Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Perhaps The Hardest Fought Win Of The Season

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

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

In a game where their ace wasn't completely on the top of his game, the Cardinals, they stayed resilient and got a little bit of help from a questionable managerial decision to earn a hard-fought victory over the Angels. This is 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 fans. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm a national radio sports anchor. born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And I'm your host for Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow

me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio and the podcast at LO underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals, your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube. This is a show of serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by eBay Motors, from brakes to exhaust kits and beyond. over 122 million parts to keep your ride or die alive. With all the parts you need, at the prices you want, it's easy to bring home that big win.

Just keep your rider die alive at eBayMoters.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. So if you're watching on YouTube, you will see I have got, I fully embrace the blue right now because, first off, I like how it looks. I like the blue hats and the blue cleats and everything that the Carls been wearing out in L.A., something they normally do against teams that also have the, you know,

red as a main color. So I like it. I'm embracing it. And we got a series win. We got a series win with the victory last night. So you get the ugly Cardinals Hawaiian shirt today because that's what we do to celebrate. But what a roller coaster of a game. It was on Tuesday night between the Cardinals and the Angels.

And honestly, should we expect anything different considering the records of these two teams? as much fun as it is to see the Cardinals win three in a row, which is great. And believe me, I'm thrilled about it. I'm thrilled about it. I'm in a better mood when they're winning. My wife says I'm a better person around the house when they're doing well. Food tastes better. The beer seems colder.

You know, I've got some extra steam in my stride. My workouts are more efficient. Like, it's good. I like it when the Cardinals win. But let's not kid ourselves here. You know, the Cardinals are winning. but they're beating an Angels team that isn't very good. So let's not start popping champagne and getting too, too excited about saying things like,

oh, they turn to corner, now they're on their way. Like, baby steps. Let's take it game by game. I'm thrilled that they've won three in a row, but you're supposed to beat the bad teams, right? This is what you're supposed to do when you play them. Now, how disheartening? Remember, how disheartening was it losing to the White Sox at home, like that series? It was awful, right?

That's how it would have felt if you lost to the Angels out in L.A., but so far, taking care of business. Wasn't a great feeling against the White Sox. I'm glad we don't have to feel it against the Angels because they picked up the series when. So to take the first two games of this series, very nice. But it wasn't easy on Tuesday either. Like, I was sweating a lot in this game. It started out like it was going to be an easy game. It seemed like things were well on their way to a convincing win in L.A.

but boy, oh boy, did it get tens later. The Cardinals jumped out to this 5-0-0 lead in the first three innings. Big blow being the two-wow, two-strike, bases clearing three-run double by backup cadger Pedro Pohas. His first hit in the major leagues, awesome. Awesome for Pedro, by the way. And it was huge considering it looked like the Cardinals were once again going to squander, another basis-loaded situation without any runs following yet another Nolan-Gorman strikeout.

We'll talk more about him a little bit later. in one of the most non-competitive at bats I've seen him take this year. He just looked awful on Tuesday night. But it's a team sport. That's why you got a whole bunch of other people on your team to help pick you up. And that's what Pahas did. He picks up his boy, Gorman, and the Cardinals have this commanding lead with their ace, Sunny Gray on the hill.

And everything seems like it's going to be amazing, right? And sunny look great until the fourth inning. Scores 5 to 1 at this point. The Angels start taking some credit to them, some pretty darn good at bats against sunny you gotta give them credit they were laying off some really good pitches and then hitting the ones that weren't so good a bunch of two strike hits off gray as the angels just kept battling and battling and then with one out they got back-to-back singles and then catcher logan o'hoppy drills a three-run shot on a sinker that hung up in the zone and he mashed it he didn't miss fifth home run off grade this season

after giving up just eight all year last season with the twins also his fourth home run given up in the last two games. Now, we got ourselves a game all of a sudden. I'm thinking, what, what the hell is going on here? It's five to four. We're not supposed to have a problem. When we're up five-nothing and sunny grades on the mound, we're not supposed to be sweating games out, right? And then in the fifth inning, the angels complete the comeback, back-to-back lead off singles, although the angels ran into and out trying to stretch that second single into a double, which almost, I mean, it did catch knowing Gorman off guard. Like, he had no idea that guy who's coming into second base.

Lucky for him, you saw Mason win like, hey, tag him. And they were able to get that. But they get that out. But sack fly by the next hitter, five, five-five. You don't see Sunny Gray cough up five-run leads every day. But credit to Sunny, he kept competing, despite clearly losing his command on his pitches, that we're not used to seeing that or just not. And in the sixth inning, he was in trouble again.

He had a walk, then a catcher's interference call. I genuinely thought Pedro Paul his hand came off with his glove. I thought he lost his hand. This stuff is crazy with the catcher's interference call. Somebody backed these dudes up. So, geez, yeah. I mean, you can't frame strikes if all your catchers are out with arm and hand injuries. Okay, let's scoge him back just a little bit, man.

This is getting silly. Anyways, first and second one out. He strikes out the next hitter, walks the next guy. Now he got bases loaded two out, game in the balance. again, I'm sweating far too much for a mid-May baseball game between two last place teams. It should not feel like this, but it is what it is. And Sunny Gray does what big game pitchers and staff bases do. Whatever you want to call him, he nuts up and he strikes out Nolan, Sean,

well, to end the threat. And when your best pitcher doesn't have his good stuff, when he's struggling out there and he's just fighting his way through it, but still competes his butt off and gives you six innings, you tip your cap to him. You've got to. No, Sunny Gray didn't look amazing last night. He did have nine strikeouts in the game. It's not like he sucked. I mean, you take that one sinker away that he hung to O'Hoppy, and you're talking about an entirely different ballgame, but it did happen. He did hit a home run. You know, if that was Michaelis or Matt's out there at the end, you're probably seeing those pitchers get pulled. But Sonny's your guy. You ride or die with him, and he stepped up

when he had to. So a lot of credit to Sunny Gray and in return, the offense was able to reward him later. We'll get into the big event by Alec Burleson and the ballsy call by Angels manager Rod Washington that genuinely left my jaw dropped open. I could not believe that he called this. I still can't believe. We're going to talk about it next on lockdown carcass. Passion driving patience. That's what brings home the winning trophy. It's also what keeps your ride or down. a live eBay Motors. They've got everything. You need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance.

From superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and a whole lot more, you can really soup up your ride and make it wonderful. Whether you're into speed, whether it's power, whether it's style, or you want the whole ball of wax. You can get it with eBay motors. They've got you covered with over 122 million parts. For your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you'll look at. for and with eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every single time or you get your money back. You're not stuck with something that doesn't work out for you

because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want. It's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your rider die live at eBay.com.com slash motors. That's eBay.com slash motors. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers, eligible items only, exclusions apply. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day? And you got to turn down the volume because of all the shouting. Then make that switch to Lockdown Sports Day. I'm surprised you haven't done it already. A free 24-7 sports streaming channel program just for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all of that screaming. Locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions, and news.

And it's streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app, all part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And thank you for making a lockdown Cardinals, your first listen every day. Leave your feedback and comments and whatnots on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. A reminder during games, I'm always on Twitter X, tweeting along with what's going on with the game, my opinions on the game. And I love hearing from you while we're doing.

I love having the discussions during the games, after the games, anytime you want. So don't be shy. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. So after the sixth inning, we got a brand new ball game, right? five, top of the seventh, and we're all like, dude, how did we, what, Sunny Gray was on the mound? We were cruising. How do we blow this lead? And I mentioned that the other day that the Cardinals, in my opinion, should consider hitting

Alec Berlus and Cleop. The way he's been swinging the bat, I like him either in front of Aronado or right behind it. One of the two, whatever Ali decides. And in the game on Tuesday night, he was batting behind Aranato. I'm fine with that. I'm just, you know, watching Paul Goldschmidt still take it bats where he's still a couple of hits last night, okay?

I'm not trying to bash on him, but man, he is, it's, you look at his swing and go look at Alec Burles Suts and see who do you think is a more dangerous hitter in the lineup right now. But anyway, so I'm kind of, I'm in favor of either scooching burly up in front of Arna, or if you want to keep him in number five, that's fine. And obviously left-hander on the mound last night. So that was part of the reason why certain people were in certain positions in the lineup last night, like Mason Wendt, batting laid out. So I get it. But anyway, seventh day, Alec Burleson, comes to the plate.

Lead off single by Aronado, great at bat, by the way. The Angels bring in lefty Amir Garrett, who, I'll be honest, I had no idea this dude was still in the league. I really didn't. I thought he was done. I thought he was long gone. I had no idea. But you remember him from his red stays mostly. and Burley comes up, so it's lefty-lefty,

and Burley gets ahead in the count three, one. And the next pitch, he tattoos it over the wall in right field, 107.1 off the bad, just a line shot over the wall in right field. This is fourth finger of the season. Cards get the lead back, making it seven to five. But these angels, these angels and their halos, they just won't float away. It won't go away.

They kept pasturing. Kevin Pilar, who's having a heck of a series so far. And I made the joke last night that I'm really. starting to dislike him in Bullock because he's making life kind of miserable for the Cardinals in this series. He gets an RBI single off Ryan Fernandez to cut the lead to seven to six. Then in the eighth inning, Jojo Romero comes on, and this is where things got a little bit crazy. It was a tough night for Jojo. Not every night's going to be perfect. I get that. He was having trouble getting the breaking ball of a slider over for a strike, and the Angels hitters just were not

biting. They weren't swinging at pitches out of the zone against Jojo. They wouldn't chase. had eyes like an eagle in certain at bats. You get a seven-pitch at bat that ends with a double. Then a five-pitch walk to Kyron Paris with the last ball being awarded on a pitch timer violation, which is like, oh, my gosh, are we really doing this? Then the next step walks in a six-pitch at bat. Now we got bases juiced. All right, we're in trouble.

Bases juiced, one hour, Maro Can't throw strikes. We are in deep spit right now. Yeah? And thank God. Thank God for Angels manager Ron Washington and his aggressive nature, if you will, because I'll explain to you what he said about it, but he decides that he's going to call a suicide squeeze on the third pitch of the bat. Luis Guillermo is at the play. Bless his little heart. Try to put the bat on the ball.

He really did. But the breaking ball, the slider was so bad from Jojo. It was so far outside. Giormo was a left-hand-a-hitter, by the way. So lefty, lefty. And it's so far outside from him that Pau just catches it. And the runner's just right there. It just kind of tags up.

And then they almost turn two because the runner on second is running to third base. They almost get him. Rottom first doesn't even move for whatever reason. if you missed the sign. It was so funny because you're like, what? Thank you. Thank you so much. A gift from the baseball gods. Out number two, Romero buckles down against the whiff to end the inning. An unbelievable call by Ron Washington, who said after that because of the lefty, lefty match, if he was afraid that his hitter, who he said can handle the bat well, was trying to avoid having him get into an inning and he double play. Again, by calling a suicide squeeze against the pitcher, who's having trouble throwing strikes?

Like, if it's not in, if it's not a guy who's going to be in the zone much, it's hard to bunt that to get the bad on the ball. And again, because Romero was so bad with that pitch, it made it an easy out. If Ali had done that, if the rolls were reversed and this was the Cardinals in that situation and Ali had called that fans might have burned down the stadium, dude. They would have been so mad. Just an unbelievable call. And frankly, a foolish call that shows me he just doesn't have a whole lot of faith in his team getting the job done because they had Jojo on the ropes. They were having good at bats against him, you know?

And he made the call. Crazy stuff. So that takes the angels out of the inning. Helsley comes in in the ninth inning. A damn Kevin Pilar again hits him with a single up the middle and ricochets off of Helsley. Thank goodness. He was okay. because we've done down this route, this road before, where Helsley, something happens up the middle and he hurts his hand or whatever, and we don't want that because he's been incredible so far this year.

But Helsley seemed fine, strikes out two, picks up his 13th save, Cardinals won it's 7 to 6. Takeaways from the game, huge performance at the plate by Alec Berlinson, right? He goes three for five, looked awesome. Go ahead, two run shot. He had a single. He had a double. The batting average is up to 272. He's got four dingers, 15 driven in.

And he's doing all of this in 103 of bats. Remember, he wasn't getting a whole lot of the bats at the beginning of the year. It was a part-time guy at best. But over the last 30 days, he's hitting 286. He's got an OPS of 842. No reason whatsoever. He should not be in your lineup, unless you're facing a lefty, which I guess you can understand that.

But I don't know. He's one of your best hitters right now. Some people are even saying, why not let him start at first right now until Goldie gets his head straight, which hard to argue against because although Goldie had a couple of more hits last night, again, he's still having some pretty awkward at bats. Again, I love the grit shown by Sunny Gray. Give him credit.

Sunny Gray, fantastic last night despite not having his good stuff. And when I say fantastic, I'm like, just the fight that he showed after the third inning, you know, he had to battle, like battle his butt off. He's how sweaty he was last night, gave his team six setting, strikes out nine, picks up his fifth win of the season. A lot of those other pitchers would have been toast, would have quit, would have probably given up the lead. But like I said earlier, Sunny Gray, nut up or shut up time, and he did what he had to do. Pedro Pahas with the big three-run double also made some very big plays behind the plate defensively.

A lot of big blocks back there on pitches that got spiked in the dirt. We know Herrera is the better hitter of the two. But Pahas behind the plate, I'm fine with that defensively. I've been very impressed. I don't know what the throwing arm is like just yet, you know, still to be decided, but it can't be worse than Herrera. He hasn't thrown anybody out. Nolan Gorman, 0 for 4, 4 strikeouts, had a walk and a run scored,

but he's getting worse, guys. He looked terrible on Tuesday. Average down to 191, which is the worst batting average of any qualified second basement in the league. 51 strikeouts, second most of any second baseman in the league. Like, what are we doing here, man? What's going on with Nolan Gorman? Does he need to go to an optometrist?

Does he need an eye doctor? What's going on? Do we need to get him some Chris Sable-like Rex Specks? I mean, what do we have to do here? Because there are some nights like last night. It's like he had no idea what he was doing out there. He looked like he never swung a bat before. I don't know how these guys get so lost at the plate sometimes.

I mean, when you're playing every day, it just seems like eventually they'll snap out of this video. but Gorman is, he's in a bad spot, guys. And I had people asking me last night if, uh, if sending him down in AAA is a smart move and I'm like, I don't, maybe. I don't know. I don't know how to get it right. I mean, they sent Jordan Walker down to get right and, uh, things are getting better. We're going to talk more about him momentarily. But, uh, Cardinals just two for 15 with runners in scoring position. That's disgusting.

You got to be better than that. They're hitting just 194 as a team with runners in scoring position. I've got no clue why they stink. so bad at those spots. I can't explain it. Coming into last night, Gorman is batting 91. There's not even a one there. 91 with runners in scoring position with 12 strikeouts and 33 at bats. I mean, this is mid-May, man. This guy's got to figure some stuff out quickly. This is a guy that's supposed to be one of their three, four, five guys. And he's been brutal. But let's not stay negative. Let's not stay negative. Let's not stay nigger three wins in a row team game one guy struggles the others need to pick them up and on tuesday you had donovan and goldie each had two hits burly with three joe and carlson got his first hit on

the scene that i go he scored twice uh gorman was the only started to go hitless so team effort wise solid solid team effort at the plate again their fourth straight game with double digit hits keep it up boys keep it up uh jordan walker got an update on him i want to talk about him next uh yeah You remember, right, top prospects are going to work on the swing and stuff. Yeah, he's got, he's heading in the right direction. We got good news about him. I'll have that in a preview for Wednesday's game. Coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.

Baseball season is officially underway. Don't miss your chance to add your favorite players from the diamond and your prize picks entries. Whether it's strikeouts, RBIs, or first inning runs, take your pick of more or less and add them to your prize picks entry today. Told you, maybe bet on Sunday gray in the strikeouts yesterday. and lo and behold, goes off and throws nine, gets them. So I don't know. You know this Cardl's team as well as I do, don't you? So you know what?

Who's doing what? And who you should be betting for and who you should be betting against? Be smart about it. Be smart about it. Get your picks in. Also, get in on the playoff action and went up to 100 times your money on price picks. As you and the world's best players take that game to the whole new level during basketball's postseason, which is in round two right now, Stanley Cup playoffs.

going on right now. I like testing my skills during the baseball season with prize picks because it's the most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. If you've got the skills, you can turn 10 measly dollars into 100 bucks with just a few taps. Pretty simple. My favorite aspect also, how quick and simple it is to play on price picks. I can make my picks, submit my entries. Do it all in less than 60 seconds. And when you win, you get paid quick too. So download the app today. Use the code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Don't miss out. on your chance to win easy money. It's easy money. Use your knowledge on all your favorite sports and win. Download the app today. Use the code Lockdown MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy with price picks.

Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's now also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day, along with the local experts of Lockdown, like myself, despite this shirt, plus our national shows covering every league by Locked On Sports Today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. So Jordan Walker, he's got a very bright future. He's got the tools, he's got the size, he's got the mentality, very important to be a very good Major League baseball player. Is he going to be a superstar and one of the elite hitters in the league? too early to say.

But similar to last year, the big guy struggled early on in the season. And then what happened? Last year ended up having a fantastic rookie year. Like when you go and look at the numbers at the end of it all, you're like, huh, all right. Last year, the problem was not enough lift. He was hitting too many ground balls. He wasn't getting the ball in the air.

This year, it's the way teams are pitching him, where everything is away, away, breaking ball, away, breaking ball, away, fastball, away. And Jordan was having a tough time. You know, he was hitting 155 when he was up on the big club, no home runs, just four RBIs, slugging was at 259, the OPS 498, ugh, just not going to cut it. That's not going to cut it at the major league level. And to keep thrusting him in the lineup at age 21, when so much of this franchise is future is resting on how well he does for this team over the next five to 10 years.

It was smart to let him step away for a couple of days. Send him down. Take him out of the big league pressures. Send him down. Try to get right at AAA Memphis. You know, they gave him a couple of days off. Just said, hey, just clear your mind. We'll work on some things behind the scenes.

But take a step back. Take a step back. Rob Raines at SCLportspage.com did a really nice story about Walker. and Victor Scott the second, another guy who came up earlier than we expected him to be on the team, but struggled mightily, right? Just had a really tough time with the bat. And both of them are now down at Memphis, trying to get things right. I'm going to link the story in the description and in the comments and stuff down below,

the show notes, wherever you're going to click on it at. But I'll have it in there for you so you can read the entirety thing. But Rob Raines talked to Matt Carpenter about this. Remember, Carp was on rehab assignment with Memphis, so we got to spend some time with Walker and with Victor Scott. And he made some great points about how difficult things are between, you know, what you're doing at AAA and then what you're doing in the major leagues and how difficult that jump really is. So here's some quotes from Matt Carpenter and this story by Rob Braves. I think there's always been a gap between AAA and the big leagues, but I think the gap is bigger now than it's ever been, specifically hitting.

because that's what I know from a hitting standpoint, it's never been bigger. Some of the reasons pointed out by Carpenter, how players get rushed to the major leagues at a younger age than ever before. Remember, Jordan Wallander's 21. It seems like he's been around for a long time. He's still only 21. How the six-game schedule on the minors allows hitters' repeated looks at the same pitchers, how the electronic strike zone and challenge system is different than the majors, the quality of pitchers at the major league level and the pressure that goes with players trying to succeed in the majors for the first time to find the challenge that young hitters face. The results weren't immediate for Walker when he went down to Memphis. It wasn't.

He struggled right away. You know, with any slum. It takes time to get your mechanics right again, get everything going in the right direction. Plus, you got to get your mental side of things adjusted too. When I said it before, Jordan Walker has probably never tasted failure at any level of baseball until now. Like ever, Carp touched on this too, saying it's especially hard for a younger guy who maybe has never struggled before. When you do it for the first time, there can be a lot of doubt in there. A guy like me or what Paul Goldschman has been going through, when you've got a track record and struggled plenty of times before, you know kind of how to work your way through it. When a young guy is up in the big leagues for the first time struggling, it's a hard place to be.

and it's not an easy pill to swallow for a guy who's been the best player on every team he's probably ever played for. It like dominates at every level that he's ever played. I mean, again, Jordan Walker is just a couple of years removed from high school. You know, this guy didn't go away to college and learn to become a man and live on his own and do all these things. He was a high school kid, and then boom. A couple of years later, he's at the major league level. And it's not easy. And you're seeing it across the league.

A bunch of so-called campus prospects who get called up and aren't having much success. You know, Matt Holliday's kid, Jackson Holiday, for one. Number one overall pick. Best prospect in baseball, right? Baltimore brings him up, and he looked terrible, not even close. to Major League ready. Like they carved him up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Got sent back down. He's sitting down there because he just clobbered Memphis the other day. But he wasn't ready. It's not easy. And I know we have these expectations that, you know, hey, this guy is, you know, a top five prospect for the Cardinals.

Like he should come up and he should be perfect and amazing and he should start and he's going to be your cleanup hitter right out the gate. And it's not that simple. Hitting a baseball at the Major League. level is not easy. These guys are so good, they make it look easy, but it's not. He's a great kid. It's a smart kid. And don't look now, but he's starting to turn things around. Memphis played two games on Tuesday.

And although he went hitless in the last game, Walker was writing a nine-game hitting streak to begin the month of May. His average when he started May, 154. He's now hitting 327. Hit 350 in the month. of May. OPS, now up to 790. You get it around 800, you're pretty darn happy. On base percentage. 382. This is good stuff. Now, the power has not arrived yet. He still does not have a home run this season at any level. Not in the major leagues, not a AAA. And that's a little bit troubling.

People are a little concerned about that. But at the same time, I'm just happy that he's starting to hit the ball hard. Because that's what you look for. You're looking to exit Velos, contact, and you're seeing the results. Like he had exit villas of 107.9 and 105.1 in the first game yesterday. Like he's scalding the ball. They're just not going over the wall. They will. They will.

They'll get there. And maybe Jordan Walker won't be a 35, 40 home run guy. I don't care. If he's hitting doubles and he's batting like 315, I'm okay with it. I'll take 315, 18 to 20 dingers, and 95. RBIs every year. I'll do that. I'll take that. But it's a start. It's a start for Jordan Walker. I want him to slow play this. I'm not trying to get in a rush to bring him back up to the major league level. I think that's a mistake. There's no need to anyway to bring him up to the show right now.

The Cardinals have a healthy stable of outfielders right now with Brandon Donovan, Michael Ciani, who everybody is falling in love with, by the way. I got Reds fans text me. Can we get him back? We see what he's doing for you. Can we get him back? No, can't have him. You were stupid. you let him go. Newpar, Burlison, Carlson, everybody's healthy right now. All right. So you got a nice stable barring any injuries, no need whatsoever to pull him up right now. Let him continue his path and get to the level it needs to be at before you even consider bringing him back up to the major leagues. Carl's going to go for the sweep tonight against the Angels. Lance Lynn takes the Hill, hasn't made it past five innings in his last four starts. Hasn't cracked 95 pitches either.

And his winlets in those starts as well. So he's going to try to do better tonight. against Angels right-handed Griffin Canning, who is one in four. He got an ERA of 5.75, but don't let him fool you. He's been a lot better in his last two starts. He got hit really, really hard at the beginning of the season, and so his numbers are a bit inflated, but he hasn't been that bad, especially in the last two starts, has allowed just two-heard runs over 11 to two-thirds innings against the Guardians and the Royals. In fact, he tossed five and two-thirds shutout innings against Kansas City his last time out.

So not a big strikeout guy, which is good news for the Cardinals who like to strike out. So hopefully a lot of contact, a lot of hits, double-digit hits again tonight. We hope. And hopefully we get that sweep. So have your brooms ready. Maybe put them off to the side a little bit. Like, don't get cocky about this. But maybe you have it ready just in case.

Thank you for making Lockstone Cardinals your first list in every day. If you haven't already, please do me a solid. Give me a follow on Twitter X at L1 underscore Cardinals into JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. We are creeping closer and closer to 10,000. subscribers. Thank you for all of you who have already subscribed for those of you who come on and then you don't subscribe or you don't click the like. Why? Why? Help me. Help me. Help you. Helps this channel grow and we'll just continue to get better and better. So you're the best fans in baseball for a

reason and I will see you next time on Locked on Carpals.