Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sleepy Phillies Come To Busch Stadium

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cardinals and the Phillies are both coming off. Divisional Series losses. Who is going to give the other team the edge this week in a Bush Stadium in St. Louis? We've got the answers today on this Locked-on Cardinals and Phillies crossover. You are a locked-on MLB crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey there, I'm Jady Hafford and I'm the host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown podcast Network covering your team.

Starting point is 00:00:35 every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals. My man, Connor Thomas from Locktown Phillies in the house. You can follow him and the podcast on X as well. And you can find both of our shows on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. So we've got another weekend of baseball here. And despite the, I don't mean to be rude, Connor, but the horrifying PTSD flashback to that 2022 in a wildcard series that we played against each other. Every time I see your face, I just see all the chaos and the comeback against Housley. And it's annoying.

Starting point is 00:01:11 But it's time to talk some ball with easily, though. One of my favorite guys in the Lockdown podcast network, Connor Thomas from Lockdown Phillies. What's up, brother? Not much, man. I'm running on Fumes today because the Phil's finished up their game against the Braves, the final game of that series at about 1230 Eastern time earlier this morning. Now they got to turn around, get on a plane to St. Louis, play at 8.15 tonight against

Starting point is 00:01:35 the Cardinals. No rest for the wicked in this one, but we're ready to roll. And this should be a fun opportunity for a bounce back series for both teams in this one. Yeah, the Phillies and Cardinals have a three game series this weekend in St. Louis. It'll be a night game on Friday. Then you got two early afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday. Doesn't appear that we're going to have any rain issues this weekend. So hopefully no delays like that. The Cardinals come into the series at five and seven to start the year while the Phillies are now eight and four. The Phillies are coming out their first series loss of the season to their NL East rival Atlanta Braves, who got off to that wretched start to the season.

Starting point is 00:02:10 Phillies were riding high after taking down the almighty Dodgers. What was Atlanta secret? So I could steal it and share it with the Cardinals, Connor. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Atlanta's secret was kind of everybody's secret so far. The Phillies still have had a little bit of trouble getting the starting pitching. They kill the bullpen from the seventh inning on. Their numbers are unbelievable, easily the best in baseball at the dish, average.

Starting point is 00:02:33 OBP slugging everything. Like they are monsters from the seventh inning on, but they don't get enough consistent production. To this point in the year, off starters. So if you've got guys that can go out there and give you a solid five or six innings and maybe jump on some Phillies started pitching, easier said than done early, which is what you saw Atlanta do in that series, that's the success recipe for beating the Phillies right now.

Starting point is 00:02:56 So that's where it's going to start in this matchup. Cardinals ended up losing two of three in Pittsburgh, and I hate to use excuses, but the Phillies are kind of doing the same thing that the Cardinals had to do. They were basically a zombie squad in that game on Monday night after having to play two in Boston on opening weekend in Boston. They played two on Sunday on Sunday night baseball. Then they come back. They land in Pittsburgh at like 3.30 in the morning. And then they have to play a game that night.

Starting point is 00:03:27 They come back on Tuesday and defeat the immortal Paul Skeen's. But then fall in a marathon of offensive utility on Wednesday, a two to one loss in 13 innings and fall to 0 and 4 an extra inning so far this season. It was really nice to have yesterday off for the team just to give them a chance to kind of reset to get their bodies right, get their mind right before the big bad Phillies come into town. But I'll be honest, it's nice to hear that you guys are going to be exhausted coming into St. Louis. I won't lie. We're going to talk about what the biggest storylines of the year for each team have been up to this point. That's coming your way next on this Locked on Cardinals, Locked on Phillies crossover. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades, supply house, whether you're in plumbing, HVAC or electrical works.

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Starting point is 00:05:38 And if you've got any extra caffeine, you want to send to Connor Thomas. You can do that. Well, JD Haffer from Lockdown Card, Knows Connor from Lockdown Phillies. Let's start with the Phillies. Connor, what has been the biggest storyline for you guys this year? You mentioned starting pitching has not lived up to expectations so far. Is that kind of the biggest thing going on with you guys? No, the starting pitching has been great.

Starting point is 00:05:58 They haven't been hitting starting pitching all down. Starting pitching, honestly, it could be the biggest storyline and the positive for the Phillies. They've got an awesome rotation. It has lived up to the billing prior to the season. You're going to see some great, great arms in this series. Aaron Nola, funny enough, his two starts so far this year have been two losses. And you expect them to be one of the top arms in the rotation, but also you're going to have Christopher Sanchez throwing. You're going to have Zach Wheeler throwing in this series.

Starting point is 00:06:25 This is one that the Phillies should frankly just win the series based on their starting pitching because it's been so darned. and good and the arms you have are taking care of business so far. In the negative sense, the biggest storyline to me has been the bullpen not as advertised because they lost Jeff Hoffman in free agency. They lost Carlos Estab is in free agency, but they've had some guys that have just not panned out in the pen to this point very early in the season, but great starting pitching, giving up some with the bullpen. That's how they've lost some of their games so far this year.

Starting point is 00:06:57 so if the bullpen on probably about seven hours of sleep before they have to get to the ballpark, maybe less than that can go out there and get some work in tonight and look better. That would be an encouraging son. On the cardinal side of things, offense, a surprising offense, Connor, has been the one constant that they've been able to rely on outside of the loss on Wednesday where they just could not put anybody across the plate for 13 innings. It was bizarre. But this offense was, anemic at times last year. They were one of the worst in baseball with runners in scoring position. They just never could come through with that big hit when they needed it.

Starting point is 00:07:36 And this year, it's been very much different, very much the opposite from last year. So that's been impressive over the first couple of weeks for the Cardinals. They're currently second in the major leagues and batting average behind the Padres. They're second and OBP behind your Phillies. Sixth and slugging, fourth and OPS. They're tied for third and runs scored in total hits as a team. And coming into the season, when we were doing our preseason shows and expectations for the division and whatnot, everybody pointed at the Cardinals' offense and was like, well, you guys are going to be terrible at offense and not be able to hit the ball. You're not going to score runs.

Starting point is 00:08:14 And that's why you're going to be a losing team this year. And first couple of weeks, of course, they're one of the best hitting teams in baseball. It's been very, very surprising. and they've been doing it while still waiting for Wilson Contreras to break out of his early season funk. He was a guy that I said was going to be one of the top hitting first baseman in baseball, and he's been everything but that supposed to be the anchor of this offense. He's only hitting 102 as zero home runs, three RBIs, just two walks, but he struck out 22 times, which is tied for the highest amount in the entire league with the Cubs Sayo Suzuki.

Starting point is 00:08:51 And on top of that, they ended up losing one of their big. bats in Yvonne Herrera, who had been huge so far this season. He's going to be out for the next month with a bone bruise. You don't have your slugging infielder in Nolan from the left side at their disposal. He's on the show for the hamstring injury. So a couple of injuries, they stayed relatively healthy throughout the spring and the injury bug is starting to bite him a little bit. Some of the guys who have been hot for this team, though, Brennan Donovan has been a man possessed recently. He's hitting 375, which is a fifth of majorly baseball second in the NL behind the Padres Jackson Merrill. Nolan Aronado, who, you know, obviously was a big story this off

Starting point is 00:09:31 season about possibly getting moved. In fact, the Phillies were a team that people were talking about might have been a good landing spot for Nolan. Isn't hitting home runs. Only has one, but is off to a solid start at 310. And I think the the biggest surprise has been what they've gotten from a couple of young guys like Jordan Walker. Yvonne Herrera obviously has been great, but is out with the injury. Victor Scott the second been excellent as well. 286, a home run, seven Rebys, typed a third in the league with five stolen bases. He's been a whole lot of fun to watch. Contreras, this is where I want to get back to your Phillies and some of the cold spots for your offense. Contreras has been

Starting point is 00:10:11 batting second in the lineup this entire time. Like our manager, Ali Marmal has refused to move him down. And I kind of get it because it seems like he'll have like a game. where he gets a hit or two and hits a couple line drives. Like, oh, here he comes. He's going to break out. And then he just whoop goes like 0 for seven, 0 for eight again and strikes out four times. And he vanishes again.

Starting point is 00:10:32 And the fans are wondering why Ali doesn't push Contreras down in the order. The Phillies have had a guy over at third base that has been struggling on offense as well. And you guys have decided to actually move him down in the order. Tell me about Alec Baldwin, what's going on with them. Yeah, he's in a real tough spot right now. And I'm going to marry this conversation with Brandon Marsh, who was talked about as an everyday center fielder for this team ahead of the season.

Starting point is 00:10:55 They've already gone to a quasi-platoon situation out there. Alec Bohm has not been hitting the ball well at third base. And here's something to remember for Cardinals fans, for Phillies fans for baseball fans. I believe still the league leader in batting average is George Springer of Toronto Blue Jays. George Springer is not going to lead Major League Baseball and batting average this year. It is early in the season. So you're going to see some performances that are not indicative. of the full season's baseball card when everything's all set and done.

Starting point is 00:11:23 But we can only talk in the here and now. And here and now, Alec Bohm is turning into basically an auto out for the Philadelphia Phillies. So he's hit a couple balls hard the last couple of games. They did move him down in the lineup, which was a great thing to see because he was batting cleanup. And when Bryce Harper bats third or even if Bryce Harper is batting second when Tray Turner bats lead off, and then you go ahead and move him up to the three hole, Alec Bohm in the middle of the order was a crater for this team to build consistency on offense.

Starting point is 00:11:53 So it's one of those things where you believe in the pedigree of the player, All-Star starter last year, two seasons in a row of close to 100 RBIs. You think, okay, he's going to come out of it at some point, but mentally it's taking a toll on him. He feels like he's in a spot where it's just frustration knowing he should be better. Brandon Marshall, on the other hand, when we're talking about guys that are ice cold right now, he was over his last 17 going into last night's game did not record a hit in that game so he's off for his what like last 20 or 21 plate appearances which is absurd and he's got a different kind of mental status right now in my opinion where alec booms like i should be hitting better and

Starting point is 00:12:32 i'm not and that's annoying me brandon marsh is kind of in that zone where all players have all been or it's like dude i can't do anything at the plate right now i don't know how they keep him in the lineup. And those two guys that in the bottom three last night were an absolute major part of why the Phillies couldn't cash more runs across and find a way to beat the Braves. So I'm intrigued to see how much they play in this series. And I'm also intrigued to see where they're in the lineup if Rob Thompson keeps Alec Baum down, if he moves Brandon Marsh out entirely. Those are two guys that Phil's are going to have to need at some point this season to, well, Brandon Marsh hit his weight and Alec Bone be an all-star caliber bat.

Starting point is 00:13:12 And they have not remotely gotten that this year. And that's what's hampering the consistency up and down this line. Yeah. And we're talking about a Philly team that's eight and four. It's not like they're struggling to do anything. But it's a team game. Everybody knows that. You know, it takes a little something from everybody in the lineup to get those

Starting point is 00:13:32 Ws. One of the guys that has been, I would say, a pleasant surprise for the Philly so far is a former card doll. And Edmundo Sosa, who I saw him robbing home runs over in left field, didn't even know he played left field ever. He was always an infielder with the Cardinals. How Sosa been for you guys? You guys join them? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:13:52 Believe it or not, if Cardinals fans did not see this. So the robbed home run, which was all over social media and highlight reels, he was making his first career start in left field. That was the first ball he fielded in left field. I believe, if I'm correct, it was the first inning. and Marcelo is going to put one down the line. I don't know, dude. The guy's a superhero. Now, he is still a depth plate.

Starting point is 00:14:15 He's red hot right now. He's starting to cool off a little bit, but he's a guy that he's tough to get in the lineup every day because he's mainly an infielder. And Alec Bowen was an all-star last year. Trey Turner was an all-star last year. Bryson Stott is a guy who's glove you absolutely love at second base. You want to keep him out there so he can get warmed up. So's had a great start.

Starting point is 00:14:36 it's just very tough to get him in the lineup consistently enough for him to make a difference. And it's also very hard to argue that he's more of an everyday player than any of the guys that Phillies have at those positions. So a great bench bat. But you need some of the starters to make him less playable would be ideal, even though, dude, I don't know, you guys felt about him when he was there at St. Louis. Fan favorite here, great guy, work ethics incredible. Edmudo Sosa is what every bench player in Major League Baseball should aspire to big.

Starting point is 00:15:05 The Cardinals fan base, we dug Sosa at the time when that deal was made. And it's worked out for both teams, really, because Jojo Romero coming over, who at the time, I think he was in the minor leagues for the Phillies at the time they made that trade. And he's become one of their top left-handed relievers at the back of the bullpen. So one of those trades where it's a win-win for both sides. Big names, obviously, in the Phillies lineup, you know, Bryce Harper, clearly we're all familiar with them. J.T. Real Muto has has cooled off a little bit over the years. Trey Turner, obviously still there.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Nick Costiano's. All right. Now, Nick Castiano is a guy that notoriously murders the Cardinals. He did it when he was a Cincinnati Red. He's done it as a cub. He's probably going to do it as a Philly. How are fans feeling about Nick after last year when things weren't quite so good for him? Yeah, it's funny.

Starting point is 00:16:01 Nick Castellanos actually had a good finish to the season last year, but because he started slow, everyone was kind of out on him. His personality and Philadelphia's personality do not get along, right? They don't. He's this kind of strange, aloof guy in the way that he approaches baseball. And Philadelphia is intense to the end degree. So there are naturally facets of the fan base that don't really feel like Castellanos is a quote unquote Philly guy.

Starting point is 00:16:28 So that's always he's behind the eight ball. But he's been really darn good from about the all-star break last. year on. He started off the season really hot. And you know what's going to happen coming into this series? We're going to hear the Nick Castellanos stinks people again because he went 0 for five in last night's game with five strikeouts. I don't think I haven't seen someone do that. I don't even know. I know four is the golden sombrero. I don't even know what five is, platinum sombrero. So he's been swinging the bat well. He went back to the chasing the outside slider a little bit last night. But he's going to be important because if Alec Bohm is not the

Starting point is 00:17:03 protection from Bryce Harper, and he has not been. The only other bad is Castellanos. Real Muto's not that guy anymore. Castianos is the only guy that could hit in the middle of that lineup and actually give Harper some protection. Braves worked around Harper after he hit the seventh inning home run in game two. That was a big part of the Phil's finding that win. So Cassie is a big part of this series. Schwaber's another guy. Kyle Schwerber is red hot, one of the best hitters on the planet right now too. So when you have holes like Marsh and Bowman in the lineup, you look at the guys making the $100 million contracts and you say, okay, top four, top five, we're going to have to carry us in this one.

Starting point is 00:17:38 That's going to be the idea against the Cardinals. Yeah, Kyle Schwerber, obviously very familiar with the home runs that he does against the Cardinals. He's got six already this season and 12 rib. He's about 283. He's doing Schwerber stuff. I still am shocked at how many times that people just passed on him going to the nationals. Is that like where I'm like, why is nobody in on this guy?

Starting point is 00:18:01 but he's found a home in Philly and it looks quite comfortable. All right, coming up, we are going to talk about pitching matchups. Plus, we'll give you our picks to click coming up on this Locked on Cardinals, Locked on Phillies crossover. Thank you again for making Locked on Cardinals. And Locked on Phillies, your first listen today for your second list. And you can check out the Locked on Fantasy Baseball podcast, our host Dominic and Matthew, are going to help you win your league.

Starting point is 00:18:33 You want those bragging rise. You want to be the person at the end of the season holding up that title belt or wearing the championship ring. That's why you want to listen to Dominic and Matthew. They're going to take care of all of the research and do all the little things behind the scenes for you to tell you who you need to be picking up on waivers, who you need to be dropping, who you need to be on the lookout for.

Starting point is 00:18:52 So make sure you're listening to Lockdown Fantasy Baseball on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Once again, Connor Thomas from Locked on Phillies, J.D. Haffer from Locktown Cardinals, big series this weekend at Bush Stadium in St. Louis. Let's go through these pitching matchups real quick, Connor. Friday, you've got Aaron Nola, who you said, O and two, a little bit surprising, going up against Andre Palante, who's one and O. Saturday, it's left-hander, Christopher Sanchez, scheduled to start does not have an official record yet against well-known batting practice pitcher Miles Michaelis. That's got to get, that's got to get you guys excited. What in the world happened to him? I got to ask you this, because my impression of Miles Michaelis was his first year with the Cardinals where he really broke out, the first big year for him, where he was this guy with the mustache that everybody,

Starting point is 00:19:38 wanted to be. He was Paul Skeens before Paul Skeens. Maybe not quite to that level. But then, since then, he just hasn't been able to figure it out. So that'll be an interesting spot to see him against this lineup. Yeah, because it's really, there's two sides to Miles Michaelis. There is the Miles Michaelis who the pitcher inside of me loves when I see a guy who isn't throwing 98, 99, and is just dotting corners up and down in the zone, changing speeds. Like, you know, he's pitching because he can't throw it past anybody. So he's got to be a pitcher. And when he has these good days where you're like, oh my gosh, there he is. You're like, this is incredible. But far too many times is he missing over the heart of the plate. And when you're throwing

Starting point is 00:20:25 93, you're throwing stuff that doesn't have a lot of movement and you miss over the heart of the plate. I don't care if it's the worst. If it's, no offense against the White Sox, but against the team that's not as good like the White Sox. They're going to hit the hell out of the ball. And you do that at Finway Park against the Boston Red Sox. Like you're going to get what you saw where they were just denting the green monster on Sunday night. And it's infuriating because this year for the Cardinals, there's this idea that it was going to be a transition year. Like we're not going to spend money to go get any major free agents.

Starting point is 00:21:03 We're going to trust the prospects. We're going to give them some runway. We're going to let them, you know, kind of work their way. If they struggle, we're not going to scare them and send them down. We're going to ride with this. And then you have a veteran rotation outside of like Andre Palante. They put Matthew Libertory in the rotation. You're going to see him on Sunday, which shocked everybody because he's had a problem getting right handers out, which is really difficult when you're a left-handed pitcher. And then all they have to do is put a bunch of righties in the lineup against you and you're in trouble. So that shocked some people, but they got this veteran rotation.

Starting point is 00:21:40 And then you've got young guys that fans are clamoring for. They want to see these guys. They don't want to see Miles Michaelis out there on the mound getting his brains beat in. But the Cardinals gave him an extension. They gave him a no trade clause. And they're not willing to take him out of that rotation just because he's a lot of money. I mean, at certain times you feel like, let's just pull the plug and be like, look, hey, we screwed up. We messed up.

Starting point is 00:22:06 We gave this guy too much money, but we're holding other people back. So there's no point in keeping him around. But right now, they feel like it's kind of a depth thing where they're giving some of their better pitching prospects like Michael McGreevy and Quinn Matthews. They're giving them some time at AAA this year. He might be gone later on in a couple of months. Who knows? But like right now, they're willing to live and die with Miles Michaelis and their rotation, which is great news for people sitting in the bleachers. down the left field line, right field line.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Like, yeah, there's going to be a lot of souvenirs probably on Saturday. And because I'm talking smack, he's probably going to go out and pitch wonderful. It's going to be fun. But Sunday you got to saw that with Taiwan Walker earlier this year. Like, hey, there's faith in anybody when Taiwan Walker has two starts and has not allowed a run so far this year. So who knows what's going on with Major League pitching these days? Baseball is a weird sport, man. Sunday you got one of the best in the league and Zach Wheeler.

Starting point is 00:23:01 I want to know going up against our left-hander Matthew Liberator. Not a lot of questions about Nolan Wheeler in this one. What can you tell us about Christopher Sanchez, who's going to make the start on Saturday? Yeah, Sanchez is a really interesting figure, not just for the Phillies, but for the landscape of baseball this year. He was one of the more asked about players from opposing teams in spring training. I've talked to Jason Stark a couple times. And every time that I talk to him, he brought up the way other teams ask or speak about Christopher Sanchez. So he was a guy last year that had a breakout year, has the best change up in baseball.

Starting point is 00:23:35 lot of people will say from the left side. And he was throwing about 93, 94 was where he was living velocity wise on his fastball. And now all of a sudden, the guy's throwing 97. And that makes a change up play a little bit better when he's starting to throw upper 90s as opposed to mid to lower 90s. So we haven't seen him have his dominant performance yet early in the season. We've seen Wheeler be really good. We've seen Jesus Lazzardo be really good. I do think that Christopher Sanchez is poised for the best start of any Phillies pitcher, including Zach Wheeler in this series, because the Cardinals are a team you see from their average. They're not afraid to go after a ball.

Starting point is 00:24:14 They're not afraid to try and be a little bit aggressive at the plate. Like, they're hitting well. And that's a team that's going to want to swing the bat. And with swing and miss stuff that Christopher Sanchez has on his change up, that is going to be a tough combination for a team that may get a little bit more aggressive trying to produce runs the way that they have all year in St. Louis. So I'm looking at him saying this could be a, and we're going to talk about picks a little But this could be an eight, nine, ten strikeout outing from Christopher Sanchez, who you see on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:24:42 He's outstanding. And he is a dark horse. Cy Young candidate, according to a lot of people. I'm not quite there with him. But he's going to be a very, very good arm this year for the Phillies is an important part of the rotation. Yeah. And you mentioned that, you know, he's being a left-hander. The Cardinals are a pretty left-handed heavy hitting team, you know, best hitters at squad.

Starting point is 00:25:03 You know, Donovan, as I mentioned, left. hand or Lars Newfar, who's been at the top of the order, left hand of Victor Scott, Alec Berlison, you know, some of these guys, Nolan Gorman was, but those are some of the big bats that are doing well. They have had a decent balance with the right handers. You know, I mentioned the young guys, Jordan Walker, Mason Wendt, has started to heat up a little bit. So not off to a pretty good start as well. Really, it's the, the Wills Contreras thing. If that hole in the lineup could, if you could just get something, you know, the way you were talking about Bohm is kind of like with Wilson where he's he's close and then and then it just

Starting point is 00:25:40 goes away. He's having a really tough time picking up the spin is not judging breaking balls very well at all. And then when he starts gassing breaking ball, they just blow it right past him. And it's it's been difficult to watch. But for the Cardinals, um, biggest concerns moving forward, I guess need their pitching to keep them in games, uh, and sustain the office is really, uh, what we're looking for there. It looked bad, losing. of the Angels early on in a series. But now you look at them, they're playing some pretty good ball so far. Boston was that buzz saw. You blew a two run ninth inning lead in one game. And then there's really no excuses, in my opinion in Pittsburgh. Like you should have won on

Starting point is 00:26:19 Wednesday. You beat Paul Skeens, but you don't win that game on Wednesday. That's a tough one to swallow. Need to learn to win those close ball games. Any concerns for the Phillies moving forward before we make our picks? Yeah, the big one tonight is just the turnaround from the late night in Atlanta, the late flight, getting in. The only guy that's going to be well-rested is Aaronnola, who flew in the day before as starters usually do when you have another road series after that. But I don't know what type of shape the guys are going to be in coming off of the tough loss. What I will say is Cardinals fans, you better be looking for a win tonight because this team is not happy that they drop the games to the Atlanta Braves. Close, hard fought games in all of those.

Starting point is 00:26:56 So they're going to want to bounce back is a really talented, really like strong resolve with this Phillies team. There's a reason they're called the fight and fills. And if you don't beat Nola game one with half the roster asleep from the night before, you're going to see Sanchez and Wheeler, arguably the two best arms in this rotation with a team that's really going to want that bounce back to show that they're consistent winners like they showed through the first three series of the year. You got to go get game one if you're St. Louis. If the Phillies, if the Phillies find a way to a win tonight after what they went through last night, it'll be an incredibly impressive performance by them. I think ultimately the concerns for the Phil is the only way that they're not highly competitive

Starting point is 00:27:36 in the series is if the lineup, I mean, the lineup would have to go more asleep than it is at some points. Like Kyle Schwerber, Bryce Harper, Trey Turner, and to some extent Nick Castiano, so been enough to basically carry this team because those guys are that good. If Alec Bowman, Brandon Marsh, Bryce and Stott hit it all in this series, this team becomes near unbeatable with the pitching they're going to get. So the concerns. they're not as big as the fan base would imagine, but early season, things get accentuated a lot more

Starting point is 00:28:07 when you've only played 12 games. Now, Phillies are an awesome team, just in general. And I mean, let's just be honest, Cardinal fan. They ain't going to be easy this weekend. If they get swept, you're not going to be shocked. Who's your pick-to-click for the Phillies? Yeah, I mean, I am looking at, I'd love to look at Kyle Schwerver in this series,

Starting point is 00:28:28 but I can't go ahead and do that because he's so red-hot right now. That's a layup. That's easy. I'm telling you what I think is going to happen in this series is we're going to see. And maybe I'm just being wishful here. I think Alec Bohm has a big series. Remember, he went to Wichita State, which obviously it's not in Missouri.

Starting point is 00:28:46 But it's kind of in that area. He's going to have a lot of family in town getting tickets to the game because it's not too far from the area of the country where he's from. He's in this kind of where the two roads divide is where Alec Boehm is at right now. And you've got to believe that. a guy with his track record, All-Star last year, two seasons of nearly 100 RBIs, guy that's been a clutch hitter for a couple seasons for the Phillies, in the regular season, at least. If there's a place where he's going to turn it around, he's going to see some pitching he can

Starting point is 00:29:13 handle. So I think Alec Bohm is going to have himself, not a big series, not like he's going to bat 450 in this series or something, but I think you see one, maybe two multi-hit games from Alec Ball. Yeah, nothing like a Miles Michael is coming up on Saturday to get a guy out of a out of a cold streak. I'm going to go with Victor Scott the second in this one, being the fact that you got,

Starting point is 00:29:39 even though they're two of the best pitchers in baseball and Nolan and Wheeler, that's two Ritees and Victor Scott, it hasn't really mattered how good the pitcher is on the mound. He's just taking really good at bats this year. He's been so impressive compared to what he did last year. Each of bat seems like a grind. And more times than not, he's been able to come out on top. I almost went Lars Newpar,

Starting point is 00:29:58 but he has been ice cold at the top of the order. It's been really tough with. with Newt and Contreras both not hitting over the last couple of games. But give me Victor Scott and we'll see what happens. So there you go. That's what to expect this weekend in St. Louis. Thank you guys for making Locktown Cardinals and Lockdown Village, your first listen every day if you haven't already.

Starting point is 00:30:20 Give us both a follow on X and we can follow along together for this three-game series at Bush. Like, subscribe to our shows on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. as always, Connor, great to talk to you, buddy. And good luck to you, man. Thank you. Save to the Cardinals. We'll have three fun games that hopefully will end before midnight every night, right? Weather is as of right now. Things change in the Midwest pretty quickly.

Starting point is 00:30:44 Knock on wood. Right now, it's supposed to be Friday night's game is the worst weather, and then it's supposed to get better and better throughout the series. So enjoy it, everybody, and we'll see you next time on the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sleepy Phillies Come To Busch Stadium

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