Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals SQUANDER Golden Opportunity in Wild Card Race

Starting point is 00:00:00 Pain. That is the word that comes to mind as the Cardinals figure out a way to lose another series to the Colorado Rockies. Get your barf bags ready. It's time for 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. Hafford and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. Follow me on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals on X. We're on YouTube. If you want the visual version of this show, that's cool too. You can see how disgusted I am. There's the faces I make describing what we just saw from the St. Louis Cardinals in this series.

Starting point is 00:00:57 We're on TikTok. We're on Instagram. You can catch me there as well at Locktown Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and trying to give the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code Lockdown, MLB for $20 off your first purchase. All right. So let's get into it. The 2025 St. Louis Cardinals have got to be one of the most frustrating teams in Cardinal history. Certainly one of the most frustrating since I've been covering the team.

Starting point is 00:01:36 I mean, I've been watching them since I was a little baby. But, you know, where you watch them day in and day out when you become one of those guys, it's crazy to me how frustrating these guys are. I don't even know what to say about them anymore. You know, one day they looked very much engaged in what's going on and energetic, look like they're meshing and they're going to be a team that's going to be a force to deal with for a couple of weeks. And the next day they look completely different. And they look like they're asleep at the wheel.

Starting point is 00:02:11 It's like the most bipolar team I can remember. I mean, how do you go from winning two out of three on the road against the Dodgers? You come home. You win two out of three against the Cubs. Two very good teams, right? and then lose two of three at home against the team that is on pace to have the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. How do you do it?

Starting point is 00:02:42 How do you do it? It's mind boggling to me. Like you have this chance where the team's in front of you are not playing all that great and somehow you're still here and you've got an opportunity. there's some light at the end of the tunnel. And then you completely blow it. I've witnessed some bad losses over the last couple of years since I've been doing this podcast.

Starting point is 00:03:10 And Wednesday is certainly one that it looked and it smelled and it tasted like a W for eight eddings. And to watch it disappear in a flash, it made me want to throw away. up. It made me want to throw up. And I don't mean to offend any Rockies fans because it's not your fault that the team is, they're not very good, right? But to lose games like this to Colorado makes everything feel worse. I mean, you are what your record says you are. And the Rockies are not a good team. The last time I felt, I feel like this gross of out of loss was back in

Starting point is 00:03:59 23. And yes, I had to look it up because I couldn't remember which month it was, but it was in April of 23, the end of April. And it was a game in San Francisco. And the Cardinals had all but sealed up this win. And it looked like they was going to put them on a nice little path to becoming a better team. And Helsley gives up a walk-off home run. They lose. And I don't know why that one stands out to me so much because there's been plenty of crappy endings and losses. And for the Cardinals since then, but for whatever reason that one stands out, I just couldn't believe it happened. I remember I was getting ready to go live on the podcast, and I was typing up all the happy thoughts and get them ready. And then poof, they're all gone. And I was just left just so

Starting point is 00:04:46 unfulfilled. I was just like, what, what just happened? And that's how I felt after this one. Now, 2023, as we know, a horrible season for the team, losing season. First one in 20, five years, something like that. The Cardinals were terrible that year. Nothing went right for them. The team is better than that team. This year's team is better. It's much younger.

Starting point is 00:05:07 That's for sure. So I, you kind of have to expect some inconsistencies with some of these guys. At the same time, it's August now. The time for that crap is over. This team has no business, losing four of six to the Colorado Rockies. They don't. Cardinals are not a great team. I know that.

Starting point is 00:05:29 but still losing four of six to a team that has 28 other wins against the rest of the league is ridiculous. The fact that you were even trying to split with them is a little ridiculous. To do it when the rest of the NL, it was somehow allowing you to hang around in this wildcard discussion and to fall apart against the Rockies of all teams. It's awful. The Cardinals held leads on Wednesday of two to not. three to one, five to two. They could never shut the door on the Rockies offense,

Starting point is 00:06:06 who just showed more fight and more energy and more heart than the Cardinals did at the end of this game. The offense, which had done a really nice job against Rocky Starter Austin Gomber, who has not won a game this year. They did fine against him, left-hander. you know, they hit him well in Colorado in the previous series, too. The only game they won in that series was against Gamba. And after he leaves, they just go into the shell after the fifth inning. And early on, it felt like, all right, they got something to prove.

Starting point is 00:06:44 They came out in swing in the back, you know, they came out cooking. Two outs in the second, newt singles, the J.C. single, as you get that big hit from Pedro Pahas, who, you know, has been kind of the whipping boy for the Cardinals fans recently because of his lack of offense and the fact that they just keep starting him, even though Pozo is a better hitter. But he comes through. Another clutch hit, two-run double gives the birds a two-to-nothing lead. Rockies respond with one in the top half of the fourth, which was an ending that could have been

Starting point is 00:07:17 much worse, but McGreeby got that big double play ball to squash the rally. Then in the bottom half, Lars Neupar returns with a vengeance, rips, home run to make it three to one. Normally that's a great sign. Coming into the game, cartels were 11 and won in games that Newt had homered in this season was his first dinger since July 8th. This is August 13th. I know he's been banged up. Still, the power is just poof, vanished for new. But you had it back to a two run lead. Rockies cut it to three to two. They don't stop. And that's when Alec Burleson stepped up. He smokes a two run shot to right field to make it five to two in the fifth inning. One oh six off the

Starting point is 00:07:56 at this point, I'm thinking, that should do it, right? Like, that should be enough. McGreevy looking good. Ballpen is rested. All the big guns out there, ready to roll if needed. This one's over, right? And then the offense just punched out. They just took the rest of the game off.

Starting point is 00:08:15 They didn't have a single hit off the Rockies bullpen. They got no hit over the final, what, four innings? They didn't even have a base runner. None. 15 up, 15 down for the offense over the final innings of the game. How does that happen? After the burly home run, they didn't have a hit. How does that happen? How do you not even get a walk? Nothing. Down five to two, the Rockies went to Nick Anderson. It's not like they brought in some one of their studs. Same guy, the guy released by the Cardinals in May. They brought Edd. And he throws all of 10 pitches.

Starting point is 00:08:56 First two guys were out in three pitches. And he breezes through his inning. And that became kind of what the rest of their bullpen did. The next guy, Hill, 13 pitches. Hergett, 12 pitches, Vodnik, 10 pitches. These are not, these are, this isn't the Padres who just have all stars coming out of that gate every inning. But Carly sure made them look like them. They didn't look good at all.

Starting point is 00:09:25 The offense goes one for, five with runners in scoring position, a day after going 0 for 9 in risk situations and three to nothing loss. They were three for 13 on Monday. So four for 27, if my math is correct in the series, against the Rockies? You're kidding me. There's no excuses for this. There's none. It's got to be better. Blaine and simple. You can't be like this. New Burley and Pah has had six of the nine Cardinals hits. Nobody else really did Jack. Donnie's 0 for five,

Starting point is 00:10:05 hitting 196 over his last 56 at bats. He's not a leadoff hitter. Why is he still batting lead off? He was so good when he was batting third. But no, we just keep batting him lead off. Even though he sucks at it, he's a good player,

Starting point is 00:10:22 but he's just not as good at the top of the order there. Find somebody else. I had somebody hit me up and say, Mason Wynch, should be starting at leadoff against left handers. And I kind of threw the numbers at him at how bad Mason win has been as a leadoff hitter. Somebody out. Do something else because it ain't working.

Starting point is 00:10:42 Try something new. What do you got to lose? You're losing to the Rockies anyway. The loss also, because a lot of the attention here was on the offense, but the loss also takes away a solid start from rookie Michael McGreevy, who did his job once again. but then the bullpen can't stop throwing it down the middle in this game, which led to the disastrous ninth inning where Jojo made the one error that almost

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Starting point is 00:12:36 open phone will help you there. They're going to port them over at no extra charge. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. Thanks for making lots on Carlos. Your first listen every day and leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X or TikTok. Anytime you want your feedback, it's always welcome and encouraged. I cannot wait to get into the comments after this game and this particular series. Because people are going to be spewing venom.

Starting point is 00:13:04 And that entertains me because I don't normally get is worked up as I am today after this. And I can only imagine what the people who normally get worked up are going to be like. So we'll have those in your Cardinal Confessionals coming up on Thursday show when they have an off day. But let's get back to Wednesday, Michael McGreevy. He's had one bad game since taking over Eric Fetty's spot in the rotation. He's had one. Took it on the chin against the Padres for seven to run. runs in four and two-thirds innings back in July.

Starting point is 00:13:36 Since then, three starts, including this one where he's gone six innings on all three. Picked up wins over San Diego and the Cups. And he did exactly what he was supposed to do on Wednesday. He should have got a W in this one. Six innings, three runs, seven heads, one of them a home run to Mickey Moniac. Two strikeouts, nothing spectacular. Michael McGreevy's not a spectacular type of pitcher. He's not going to thrill you with a bunch of strikeouts.

Starting point is 00:14:04 stuff, but he gets people out, which is good because that's the key to the game. And he has another quality start here where he never surrendered the lead. Cardinals got him the lead, never gave it up. Had to pitch around some trouble in the fourth inning, we got that big double play, as I mentioned, after three straight hits. It holds the Rockies to just one run in that inning. Good job. Limiting damage, right?

Starting point is 00:14:28 Stopping the bleeding. That's important. Fifth inning, they got him for another two straight singles, but he limits. that damage only gives up one. Then in the sixth, he lays a big old beach ball change up right down the middle to former number one overall pick Mickey Moniac. He's having a nice bounce back season with the Colorado Rockies. I'll be curious to what his market looks like this offseason. See if anybody wants to give him a decent multi-year contract. But hits his 18th home run over the wall in right center, cuts the lead to five to three.

Starting point is 00:15:01 But it's still five to three, you know. And, part of the problem was letting the lead off guys reach base. It happened a lot today. Not only doing that, but also throwing the ball down the middle of the plate. We're learning that it's very, very bad, aren't we? And the Cardinals had to learn that lesson the hard way once again today. It doesn't matter if you're playing the Colorado Rockies or you're playing the Milwaukee Brewers or the Toronto Blue Jays. Just like the good teams, the bad teams, if you throw it over the heart of the plate,

Starting point is 00:15:31 they're going to hit you eventually. It'll happen. And it happened a lot in this game. The home run Demoniax right over the heart of the plate, horrible pitch. Kyle Leahy comes in for the seventh inning. Bullpen really, really got beat up in this one because of their lack of being able to throw it anywhere but over the heart of the plate. Kyle Leahy comes into that seventh inning, his first pitch to Kyle Carros. Slider right down the middle.

Starting point is 00:15:59 Smokes it for a lead off double, comes around a score after a wild pitch, moved him to third base. and a sack fly brought him home. The sack fly almost got out of the ballpark, too. It was a slider. Guess where? Right over the heart of the plate. He's lucky that one didn't land in the stands because off the bat, it looked like it was going to carry out

Starting point is 00:16:17 and go about three rows deep, but ended up staying in the ballpark. So one run, five four ballgame now. Then it's Riley O'Brien's turn. First off, credit to Ali, smart move, replaced Yvonne Herrera and left field, defensive movement moves new bar over to left. Victor Scott goes into center field.

Starting point is 00:16:39 And it's a good thing he did at that, because Riley O'Brien fooled absolutely nobody today. They were shooting missiles into left field. It's almost like they were like, oh, target practice. It's like they were doing it on purpose to new. You know how like a coach takes a fungo bat and just starts hitting fly balls and line drives over to the left field there for practice. That's what it looked like off Riley O'Brien today.

Starting point is 00:17:05 First pitch that Riley O'Brien throws. Over the middle, base hit. Two pitches later. Sinker, down the middle. Smoke to left, 99 off the bat. Newt snags it. Two pitches later, again, sinker over the middle. Zekiel Tovar rips it.

Starting point is 00:17:22 107 off the bat. Somehow Newt tracks that one down. I thought that was in the gap for sure, and then it was a tie ball game. Three pitches later. another sinker over the dish. Base hit to left at 100 miles per hour. Two pitchers later, a slider right over the middle of the plate, hanger, laced

Starting point is 00:17:38 to left, but Newt's in the perfect spot, 90 miles per hour off the bat. All they did was hit the snot out of the ball off Riley O'Brien today because all he was doing was throwing it right down the middle. I don't know how they can't scoot it over and hit the corner. I don't understand it. O'Brien was lucky that three of those didn't have better lawn chingles because those would have been home runs, no doubt. They'd all have been over the wall.

Starting point is 00:18:07 But he lives to fight another day, and Ollie made a great move by putting Newton left field. Then Jojo comes down in the ninth inning, and what's the cardinal rule for relievers? And I say cardinal rule, not because the St. Louis cardinals, but just what's the number one role? You do not walk, the lead off hitter. Credit to Caros, it was lead off hitter,

Starting point is 00:18:29 and he did not chase anything that was low. Romero walks him on seven pitches. Everything he was throwing that if it wasn't a strike, which was only three of the seven pitches he threw, they were all way down low. He was having trouble elevating his arm angle, and I just knocked something over there, his arm angle to he was throwing everything below the knees.

Starting point is 00:18:49 Couldn't get it up in the zone. And it was a precursor to what would happen in this inning because Romero's command was clearly off. He did not look sharp. and he wasn't getting ahead of anyone. Rocky started unloading the bench at this point. He falls behind Britton Doyle, who's the pinch hitter, three one count before coming back and striking him out on an absolutely nasty slider.

Starting point is 00:19:11 That thing was dirty, although it did go right over the heart of the plate, but it was a three two slider, and he wasn't looking for that at all, and it was pretty dirty. The next guy, though, off the bench, All-Star Hunter Goodman, burned him on Tuesday. Jojo falls behind him, 3-1. and he serves up a juicy sinker, guess where? Right down Broadway.

Starting point is 00:19:35 If you go look at the box on MLB.com, right down the middle in that box. And Goodman does not miss. He blasts at 436 feet to center field, gives the Rockies a 6 to 5 lead. As soon as it left his hand, I was like, oh, ship. An absolute cookie, a gift, if you will.

Starting point is 00:19:57 A please, hit me type of. a pitch. And it immediately sank the hundreds of fans who were in attendance because there was nobody there. And what looked like a third straight series win is snatched away in a blink of an eye. All the momentum that the Cardinals had built after taking out the Dodgers and taking out the cut. It's gone just like that. You just blew it. It's all gone. The fact that Leahy, O'Brien, and Jojo were all off on the same day. that's mind-blowing to me. When does that ever happen where everybody sucks?

Starting point is 00:20:34 Did they all go out to the strip clubs the night before like in varsity blues? What happened? What the hell happened? And it's hard to, you know, get on these guys because they've been really, really good, right? I mean, this is not, it's not like this is a common theme that we see these guys have an issue. Since taking over the role, since the trade deadline, they've been very good. and the Cardinals overall have been really good in these situations all year. Heck, it was only the third time in 61 games that they've lost a game that they led going into the ninth inning.

Starting point is 00:21:11 But it's the Rockies. It's the Rockies, man. If this were another team, I probably wouldn't be as worked up about it. If you saw this happen against like the Mets or the Brewers or something like I, you'd be like, well, you know, those are pretty good teams. So, you know, closing them out. It's not easy. It's the Rockies.

Starting point is 00:21:33 The only other team, the Rockies have defeated more than three times this season is the Washington Nationals. Four and three against them. They only have a winning record against three other teams, the Marlins and the twins and the Pirates. In their six games this season against the Rockies, the Cardinals have been outscored 27 to 18. What? What? This is a historically bad hitting and pitching team. And they got blank three to nothing on Tuesday. Like, what?

Starting point is 00:22:13 How? How? How do you blow this? Very frustrating. I'm trying to remain calm. I'm getting calmer about it as the night continues on. But bro, it's like I've said. for most of the season.

Starting point is 00:22:39 They are the most, they're like dancing. Two steps forward, two steps back. It's what they're doing. They're whatever kind of dance that is. That's the Cardinals this year. And it is, it is very, very frustrating.

Starting point is 00:22:57 I want to go back to Tuesday night's game real quick because I want to talk about Matthew Livertore because everybody was very concerned about him after looking so good. And then everything went bad and the Velo dropped and we've got some updates on things with them. So we'll talk about it next coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Breathe. We've all been there logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show that you've been dying to see.

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Starting point is 00:24:39 Download the game time app today. Last minute, tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Thank you again for making Locked-on Cardinals. First listen today for your second list and check out Locked-on MLB Game Night. It's every game. It's every night. It's all season long and local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB Game Night on the Locked-on MLB YouTube channel or wherever you listen to your podcast.

Starting point is 00:25:02 Myself and John Frisch from Lockdown Angels will be hosting once again tonight. So if you want to see us talk. about the rest of the league as well as bitch and moan about the cardinals of the Yankees, or not Yankees, but the Angels. We can do that too. But that's a good time. So we appreciate you coming by. Anyway, Matthew Libertor, he struggled to get on Tuesday night.

Starting point is 00:25:24 Not so much that he pitched really that bad, although his command was off. He was having trouble getting on top of the breaking ball. But he started off looking terrific, right? You know, that first inning, he fans the side. He looks awesome. He was hitting 95.4 miles per hour with the fast. ball. But later on, things fell apart. And he, he's been struggling to pitch in deep into games. Heck, we're not even asking him to be deep into games. I mean, we're not even looking for

Starting point is 00:25:52 six, seven innings at this point. We just want to see him get through five. That would be nice, because he hasn't done that in quite a while. I was unable to get there once again. And I mentioned how he's been hitting what we call the rookie wall that guys tend to hit in their first year in the big leagues. Now, of course, this is not Matthew Livertor's first year in major league baseball, but it is his first year as a member of the starting rotation. So it's not surprising. It's only natural that eventually he would start to wear down due to the amount of endings that he's throwing for the first time in his major league career. So I'm not all that concern with that, but where things started to be like, uh-oh, was when you saw the Velo drop again.

Starting point is 00:26:35 That's a separate issue. that had alarms going off a little bit because you worry about some sort of injury. The Velo dipped from where it was at 95.4 in that first inning as low as 91.7 by his 13th pitch of the fifth inning, according to baseball Savant John Denton, who said that for the game, the average Velo on his fastball was 93.6 down for 94.1, that he had averaged over 22 starts while going 6 and 10 this year. Now we saw him deal with a similar situation like this earlier in the year. If you remember where all of a sudden, the VLO was down and everybody was like, oh, oh, do we have an arm injury here?

Starting point is 00:27:15 Is he okay? Ended up just being a mechanics issue and just was like, I just, I'm reaching back to throw it. It's just not there. It's a mechanics thing. Not long after that, he was back to normal. And here we are in the dog days of August. technically still within striking distance of the NL Wild Card. I'm not putting the nail in the coffin yet,

Starting point is 00:27:38 although it feels like we should after losing to the freaking Rockies. Because that certainly poured some ice cold water on the dream for the NL Wild Card possibilities. There's a lot of baseball left, though. But they say, Ali said that they're going to monitor things closely, but it doesn't appear to be a health issue. that it's just, you know, something that's he's dealing with. Maybe he's going to go through some dead arm stuff at some point just because he's tired.

Starting point is 00:28:10 Like the heat this summer has been unbearable. So I can see why some of these guys are are wearing down quicker in games. But maybe knowing that four innings is kind of the cap for Libby moving forward will allow the Cardinals to better prepare the ballpen for, you know, piggyback games of some sort. I know Katie Wu from the athletic mentioned something like. that on her ex account that, you know, maybe that's something they can kind of plan around where it's like, all right, let's give, four strong innings, you're still a starter, four strong innings, and then we can find somebody else like a Leahy who can stretch it to three or

Starting point is 00:28:45 or Sonson or somebody like that. It just gives him a chance to plan for it better. I'm glad he's not hurt. Cardinals don't have a lot of depth for any injuries for certainly the starting rotation. So I don't want him going down with anything. because I don't know who you're going to replace them with. They do have a day off on Thursday. Yankees are in town this weekend. Andre Palante scheduled to start on Friday. I would love to tell you that I expect them to bounce back and be better.

Starting point is 00:29:15 I don't know what we're going to expect. You know, if the team comes out that comes out of that clubhouse and it looks like the team that took the field against the Dodgers and the Cubs, then I'd expect the fun series. I don't know if they'll win it, but I expect it at least to be entertaining and fun if the guys that came out against the Rockies end up taking the field, then they'll probably get swept because the Yankees are a better team than the Colorado Rockies. So, bing, flip a coin as to what the hell we're going to get from the Cardinals in this upcoming

Starting point is 00:29:47 series. So super Debbie Downer losing this series to the Rockies. Again, all the momentum kind of sucked out. And now you got to start over again. But that's what these Cardinals have been most of the year. They're a 500 team. That's who they are. And that's probably where they'll stay.

Starting point is 00:30:07 But very, very disheartening. Series loss and just a normal game loss on Wednesday when for eight innings, it looked like you had this one in the back. Thanks for making Lockton Cartoes first listen every day. If you haven't already, please give us follow on X at L underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio, TikTok, and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals, of course, on YouTube as well. if you haven't subscribed.

Starting point is 00:30:30 We'd love to have you on board as we push for 13,000 subscribers. Through the good and the bad, we are here with you each and every day. You guys are the best fans in baseball. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals SQUANDER Golden Opportunity in Wild Card Race

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