Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sonny Gray Trending In The Wrong Direction... Time To Worry?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals suffer one of the most, if not the most disappointing loss so far in 2024. Plus, the latest on top prospect, Tink Hents, leaving his last start early. We'll get into it all on today's episode of 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, they're Cardals fans. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou in a lifetime I'm Cardinals fan and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown

Starting point is 00:00:37 Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter, X at JD Sports Radio. Follow the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get your podcast. We're also on YouTube, like, subscribe, comment, interact with us and hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball,

Starting point is 00:01:01 all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode is being brought to you by PrizePix, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go topricepix.com slash locked on MLB, use the code, which is all in lowercase, by the way, locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. No need to sugarcoat this one. No need to start today's show with happy, happy, joy, joy thoughts and positive statements to make ourselves all feel better about what we just saw on Thursday night at Bush Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals dropped the ball.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Drop the ball on Thursday in an odd game. Like when you look at everything that went on in this game and how they lost it, it leaves you scratching your head a little bit. You're just like, what? That's how that game went? But it's an embarrassing loss at home with your ace on the mound. against a Colorado Rockies team who had lost five in a row, just got their butts kicked by the Cincinnati Reds in Colorado,

Starting point is 00:02:14 21 and 40 on the season coming into the game. And you lose? You lose to that team? By the way, they're now one in three against the Rockies and the White Sox. What? Can't lose to these teams like that? Luckily, three more games to face the Rockies of makeup. for what just happened on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:02:39 But, you know, we can whine and complain about the umpiring. His scorecard came out today. And 87% accuracy, 88 is league average. But just about every miss that he had last night, Scott Barry, who's what I'm talking about, it went against the Cardinals. So they give you like a little, I wish I had downloaded it to show you guys. But it gives you like what the run difference is because of the calls that were made. or not made, and it was plus 1.42 in favor of the Rockies.

Starting point is 00:03:13 Cardinals lose by one. You know, it seemed like any time a bad call did happen, it went against the Cardinals, and it came at an inopportune time. I mean, he was not that great behind the home play, especially for the Cardinals. Like a lot of calls going against the Cardinal hitters, a lot of strikes not being called for the Cardinals, pitchers. and it happens. You can't just sit here and blame the umpiring.

Starting point is 00:03:42 I mean, you expect better at this level, but the bottom line really is that when your offense goes one for seven with runners in scoring position and you leave 10 men on, you are not going to win many baseball games. It's not the umpire's fault. So let's not use him as the scapego. We can whine about him because it's fun.

Starting point is 00:04:01 And I like making fun of the umpires when they're, They're, you know, when they suck, because they don't ever have to answer for anything, you know, like the strike on Mason win and the night hitting, like, what was that? You don't call the strike against Jake Cave. What was that? What were you seeing? I just want to know. But anyway, really the offense was the problem. You know, the hitting with Rudderson scoring position, it's been historically bad all season. I heard Bernie McClis go on a rant the other day on KFNS. I think that's very that. And, um, Just shredding the Cardinals and telling it how it is, how bad they are with runners in scoring position. It continues to be a part of the reason why this team just can't get over the home.

Starting point is 00:04:45 It's why they're not better than 500. It's why they're not even a 500 team right now. To continuously miss out on opportunities again and again and again with runners in scoring position, it really is the biggest reason why this team continues to lose a lot of baseball games. They're hitting a whopping 209 after last night with runners. in scoring position on the season. Second to last in the league ahead of only the Chicago White Sox. We're at 206 and just lost, I believe, their 14th game in a row.

Starting point is 00:05:15 Nolan Gorman, love the power. Love the possibilities of Nolan Gorman moving forward. It's been swinging a hot bat lately. We know that. He's hit in 128 with runners in scoring position this year. Paul Goldschmidt, 173. Alec Berlinson. He's been wonderful this year, right?

Starting point is 00:05:31 Last year, nobody wanted him anymore. This year, everybody's like, dude should be, bat in second and third for the team. It's hit in 213, the runner's in scoring position. It's been a problem all year. It was a problem again last night. And until somebody figures out how to do some damage with runners on second and third, this team is going to continue to be a very frustrating team to watch.

Starting point is 00:05:55 People have been giving Aronado grief all year. I've been one of them. I've been pretty hard on Arnado because I expect him to be the guy that you're paying $30 plus million to be. I expect him to be hitting 285 with, you know, 30 home runs at 100 RBIs at the end of the year. He leads the team and hitting with runners and scored position at 289. That's very respectable. New was at 281 before he got hurt.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Mason wins at 265. Yvonne Herrera 250. Donovan's 244, and then it dips big time to Wilson Contreras at 217. It's been a problem. And I don't know how you fix that. I don't know if, you know, because sometimes you see them swing at the first pitch. Sometimes you see them be patient and they take too many pitches. Like, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:06:43 I don't know what the cause of the problem is, but they got to figure it out eventually because it's killing this team. And it wasn't just the offense last night that had some issues. You know, Sonny Gray, he's your ace, he's your go-to guy, couldn't get through the fifth inning against the team who on the road is a bottom seven team and hitting. And I do want to give Rocky some credit. Like they are a Major League Baseball team. And last night, they were very disciplined at the play. They really were. Had some like eagle eye vision going on there.

Starting point is 00:07:13 I even hit up Paul Holden. I was like, is this the most disciplined game you've seen the Rockies as far as how their bats are going? And he's like definitely one of the best, if not the best. I mean, they weren't chasing anything. Nothing. And it ended up working out well for them. They get five walks in the game. Hell, they only had four hits.

Starting point is 00:07:33 They only had four hits in the whole game. Third inning, third inning they get on the board. Thanks to an 11 pitch at bat by Jake Cave, who should have been struck out on pitch number six. But the call doesn't go Gray's way. Cave keeps battling, works the walk, you know, a very professional major league at bat. I mean, 11 pitches, man. That's rough on a pitcher. Then a single puts runners at first in first.

Starting point is 00:08:00 third, then you get a ground ball. The cards think they turn two on, but Blackman beats it out at first base by like a toenail. The run scores and it's one to nothing. And the fifth inning is where things really unraveled for Sunny and the Cardinals. So we're going to spend a little more time talking about that particular inning. And I've got something else I want to just point out. I don't want to say it's a complaint, but it's something I want to point out that's going on with the Cardinals that pertains to what happened in that fifth inning where things just kind of went sideways for him.

Starting point is 00:08:39 So I'm going to talk about that next with you coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Life insurance is an important safety net for you and your family. The last thing you want is for something to happen to you or a loved one and just not be prepared, be an awful spot to be in. And it's happened to a lot of people in this country. Policy Genius is the country's leading online insurance marketplace, and it makes choosing the right policy for your family. It makes it easy and it makes it quick.

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Starting point is 00:11:13 So lots to talk about. Of course, your Major League Baseball. You've got the French Open is going on right now. Streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. It's part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. Remember, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals hometown broadcast throughout this weekend with Sirius XM. Just download the SXM app and search the word Cardinals. And thank you for making Locktown Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:11:36 every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. That feedback always welcome and encouraged. So let's focus on the fifth inning from Thursday night's game here real quick because that's where it got bad, right? And it's not like the Rockies went nuts and scored like eight runs in an inning or something, but things just got weird in the fifth inning. You get the lead off single by Doyle. Then there's a flyout. Then a stolen base. Jake Cave. Jake Cave. walks again this time on seven pitches, but one of the balls is a pitch clock violation. So that's weird that that happened to Sunny Gray. Then Doyle and Caves successfully pull off

Starting point is 00:12:18 the double steel, which makes it second and third. That's a huge play in what ends up happening in this inning. You get a ground out, scores one, and then you get a wild pitch. Both of them come in. Ball never leaves the infield. Ball never leaves the infield. The Cardinals' inability to hold runners on well and keep them from stealing bases is another problem that continues to pop up over and over. And it's been this way since Wilson Contreras got hurt. Teams are just abusing them left and right, specifically Yvonne Herrera when it comes to the running game. They just take off whenever they want, really, and the Cardinals can't do anything about it. Ivan Herrera's throwing arm. It's not good. It's not accurate. It's not strong. He's been a good catcher behind the plate.

Starting point is 00:13:14 He's not making a bunch of errors. They do have 12 wild pitches, by the way, with Herrera back there. So maybe that's not blocking enough stuff. But, you know, the pitcher seemed to like him. But the Cardinals as a team have thrown out eight would-be Steelers and have given up 45 stolen bases. Pedro Pahas has thrown out two of five since he got called up. That's 40%. Contreras threw out three of nine, 33%. Those are great, right? Those percentages are fantastic.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Yvonne Herrera has thrown out three of 39 would-be base dealers. 8%. 8%. Combining that all together, that's a caught-stealing percentage of just 15 for the Cardinals, which is tied with the raise and the Rangers for second to last in the league. Mets and Cubs are at 13%. League average 22%, FYI. So, Pahaz has been fine since being called up, but he's your backup.

Starting point is 00:14:26 Contreras, normally your starter, it's going to be out for a while. Yvonne Herrera is getting abused, and I love the kid as a hitter. He looks like he's going to do some damage every time he's up there, and I like, that he's aggressive i like his attitude but they got to figure something out with the stolen bases against here the cardinals are tied for last for the cubs with those eight caught stealing and i know we've been spoiled with the out of air malina over the years i know that one of the greatest of all time to do it but this is part of the game where the cardinals are also missing wilson contraris of course we're missing his bat in the middle of the order one of the best

Starting point is 00:15:04 any catchers of baseball but teams are running wild on herrera and this pitching staff Now, the 45 solo bases they've given up is actually at league average. But since Herrera has had to take over full time, it's been pretty bad, 8% for Herrera. Only one guy who has played a more than 30 games at catcher is that bad. And it's Martin Maldonado from the White Sox. He was also at 8%. He's only thrown out two of 25 would be Steelers. And I wish I had some answers.

Starting point is 00:15:35 I wish I could tell you, here's what he needs to do or here's what the pitcher need to do to hold these guys on tighter, you know, MLB went in this direction where they want people running the bases more. But a lot of other teams have been figuring out how to keep people closer. Cardinals haven't gotten to that yet. They haven't figured it out yet. It's just something that the teams have been able to take advantage of when they get on base against the Cardinals. And it's costing the team.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Like having those stolen bases last night, three of them in that inning, cost the St. Louis Cardinals big time. And then on the other side of it, the Cardinals don't hardly do any wrong. running. They only got 31 steals on the year. Fourth lowest total in the league. So back to the fifth inning. So Gray walks the next two hitters, right? Its command just poof. It's gone. And that's when Allie comes out and gets them, brings in Liberator. Final line for Sunny, four and two thirds innings, three runs, only two hits, but four walks, five strikeouts. He throws 89 pitches. And again, just kind of hits a wall in that fifth inning.

Starting point is 00:16:43 The Cardinals made it a point this offseason. They wanted to get guys who this is the blueprint, six innings, give up three runs or less, and we'll let our bullpen do the rest. And lately things haven't gone to plan when Sunny Gray is on the mound. Sunny Gray has only completed six in his last six starts once. He's now three and three in those starts. Does this go back to spring training when he got hurt?

Starting point is 00:17:18 And he's not built up enough stamina where he's starting to get tired already. Something to throw out there. He's not using that as an excuse. After the game, he was visibly upset when talking to the media. Most of the time when we've seen Sunny Gray, he's had a pretty decent game and he's pretty chipper about things that have gone on after this game. he was not in a good mood, was very frustrated and upset with himself with how things have been going for him personally, saying, I pitched like poop is another word for the word he actually used. He cursed. It's a trend. I'm turning in the wrong direction. So I've got to come in and come up with a plan moving forward and get back on track. On what might get him back on track, he said this off the top of my head right now. I just feel like I've got to go back and start. from the beginning. Go back to the basics. Force contact early. Strike one. Forced guys to put the ball

Starting point is 00:18:18 in play early. Get back through the middle of the plate early in the count. Not trying to be too fine early. Just get back to the middle. I would assume he's talking about trying to, you know, thread the needle a little bit on the edges too much where he's falling behind hitters instead of just getting ahead of them. Like, Sunny Gray stuff's good enough where they're probably not going to barrel the ball up much against him early on in the count anyway. So I wouldn't be trying to do that if I was him. And again, strikeouts as great as they are as a stat.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Strikeouts, they add up when you're talking about your pitch count, when you've got to throw at least three pitches. The perfect inning, I remember my dad saying this once. he goes, what is the perfect ending for a pitcher? And that was like nine pitches, three strikeouts. And he's like, no, three pitches, three outs. And I remember him telling me that as a kid. I was like, yeah, yeah, I guess you're right.

Starting point is 00:19:23 Strikeouts are great when you get them, but they add up on that pitch count so much. And Sunny Gray has got a lot of strikeouts of our this year, but you don't always need that. And I know the defense has been a little bit, lately, but letting guys put the ball in play and being able to keep the guys on the end field alive and fresh and alert. It's good, too. It's good too.

Starting point is 00:19:53 What a Crash Davis say in Bull Durham when he's talking about? Strikeouts are boring. Throw some ground balls. Remember that scene? Anyway, moving on to more of the quotes from Sunny Gray. Everything seems to be better for me and more of my favor when I'm getting ahead of guys early. The best way that I've done that in the past is just shoot right down the middle of the plate. I do feel like over the last probably couple weeks, we've been going to more edges early.

Starting point is 00:20:18 Now, am I worried about Sunny? Not really. Not really. I think he's just having a few off starts. It happens. It's okay. You hate to have it happen against a team like the Rockies, where you expect to get a W. I mean, Graven talked about how this happened to him last year in Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:20:35 And that season worked out pretty nicely for him, second of me, Siong voting. So I'm not going to freak out about what's going on with Sunny Gray just yet. Not yet. Ollie talking about Sunny's outing last night after the game as well said. That game started off. He was pretty sharp. Then he punches out those four in a row and you feel good about him, kind of hitting another gear and getting going there.

Starting point is 00:20:59 But when you look at the fastball command, he's usually a little bit better with the fastball, landed at half the time. That was one of the differences in tonight's game. Higher walks than you'd expect from him. Lynn Worthy over at STL Today.com put out an article, and he kind of went through the percentages and how the fastball strike percentage,

Starting point is 00:21:18 how it's diminished for Sunny Gray over the last few starts and stuff. So pretty interesting reach. Go check that out if you get a chance. But, you know, at this point of the game, you're down 3 to nothing. Your ace is out of the game. And if there was ever a sign that the Cardinals weren't meant to win this game on Thursday, it was in the bottom half of the fifth inning.

Starting point is 00:21:38 Carpenter leads off and gets robbed of a home run on the first. Was it even the first pitch? I don't remember the first pitch or not, but I know he was the lead off hitter. Rightfielder Michael Toglia, who I probably has never robbed a home run in his entire lifetime. I believe he's a first baseman more than he is an outfielder. Leaps over the wall in the right field corner and brings it back. What would have been a solo shot would have got the momentum going in the Cardinals direction

Starting point is 00:22:07 again. Just, what do you do? What do you do? Cardinals do score on a goofy play in the sixth inning with runners on first and third. This was some keystone cop stuff going on here. So you got first and third one out. Herrera grounds into where the second baseman normally would be. But because the whole team was shifted over, not illegally or anything, but they were shifted way over toward the left side of the infield. The first baseman Montero, who was a huge man. comes all the way over and cuts it off because that ball was destined for right field. If it gets past him, cartels are scored. Here we go. But he cuts it off. Makes a nice underhand toss to the shortstop. They get the out at second.

Starting point is 00:22:55 Shortstop throws it away at first base. All right. Pitcher's covering over there. Throws it away. It ricochets off the dugout, comes right back to the pitcher who then guns it at home trying to get Nolan Gorman. Luckily, head first slide into home plate, which I never think is a great idea, but Gorman did it and he was safe. Just chaos. Just chaos.

Starting point is 00:23:18 It's like little league stuff right there is how they get that first run. Then you get back-to-back singles by Carp and Siani to drive in Herrera. It's a three to two ball game. And now you're thinking, hey, Cardinals got this whole comeback thing in the bag, no problem. But wind grounds out on the first pitch, which drives me nuts. New pitcher comes in and you swing at the very first pitch. trying to ambush it come on they can throw some stuff first man pressure's on him not you uh cardels get two flyouts from goldie and gorman in the eighth inning they fall just short of the wall as if there

Starting point is 00:23:49 was like some magic rockies wind god out there in center and left center field just blowing the balls back towards the field to play especially goldies now gormans i thought was going to carry out too just because how strong gorman is is Goldies I thought was gone. Like, I don't know what happened and how that ended up staying in the yard. But it did. And then they get some runners on. They get Goldie on in the ninth, but Gorman whiffs to end the game.

Starting point is 00:24:21 Goldie standing on first, cards lose three to two. Everything about the box score in this game says the St. Louis Cardle should have won this ballgame, except the most important thing to score. Just a real disappointing loss all around. Are we going to let it bring us down and ruin our whole weekend? Hell now. Got City Connect jerseys to wear tonight. So no, you get back on that horse and you try to get a W tonight.

Starting point is 00:24:46 Cards did get a scare about top prospect, Tink hence. Plus, there's one player I'm getting very concerned about that I want to talk about. Also, quick shout out to the bullpen to Libertur, John King, Roycroft. Outstanding job. Shut down the Rockies for the rest of the game, but offense couldn't get going. but you guys did great. Roycroft, very, very impressive with those three Ks. Anyway, so we'll talk about teen kins. We'll talk about the other player I'm concerned with next on Lockdown Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:27:07 Find Locked on Sports today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. So the Cardals had a bit of a scare this week. Bit of a scare. I know I was nervous. I was like, oh boy, what is going on with Tinkins? All right. So top pitching prospect, Team Kent, I'm sure you're familiar with him by now, having an outstanding season at AA Springfield completes two innings on Wednesday. One run throws five pitches and then is taken out of the game. First, people are like, oh, is he getting called up or something like that happening?

Starting point is 00:27:43 And then we get footage of him walking away with the trainer to the clubhouse. You're like, oh boy, what's going on here? And at the time, it was unclear if Pence's early exit was due to an injury. Like, we just didn't know. I mean, you walk away with the trainer, you're thinking injury. So it kind of had us all holding our collective breath. But John Moseylock made the announcement that it was just precautionary due to some cramping. You know, summertime.

Starting point is 00:28:11 It's getting hot. You got to stay hydrated. You got to make sure you got all the fluids in you. Tinkins, just dealing with some cramps. That time of the month. Tinkets maybe. Okay, that was a bad joke. Anyway, nothing to get alarmed about, which is great. Okay. And I think the part of the thing about it was that people are so used to our top pitching prospects going down with injuries. Over the years, it's happened so many times and their career is just getting derailed by like massive entries that we all just thought the worst right away.

Starting point is 00:28:42 So it's great to hear the Tink. It's going to be just fine. It's going to be just fine. People keep asking me, too, when do I think he's going to get called up to triple it? Is that what you mean? Because he's only in double A right now. So he's still got to get to Memphis first. And I would suspect, you know, maybe sometime after the All-Star break, if he continues to pitch the way he has, that he'll get the call up to Memphis.

Starting point is 00:29:04 But I wouldn't expect to see him in the major leagues this year. Hopefully they don't need him in the major leagues this year. That the team will be fine moving forward and you don't have to call him up yet. There is someone I am getting very concerned about, again, who's not doing so well. And that's Dylan Carlson. Now, before you start getting mad at me and yelling at me, like, why do you always pick on Dylan Carlson? I'm not picking on him.

Starting point is 00:29:33 I get it. He's not receiving everyday playing time. I get that he is coming back from an injury. My question is, it's not that Dylan Carlson isn't a good baseball player anymore. My question is, is he actually healthy? Is he actually healthy? Did they bring him up because they needed him so bad? Like, was he ready?

Starting point is 00:29:56 Or did they need him so bad to fill that void as like that fourth, fifth outfielder that they rushed him back? Because without Jordan Walker on the team, they had that empty spot out there. I mean, have you seen as it that? And it doesn't matter, lefty, righty. He's just not doing anything when he gets a chance to play. And people who get upset that he doesn't get enough playing time,

Starting point is 00:30:22 Well, when he does get a chance to hit, he doesn't do anything. So why would he earn more playing time? Dylan Carlson has six hits and 54-plate appearances. All of them are singles. That's a 128 batting average. He walked six times. He has struck out 14 times. He does not have an extra base hit.

Starting point is 00:30:46 He does not have an RBI. And when he does hit the ball, it doesn't go anywhere. Like there is no power to it whatsoever. Again, limited plate appearances, but his average exit VLO 81.1. Barrel percentage, 0.0. Like an animal house. Not good.

Starting point is 00:31:17 The bat speed, 69.3, that's below league average. And I refuse to believe that Dylan Carlson just stinks at the game of baseball. I refuse to believe that. We just saw this guy two months ago in spring training raking like that prospect he was supposed to be. I've always said it seems like a confidence thing with Bill and Carlson. But right now, I don't know if it's so much confidence, but I wonder whether or not he's actually healthy. I just don't know how sound his body is right now.

Starting point is 00:31:53 And it's kind of good that the Cardinals don't need to depend on him right now. They got Donnie, they got Siani, they got Burley holding down the foremost nights. But when you get like tonight starter, Austin Gomber, left hander on the hill, be nice to have that right-handed hitter do some damage like Dylan Carlson has done in the past. He's normally crushed righties. So I'm just, just something to think about. I just want to see the guy do good because like I said, I refuse to believe that he is just, past the point of no return, and he's like just no good of baseball anymore.

Starting point is 00:32:34 It's just over. I refuse to believe that because we just saw it in spring training, hitting for power from both sides of the play, looking good, looking fluid, looking strong, looking confident. I think that dude's still in there, and I hope we get to see him soon. Austin Gomber against Lance Lynn tonight. I hope it's not a Gomber revenge game. Thanks for making Locktime Cardinals for first to listen to every day.

Starting point is 00:32:59 If you haven't already, please give us a full. follow on Twitter X at L.O underscore Cardinals at the JD Sports Radio, like and subscribe on YouTube. Please help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. We're getting close, guys. We're like 100 subscribers away from 10,000 on YouTube. So if you have not subscribed on YouTube yet, I would love for you to be a subscriber. Just got our girl, Haley, from Lockdown Blues to 1,000.

Starting point is 00:33:24 Let's get me to 10. Let's get me to 10. Make a new account. Let's get me to 10. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason. Let's bring home a winner tonight. I'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sonny Gray Trending In The Wrong Direction... Time To Worry?

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