Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals STUN Paul Skenes and The Pirates, JJ Wetherholt IGNITES Four-Game SWEEP!
Episode Date: May 1, 2026St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates in dominant fashion as JJ Wetherholt ignites the lineup and Paul Skenes falls yet again. Do the Cardinals have their mojo back after turning a four-gam...e losing streak into an electric four-game division sweep? JD recaps the Cardinals’ offensive explosion and clutch performances from Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, and Nathan Church, breaking down key moments including Wetherholt’s leadoff home run off Skenes and Hunter Dobbins’ gritty debut. Insights cover strategic base running, impactful bullpen decisions, and the club's renewed chemistry. Plus, get an update on roster moves and a preview of the high-stakes series against the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers with their $280 million payroll. Can the young Cardinals keep this momentum against MLB’s elite? 00:00 Cardinals Sweep Pirates Recap 09:06 Hunter Dobbins’ Debut & Bullpen 19:39 Dodgers Series Preview & Cardinals Stats Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/ Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/ Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonstlcardinals.supercast.com/ Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY The funfetti flavor is BACK on https://5hourEnergy.com or Amazon, crack open Confetti Craze 5-hour ENERGY®️ shot today! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything. HIMS To get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, hair loss, weight loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/LOCKEDONMLB. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The St. Louis Cardinals take down Paul Skeens and the Pirates for a fourth straight day and sweep their first division series of the season.
Let's freaking go.
You are locked on Cardinals.
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We wear the ugly shirt, another series victory.
We celebrate.
We relish the first four-game sweep in Pittsburgh by the Cardinals since 2019.
What a series for this team and this ball club, which came into it writing a four-game losing streak.
Remember so many moons ago, we are losing our minds, right?
Four in a row.
You lost in the Marlins.
you lay down and just let them beat you.
And then you lose three in a row, albeit you fought really, really hard against the Seattle
Mariners.
They were close games.
But the doubters and the naysayers were out in full force once again, like moths to a flame,
like sharks smelling blood in the water.
There was chum all over the place.
They're circling.
They're circling.
They can't wait for more failure, more carnage, begging for the pirates to stomp out the early
goodwill that this team had built and for eight innings on Monday. They almost had their moment.
They almost had it. But how quickly things changed to almost having a perfect game thrown against
you in a bullpen game, no less, to breaking up the no-no with an infield single and then pulling
out a miraculous victory with four runs in the ninth inning. You win that one. You set the tone for
the series. The pirates, they didn't know what hit them. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We were supposed to,
This is our year.
We were supposed to, no, no.
The Cardinals got their mojo back.
And they wrote that to a convincing 11 to 7 win on Tuesday.
Then they eked out the game on Wednesday in a game that they led 5 to 1 at one point.
Thanks to the bomb burglar, as I'm calling him, Nathan Church,
whose divine intervention has now saved three home runs already this season.
And then on Thursday, they had to face arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Paul Skeen's.
Win or lose, you had already won the series.
But like they said in the pregame show, well, we're already here.
Might as well win all four.
And they took the fight to schemes.
They didn't sit back and just let him dictate things.
They went after him.
And it all started with who else?
J.J. Weatherhold, who unleashes the fury.
First batter of the game.
2-0 fastball absolutely pimps it with the,
no big deal bat flip it was beautiful like you've been in the big leagues for a decade
and just like that one of nothing good guys and you got the pirates squirming like j j wetherhole
has made such an impact on this team it's unbelievable and as nice and as church going as he is
and he's got some swagger which i like which you saw in that bat flip
And now you're the pirates, you never feel like you're going to go on a long losing streak because you got Skeens.
He's your stopper.
Hardly anyone's going to beat him, right?
Except for the Cardinals, who were four and O against him coming into the game.
But it's not because Skeens wasn't any good.
Let's be honest, it's because he never got run support in those other games and the Cardinals beat him.
But you draw first blood on the first batter of the game, probably shocked him a little bit.
And then Herrera gets on with what was originally scored in error, but it has been switched to a single.
Burley goes down on strikes on a wicked sweeper.
But then it's Jordan Walker.
Catches a sweeper up in the zone.
He muscles it out to left field to make it three to nothing.
And now you've really hurt the psyche of that pirate's team.
You stole game one, bash their brains in game two,
rob them of a walkoff winning game three.
And now you're picking on their ace.
Kind of fun.
Kind of fun being the bad guy, isn't it?
Card stack on another one in the third when Burley singles and gets second.
on an errand throw by Connor Griffin.
And then it's Nolan Gorman, who rips one to write for a single.
And because Burley was on second, he's able to come around and score with the head
for a slide to make it four to nothing.
And I do want to point out that during that play, you know,
we talk about these little things that the Cardinals are doing right.
And there was something on that play that, you know, I thought was really good.
And I want to make note of it was you saw the on deck hitter Mason win directing Burley
where to slide.
You can see him and he's like waving his arms, like go to the foul side of third base with your slide.
That's the on deck hitters job.
That's what they're supposed to be doing.
And it's just one of those little things that the Cardinals continue to do well.
And they can make all the difference.
Was a strong throw by Reynolds and right field.
And if early slides closer to the infield instead of foul territory, he might be out.
But he follows wins instructions.
It goes head first, which I do not recommend, especially into home plate.
you can break fingers, wrists, jam your shoulders.
So many more injuries can happen that way.
I do not recommend that.
And Burley ended up getting up slowly.
You know, he was like, he was startled a little bit.
I think he got hit in the head with the tag maybe.
But he stays in the game.
He was fine.
Cardinals take advantage of a free base again in the fifth inning with score four to one.
JJ leads off with a single because of course he does.
And then he takes second base on a wild pitch, which puts him in scoring position for
Burley who basically deflects a pitch.
It wasn't really a swing.
The pitch was in the other batters box.
He has no business even swinging at that,
not even remotely close to the strike zone,
but he just kind of sticks the bat out and serves it into left field.
Finds grass.
And because JJ took that extra base before,
he ends up scoring easily and it's five to one.
Again, little things.
And this team is doing them well over and over.
They continue to add up game after game after game.
game and whether it's the base running or timely hitting, just making contact, instead of striking
out and just putting the ball in play, you're seeing it pay off over and over again.
And it was this whole series was based off of little things that the Cardinals did, right?
And then they would get the big swings from, you know, guys like J.J. Weatherholt and Pedro Pahas in that
first game. And then Jordan Walker here in the fourth game, you know, the pirates ended up.
they don't ever quit. Give them credit over there, claw their way back in thanks to a buttload of
walks by Hunter Dobbins, just ran out of gas. Just ran out of gas by the fifth inning. But the Cardinals
poured on in the eighth with a five spot against the bullpen. Gorman leads off with a single win,
singles, but actually Reynolds just kind of lost the ball off the bat. You know, it's, if you've ever been at
field level at a major league stadium, I don't know how they don't lose the ball more often with people
wearing white shirts and stuff.
Like it just comes straight out of, out of like the stands at you.
And it's very difficult.
It's very difficult.
You got to really focus.
And that one got the best of Reynolds.
So they give one a single.
Cardinals, as they've done most of the season, would say, thank you.
Enjoy the mistakes.
And they capitalize when Nathan Church hits one off the tippity top of the,
the wall and right center for a two-run double.
I thought it was gone.
But, you know, they went to replay.
They looked at it.
to hit the very point of the fence, a fraction more, and it's a dinger.
But it's 7 to 4.
Cardinals work the bases loaded on a couple walks.
Burley comes through again with a two-out, two-run single, makes it 9-4.
Jordan rips a first pitch single to left field, 11, off the bat, makes it 10 to 4.
Game set match.
10 runs on 14 hits.
It was a beautiful series for the St. Louis Cardinals.
They sweep.
They beat Skeens again.
who falls to 0 and 5 against them.
10 runs on 14 hits,
and despite of getting close at 5 to 4 at one point,
it sure was nice to have a not-so-stressful ending to this particular game.
It was a lot of fun to watch.
We're going to talk about the start by Hunter Dobbins,
who made one subtle adjustment when things started to get a little hairy,
helped escape certain death in that fourth inning.
He made this one subtle adjustment that I'll tell you about coming up next on Locktown Cardinals.
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All right, let's talk about the pitching.
Let's talk about 100 Davids, ma'am.
It's good to see him in a Cardinals uniform finally in a meaningful game.
debut with the Cardinals.
To activate them, they did have to send someone down.
And that man was Ryan Fernandez, who has minor league options left.
So as much as people wanted, Stanik or Brul removed, that was not going to happen.
It wasn't even, you know, a discussion, really.
Just wasn't going to happen.
They aren't flushing Stanix three and a half million dollar salary down the toilet in April.
Okay?
Understand that.
And they don't have any lefties to take Brul's spot.
So get used to seeing the.
them and I hope you have some oxygen handy for when they do come in games or a tall,
cool Budweiser to numb those nerves. Maybe that'll be better too. Be better for me.
But Dobbins looked awesome over the first three innings out pitching Paul Skeens.
First three innings, he gives up just one hit. He strikes out three guys. He looks amazing.
He looks amazing. Then the second time through the order, the pirates started to work him a little
bit, which is what happens. You see a guy for a first time. Things might look a little easy for him.
And then things get tougher the second time around. And then if he's lucky enough to be around the
third time the order comes up is when people start to hit people. After two outs, though,
Brian Reynolds gets a hanging curveball, smashes it for a double to right. And that's when
things really started to unravel for Dobbins. He walks O'Hern on five pitches. He walks Nick Gonzalez
on five pitches, then walks Horwitz on four straight. Now you got the go-ahead run at the plate
and Connor Griffin. And Dobbins at this point is incapable, incapable of throwing strikes. He's
all over the place. But he makes an adjustment. And I don't know if everybody else picked up on it,
but he made the adjustment before he starts the abat with Griffin. He decides very demonstratively
to throw from the windup. You see him checking with his third baseman, you know, saying, hey,
infill. I'm going to the wind up, all right? I'm going to the wind up. Just a heads up.
I'm not throwing from the stretch now. I'm going from the wind up. The over-eager rookie in Griffin
swings at the first pitch. Thank you very much. I'd be losing my mind. I'd be losing my mind.
I don't care how good of a prospect you are.
If I just saw someone on my team watch a pitcher walk three straight dudes on 14
pitches and then swing at the first pitch, boy, I would be, I would be hot.
But thank you.
On the Cardinal side of things, we're like, cool.
Thanks a lot, dude.
Ends up getting him to ground out weekly to third ends the threat.
Comes back out in the fifth inning after the Cardinals got that run back,
which is great because, you know, when you give up a run,
start to give a little momentum back to the other team to come right back and put one up on the board.
That's huge. Sucks their momentum right away again. He ends up walking Mangum, though. He strikes out
Henry Davis, but then walks Cruz before Ali had to make the switch. After the game, Dobbins talked
about the walk saying, you know, later innings, I was definitely knocking the rust off.
getting out of the stretch with some adrenaline, rhythm was a little off, but it should be an easy
fix. And I don't disagree with them. I mean, imagine this. Imagine this. Imagine making your
debut with a team. And remember, this is not like some 29, 30 year old veteran. This is a young man
who just made, just made his rookie debut last year with Boston. Imagine you're going to make your
debut with the brand new team that traded somebody like,
Wilson Contreras for you.
In your first game, he got to face Paul Skeens,
and your new team is going for the sweep.
It's a lot of pressure.
I'd be a little jacked up, too.
I get it.
So understandable that he'd have a few issues,
but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what he has for us in the future.
Now, he was optioned back to Memphis after the game,
which more than likely means that Chris Roycroft is probably coming back to join
the bullpen.
I haven't seen an update yet.
Still kind of waiting on that.
And if he's been brought up or anything, I haven't seen it yet.
But it just makes sense because of the 40-man roster.
And, you know, as if you needed more stress to bring Chris Roycroft back.
But you got to have fresh arms.
And you can't just bring Fernandez back right away.
So you got to bring somebody up.
And Roycroft makes the most sense.
I think he has a pitch since Wednesday, I think is what I saw.
So he makes sense.
But we'll see.
We'll see.
We'll keep you updated online.
at L.O underscore Cardinals on X. So, a bullpen,
bullpen comes on next and first guy out of the gate is Justin Burl.
Justin Burl, right? And I know it's not a fun position to be in.
He comes in with two one, one out. And he got the first guy to fly out quite deep.
Might I add, I'll barely miss that one. And then Reynolds smacks a hanging sweeper down the line
in left field for a two run double to make it five to three.
all of those are charged to Dobbins who put them in that mess, but still just another, in my opinion,
an unimpressive appearance for Justin Broll.
I just don't think he's very good.
I just wish they had a better option is all, but they don't.
So keep the an acids on standby, again, for any brul or stannic action.
Grecepho comes in next, and now you've got to worry about Roy Croft Fegan's in a game.
Grisepho comes in next.
He was excellent as usual.
He's been a rock, one in a third innings with a kid.
They go to Jojo after that.
Scores 5-3 still at this point.
He gets Cruz to strike out,
but serves up a four-seamer on the inner half,
and Brandon Lau crushes it for a solo home run,
making it five to four.
He ends up walking Reynolds,
but gets O'Hern to swing and miss,
step-e-end, strikes him out.
It's been a rough go for Jojo recently.
Give it up runs in four of his last five appearances,
three and two-thirds inning, seven runs on seven hits,
three home runs, three walks, five-Ks.
The ERA's at 17.1.
and this is your number two guy in the bullpen.
So we got to figure out something with Jojo,
because he was so good early on.
And then the last week,
it's just been really, really bad for Jojo.
So we got to figure out what's going on with him because they need him.
They need them because there's not a lot of guys you can put out there
in high leverage situations that you trust right now.
And he was one of them.
And at the moment, he is not one of them.
Stanit comes on next.
And at this point, it's 10 to 4.
So I felt pretty safe there.
And although he did give up a hit,
at least he didn't walk anyone,
which has really been the problem for Stanick.
Again, he's got a great arm.
He's got some filthy stuff,
but he's got to be able to throw strikes.
And when he can't get over the plate,
it's a problem.
But he was able to do it here,
got Mangum on the strikeout to end, the inning,
which was nice, baby steps, baby steps.
He's not going anywhere.
He's not getting cut.
Everybody relax.
And then Svanson comes on in the ninth inning.
Again, six run lead.
So good spot to use him.
They'd give up two hits and a run on another.
Brandon Lowe, RBI devil.
Brandon Lowe was all over the place of the series.
But it was a cutter that wasn't really even a bad pitch.
It just didn't get in enough on the left-hander.
So a nice piece of hitting by Lowe, who turned on it and sends it down into the corner.
So sometimes the batters win, right?
You know, Walker makes a bad throw from the corner and misses everyone, just sails it,
which is a bummer because that's a throwing error on a play that he didn't even,
need to make an awesome throw for any real.
It wasn't like he was trying to gun anybody.
So that kind of sucks that he's going to take the E on that one.
But he misses everyone and that allows Cruz to score.
So, you know, there's a chance, Fonson could have gotten out of the jam without
anyone scoring, but we'll never know.
He gets the final two outs to finish it.
So overall, bullpen wise, they did what they needed to do.
I just want to see them get better.
Again, I wish they had better options.
I don't hate these people as, as like, huge.
human beings or anything. I just wish we had better options in the Cardinals bullpen,
and they don't. And so we're going to have to see this carousel of Stannick and Brule,
and we're hoping Sponson gets back on track. And now you're going to add Roycroft to it.
Fernandez, I'm sure, we'll be back up at some point. You know, they're going to rely on these
guys in some games. And there's going to be times where they're going to have to get the job done.
They just can't keep blowing things. And they got to throw strikes, but walking people.
That goes for everybody.
Quit walking people.
Dobbins, five walks in this way.
Can't do that.
Can't do that.
Got to throw strikes, got to make them beat you.
Coming up, we're going to roll through some of the stats that happened in this series with the Cardinals.
There's some gaudy ones and we'll preview the Dodgers series because L.A.
is in town next on Lockdown Cardinals.
It will be season is back and as the calendar flips to May, you can sense a buzz around this Cardinals team who is surprising everyone with this 18 and 13th start.
There's nothing like being in the ballpark to see it all for yourself.
Like really, you don't want to watch JJ Weatherholt doing what he's doing right now.
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Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals.
Your first listen of the day.
Thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network.
Okay, we do have an update on the Hunter Dobbin stuff.
My phone was blowing up so I knew something was coming through.
Cardinals DFA Luis Peralta, who they just taken from the Rockies.
And Jared Schuster is coming back.
Schuster was not on the 40 man anymore.
So they had to, that's why the Peralta move is taking place.
They had to remove Peralta.
Add Schuster again, he's been selected from Memphis.
Dobbins officially optioned down to Memphis.
So it's nice knowing you, Luis Peralta.
Jared Schuster, welcome back.
It's another lefty to add to the bullpen too, which I like over Chris Roycroft anyway,
because it gives you, so it's not all on just Brule and Jojo who have been
struggling. So now you got another lefty to throw into the mix there. You know, they're kind of looking
for that Stephen Matt's type of dude and Schuster can do that where he can give you multiple
innings. So I like that move. That makes sense. Cardinals offense, which looked asleep in game
one until the ninth inning, came to life in a major way against Pittsburgh. Some fun stats from
Rob Brains at STL Sportspage.com. If you don't follow him or read his work, you should do that
because he's really good at researching some of these stats. Over the span of
28 innings. The Cardinal scored 30 runs against Pittsburgh. J.J. Weatherholt, who had that
monster series, goes six for 16, scored six runs. Five of his hits went for extra bases with two home
runs and three doubles. I think he's on a seven-game hitting streak right now. The home run gave
Weatherholt at least one extra base hit in each of his last six games. It was his seventh homer
in just his 31st career game, the most bad Cardinal in that span to begin his career since a guy
name Albert Pujols, who had 10 in 2001, 25 years ago. That's crazy.
The combination of Weatherholt, Yvonne Herrera, Burleson, and Walker produced eight hits, scored
six runs, drove in seven on Thursday. Eight of the nine Cardinals had at least one hit,
and eight of the nine scored at least one run. Alec Burleson had two hits in three at bats
against Paul Skeens and has eight hits in 20 at bats against him. So he's, he's not. He has eight hits
and 20 at bats against him. So he kind of owns Paul Skeens. In total, Burley's got eight hits and
eight RBIs in that four-game sweep. He was huge. The gold, the silver slugger, just doing
damage, which you love to see. The cardals finish April with an 18 to 13 record, including their
five games in March. It is the first time that they have been five games above 500 or better
at the end of April since they were 19 and 10 at the end of April back in 2019.
How did they finish the season that year?
91 wins.
You know, there was a lot of chatter.
A lot of chatter in the offseason about this team being a 100 lost team.
And if you go back, go look at the receipts.
I was like, guys, they're not going to lose 100 games.
They're not this trash ball club.
They're just young.
And we don't know how good or bad they're going to be.
So I myself gave them a, hey, I think they're going to be right around 500 mark.
I didn't think they'd be that bad.
I didn't really think they'd be this good so far.
I've been blown away, blown away by the way they've played this game.
And it's how they're playing the game.
It's not so much talent that's everywhere, but it's how they're playing in the game.
Enthusiastic, energetic, great defense, smart base running.
They've got the power that nobody saw coming.
They're hitting home runs way above the clip that everybody thought
they'd be at. They've just, and now you've got this young team that's got a taste for winning,
and they're having a lot of fun doing it. J.J. Weatherholt leading the charge with his
impressive start, both offensively and defensively, I cannot stress how big it is to have him
over at second base playing as well as he is, covering as much ground as he is. He's been awesome.
Walker and Gorman, becoming legit run-producing bats in the heart of the order. Didn't know if that
was going to happen, did we? And we're seeing Walker really take off. And
Borman's quietly putting together a solid season.
Then you got Burley and Yvonne doing the things we expected them to do.
Nathan Church, what did you expect out of Nathan Church this year?
I thought he was going to be good, and I have no problem saying that in claiming him all season long.
But he's been this underrated spark plug that is in that seven spot in the order.
And of course, playing elite defense in left field so far.
Lars Dupar, take your time.
Take your time.
And now they've got momentum with their toughest challenge.
challenge yet coming to town, two-time defending champion Dodgers with all their superstars and their
money. Current active payroll is at $280 million. That does not include the contracts of mooky
bets and Blake Snell and Edwin Diaz and former Cardinal Tommy Edmund and reliever Evan Phillips
who are all injured. That and you add up a few more contracts of guys who are injured,
that accounts for $150 million worth of injured players that they're paying right now. The car
Cardinals active payroll is just shy of $49 million.
Now we know they're paying Wilson and Aeronado and Sunny Gray,
but those aren't active guys on their team.
Active payrolls at $49 million.
Kyle Tucker, his luxury tax alone,
his salary is at $57 million by himself.
Cardinals are at $49 for an active payroll.
But here we are.
Dodgers 211, Cardinals are 18 and 13,
pitching probables Libby versus Emmett Sheehan on Friday, McGruevy versus Rokey Sasaki.
He's been a huge disappointment for L.A. so far on Saturday.
And then Justin Robleski versus Dustin May on Sunday, May the 3rd, just like his uniform number.
Robleski has been very, very good.
He is 4-0.1.50 ERA thus far.
So don't sleep on him on Sunday.
But you're not facing Shohei or Tyler Glass now or Blake Snell, but you still got to face their offense.
which is still elite, Shohei, Tucker, Freeman, Andy Pahez is having a monster year.
Max Muncie, Teosker Hernandez, both their catchers, Will Smith and Dalton rushing, have been excellent at the plate.
So it ain't going to be easy, but this Cardinals team does not look like it's going to be intimidated.
In fact, it looks like this is going to be something they're like, dude, I can't wait to play the Dodgers.
This is going to be really cool.
That's the kind of vibes I feel like this team is giving.
And they're going to give it their best shot.
and they're going to continue to play St. Louis Cardinals baseball the best they can.
And if they win, great.
If they lose, they go back and, you know, flush it, come back the next day, see what they can do better.
And I'm hoping they'll step up to the challenge with L.A. in town just like they did against Seattle.
But hopefully this time you have a better outcome.
Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals your first listen every day.
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Let's keep it going.
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