Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Continue To Show The Ability To Bounce Back!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cardinals continue to show the ability to move on quickly from adversity with another all-around, solid performance against the athletics. 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. Hafferin, and on today's show, we're going to dig into some of the news and notes from last night's game. to update you on the NL Central. Radio Rodriguez made his first appearance with AA Springfield, so I want to talk about that. But we're going to start with what happened in Tuesday night's game in Sacramento, which I have to say, I've seen many, many games in plenty of minor league stadiums. And although the major league stadiums, they are bigger,

Starting point is 00:00:56 they are superior. I understand that. But it is kind of fun to see the big leaguers playing in a more intimate setting. Like, doesn't it just seem kind of cool? Like, they're just at some ballparks. There's like picnics going on in the outfield and stuff. I just, I kind of dig the setup there. I thought it was cool. But that being said, impressive is what I would use to describe

Starting point is 00:01:18 what happened in that first inning for the Cardinals. This was, this was huge. This was huge for a team. You know, Sunday, you take the tough loss in San Diego after being one strike away from taking the series. and instead you get a much less gratifying four game split. It's not a bad thing. But at the same time, if you took three, four,

Starting point is 00:01:37 you were like, you really were going to be feeling good and confident going into your next series. You get the day off on Monday, which is good, chance to kind of reset everything, refresh yourself, get away from a competitive game for a few hours before you got to, you know, lace up your cleats again. And it's not like things get a whole lot easier. You've got to face the AOS leading athletics. And it's been an incredible stretch of games that the Cardinals have. had to endure recently when you look at the level of competition that they've gone up against

Starting point is 00:02:05 Mariners, Pirates, Dodgers, Brewers, Padres, now the A's, all these teams above 500. And many of them with playoff aspirations, well, the Mariners might be. Are the Mariners still, are they still below 500? That could be. That could be too. So maybe that's not the case. But either way, we know they're a very good ball club, right? Like the Mariners are no joke.

Starting point is 00:02:27 You know, they almost made it to the World Series. It's last year. So let me double check on this. It's just real quick. Bear with me for this Seattle, 21 and 22. So they're one game under 500. But we know that these teams are good. And we know this A's team is good.

Starting point is 00:02:44 It's a nice, solid young squad, similar to the Cardinals, as far as the age goes, who can really slug? Now, I wouldn't suggest getting into Slug Fest with the A's. I don't think that's a great idea for the Cardinals. But the Cardinals come out roaring. in that first inning, setting the tone, scoring four runs right off the bat to give themselves and starter Andre Palante a healthy cushion as he tries to maneuver his way through that A's lineup. You need runs to BPAs.

Starting point is 00:03:13 You can't win games one nothing, two to one, especially in that ballpark. And it all started with J.J. Weatherhole. The kid continues to be the spark plug in this offense that they have been missing seemingly forever. It just seems like it's been forever since they had somebody of his capability. with his ability to work counts, take pitches, take walks, as well as be able to hit for some power. He offers the speed aspect.

Starting point is 00:03:39 And to think that this guy is only a rookie and is in his second month of big league baseball is kind of mind-blowing how good he's been. And he does it here again in the first inning. Lefty, lefty match up for pitch walk. He doesn't chase. He doesn't try to do too much. He just takes quality of bats over. and over again. And he sets the tone by getting on first base right away. Yvonne Herrera comes up next.

Starting point is 00:04:06 Arguably, your most disciplined hitter in the lineup works a five pitch at bat and ends up singling to right field. And again, not trying to do too much. This is key. Sometimes you'll see Yvonne, especially last year, he would take those massive packs at the ball. But now he doesn't have to. He doesn't have to be the power guy in this lineup. There are other dudes behind him now that can take on that mantle. He's just being a solid number two hitter, which is get the ball in play, get the runners over, take what they're pitching you and do what you can do with it. And he's able to just take what the opposition gives him, really, you know, you want to pitch him away? Fine, fine, he'll take it that way. And he's more than happy to take a single. He doesn't have to hit a double or a home run. He doesn't

Starting point is 00:04:52 have to take these massive hacks like he used to. He just does what he needs to do. And now you got first and second nobody out for Jordan Walker. Who is the thunder in this lineup right now? He was in the third hole because we had a lefty on the mound against us. So they swap Burley. Ollie decides to swap early and Walker. That way the righty's getting up to the plate in the first inning. And the transformation for Jordan Walker from the hitter that he was the last

Starting point is 00:05:18 couple of seasons to the man we are seeing now, it's night and day. Teams continue to work him away for the most part to try to get him off balance and have him chase out of the zone. It's the same playbook as they had before. They're still using it because they don't know what else to do to get him out. He's made it. So they're like, okay, there's nowhere to hide. I can't really come in on him because his hands are so quick.

Starting point is 00:05:42 His bat speed is so good. It's very difficult to get in on Jordan Walker and get him out that way. So they're going to have to keep going away against him. But this year, it's Jordan who has made those adjustments and he's not chasing all that garbage like he used to. You know, he'd be chasing breaking balls and pitches that are, you know, six inches off the plate outside and just flail at him. And he's not doing that anymore. How many a bass do you see where Jordan's up there and he, you know, kind of check swings. Looks like he's really enticed the swing of that pitch that's off the plate. And he holds off.

Starting point is 00:06:17 He does like a little spin and turns towards the umpire. And I don't know if he whispers to himself or whatever he does. And you can almost see it on his face where he's like, Nope, not today. Not going to get me out there. I'm not going to fall for that crap. And even if it's a strike on the outside portion of the plate out on the corner, he's not going to just take a weak swing at it, like as much as he used to. There's going to be times he gets fooled.

Starting point is 00:06:41 Everybody does. But he doesn't flail at it over and over like he used to. He'll take a strike or two now. He'll be patient at the plate in most situations. And most of the time, it's worked out. And he's been outstanding. And this at bat, first pitch he gets, it's a slider. It's a strike.

Starting point is 00:06:57 You know, he questioned him. He was like, be sure that hit the corner? I'm like, hit the corner. But he's not going to chase. That wasn't his pitch. That's not what he's looking for. So he doesn't swing. He doesn't take the chance that he does just dink it into play or pop it up or whatever.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Like he just waits. He waits. And now he's looking out there at the outside portion of play. He's like, all right, you're going to attack me out there. He's got a lefty out there, which is, you know, easy for him to reach that outside portion of the play. Serves him up a changeup. And this time, George, and does what he does. And he's got that long reach. And he's able to smack it into left center field for an RBI single, makes it one to nothing, tying him with Alec Berlison for the team leading RBIs with 30. Burley comes up next. And, you know, it's not a favorable matchup. Lefty, lefty. He just hasn't been as good, hasn't found as much success this year as he did last year, where you didn't really lefties didn't have as much of an effect against Burley. This year, it's been pretty tough. And he goes down swinging. You get Mason win up next. He pops up to.

Starting point is 00:07:55 second pitch he sees for the second out has to put another dollar in the swear jar because he drops another F bomb, which is awesome. I still think it's great, but not ideal because now you got two down and now you're threatening to waste what was a really good scoring opportunity to do a lot of damage and put up a crooked number here in the first inning. But when the big boys don't come through, you need other guys to step up. And that's where our next hitters came into play. Jose Fermin and Joel Pozo, two guys who don't see much playing time, especially. in Pozo's case, but when the manager calls your number, you got to be ready to go. And when you get opportunities, you got to take advantage of them.

Starting point is 00:08:33 And these guys did that with two massive hits to save this inning for Meen, takes that slider away for a ball, then gets a fastball away. And Fermin does not have the reach of a Jordan Walker, so he can't pull that into the left center gap. But instead, he takes it to right center instead because he's got that more small compact swing, line shot splits the gap there. Herrera scores easily from second base. And then you got Jordan with that 92nd percentile sprint speed scores all the way from first base, diving head first into home and makes it three to nothing for mean sixth and seventh RBIs of the season. Then steps in Pozo,

Starting point is 00:09:10 who we don't see a whole lot of had just won it bat so far in the month of May and just 18 so far on the season. Again, you kind of forget that Pozo was on this team unless you see him cheering over there in the dugout immediately falls behind 02, but he does what he normally does. He usually has like tough at bats. Like he's just not, you're not going to get him out on three straight pitches. He's just not going to do that. And he fouls, what, three straight pitches off before hitting a pitch, literally two feet outside, two feet. I think they even measured it that it wasn't like exactly two feet, but it was close. Like it would have hit. If there was a guy standing in that left handed batters box, it would have hit him in the head. It would have hit him in the

Starting point is 00:09:51 hip way outside. But whatever, Pozo somehow gets decent wood on it, finds a hole up the middle, scores for me, and that makes it four to nothing. Now that is how you squash any questions about will there be a feeling of like a hangover or anything from such a tough loss on Sunday? No, they came out hacking and they look great, walk, hit to right, hit to left center, hit to right center, hit to center, like boom, boom, boom, they're all over the place. There was nowhere to hide for Springs. It was beautiful to watch and was certainly needed in that ballpark where offense is key. Scores can get a little wacky sometimes in this one.

Starting point is 00:10:34 And that's where Andre Palante steps in. The bullpen, the defense, they all came up huge in this one. We're going to talk about those guys coming up next on Lockdown Cardinals. Baseball season is here. And now you can trade every game on Calci. On Cal She, you could trade every single game. Now, the Cardinals tonight, trading at 44% to beat the A's, meaning that a $100 trade pays out $228 if they win.

Starting point is 00:11:08 If you go with the A's, boo, trading in 57%, $100 trade pays out $176. You're a Cardinals fan. You're watching Locked on Cardinals. You're going to go with the Redbirds, right? Right? They helped you out last night. On Cal She, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house and as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position for a limited time. Download the Cal She app, use code locked on to get $10 and when you trade 10.

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Starting point is 00:12:19 If you haven't tried it yet, give it a world. Tap the link in the show notes or go to Lockdown STon, STL cardinals.supercast.com for more information. Now this A's lineup has got a lot of thump. It just does. It's an impressive lineup. It's young. It's a fun one to watch. If I'm up after the Cardinals games are over and I'm still watching ball games and I want to catch a West Coast game, I'm not really watching the Dodgers or the Padres or the Giants or Seattle. I like to watch the A's. I just think they're a fun team. They got the stud first baseman, Nick Kurtz batting lead off, which is like, okay, all right. Then you got Shave Bangaliers batting behind him. They don't call him that for nothing.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Tyler Soderstrom's good. Brent Rooker. He's been a little injured this year, but he's really good. Lawrence Butler. Usually Jacob Wilson's in that lineup, but he's hurt right now. So it's not an easy lineup to go up against. And Andre Palante at his work cut out for him. But the one thing that's great about Andre, especially in that ballpark, is that he's a ground ball guy. He's a ground ball pitcher. And you got to keep the ball down if you're going to pitch there and survive. And he's coming off. You know, we talk about this team bouncing back as a whole from those tough losses in San Diego. He's coming off a rough start himself. Last time out against Milwaukee wasn't so good. So like the offense, how would he respond?

Starting point is 00:13:37 How was Andre Palante going to look in that bandbox in Sacramento? It was a mixed bag, but that's because, you know, it's just an Andre Palante thing. You know, he spotted four runs and he does what Springs does in the top of the first, which is a big no-no and you walk the lead off in there. This happens a couple times in this game for the Cardinals' pitchers, and luckily it didn't get out of hand. But Andre is able to survive despite walking Rooker as well with two outs. Got the defense behind him that is stellar.

Starting point is 00:14:08 They made multiple great catches in the outfield in this one. They turned a couple double plays. He gets the ground ball to the sure-handed Mason win. Golliver it shortstop to end the inning. Second inning things change rather quickly. And it happened all with two outs, which is as maddening as anything, because you feel like you can let your foot off the pedal a little bit after you get the first two outs. And that didn't work here.

Starting point is 00:14:30 Didn't work at all. Her nays beats out that crappy infield single again. Another crappy infield single against this Cardinals team. It's so frustrating. But there's nothing you can do. He hustled out of the box, beats the throw at first base. And then you get Jeff McNeil, who's always annoying, catches a hanger for a single. Kurtz comes up next.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Singles on a fastball. over the heart of the plate, Palante misses to both of those guys. It's lucky the one that Kurtz didn't end up on the grassy knoll out there because that was way too much meat of the plate for a guy like Kurtz who can crush it. And then Andre gets his sinker up to the next dinner, Langaliers, who rips a two-run double. And now we've got to run one-run ball game. And now you're letting this is the second inning. So you're like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be one of those like, you know, Coorsfield,

Starting point is 00:15:19 Colorado Rockies type of games where, you know, the scores are going to get out raised. and our pitching staff's going to get just blown to bits and we're in trouble. You're like, oh, crap, here we go. But Andre gets Soderstrom to pop out, maintains that lead. And those were the last runs. They would score on him. And he did not allow a hit the rest of the way. And that's just how things are with Andre Palante.

Starting point is 00:15:44 It is roller coaster all the time, and we need to accept that. Very rarely are things going to be pretty when Andre Palant. is starting in a game. This season, more times than not, though, instead of things getting out of hand and snowballing against him, he's able to get out of it. And you're like thinking he's having this bad game,

Starting point is 00:16:06 which is what it felt like after that second inning. You're like, this is going so well. And you look up and it's the fifth inning. He's still in there. And you're, you still have a chance to win. And I tweeted at one point during the game, how I wasn't enjoying this start as much

Starting point is 00:16:22 as some of his. other ones and multiple fans clapped back at me and were like, you enjoy Palante starts ever. And it kind of made me laugh. It made me laugh because, yeah, usually Palante starts are incredibly stressful. The walks, the long counts. And if that's rarely, he just breezing through things takes his time. But after that second inning, Andre Palante was money. He was really, really good.

Starting point is 00:16:46 He gets through five, maintains the four to three lead. Very impressive against that lineup and in that ballpark. Good stuff. Sixth inning, JJ Weatherhole gives the boys some breathing room, smacks his eighth dinger of the season, two run shot over the wall in right field, clears the boards. This was after a pinch hit single by Nolan Gorman, by the way, who came in. And that was nice to see.

Starting point is 00:17:08 Also had a walk later in that game. So again, we're always hoping that Gorman's going to start breaking out at some point. But that made it a six to three ball game. So you got a little space there. You can breathe a little bit. Ollie goes to the ballpen. And it kind of seems like he's got his blueprint. about how he thinks, he wants things to go when the team is winning.

Starting point is 00:17:27 Back to back games now that he's gone to Ryan Stanick first out of the bullpen. And although he walks the lead off hitter, again, big no, no, walks a Rooker on a very close call, by the way, which Herrera even challenged because it was close enough to take a peek at it. But it was still a ball. But Stanick bore down, got a couple of flyouts and then a strikeout makes it six consecutive, scoreless appearances for him, which is a huge turnaround from the guy that we saw. at the beginning of this season, who couldn't throw strikes, was getting beat all over the place. And it just seemed like when people are calling for him to be released, like get rid of this dude.

Starting point is 00:18:02 He's crap. And I kept saying they're not going to do that. They paid him a decent chunk of change. They got to figure out how to fix him. It's working. Whatever, whatever adjustments they've made, it is working for Stanick right now. He looked good. Great job.

Starting point is 00:18:17 Then it was Jojo in the seventh inning against her nays and the two lefties, McNeil and Kurtz, goes right through them. one, two, three. Then George Soriano comes on. He comes on in the eighth inning. Again, same thing as that they did in that last game against San Diego. Soriano comes on. And in this one, he gives up some really hard contact. It also gave me a few heart palpitations on a couple. Gives up a solo bomb to Langalears to make it six to four. Then Soderstrom smashes one that Victor Scott has to make an excellent catch on in center field. Rooker pops out, but then Cortez smashes a double at 104 to right which brought the tying run up to the plate and Zach Gelloff,

Starting point is 00:18:56 and he smacks one deep to left. Off the bat, I thought it was gone. I did. I thought this game was tied. I was like, oh, no, I kind of put my head down. I was like that and not just happened, but there's our guy, Nathan Church, out there and left, and he comes down with it. inning is over.

Starting point is 00:19:12 Shoo! They survive. Ninth inning, hands the ball over to Riley O'Brien. Another guy trying to make a bounce back after that tough loss, gave up the game tying home run. to Nick Castiano's. How would Riley O'Brien respond to this one? Another leadoff walk, not what we were looking for.

Starting point is 00:19:31 But the defense turns a sweet, 463 double play to make it too wilds. And then he gets McNeil to ground back to him, ends the game. League leading 12th save of the season, that's a winner. Three stars of the game will do some news and notes as well, including how did Raymio Rodriguez look in his first game with Springfield? That information coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:21:11 Thank you again for making Locked on. Carlos, first list of the day. Thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. All right, three stars of the game. First star, J.J. Weatherhole, massive game. Two for four, home run, walk, two runs scored. They turned two double plays. Like, he was awesome.

Starting point is 00:21:27 Weatherholt's home run was his first in 38 at bats in the month of May after he hit just after he hit seven in the month of April. With those two hits, he's now eight for 38 this month. It's only a 210 batting average. But let's be honest, everyone slups. Okay, nobody needs to freak out. And I don't think anybody is. You know, he went ballistic in Pittsburgh, you know, crazy numbers that he put up against the pirates. Things have slowed down a little bit. He's faced some tougher teams. Let's be honest. the pitching staffs for a lot of these teams have been really, really good. So it doesn't shock me that things have slowed down a little bit for JJ, but he's still getting on base.

Starting point is 00:22:03 He's still taking walks, and I loved his swings on Tuesday. I thought he looked great. Second star, give it up to our guy, Jose Fermin. First start in nine days for Fermin. So it was huge to see him come through in that first inning with the second, with the two-run double that helped bust things open in that first inning when it almost seemed like the team was about to squander a major, major opportunity, but he doesn't let it happen.

Starting point is 00:22:26 Goes right center field, gets the two run double. Huge a bad for Jose Fermin. Yeah, I don't mind seeing Jose Fermin out there. I know they want to get Thomas to J.C. at bats and they want him to play, but he's just not getting it done. So give me more Jose for mean. He's earned it. Third start of the day is going to Andre Palante.

Starting point is 00:22:48 Five innings, three runs, four hits. Three walks, obviously are never good, but it's part of Andre Palante. his DNA as a pitcher. He's going to have some walks from time to time. Also, four strikeouts gave the guys a chance to win. And he was awesome after that second inning. You know, things could have really gotten on a hand with that A's lineup. And Palante didn't let it happen. He was awesome. So this was the Cardinals' highest scoring opening frame since a nine run outburst on July 13th of 24 against the Cubs at Bush Stadium. So it's been a bit since the Cardinals put up some runs in the first inning. In fact, before Tuesday's game, the Cardinals win eight games without even scoring a first

Starting point is 00:23:25 inning run. We know how good they've been this season when they do score first. So hopefully they get going early again and do it more often here in the near future. But eight games without scoring a first inning run dating back to May the first. So it's been a rough first inning here in the month of May. But their overall road record is now at 14 and 7 second best in the major leagues behind the Atlanta Braves who are having an incredible season so far. So great stuff, great stuff. On the farm, it was quite a AA debut for prize catching prospect, Radio Rodriguez, two for four, also drew a walk.

Starting point is 00:24:02 You love to see it. The 19-year-old is now the second youngest player in all of AA baseball and continues to be a star on the rise, which has people asking, what are we going to do at the catching position? Because we got like 15 dudes. What are we doing? Where are we going with this? I know we've been seeing, you know, Leonardo Bernal playing some first base as well as doing catching duties, so to get his abats in the lineup, too. So that's something that they're doing.

Starting point is 00:24:29 Jimmy Crooks, obviously continues to hit home runs at AAA. Strikes out a ton, but also hitting a lot of home runs at AAA. And then you got Rodriguez right behind them. You got Paez. You got Herrera, who has looked fantastic behind the plate. I know the throwing hasn't been great, but he is really done quite well. better than I thought he was going to be behind the plate this year coming off the surgeries. It's a really good question.

Starting point is 00:24:55 What are they going to do with the catching position at some point? Something's got to give. The rest of the NL Central had the Cubs losing for the third time in a row. This time they fall to Atlanta, six to two. Thank you, Atlanta. The Brewers get the best of the Padre, six to four, thanks to a five-run fourth inning. Brewers have won five in a row. Pirates knock off the Rockies three to one.

Starting point is 00:25:14 Paul Skeen's incredible game. He throws eight shutout innings. He strikes out 10. His ERA is now at 1.98, but he still hasn't beaten the St. Louis Cardinals since becoming a major league baseball player. Throw that out there. Reds got pummeled by the nationals 10 to 4. So your standings have the Cubs in first by two and a half games over Milwaukee and the Cardinals, Pittsburgh behind them at four games back.

Starting point is 00:25:38 And then you got the Reds who are still above 500 and 22 and 20, but they've slipped to five games back in the division. And they've got a fan base that is freaking out Jeff Carr from last. on the Reds. He might have an aneurysm if that offense doesn't get going soon. They had this great start to the season. We all know that, but lost eight in a row. They're two and eight in their last 10. They're the only team in the division with a minus run differential, which is now at minus 39. So Cardo's going to have to play them soon. So maybe they'll catch them at a good time while they're kind of cold. So let's keep it that way.

Starting point is 00:26:12 Tonight's game, Matthew Libitor on the Mount against righty, J.T. Gen, who is coming off a really good It's eight innings, eight strikeouts against Philly. First pitch at 840, St. Louis time. Thanks for making Lockedong Cardinals. Your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L1 underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio. TikTok and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube to help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow.

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Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Continue To Show The Ability To Bounce Back!

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