Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Offense and Defense DELIVER Masterclass, May, Herrera and Church SHINE In Win!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Make it five in a row for the Cardinals who put together one of their most complete lineups and games of the year against the New York Mets. 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. Hafford. And on today's show, we'll head down to the farm check in in our Memphis Redbirds who put up another crooked number on Tuesday. but what a game that we need to talk about on Tuesday night as far as major leagues go where the Cardinals put together. One of the most impressive and complete wins of the season in a 7-0 victory over the $380 million luxury tax machine known as the New York Mets. I don't know about you. Boy, am I glad that I am not flipping the bill for that team this season.

Starting point is 00:00:55 A lot of big names, a lot of big contracts, not a lot of winning so far this season. And although they had been winning more games, they've been playing much better recently since Juan Soto got back into the lineup. He obviously makes a huge difference. But it was all Cardinals on Tuesday night who were about as good as I've seen them this season as far as like one complete game. They did pretty much everything the right way. They hit the trifecta with the pitching, the offense, the defense. We can even go with the base running. It was outstanding as well.

Starting point is 00:01:28 We'll talk about that a little bit. It all just came together in this one game. And I want to start with the offensive side of things because that's where we've seen the most turnover in recent days. You know, they're trying to find a more efficient roster, a more efficient lineup day in and day out. That's always the goal. That's what you want.

Starting point is 00:01:48 And right now the offensive side of things, dare I say, feels kind of complete right now. There aren't a lot of holes in this. lineup. Of course, you can always upgrade in areas. Yeah, wouldn't be great to have an All-Star at every single position. Sure, who wouldn't want that? But overall, it's pretty complete right now because the Cardinals are very healthy at the moment. Third base might be the one spot that everybody's going to keep pointing their fingers at because that's where Nolan Gorman resides and he's not quite having the season that anybody wanted him to. But they're going to keep

Starting point is 00:02:25 working with them. We already know that that's not going to change. You know, I'm sure there's going to be people when left-handed pitchers get a start that it's going to be other people in there, like a Jose for me. Somebody else is going to go down there. But Gorman is still going to get his at-bats. He's still going to get the playing time. They're going to try to get him going. And there's not a lot of options behind him anyways, like when you think about it.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Yeah, the Blaze Jordan talk, he doesn't even play third base for Memphis. So there's no reason to keep talking about that. this is who they're going with and they're going to roll with him just like the way they rolled with Jordan Walker like this is their guy and they're going to try to make him better. That's the ultimate goal. But the rest of the lineup now that you've got Newt back, he's healthy. Nathan Church is back. He's healthy.

Starting point is 00:03:14 They've swapped out two of the guys that were kind of dragging things down in this lineup with Victor Scott and Pedro Pahez. Pahez, I feel bad because we love the dude. And, you know, obviously defensively, he's still a solid. and catcher on this roster. Victor needs to work on the offense. There's no reason to beat around the bush there. Like it wasn't good enough. So he's going to get the playing time down at AAA and hopefully we'll get things worked out. They want him to be a part of this team and a part of this future. So Heinblum just said that the other day. So we'll see how he adjusts to life back in minor league

Starting point is 00:03:51 baseball. But now you've got crooks and you've got Church who have taken over those spots. And Although Crooks hasn't done anything since getting called up offensively. He's hitting just 167 does not have a home run yet. But they've at least said, hey, we're going to turn the page and we want the possibility of the offense that he brings from the left side of the plate, the more pop that he offers than pahas. We want to give that a look at the big league level. Hopefully he finds success like he did in Memphis sooner rather than later.

Starting point is 00:04:22 but Nathan Church, before he got hurt, had solidified himself as a starting outfielder for this team. And swapping in church for Victor should be a major upgrade offensively. And in his first game back off the IEL, he most certainly made an impact in that number nine spot. He goes three for four. It was Gorman at church who got the offense going in that third inning when Gorman batting in the eighth spot. That's how far they've dropped him, took a lead off walk, and then Church followed. with a double down the line in left field to make it second and third and nobody out. That brings up NL rookie of the year clubhouse leader, J.J. Weatherholt drives them both in.

Starting point is 00:05:00 Line shot single to center field makes it two to nothing. Herrera gets it for the second time in the game already. He's now tied for the league league with 15 hit by pitch though far this season, puts guys at first and second for Jordan Walker, who's been a machine, grips a shot to left and Juan Soto actually makes a really nice sliding play on to keep it from actually going to the wall, which held Herrera up at third base, but Jordan with his great speed, makes it into second base, gets the double. You got a three to nothing lead. Then you get more good base running next when Newt rolls one to second base. They got the infield end to cut down the play, the runner at home play. They bring him in, Marcus Simeon, he's a former gold glove winner, fields the ball cleanly,

Starting point is 00:05:42 and he kind of nonchalantly throws at the first base. And as soon as he made the movie, he looked, Herrera back. As soon as he made the move to first base, Herrera breaks. He breaks a little floater of a throw over to first base thinking Herrera is not going anywhere. Herrera breaks, beats the throw at home plate to make it four to nothing. And that is another example of little stuff that separates good teams and bad teams. That's all it took. They took advantage of the walk. They took advantage of the hit by pitch. They use their speed to get the second base. Then smart, aggressive base running to get the run home. It was beautiful to watch. That is what we like to see as Cardinal fans. That is Cardinal baseball to us. It's not about hitting three, four, five home runs a game or

Starting point is 00:06:30 anything like that. It's about doing the little things right. And this inning, they did a lot of the little things right. Fifth inning, Herrera gets that bloop single to lead things off. And then it's Alec Berlinson, who had two pretty gnarly at bats against Freddie Peralta. Struck out his first two times did not look good. But here he comes up in his third at fat and this time he stays back, sees that he's going to be going away against him and takes it that way. Muscles up for that Apococo home run to right field to make it six to nothing. Then in the seventh inning, you got Herrera and Burley again, double to right for Yvonne who hit that sinking line drive, gets past the diving right fielder. Burley yanks one down the left and right to trade places with

Starting point is 00:07:09 them. And that makes it seven to nothing. The offense outstanding in this one. Outstanding. hits. Five of them are extra base hits. Four of them doubles. You get the home run from Burley. They go three for 10th runners in scoring position. They only strike out six times. During this five game winning streak, they've scored at least five runs in all five games. And what's the one thing that we've said about this team? It's like for most games, the pitching has been there. The starting pitching has been much better than we anticipated. And the offense just needed to kind of find that balance and get things going. So top four in the order, they've been very, very good so far this season. We know that. And they account for a lot of the damage in this one. Seven hits, six ribbies,

Starting point is 00:07:49 five runs scored. And although the five through eight guys, they did go over 14, which we're kind of used to, but you got the RBI from Newt. He's a much bigger threat in that number five spot. Gorman walked twice in the number eight hole. That's a power spot. You know, normally in the number eight hole, that was what Paz was normally sitting there. And you got Gorman there who can put one over a wall from time to time. And then it was Nathan Church as that second leadoff guy, the spot that Victor Scott could not fill. Nathan Church shows up, night one goes three for four in the number nine hole, and it kind of unlocked much of the offense that we saw in this game on Tuesday night. So it was really fun to watch. I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. Give me more. Keep feeding me,

Starting point is 00:08:33 see more. On the other side of things, though, Dustin May, awesome again. How about Dustin May, turning into one of the best signings in baseball this season. We'll talk about him next on Lockdown Cardinals. Hey, it's Mike and John from Lockdown Angels. We wanted to talk to you about something that's important, and that's your family. I've been married a few years now, and my wife and I have a one-year-old and we're always thinking about his future. Who's he going to become?

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Starting point is 00:10:15 those interruptions, click the link in the show notes, or go to locked on. STL cardinals.com to claim your free trial. So the Dustin May experience has been a really good one for the Cardinals who took a chance on a guy who's dealt with a lot of injuries in his career, but has always had the stuff to be a top three guy in a major league rotation. And so far this year, the Cardinals have done job number one, keep them healthy. That was most important. And now, because of that, you're seeing the product.

Starting point is 00:10:45 that once made him one of the Dodgers top pitching prospects. He was added again on Tuesday in New York, New York, carving up the Mets offense over six innings, allows just four hits, one walk. He strikes out six. And I think my favorite thing about May is the charisma that he brings to the mound. You are, you are seeing this confidence building, not only in his stuff, but his body overall. It continues to grow this confidence. And each outing, he's just showing a lot of fire up on that hill when he gets a big strikeout,

Starting point is 00:11:19 when he gets out of a big inning. I love it. And it's something, I love demonstrative pitchers. I do. Now, I don't need it to be Adner Uribe style, although, again, I thought that was funny when he did it, but I get why it upset people. So whatever. But I like that stuff.

Starting point is 00:11:40 I like confidence. I like attitude. I like energy. One of my favorite pictures in Cardinals history is Chris Carpenter. I still rock his jersey proudly at Cardinal Games. And he had that, you know, bulldog mentality that you've heard about. He's got that fire to compete. And you saw it with every start.

Starting point is 00:12:00 And I'm getting those vibes from Dustin May, who, again, is healthy. And he's believing in himself again. And he's got the arsenal to back it up. Now, does he have some of the nastiest stuff in the league? Not necessarily, but it's pretty good. Fastball below sit in 96.8 on average, 84th percentile with a value in the 93rd percentile. His walk percentage, 78 percentile. He's not giving up the free bases as much. So if you're going to go up against him and you're going to get on base, you're going to have to swing the bat to do it. And I would much rather see that happen. I'd rather see a guy. I'd rather see a guy.

Starting point is 00:12:41 challenge hitters throwing strikes and making them beat him, then the other way around where you're walking dudes and, you know, the walks will end up plaguing guys like you see the games like Andre Palante has where it just, they just drag and there's walks. And you've seen Matthew Libertor fall into that trap a couple of times this year where the walks start happening.

Starting point is 00:13:02 And it's just, it's just, ugh, it's awful. And when the guys put it in play against you, the Cardinals have the defense to back that up. All right. That's one thing. And you look at what they've done with the outfield now. If you got Newt and Church and Walker, they brought this up in the telecast last night,

Starting point is 00:13:25 the arms that you now have in the outfield as well. Like you've got great arms. Jordan Walker's got a cannon. Nathan Church has got a great arm. Lars Neupar, a very good arm in left field. That's a big deal. Church and Walker are covering a lot of ground. They have great speed out there.

Starting point is 00:13:42 And, you know, as long as Newt, healthy always holds it down in the outfield pretty well. So, and Dustin May knows that. And so you can challenge people and make these guys put the ball in play because you know you got the guys behind you that are going to hold it down defensively. And he was able to do that in this game too when the Mets did threaten, which wasn't a lot. But when they did, the defense backed them up. Third inning, they turned that beautiful 363 double play where Burleson gets the grounder, whips it over to second base. Mason takes it, throws it back to third. to first base for the 363 double play almost decapitates Francisco Alvarez on the throwback

Starting point is 00:14:19 to first inning who just stopped in the middle of the baseline. It was just standing there. Like Mason went right over his head, almost took his head off. Got to look out. Got to look out. Boys are playing ball here. Then in the fourth inning, it was Nathan Church making, I guess you can call like a spinnerooey type of basket catch in center field where you kind of misjudge things. He didn't know which way to turn, but then ends up gathering himself and makes the basket catch snuffs out that two out threat by the Mets who had two on at the time. So if that gets down, we got a whole new ballgame because I think it was four to nothing at that point. So and as a former infielder, I can tell you, nothing is more

Starting point is 00:14:56 boring and lulls your defense to sleep like watching a pitcher struggle with his command and not throwing strikes. And Dustin May is not having that problem. He's getting the strikeouts. He's bringing the intensity is keeping you in the game. And at the same time, you're not walking people. You're not walking people. It keeps you just as a defense more engaged. And they're going to be better because of it. And you're seeing that. And you saw it on Tuesday night. May's first win since April 21st, which is really hard to believe as well as he's pitched over that time. But that's really been more on the offense that it's been on Dustin May. It hasn't been his fault. You got this nugget from Rob Raines. The Cardinals hadn't scored more than three runs while May was

Starting point is 00:15:37 in a game, a combined eight runs of support over a span of seven starts in which may end up being O and four with three no decisions despite having a 3.86 ERA. Not his fault, not as fault that the boys weren't putting the offense together. But they were able to do it in this one and did it a lot of fun ways. So this was a great win. Shout out to the bullpen as well with a big lead. Ali was able to use some of the last least guys in the bullpen. They go to Justin Brule for two winnings. Matt's Fonson comes in. His first appearance. getting recalled, low leverage situations, and both of them did their job. They performed beautifully.

Starting point is 00:16:13 And as much crap as I have given Justin Broll, and it's been plenty over the first few months. I just said, I wish they had brought other people in to compete with him and make him earn the job instead of just handing the job over to him because he struggled early on. But give credit where credit is due since the beginning of May, he is sporting a 2.70 ERA, 13 strikeouts, only two walks, which is key, in 13 and a third inning. in 13 appearances. Now, before that, the numbers, ERA was a 5.6.3, seven strikeouts, 11 walks in 17 appearances. Same issues that were plaguing Ryan Stannick when things weren't going well.

Starting point is 00:16:53 We're plaguing Justin Brule walks. You were putting too many people on for free. Lately, he hasn't been doing that, and you're seeing how his stats are that much better. Three stars at the game for this one. You got to go to Dustin May. Dustin May was beautiful. He was awesome. Fantastic again. So much love to Dustin May. Congratulations on the win.

Starting point is 00:17:13 He looked great. Yvonne Herrera is going to be my number two star of the game. On base all five times gets hit twice as three hits himself and was on base five times. Constantly had a great base running play to make it a four to nothing lead. So shout out to Yvonne Herrera. And then my guy, Nathan Church. Yeah, coming back and being that second leadoff guy, being a catalyst at the bottom of the order, holding things down in center field.

Starting point is 00:17:38 We know he can do it defensively, and he gets three hits. He gets three heads at his first game back, which is something the team was lacking, was that after the top four guys, not a lot of offense. And there wasn't a ton of it again in this one, except for Nathan Church, who would get that lineup turned over again. And you saw how the Cardinals took advantage of that. So the Cardinals gained on the Brewers with this win, plus Joshua Baez doing it again for the Memphis Redburns. We'll get into that next on Locked on Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:21:18 couldn't do without you, boys and girls. Cardinals now have the longest active winning streak in baseball. How about that? Five in a row now after the Brewers finally lost the game. They end up losing to the A's in Vegas after that wild one on Monday. They ended up having another offensive game on Tuesday, but A's come out on top. I believe it was seven to five as a final night one.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Cardinals are now four and a half games back. So nothing to get too worked up about just yet. But still, one game at a time. and it's nice to see your team playing well. That other team's playing well, but yet you're still gaining ground. And they're separating themselves between guys and the rest of the division

Starting point is 00:21:57 because the rest of the division's struggling right now. Pirates lose their fourth in a row after getting blasted by the Dodgers 12 to 3. This was also a Paul Skeen start, by the way. Now, Skeens, it wasn't on him. He was good as usual. Two runs over six inning, struck out seven. He was excellent against the Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:22:13 But then the Pirates bullpen. He comes out of the game in the sixth. Pirates bullpen immediately gives up 10 runs in the seventh inning. Ten. Diners put a 10 spot on them. So that one hurts. They are now three and a half back of the Cardinals, eight back in the division. Cubs also lost in Colorado, seven to three.

Starting point is 00:22:32 Rocky scored all seven of their runs in the first three innings. That's back-to-back losses for the Cubbies who were three and seven in their last ten. They're now tired with the Pirates, eight games back in the division. And three and a half back of the Cardinals, Reds did snap. their five game losing streak last night with an extra inning win in San Diego, but there's still two games under 500, five games back of the Cardinals and nine out from the Brewers. So right now it is the Brewers who are tops in the in the division. And then it's the Cardinals and then it kind of bottoms out a little bit right now. So this is great. This is fantastic. I love it. Speaking of good,

Starting point is 00:23:10 Memphis Redbirds, Thump Norfolk 11 to 4 on Tuesday night. Two to nothing to start the and second baseman Cesar Prieto. They were down to nothing, I should say, when they started the fifth inning. Cesar Prieto, who we saw didn't get a lot of, get a lot of chances and didn't play, didn't do much offensively for the Cardinals when he was called up for his cup of coffee. But he hits the hell out of the ball at AAA. Smacks two-run single to tie the game one batter later. It's centerfielder Joshua Baez, who absolutely destroyed a baseball, crushed it.

Starting point is 00:23:42 Three-run bomb, puts the Redbirds on top, the home run tally, I mean, 18th of the season, second most in the international league. Creato also hits a solo home run later on in the game. His ninth is the Redbirds rolled in this one, 11 to 4. Baez is now hitting 24 with 18 dingers, 48 RBIs, 11 stolen bases in just 57 games played at AAA. I know people want to see them at the Major League level, but the clamoring for him has kind of died off a little bit because the Cardinals are winning, which always helps.

Starting point is 00:24:11 But when you go and you look at the depth in the outfield right now that they have at the major legal level. There's really no reason to push it right now. You've got Newt. You've got church. You got Baez, not Baez, Newt, Church, Fermin, Velazquez, and Walker. You've got these guys who are up there right now. So you don't really need to push Joshua Baez to come up. You got Torres. He's the other one. I don't know why I had bias sitting in there, but Newt, Church, Torres, Vermin, Velazquez, and Walker. Like, he got six dudes right now that you can just rotate, you can do matchups with, you know, righty, lefty, whatever you've got.

Starting point is 00:24:53 Cardinals have an answer right now because everybody's healthy. They're holding it down just fine. So as great a season, as Byers is having down to Ant Memphis right now, keep it up, dude. Just keep it up. Enjoy. Have fun. Eat.

Starting point is 00:25:06 Love it. Go for it. Cardinals are good right now. We're cool. So long as they're healthy and they got this. rotation going the way it is. There's not a neat to bring Joshua Baez up. Cardins are going to go for their six one in a row tonight with Andre Palante on the Mounties, six and four. Three point nine six ERA. The Mets are going to go what appears to be a bullpen game. I guess Austin Warren is scheduled

Starting point is 00:25:29 to make his second start of the season, normally a reliever. So first pitch will be at 610 St. Louis time. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals, your first listen of the day. Thank you for being a part of the Locked on Cardinals Nation here. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O underscore Cardinals. TikTok, Instagram. We're available there if you like the shorts and the reels at Lockedong Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube as we push for 15,000 subscribers. If you never miss an episode, check out the Everyday Air Club.

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Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Offense and Defense DELIVER Masterclass, May, Herrera and Church SHINE In Win!

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