise, it was going to go out. I really did. Look like a home run, felt like a home run, especially in that ballpark, like so many long flies, you know, back home at Bush. It just died at the wall for a double. Normally, a Great American ballpark, those float into the seats. And I heard John Rooney's call. call. When I got home later on on Monday night, I heard his call on it. He thought it was way out.

Starting point is 00:03:37 And so for it to actually not landed the seats was a little bit shocking. Like I said, Gavin Lux, he didn't see it. His palms rid of the sky had no idea. I don't think he was going to catch it anyway. But the son was no joke out there in left field. The picture is on acts. You can see my angle of it all. You know, it's a tough sun. Not going to be so tough on Tuesday. It appears that it's a lot of rain. a lot of dark clouds right now. But I was talking to one friend of mine who works for the Reds, and he was telling me how much that former Reds outfielder Adam Dunn used to just bitch and moan about early games at Great American Ballpark because you can't see anything

Starting point is 00:04:15 and left field for like the first three innings. So we certainly felt his pain on Monday. But the Cardinals were able to grab this lead. And normally at Great American Ballpark, the ball, like I said, it's going to fly well. Scores are usually pretty high. ERAs skyrocket when you visit GAVP. you know, Adam Wainwright obviously had some very fond memories about his time pitching there. He just hates it.

Starting point is 00:04:39 But not on Monday. Even though it was a warm day out, the Cardinals did almost nothing after the first inning. Nick Martinez shuts him down. And they did get something going here and there. And as soon as they got people on, you know, they would hit into one of these double plays. They hit into as many double plays as they had hits the rest of the game after the first inning. They hit into three of them. And if it seems like the Cardinals have been doing that a lot, you'd be correct.

Starting point is 00:05:06 The Cardinals have now hit to do 26 double plays on the season, which was one short of the league leading Pittsburgh Pirates who had hit into 27. Wilson Contreras leads the team with six, but didn't head into any on Monday. It was Aronado, Newpar, and Paez, who hit into the twin killings. The inning that really stood out to me was that fifth inning. They're down two to one. Paez catching for his fourth straight game. He leads off with that double. Victor Scott takes a walk.

Starting point is 00:05:32 And Mason Wynn comes up. And they try to play a little small ball. And Mason Wend eventually lays down the bun, but the Reds make a nice play on it. You know, Trevino makes a nice play. Gets the out at third base. So you've still got, you know, even when it happened, it erased Pahas, but you still had like really good speed on the bases with Victor Scott at second. Mason went at first.

Starting point is 00:05:55 I'm hoping that with Lars Nupar up, he's going to take a couple of pitches. is and we're going to see these boys do some running. That's what I was hoping for. I was looking for some aggressive base running from the Cardinals, make some offense happen. And unfortunately, they weren't able to do it because Newt swung at the first pitch that he saw. It was a curve ball away. He hit it hard. Granted, he did put a good swing on it. I think it was like 104 off the bat. But Red second baseman Matt McLean is there. He makes a nice play. They make a sweet turn with Elliot's second base and the inning is over. And that was really about it. That's about the last time I remember the Cardinals even threatening in this game.

Starting point is 00:06:34 So give credit to the Reds. They made a handful of nice defensive plays in this game, sliding catch in center field by T.J. Friedel on that sinking, it's kind of a blooper by Gorman. I don't get it hard. But that blooper by Gorman into center field, solid defensive plays in key situations. It's what good teams do.

Starting point is 00:06:52 And right now the Reds are playing very, very well. They've got a lot of momentum going. in their clubhouse. They're coming off a sweep of the Colorado Rockies, which granted it's the Rockies, but sweeping anybody makes you feel good about yourself. I don't care who you're playing. Also, the trio of Mason,

Starting point is 00:07:08 Win, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Walker, the three guys that are supposed to lead this team into the future, combined one for nine in this game, and they just need more from those three on a daily basis. Now, I'm not expecting, you know, great numbers every single game, but at least one of them has to do something, something. You know, Walker is hitting 184 in April. Has it driven in a run in his last seven games.

Starting point is 00:07:32 The team is not going to bench these guys. You know, they're just not. When had a nice day on Saturday against the Brewers when the Cardinal scored six. But oh, for his last six, both Walker and Gorman are batting just 208. They're not going to send these guys down. This is the plan was to live and die with these guys in their lineup. They want to see these guys rise to the occasion. They're going to let them have the opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Starting point is 00:08:03 But they got to do it. They just got to do it. They need more from these guys right now. All three of them need to get their butts in gear. It's time to start hitting. Andre Palante got the knot on Monday, and I think he was, I think at least he was better than most people are going to give him credit for. We'll discuss it next on Locked on Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:09:35 With the snack, the packs protein punch, be sure to visit wonderfulpastatios.com to learn more. Thanks for making a lot on cardinals. Your first listen to every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X. Anytime you want your feedback, it's always welcome and encouraged. Andre Palante's final line on Monday, I mean, it's not going to turn heads.

Starting point is 00:10:04 It was a quality start, which some people are like, Who cares? It's not good enough. I think it's good enough. I mean, six innings, three runs, six hits, two walks, four strikeouts. Again, nothing that's going to turn heads. But if I told you that Andre Palante would get a start against the Reds at Great American Ballpark, a unknown hitter's park, and that L.A. D.A. Cruz, Matt McLean, T.J. Friedel, and Austin Hayes, the Reds one through four hitters would go a combined two for 14. You'll take that. you'd be pretty impressed with that. And you would probably think the Cardinals won the ball game.

Starting point is 00:10:42 Problem is where Palante got burned was the bottom half of the order. Five through nine, go six for 16 with all three RBIs. Problem number two that he faced in this one was that five of the six hits that Palante gave up, went for extra bases. And they were wearing out that left field line. And not all of them were like hard hit singles or doubles, whatever. They were finding spots and kicking over to the wall and Newbar was chasing them down. Not all of them were rockets.

Starting point is 00:11:14 But at the same time, there's still extra base hits. You know, the solo home run off the bat of Reds number nine hitter Jose Trevino. Like, you can't let the number nine hitter burn you like that. Only a second dinger of the season. That's not good. And I don't know if it's a concentration thing, but Palante was just much tougher against the top of the order. when he would go up against them, the bats against the top of the, for the top of the order, they were just tougher abats for those guys.

Starting point is 00:11:44 The Trevino home run, you know, that one was nowhere near where he was trying to put the ball, if you believe, Pahas, and where he was set up. It was supposed to be outside, and he misses in, like up and in, and, you know, Trevino turned on it. But despite these issues, I'm going to give him credit where at least he kept them in the ball game for six innings. And the problem was that your offense just never responded. And we're not going to confuse Andre Palante with some elite pitcher. You know, he's not one of the best of the best around the league.

Starting point is 00:12:18 You know, I mean, where does he rank on this, in this rotation right now? Three tops, maybe four. You know, it's when you get a quality start from Andre Palante or Miles Michaelis, you got to take advantage of that if you're the Cardinals. Like you can't waste something like that because you know, at least with Michaelis, you know, there's a really good chance he's going to get hit pretty hard. And, you know, Palante's been, you know, he's been all right so far this season. But when you get a quality start from him in a ballpark like Great American Ballpark,

Starting point is 00:12:54 you got to take advantage of that. And they failed to do that on Monday, just no offense whatsoever. The rest of the ballpen was able to keep things relatively quiet for the rest of the game. Riley O'Brien got in this one, although we didn't. get the strikeouts, which I'm still waiting on from Riley O'Brien. He does it in the minor leagues. Maybe he's one of those four A players that everybody tells me about because he gets the swing and miss and the strikeouts in the minor leagues, did not get it in this performance. But you see the stuff. You know, he's hitting 97 consistently with that sinker. A lot of his

Starting point is 00:13:27 pitches were up in the zone. So it needs to work on getting the ball down more. Not saying it's got to be knee high every time because sometimes sinker will catch some people off guard. you know, up in the zone. But living up there is not usually the best idea for a sinker ball pitcher. Had a lot of life on his pitches, but, you know, control issues. It's something that's followed him around his entire career. And he wasn't exactly pinpoint on Monday night after that walk and a single. John King had to come in and get him out of that inning. King hasn't had a great start so far to the season, but had a nice little appearance on Monday, which you're just hoping that you can build off of.

Starting point is 00:14:09 When you've got guys who are struggling early on, like John King has and Jojo Romero, Ryan Fernandez, obviously, even Ryan Halsley, when they have a good outing, you're hoping that's going to be a confidence boost, that that's going to be something they can build upon. Maybe it's something they figured out with your arm slot or the way your pressure on the fingers when you're throwing your pitches,

Starting point is 00:14:29 whatever it may be. And hopefully it's unlocked something that will work for him moving forward. One in a third innings on Monday, no runs, no hits, one walk. But nobody crosses the plate. That's the point not to give up runs. That's the most important thing. And John King and Riley O'Brien did not allow anybody to score. They kept the team in striking distance.

Starting point is 00:14:51 But as I've said, time and time again, it was for naught. Red's ballpun comes in, retires the final 10 cardinal hitters in a row. Again, three hits after the first inning is unacceptable at Great American Ballpark. Crazy stat by Rob Raines over at SDL Sportspage.com. Dating back to last year, the Cardinals have now lost four consecutive games in Cincinnati. I've been there for all of them, and it's miserable. So guys, can you please turn that crap around? They've only scored a combined five runs in those losses.

Starting point is 00:15:23 Like, what is going on here? They've only hit one home run in those five games in a span of 127 at bat. This is great American small park. Like everybody hits in Cincinnati. Why can't the Cardinals do it? Those are absurd numbers in that ballpark where lazy fly balls turned into second row home runs all the time. I've seen a lot of them. It's one of the more offensive-friendly stadiums in baseball.

Starting point is 00:15:51 And for whatever reason, the Cardinals have not only been unable to crack the Reds pitching staff, which has been good this year. I'll give them credit, but still, they've also got to have like some sort of invisible force field on the wall on the outfield, preventing home runs from going over. I don't know what else to say.

Starting point is 00:16:12 I can tell you that this much, the Cardinals in batting practice weren't having any trouble popping them over the wall consistently. In batting practice, like they were tattooing the seats all over the place. One of them almost took my face off. On Monday, they have this extension.

Starting point is 00:16:28 and it goes from the front of the outfield wall, and it's like plastic. It looks like wood, but it's plastic. And to prevent people from reaching over the wall and trying to, you know, to make catches on balls that are still in play, totally understandable. And one of the bad, right, I think it was Contreras who hit it. And it just went right next to me, just went, pop.

Starting point is 00:16:48 It went right. And I was like, woo. I was like, good thing I got cat-like reflexes to get out of the way of that. Or this face would be even uglier today. The Cardinals did make an official move on Monday by sending Thomas A. JC down and bringing up a former top Reds prospect. You're going to hear about that next. Coming up on Locked on Cardinals. The NBA playoffs are here in Fandola's giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Because right now, when you join Fandall and place your first $5 bet, you're going to get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins.

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Starting point is 00:18:08 if you're looking into going into player props, Anthony Edwards, with the T. Wolves, St. Louis's Jason Tatum for the Celtics, the Joker, Nikolina Yokic and the Nuggets. I know they're tied to two with the Clippers right now, but so many games, so many great players, still in the NBA playoffs, and you should be taking advantage of this and doing player prop bets with them. Plus, after the game tips off, you can even combine live prop bets into a same game parley for a chance to win big. Don't miss out. Head to fando.com and claim your $250 in bonus bets today. Thank you again for making Lockton, Cardinals, your first listen today. If you're your second list and check out the all-new Lockdown MLB game night.

Starting point is 00:18:56 I was actually hosting it last night. Going to be hosting it the next couple of nights if you want to join me. Every game, every night, all season long. Get local analysis on a national scale. find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Jose Barrero was a big time prospect for the Cincinnati Reds back in the day. Was their minor league player of the year in 2021 listed as their top prospect in 2023? Things didn't work out.

Starting point is 00:19:25 Things didn't work out. And I remember when they first called him up and you look at Jose Barrero, the athlete. And you're like, that dude right there does. some sort of sport. Like you can tell he ain't skipping leg day. He's not skipping chest day. Like that dude is built. He is a rock. He looks like he would be one of the best athletes in the entire world. But things didn't work out for him offensively with the Reds when he was called up to the major league. Set under 200 in his stents with them. A couple of call-ups, sent back down and eventually the Rangers claim him off waivers in 2024. And then the

Starting point is 00:20:05 Cardinals, he elects to be a free agent this offseason. Cardinals were able to pick him up. And you saw it this spring, he flashed that potential with the Cardinals. And at one point, I certainly thought he was going to make this roster. I really did. I thought he was going to be on there out of camp just because of all the different things that he offers a manager. He's a Swiss Army knife on the bench. Doesn't have to start. You're not worried about developing him still at this point. You know, he's 27 years old. So those days are long gone. Now you're just trying to get the best baseball you can out of them.

Starting point is 00:20:40 And they decided to go with Michael Siani instead. But now that Siani is already back at Memphis, you've got a healthy infield altogether. And the organization, rightfully so, once Thomas and J.C. To see a bats every day, it just made sense to bring in a guy who's a right-handed hitter, utility guy like Barrero. He can play infield. He can play outfield. He's got great speed.

Starting point is 00:21:08 He offers power off the bench. And like I said, it's not going to stunt his growth. You're fine with him not having to play every day. And more importantly, it's not going to stunt the growth to Thomas and Jacey. Because that's what fans, at least some of them may not understand. And I know we've got a lot of smart fans out there, very smart fan base. They understand for the most part why C.J. was sent down.

Starting point is 00:21:29 But, you know, they look at, okay, he's hitting 341. What the hell? Why are we getting rid of this? guy, it's simply to keep developing his game. He wasn't going to play over Mason win or Brydon Donovan. They've sold their souls to make sure that Nolan Gorman is in the lineup as much as possible, which they told you they wanted to do this offseason. So they're sticking to their guns. And instead of letting Thomas and J.C. rot on the bench, which is it going to do him any good, not going to help his personal growth as a player. They decided, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:01 let's get him back to Memphis so he can play every single day. Get four at bats. see every inning playing at shortstop or wherever they need him to play that day. So it was the right call, in my opinion. And the only reason he stuck around before was because of the Donovan rib issue, or he probably would have been sent down already. But it gives Barrero another crack at the big leagues. He was having a great start to the year of Memphis, hitting 299, five doubles, a triple, four home runs, 13 ribby,

Starting point is 00:22:30 he's doing all of that in just 23 games, also had five stolen bases. is he is as good of an outfielder as Michael Siani? No, he's not. But he does everything else better than Michael Siani, I think. He can play both center field and shortstop, which is very rare. Not many players around the league can do that outside of a guy the Cardinals used to have in Tommy Edmund. He's 10 times the hitter Siani is. He's another right-handed bat off the bench, which you like. Got some pop there to go along with Lucan Baker, who I'm think still has has pop. He can be a runner late in games when the Cardinals need some speed on the bases. It's why I thought he was a perfect fit out of spring training. And now we're going

Starting point is 00:23:15 to finally get to see how Ali can use somebody like that and utilize that guy in late innings and stuff. It's just a month behind schedule from where I thought it was going to happen. Miles Michaels on the Hill on Tuesday, rain quite a bit in Cincinnati this afternoon, and they are expecting rain tonight. So we'll see what goes. on with the start time. I'll be really bummed if it doesn't get in and we don't get a full game and a good start time because I got nice seats. I got what they call the diamond seats. You know, like the green seats for the Cardinal games at Bush Stadium. I got the diamond ones behind home plate tonight. So I don't want this one to get rained out. Michaelis has not

Starting point is 00:23:54 fared well in this ballpark, though. He's two and five. ERA of 5.91 in his career at GABP and has allowed 10 home runs, which is second only to the 50. that he's given up the Bush Stadium. And against the Reds overall, he's only 5 and 8, ERA and 5.80. So none of that is all that good. So fingers crossed. Michaelis doesn't get clobbered tonight.

Starting point is 00:24:18 On the other side of things, Brady Singer for the Reds got him in the Jonathan India trade with the Kansas City Royals this offseason, off to a great start. 4-0, 3.62 ERA. He faced the Cardinals once in his career. Did not go well for him. The Cardinals were able to tag him for three runs.

Starting point is 00:24:34 on three hits, five walks by Singer in that game over three inning. So hopefully the boys can conjure up some of their own devil magic against Brady Singer tonight and enhance those numbers even further. So that's what's going on with Cardinals Land. Thanks for making Lockedong Cardinals for first listen every day. If you haven't already, do me a solid. Give me a follow on X at L1 underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio. We're on Instagram.

Starting point is 00:25:01 We're on TikTok right now at Lockedong. Cardinals. Make sure you like, subscribe, and comment on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. Still, making that push for 12,000 subscribers. We're very, very close. And, normally, people who listen and watch the videos and stuff, they don't subscribe. It's like 90-something percent of people don't subscribe even though they watch. So help me out. Help a brother out, man. Come on. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason, and we'll see you next time on lockdown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Double (play) Trouble!

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