Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals, Kyle Leahy SHUT DOWN Marlins in Clutch Win to Avoid Sweep! Offense STRUGGLING

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kyle Leahy appears to be trining in the right direction as the Cardinals eke out a win and avoid the sweep against the Miami Marlins. 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. Haffordan on today's show. We will talk about what this Cardinals win did to their division status, how they're looking at looking in the wild card. Former Cardinal has a dozy of a night on the mound. We got some cardinal confessions where we take questions and comments from listeners, a lot less angry after the win,

Starting point is 00:00:47 but still plenty of, you know, unhappy fans, thanks to the team's recent slide. But we're going to start with the win. Yeah, we start with the good stuff first, right? Sunday's win, a two to one victory over the red hot Miami Marlins who have just dominated in the month of June and now have an 18 and 6 record with only the Phillies beating them twice. The only other teams that have beaten them, it's only been once. So that's the only time they've lost twice to the same opponent in this month. It's been a heck of a run. And with the Cardinals often struggling the way it is, I'll be honest. I did not think that two runs were going to be enough to pull out the W on this one. I was very much skeptical. I'm like, this is what's going to happen. I was like, we're going to

Starting point is 00:01:30 have a two to nothing lead. And then it became two to one. And then something stupid's going to happen and we're going to lose like three to two, four to three, something like that. But credit to Dusty Blake's troops, who got another solid effort from Kyle Leahy, who although he labored early on in this game, pitch count way up, right? First couple of innings, but still rattles off four no-hit innings, which is not easy to do. Marlins tagged him for back-to-back doubles in that fifth inning.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Lucky that second one wasn't parked in the seats, actually. Big time. hanging breaking ball right there. Marlins decide, hey, we're going to sacrifice the guy over. They're going to play a little small ball, try to get that run in. And there he was with one out, runner on third. And I don't think there were a lot of people who believe that that guy on third base was not going to score and tie things up. I sure thought he was. I was like, oh, man, this is what the good teams do, right? You know, Cardinals are in a bit of a rut. Marlins are flying high. And they bunt this guy over.

Starting point is 00:02:36 They got two chances to bring them in. Like, this is going to happen. This is what good teams do. When you're winning and things are working well, that run gets in. And with the way the Marlins have been playing, I thought he was scored for sure. But Kyle Leahy did not falter. Was able to get Marcy to break his bat and softly line out to JJ at second base.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Again, I'm feeling very negative lately just because the way things have been going for the Cardinals. As soon as that one left the bat, I was like, this is going to float over JJ's head. land in shallow center field. Might not even make it out of the dirt, but it's going to, it's going to land, isn't it? Because that's what we've come to expect from our boys right now. You're in a slump and stuff like this happens. But instead, it falls harmlessly into JJ's glove. So maybe, maybe the baseball gods are changing things up a little bit for the Cardinals. We can only hope, right? Lehi then gets the strike out of Otto Lopez, which is no small feet there either,

Starting point is 00:03:30 leading the NL and hitting. Got a K percentage of just 14%. That would, basically wrap up Leahy's Day at 87 pitches, through a ton early on. A ton early on, a couple of walks there in that first inning. And with the heat being the way it was at Bush Stadium, and it's only going to get worse, it was understandable why Ali didn't sit him out there for the sixth inning. And I know some fans hate that.

Starting point is 00:03:54 You know, they get their panties in a bunch. When Ali goes to the pin somewhat early, doesn't ride these guys for six or seven innings, doesn't push them, doesn't press them. but in this particular case, I think it made sense. I think it made sense. First out of the gate was Joe Joe Romero,

Starting point is 00:04:11 who, you know, like most of these guys in the bullpen, have had their bumps in the road so far in this month. But he comes out of the gate first, a loud one hit, but gives them an inning in a third of scoreless relief before passing the baton to Ryan Stanick, who also gives up a hit, but then gets that big double play to end the seventh inning.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Next up, you got George Soriano. who's been hit a little bit recently, but for the most part this year has been good, strikes out two and his one inning of work. And then it was Riley O'Brien's turn. And we know how he has struggled since being like one of the most dominant relievers in baseball in the early portion of the season. And so, but I wasn't quite as stressed about this one. I was just like, I just want to see something good. Like the fans who have been out there in the heat all day, all of us watch it, like we want to see something good here. And he looked good. He looks strong in that ninth inning.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Fly out, strikeout, ground out, ball was sizzling in there. Kind of look like the guy that was pitching earlier on in the season. I hope we see more of him. 20th save of the season, one run, four hits in the game for this pitching staff after allowing four on eight and five on 13 in the first two games. Obviously, this is much, much better. Yeah, I mean, the Marlins have been hot. And they've been finding ways to win.

Starting point is 00:05:32 They're not like an offense that is going to blow the doors off of people. That's not who they are. But they're one of those teams that's like it's a pestering team. And to not allow them to do that to you on Sunday and to pick up the W. Like that was huge. So great job for the pitching staff. Proud of you guys. Only one run on four hits.

Starting point is 00:05:57 Surely that would be enough. Even for this Cardinals offense, the way it looks, right now, they could make that stick, right? Well, barely. They did. The offense got a joel from one of the more unlikelyest guys who had hardly played this month. So we'll talk about that. And we'll do some cardinal confessions because I want to hear your feedback on

Starting point is 00:06:18 what's been going on with the Cardinals this weekend. We'll get into all of this. Coming up on Locked on Cardinals. A big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited break, this back to school season. Spend less on your kids with Amazon. Now, we all know how crazy the back-to-school shopping experience can be. The kids want and need almost everything. Like when you buy back-to-school clothes, then your kid has a growth spurt two weeks later.

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Starting point is 00:07:41 Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals, your first list of the day. And thank you for making it locked on the number one sports podcast network. Get your daily Cardinals coverage completely ad free by joining our everyday or club today. Start your seven day free trial. You can do it right now and get closer to your team without those interruptions. Just click the link in the show notes or go to locked on STL Cardinals. That supercast.com to claim your free trial. Let's talk about this offense.

Starting point is 00:08:07 First off, I really, really, really, really, really, really. miss the Cardinals fun offense from earlier this season. I really do. I miss the tough at bats, the grinding at bats, the walks. I miss Jordan Walker, pummeling the hell out of the baseball, which is really hard to do when you're on the bench, which is where he was on Sunday as they try to just, all right, take a step back.

Starting point is 00:08:32 We know things have been rough. Let's get you two days off again. All right, let's do that. So that means he got off Thursday. Now Sunday gets Monday, so three days off here. Should be plenty for his body to kind of recuperate, his mind to recuperate. That's what you're hoping for, right? The team recently has had little to no extra base punch at all,

Starting point is 00:08:59 which has led to some really close games. And unfortunately, instead of winning those games, the cartels have been losing them. Your run totals per game this week, 3-34012. Sounds like a combination of something. And this was, and what was odd is this is coming off the 12-run explosion on Sunday last week against Kansas City. Just a bad week facing tougher pitching, a bit of both. Either way, the boys aren't scoring runs.

Starting point is 00:09:34 They're just not. They're not creating offense. Everything looks really stale. And I hate that my brain went to this, but it reminds. reminded me of their boring ass offense from last year. Remember how it was just like, oh, I can't, I don't even want to watch this. Even though you'd have a couple of guys here and there, dude, it was just as a whole, it was like, oh, my gosh, I'd rather watch paint dry.

Starting point is 00:10:02 And what was fun about the beginning of the season, obviously the winning, but was the amount of traffic that the cartels were putting on base on a daily basis, either by hit or or by walk. And this week, it was terrible to watch. It wasn't fun. Three runs on seven hits, four walks in the game against the Diamondbacks of that first game, which was a winner. They get the same lining game, too, but most of that came in the ninth inning. Remember, they didn't do anything the whole day. And then ninth inning is where things got interesting. Four runs on eight hits, just two walks and Wednesday's loss. You get the rain out on Thursday. Friday, no runs, three hits, two walks. Then on Saturday, one run. One run.

Starting point is 00:10:44 seven hits, two walks. And even though they got the win on Sunday, it was a lot more of the same. Two run, six hits, no walks. Sunday started for Miami, Tyler Phillips, goes seven in the third innings on just 97 pitches. Like, they're just, they're not seeing enough pitches, not enough tough at bats. They're not pushing counts like they used to. And all of that used to be working. It was working well.

Starting point is 00:11:12 it was fun and i hope they can get back to it again real soon every team goes through slums every team the brewers have gone through slums the dodgers will go through slums the yankees just got swept by the red socks you know oddly enough the team that i think i think they still have the best like run producing offense is the washington nationals but like everybody goes through slumps so to expect this young team to just stay the course and be awesome the whole time. That's fools gold. We didn't think that was going to happen. It doesn't happen for anybody. And this is one of those lulls where things just aren't clicking the way you wanted to. And you just got to, you got to fight your way through it and try to pull yourself out of it.

Starting point is 00:12:01 And it's tough because you got a lot of tough opponents coming up. So the pitching against you is going to be that good or better than you've seen already. Now, the only runs they get on day come courtesy of Mr. 5'7, Brian Torres, who smoked his third home run of the season in the third inning after getting ahead in the count too well. We got a sinker low, tattoos that sucker over the wall in right field to make a two to nothing at the time. And you sometimes forget that Torres is even on this team, at least recently, because since Lars Neupar has come back and Blaze Jordan has been holding down third base, Torres and bats have been few and far between. It was always his third start since June 7th.

Starting point is 00:12:42 and luckily for the Cardinals, he made the most of it. Ollie was praising him after the game for his ability to, you know, stay locked in to keep working. Said it's a great example of just staying ready. And that's to one person's credit and that's Torres. He goes a while without playing and you would never know by the way he goes about his work and the way you see him in the clubhouse. He's here 30 minutes or so before everybody shows up. He wants to make sure he gets his work in while it's still quiet and he can get

Starting point is 00:13:12 everything again, but it's a longer routine. But he does that every day, whether it's four or five days without playing. And then you give him an opportunity like today. Thankfully, he was in the lineup because it was her only runs, right? The home run was only the second one by a Cardinals player in their last, what, nine games, nine games at home. The other was coming from Jose for me on a Wednesday against Arizona. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist. to know that if it's Jose Fermin and Brian Torres as your power supply for your lineup, and you're relying on them to hit the ball out of the ballpark, you got a problem.

Starting point is 00:13:56 You got a serious, serious problem. And I brought up Jordan Walker's issues earlier this week in our last episode, kind of went more in depth into what his numbers look like right now. but it's not on Jordan Walker's shoulders. It's not just him. He's got plenty of company on the Cardinals' struggle bus of late. Last six games, let's just go through the normal batting order real quick. Last six games, J.J. Weatherholt, no extra base hits, a 231 slug.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Yvonne Herrera, no extra base hits, 11 slug. Alec Berlinson, before we move on from that, Yvon Herrera in that first inning, JJ, base hit, steal second. All Yvonne has to do is push the ball to the right side to move him over to third base, give the Cardinals a chance to score him. And for whatever reason, he pulls a pitch that was low and away. Horrible, horrible job right there. That is the, that is the, that's the worst. Don't, what are we doing? How did you do that? I don't even know how rolled over on it. So obviously, Yvonne's in a funk. Alec Berlinson, one extra base hit that was a double, 222 slug. Jordan Walker, no extra base hits, 278 slug.

Starting point is 00:15:11 Lars Newpar, two extra base hits, 500 slug, which isn't good, but it's better than everybody else, and that's what's sad. Mason Wynn, no extra base hits, 222 slug. Nathan Church, zero extra base hits, 200 slug. And what in the hell are you doing on third base in that eighth inning, Nathan Church? What are you doing? you cannot get picked off third base like that. Like that's atrocious.

Starting point is 00:15:43 And it's little things like that. So earlier on in the season, the Cardinals were doing all the little things, right? And they were leading to wins. Now they're making all the little mistakes, and it's leading the losses. Luckily, it didn't bite him in the butt in this one, but man, I was fired up after that.

Starting point is 00:16:00 I'm like, you cannot have that happen. brutal. Blaise Jordan, one extra base hit, 231 slug. Jimmy Crooks, where is his bat? Where is the bat that Jimmy Crooks was supposed to be coming up from Memphis with? Because it hadn't shown up yet. No extra base hits. 91 slug. And I don't care how good your pitching is or isn't. You are not winning a lot of baseball games with numbers like that, and those are your regulars. So thoughts and comments from the fans. Let's do some cardinal confession. here. The boys are going down a metal slide and little help crawling up that flaming hot surface.

Starting point is 00:16:41 Ooh, bad playground memories right there. I think the novelty of the youngy birds is wearing off. I'm sad to say, it's just a slump. Young teams are expected to be inconsistent. I don't, again, I don't know how many people thought that this, the way they were playing, the way they were winning. I don't know how many people thought it would never slow down at any point. Like, it always does. And this has been a rough patch for sure. Now, how they answer the bell over the next 14 games against really tough competition in Atlanta, Milwaukee, and the Cubs.

Starting point is 00:17:16 Again, Marlins best team in baseball this month. So you got Marlins, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Cubs. Like, this is one hell of a gauntlet they're going through right now. It's going to tell us a lot. Now, Atlanta has cooled off a bit. They're three and seven in their last 10. and 9 and 11 in the month of June. So maybe you're catching Atlanta at a good time.

Starting point is 00:17:36 Better than what they wore where they were just beating the snot out of everybody. Milwaukee continues to roll. They're 16 and 8 in June, 5 and 5 in their last 10. Cubs are 12 and 10, but have won 8 of their last 10. Can you go 500 or better in this stretch? Or will they go like 5 and 9 and get buried?

Starting point is 00:17:56 You know, they had on paper earlier this season and what seemed like a really tough schedule. When the schedule came out, we kind of pointed at this at the end of April going into May where you had Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dodgers, Milwaukee, San Diego. And we were like, all right, that's a pretty tough stretch. And they started to all, remember, they got swept by Seattle. And we're all like, uh-oh, uh-oh, is this the beginning of a tailspin? But then they go to Pittsburgh and they sweep Pittsburgh over four games.

Starting point is 00:18:27 Remember it was when JJ went off? Church made that awesome catch in left field. Like all of a sudden, there's some enthusiasm. There's some real excitement. They won two of three against the Dodgers. And then they split with Milwaukee because there was a rainout in there. And then they split with San Diego, win, two, lose to. Remember the Nick Castiano's home run that beat them?

Starting point is 00:18:52 So they go nine and seven over that stretch. And that was like a huge win. That was a huge win. Oh, my gosh, man. Well, look at, look what we've done. We made it out. We made it out with the winning record. This is great.

Starting point is 00:19:06 Maybe they'll step up again. You know, maybe this law that they've been. Maybe they'll snap out of it and move forward. We'll see. More of these real quick comments. Our offense is still dog poop, but give the fish credit. Pitching was pretty good all series, but you still have to hit good pitching. Yeah, I mean, Max, Max Meyer, we're 9 and 0.

Starting point is 00:19:27 What? Nine and O? still unbeaten already this year. But yeah, eventually you got to beat some good pitchers, you know, just like when they went to Pittsburgh and they were able to beat Paul Skees. Like you got to beat the good ones. You know, those are who you're going to face when you get to like playoff time and stuff.

Starting point is 00:19:44 So you got to be able to do that. It's time to start the Memphis Shuttle. Get buyers up here for an audition and a group of the AAA pitchers showing what they have to offer. Libby needs to go to the bullpen. You know, we've discussed that idea with Libby going to the pin, not sure how keen the Cardinals are on something like that. Us as fans tend to want to move on from stuff a lot quicker than majorly baseball teams

Starting point is 00:20:06 because that's just who we are as fans. Like we want change. We want everything instantaneous and, you know, ball clubs are much more patient about stuff like that. But Libby has struggle mightily while, you know, he got Kyle Leahy who's been stepping up and you've got Hunter Dobbins waiting in the wings. So, but it's been nice to see Leahy stepping up over the last. a couple outings, one run over his last, what, 12 and third innings combined in the three

Starting point is 00:20:32 starts. You know, if you could trim those walks down a little bit, I'd be a little more enthusiastic about it. I don't know if he's pitching really well or he's just getting lucky. I know he got ahead of a lot of hitters in Sunday's game, which was a big portion of him doing well against the Marlins, but the walks per nine at 3.43 is seventh worst in the national league. Like, that's got to improve. You shave those down. It's going to shave your pitch countdown. And that's, that's going to allow Leahy to go longer and deeper into ball games. But, you know, it's a work in progress. And it's positive progress right now from Leahy,

Starting point is 00:21:06 which is certainly noticeable. And that's what you're looking for. Up next, how the rest of the NL Central fair this weekend. What's the wild cardinal situation looking like for the Cardinals? Because there is a positive thing going on there. And a former Cardinal flirts with history yet again. We'll get up to all that coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Thanks for making Lockdown, Cardinals, your first listen of the day.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Thank you for making lockdown on the number one sports podcast network. Now, following the win on Sunday, the Cardinals are still in third place in the division. There's seven back of Milwaukee. They're a game and a half back of the Cubs. Milwaukee swept the Reds in three games of the losing lost two of three to Chicago this weekend, which has got Cubs fans doing backflips, as they should. You know, that doesn't happen very often against Milwaukee, no matter what team you are.

Starting point is 00:22:04 Misarowski got the win on Friday night, but Saturday the Cubs got to that Brewer's bullpen. which is where like if they're going to make any trades at the deadline and try to improve, it's going to be the bullpen for the Brewers. That's really kind of their Achilles heel right now. Got to the bullpen, six runs and four innings to spoil another nice start from Kyle Harrison. Then on Sunday, Brandon Woodruff, five shutout innings against Chicago, but it goes to extras where the Cubs score three in the top of the 10th and they hang on to win that one, four to three. The Cubs are going to be hosting, or the Brewers are going to be hosting the Reds for four more beginning today.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Cubs, on the other hand, huge week. They go six and one. They sweep the Mets, take two of three in Milwaukee. They also made a trade with the Mets on Wednesday. One of those rare trades were like, hey, can you just come over from your locker room? Because we need you. Lefty David Peterson, who got the win on Saturday for Chicago. They brought him over.

Starting point is 00:23:01 And it was not like a nothing trade. Like, they dealt some decent prospects there. So maybe that's good news for the Cardinals down the road if they end up trading people. But I mean, this Cubs team, excuse me, streakyest team I think I've ever seen. Got a couple of 10 win streaks in there. You got a 10 loss streak in there. Now they're on the rise again, hosting the Padres before the Cardinals go to Wrigley for the 4th of July weekend, which should be nutty.

Starting point is 00:23:33 I mean, that's going to be bonkers, right? like you look ahead to that weekend and I'm really just hoping we don't get swept. I'm really nervous about that because you're going to have this holiday crowd, raucous holiday crowd at Wrigley. I don't know what the weather's going to be like. But that one makes me nervous, man. I hope they got their good guys ready to go. I hope they've snapped out of this funk they're in by then.

Starting point is 00:24:04 Pirates avoid the sweep by winning on Sunday. Sunday over the Reds 9 to 4. They finished the week at 3 and 3. They have to go to Philly now, who's been on fire recently. Reds take 2 of 3 in Pittsburgh after getting swept by Milwaukee. They finished the week 2 and 4 and are in Milwaukee to start the week. Wildcard-wise, Cardinals are back in the number 3 spot. They're a half game ahead of the Padres and Marlins and behind the Cubs and Phillies.

Starting point is 00:24:28 And before we wrap things up, shout out to Sunny Gray. Sunny Gray, who many people didn't want. on this team anymore. I understood why they had to trade them. I got it. Totally understood. But I was famously one of the Sunny Gray backers, even in the hard times. And people continue to give me crap about that.

Starting point is 00:24:50 Sunny Gray took a no-hitter into the 18 against the Yankees. The bullpen would ultimately blow that lead, but they still ended up winning in 10 innings to sweep New York in a four-game set. Gray gave up just one hit over seven in a third inning. He walked one. He struck out nine. sunny gray is now nine and one this year with a 2.690 a year eight. Now he's not striking people out like he was in St. Louis,

Starting point is 00:25:16 but he's also stopped giving up as many long balls. Dude gave up 21 and 25 home runs in his two years in St. Louis, highest one season totals in his career. And he's been able to bring that down a notch. He's only at nine so far for Boston. I know one or two bad games and blooms, you're right back on pace to give up that many. but the guy's been really, really good.

Starting point is 00:25:37 And barring a Boston resurgence, which I know they're feeling really good after this weekend because of a four-game sweep of the Yankees, why wouldn't you? But there's still 10 games under 500 despite that. So he could be a massive trade chip moving forward. And there's been some people online who have suggested that if the cardals become buyers,

Starting point is 00:25:55 would Sunny Grae be somebody that they would be interested in having talks with Boston about. Wouldn't that be funny? But we'll see. We'll see. Got the tough road ahead of them right now. No game today. Enjoy your off day on Monday.

Starting point is 00:26:10 Appreciate your stopping in. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals. Your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L1 underscore Cardinals, TikTok and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube, push it for 15,000 subscribers. Can't do it without you. If you never miss an episode, we got the Everyday Air Club and that seven-day free trial up for you,

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Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals, Kyle Leahy SHUT DOWN Marlins in Clutch Win to Avoid Sweep! Offense STRUGGLING

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