Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Playoff Hopes REIGNITED?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals take care of the Cubs on Sunday to win the series. They also just beat the Dodgers and have won four of their last six. And one Cardinal legend has made a bold prediction about the end of the season. Should we start believing in these guys again? 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, the Cardinals. I'm Jad.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. Follow me on X at JD Sports Radio as well as the podcast on X at L0 underscore Cardinals. You find us on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, at Lockton Cardinals. This is a show that serves Cardal Nation, gives the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought you by Fandall. Football season is around the corner. Visit the Fandul app today and start planning your futures bet.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Now, Thomas Covein from Redwood Ranch.com. is kind enough to join us on this on this Monday to talk some cardinal baseball. It's a glorious Monday, Thomas, because as you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, the ugly shirt, it's here. It's on. Again, pressed iron, ready to go. Back-to-back series wins. They knock off their rival.

Starting point is 00:01:21 The Chicago Cubs, thanks to a three to two win on Sunday night baseball. That's right. The Cardinals won not only on a Sunday, Thomas, which they don't do it very much of this year. Nationally televised game. Normally they get blown out in those games. So you've got a Sunday nationally televised. These are things they've struggled with. Thomas, how are we feeling about what the boys did this weekend?

Starting point is 00:01:44 You have to throw in the rain delay, too, because they keep on getting those. Yeah, I feel great. It's always good when you beat the Cubs, you know, especially in a big moment like this early August, heat of the summer. It feels good. Yeah, and the Cardinals, and I'm going to throw this out there. They're in what we call the happy place right now, Thomas, much like the movie. Happy Gilmore and Happy Gilmore, too. I don't know if you've seen those yet, but the new ones on Netflix.

Starting point is 00:02:11 Entertaining. Not as good as the first one, but in those movies, happy dreams of, you know, his girl in lingerie, pictures of beer. She's holding grandma winning money and other stuff in those scenes. And the Cardinals are in a similar spot. They got their yacht in a uniform in the dugout this past weekend. some decent crowds, obviously not sellouts or anything like that, but some decent crowds, which, you know, thank you to the Cubs fans for coming to St. Louis.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Plenty of beer at Bush Stadium. And we also got some really good pitching performances in the last week from Sunny Gray, who threw two gems. And then on Friday he had Michael McGreevy, who was really, really good again, looked strong in the opening game of the series against the Cubs. Who were you more impressed with, Thomas, in the Chicago series by itself, Was it gray on Sunday or McGreevy on Friday? I'm going to have to go to Sunny Gray.

Starting point is 00:03:05 I know his lines like and look is clean. It's not a shutout. One of those runs, definitely not his fault. Corman botched that throw over to first base. Yeah, right. Seven strikeouts, only one walk, seven innings strong. That's what you look for out of your number one pitcher to be able to go that long, save the bullpen,

Starting point is 00:03:23 and really get those strikeouts, limit runners, and the damage they can create. I'm not going to downplay McGreevy's start. He was exceptional in his six innings. He helped the Cubs at bay for most, if not all the game, kept the runners off base. But Gray was just a little bit more dominant in my mind. He also, I'm going to throw a picture up too on YouTube right now.

Starting point is 00:03:43 If you noticed, Sunny went with the socks up look, Thomas. I always am a fan of if you, you may not like much about Miles Michaelis. That's your right. But there's one thing he's always done and he's done the high socks. and they've always looked awesome. Wayno used to do the high socks. Like a big fan of them. I think it adds a whole lot to the look. But Sonny had him on Sunday night. Actually, Miles is the one that suggested it to him. John Dent was writing about this where, or was it Derek cool, maybe it was Derek cool, but they wrote about it.

Starting point is 00:04:15 But about how he told Sonny like, dude, try it like this because it makes you feel a little bit cooler, like heat-wise. He wore the sleeves in L.A. to keep his hands drier, if you remember. All these things seem to be working. question is, can Sunny maintain this level of performance, or is this just, you know, a couple of good games and you expect it to come back down to Earth a little bit? I sure hope he can. I mean, he's being paid the money for it. He's got the title of number one of the staff for it. If you're hoping to make a playoff or postseason push these last few weeks of the season, you need Sunny Gray to be on. You don't need seven, eight innings

Starting point is 00:04:54 every start. But more often than not, you need him to be that ace top of the rotation type guy. Yeah, and some cool stats. This for sure from John Denton. I do remember this. 17 wins now at the stadium in the last two seasons. Only Terek Scoobal, who's arguably the best pitcher in baseball, has more 18 at Camerica Park in Detroit. Cardals are 13 and 2 in Grace 15 starts at home this year in a major league best 18 and 6 when he takes the mound. Yet people still question whether he not he is a number one guy in Major League Baseball. ball how do you feel about this i mean obviously you always wish you had like three dudes who are better than him to to be your number one but all things considered i mean can we say he's the number one or

Starting point is 00:05:41 should we say he's not pick a lane right yeah right i mean you're getting to semantics at that point what do you consider a number one pitcher in the league is it top five top 10 what i mean where's it just like a guy who can lead a staff and i think if that's the definition you're going for it's got to Sunny Gray. He's been a stopper in his career. He's been able to start runs for the Cardinals. He's had those spectacular near historic starts. I mean, look at his complete camp. Shout out earlier this year of the Maddox. That's something that an ace can do. That's a number one type performance. Is he a top 10 pitcher? Probably not, but how many teams can have? Only 10 teams can have a top 10 pitcher realistically, unless one team has two and then we're just getting into

Starting point is 00:06:22 finance discussions, but we don't need to go there today. So I think he's definitely number one. go out and buy a bunch of them. And, but hey, I mean, they got to stay healthy and they're not healthy. You've seen them deal with a lot of injuries out there. So it doesn't always work out that way. But yeah, I mean, whether you want to call them a number one or an ace, you want to use these words that trigger people for whatever reason, they get very upset at me when I call him an ace.

Starting point is 00:06:44 I don't know why, but he is your ace. He's the Cardinals ace. That's what's most important. And more times than not, he has pitched like one. He's been that guy that like when things are, Going in the crapper, he's the guy that gives you the best chance to turn it around or put a stop to it, like you said, being a stopper for this rotation and, you know, kind of bringing things back to balance for the team. Because, you know, you've seen these starts that you get from a Michaelis and a Palante where it just blows up on them. And then you're like, oh, crap.

Starting point is 00:07:17 Now we've used the whole bullpen and we're screwed. And then, all right, who do we turn to? Sonny Gray's been that guy for them. So you got to give him some credit and whatever you want to call him. Just know that he is the best starting pitcher on the Cardinals right now. It's been fun to watch this year. More times than not, he's been really, really good. So 11 wins down.

Starting point is 00:07:40 11 wins now. ERA is still over four, which you don't like to see. But a couple of big blowup games are why they look a lot worse than they are. You know, I'm going to say that if you're number one, you're not supposed to have those games. So I understand the argument there as well. I mentioned bullpen. We're going to stick with pitching next. I want to ask Thomas about the bullpen and what has happened since the trade deadline.

Starting point is 00:08:03 Who are the guys that are impressing him? And we'll talk a little bit of offense too well, especially what we're seeing from, you know, the young guys like Jordan Walker, who has looked so much better. So we'll get into all of this coming up on Lockdown Cardinals. Today's episode brought to you by Game Day Hugh. And so is this particular hat if you're watching on YouTube, Game Day Hugh, cool enough to hook us up with a couple of their golf caps. These things are clean.

Starting point is 00:08:37 They're beautiful. They're light. I love wearing them on the golf course, but you can wear them anywhere. If you want to wear them to the gym, that's another place I've been able to wear them as well. You know, it keeps the sweat and stuff away. It's just working out nicely for me. For Cardinals fans like me, that hits the mark. And it should for you too.

Starting point is 00:08:54 Game Day Hugh makes clean no logo gear with team inspired colorways for every pro and college fan base. and it's all about letting the colors speak for you. You don't have to deal with the giant logos, which turn some people off, just smart, versatile styles that work on game day, on the golf course or anywhere in between. Obviously, the golf course is a great place to do it because I can wear that and I can match it up with the glove that I got.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Because it's not just hats. You can check out their split shade gloves as well made for the golf course. They are perfect gifts for, you know, birthdays, fathers days. I mean, you're going to start thinking about Christmas stuff here in the near future. We're in August, I know, but you're going to start thinking about it. And it's stuff like this that you can get now and have it ready for. And that way you're not procrastinating. So get 15% off with code MLB15 at gameday hue.com.

Starting point is 00:09:42 That's game day, hue.com. The code even stacks on bundle deals. So you can get more. So now is the time to load up. Let your colors talk because colors speak louder than words. That's game day, hugh.com. Code MLB 15. Thanks again for making a lot of time.

Starting point is 00:10:02 Carlos first listen every day, leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X or TikTok anytime you want. Make sure you guys give Thomas a follow at Thomas Govain on on X. But we love the feedback. We want to hear from you and what you're thinking about things, agree or disagree with the things we're talking about today. One thing I think we can all agree on Thomas is that the Cardinals bullpen has been a very strong spot for this team. Overall, all season long, all season long. It was the same way last year, this year. Not a whole lot had changed. Like the bullpen was really, really good. But you do what needed to be done at the trade deadline. You end up trading three of those big pieces away. And Ryan Helsley, Phil Mayton, and Stephen Matt. And you needed to find guys that we're going to step up in those

Starting point is 00:10:41 roles and replace those guys. And so far, it's really been four guys that have stood out to you since the deadline moves, right? Yeah. So one of the guys has been around for a long time, Kyle Leahy, he's been doing it all here. He had a little bit of a blip sometime in June, but since then he settled. Kyle Leahy, Matt Sonson, Jojo Romero, and Riley, Brian. Those four seem to be all these favorites in the back of the bullpen, and they've been delivering ever since August 1st. Now, let's talk about, let's start kind of like, I don't, the pecking order. We'll start with Fonson. Okay, he's the rookie. All right, let's start with Fonson. Seven games in his last seven games, 12 innings, one run, six hits, 12Ks. He's got a 0.95 ERA. We know that he did some closing in the minor leagues as well. What have you liked from him so far? What has impressed you so far about him. And again, in his rookie season, people forget about this. This isn't like some veteran guy that guy. This is a rookie making his debut in Major League Baseball, and he seems to

Starting point is 00:11:43 have found his net, hasn't he? Yeah, he's got eight strikeouts just the month of August already. He's been firing the ball in there. He's stranding runners that he inherits. He's been exceptional when called on in leverage situations. And as the season's gone on and has always got more comfortable with him since his promotion full time, he's been. seeing these higher leverage situations and they haven't really been daunting to him. He's handled them well. And that's part of the thing is that when you have those other three guys there and those are the go-to guys for those situations, guys like Sponson kind of got lost in the

Starting point is 00:12:15 shuffle, you know, they were coming in games and they were just like, I don't know, am I even that big of a deal? Am I needed on this team all that much? But, you know, it's just one of those things where some of these guys that you have that are used to, you know, more, you know, high leverage roles in the minor leagues. Then you bring them up here and they're throwing in the sixth inning of a, you know, where they're losing six to two. Like it's different.

Starting point is 00:12:37 It's weird, but it's different that you just don't have the same intensity or focus. And to see him stepping up and becoming better and better as the year went on, I've thoroughly enjoyed it because we all know you can never have enough arms in the bullpen. And, you know, we saw Chris Roycroft and guys like that where it's just like, this isn't working. This isn't good. And Sonson has been able to calm things down and has been excellent over the last. seven games that he's been in. Riley O'Brien, another one of those guys. Where's your trust meter at

Starting point is 00:13:07 with Riley O'Brien? Because when I watch his games, I feel personally, I'm like very nervous that he's going to walk some dudes and it's going to get out of hand. But so far, you go to his numbers and you're like, this guy's actually pretty good. 1.74 ERA so far this season, just six earned runs this year. What are your favorite things about what you've seen from Riley O'Brien, specifically more recently when he's gotten called upon more from O'Lie? Yeah, it starts with this fastball. Everything develops from there. He's touching 97, 98 with ease.

Starting point is 00:13:39 When you get a guy with high stuff like Riley O'Brien, you have to be willing to sacrifice balls going haywire, and he hasn't really had that happened to him. So in August, at least we'll say that. He had some rough patches really near too. But he seemed to have settled that down as well. He's getting pretty decent strikeout numbers. He's more so getting guys out, however that happens, ground balls,

Starting point is 00:14:01 whatever it may be, as opposed to as usual calling card is with strikeouts. But it's the stuff that starts from there. It's the fastball Velo. That's where it goes for O'Brien. Yeah, that like so much movement. And that's the thing is you're seeing like, you know, we hear it a lot, soft contact. But his movement is so good that that's why people aren't hitting him quite as hard. Yeah, they're putting it in play and you hope to get more swing and miss out of them.

Starting point is 00:14:27 But not a whole lot to complain about when it comes to Riley, Brian, he's been pitching a lot better. He's getting more frequent work. And he's staying healthy. Obviously, that's been an issue for him since he's been a part of this organization. He has been able to stay on the mound. And at least recently, fingers crossed, things have stayed healthy for him. And so we want to keep it that way because you see why they're kind of drooling over him.

Starting point is 00:14:53 And it's kind of a shocker that other organizations have let him just move on. And so far, the Cardinals are taking advantage of that. Kyle Leahy, as we mentioned, been really, really good. Had that rough June that you mentioned where, you know, he's really good at the beginning of the year. Spring, we're like, where's this dude coming from? But over his last nine games, 16 and two-thirds innings, two runs, eight hits, 19K is the ERA at 1.08.

Starting point is 00:15:20 He's really been a lot of fun to watch. It's been a bright spot for this team as well, hasn't he? He has. And a lot of other people, beat writers, have been talking about his personality and how it lends him to being calm, cool and collected regardless of what he's called upon. He is that multi-inning reliever who can come in high leverage. He can shut down both-handed batters.

Starting point is 00:15:38 He's been reliable as I'll get out, and he seems to be mentally handling the load really well. Yeah. And we forget about that sometimes of the mental toll that it takes on these guys to be out there in the situations that they are where you've got a team like the Cardinals where we're not outscoring a lot of teams, you know, they're tight ball. ball games. And it's just like over and over. You're just in these one run, two run ball games. And pressure is real, man. It's not an easy job. If it was, everybody would be doing it. And we'd find bullpen arms all over the place. But it's not easy. There has been discussion about

Starting point is 00:16:14 possibly stretching them out and letting him become a starter for next season, similar to what they did with Matthew Libertor this spring. With the way the depth is in the organization, you know, you've seen the injuries to guys that they were hoping might be able to step up. You know, it's Coerobie and Cooper Jerpy and Sim Roberson. You know, Quinn Matthews has had his issues, although we just got named International pitcher of the week, which is really good. He's looked better recently, but he's had his health issues. Team Kent has had health issues.

Starting point is 00:16:48 The way things are, are you cool with that? Are you cool them doing the Libertory thing again, where they kind of taking a weapon from a strong spot, which is the bullpen and moving it up to the road. if they decide they're not going to go outside the organization and pay for anybody. Yeah, I think there's a few different statements in baseball that ring true. One of them is that you can replace a bullpen piece pretty easily. They're cheap. They're easy to find an open market or waivers.

Starting point is 00:17:14 I would love to move Kyle Leahy into a rotation spot for next year, at least give him a chance in spring. Michael's will be gone. That opens up a spot. I think there's an argument. Oh, you think you will, do you? I hope you will. If he's back, I think that we'll be seeing numbers in the 10,000s next year. I think Andre Klontes should probably get a second look as far as where he fits for next year, too.

Starting point is 00:17:38 And then you always need that depth. You mentioned a bunch of prospects we have. Throw Kyle Hayey in there. And it gets, you have, it's insurance at that point for the rotation. I don't know if he'd be an amazing starting pitcher. I'm not saying that.

Starting point is 00:17:50 But he could be very serviceable towards the bottom of the rotation with maybe some upside. Yeah. We saw him pitch, you know, it was like, what do you got stretched out over a few innings? and everybody's like, oh, okay, maybe we do this with him. So obviously, this won't happen until the offseason.

Starting point is 00:18:07 And then, you know, we don't know what's going to happen this off season either. If Hyne Bloom is, what's he going to do to kind of reshape things and how they look, you know, is he willing to deal some of the position players to go find some other pitchers to give them, you know, more, more depth there at the starting rotation position. So, but something to think about, something to think about. And then, of course, we'll wrap it up, a bullpen wise, Jojo Romero. I mean, what can you say bad about Jojo since April 27th? He's been almost unhittable, you know, 35 appearances, 32 and a third innings, 33 strikeouts, two earned runs in 35

Starting point is 00:18:42 appearances. That is freaking nuts. The ERA 0.56. The guy found his thing at playing golf, man. He went to the driving range and figured out to get his hips into something. And he's been incredible ever since. I mean, is this the closer? Is this the guy moving forward? forward or do you think this is just something that'll happen, you know, for the rest of this year and then they'll reevaluate things next year? Yeah, he's got three saves since the deadline that would lend you to believe he's the closer. I think bullpen should probably be a little bit more flexible than like this is my closer here, especially since he's the only lefty in the bullpen. You'll see him like we saw against Otani and Freeman and bets at one point in the game against

Starting point is 00:19:21 the Dodgers. You'll see him when they need him most. But if possible, I think Marbaal will hold them to the ninth in a close game. Yeah, and it's strange that they just don't have any other lefters. They got the waiver. Wait for John King to come back. Hold on. Yeah, wait on John King to come back as well. But I don't know.

Starting point is 00:19:39 I've kind of enjoyed not having to see him so far. No offense, John, but things are working pretty well without you. So, yeah, take your time, buddy. Get healthy. Offensively, real quick, we've seen Jordan Walker appear to be turning a corner with his game since coming back from the I. He's had 20 games hitting 315, Thomas, 359 OBP. Only the one home run. I get it.

Starting point is 00:20:03 Eight RBI, three stolen bases. But what have you liked most about what you've seen from Jordan Walker since coming off the aisle? He is swinging the ball a lot more in August. He's swinging out the ball a lot more in August. And it's not like he's swinging up those fastballs high, breaking balls down in the way. His end zone swing rate has gone up quite a bit. He's now up to 61.5%.

Starting point is 00:20:25 his out-of-zone swing rate has dropped in this month. I mean, I came prepared today. You got statistics on me. It dropped from over 50% in June and July, down to 30-and-a-half. So he's swinging more, but it's at-pitches in the zone. He's not necessarily generating hard contact as often. His average exit loss, he's a little bit down. But when he hits the ball and when he barrels it, man,

Starting point is 00:20:46 that thing's a bullet coming out of the box. Yeah, and it's a shame because there's been a couple times where he's had balls that look like they were going to be home runs and he gets robbed or, like, And I don't know why they just have been dying at certain spots. But, yeah, that one that he hit this weekend was a freaking missile. Like that was – he had two against the Diamondbacks, too, didn't he? That series, like close to home runs, yeah. Yeah, and it's just like, oh, because, you know, you had a couple of them in there,

Starting point is 00:21:12 and you're like, things look so much more different, just by a couple of them go in an extra 15 feet. But it's great to see. I don't know anybody that's been rooting against Jordan Walker. I mean, this franchise really needs a super. superstar player to get behind. I think Mason Wynn is on his way. Obviously, you're seeing it defensively and he's been really, really good in the second half offensively. But, you know, it's always been win and Walker. Those are the guys that, you know, we're really kind of banking on. And it's been tough, you know, for us watching Jordan's struggle. You know, and you're like, wait a second. This guy was the top right-handed hitting prospect in all of baseball just a couple years ago. Like what has happened? And you know what? He's still 23 and he's still young and sometimes it just takes a little bit before things finally click. And so far, I can't really complain about what we've seen since he's been back. Also, shout out to Nolan Gorman, hit 304 in August with a with a home run at five RBIs

Starting point is 00:22:10 and seven games. The Aronado injury has been huge for him, hasn't it? Offensively, yeah. Evensively, I don't want to talk about that. Yeah, we don't talk about that. Yeah, offensively, it's been great. He's a guy that's streaky. And for the streaky guys, you need to get them regular playing time.

Starting point is 00:22:26 And he's gotten that he's gotten 35 out of 40 starts this year in his appearances. He's logged seven games in August alone, 25 played appearances. That's huge for a guy like him who needs those consistent at-bats play appearances experiences. His OPS is still slightly below 800, which you don't love to see, like a little bit more slug out of him. However, you'll still take it. Yeah, yeah, we'll take it. And, you know, these guys are finally here in August. you're seeing the runway that we heard so much about all offseason.

Starting point is 00:22:56 We're done with that word. You eliminate the log jam that you got. And some of these bats are coming in more for these guys. And you're seeing some of them step up. So positive thoughts right now going on with the Cardinals. And now you got the Rockies in town. We're going to talk about them and the Division Wildcard race that the Cardinals technically are still a part of.

Starting point is 00:23:19 and one former legend actually thinks things are going to come down to the very end of this season for the Cardinals. He's got a bold prediction. So we'll talk about that more. Coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. August 26th is officially Fandul Futures Day. A brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches for just 24 hours. Fandil is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP or you're eyeing a long shot to be.

Starting point is 00:23:55 vision winner or you're ready to crown your Super Bowl champion before week one even kicks off. This is going to be your moment. So let's talk MVP. All right. Josh Allen last year, very, very good, right? Who's complaining about Josh Allen? But rarely do guys win back-to-back MVP's anymore? Aaron Rogers was the last one to do it when he was with the Packers.

Starting point is 00:24:16 But it's almost always a quarterback. So if you're going to choose one, who are you going to roll with? Personally, I'm kind of on the Bengals Joe Burrow bandwagon right now. finally healthy in the preseason has always been hurt during the preseason. Looked really good in their first game. And I'm hoping that that slow start that normally plagues him and the team won't be there because he's healthy finally. But he's got all the weapons, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Chase, Chase Brown. That's the guy on my end for the MVP.

Starting point is 00:24:45 So visit the Fandole app today and start planning your futures bet now. You can go with what I say. You can pick your own. Maybe you go Lamar Jackson. Maybe you go Josh Allen again. or maybe you go Patrick Mahomes, possibly. These are all up to you. But visit the Fandul app today.

Starting point is 00:24:59 Start planning your futures bet now because futures day is one day and one day only. Fandul, play your game. Thanks again for making a lot of time. Carlos, your first list. For your second list and check out Locked on MLB game night, every game every night all season long. You can find MLB game night on Locked on MLB's YouTube channel or wherever you're listening to your podcast. Thomas Gauvane from Redbirdrants.com with us.

Starting point is 00:25:25 Cardinals lost two of three in Colorado. Got shout out in that last game. Most people thought that was the dirt on top of the Cardinals coffin, and that would do it. Game set match. Season's over. Now you're looking up and you're like, okay, three and a half back in the wild card, a lot of these other teams ahead of you were slumping. Do we start to believe?

Starting point is 00:25:47 You're going to have to beat the Rockies, though. Is anything less than a sweep of failure over the next few games? If you look at the overall season against the Rockies, you go 500 against them. I think that's not good at all. That's what it would take if we go two out of three. I'll take two out of three, though, at this point, just to keep the ball rolling. Series win is a series win.

Starting point is 00:26:06 You look at the matchups, we've got Chase Dalloner tonight, 6.68 ERA, so that should bode well. Right-handed pitcher, we got some lefties. However, the next two nights, it's Kyle Freeland and then Austin Gomber, both lefties. Even if you look at their ERA, you shouldn't be overly confident,

Starting point is 00:26:23 given how the card was hit against left-handed pitchers this year. We're at Bush, which suppresses offense a little bit more, too, than Coorsfield, obviously. So I'm confident in the one series. Sweet would be lovely. I'll take just a victory. Isn't that crazy that? We sit there.

Starting point is 00:26:39 We look at this and we're like between those three pitchers, they have four wins, Thomas, four the whole season. And we're like, well, it's going to be tough. Like I see, those are the, that's why I'm always like, it's hard to trust anything that the Cardinals have done this year because they always, these struggles happen. These left-handed pitchers come in and for whatever reason they can't hit them

Starting point is 00:27:01 and it doesn't make any sense at this point. Although having Ivan Herrera back is something that has really helped even things out and it has them playing a lot better and at least offensively hitting a lot better against those kind of guys. But yeah, I mean, these guys are terrible. Like there's no excuses if we're not winning two or three

Starting point is 00:27:20 if not sweeping. I mean, Dalliner, two and nine, as you mentioned, 6.68 ERA. I know he throws hard. I know he's a big prospect for them. So there's going to be some strikeouts in this one. But come on, man, you got to hit this guy. And then Freeland, 2 and 12, ERA, 5.53.

Starting point is 00:27:35 And Gomber, they hit well in Colorado. So I'm not worried about M.O. and 6.52 ERA. Very familiar with the former Cardinal there. But again, we look at these standings, dude. Three and a half back in the wild card. Adam Wainwright posted this. I'm looking at the schedule. I'm calling it now.

Starting point is 00:27:52 The Cardinal shock everybody. and are playing for a wild card spot on the last series of the season against the Cubs. Cubs cards, last three days of the regular season would be wild. Now, are you buying into this, or do you think maybe he was just really excited because Yadi was back in town and it got the better of him? What are your thoughts? Probably a little of both, honestly. I mean, he knows a thing or two about late season comebacks.

Starting point is 00:28:17 You look back at 2011 alone especially. I know, yeah. So he knows a thing or two about late season comebacks. I would love it. Why not? Go for it. That season is, that series against the Cubs has always been on my mind

Starting point is 00:28:29 since they released the schedule last year. As a series, that should be a big one towards the end of the year. Why not? Go for it. Get a wild card berth, see what happens. We've missed the playoffs here in St. Louis for too many years.

Starting point is 00:28:42 Yeah, no. And it's, it would be, it would be something. It'd be another, you know, how Detroit kind of, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:47 they train things away at the deadline, and then they just kind of, they clicked, and things started to work. And so that could be, something that's happening. I mean, you're kind of seeing it around the league where some of these big city teams, you know, both New Yorks have been having a really rough go. And you're seeing, you know, the Cardinals are sneaking back in. And all of a sudden, the Guardians are a half

Starting point is 00:29:07 game out of the wild card. You know, there's a lot of baseball still to play. I mean, we've got almost two months left. So anything can and usually does happen. But got to take care of business, right? One game at a time, we'll use all the cliches. But you've got the Rockies in town for three. No mercy, dude. You've got to take care of this. And you've got at least two. A sweep needs to happen, though, in my opinion. And that'll really get the juices flowing once again after two big series wins against the Dodgers and, of course, the Cubs. All right, Thomas. Thank you so much for joining us today. Find him at Thomas Govain on Twitter, on X, whatever you're calling it these days. Anything new at RedbirdRance.com that you're working on right now. I've got a pretty interesting Cardinals history piece coming out in August 16th. And then I will be at the game on Saturday with the Yankees. So if anybody wants to come find me, be like, well, Where's Waldo type thing? Go for it.

Starting point is 00:30:04 All right. Excellent. Excellent. Do you know where you're sitting yet or do you just know where you're going? Oh, so we're 200s. Third baseline. I can't remember exactly. So I'm honestly, I don't want to tell people I actually am.

Starting point is 00:30:16 So you may not. I don't have people hunting me the whole time or something. Probably not. I don't know. Everybody's talk Thomas and his family on Saturday when the Yankees are in town. And go say hi to Thomas and say hi to the wife and the kids and stuff. So looking forward to hopefully a strong week with the Rockies and the Yankees games coming up. So thank you guys for making Lockedong Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:30:40 First listen every day if you haven't already. Give us a follow on next at L.O.1 or score Cardinals at JD Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram I'm Lockdown Cardinals, of course, on YouTube as well. If you haven't seen the visual side of things, come check us out. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Playoff Hopes REIGNITED?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.