Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals Take Down Another Ace!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals take down another ace on Monday. What's the most impressive part about it? We're going to discuss it today on Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day. Hey, the Cardinals. I'm J.D. Hafford and I'm your host for Locked on Cardinals, front of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:31 You can follow me on X at J.D. Sports Radio. podcast available there as well at L0 underscore Cardinals. Of course, we're on YouTube. If you haven't joined us there, come on by. Like, subscribe, comment, hit that notification button so you don't miss any of the new episodes or shorts that we put out there for you. You can find us on Instagram. We're on TikTok. It locked on Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:00:50 This is a show serving Cardl Nation and giving the best fans of baseball. All of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Thomas Covey from Redwood Rance.com in the building to talk some cardinal baseball. Thomas, how are things in your world? And did you get your taxes done?

Starting point is 00:01:13 Because today is the day. Yeah, we owed this year. So I mailed the checkout yesterday. That's fine, I guess. But yeah, we're all good to go. Remodeling our kitchen too right now. So things are hectic in the Gavain household. But we're good.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Well, if you haven't got your taxes done, make sure you guys do that because today is the day or Uncle Sam's going to come find you, although me and Thomas apparently paid enough for a lot of you already. Yeah, me footed at the bill. Yeah. Let's talk about some happy thoughts. It's a good time to have you in Thomas because the fan base, although they're not showing up in droves at Bush State of him yet, I'm going to continue to blame the weather in the school year, why they're not showing up. But at least from the responses I've been seeing from listeners, the people are enjoying the product that is on the field for the most part this season. Not trying to get carried away. I know they're eight and eight.

Starting point is 00:02:06 But we've seen some pretty good baseball from these guys so far. And recently they've been taking down some of the best pitchers in all of baseball. I know they lost that series in Pittsburgh, which is still unforgivable considering how that final extra inning game played out. But they were able to beat Paul Skeens, right? That Tuesday night, he's now 0 and 3 against the game. the Redbirds. They win that one five to three. Then this week in a Bush Stadium, you got the Phillies coming to town, the daunting task of trying to be three legitimate aces, in my opinion, with Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez, and Zach Wheeler. Sanchez, one of the more underrated guys

Starting point is 00:02:42 in the league. And I certainly think his name's going to start popping up on people's radar more as this season goes on. But, you know, he baffles the birds on Saturday. But they beat Noah. They beat Wheeler. Friday, they win a pitcher's dual two-nuff. And, Then on Sunday, it's a 7-0 beatdown of Zach Wheeler. Then on Monday night, you got Framber Valdez and the Astros. That's their number one. Takes the Mounted Bush, they clobber him and win at 8 to 3. And I know a lot of people are going to give a lot of credit to the offense, as they should.

Starting point is 00:03:12 But I'd like to start with the pitching performances against these guys first, because the Cardinal starting pitchers are out pitching these aces early on. And two of the four wins have been, uh, with. their Cardinals number one in Sunny Gray on the Hill, who improved with 3 and 0 on Monday night. How impressed have you been with what Sunny Gray has been able to do over his last couple of outings? Yeah, it's been great.

Starting point is 00:03:37 He seemed to dial it up to another level. He only had four strikeouts yesterday, but he had complete control of that game. Nobody was getting the ball in dangerous spots. Sunny had his way with him. There was one Cardinals' gifts posted a clip of him winking at one point while he was adjusting his pants again. And it's just classic Sunny.

Starting point is 00:03:56 I mean, it's who we expected when we signed him last offseason to lead this rotation to be the head of the starters. Yeah, and that was the thing is like, you know, the strikeout numbers are there for Sunny. They are. The home run ball is still a thing, although it hasn't been since the – he gave up the one home run in Pittsburgh. Grand Slam, yeah. Oh, Hoppy, he's been really, really good.

Starting point is 00:04:23 He's not putting guys on, which is great. And only three walks so far this year compared to 23 strikeouts. The whip is at 0.78. You love that. Hitters are batting just 188 against him. He's giving you everything that you could ask for from a number one so far this season. Now, the next guy who has pitched better than he's getting credit for and is way under the radar is Andre Palante 2 and 0 on the year now.

Starting point is 00:04:49 The ERA down to 2.20. your thoughts on Andre's first three starts and what he's doing to get these kind of results so far this year. Yeah, he's getting the ground balls. That's what we expect of Andre Palante. He's using his death ball. It's the curve ball that he has. He's using that really well, placing at the bottom of the zone, getting hitters to roll over on top of it. And he's taken advantage of his defense.

Starting point is 00:05:14 You've got Jordan Walker in the outfield who's getting some five balls. The infield is stout as ever wins out now. but Brendan Donovan held his own, yes, yesterday that throw to third base. That's right. So Palanté is taking advantage of this defense, and he's keeping the ball on the ground. Our starting pitchers might have the most wins in baseball right now. I haven't checked that. Someone else was up to.

Starting point is 00:05:34 But I mean, Palanty's two and O, sunny gray's three, no. Like, I guess we only have three wins as a team, so that's going to hurt us. But pitcher wins are doing well. If this were a team of the early 2000s, we would be the hottest on the streets right now. Yeah, you'd be really excited about everything you're seeing. Let me double check this for you right now. The Cardinals, seven wins so far from their starters, which, third in the league, Cubs, Padres, Reds, Mets.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Cubs have played two or three games more of us. Yeah, and then a few, you know, teams like Detroit, the Mets. You know, some of the best teams of baseball with their starters and stuff. And we're paying a hell of a lot more money for the guys that they have. going out there each and every day. I want to come to Matthew Libertor now, though, because, you know, he makes this jump back into the rotation. First start against the angels.

Starting point is 00:06:31 It was decent, right? We were like, okay, you know, he's going to get used to this. At the early struggles against the pirates before he settles down, and then he looks great over the final, what, four and a third innings in Pittsburgh. And then you get six shutout innings to beat Zach Wheeler, who some will argue, is the best right-handed pitcher in baseball. Like there are people who will say that. Dare I say,

Starting point is 00:06:53 Thomas Gauvet, did the Cardinals make the right decision by moving him to the rotation? Holy cow. Yeah. Okay, so the last time we talked, he had just come off a tough start. And it was the right-handed batters that got to him. But then he goes out against the Phillies

Starting point is 00:07:11 and he just deals that slider he had, backfoot against the right-eys and away against the lefties. That looked nice. I think I remember who it was. Someone talked about him working with Wainwright a few years ago in Wainwright's last season. And we might be seeing a young left-handed Adam Wainwright in development here. I'm not saying he's going to go out and win playoff games and be great Cardinal. But he's showing signs of some strengths.

Starting point is 00:07:36 I loved him in the bullpen last year. Offseason, I was pushing for him to be in the bullpen. But if he can keep doing this kind of production, putting up these numbers, let him be in the rotation. Go for it. Yeah, and I was right there with you. I mean, it's hard to take somebody who's like a weapon against left-handers in the bullpen and is so good against lefties and has the strikeout stuff, you know, where he can just get you out of an inning with a couple of Ks and then just take that away from you.

Starting point is 00:08:03 But so far, in at least, you know, last 10 innings or so, it seems like things are going in the right direction for Matthew Libertori. So credit to the Cardinals, credit to their staff, credit to Libby for keeping. at it. I'd be remiss. One walk all you. He looked in Pittsburgh, six no hit hit innings in that extra inning loss, had that thugly first inning in Boston, where he gave up the five runs and the two jacks, and he was just all over the place, like rattled. He walked four in that game. But outside of that, Fetty's been really, really good. If there is a complaint, I guess you would point at the walks. That's been a little bit of an issue because

Starting point is 00:08:42 he had a few of those in that game in Pittsburgh that were getting that leadoff hitter on over and over. Your thoughts on what you've seen from Eric Faddy so far? Yeah, just the walks, honestly, is my main complaint with him. He's keeping the ball in the yard pretty well. Two home runs given up, but, I mean, three starts. That's not overly terrible. The walks is where he needs to get some improvement. He's never been much of a strikeout guy.

Starting point is 00:09:03 His career average is right around seven, seven and a half per nine innings. So you'd love to see a little bit more strikeouts, fewer walks, but outside of that, he seems to be handled the game pretty well. Six innings was a strong start that definitely helped him out. I think that Boston one's going to hold his numbers pretty high for a little bit. I don't expect him to have an out as bad as that for a while. Yeah, I mean, it's cutter, sweeper, and, you know, if your defense is playing as well as the Cardinals' defense has been, that's where guys like him and I know Miles Michaelis, but like when guys are putting the ball in play,

Starting point is 00:09:35 but you're getting the defense behind you, you know, it makes their jobs a whole lot easier. So impressive stuff. But the Cardinals, you know, they can't win unless they score runs. against these ace pitchers and the offense has been extremely impressive so far. So we're going to give you our thoughts on how these guys are getting it done this year. That's coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious and crack into a good sorts of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts, each one ounce serving as six grams of protein,

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Starting point is 00:11:14 as well as on X. Anytime you want your feedback is always welcome and encourage. Tom the Skokvane from Redmond, rants.com, here with us again today, which he does almost every single week. Anytime time he can carve out a little time for us. He joins us. So make sure you guys are checking out his work at the website. Give him a follow on X at Thomas Covey. So after Monday's whooping of the Astros, and that's what it was. I know eight to three are like, wait a second. It seems a little closer than a no. No, if you watch the game, it was a wuppet. It was eight nothing until the bottom of the ninth,

Starting point is 00:11:43 or top of the ninth. The Cardle's offense currently ranks first in batting average in the league at 287. First and OBP, 353, third and slugging, 447, second in OPS at 844. They are third in runs scored. They're second and hits. They're fourth and doubles. They're tied for seventh and home runs. Middle of the pack in the walks at 16th, but only 133 strikeouts, which puts them in the bottom half of the league of teams that are striking out versus lefties.

Starting point is 00:12:12 They're batting 289. Remember, that was an issue last year, which is third overall versus righties. They're at 286, which again is third. Thomas, what's been your favorite part about this offense that has led to this turnaround under new hitting coordinator, Bram Brown? What have you liked so much about this? There's not a tough at bat in the lineup. I mean, you start the top with Newpar, and then from there,

Starting point is 00:12:36 you run into Wilson Contreras. Hopefully, if he gets back up there, Luke and Baker, seen some spots there too. Jordan Walker has dabbled in it. You go, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arnado, Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Alec Brose. Like, that's just a long list of hitters. There's no one that's going to be extremely overpowering. It might be Wilson Contreras.

Starting point is 00:12:54 No one Arnata might get there. Brendan Donovan seems to be a heart of the lineup guy, these last seven to ten games. But they're all tough at bats. They're seeing a ridiculous amount of pitches as they go through. You've got speed at the bottom as the lineup rotates back up to the top with some on-base guys. It's just a very tough nine guys to get through for pitchers. Yeah, and that was one thing during last night's key.

Starting point is 00:13:16 game with Framber Valdez. I mean, we're going to go back and point out the Nolan Aronado at bat, which was 10 pitches long. And it was just excruciating. And as a former pitcher, it's so annoying. There are two really annoying things. There are guys who continue to file stuff off and you're just over and over throwing pitches. And then there's like the blue pits, like the weak contact hits that fall, even though you beat the hitter, then they fall in and you're like, ugh. And the Cardals were doing that to Valdez. They're dunking them in certain spots. But also, just fighting off pitches, taking those counts to six, seven, eight pitches that pern a bat. And you just saw his pitch count climbing.

Starting point is 00:13:56 And that's what they've been doing to a lot of these starters is that they work them and work them. And then by the time the fifth inning rolls around, these guys are pushing their 85 to 100 pitch count. And it's time to move on to the bullpen. And when you could do that early on in a series and start wearing out other teams' bullpins early on, nothing but good things for you normally if you're that team. Runners and scoring position was an issue last year. They're hitting 277 so far this year. That's sixth in the league.

Starting point is 00:14:26 One spot that's been a major contributor is the catching position, Thomas. The group of Herrera, Pahez, and Poso led the league and hitting, which kind of sounds like a law firm, Herrera Pahez and Poso, I'll call it. But that grouping for as far as catchers hitting in the league, they lead the league of batting average. They're hitting 343, Thomas, as a group. 343, their fifth at OVP, their first in slugging,

Starting point is 00:14:54 their first in OPS, their first in home runs with six, and tied for first in RBIs with 22. This has been an incredible thing, because, I mean, we thought Yvonne Herrera was going to hit. That wasn't something that we ever hit. We talked about it a lot,

Starting point is 00:15:09 but to see what Paez is doing so far this year. And then, of course, the story of Pozo and how good he's been since coming up. I mean, what's not to say about this team at the catcher position? It's been amazing. Yeah, and then you look in the pipeline and you've got Jimmy Crooks. You've got right now Rodriguez. These are the catching depth is ridiculous for the Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:15:32 It's a little bit different than what we had with Yadi. That was more defense first. Now it's offense first. But Petra Bayes is no slouch ground plate defensively. Pitchers rave about it as a game call or two. the catching pipeline we have both in the majors and the minors right now has got to be tops in the league. I never expected Pedro Pahas to go off the way he is. Home run alone, like his average is 289, Juel Pozo as well behind him.

Starting point is 00:16:00 It's fun to see the catchers do these types of things for the offense. Yeah, and looking at Pahas behind the plate so far, you know, Herrera goes down. So after the Boston series, pitching staffs been pretty darn good. So it's a difference with him behind the plate. And we said in the offseason, if he could add just some offense, like we didn't need him to be doing what he's doing now, which is awesome, keep it up. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:26 But if you could just get something from him, you're kind of like, wow, like you really do have a two-headed monster behind the plate right now. And you're watching him defensively, gunning guys at second base, something we don't see a lot from Herrera. So I'm not saying he needs to replace Herrera as the starter when Yvonne is healthy, but it's good to have all of this going on at the same time. You mentioned Brennan Donovan leads the NL and hitting at 391 after Monday night, four for four night on Monday. He's second and all of baseball behind the raise, Joe Aranda, who has 21 less at bat. So I don't know why he's qualified still, but he is.

Starting point is 00:17:01 But he's at 395. Donovan extended his hitting streak to 10 games. That's the MLB's longest active streak, three singles in a fifth inning, RB. I double during the streak. He's 20 for 39. He's been five, 13 with six extra base hits during this streak. He's been incredible. Nolan Aronado looks so much more comfortable at the play. You saw him last night, another big night going three for four with the home run. He had two doubles. He's now second and batting average among all third baseman. He's one point behind Mani Machado right now. Got to be happy for what they're getting out of Nolan and happy for Nolan who looks

Starting point is 00:17:37 like he's having a good time with this team, doesn't me? Yeah, he does. It's a different energy. Katie Wu talked about Nolan Arnado recently in one of her podcast episodes, and she said he's always practicing his swing. It could be the hotel lobby. It could be 2.30 a.m. He's texting people. I saw him yesterday on the bench. They cut over to Herrera using a massage gun on his arm and his leg. And Arnaud is next to him, practicing his swing on the top step. Like, who does that besides him? He's a total gamer. We all knew, or we had a feeling that this year would be different for him than the last two years and he's proven that especially right now his defense is still tops i mean the throw he had across the i'm into willy the other night yeah it's nobody trey turner like who throws out

Starting point is 00:18:17 trey turner falling into foul territory nobody yeah nobody yeah no one arnaudato does yeah very impressive and uh you know it it's i i was coming i was trying to make a joke with somebody yesterday about it i was like was last night's game against houston like a nolan aranauta revenge game in a way. He was almost an astro. Does it really count? I'm not sure, but we'll continue to take all the production we can get. I know it seems like it's been all sunshine and rainbows in today's podcast, but we do have some other things we've got to talk about. The minor league system has been ravaged by injuries. I know a lot of us have been so consumed with what's going on at the major league level that the minor leagues are underway, and we've got

Starting point is 00:19:03 some injuries, some big ones to talk about, including both of the top pitching process. in the Cardinals system going down. We're going to get you the latest news on that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Well, I have an answer for mine right now because what Uncle Sam just did to me, but between dining out, online shopping, entertainment, I went and saw Frank Caliando the other night. So, you know, you go out and maybe you start to lose track of where all the money is going.

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Starting point is 00:20:40 today for your second listen, check out Lockdown Fantasy Baseball. The podcast is going to help you with the ins and outs of your fantasy league. Dominic and Matthew, they got you covered with all the stats, the waivers, the guys you should be starting, who you should be dropping. It's all there for you. Find Lockdown Fantasy Baseball on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Thomas Govain from Redford, Ransdack,com, this year. And Thomas, the injury bug, it's kind of, it's nibbled at the Major League roster a little

Starting point is 00:21:07 bit. Yvonne Herrera, Mason went with the back, spasms. Gorman just came back from his hammy issue. But the minor leagues have had some big names hit the injured list, including their top pitching prospect. Quinn Matthews, scary stuff here. What can you tell us about Quinn Matthews and the injuries that are going on in the minor leagues right now?

Starting point is 00:21:27 Yeah, two days ago, three days ago, I think two or three days ago, he had an outing. His lawsuit was two or three ticks down. His movement on his pitches wasn't as sharp. So it felt like an eye. IEL stint was imminent when you see those figures for a pitcher. Yesterday he went to the aisle. It's just left shoulder soreness, not his elbow,

Starting point is 00:21:47 which is a little bit more reassuring. There haven't been any other updates on a timetable. They were waiting to see how he recovers from some rest the last couple days to see. Maybe it's some imaging done as well, but there's no timetable in his return. He's one of two other top four pitchers in the system who are hurt too, though. Tink Hens has been out for. for a little bit and Cooper Jerpy as well. So the minor league pitching staff has been ravaged quite a bit to start the year.

Starting point is 00:22:15 Which is frightening because these are the guys that are supposed to come up in case something were to happen to any of the guys in the Major League roster. You know, if something were to happen to, I don't know, somebody is fragile as a Stephen Matt's or, you know, if anything, if anything were to happen to one of these veteran guys, you know, most of them are not getting any younger. So that's kind of a big deal. The Quinn Matthews won as soon as, because you actually text me and I was like, oh, no, because that's scared that ever-lived out of me.

Starting point is 00:22:44 Because that's the one guy that I do not want to see go through any sort of elbow issues. And you watch it. The same thing with like jerpy. You know, you see both lefties, but both of them kind of unorthodox kind of wind-ups. And the way they throw the ball, it's not a normal, smooth, relaxed-looking type of delivery. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot of movement. And you always get a little bit nervous about seeing guys like that,

Starting point is 00:23:11 as dominating as they can be because they both kind of remind me in ways, especially jerpy of, you know, like a Chris Sale where it's just kind of herky, jerky and everything. And then you worry that, you know, some injuries are going to happen. And you've seen Sayle struggle with those throughout his career. So hopefully they're back sooner rather than later. But it hasn't been just pitching. We've had some position players go down too, right?

Starting point is 00:23:32 I haven't been paying attention to the position players, just the pitchers. But who are the minor league hitters that are going down? I thought you sent me a couple of. I've got Matthews. Matthews, Hens, Jerpy, Chenway Lynn, and Brian Holliday. Those are the five pitchers. Holliday was a draft pick last year. Lynn's been around for a little bit.

Starting point is 00:23:54 The top three are top pitching prospects. The fourth top pitching prospect who's left to be healthy is to Coerobi. And if anybody knows anything about Ticot O'Robi, it's that he'll probably get hurt at some point. Yeah, yeah, he was a guy that shines so much in spring training. And then, yeah, that's been his whole MO for his entire career. It's been the fact that staying healthy has been a little bit of an issue. Tonight's game at Bush Stadium. He got Hunter Brown, who's been very, very impressive since he came up last year.

Starting point is 00:24:24 He was one of those guys that, if you were lucky enough, to grab on the fantasy wire last year, was nice to have. He's been really good so far this year. Eric Fetty will be back on the mound for the Redbirds as they try to go for the series victory tonight at Bush. What do you foresee happening? What's your magic eight ball telling you there, Thomas? Let's get Lars Newport back on track. After his hot start, he's kind of falling off a little bit.

Starting point is 00:24:48 Righty pitcher on the mound. Go ahead and get some action out there. Lars, hit a home run. Why not? Yeah. And I hope I got Nolan back in the lineup. I was a little surprised he was in last night, considering it was a lefty that was starting. I thought that would have been a nice spot for C.C., but obviously, they want to get him at bats.

Starting point is 00:25:05 Like, they want him as a guy that they can trust to hit against righties and lefties. They don't want him to just be somebody who can only face right-hander. So I kind of got it. And, you know, he had a couple of tough at bats early on in the game on Monday night, but was able to get a sack fly, which just showed you the power that he possesses where it almost carried out the center field last night. So hopefully we'll see Gorman back in the lineup tonight. as well. Once again, thank you guys for making Lockedown Cardinals. Your first listen

Starting point is 00:25:34 every day if you haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio. We're on TikTok and Instagram at Locktown Cardinals as well. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. And of course, you got to go check out Thomas Govain at Redbird Ranch.com. Anything new that you're working on for this week, buddy? I had one go out yesterday about the Cardinals against the top pitchers from last year. A little bit more detail about that. And then I'm talking about Cardinals who become who could become first time all-stars this year. There's four of them.

Starting point is 00:26:04 Look at all this positivity going on. Love it. Yeah. Why not? Why not? Love it so far. All right. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason,

Starting point is 00:26:13 and we will see you next time on Locked-on Cardinals. Thanks, Thomas. Thank you.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals Take Down Another Ace!

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