Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Liberatore Dominates The Phillies

Starting point is 00:00:00 What did Matthew Libertur do to stay relaxed before he went out through his best outing of the season to beat the Phillies? And what change did Wilson Contreras make the snap out of his funk? We've got the answers for you today on Locked on Cardinals. 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. Hapford and I am your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio and the podcast at

Starting point is 00:00:38 L0.1 underscore Cardinals. We're on YouTube. Make sure you like, subscribe, and comment, hit that notification button so you don't miss any new episodes or any of the shorts we put out there for you. Also available on TikTok and Instagram, the locked on Cardinals. This right here is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on the bat. You can see if you're watching on YouTube, I got the ugly shirt on. Yeah. You know, you could probably count on one hand. How many people actually thought that the Cardinals would not only win the series against the Phillies, but that Matthew Libertador would be the guy to beat Zach Wheeler to do it.

Starting point is 00:01:18 There couldn't have been a whole lot of people outside the Cardinals Clubhouse and, I don't know, probably Libby's family members that believed it could or would happen. I'll be honest. I didn't. I didn't think it was going to happen. But that's exactly what we got on Sunday when. And the lefty won his first game of the season, not just by throwing okay and, you know, the offense bailing them out and outscoring the other team, but dominating, dominating one of

Starting point is 00:01:46 the best lineups in Major League Baseball. Libby tosses six shutout innings. He allows just three hits. He walks one. He strikes out seven to move to one and one on the year. And not only does he beat the Phillips, but he beats Zach Wheeler. In the process, regarded as one of the best right-handed pitchers in all of baseball. Beat him today, fair and square. And you know, you would think that ahead of a game like this, a guy like Matthew Libertur who's young still doesn't have a whole lot of starts under his belt, getting ready to face Bryce Harper, one of the best hitters in all of baseball.

Starting point is 00:02:29 You got Trey Turner over there. You got Kyle Schwerbombs. Nick Castiano's, the Cardinal Killer, and all these guys that are lined up on the other side for the Phillies, maybe Libby would be a little stressed, maybe a little anxious. Who could blame him, right? Couldn't be further from the truth. According to John Denton, who covers the Cardinals for Mblebee.com, to get loose before the game, Matthew Libertor played a spirited series of ping pong with reliever and friend Ryan Fernandez.

Starting point is 00:02:58 Kept it loose. Apparently that's part of his normal routine. did that today before taking the field personally i think that's awesome i really do because whatever is going to relax you whether it's listening to music maybe you're playing chess maybe it's something else reading a book whatever it is and relax you and gets you in the right frame of mind that's fine by me i don't care what you do i really don't some people might call it too relaxed and be like oh come on no i'm not supposed to be playing ping pong he's got to focus his eyes his nose should be be buried in, you know, scouting reports and coaching tips or whatever the hell else he gets.

Starting point is 00:03:38 But every guy is different. Every guy is different in how they prepare and whatever Libby did besides the ping pong. It worked. And it worked well. We've seen glimpses of his potential as a starter on a couple of occasions. But what he was able to accomplish on Sunday against a quality of an opponent like the Philadelphia Phillies. it's got to make the front office and Ali and Dusty Blake and company. They all got to feel pretty darn good for the decision that they made at the end of spring training.

Starting point is 00:04:14 You know, ever since the trade that they brought Libby over to the Cardinals and sent Randy a Roserena to the Tampa Bay raise, you know, Libby has been under a lot of pressure and a lot of scrutiny. Some of that because, yeah, he's a former first round pick, but mostly because of what a Roserana did. did when he went to Tampa Bay, where he just, boosh, goes into a superstar-mode. As soon as he gets to Tampa Bay, goes off, becomes one of the star players in the league for a couple of years. And over here in St. Louis,

Starting point is 00:04:46 Cardinals patiently waiting, trying to develop the young left-hander. And it seems like he's been around forever now, right? It seems like he's been around for like a decade. He's still only 25 years old. He's dealt with that famous Cardinals, yo-yo decision-making. that we like to make fun of a little bit on this show about being a starter and a starter and a reliever. What are you? We don't know what to do with you that they've done to a couple of pitchers now. And it came as a shock, at least to me, this spring. Now, we knew that he was, he had mentioned that

Starting point is 00:05:17 he stretched out. He was planning on being a starter, prepared like he was going to be a starter coming into the year. But we saw how good he was as a reliever. And it came as a shock to me, at least in this spring when it was announced that he would be the number five starter in the rotation. And that was announced in the last week of training camp when he only had a, what, training camp. I shouldn't say that's more of a football tournament. But in spring training, when he had only one start in all the spring training. It's not like they, they were starting them a lot. They were bringing him in out of the bullpen. And he'd become a pretty darn good weapon in the bullpen, you know, a left-hander with strikeout stuff, really good against left. And

Starting point is 00:05:58 lefties out of the pen last year. But the Cardinals, they put their nuts on the, on the table and said, you know what? We believe in this guy as a starter. And that is what he is going to be. They actually pick the lane, which is something new, right? And in the long run, he's definitely worth more as a starter to the franchise than you would be as a reliever if things pan out. And over the last 10 and a third innings, he's been outstanding.

Starting point is 00:06:28 early on in his last start against Pittsburgh, not great, right? Gave up four runs in those first two innings, right-handers, we're smacking them around the ballpark, which is been the big problem for Levy. Great against lefties, can't get righties out. That's been the struggle. That's the thing that he's working on so he can become a competent starter. Because if you can't get the right-handers out,

Starting point is 00:06:50 there's no point in making you a starter because every lineups is going to be full of right-handers and they're going to kill you. But since that point, point since those first two innings in Pittsburgh, he settled in that game and gave up three hits, struck out six before leaving in the seventh inning with there was a runner on already and he eventually came around to score. So that did count against Libby. So that's one run. But only one run over those final few winnings in Pittsburgh. Then on Sunday, six shutout inning, strikes out seven more. He walks one. The walk is significant because it's the only guy that

Starting point is 00:07:28 Matthew Libertador has walked this year. That was the first one. One. So in the last 10 and a third innings, if you go back to what he did in Pittsburgh after those first two innings, and then you count what he did against the Phillies on Sunday, he's allowed one run on six hits. He has struck out 13 and has one walk. That's getting it done. That's getting it done, boys and girls. And on the season, He's now one in one, the ERA 3.93, the whip 0.98, outstanding, 18 punchies and 18 in the third innings. He's progressing. He's been almost unhittable if you're a left-hander. But it's the righties that, as it mentioned, usually give him trouble.

Starting point is 00:08:11 And on Sunday, two of the three hits he gave up were to right-handed hitters. And it was early on, it was real muto in Sosa in the second inning. And you're like, oh, boy, here come the right-handers, right? Bryce Harper singled in the third inning as well. But that was it. He locked it down. He shut it down. And he was getting guys on a variety of pitches.

Starting point is 00:08:35 It wasn't like he was leaning on one certain pitch to get people out. I mean, he used it everything. And all the tools going, four seamer, change up, slider. He was in his bag. The question now when it comes to Libertore is, can he replicate it moving forward? We'll find out. We'll find out. But you got to be happy with it. You got to be encouraged by it. And hopefully this is a decision that ends up working out for the Cardinals. It would be great. It would be great. Because now we're going to get into those stretch

Starting point is 00:09:03 of games, right, where we're going to go to a six-man rotation. Match is going to scoot you up and be a part of the rotation. And to have somebody as good as Libby looked on Sunday to have that guy going is obviously a plus for the Cardinals. Now, the offense also came back to life on Sunday led by Wilson Contreras, who made a certain change this weekend, specifically on Saturday, and has seen a lot of success since it happens. So we're going to talk about that next on Lockdown Cardinals. When it comes to fueling your body, quality matters. And that's why Just Ingredients is changing the game with clean, high quality products designed to support better health and peak performance. Now, Just Ingredients offers you an NSF certified line of protein powder,

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Starting point is 00:10:58 off. And for more wellness tips, follow at just.organt ingredients on Instagram. Thanks for making a Lockton Cardinals. Your first listen every day. Leave you comments on YouTube as well as on X. Anytime you want your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. The struggles of Wilson Contreras have been

Starting point is 00:11:23 well documented. Right? It's been rough. You know, this is a guy who was tearing the cover off the ball in spring training where he was raking 405, I think it was his final batting average in the spring. At a couple of bombs, six RBIs, you know, the OBP was like over 500. His OPS was through the roof. Like this spring, he looked incredible.

Starting point is 00:11:52 He beefed up. Remember when we first saw him in spring training and we're like, oh, my goodness, Wilson put on some weight in the upper body. Not fat. He wasn't a fat guy. He worked out, added some muscle. Sky was a limit, right? And my hot take the spring was that Willie would be the best hitting first

Starting point is 00:12:10 baseman in the NL Central this year. Best stats make the All-Star team as a first baseman in his first year of playing that position as, you know, exclusively at first. And since the start of the regular season, he has done hardly any back at the plate. opposing pitchers just kept serving them a steady dose of breaking balls breaking stuff over and over and Willie was messing them like Pedro Serrano and Major League man but unlike Serrano if you remember who could crush the fastball Contreras wasn't even doing that he wasn't hitting the fastball or

Starting point is 00:12:46 the straight ball which Contreras hits very much as Pedro liked to call it either he was constantly guessing wrong anytime he thought it was going to be a fastball, breaking ball would come and he'd look awful. He's thinking breaking ball, they'd fastball, inner half. He can't even get the bat around because he's fooled. He was swinging through pitches. It was like there was a hole in his bat. Like it was rough.

Starting point is 00:13:11 And people started getting really, really down on it. And part of that is because of where he was hitting. He was in the number two spot. And it just amplified the slump even more because it seemed like he was constantly coming up with runners on base in a position to make an impact on a game because he was. And over and over and over, it wouldn't work. And essentially, that spot of the order has been the black hole in the Cardinals lineup so far, significantly less offensive production from the number two spot overall because Contreras has been there almost every game.

Starting point is 00:13:50 And the Cardle's offense continued to roll. though, right? And you just kept wondering, when is it going to happen? When is Wilson Contreras finally going to break out? You knew it was going to happen. You know, he's a veteran. He's had the stats. What does Brad Thompson always say? You look at the back of the baseball card, and you know he's going to be good. He's going to get to those numbers eventually. So we're just kept waiting. When is that going to happen? When's he going to start punishing the ball a little bit more? And you kept looking at what the Cardinals' offense was doing and what they've accomplished so far. Like, after Sunday's win. The Cardinals right now are second of the majors in batting average.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Their first and on base percentage. They're fourth and slugging. Second in OPS. They're four than ribby's. Third in run scored. Like right now it's an elite offense overall. And if I told you, the team would be as high as they are in the rankings among offensive stats. And that Wilson Contreras would be hitting 102 coming into the series against Philly with just three RBIs a no home runs, you would call me a liar straight to my face. And it's, it's shocking numbers after the spring that he had. Like you're like, what? How did it go just boop? How did it go so bad? How did it just nose dive? And it's just part of part of the game of baseball, man. Ollie gives him off Friday night, like doesn't have him. He gets the day off Thursday,

Starting point is 00:15:21 obviously, because we didn't have a game. Then he gives him off Friday night against Darren Noah. Saturday's back in the lineup they had a batting third against the left-hander Sanchez. But other than moving him from number two to number three, and then on Sunday, he was in the number five hole. Something else changed as well. Wilson Gutierrez got himself a brand new batch of the famous torpedo bats. It started using those on Saturday instead of his normal lumber. And the results speak for themselves. My guy is four-fifes. four eight with two doubles and his first home run of the year and Sunday's game off Wheeler to put the cardinals ahead by a score of two to nothing and ended up being the game winning RBIs. Four for eight.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Wilson spoke with the media after the game on Sunday and said that he thinks it's more mental than anything else when it comes to changing his bats. He said he tried him in the spring, but he wasn't a big fan. He swung him. He was like, I don't really like to feel of these. So he went back to his usual ones, but says he's a fan now. Funny how that works out when you go for a for a right. Got some results finally this weekend. And every player, you know, they're going to go through these up and downs.

Starting point is 00:16:33 Okay, we know this. It's baseball. It happens peaks and valleys over and over during the season. But everything is so magnified at the beginning of the year that slumps early on just seem a whole lot worse. Like it seems like you're bringing the whole, the whole season's falling apart here in week three because you haven't been able to hit. And it's not that it wasn't a bad slum because it was terrible. But if this was going on in June and July after his normal stats for the first couple of months, you really wouldn't even bat an eye at it.

Starting point is 00:17:04 But right now, people are calling for your head in early April because they look at it as a trend of how your season is going to go. Like, uh-oh, as Wilson Contreras hit a wall? Does he suck now? It's going to be terrible the rest of the year? What are we going to do? Move them down to eighth. you got to bench him. You know, people, people get a little wacky.

Starting point is 00:17:26 Now, I was all four moving him from the number two spot. Like, maybe just scoge him down a little bit, move them around a little bit, massage that line up some just to kind of get him out of that particular spot, which Ali has done the last couple days. But it was really nice. It was really nice to see him teeing off over the last couple days. And obviously hitting that line shot against Wheeler, two run Jack in the bottom of the fourth turning on a three one fastball the bad speed's always been there but he turns on that

Starting point is 00:17:57 sucker rips it over the wall and left field it was a beautiful thing to watch i was actually in the tax office i was doing my taxes today when that happened and i was like yes and then i looked at what uncle sam was doing to me i was like no uncle sam sucks man i can't believe what they do to us in taxes but anyway i was happy for contraris That brought some joy to my life on a Sunday. We also got a big day from Jordan Walker, who also had been scuffling up there. It was three for his last 21 coming into Sunday,

Starting point is 00:18:29 but he goes two for four hits his second dinger of the year in the eighth inning. That was a two-run shot that made it seven to nothing and put the game away. Jordan Walker hitting the ball hard and line drives and seeing him go over a wall. Always going to bring a smile to my face. Derek Gould at the Post Dispatch actually did a nice little write-up on the improvements because everybody's always focused on, Jordan Walker's offense, but he was like, but what about the defense? Like, can we notice that Jordan Walker hasn't been a liability in right field?

Starting point is 00:18:59 In fact, so far this season, he's a plus two defensive run saved right fielder. And the Cardinals as a team are fourth in the league overall and a plus eight DRS. And they're tied for first with their next opponent, the Houston Astros, an ounce above average at eight. So kudos to what John Jay has been doing with Jordan Walker in right. field. He's looked a lot better. I know there's been some criticism of him making easier to plays look a little more difficult, but he makes the plays and hopefully they'll become easier as time goes on. But, you know, kudos to the kid for improving because we know how it was when

Starting point is 00:19:37 he first came up and started playing right field. And you're like, oh my gosh, right field is the moon to this guy. The Cardinals end up hitting four doubles in the game against the Phillies on Sunday, of Brennan Donovan, Nolan Arnato, Nolan Gorman, Joel Pozo, everybody's favorite new catcher. Doni Nato and Gorman's doubles all came in that sixth inning when the card will stretch the lead to four to nothing. And although Gorman's wasn't like the normal line drive double into the gap or down the line or something like that,

Starting point is 00:20:04 he just kind of dinked it in and it found grass. But it was good to see him not only on the field and contributing, but smiling. Like when he hit the devil, he did his little birdie thing. Like he was smiling, which is something new. You didn't see a lot of that from Nolan. and Gorman over the first couple of years. So it's good to see him, happy to be back on the ball field and playing with the Cardinals at the Major League level and contributing after being

Starting point is 00:20:27 on the eye out. Mason Wynn going on the shelf with the back issue this weekend. It gives the Cardinals a chance to use to JC. Obviously, a shortstop. He's hitting 400 something since being brought up. You saw Donovan in shortstop today. So that might be something they They employ a little bit against right handers. But you might see Gorman in the lineup a little bit more at second base and, of course, at D.H. So it's good to see Gorman back. Seven nothing winners and two shutouts over the Phillies. That's something right there.

Starting point is 00:21:00 And it's been a long time. So the Cardinals have had two shutouts over the Phillies in the same series, like a long time since that's happened. I'm going to tell you about that and some other fun facts here in just a bit. Plus, we'll talk about the Cardinals next opponent, the Houston Astros who are coming to town. That's next on Lockdown Cardinals. The NBA playoffs are almost here, and Fandul is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action right now when you join Fandul and you place your first $5 bet. You're going to get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins. You're going to love how Fandual makes betting so easy.

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Starting point is 00:22:07 I like going with guys when I do player props. I like going with guys who can do a little bit of everything. I had my dude, my dude, Nicola Jokic this year, wrote him in fantasy basketball, wrote him to the championship, although we missed the whole final week during my fantasy basketball championship, but I still won.

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Starting point is 00:22:56 Head to fando.com, claim to $250 in bonus bets today. Thank you again for making Lockton Carl's your first listen today. If you're a second list, check out Lockton Fantasy Baseball. It's a podcast with our host, Dominic, and Matthew, who are going to help you out for, the entire MLB season. Waivers, drops, who to start, who to drop or who to, who to bench.

Starting point is 00:23:23 like they cover all of it. They're going to talk about sleepers. They're going to talk about guys that you should be picking up on waivers that nobody knows about just yet, but they think are going to pop off in the near future. They're going to help you win your league. That's the point. Find locked on fantasy baseball on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. All right. So the Cardinals haven't shut out the Phillies twice in a series in a very long time. The last time it happened was the same year that the Nintendo 64 came out, which I don't think I ever had one of those. The Spice Girls were the new It Thing in Pop Music.

Starting point is 00:23:58 Obviously, you know who that is. Girls were swooning at the site of Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson in the movie Titanic and My Green Bay Packers beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. What year was it? Anybody? Anybody? 1997 was the last time the Cardinals shut out the Phillies twice in the same series. 28 years ago.

Starting point is 00:24:28 That's a long time, brother. Some more cool facts from Rob Raines at SELSportspage.com. Contreras's Homer snapped the streak of 157 at bats by the Cardals without a home run. They've got 18 on the year now. So it's not like they're one of the lower people on the totem pole and home runs. They're actually pretty good. So the fact that they went 157 at bats without one is a little bit shocking. The Phillies did not hit a home run in the series.

Starting point is 00:24:53 That's shocking. And the Cardinals have not allowed a home run in the opponent's last 154 at bat. So it's hard to complain about what we've seen from the pitching, at least in this last stretch. You know, Boston was, oh, baby. But since then, not so bad. You know, that first game against the pirates sucked, obviously. But outside of that, man, things have been good. The Phillies only had a combined 14 hits in the series.

Starting point is 00:25:18 Their few are the three-game series against the Cardinals since 1982. What happened in that year? Yeah, that's right. Cardinals won the World Series beating the Brewers. Back on the Brewers were an American-Ling team, for those of you who remember. This was the third time in the last turn through the rotation that the Cardinals started did not allow a run overall. and the last turn through the rotation.

Starting point is 00:25:44 The five starters combined allow just four runs in 29 innings. That's a 1.24 ERA. Yeah, you'll take that. You'll take that. The wind moved them to seven and eight on the season, but they are six and three at home, and there was an announced attendance, which I was happy to see.

Starting point is 00:25:59 Now it wasn't a sell-off. So I get it. The announced attendance, 32,000, I think he's 32-5 at the ballpark on Sunday, somewhere around then. They had 32 on Friday. They had over 30 on Saturday. Again, this is sold attendance.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Obviously, there were not that many people there. Not all of those tickets sold had butts in their seats. But despite the 7 and 8 record, in my opinion, this team has been very entertaining. You know, you get your butt kicked on that Sunday night game in Boston, right? You lose the one game and extra innings. That was tough. But most of the time, these guys have been. been right in it. You know, their 0 and 4 and extra innings. Like I said before, like you split those,

Starting point is 00:26:47 like you're looking at a totally different record here. And you're like, hey, these guys are that bad. So I hope that they continue to be an entertaining team to watch and that more fans continue to come out to the ballpark to watch them, support them. You know, it's a younger team. I don't know, side of the rotation. It's a younger team. And, you know, it'd be nice to to let these guys see what Cardinal baseball is all about in St. Louis. And if you choose not to come, that's your prerogative. I get it. I'm not like shaming you for not going.

Starting point is 00:27:23 But I just, I've found it a pretty entertaining brand of baseball so far. So they're getting my money. I'm coming to the ball games. The Astros are a Bush next for a three game series. That begins on Monday night. The Astros are also seven and eight to start the year. They're coming off to seven three, one over the Angels. They took two or three from L.A.

Starting point is 00:27:40 in that series. You've got a normal name at the top of their offensive stats in Jose Altuve. Left fielder, Jose Altuve. We saw that in spring training. It has not worked out very well for him. He is a minus six DRS right now, which is second worst in baseball behind O'Neill Cruz of the Pirates and center field. So if the Carlos is going to hit the ball somewhere, hit at the left field. Hit it at El Tuve, please. Chances are good. He's not going to. field it. Offensively, though, Altuve is still the same guy that you've known for years. 302, three home runs, seven ribbies, Issock Parades, who the guy from the Cubs and that Kyle Tucker deal. He's got three home runs. He's tied for the team lead in RBI with Gordaun Alvarez.

Starting point is 00:28:25 He's got nine. Alvarez only got one home run so far this season, which is a little scary because that means he's due. So let's try to keep it that way. I'm talking to you, Sunny Gray, who likes to give up bombs left and right. New first basement, Christian Walker, off to a slow start for the oblique injury in spring training, two for his last 19. The pitching matchups, let's be honest, they favor, they favor the Astros. You've got their ace for Amber Valdez against Sunny Gray in game one on Monday night. Valdez is a two-time all-star. He won 15 games last year.

Starting point is 00:28:58 He's looked great in two of his three starts so far this year against the Mets and Mariners. He was great. Giants touched him up in his second start, five runs, hit two home runs off him. He walked four in that game. So hopefully we get that for Amber Valdez. Tuesday night, you're going to have their excellent young right-hander, Hunter Brown, against Eric Fetty, who just is coming off, throwing six no-hit innings against the pirates.

Starting point is 00:29:21 The Hunter Brown's very good. Wednesday's day game, Andre Palante, already penciled in for the Cardinals. Houston has yet to name their starter. So certainly not an easy forecast when it comes to who the Cardinals are going to face on the mound for the Astros, and those first two games are both quite good. in Valdez and Brown.

Starting point is 00:29:39 But, you know, the Cardinals just beat Aaron Nolan, Zach Wheeler. So that's why they play the games, because you just never know. Competence is high, heading into the series. I hope they, they continue to do what they've been doing.

Starting point is 00:29:53 Thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals, your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give me a follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio, TikTok. It's at Lockdown Cardinals as well as on Instagram. Put those shorts out on TikTok and on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:30:08 So we haven't seen those yet. Make sure you go look at them. Like, subscribe on YouTube. Help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Liberatore Dominates The Phillies

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