Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Holy Ivan Herrera!

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

A special Crossover Episode With Jon Frisch from Locked On Angels to recap the series! - Ivan Herrera Goes Off - Cardinals Keep Battling On Offense - Sonny Gray's HR Issues Continue - Say Nice Things Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/ Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/ Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Wonderful Pistachios Looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. Just Ingredients Visit JustIngredients.us and use code LOCKEDONMLB for 20% off your order! And for more wellness tips, follow @just.ingredients on Instagram. Supply House Join the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com! Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera goes nuclear on a record-setting day at Bush Stadium as they avoid the sweep against the Angels. You are locked-on MLB crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks for making this locked-on crossover edition of Locked on Angels and Locked on Cardinals. Your first listen of the day, you can help us out both shows, actually, by checking us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Sirius XM by searching Locked on Angels or Locked on Cardinals. If you want to help us out and give back to the show, you can leave us a rate and a review on all podcast platforms. You can check us out on YouTube, hit that subscribe button.

Always welcome you to jump into the comments section for both shows because we love hearing from our everydayers. It's the best way to get in touch with us and be part of the conversation. And once again, we thank you for making this crossover, your first listen of the day. If you don't know me, I'm one half of the Super Halo Bros. and one half of the host of Lockdown Angels. My name is John Frisch.

I have that show with my brother Mike Frisch. And we've got J.D. over at Lockdown Cardinals, for those of you who are usual Lockdown Angels every dayers and haven't checked out Locked on Cardinals, you should because even if you don't follow the team, JD's got a great show. JD, I'm looking forward to this crossover, my friend. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Sorry your brother couldn't make it. Was he upset about the Herrera showcase today? The three Ivan Herrera home runs. And I see you got locked on Yvonne Herrera down there. Oh, you noticed that. Yeah, we just quick. Making history on a Wednesday. I got to show my boy, Yvonne, a little bit of love for that one.

Absolutely. Yeah, that was an insane performance and just an insane series all around from the Cardinals and the Angels. I think a little bit of unexpected performance from the Angels for fans of other teams, including the Cardinals. But man, coming into this season, I had some confidence that these guys made the right moves in the offseason. Not a lot of flashy moves, not a lot of big moves, but the right moves.

And we'll talk about where these teams stand a little bit later on and say nice things about one another because I love saying nice things about other teams. Because at the heart of it all, we're baseball fans. We like good baseball. And this series was full of good baseball. Jady, let's talk about this series. finale that ended 12 to 5 in favor of the Cardinals.

Why don't you hit us with that? Yeah, and the score is not even a proper way to have how this game actually was because it got out of control a little bit later in the game in the eighth inning to be specific. But it was a tight game throughout the entire time. It was a great pitching battle between Kikuchi and Sunny Gray, both of them going back and forth. And, you know, for a while there was just a couple of long balls.

we're making the difference there. Mike Trout gets the best of Sunny Gray on a hangar early on in the game. And then, you know, Yvonne Herrera hits his first of what became three home runs today for the Cardinals catcher. And then, you know, obviously we had the big smash by Oh, Hoppe, who, man, I don't know if we need Sunny Gray throwing a O'Hoppy anymore.

I think we're learning a lesson here because he also popped them, what was at a three-run blast last year in L.A., if I remember correctly. So he's kind of got Sunny's number. And, you know, at that moment in the game, you know, it was a three to one ball game. The Cardals were actually up at the time after Herrera had hit his second home run of the day. And normally in a game like that, you know, it's 5-3. And that kind of felt like nailing the coffin type of situation for the game.

Because over the years, the Cardinals have not been a team that has been able to come back from something like that. But so far this year, things have been a little bit different, you know, offensively, this team has been really, really good. and they battled back and took advantage of. And it's something that I wanted to point out is because, and I don't know if you notice it or not, but the style of the bats, the Cardinals have been taking so far this season, kind of an exhausting team to face if you're on the other side of things.

Like they had to eat into the Angels bullpen. Obviously, you go to extra innings in the first two games, so both teams, you know, a little depleted with what arms they had available. But, you know, the Angels really went for it in those first couple of games. and used more of their bullpen. So you're getting down here in this third game, day game, following a night game, where you used a lot of pitchers.

And, you know, the Cardinals kind of ate into that angel's bullpen, finally able to take advantage with a couple of bunts. Right, right. To get it going in that eighth inning, which was the deciding factor. And, you know, eventually, you know, Herrera, with the big smash that ends up putting it out of breach. But overall, just an incredibly entertaining series by

both teams, you know, going to extra innings in the first two. Yeah, very exciting baseball. For the most part, well-played baseball. Sure, you know, you're going to have your walks. You're going to have your miscues and stuff. But it was enjoyable to watch, even though the Angels win this series, you know, the takeaway from this, you know, people are going to look at 12 to 5, Herrera's Big Day. But the Angels took two of three in St. Louis and, you know, they earned those victories.

I was very much impressed with the way the angels were able to play and how well they're both been held up. until that third game. Right, running out of arms to use on the road. But the Angels are four and two on this opening road trip. They've got three games against Cleveland starting Friday. And then they're back out on the road again. There was a weird situation where they're going to Tampa next week because of their stadium issue. They actually flipped series.

So the Angels will have a long stretch of home games, I believe, in July. But man, this first month of the season is pretty much all on the road. for the halos. I want to talk about Yusay Kakucci a little bit because he's somebody, the angels really went after this offseason to get him into the rotation and kind of guide what is a young rotation when you consider Jose Soriano, Jack Kohannowitz, Reed Detmer's was part of that equation for a while. Then the angels went out and added your nemesis, Kyle Hendricks, to the rotation. We are not talking about Kyle Hendricks. I almost brought my cubs hat out just as a joke that I got at Wrigley Field.

But the fact is, is they are relying on three veterans in Kikuchi, Anderson, and Kyle Hendricks to guide guys like Jose Soriano and Jack Hohannowitz along. And man, with you say Kikuchi, I expected because of how he's implemented that slider and now he's implemented the sweeper. You know, he had those incredible 10 last starts with the Astros, changing his whole repertoire, really, and focusing on the fundamentals of his pitch mix to really find success. you know, he had the five walks in this game. But I can't complain, J.D., about six innings pitched three runs, right? Like he's going to give up the long ball. He's going to walk some guys because, you know, that slider that he tries to get people out with is going to dip out of the zone.

And he certainly had some nice calls on the edges. There were also some calls he didn't get on the edges. And, you know, that was a little bit of a umph show in Wednesday's game. But all that to say, it's a second time giving us a quality start. and certainly kept the Angels in the game before things fell apart. You know what has been frustrating is the lack of Angels offense. And you go back to Monday night where it was four hits and five runs scored for the halos.

And it was mostly walks coming around to score. And they were really asleep at the wheel, especially in that White Sox series. And you got to see it. The heroics from Kyron Paris over those first two games, the guy just keeps on doing his thing and just totally unexpected coming out of spring training. He went and saw Aaron Judge's hitting coach over the offseason. And that's why Kyron Paris is a name that people might need to know from the Angels because he's from that 2019 draft never really has done much.

He's been up with the club a few times, but he was a hero certainly over the first two games of this series. And he's on the bench for Tuesday's game and Wednesday's game. and Angel fans are going nuts over Ron Washington's decision to do that. And so much for defense first because Nikki Lopez threw one away and gave St. Louis the tying run when it was 5-5. And it was like, you put Nikki Lopez in there to be your defensive guy and you don't put Kyron Paris in the infield because you're worried about his defense. I don't think Kyron Paris throws that ball away.

And so just a lot of frustrating decisions from management on the. the Angels end. But again, I really can't complain. Going back to Yusei, Kikuchi, I can't complain about equality, start keeping the team in the game. And that's all we angel fans want, J.D. is just guys who don't give away the game in the early part and the early innings. And fortunately, Yusay was able to do that. Unfortunately, the bullpen just ran out of steam for these halos. Yeah. Kikuchi effectively wild today. Because that was something because you mentioned that, you know, Hell Walker got here and there, which is, normal for most pitchers, but he's not somebody, five is a lot for Kikuchi. And the one thing that was

happening in this game was they, it wasn't coming back to burn him. They were able to wiggle out of those situations. And normally, when you are putting guys on and the Cardinals learn that in game one of the series. When you put guys on, they tend to come around and bite you in the butt. And that didn't happen to Kikuchi much today. So quality start by him. Yeah, he's a good one. He's a guy that I thought was a solid signing for the Angels. Jorge Salair didn't do much in this series, but I think that's a guy that, you know, obviously provide some pop there in the middle of the order for you.

Much needed pop for them. Yeah, and of course, getting Mike Trout back, you know, if he is a little rusty right now, so be it. You know, he's been down for a while, but, you know, he's still Mike freaking Trout. I don't care if he's in center, he's in right, whatever. Like, you got to respect this guy. And he did a couple of good things.

and two of those games, the home run. And then obviously he had the double in game two. And, you know, he's, there's a good, solid setup there for the Angels. And I'm with you, though. Like, I want to see some of the young guys play. It's how we feel in St. Louis is like, cool. Michael Ciani's a great defensive guy, but I need offense to win. And so if I'm, if I'm run Washington, I'm definitely putting the offense out there before I'm going defense first,

on a regular basis. So I can see the frustration with a move like that. There was a lot of things that lined up for each team as well. You mentioned the Logan O'Hoppy comeback. But man, one thing I'll say about St. Louis, I never felt comfortable when the Angels had a lead. I never felt comfortable when it was a tie game. And I'll say that in the past,

I wouldn't have felt comfortable because I had no confidence in the Angels bullpen. This year, I feel really good about them. And so that's more of a credit to what, St. Louis was able to do to stay in the games and stay in the fight. And of course, they ran away with it in game three. I thought it was funny. You know, Donovan had kind of that slip up on Monday night. Then Nolan Shaunawell has his, you know, quick throw to Ben Joyce over there at first base on Tuesday night. Fortunately, he had a little bit of a redemption arc hitting that his first career triple and scoring those runs for Nolan Shaunawell. So man, just a not a slug fest in like the

home run sense, but just like a heavyweight boxing match. just punch for punch between these two. So it was a really fun series. Both teams sitting at four and two, Cardinals four and two now. So you can't really complain, you know, to start the first six games of the year sitting at four and two for both of these teams who, you know, fans probably didn't have very high expectations. And, you know, we were talking before the show started.

And the Angels and Cardinals have a lot of similarities in the sense that there's not a lot of expectations, but at least St. Louis was honest about what kind of season it was going to be. All I've heard over the last five years from the Angels is, we're going to be competitive. We're going to be competitive. Well, you got to walk the walk if you're going to talk to talk. And so hopefully the Angels can still stay competitive. I like the moves that they've made. And I really enjoyed this series between the Cardinals and the Angels.

Hey, we want to thank you for making this locked on crossover edition of Locked on Angels and Locked on Cardinals, your first listen of the day. When we continue our conversation, we're going to be talking about the good and the bad from both the cards and the halos. And we'll get into that in just a minute. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Monarch Money. If you've ever checked your bank account and went, where did all my money go between dining out, online shopping? Maybe you bought something. You didn't tell your spouse or your significant other.

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So once again, that's monarchmoney.com code locked on MLB for half off your first year. This is the Lockdown Angels podcast and the Lockdown Cardinals podcast. We thank you for making it your first listen of the day. J.D. and I are doing a little crossover edition of both shows. It's, you know, I'm glad that we're doing this because I really like tuning in the Lockdown Cardinals, because I enjoy hearing you talk about Cardinals baseball, JD. So it's fun for us to actually get together and chat about our teams a little bit. Yeah, no, and I, you know, growing up, there was a time where actually I was a,

I kind of like obviously my heart's always going to be in St. Louis with the Cardinals. But there was a time when it was the, uh, J.T. Snow, Tim Salmon type of years with the angels. And I was like, I was like, I kind of like watching these games. I kind of dig it. Like I'm loving your hat right now, John. Dude, I love this hat. I wear it all the time, man. And you know, it's funny.

J.T. Snow was my first favorite angel. I was like three or four years old. And the only reason I knew I liked him was because he was a lefty and I'm a lefty. So that's why I liked J.T. Snow when I was a kid. It's a cool name, too. J.T. Snow. I mean, it just bangs, dude. It's good stuff.

We also have a lot in common, obviously, with Albert Poolholes and David, David Fries was on the team. He was the last third baseman to help us get to the playoffs over 10 years ago. But I loved having David Fries on this team as well. Jimmy Edmonds, a big name that went back and forth that we got from L.A. for the legendary Kent Bottenfield. There you go. Going back to the Angels and that one. You guys also got, I think it was Adam Kennedy, went your way too, but it helped you guys win a title like you was right there.

Exactly. Exactly. And then once Trout came up and took over the outfield, Peter Borges got sent over to the Cardinals because there was no room for gorgeous gorgeous. Look at these names. You guys helped us out with the Dexter Fowler situation. That's right. We'll take them. Just throw him over here. We got him. Man, and you know what? He was off to a great start that season. in it before he hurt his knee and he was out the rest of the year. I think it was 2021 or something like that. But yeah, you know, it was, it was cool while it lasted. And I've always been a Dexter Fowler fan. And so even though he was at the, uh, the end of his career, what would have ultimately been the end of his career. I was like, I'll take him. What the angels aren't doing anything. Let's let's bring on

Dexter Fowler. Why the heck? He gets a bad rap in St. Louis because he never lived up to the contract, the expectations. But if you go back and look at his numbers, you're actually weren't as bad as everybody makes him sound. They make it sound like he was like a 150 hitter and was just garbage. And he really wasn't that bad. It just wasn't to what the Cardinals wanted. Right. It is what it is.

Absolutely. Hey, so as we look back on this series, we want to talk about the good and the bad from both of our teams, what went well, what didn't go so well, and what could have been, should have been, probably was a complete disaster in your eyes, in my eyes. J.D., why don't you start up with what you liked from your cards in this series?

Well, I'm going to go ahead and kind of reiterate something that I brought up in our first segment, and that is the fact that the Cardinals had this ability to continue to fight back in this particular series. And, you know, it was back and forth in all three games, really. But last year, when the Cardinals would fall behind, there would be a lot of like slump shoulders, a lot of bad body language. You know, you could just read it in them that they didn't feel confident that they were still in a game. you know, whether they give up a lead or they were fall behind. And you just could already sense that it was kind of over.

How I mentioned, like, after O'Hopi hits the, hits the Grand Slam in Wednesday's game. And you can just sense, like you could see it online. Cardinals fans are just like, same old stuff. We're done. We're toast. We suck. And even in the two games of the Angels won, the Cardinals had an ability to not quit, which is not something we've seen the last couple seasons.

You know, the Angels would grab a lead. Cardinal fight back. You had the extra ratings in game one. Angels jump out with two in the 10th. And in the Cardinals don't just, you know, it's over. No, they score one. They make it close. Exciting game Tuesday night.

Angels take that three to one lead. Cardinals come back. Angels score three in the 10th. Cardinals score three in the 10th. You know, it was back and forth. Angels do it again in the 11th. Cardinals can only scratch one across and that one. But they kept coming.

Right. And the word that keeps getting brought up and it keeps coming in my mind is like relentless. Like they just like every at bat is usually a tough at bat. You sure you have one here and there where somebody makes an easier out. But it just felt like they were just exhausting to play against. Even though the Angels took two or three, it felt like the Cardinals did some really, really good things in the series. They kept taking those tough at bats.

And it's just something we didn't see a lot of last year. And having the offense be where it is is not something I think a lot of people saw coming. You know, double digit hit totals for the Cardinals. in all six games to start the season, which is mind-blowing compared to what we saw last year. They're hitting almost 300 as a team right now. They've got the second-most hits in the league, second-most walks, second-most runs. They're fourth-in-home runs. Thank you, Ivan Herrera.

I don't think anyone saw this offense coming this way, and I think it's one of the reasons why, even though the Cardals just lost two games out of three to the Angels at home, I think that these are things to build upon for what is in the law, especially with the offensive side of the day, it's a younger roster, you know, outside of Nolan Aronado and Wilson Contreras, not a lot of veterans in the hitting part of it. You know, it's a lot of young guys. So I think Cardinal fans should be happy about that. That was that was the good stuff I noticed. It's funny that it's funny that you said that because I feel the same way about the angels. You go back last year, I would say even the last five years. Jady. They don't win those games on Monday night and Tuesday night. This version of the team wins those games because, again, like you mentioned, it was like a relentless angel team. And it's they, they've ditched a lot of the guys who've been anchors around this team for

years. I mean, you got to see a little bit of, you know, some long relief from Reed Detmer's. I think it was Monday through 40 pitches, you know, a year ago, that's Jose Suarez. And, and the angel fans are not fans. of Jose Svarez. Now he's with the Braes. I think just on that. Yeah,

no kidding. And so future St. Louis Cardinal, Reid Detmer's got to get into the game in pitch 40 pitches. He's out of the bullpen right now. And, you know, came down to a battle between him and Jack Kohannowitz. They chose Kohannowitz for the rotation. I'm fine with that.

I think that's a good decision. The guy is the definition of pitch efficiency, gets a lot of ground ballouts, gets a lot of fly ball outs. But I say all that because, again, A year ago, two years ago, three years ago, they don't win these games. Even with like a Shohei Otani and Trout and Rendon on the field, they don't win these games and it has everything to do with the pitching. And so in this situation, I was really proud to see guys like Ryan Johnson, man, is a beast.

And if for the Cardinals fans who might not know, he skipped the minor leagues. He was so impressive in spring training. They liked what he had that they put him in. He's got a wicked delivery. It's very like, what, what am I looking at here? So very off-putting and effective. He's like Jimmy Hergett with velocity, right? It's just a weird delivery and he chucks it in there.

He almost slings it in there. Now, he was a starter in his college career at Dallas Baptist. I don't know how much that delivery is repeatable for him to be a starter in the majors, but I really like him out of the bullpen. So just a lot of guys stepping up. I mean, I look at what Nolan Shawnewell did on Tuesday where he, you know, rushed that play, didn't need to rush that play to Ben Joyce. and then have the redemption arc, like I mentioned earlier in our first segment, that doesn't

happen a year ago. And so they reported, I think our sideline reporter Erica West. And she was, was she in St. Louis for a while? Yeah, that sounds extremely familiar to me. Yeah, yeah. So she joined the Angels two years ago. And she mentioned that once Nolan got back in the dugout after that error, his team picked him up. And they said, don't worry, you'll get it back. And sure enough, he was able to do that. So a lot of good that I liked. And as far as the bad, here is where I think Angel fans' frustrations lie.

Number one, it's not having Kyron Paris in that lineup every single day when he's literally been the guy to carry this Angels offense through the White Sox series, through the St. Louis series. And right now he's a backup center fielder for Joe Adele. And the reason why that's frustrating is because both those guys need to be in the lineup. And the Angels have been running out, you know, They've been running out Kevin Newman and Nikki Lopez and Tim Anderson. Kyron Paris can play the infield.

He has played the infield. They want him to work out in center field. Joe Madden. Ron Washington is kind of sitting there with his arms cross saying, nope, he's my backup center fielder. He's playing center field. He's not going to play the infield. And I understand that Wash is the infield guru,

but man, you don't have the luxury to not have Kyron Paris's bat in this lineup. So that was something that I was disappointed with in this series. Also, the fact that, you know, they relied on Ian Anderson and Brock Burke and Reddettemer's to get through that exhausting last game of the series. They didn't make any moves to replenish that bullpen. They kind of said like, no, we got it. We got it. And on one hand, you can respect that.

On the other hand, I'm like, you could option somebody and brought somebody in for the day. But it is what it is. I was getting greedy. I wanted to sweep, but I'm happy to take two of three. and really that's what it comes down to for our halos. They got to win two out of three in the series like this. Now, for the bad, J.D., what was disappointing to you in this series?

Number one, that Kyle Hendricks plays for the Angels. It's the only time that we play each other, and Kyle Hendricks gets the start, of course. And we knew it. We knew it this off season. When he goes to L.A., the first thing we did, we checked the schedule, and we're like, second series, he's going to go against him, Indy.

He's going to do it at Bush Stadium. he's going to be a pain in the arse once again i don't know what it is about him he triggers me more than any pitcher in all of baseball because he absolutely owns the cardinals it is the most frustrating thing to watch to see him go up there and just lay up 86 mile an hour cutters right 78 mile an hour like little lollipop curve balls and the carls can't do anything with it like it doesn't work they don't know how to beat them it's it's unbelievable so uh the fact that hopefully here's what's going to happen too. If something, some way, somehow you guys need to make a deal and it involves Kyle Hendrick, you're going to send him to somebody that's going to play the Cardinals again.

And then he's going to pitch against us again. And you're going to be those guys. And I'm going to be mad about it. John, you're going to hear about it. And you'll never cross over on the show ever again. I'm going to call you to bitch, Simone, and complain about it. But, yeah, outside of that, as far as on the bad side for the Cardinals, extra innings was a little rough. A lot of damage in two strike counts. with two outs, which I still want to give credit to the angels for just taking good at bats in those situations. But on the cardinal side of things, you're hoping that that doesn't happen, you know, that you're not giving up, you know, big hits in those situations anymore. Like everything that happened against Roycroft in the 11th in Tuesday's game was with two outs.

Like it was like, oh, we're almost breezing through this. And then all of a sudden, three more go on the board for the angels. So you want to clean that up a little bit. Sunny Gray, outside of those two bad pitches to Trout, no Hoppy, pretty darn good. But the home run ball is something that has been a problem for Sunny Gray. You know, he comes over from Minnesota where he didn't give up a lot of home runs. And as Cardinal fans were like, all right, cool, somebody will keep the ball in the yard. And he gets shelved and gives up as many home runs that he's ever given up in a season last year in a pitcher's ballpark, too.

Mind you, Bush Stadium is not where the ball flies very well. So, and then this spring, he got hammered and gave up, I think it was a league high, eight home runs in the spring. He's already given up three now in his first two starts. And it's something that hopefully he can figure out to keep the ball in the ballpark. But, you know, nine Ks in today's game. So I don't want to bash him too much. And I'm sure, you know, that situation fans are going to say, why didn't Ali pull him? Like, why did he leave him in?

And I know Ali is going to say something to the fact that I didn't see his post game press conference yet, but that he's going to say something to the fact like, well, he's our number one guy. That's our dude. And I went out there and he said he was good. So I'm going to trust him. And I just feel like fans. And I think this might be a good advice for both of our fan bases is that our managers are kind of playing the long game. You know, we're not going to start benching people after five starts.

You're not going to start yanking people for mistakes just yet. Like this is a process for a lot of these. on guys, which, you know, you bring up, you know, the one kid that isn't playing every day yet, which that's probably very disheartening because you're like, well, if we're not going to be in contention for something, let these guys make mistakes right now. Let them grow, let them learn on the job instead of sitting on the bench and not doing anything in the field. So I think, you know, in the situation like that, too, like if he pulls Sunny Gray and then the next pitcher gives up a big hit, then you're mad because he pulled Sunny Gray. It's kind of a no-win situation.

So it's just, I want to remind people it's a long year and they're going to let these guys play and figure it out together, you know. And I think that's one of the good things about the situation. If you want to spin a positive on both of our teams right now, it's like there are no expectations right now. And so, you know, letting these guys make mistakes and become better players by the time July and August comes around is probably going to benefit our franchises in the long run. It may piss you off now. I was like, but in the long run, hopefully those things work out. And that is just really the bad that I take from the Cardinals. Overall, though, just a really fun series between both teams.

Yeah, wise words, J.D. and definitely something that I need to hear as I vent my frustrations about Kyron Paris. It's tough as a fan, you know, because you want, but there's a lot, there's a long look at this where you got to play. Six games that have felt like six years. That's the problem. This season is brand new, but it's felt like a million years long so far.

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And I love you pitch this idea and I've been looking forward to it. So I'm going to give the floor to you because, you know, I know we won the series, but I'm still hurting over that loss on Wednesday. So pick me up. Give me some encouragement about my halos this season. So happy to see Mike Trout healthy and on the field. First and foremost, I've talked about this throughout the offseason with a number of people who root for different teams.

And it's just like baseball needs Mike Trout so bad. I just, I've missed him, you know, the attitude, the way he interacts with fans, with foul balls and stuff, like seeing him in St. Louis. I'm so disappointed that so many fans stayed away. from this from bush stadium for this series because of the fact you guys just missed a chance to watch one of the great ones. It's true.

And Mike Trout being out on there on the field makes me so happy. And I'm so happy for you guys. And I hope he stays out there throughout the entire season and remains healthy. He can give you guys 140 games and be who he normally is when he's got his legs under him because he's a special talent. Also, how many left-handers do you guys have on the team? That impressed me. It looked like I think you have 13, all 13 pictures, the left hand in the series, and they just kept rolling them out there over and over and over.

But I was really impressed with, first off, the abilities of so many young guys coming from your bullpen. You know, you talked about the one kid who came in who hasn't did anything play in the minor leagues at all. Ryan Johnson, yeah. Just comes in. Obviously, Joyce coming in, throwing 104 is always a fun thing to watch, even if you're on the other side of it. After Hendricks is throwing 86, then you get to watch Joyce throw 102. I tweeted that or actually whatever they call. I'm like, can you imagine how fast that looks after seeing Hendrix for six innings?

You know, and then this guy's going to come in and just throw smoke past you. Like, not an easy task. So I was impressed with that. I like the balance that you guys have going on with veterans and youngsters. I hope that Wash eventually does give a longer leash to some of the young. guys and allows them to get out there and play and make some mistakes without being like, I need, I need the, I need the vet. I need the Kevin Newman's. No, you don't. No, no, you don't need to see. I don't need to see Kevin Newman play anymore. Like, I want to see fresh faces if I'm a

fan of the angels. That's what I want to see outside of trout and, you know, outside of, you know, guys like, you know, Solair, you know, there are certain guys that have to be in there, but there are other guys who don't. But just overall, like, I was impressed with the, the, way they played the game. I feel like the Cardinals and the angels are in a similar situations where the, you know, the angels are trying to get over that hump finally. You got to stay healthy, obviously. But I enjoyed the brand of baseball that you guys brought to Bush Stadium this weekend. And you guys were able to win in different ways, you know, like you said, the walks on the first night, just being patient at the plate, taking what they give you. And then the other two games,

you were able to put some runs on the board, you know, specifically on Tuesday night doing that damage and extra innings was, it was just like, uh, I get another hit with two strikes. My goodness. So, um, I,

you guys keep doing it that way. And I, I think it's going to be a much better season than most people think. I think it would be a great narrative turning season if the angels could, you know, kind of do what Kansas City was able to do. You add a couple of sneaky veterans and, and, you know,

turn your, turn your narrative around your franchise around. I think it'd be really great. Now, I wouldn't dare to put the storied history of St. Louis in the same category as where the angels have been over the last 10 years. So seeing that, you know, you've found it acceptable to say that they're in similar situations. So I am going to roll with that.

And with that said, I think it's cool to see that Nolan Aeronado is still being treated like a threat because every time that he came up to bat, the angels, you know, they put them on. They dance around him. It was always him coming up in clutch situations, and he was coming through. And for as much talk as there was of L. St. Louis is trying to get him out of out of there and trade him to another team. And he ends up staying.

I mean, I think it's great that he's actually, you know, performed the way that he's done. And, you know, to be a little bit older, maybe a little bit slower, the bat speed, the extra velocity is down year over year and whatnot. But he's still a threat. He's still Nolan Aronado, kind of like Mike Trout is still Mike Trout. You know, he's not been on the field. He's been injured a lot.

And so that's how it goes. But the fact is is that Nolan Aeronado continues to be a threat. And I hope that for his sake, he can be healthy and put up the typical numbers that he's able to put up. That he has a better season than he did a year ago. And on that note, there was no quit in the cards this past series. These guys stayed in it. Anytime I thought the Angels had a lead and it was like, okay, we just got a cruise to the end. The Cardinals got right back in it.

So there's a lot of fight in this team. I'm excited to see, you know, where Walker goes this season over a full, a full season, such a, he, he, I didn't realize he's 22, 23. He looks like it looks a lot older than that for some reason to me. It seems like he's been around for like 15 years. But yeah, he's been the starting right fielder for three years in a row and nobody would guess that. But, you know, it's just been a, it's been a turbulent career for him so far,

just up and down and up and down. And this is the year where they're finally saying, look, you're not going down anymore. It's done. This is your job. Go out there, play freely and enjoy. And I appreciate the kind words because, you know, the Cardinals are doing it with a lot of guys and against the way that angels are too.

Like a lot of guys that maybe a lot of people around baseball aren't familiar with yet. But you can see some of these guys that they've taken in the first round, making some really good impacts early on in the season. And it's something definitely, think that both organizations can grow from here in the early going. Both of us four and two, man. We got to love that.

High five to you, brother. Absolutely. Right back at you. Hey, thanks for making this crossover edition of Lockdown Angels and Locked on Cardinals, your first listen of the day. Hey, J.D., when you pick it back up again over on Lockedon Cardinals, what are you going to be talking about in your next show? Well, finally, the streak, if you will, of Contraris and Mason, when,

finally over is they finally snap and become actual big parts of this victory on Wednesday. And obviously we're going to preview what's going on this week. And the Cardinals finally hit the road for the first time. Ed into Boston, put some chowder. Oh, boy. We'll be taking on the socks this weekend. So we'll be chatting about that. You get a look at Christian Campbell, who just signed that was a nine-year extension.

Good for him, man. A lot of young guys getting rich quick, but it's the smart thing to do because, you know, when they get to that free agent year, you see where the market goes from. those guys. So, you know, with our teams, maybe we got to start thinking about saying some of these younger guys lock them up. I got to wait until Rendon's off the books. Then we can start locking them up over here in Anaheim. When Mike and I get back together for Locked on Angels, we'll be doing a fan mail Friday. So if you're an everyday or for Locked on Angels or for Locked on Cardinals, you want to send some questions our way. Feel free.

We'll be doing a fan mail Friday Friday on Locked on Angels. JD, this is a lot of fun, man. and I'm so glad we got together. Yeah, great talking to you, John. Tell Mike, I said what up. We'll do. All right, friends, we hope you'll come back and join us on Lockdown Angels and Locked on Cardinals. JD, I'm going to try this with you because Mike and I do it every show. I'm going to say, my name is John, and that's my friend, J.D.

And you say, and I'm J.D. And I'm J. And that's my friend John. And that's my friend John. We'll get it together. We'll get it together. We'll get it. All right, friends.

We hope you'll come back and join us. Until then, we'll see you back here on Lockdown Angels and Locked on Cardinals.