Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals Have A Chance To Make Fans Believe Again

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals have an opportunity to really cement themselves as a threat in the NL Central. The mission beat the Chicago Cubs this week. 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 Jady Hafford and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan, and I'm your host for Locked-on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals, your first listen every day. We are free and

Starting point is 00:00:44 available. Wherever you get your podcast, you can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted. Like, subscribe, comment, you know the drill. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball. All of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time map create an account and use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply. So the NL Central, once again, not picked by very many to be a very good division overall. As far as the overall look for the National League, nobody is picking somebody from the NL Central to be one of those teams that are going to make the World Series.

Starting point is 00:01:27 You know, in the West, you've got the Mighty Dodgers who are trying to buy a championship. They got the Otani signing. along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who we'll talk about in a little bit. They made some other free agent additions as well. And to their credit, a lot of young talented pitchers that they've been able to develop or trade a way to get even more talent. So it's not like they bought everybody, but they spent quite a bit of money, though. We know that.

Starting point is 00:01:52 The Padres, they also tried their hand at spending a bunch of money to bring home a championship. Didn't work out, but they've got a lot of fun players still on their team. And Fernando Tatis Jr., Mani Machia, They made the moves for Doan Seas and Louisa Rise, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They just went to the World Series last year. They added former Cardinal Jordan, Jordan, Montgomery, and some other pieces. In the east, you've got the Phillies who are arguably the best team in baseball

Starting point is 00:02:16 and most complete team in baseball right now. The Braves who have been hit by some major injuries to their ace Spencer Strider, catcher Sean Murphy, plus Ronald de Cunia Jr. is way off from the production that you saw from them last season. Yeah, they're 29 and 18, and have former Cardinal, Marcelo Zuna just going bonkers right now. He's hit 320 with 15 jacks and 47 RBI. He's like, what?

Starting point is 00:02:41 Then in the Central, it's the Brewers with the eighth best record in the league, despite trading away Corvin Burns, despite losing Brandon Woodruff and Devin Williams to injuries. I mean, those are three huge pieces for that team. And then you've got the Chicago Cups who are in town this weekend. They're sitting at 27 and 24. There are two games back of Milwaukee, despite going three and seven. in their last 10.

Starting point is 00:03:04 And until recently, they've played some pretty good baseball. They really had, despite dealing with a number of different injuries. Cody Bellinger was out for a bit with fractured ribs. Danesby Swanson was on the IEL, had a right knee sprain, Sayas Suzuki out with an oblique, Justin Steele, their top pitcher coming in from last year, missed a good chunk of time with a hammy, Nico Horner, just getting back from a hammy issue. So they haven't been fully healthy, and yet they haven't been that bad, to be honest. They really haven't.

Starting point is 00:03:38 Again, being 27 and 24 and just two games back of the Brewers, despite missing all of those guys, it's a pretty good job. And they stole the Brewers manager and Craig Counsel, who, you know, you got to admit, one of the best managers in all the baseball. So cardals know about injury issues. The Cardinals have dealt with them, too, you know, specifically in the outfield. but the Cubs have been going through it just like the Cardinals and like a lot of teams around the league right now. And they were able to keep their head above water.

Starting point is 00:04:08 So this is a decent team. The problem for them lately has been their offense. That's where the problem's been recently. I mentioned they had gone, what, three and seven in their last 10. On Thursday, they just got shut out by the Braves, three to nothing, which was the fifth time that they'd been blanked in their past 25 games through the Cubs first 26 games this season. through April 26, they were pretty good. The offense produced a 250, 33411 slash line, average 5.4 runs per game, which is good. Since April 27th, going into yesterday's game, Chicago had a 201, 29328 slash line and an output of 3.3 runs per game.

Starting point is 00:04:49 Sound familiar, Cardinals fans, three runs per game? Yeah, that's something the Cardinals have dealt with. And you're hearing similar things out of the Cubs camp that we've been hearing. hearing Adam Cardinals camp about their offense, stuff like, you know, these guys have consistently done it in the past. They'll be fine. Just need to show some patience. We're in a rut. We'll get out of it. They'll start handing again. It's the same stuff that we've been fed in St. Louis for the first month and a half of the season. And finally, in the last 10 games, the Cardals have started to break out of this offensive funk and have been looking more and more like

Starting point is 00:05:28 the Cardinals offense we thought we were going to have this season. So the Cardinals are kind of catching the Cubs at an opportune time where they aren't hitting all that great, which is great news for the Cardinals pitching staff, who despite doing pretty well against the Baltimore Orioles had, let's be honest, they've regressed a little bit. You know, they were much better earlier on in the season. But if you want the fans to start believing in you again, which is where we're at with the cardals right now, where we're trying to,

Starting point is 00:06:02 we're turning this thing around and you're trying to get the fans back on your side in full force. So if you want them to start believing in you again, you want butts in the seats, although I am assuming that this weekend is going to be packed at Bush Stadium, which I can't wait to see. That's fantastic because you want the return of the baseball heaven type of feels and vibes at Bush Stadium for a series like this. You want all that to return the way.

Starting point is 00:06:27 way it used to be, then this weekend's going to be huge. You have got to beat the Chicago Cubs. That's what you got to do. Simple, right? If you drop two of three or heaven forbid, you get swept in this series, then you better hide somewhere good. You better have somewhere picked out like in Merrimack Caverns or something that you can hide in.

Starting point is 00:06:51 Like just because people are going to go nuts. People are going to freak the hell out. if the Cardinals get embarrassed this weekend by the Chicago Cups. We're hoping that doesn't happen. Now we're going to rip through the pitching matchups and why tonight. It's going to be a tough night at the play, probably, probably for the team rocking their new City Connect jerseys. We'll talk about it next on Locked on Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:07:21 Going to baseball games at St. Louis, it's a tradition, right? Even if the team is losing, which they've done plenty of over the first, you know, month and a half of this season, pretty much over the last two years, although they're targeting. things around. I'm not trying to sound negative. I'm just saying you still go to the ballpark even in these type of years, right? You know, you make the track to ballpark village and then you go down to Bush Stadium to cheer on the Cardinals. And when you need tickets to the game,

Starting point is 00:07:48 look no further than the game time app. Tickets this weekend are going to be tough to come by, right? Game time app's going to have you covered here. They're the authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes getting tickets faster, easier, and cheaper. on the game time map actually go down, the closer it gets to first pitch with those killer last minute deals. They've got the all in prices.

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Starting point is 00:08:39 Front row, right center field. Tickets were $15 a piece on the game time app. Yeah, 15 bucks a piece. You can find parking on there as well. It's fantastic. I'm telling you, take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with game time. It's very, very simple. Download the game time app, create an account, and use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Again, terms apply. Create your account, redeem the code. Locked on. MLB. That's L-O-C-E-D-O-N-M-B for $20 off. Download the game-time app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. It's winner-take-all-time in the NBA and NHL and Fand-Ole's giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own because right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. Again, that's $150 to bet on spreads or

Starting point is 00:09:32 money lines, player props, and a whole lot more. There's a slew of things that you can bet on with the Fandul app. Now in the NBA, uh, tonight's game on Friday, you got Mavs and T-Wolves, Minnesota favored by five and a half, tons of prop bets, obviously for, for Anthony Edwards, Luca Donchich, Kyle Irving. It's up to you on who you believe in. There's a really popular parlay bet with Kyrie scoring 30 or more, uh, Carl Anthony Town scoring 25 or more, both of them making four or more three-pointers for 10 bucks. You put 10 bucks on that and it hits. You win $378. NHL, you got the Panthers and the Rangers.

Starting point is 00:10:09 Panthers are favorite in that one. Plenty of parlays there, too. PGA Tour. They got Charles Schwab Challenge. Known criminal, Scotty Sheffler, leading the way. I'm kidding about the criminal thing. You've got to laugh a little bit about what happened there. Cardals and Cubs, Cubbs favored by one and a half tonight with Shota and Managa on the hell against Miles Michaels.

Starting point is 00:10:29 So get in on the action. Visit fandwell.com slash locked on and make every playoff shot count. Fanduel, America's number one sports book. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and have to turn down the volume because they keep shouting at you? Well, then make the switch to Lockdown Sports Today, a free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all of the screaming. It's streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app,

Starting point is 00:11:01 part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Remember, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals hometown broadcast with Sirius XM, just download the SXM app. Search the word Cardinals. And thank you for making Locked on Cardinals your first list in every day. Leave your comments on YouTube. You can also hit me up on Twitter X. That feedback always welcome and encouraged.

Starting point is 00:11:21 The offseason for the Cardinals, remember when we were scouring the globe for pitching? That's what the Cardinals needed. We needed a bunch of new pitchers. And they went out and got some. But we spent a lot of time this offseason talking about players overseas, foreign players, playing a different league. that were coming over to the states to play.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Yoshinobu Yamamoto, obviously was a big, big name, you know, a big headliner that the big market teams were chasing. So far, it has not been Yoshinobu Yamamoto that's been turning heads here in the United States. It's actually been the Cubs, Shota, and the Naga. Now, Yamamoto has been very, very good. Don't get me wrong. He was younger.

Starting point is 00:12:03 He's only 25. He obviously cost a lot more, 12 years, $325 million to sign with the Dodgers. But so far this year, he's 5 and 1. He's got an ERA of 3.17, 61Ks and 54 innings, pretty darn good. But Shota Imanaga, although older at age 30 and significantly cheaper, with a four-year, $53 million deal with the Cubs, is 5 and O so far this year with a microscopic 0.84 ERA, his whip, 0.91. He's been virtually unhittable.

Starting point is 00:12:37 And on top of that, the dude has got some flare. When he's out on the mound, you can tell he's competing and he's giving it everything he's got out there. He shows a passion. He shows an energy for the game that personally, I love it. I freaking love it. I love it when people show emotion out there on the mound. There's one of the reasons why Chris Carpenter, one of my favorite pitchers of all time in a Cardinals uniform. And even though I'm a Nagas is a Chicago Cub, you got to respect the game.

Starting point is 00:13:07 You got to respect the game. Here's a picture of them right here. Not a big dude. Now, granted, these are some of the women who play in the WNBA, which make him look a little small. We would all look like this next to these ladies. But he's not a big guy, not a big guy whatsoever. But the dude's good.

Starting point is 00:13:27 He doesn't have overpowering stuff. Fastball sits around 92 miles per hour. But the delivery, the release point, these are apparently part of the reasons why he's been very, very tough to hit so far this year. Now, Jesse Rogers and ESPN did an article about him and said, while the fastball is pedestrian in an ERA of high-velocity aces, the pitch's movement coming from his deceptive delivery is given the opposition fits

Starting point is 00:13:52 to the tune of a 164 batting average. Braves bench coach Walt Weiss called it an optical illusion. And Atlanta's hitters agreed after being held scoreless for five innings by Imanaga earlier this month. Ozzy Albies, very good. Sega Baseman for the Brave said his fastball plays up. So whenever you try to get on him, you foul it off. Most players swing it is to lift the ball.

Starting point is 00:14:18 And if it has that little ride, you foul it off or swing and miss. And that's what plays great for him. Their first baseman, Matt Olson, coming off a monster year, says he hides the ball really well. It plays harder than what the radar gun is saying. And he has really good ride on his fastball. It comes from behind his head. Now, the next pitch in Emini Arsenal that is frustrating hitters is the splitter, which, you know, if he's throwing 92, it drops to 83 miles per hour despite looking like a fastball coming in. And then it actually drops in the opposite direction of where his fastball goes.

Starting point is 00:14:54 In Roger's article, he had a quote from Pirates manager Derek Shelton who said, this guy is going to give hitting coaches nightmares. The separator is the splitter. looks like a strike, even the splits he throws in the zone that are strikes have so much action. And there is just a lot of deception in the delivery. Now, as far as his splits go so far this season, I'm in Oga. I mean, nobody's hit him well, obviously with the numbers I read to you. But right handers are batting just 183 against him with a 483 OPS. They have hit three home runs off of them.

Starting point is 00:15:28 Lefties are hitting a robust 255 against him. 47 plate appearances, but they don't have a single extra base hit against him yet this season, which is bad news for the Cardinals who have a lot of good left-handed hitters in their lineup. Home and away splits, they're even more hilarious. At Wrigley Field, he's 2 and 0 in 5 starts, got an ERA of 1.20 on the road. This dude has been almost unhittable. 3 and 0 in 4 starts, the ERA at 0.38. He's allowed only one earned run on the road this year.

Starting point is 00:16:01 one. Needless to say, the Cardinals are going to have their hands full on Friday night against this diminutive left-hander. Short and stature, but man, does he play big on the mound? The team is hitting just 205 on the year against left-handers. So it's going to be up to some of these Rides who normally hit right-handers or left-handers very good to kind of carry the team tonight. You got Goldie, Aronado, Yvon Herrera, Mason-Win. These are guys that are going to need to do some damage tonight. Goldie and Aronado have actually seen him in action. They got to witness him at the WBC, the World Baseball Classic. So maybe they picked up on something during their time during the WBC that can help boost them tonight. You know, this is a game where

Starting point is 00:16:49 missing out on Wilson Contreras really, really stinks because he's been so good against left-handers and it never hurts to have him going up against the Cubs where you've got that kind of revenge game aspect going on against Chicago. So it kind of sucks. He's not going to be around. But we're going to talk about the other pitching matchup. Specifically, we'll talk about Cardinal starter Miles Michaelis next and how the rest of this weekend's matchup shape up.

Starting point is 00:17:15 Plus, we're going to have some broadcast booth fun going on this weekend as well. That's all coming up next for you on Locked on Cardinals. Baseball season is in full swing. So don't miss your chance to add your. favorite players from the diamond and your prize picks entries, whether it's strikeouts, rbis, or first inning runs, take your pick more or less and add them to your price fix entry today. Now, testing my skills on price fix this baseball season is the most exciting way for me because I watch a lot of baseball. That's how I like to play daily fantasy sports. And if you've

Starting point is 00:17:50 got the skills, you can turn $10 into $100 with just a few taps. Now, I just told you all of the stats and how good. Showtime. Imanaga has been this year, are you willing to bet against the Cardinals and bet on him to make some money? You're going to do that? Or do you think the Cardinals rise to the occasion? They continue with this momentum they've been building and winning eight of their last 10. And they surprise everyone tonight and defeat Imanaga for the first time this season. It's up to you.

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Starting point is 00:19:16 Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. By Locked on Sports Today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. So Miles Michaelis will get the ball tonight. for the Cardinals. And his overall numbers, I know, they're not great. They're not great. He's 3 and 5, the area 5.77.

Starting point is 00:19:40 Not great. All right, we know that. Teams are hitting 294 against him, which is the fifth highest batting average against in baseball so far this year. And it usually comes down to like one bad inning for Miles, right? Like it seems like he'll have two or three really good innings, and then just disaster in one inning. and what looks like he's going to cruise to a six, seven inning outing,

Starting point is 00:20:04 ends up getting cut short at like four, maybe even five innings. But there is some positives over his last two outings. He has been better. He went six innings against the Brewers on May 12th. Mind you, that's the game where Ali Marmal, Daniel DeSalzo all got thrown out. It kind of started this Cardinal's turnaround was that game, and it was Miles Michaelis who got the start in that one. He allowed three runs and picked up his third win.

Starting point is 00:20:27 Again, went six innings in that one, so a quality start. Then in his last outing, five strong against the Boston Red Sox, allows just one run on two hits, did not get a decision in that particular game, but the Cardinals went on to win it by the score of seven to two, had a big inning late in that one, and they grabbed the victory. So again, that's at least some positive momentum heading into Friday's game against the Cubs. So it's not all doom and gloom with Miles Michaelis on the mound right now. And with the day off on Thursday, the bullpen should be pretty well rested.

Starting point is 00:21:00 and ready to rock and roll when needed. So the Trinity, as we like to call them, here on the podcast with Kittridge, Romero and Helsley, they should be ready to go. They should be all hands on deck for this weekend against the Cubs. Now, the rest of the weekend, it's a bit up in the air on both sides, really. Saturday, James and Tion is set to go for the Cubbies. The Cardinals, they've yet to announce their starter,

Starting point is 00:21:23 at least at the time that I'm doing this. But it seems that despite his struggles in that number five, spot that Matthew Libertor is indeed going to get another crack at making a start. It hasn't been good. We know that, which kind of, it sucks that the cartels don't have the depth that we thought they would. You know, coming into the season, you knew Stephen Mass was going to get hurt at some point.

Starting point is 00:21:48 It's just, it's just what happens every single year. And they were hoping that Zach Thompson and Matthew Libertor would be able to handle that number five spot when Stephen Mats went down. And so far, it hasn't worked. Again, it hasn't worked, just like last year when it was supposed to be Dakota Hudson and, what was it, Woodward. Those were the guys, Jake Woodford. I don't know why I keep saying Woodward, but Jake Woodford. Those were supposed to be the guys that filled the spot when Matt went down. Didn't work. They sucked. And it's happening again this year. So it's unfortunate the Cardinals don't, their plans for when Matt's gets hurt, they just have not panned out so far.

Starting point is 00:22:31 So we'll see if Matthew Libertore can do better. If he does indeed get the start again, it hasn't been officially announced yet, but it looks like he's going to be the guy. Then on Sunday, the Cardinals will have their ace, Sunny Gray on the mouth. You know, you like that. You like him on the Hill against the Cubs who have yet to announce their starter for Sunday.

Starting point is 00:22:50 Sunny in his career against the Cubs, he is four and three and 11 starts with a 2.980 ERA. Right. Another fun aspect for this weekend is what's going on in the broadcast booths. Joe Buck, Chip Carey will handle duties on Valley Sports Midwest as well as on the MLB Network for Friday's game. For the first time since 1969, you'll have a Buck and a Kerry work at a Cardinals game. It happened back in 69 when Jack Buck and Harry Carey were working together as a team for the Cardinals. So that's a cool thing that's going to happen tonight. and then on Saturday, Adam Wainwright, Uncle Charlie, he's back at St. Louis, he'll be in the booth for Fox, and then Sunday night baseball.

Starting point is 00:23:30 You've got the nationally televised game for game three, plus City Connects for this weekend, which adds some flair to it all. So should be a fun time at the ballpark. Cardinals have won eight of their last 10 in large part due to their bats, finally waking up and coming to life. The Cubs have lost seven of the last 10, large part, because their bats have gone into hibernation. and have gone silent. And I, for one, am hoping it stays this way this weekend. But it should be a lot of fun. So I hope you can get out to the ballpark if you're in St. Louis.

Starting point is 00:24:03 If not, make sure you're following along on Twitter X because we'll be in there talking about everything going on with the games this weekend between the Cubs and the Cardinals. I'm looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun. I'm excited about it. And I hope you are too. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals reverse list every day.

Starting point is 00:24:21 If you haven't already, please give us some. to follow on Twitter acts at L0 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel in love for the Cardinals grow as we continue to make that push for 10,000 subscribers. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason, and I will see you next time on Locked-on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals Have A Chance To Make Fans Believe Again

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