Something which I have been meaning to do for a while, if only for the sheer hell of it. I thought I would rank each team in Major League Baseball according to my personal preferences, as if this means a flying crap. But hey, we all have our vanity, and I'm bored on Saturday night after watching a Rockies win, which equals this staggering work of heartbreaking genius. The Rockies go for the sweep over the Astros, and a 6-3 record on a 9-game, 10-day road trip (well, actually, more like a 10.5 game road trip once you add in all the extra innings vs. the Padres) with Ubaldo Jimenez matching up with old friend Shawn Chacon. And by friend, I really mean, used to kick things and yell while he was haplessly attempting to ''close" games. He went 1-9 as a closer one year, and Hurdle kept trotting him out there. Oy.
Anyway.
The Fortunate Five
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Tolerable Ten
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
The Dubious Decade
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
The Terrible Tier
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Showing posts with label Adam Wainwright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adam Wainwright. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Love, Hate, Tolerate: The Lucky and the Luckless
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Ion Storm Redux
Weird day today, for all three of my teams. The Rockies, who have become my chief favorites, lost a tough game yesterday 2-1, playing the Red Sox hard for nine innings, but being too bamboozled by the dancing Tim Wakefield knuckler to back up a sterling start by Aaron Cook. Then today, they had what looked like a wildly unfair matchup on paper: Josh Fogg vs. Curt Schilling. I'd been dreading this game ever since I heard about it, but instead, the Rockies went out and engineered a 12-2 drubbing of baseball's best team. Schilling was responsible for half the tally, while the Sawx pen coughed up the rest, and every starter except Ryan Spilborghs chipped in at least one hit. Atkins had an RBI double, Hawpe had the big three-run blast to break the game open, and Helton got out of his funk with 4 RBI, including a bases-clearing double against ex-mate Javier Lopez. Fogg weebled and wobbled his way through five eventually serviceable innings, managed not to get burned by a dangerous Sox lineup, and handed off to the bullpen, who contributed four shutout innings -- two by Taylor Buchholz and one apiece by Jorge Julio (!) and LaTroy Hawkins (!!). In other words, it feels very nice to come into Fenway and deliver a merciless ass-kicking to its annoying incumbents. Jeff Francis goes tomorrow against hitherto-undefeated Josh Beckett in an attempt to secure yet another series win. Miraculously, the Rockies haven't lost a set since the Series That Shall Not Be Named, taking two of three and splitting with the Cards. They're actually doing... well, and are one game north of .500 on the road and one game south overall. Go Rockies...!
The A's also won today, helped by something that only happens once in a blue moon: Jason Kendall hit a home run, his second in about three years on the team. Despite the fact that the A's are in Houston, and the skewed dimensions of Minute Maid Park are ridiculous, it even wasn't a cheap shot. Also, after falling behind 4-3, they staged a five-run uprising in the top of the eighth, aided by a Mark Kotsay double, a Mark Ellis double, and a 2-run single from Eric Chavez. It's June and the A's are accordingly playing well, eating through a tough part of their schedule and hanging L's on a seemingly never-ending succession of top-flight starters. They managed to avoid their May swoon, so they're in striking distance, but unfortunately I was right and there isn't much catching the Angels at the top of the West this year. Maybe they can climb ahead of the Tigers for the wild card and keep getting stellar pitching, which they have a knack for doing -- Dan Haren and Chad Gaudin are a terrible twosome, with a combined record of 15-3 and a 2.00 ERA. This is the season that Haren becomes an ace while Harden sits out yet again, and he's sporting a 1.58 mark two and some-odd months into the season... and will probably end up losing the Cy to Beckett. Grr.
Lenny DiNardo has also done very well, throwing six innings of shutout ball in his last start and lowering his ERA to 1.22. The A's pitching staff leads the majors with an overall 3.16 ERA and this without Duchscherer, Street, and Harden.... wow. As for Harden, I've decided he's a nice asset in theory, but he will never be healthy and I'll stop thinking he will be. He'll come back, pitch four or five games, and go down again, so it's a good thing that Haren, Gaudin, and DiNardo can manage without him. Even the Fat Joes, Blanton and Kennedy, have been decent. Go figure. And go A's!
Adam Wainwright, who is still near and dear to my heart despite his lack of recent airtime on this blog (blame the Rockies for nestling into that spot at the top of my affections) has also recently completed a very nice turnaround, allowing 2 runs or less in his past few starts and turning in a sparkling effort tonight: 8 shutout innings, with only one hit permitted, against the Royals. Lest you sneeze at this, it should be noted that the Royals are capable of being monstrous pests (they were the authors of the Series That Shall Not Be Named) and whitewashed the Cards 8-1 last night, so Adam's effort against them tonight was both stellar and deeply appreciated. He's shaping into the starter the Cards thought they were getting when they converted him in the first place, which has come as a relief to Redbird Nation. Chris Carpenter is also ahead of schedule, and may be back on the mound by the end of July. With the Brew Crew languishing badly, the Cards have climbed into a tie for second place in a weak division and maybe, maybe can get things to break right. It would take a lot to overcome their season-long shitaceous play, but who knows? The NL West is no longer the NL Worst -- in fact, it's one of the tougher divisions in baseball -- so the NL Central takes the cake for crappitude. Go Cards!
On a final note, the bloody Yankees have won 11 of 13, and everybody keeps talking about 1978. My hatred for the Yankees is unmatched -- I was rooting for the Red Sox to beat them, and I still hate the Sox, albeit not quite as much since they lost douchebags such as Lowe, Damon, and Millar. I loathe them with a fiery, burning, completely unmatched raw passion, and if I have to hear one more time that they're coming to Coors next week, I'll flip a wig. I frigging know. I don't care if the rotation lines up so the Rox face Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens, as it seems they might. I want the Rockies to destroy them and make everyone shut up about the goddamn Kings of Overexposure. I like Pettitte, but I still want him to suck. And yes, I may need help, but we knew that. Yuck the Fankees. Living in New York, and even going to (and enjoying) a game at the Stadium hasn't changed my opinion of them. Hate them and their completely overhyped and overpaid aging team of self-important egoistic prima-donnas.
Okay. I'm better now. Really.
The A's also won today, helped by something that only happens once in a blue moon: Jason Kendall hit a home run, his second in about three years on the team. Despite the fact that the A's are in Houston, and the skewed dimensions of Minute Maid Park are ridiculous, it even wasn't a cheap shot. Also, after falling behind 4-3, they staged a five-run uprising in the top of the eighth, aided by a Mark Kotsay double, a Mark Ellis double, and a 2-run single from Eric Chavez. It's June and the A's are accordingly playing well, eating through a tough part of their schedule and hanging L's on a seemingly never-ending succession of top-flight starters. They managed to avoid their May swoon, so they're in striking distance, but unfortunately I was right and there isn't much catching the Angels at the top of the West this year. Maybe they can climb ahead of the Tigers for the wild card and keep getting stellar pitching, which they have a knack for doing -- Dan Haren and Chad Gaudin are a terrible twosome, with a combined record of 15-3 and a 2.00 ERA. This is the season that Haren becomes an ace while Harden sits out yet again, and he's sporting a 1.58 mark two and some-odd months into the season... and will probably end up losing the Cy to Beckett. Grr.
Lenny DiNardo has also done very well, throwing six innings of shutout ball in his last start and lowering his ERA to 1.22. The A's pitching staff leads the majors with an overall 3.16 ERA and this without Duchscherer, Street, and Harden.... wow. As for Harden, I've decided he's a nice asset in theory, but he will never be healthy and I'll stop thinking he will be. He'll come back, pitch four or five games, and go down again, so it's a good thing that Haren, Gaudin, and DiNardo can manage without him. Even the Fat Joes, Blanton and Kennedy, have been decent. Go figure. And go A's!
Adam Wainwright, who is still near and dear to my heart despite his lack of recent airtime on this blog (blame the Rockies for nestling into that spot at the top of my affections) has also recently completed a very nice turnaround, allowing 2 runs or less in his past few starts and turning in a sparkling effort tonight: 8 shutout innings, with only one hit permitted, against the Royals. Lest you sneeze at this, it should be noted that the Royals are capable of being monstrous pests (they were the authors of the Series That Shall Not Be Named) and whitewashed the Cards 8-1 last night, so Adam's effort against them tonight was both stellar and deeply appreciated. He's shaping into the starter the Cards thought they were getting when they converted him in the first place, which has come as a relief to Redbird Nation. Chris Carpenter is also ahead of schedule, and may be back on the mound by the end of July. With the Brew Crew languishing badly, the Cards have climbed into a tie for second place in a weak division and maybe, maybe can get things to break right. It would take a lot to overcome their season-long shitaceous play, but who knows? The NL West is no longer the NL Worst -- in fact, it's one of the tougher divisions in baseball -- so the NL Central takes the cake for crappitude. Go Cards!
On a final note, the bloody Yankees have won 11 of 13, and everybody keeps talking about 1978. My hatred for the Yankees is unmatched -- I was rooting for the Red Sox to beat them, and I still hate the Sox, albeit not quite as much since they lost douchebags such as Lowe, Damon, and Millar. I loathe them with a fiery, burning, completely unmatched raw passion, and if I have to hear one more time that they're coming to Coors next week, I'll flip a wig. I frigging know. I don't care if the rotation lines up so the Rox face Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens, as it seems they might. I want the Rockies to destroy them and make everyone shut up about the goddamn Kings of Overexposure. I like Pettitte, but I still want him to suck. And yes, I may need help, but we knew that. Yuck the Fankees. Living in New York, and even going to (and enjoying) a game at the Stadium hasn't changed my opinion of them. Hate them and their completely overhyped and overpaid aging team of self-important egoistic prima-donnas.
Okay. I'm better now. Really.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
From Luck to Suck
The Rockies are doing more and more every day to further the impression that their winning streak was nothing more than a lucky fluke, and that they really are as bad as that shitaceous 18-27 record they sported before going on their fortuitious seven-game tear. Then, they had strong starters, stellar relievers, and just the right amount of offense, without committing any egregious defensive lapses -- in other words, the way that you win ballgames. Now it's back to the offense taking nine-inning catnaps, the starting pitcher trying to do too much to compensate for the bats' doldrums and turning into the Hindenburg as a result, and the bullpen going back to their leaky selves. In other words, the Rockies lost the winning streak and then two more, getting shut down tonight by a rookie pitcher that the Reds pulled out of their ass and looking limp and uninspired in a 4-2 final. They're 2-3 on the homestand with five more games left against Central doormats Cincinnati and Houston, but it remains to be seen if they can even beat them.
Considering the momentum that they entered the Cards series with, splitting is as disappointing as if they lost three of four. I was in attendance last night to witness the 7-3 clunker, which looked moderately hopeful until Juan Encarnacion, yes Juan Encarnacion, hit a bases-clearing double in the sixth inning to give the Redbirds a lead they'd never relinquish. At least we had great seats (sixteen rows back from homeplate) and got three more autographs (Ryan Spilborghs, Jeff Baker, and Kaz Matsui) which prevented the night from being a total wash. They really needed to win today, and, well, they didn't. Bobby Livingston, who had made a grand total of one previous career start and allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings, shut them down until the seventh, where a mishandled grounder gave them their first run, practically by accident. In other words, the Rockies are back to doing splendid flounder imitations and I'm starting to remember again why I was so frustrated about this team before a week of seeming luck took the pain away. Now it's coming back. Oy.
Jeff Francis goes tomorrow in a game which both my sisters and myself will be attending -- which means they should win, considering how well he's been pitching lately -- so if they happen to extend the losing skid to four, I'm going to be in a foul mood indeed. Then again, even Francis can't win if the offense that scored five runs in two games shows up, instead of the offense that scored 14 runs in the two games beforehand. Also, tonight's horrid lineup didn't help. Jeff Baker was inserted for Garrett Atkins, and managed to ground out with the bases loaded in the seventh to squander one of the Rockies' best scoring chances. Hurdle kept batting the hot hand, Brad Hawpe, sixth, and played Jamey Carroll as well, who's not even hitting his weight. Combine this with Yorvit Torrealba and the pitcher's spot, and you have four black holes in a nine-man lineup -- not the way you can win games. Tonight's starter, Taylor Buchholz, was victimized by a three-run fourth inning, right after he spent the bottom of the third running the bases -- so even when he did get a hit, it didn't work out.
And of course, the Rockies, not content with just losing the game, had to go and lose Matt Holliday as well. The details of what happened are pretty sketchy, but apparently he somehow hurt his head in the dugout between innings and had to leave the game with what the team is labeling a contusion. Clint Hurdle is trying to pass it off as a mishap innocently suffered since Holliday is a big guy and the dugout ceilings are low, but he only said that Holliday banged his head hard enough to warrant removal and cut off follow-up questions. Now call me a suspicious bird, but I'm a little leery that tonight, out of all nights, should be the one where Holliday develops a terminal attack of clumsiness and concusses himself on a ceiling. At least nobody else was leaving the game, so it wasn't a Carlos Zambrano/Michael Barrett-type scuffle such as took place in the Windy City today -- the batterymates got into a shoving and punching match after a tough inning and had to be dragged apart by coaches. Still, it makes me wonder if Holliday was just a little frustrated and ended up getting a flukey injury because of it. My younger sister will be very upset if he's not at Photo Day tomorrow, as she's deeply in love with him and has been waiting all season to get a picture with him, but I'll be more upset if Holliday was taking out his frustration and ended up costing himself and the team some games without his services. If it's enough to land him on the DL, then the Rockies are even more screwed than they generally are. With Atkins slumping, losing Holliday would cut out half of the core which includes Helton and Hawpe, and if they didn't really have that great shakes of an offense with them, they'll be swinging wet noodles without them.
There is nothing more aggravating than discovering that an encouraging win streak might have been smoke and mirrors, following it up with a three-game skid, and then losing your star player in a suspicious accident which might have been self-inflicted out of frustration. Why do the Rockies do this to me, and why do I love them so much?
On another note, Adam Wainwright turned in another sparkling start tonight, recording 7 IP with 1 run allowed, 4 walks, and 6 K's. True, it was against the light-hitting and light-weight Astros, who just broke a 10-game losing streak and will probably still beat the Rockies, but one has to start somewhere. And yet again, he got screwed out of the win, but at least the Cards got it -- why couldn't they wait until they got to Houston to do that? They scored seven runs in a ninth-inning uprising to flatten the Astros 8-1, but since Adam was already out, he didn't get the decision. Grr. I wish he would have pitched last night, as that would have taken a tiny bit of the sting out of watching the Rockies getting their behinds handed to them. If they can't recover and take the next two from the Reds, or at least two from the Astros, or generally play well at Coors during their long homestands, then... well, they're fucked, but we might have known that already.
Le sigh.
Considering the momentum that they entered the Cards series with, splitting is as disappointing as if they lost three of four. I was in attendance last night to witness the 7-3 clunker, which looked moderately hopeful until Juan Encarnacion, yes Juan Encarnacion, hit a bases-clearing double in the sixth inning to give the Redbirds a lead they'd never relinquish. At least we had great seats (sixteen rows back from homeplate) and got three more autographs (Ryan Spilborghs, Jeff Baker, and Kaz Matsui) which prevented the night from being a total wash. They really needed to win today, and, well, they didn't. Bobby Livingston, who had made a grand total of one previous career start and allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings, shut them down until the seventh, where a mishandled grounder gave them their first run, practically by accident. In other words, the Rockies are back to doing splendid flounder imitations and I'm starting to remember again why I was so frustrated about this team before a week of seeming luck took the pain away. Now it's coming back. Oy.
Jeff Francis goes tomorrow in a game which both my sisters and myself will be attending -- which means they should win, considering how well he's been pitching lately -- so if they happen to extend the losing skid to four, I'm going to be in a foul mood indeed. Then again, even Francis can't win if the offense that scored five runs in two games shows up, instead of the offense that scored 14 runs in the two games beforehand. Also, tonight's horrid lineup didn't help. Jeff Baker was inserted for Garrett Atkins, and managed to ground out with the bases loaded in the seventh to squander one of the Rockies' best scoring chances. Hurdle kept batting the hot hand, Brad Hawpe, sixth, and played Jamey Carroll as well, who's not even hitting his weight. Combine this with Yorvit Torrealba and the pitcher's spot, and you have four black holes in a nine-man lineup -- not the way you can win games. Tonight's starter, Taylor Buchholz, was victimized by a three-run fourth inning, right after he spent the bottom of the third running the bases -- so even when he did get a hit, it didn't work out.
And of course, the Rockies, not content with just losing the game, had to go and lose Matt Holliday as well. The details of what happened are pretty sketchy, but apparently he somehow hurt his head in the dugout between innings and had to leave the game with what the team is labeling a contusion. Clint Hurdle is trying to pass it off as a mishap innocently suffered since Holliday is a big guy and the dugout ceilings are low, but he only said that Holliday banged his head hard enough to warrant removal and cut off follow-up questions. Now call me a suspicious bird, but I'm a little leery that tonight, out of all nights, should be the one where Holliday develops a terminal attack of clumsiness and concusses himself on a ceiling. At least nobody else was leaving the game, so it wasn't a Carlos Zambrano/Michael Barrett-type scuffle such as took place in the Windy City today -- the batterymates got into a shoving and punching match after a tough inning and had to be dragged apart by coaches. Still, it makes me wonder if Holliday was just a little frustrated and ended up getting a flukey injury because of it. My younger sister will be very upset if he's not at Photo Day tomorrow, as she's deeply in love with him and has been waiting all season to get a picture with him, but I'll be more upset if Holliday was taking out his frustration and ended up costing himself and the team some games without his services. If it's enough to land him on the DL, then the Rockies are even more screwed than they generally are. With Atkins slumping, losing Holliday would cut out half of the core which includes Helton and Hawpe, and if they didn't really have that great shakes of an offense with them, they'll be swinging wet noodles without them.
There is nothing more aggravating than discovering that an encouraging win streak might have been smoke and mirrors, following it up with a three-game skid, and then losing your star player in a suspicious accident which might have been self-inflicted out of frustration. Why do the Rockies do this to me, and why do I love them so much?
On another note, Adam Wainwright turned in another sparkling start tonight, recording 7 IP with 1 run allowed, 4 walks, and 6 K's. True, it was against the light-hitting and light-weight Astros, who just broke a 10-game losing streak and will probably still beat the Rockies, but one has to start somewhere. And yet again, he got screwed out of the win, but at least the Cards got it -- why couldn't they wait until they got to Houston to do that? They scored seven runs in a ninth-inning uprising to flatten the Astros 8-1, but since Adam was already out, he didn't get the decision. Grr. I wish he would have pitched last night, as that would have taken a tiny bit of the sting out of watching the Rockies getting their behinds handed to them. If they can't recover and take the next two from the Reds, or at least two from the Astros, or generally play well at Coors during their long homestands, then... well, they're fucked, but we might have known that already.
Le sigh.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sweep Success
Well, well, whoda thunk? Certainly not me. The Rockies defied my gloomy predictions and actually managed to secure a three-game brooming of the Giants in their home park for the first time in franchise history. Whether in Candlestick, 3Com, SBC, AT&T, or whatever the hell else they've called the Phonebooth-on-the-Bay, the Rockies had never managed to sweep a series from the elderly incumbents, so that's a bit of largely irrevelant trivia that got smashed today. Taylor Buchholz turned in another fine start (7 innings, 3 runs, 2 of the latter coming on Barry Bonds' 746th career homer/prime Sportscenter highlight for five hours). Still, Buchholz isn't the first pitcher to give it up to Bonds by a long shot, no matter how annoying and egoistic the bovine-muscle-head may be, and he otherwise did a fine job of holding the Geriatrics down with a 90-92 mph cut fastball and a 75-82 mph curve that was as sharp as it had been all season. His breaking stuff was also working for him, and naturally, he got screwed out of the win after the bullpen allowed the Giants to tie it in the bottom of the eighth. But it's a step in the right direction for Buchholz, who was quietly on notice that he might be cut if he didn't step it up after some abysmal showings earlier in the year.
Although Rodrigo Lopez is returning from a forearm strain, Josh Fogg pulled his groin in his last start in Arizona and may or may not be ready to take the hill in his next turn, which would get at least one more start out of Buchholz. I'm ambivalent about which of the two, Fogg or Buchholz, I'd rather see in the last rotation spot, but I think I'd go for Buchholz. He has the unfortunate tendency to get shelled and be unable to do damage control if things spiral too far out of hand, but he's also much younger than Fogg and still able to "develop" (the Rockies' favorite word) into a competent starter. Fogg alternates good outings with total clunkers, and even when he pitches well, he either doesn't get enough run support or is left out there an inning too long and gives up what almost always turns out to be the deciding margin. His record is a slightly deceptive 1-5, as the hair-raising horror show that is the Rox bullpen has robbed him of a win following quality outings, but frankly, I've never felt comfortable with Fogg on the mound. He is mercurial to the umpteenth degree and has never showed any flashes of consistency -- he's perfectly capable of following up a 7-inning/1-run gem with a 4-inning/7-run turkey.
However, today, Buchholz's battery mate, Chris Iannetta, showed yet again that he should be the starting catcher and will probably have to take another seat to Yorvit Torrealba tomorrow. Aside from shaking off being hit in the head by Ryan Klesko's backswing, Iannetta rang up 2 RBI with a triple to bring the Rockies even at 1 in the fourth, and a double to extend their lead to 6-4 in the tenth. (After the 'pen blew it in the eighth, and the top of the order went quietly in the ninth, Todd Helton walked to lead off the tenth and was replaced with Kaz Matsui as a pinch-runner. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, but when Atkins blasted one that got reeled in on the warning track, he just stood there and failed to advance to third. This was precluded from being a grave mistake by Troy Tulowitzki, who has been the most clutch hitter in all of baseball this season, dumping the tiebreaking single into right field. Iannetta extended the lead with a double over Fred Lewis' head in right, and Brian Fuentes closed the door on the Giants in the bottom of the tenth for the sweep). But still, Iannetta has been suffering from a disgraceful lack of playing time, and although he has more than earned his start tomorrow (the last time Torrealba had 2 RBI in a game was in his dreams) I'll bet you anything that Hurdle will pen in Yorvit instead. He's decent for a backup catcher, but his manager for some bewildering reason thinks that he's the starter.
Iannetta's best buddy Tulowitzki has been outstanding this season, establishing himself as a legit contender for the NL Rookie of the Year, but Iannetta himself needs to play much more than he does. If this sounds like a familiar axe I'm grinding, I apologize, but he's young (only turned 24 in April) with a high upside. I understand that the management might be nervous about turning over their pitching staff to the guidance of a rookie catcher, but Iannetta's preparation is unmatched -- he constantly studies tape of hitters, reviews game plans, and as evidenced by today, called a fine game for a young and previously struggling starter. He knows the mechanics of baseball intimately and deserves so much more playing time than he sees. Yes, well. Axe ground, let's move on to the other topic at hand, which shall be addressed in brief: Adam Wainwright's next start.
As I mentioned in my post earlier questioning Tony La Russa's relationship with Wainwright, his next start would be telling, both in terms of pitch count and results. There was no arguing with either today, as Wainwright whipped through seven mostly tidy innings on an economical 81 pitches. However, the two runs he allowed came on a homer allowed to ex-teammate Ronnie Belliard, and since the Cards' offense was snoozing at the wheel again, he ended up a hard-luck loser despite an otherwise stellar line of 7 IP, 7 hits allowed, 2 earned runs, no walks, and six strikeouts. The bullpen combined to allow five runs in the late innings and the Cardinals' bats only mounted two, leaving the score as a final 7-2 and unfairly evening Wainwright's record at 4-4. To be fair, he's escaped with some wins due to the offense bailing him out at times, but c'est la baseball and I must confess to being a bit disappointed that he started today instead of yesterday -- if he'd gone then, it would line him up for the Thursday start in Denver, at the game which I happen to be attending. I was hoping to make it to more than one of the Cards/Rox games, but it looks as if I'll only catch the fourth and final tilt. Oh well. It'll be Brad Thompson vs. Aaron Cook, which concludes a favorable string of matchups for the Rox. The starters will go thusly:
Monday: Kip Wells vs. Jeff Francis. Wells collected his first win in nine tries last time out, but hopefully, the Rox can put an end to that, as he went eight previous starts while allowing four runs or more. Francis has been on fire recently, averaging 7 innings pitched and 2 or fewer runs allowed, and he won on May 7th when the Cards and Rockies faced off in St. Louis. He has been commanding his high-eighties fastball to both sides of the plate, he uses his changeup effectively to keep hitters from sitting on it, and his curve has been very sharp, so it shall be seen if he can extend the Rockies' winning streak to six at 1:05 pm today, almost exactly 12 hours from now (it's 1:11 AM as I type this. Yes, there's a reason I haven't seen the AM daylight hours since I came home. Well, almost). Francis has also enjoyed considerable success against the Redbirds, as he's 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA against them lifetime and pitched eight innings of shutout ball at Coors last July.
Tuesday: Braden Looper vs. Rodrigo Lopez. Looper, screw me sideways with a lunchbox, has been, to my considerable surprise, the ace of the rotation since Carpenter's demise. He is 6-3 with a 3.10 ERA, and although he had his one nuclear moment, it surprisingly didn't extrapolate into anything more. This game will be Rodrigo Lopez's return from the disabled list. He pitched quite well in two rehab starts in AAA Colorado Springs, mainly using his fastball but eventually getting a feel for his changeup and slider as well. He ended up 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in AAA action, a good sign for a man who was a pleasant surprise in the early going, marking down one win with a 1.59 ERA. Hopefully the long layoff from big-league action hasn't dulled him down, as he may need it -- gasp -- with Looper on the mound.
Wednesday: Todd Wellemyer vs. Jason Hirsh. Wellemyer is making the start in place of Anthony Reyes, who was demoted to Memphis after falling out of the gate with a 0-8 record and a 6.08 ERA. He hasn't pitched quite as badly as those hair-raising numbers would indicate, but the Cards can't keep letting him go out there and lose games, whatever the cause may be. (In my worst case Cards rotation scenario, I predicted Reyes would get demoted, but I also spotted him 5 or 7 wins as well before that happened. Clearly, I was too generous). Wellemyer struggled to a 10-odd ERA with the Royals before being cut and picked up by his fellow Missourians, so the Rockies should try to get to a pitcher that throws a straight fastball, serviceable curve, and not much else. Hirsh has been a bit unpredictable as well, but registered a quality start in the opener against the Giants -- 3 earned runs, all coming in the first, through six innings. He was in the 100-pitch range in the fourth inning the last time he faced the Cards, so he's definitely going to need to improve his efficiency and come up with a new game plan. His changeup has been his out pitch in the season to date, but he can't sit on it -- he'll need to establish his fastball, as he was trying to do with middling success against the Giants, and complement it with his above-average curve.
Thursday: Brad Thompson vs. Aaron Cook. Thompson is one of the assorted remedies the Cards have tried to patch the gaping wound that Carpenter's absence left. He doesn't work that deep into games, as he's never lasted past six innings in an outing this year, and he's not particularly efficient, as 96 pitches only got him through 5.1 innings today against the Nationals. Both Thompson and Cook's signature pitch are their sinkers, which Thompson mixes with a standard fastball and curve. Cook occasionally will throw a fastball, but generally relies on an arsenal of sinker, changeup, and curve. When the sinker's working, he gets groundball outs like a machine -- same with Thompson. Cook's last outing was his complete-game victory against the Giants, and he's won four straight outings with a no-decision mixed in. This will clearly be the best game since I'll be right behind home plate with primo free tickets. Also, a couple Rockies homers wouldn't go amiss. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm rooting for the Rockies in this one. Just because my love for them is starting to climb to possibly unsafe levels. Also because a nice long winning streak that seems as if it may never end would be fairly awesome.
Although Rodrigo Lopez is returning from a forearm strain, Josh Fogg pulled his groin in his last start in Arizona and may or may not be ready to take the hill in his next turn, which would get at least one more start out of Buchholz. I'm ambivalent about which of the two, Fogg or Buchholz, I'd rather see in the last rotation spot, but I think I'd go for Buchholz. He has the unfortunate tendency to get shelled and be unable to do damage control if things spiral too far out of hand, but he's also much younger than Fogg and still able to "develop" (the Rockies' favorite word) into a competent starter. Fogg alternates good outings with total clunkers, and even when he pitches well, he either doesn't get enough run support or is left out there an inning too long and gives up what almost always turns out to be the deciding margin. His record is a slightly deceptive 1-5, as the hair-raising horror show that is the Rox bullpen has robbed him of a win following quality outings, but frankly, I've never felt comfortable with Fogg on the mound. He is mercurial to the umpteenth degree and has never showed any flashes of consistency -- he's perfectly capable of following up a 7-inning/1-run gem with a 4-inning/7-run turkey.
However, today, Buchholz's battery mate, Chris Iannetta, showed yet again that he should be the starting catcher and will probably have to take another seat to Yorvit Torrealba tomorrow. Aside from shaking off being hit in the head by Ryan Klesko's backswing, Iannetta rang up 2 RBI with a triple to bring the Rockies even at 1 in the fourth, and a double to extend their lead to 6-4 in the tenth. (After the 'pen blew it in the eighth, and the top of the order went quietly in the ninth, Todd Helton walked to lead off the tenth and was replaced with Kaz Matsui as a pinch-runner. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, but when Atkins blasted one that got reeled in on the warning track, he just stood there and failed to advance to third. This was precluded from being a grave mistake by Troy Tulowitzki, who has been the most clutch hitter in all of baseball this season, dumping the tiebreaking single into right field. Iannetta extended the lead with a double over Fred Lewis' head in right, and Brian Fuentes closed the door on the Giants in the bottom of the tenth for the sweep). But still, Iannetta has been suffering from a disgraceful lack of playing time, and although he has more than earned his start tomorrow (the last time Torrealba had 2 RBI in a game was in his dreams) I'll bet you anything that Hurdle will pen in Yorvit instead. He's decent for a backup catcher, but his manager for some bewildering reason thinks that he's the starter.
Iannetta's best buddy Tulowitzki has been outstanding this season, establishing himself as a legit contender for the NL Rookie of the Year, but Iannetta himself needs to play much more than he does. If this sounds like a familiar axe I'm grinding, I apologize, but he's young (only turned 24 in April) with a high upside. I understand that the management might be nervous about turning over their pitching staff to the guidance of a rookie catcher, but Iannetta's preparation is unmatched -- he constantly studies tape of hitters, reviews game plans, and as evidenced by today, called a fine game for a young and previously struggling starter. He knows the mechanics of baseball intimately and deserves so much more playing time than he sees. Yes, well. Axe ground, let's move on to the other topic at hand, which shall be addressed in brief: Adam Wainwright's next start.
As I mentioned in my post earlier questioning Tony La Russa's relationship with Wainwright, his next start would be telling, both in terms of pitch count and results. There was no arguing with either today, as Wainwright whipped through seven mostly tidy innings on an economical 81 pitches. However, the two runs he allowed came on a homer allowed to ex-teammate Ronnie Belliard, and since the Cards' offense was snoozing at the wheel again, he ended up a hard-luck loser despite an otherwise stellar line of 7 IP, 7 hits allowed, 2 earned runs, no walks, and six strikeouts. The bullpen combined to allow five runs in the late innings and the Cardinals' bats only mounted two, leaving the score as a final 7-2 and unfairly evening Wainwright's record at 4-4. To be fair, he's escaped with some wins due to the offense bailing him out at times, but c'est la baseball and I must confess to being a bit disappointed that he started today instead of yesterday -- if he'd gone then, it would line him up for the Thursday start in Denver, at the game which I happen to be attending. I was hoping to make it to more than one of the Cards/Rox games, but it looks as if I'll only catch the fourth and final tilt. Oh well. It'll be Brad Thompson vs. Aaron Cook, which concludes a favorable string of matchups for the Rox. The starters will go thusly:
Monday: Kip Wells vs. Jeff Francis. Wells collected his first win in nine tries last time out, but hopefully, the Rox can put an end to that, as he went eight previous starts while allowing four runs or more. Francis has been on fire recently, averaging 7 innings pitched and 2 or fewer runs allowed, and he won on May 7th when the Cards and Rockies faced off in St. Louis. He has been commanding his high-eighties fastball to both sides of the plate, he uses his changeup effectively to keep hitters from sitting on it, and his curve has been very sharp, so it shall be seen if he can extend the Rockies' winning streak to six at 1:05 pm today, almost exactly 12 hours from now (it's 1:11 AM as I type this. Yes, there's a reason I haven't seen the AM daylight hours since I came home. Well, almost). Francis has also enjoyed considerable success against the Redbirds, as he's 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA against them lifetime and pitched eight innings of shutout ball at Coors last July.
Tuesday: Braden Looper vs. Rodrigo Lopez. Looper, screw me sideways with a lunchbox, has been, to my considerable surprise, the ace of the rotation since Carpenter's demise. He is 6-3 with a 3.10 ERA, and although he had his one nuclear moment, it surprisingly didn't extrapolate into anything more. This game will be Rodrigo Lopez's return from the disabled list. He pitched quite well in two rehab starts in AAA Colorado Springs, mainly using his fastball but eventually getting a feel for his changeup and slider as well. He ended up 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in AAA action, a good sign for a man who was a pleasant surprise in the early going, marking down one win with a 1.59 ERA. Hopefully the long layoff from big-league action hasn't dulled him down, as he may need it -- gasp -- with Looper on the mound.
Wednesday: Todd Wellemyer vs. Jason Hirsh. Wellemyer is making the start in place of Anthony Reyes, who was demoted to Memphis after falling out of the gate with a 0-8 record and a 6.08 ERA. He hasn't pitched quite as badly as those hair-raising numbers would indicate, but the Cards can't keep letting him go out there and lose games, whatever the cause may be. (In my worst case Cards rotation scenario, I predicted Reyes would get demoted, but I also spotted him 5 or 7 wins as well before that happened. Clearly, I was too generous). Wellemyer struggled to a 10-odd ERA with the Royals before being cut and picked up by his fellow Missourians, so the Rockies should try to get to a pitcher that throws a straight fastball, serviceable curve, and not much else. Hirsh has been a bit unpredictable as well, but registered a quality start in the opener against the Giants -- 3 earned runs, all coming in the first, through six innings. He was in the 100-pitch range in the fourth inning the last time he faced the Cards, so he's definitely going to need to improve his efficiency and come up with a new game plan. His changeup has been his out pitch in the season to date, but he can't sit on it -- he'll need to establish his fastball, as he was trying to do with middling success against the Giants, and complement it with his above-average curve.
Thursday: Brad Thompson vs. Aaron Cook. Thompson is one of the assorted remedies the Cards have tried to patch the gaping wound that Carpenter's absence left. He doesn't work that deep into games, as he's never lasted past six innings in an outing this year, and he's not particularly efficient, as 96 pitches only got him through 5.1 innings today against the Nationals. Both Thompson and Cook's signature pitch are their sinkers, which Thompson mixes with a standard fastball and curve. Cook occasionally will throw a fastball, but generally relies on an arsenal of sinker, changeup, and curve. When the sinker's working, he gets groundball outs like a machine -- same with Thompson. Cook's last outing was his complete-game victory against the Giants, and he's won four straight outings with a no-decision mixed in. This will clearly be the best game since I'll be right behind home plate with primo free tickets. Also, a couple Rockies homers wouldn't go amiss. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm rooting for the Rockies in this one. Just because my love for them is starting to climb to possibly unsafe levels. Also because a nice long winning streak that seems as if it may never end would be fairly awesome.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Criminal Mismanagement
[Disclaimer: I'm not in as bad of a mood as I might otherwise be, considering that both the Cardinals and the Rockies won tonight even if the A's did not. Still, this is an issue that has been nagging at me for a while and which should be addressed. Quick kudos to Ryan Spilborghs for having a productive pinch-hitting appearance. Ryan, darling, I can tell you that Mabry never would have done that.]
The Cardinals are looking to land fairly squarely in the cellar this year barring a miraculous turnaround. There is no better time for that to happen than now, as 21 of their next 27 games are against sub-.500 clubs including the Pirates, the Nationals, the Reds, and yes, my beloved Rockies. The Brewers are starting to show their flaws -- overcompensating at both plate and mound led them to their third straight series loss. Chris Capuano is 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in his past few starts, and the home run power provided by J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder has temporarily vacated the building. So they are the team that's dragged through fourteen previous losing seasons, but they're still a country mile better than the Cards, who haven't shown any sort of sustained spark or resilience despite a 9-4 win tonight. It was against the Pirates, one of the teams they're supposed to beat, but even the Buccos have a better mark than the Cards and are two games closer to the break-even point. Whether it's the front office, aging players, or just evenly distributed incompetence, I'm starting to wonder a little bit about the managing going on within the organization.
Tony La Russa is one of those love-him-or-hate-him managers, obsessed with platoons, lefty-righty matchups, and trying to outmaneuver the opposition in every possible situations, and he has a distinct style that earns him both high praise and sharp criticism. His contract situation is uncertain after this year -- the club can opt to bring him back or let him move on -- and the fate of La Russa after a disappointing season has been widely questioned. He finally skippered an arguably less talented team than his monster '04/'05 squads to a World Series championship, but he (and the rest of the personnel) haven't exactly been doing the most inspiring job at following it up. To some degree, however, I get the sense that La Russa is deliberately holding the unsettled contract over the front office's head. He's been uncommunicative at times and impassive at others -- after all, he's under no obligation to return to this team if he doesn't want to, and who would blame him after the painful season that his '07 Birds are putting together? Still, the coverage of the contract situation, and La Russa's refusal to address it, can sometimes take the focus away from what's going on in the clubhouse and on the field. I get the sense that he's a little exasperated with the whole crew, and God knows I am as well, but I'm a fan and not the manager. It appears to me, with the limited and partial resources I do have, that La Russa may be losing the trust and confidence of the players as well.
Last season, his feud with Scott Rolen was widely publicized, and while both of them insisted that the bridges had been mended, it's amazing what someone will say in the rush of a championship. It's led to speculation that despite a blanket no-trade clause, Rolen will ask to get out of St. Louis before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. (The Dodgers have been mentioned as a possible destination, but they'd be sadly mistaken if they think he'd bring power to their lineup. Rolen is struggling to stay north of the Mendoza line and playing in the cavernous confines of Chavez Ravine wouldn't do him any favors. Still, his glovework is impeccable, and the Dodgers, who have been looking for an established cornerstone at third since losing Adrian Beltre to free agency, might take a flyer if they can convince Rolen to relocate to Southern Cal). But a less-publicized, and slightly more alarming, schism that seems to be developing concerns La Russa and Adam Wainwright.
Regular readers of this blog know that I adore Wainwright, and I'm not taking La Russa to task for doing what a manager is supposed to do in trying to get the best out of his players. I just happen to think that he's going about the situation in the wrong way. A few days ago, it came out that Wainwright has been experiencing pain in his pitching elbow all season and that's why he's putting up some highly uncharacteristic numbers (despite the win tonight and allowing 2 runs in 5.1 innings, his ERA remains an untidy 6.02). According to a team official, it was "never serious enough to consider shutting him down." Now, the Cardinals' rotation is picked to the bone and stitched painfully together with converted relievers and AAA hopefuls as it is, but what is the point of running Wainwright out there if he can't follow through correctly and is going to get shelled? (His start before this one was particularly unsightly -- 8 runs in 2.2 innings vs. the Dodgers). Especially with this somnolent offense, if a pitcher digs a hole every time he's out and has trouble working efficiently, that's not going to give the club much of a chance to win.
The reason that it came out that Wainwright was experiencing pain was because Wainwright himself told the media, not because he went on the DL or because a doctor let something spill. And at once, there came rumors of, if not a Rolen-like feud, at least a bit of coolness between Wainwright and La Russa. La Russa is a gamer, a tough guy, with an absolute drive to get to the top no matter what it takes, and that's why he's currently enjoying the position that he does. Don't get me wrong, I think his will to win is absolutely unmatched, but at the same time, I think he takes the bulldog mentality a little too far. It seemed to Cards fans that La Russa was upset with Wainwright confiding there was something wrong; he was making excuses instead of battling through it. Well, seeing as Wainwright was a prized rookie phenomenon last year who was widely expected to be very successful upon conversion to a starter, I'd expect the fans would want to hear at least some reason as to why instead of continuing to be frustrated every time he took the mound and didn't do well. You can only hear, "There's nothing wrong, it's just a lull, it'll sort itself out," so many times before you stop believing it, and again, I fail to see how going out there anyway and giving up runs that a tepid offense can't make up would help the Cards win. If La Russa wanted Wainwright to shut up and go through it, what good would that do?
Wainwright has said that the pain is correctable, but that when things aren't feeling right, he can't follow through his delivery properly. This doesn't surprise me; if you watch a pitcher throwing in slow motion, the contortions that their arm goes through will make you wince, and this is even when they're perfectly healthy. It seems as if the repeated, vehement motion required to throw a small horsehide sphere at a velocity above every highway speed limit would unstring even the most valiant tendons in short order, and all that delicate machinery, when off, is really off. Pitchers are very particular about which ways their pitches come out of their hand, and if Wainwright can't follow through or use his elbow the way he's accustomed to, it's certainly one of the reasons his curveball lacks its customary bite and break this year. His fastball is only low-nineties, so he's not going to blow guys away with the heat if his offspeed stuff isn't working. A hanging curve is just as desirable as a straight fastball for hitters, and it seems as if too many of Wainwright's curves are doing just that. Of course, it's a different mentality for a starter, with different preparation, and hitters can familiarize themselves with his stuff as the game goes on instead of being forced to acclimate quickly over the course of one inning. However, the discrepancy in his performance is too large to simply be explained away as new-starter jitters.
The most encouraging pitch Wainwright made tonight against the Pirates was to get his fellow Adam, LaRoche, chasing on a very sharp-breaking curveball to escape a jam, and he insists that he is regaining his form with the pitch. One hopes so, as otherwise, he's going to get hit hard again. He wasn't exactly effective in his start tonight, laboring through 96 pitches for 16 outs, and escaped from bases-loaded jams in three of his five innings. But at least he didn't let them score, as he's done in the past. The efficiency will have to come after he figures out how not to be shelled on a consistent basis. His next start will be very telling, and you can bet that he will make it, funky elbow or otherwise.
The Cards don't have many options as it is. Mark Mulder is out until at least the break and his ability to come back and be effective, let alone good, is under serious debate. (Side note: When I was watching the Rockies game a few days ago, somebody emailed the announcers to ask why the Cards were so bad. When the first words out of their mouth, I shit you not, were "Mark Mulder," I screamed at them for being idiots and failed to hear the rest of their reply, some nonsense about how Mulder, for the love of God, somehow precluded them from being competitive). As I've mentioned, the only way Carpenter comes back this year is if the Cards are miraculously in striking distance in the Central in late August. The Randy Keisler experiment was a disaster. Anthony Reyes isn't pitching that badly any more, but just can't win. Kip Wells is proving to be an ex-Pirate (part of the rotation worst-case scenario in my Cards projection.... YIPES, most of that is true! Dear God!) and has a 1-7 record and some bloated mid-6 ERA. Brad Thompson has already been used to make an emergency start. I can understand La Russa being reluctant to let another pitcher slip to the nefarious clutches of the disabled list, but the "pitch Mulder when he's hurt" idea last year backfired splendidly, and the Cards are going to go down the same road with Wainwright if they're not careful. I thought it was Dusty Baker who was known for blowing out pitchers' arms (Kerry Wood and Mark Prior may never throw a big-league pitch again; partly because of him, partly because they're made of Waterford crystal) but I would have thought the Cards should have learned their lesson about trying to pass off injured starters as serviceable.
Now, if Wainwright insists he's good enough to go, then I'll trust that he knows his own body well enough to make that assessment, and he'll have to face the consequences that follow, possibly including an extended trip to the DL a la Mulder. That's not La Russa's fault, but I do get the sense that the manager is losing his players, and if you thought the chemistry in a losing clubhouse wasn't that great to begin with, then this isn't going to help at all.
There are a few other things I'd like to mention. La Russa, as everyone will recall, was arrested for drunk driving during Spring Training, an incident which sprang to renewed prominence after Josh Hancock's alcohol-related fatal crash. While La Russa, a standup guy, took the blame for his bad choices at the time of his arrest, he hasn't spoken about it again even after Hancock's death. Now, I don't want the players to be joining MADD or posing with highway cleanup crews or something like that, but a word or two would be nice. Perhaps La Russa has spoken about it behind closed doors -- sadly not being a Cardinal, I have no way of knowing what goes on in the clubhouse with any certainty. La Russa, publically at least, was silent on the issue even during the first few days afterwards, and while he may have privately amended things, it has left fans wondering what message he wants to send to them. They supported him even during his own imbroglio, and an acknowledgement wouldn't go amiss.
Also, one more thing. This is utterly unproven, and probably means absolutely nothing, but tonight, with two runners on, La Russa gave Wainwright the signal to bunt. Wainwright, one of the team's best hitters period and not just for a pitcher -- he's hitting .357 and that is no accident -- pulled one bunt foul and then decided to swing away, ending up with a two-run double. There's no way to say that La Russa himself didn't call for the false bunt and then change the signs, knowing that Wainwright can swing it, and either way the outcome was favorable for the Cardinals, but it makes one wonder who chose to go that route. Again, baseless speculation, but interesting nonetheless.
Go Cardinals. Do try to win some games, but when you play the Rockies for four, let them have at least two.
The Cardinals are looking to land fairly squarely in the cellar this year barring a miraculous turnaround. There is no better time for that to happen than now, as 21 of their next 27 games are against sub-.500 clubs including the Pirates, the Nationals, the Reds, and yes, my beloved Rockies. The Brewers are starting to show their flaws -- overcompensating at both plate and mound led them to their third straight series loss. Chris Capuano is 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in his past few starts, and the home run power provided by J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder has temporarily vacated the building. So they are the team that's dragged through fourteen previous losing seasons, but they're still a country mile better than the Cards, who haven't shown any sort of sustained spark or resilience despite a 9-4 win tonight. It was against the Pirates, one of the teams they're supposed to beat, but even the Buccos have a better mark than the Cards and are two games closer to the break-even point. Whether it's the front office, aging players, or just evenly distributed incompetence, I'm starting to wonder a little bit about the managing going on within the organization.
Tony La Russa is one of those love-him-or-hate-him managers, obsessed with platoons, lefty-righty matchups, and trying to outmaneuver the opposition in every possible situations, and he has a distinct style that earns him both high praise and sharp criticism. His contract situation is uncertain after this year -- the club can opt to bring him back or let him move on -- and the fate of La Russa after a disappointing season has been widely questioned. He finally skippered an arguably less talented team than his monster '04/'05 squads to a World Series championship, but he (and the rest of the personnel) haven't exactly been doing the most inspiring job at following it up. To some degree, however, I get the sense that La Russa is deliberately holding the unsettled contract over the front office's head. He's been uncommunicative at times and impassive at others -- after all, he's under no obligation to return to this team if he doesn't want to, and who would blame him after the painful season that his '07 Birds are putting together? Still, the coverage of the contract situation, and La Russa's refusal to address it, can sometimes take the focus away from what's going on in the clubhouse and on the field. I get the sense that he's a little exasperated with the whole crew, and God knows I am as well, but I'm a fan and not the manager. It appears to me, with the limited and partial resources I do have, that La Russa may be losing the trust and confidence of the players as well.
Last season, his feud with Scott Rolen was widely publicized, and while both of them insisted that the bridges had been mended, it's amazing what someone will say in the rush of a championship. It's led to speculation that despite a blanket no-trade clause, Rolen will ask to get out of St. Louis before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. (The Dodgers have been mentioned as a possible destination, but they'd be sadly mistaken if they think he'd bring power to their lineup. Rolen is struggling to stay north of the Mendoza line and playing in the cavernous confines of Chavez Ravine wouldn't do him any favors. Still, his glovework is impeccable, and the Dodgers, who have been looking for an established cornerstone at third since losing Adrian Beltre to free agency, might take a flyer if they can convince Rolen to relocate to Southern Cal). But a less-publicized, and slightly more alarming, schism that seems to be developing concerns La Russa and Adam Wainwright.
Regular readers of this blog know that I adore Wainwright, and I'm not taking La Russa to task for doing what a manager is supposed to do in trying to get the best out of his players. I just happen to think that he's going about the situation in the wrong way. A few days ago, it came out that Wainwright has been experiencing pain in his pitching elbow all season and that's why he's putting up some highly uncharacteristic numbers (despite the win tonight and allowing 2 runs in 5.1 innings, his ERA remains an untidy 6.02). According to a team official, it was "never serious enough to consider shutting him down." Now, the Cardinals' rotation is picked to the bone and stitched painfully together with converted relievers and AAA hopefuls as it is, but what is the point of running Wainwright out there if he can't follow through correctly and is going to get shelled? (His start before this one was particularly unsightly -- 8 runs in 2.2 innings vs. the Dodgers). Especially with this somnolent offense, if a pitcher digs a hole every time he's out and has trouble working efficiently, that's not going to give the club much of a chance to win.
The reason that it came out that Wainwright was experiencing pain was because Wainwright himself told the media, not because he went on the DL or because a doctor let something spill. And at once, there came rumors of, if not a Rolen-like feud, at least a bit of coolness between Wainwright and La Russa. La Russa is a gamer, a tough guy, with an absolute drive to get to the top no matter what it takes, and that's why he's currently enjoying the position that he does. Don't get me wrong, I think his will to win is absolutely unmatched, but at the same time, I think he takes the bulldog mentality a little too far. It seemed to Cards fans that La Russa was upset with Wainwright confiding there was something wrong; he was making excuses instead of battling through it. Well, seeing as Wainwright was a prized rookie phenomenon last year who was widely expected to be very successful upon conversion to a starter, I'd expect the fans would want to hear at least some reason as to why instead of continuing to be frustrated every time he took the mound and didn't do well. You can only hear, "There's nothing wrong, it's just a lull, it'll sort itself out," so many times before you stop believing it, and again, I fail to see how going out there anyway and giving up runs that a tepid offense can't make up would help the Cards win. If La Russa wanted Wainwright to shut up and go through it, what good would that do?
Wainwright has said that the pain is correctable, but that when things aren't feeling right, he can't follow through his delivery properly. This doesn't surprise me; if you watch a pitcher throwing in slow motion, the contortions that their arm goes through will make you wince, and this is even when they're perfectly healthy. It seems as if the repeated, vehement motion required to throw a small horsehide sphere at a velocity above every highway speed limit would unstring even the most valiant tendons in short order, and all that delicate machinery, when off, is really off. Pitchers are very particular about which ways their pitches come out of their hand, and if Wainwright can't follow through or use his elbow the way he's accustomed to, it's certainly one of the reasons his curveball lacks its customary bite and break this year. His fastball is only low-nineties, so he's not going to blow guys away with the heat if his offspeed stuff isn't working. A hanging curve is just as desirable as a straight fastball for hitters, and it seems as if too many of Wainwright's curves are doing just that. Of course, it's a different mentality for a starter, with different preparation, and hitters can familiarize themselves with his stuff as the game goes on instead of being forced to acclimate quickly over the course of one inning. However, the discrepancy in his performance is too large to simply be explained away as new-starter jitters.
The most encouraging pitch Wainwright made tonight against the Pirates was to get his fellow Adam, LaRoche, chasing on a very sharp-breaking curveball to escape a jam, and he insists that he is regaining his form with the pitch. One hopes so, as otherwise, he's going to get hit hard again. He wasn't exactly effective in his start tonight, laboring through 96 pitches for 16 outs, and escaped from bases-loaded jams in three of his five innings. But at least he didn't let them score, as he's done in the past. The efficiency will have to come after he figures out how not to be shelled on a consistent basis. His next start will be very telling, and you can bet that he will make it, funky elbow or otherwise.
The Cards don't have many options as it is. Mark Mulder is out until at least the break and his ability to come back and be effective, let alone good, is under serious debate. (Side note: When I was watching the Rockies game a few days ago, somebody emailed the announcers to ask why the Cards were so bad. When the first words out of their mouth, I shit you not, were "Mark Mulder," I screamed at them for being idiots and failed to hear the rest of their reply, some nonsense about how Mulder, for the love of God, somehow precluded them from being competitive). As I've mentioned, the only way Carpenter comes back this year is if the Cards are miraculously in striking distance in the Central in late August. The Randy Keisler experiment was a disaster. Anthony Reyes isn't pitching that badly any more, but just can't win. Kip Wells is proving to be an ex-Pirate (part of the rotation worst-case scenario in my Cards projection.... YIPES, most of that is true! Dear God!) and has a 1-7 record and some bloated mid-6 ERA. Brad Thompson has already been used to make an emergency start. I can understand La Russa being reluctant to let another pitcher slip to the nefarious clutches of the disabled list, but the "pitch Mulder when he's hurt" idea last year backfired splendidly, and the Cards are going to go down the same road with Wainwright if they're not careful. I thought it was Dusty Baker who was known for blowing out pitchers' arms (Kerry Wood and Mark Prior may never throw a big-league pitch again; partly because of him, partly because they're made of Waterford crystal) but I would have thought the Cards should have learned their lesson about trying to pass off injured starters as serviceable.
Now, if Wainwright insists he's good enough to go, then I'll trust that he knows his own body well enough to make that assessment, and he'll have to face the consequences that follow, possibly including an extended trip to the DL a la Mulder. That's not La Russa's fault, but I do get the sense that the manager is losing his players, and if you thought the chemistry in a losing clubhouse wasn't that great to begin with, then this isn't going to help at all.
There are a few other things I'd like to mention. La Russa, as everyone will recall, was arrested for drunk driving during Spring Training, an incident which sprang to renewed prominence after Josh Hancock's alcohol-related fatal crash. While La Russa, a standup guy, took the blame for his bad choices at the time of his arrest, he hasn't spoken about it again even after Hancock's death. Now, I don't want the players to be joining MADD or posing with highway cleanup crews or something like that, but a word or two would be nice. Perhaps La Russa has spoken about it behind closed doors -- sadly not being a Cardinal, I have no way of knowing what goes on in the clubhouse with any certainty. La Russa, publically at least, was silent on the issue even during the first few days afterwards, and while he may have privately amended things, it has left fans wondering what message he wants to send to them. They supported him even during his own imbroglio, and an acknowledgement wouldn't go amiss.
Also, one more thing. This is utterly unproven, and probably means absolutely nothing, but tonight, with two runners on, La Russa gave Wainwright the signal to bunt. Wainwright, one of the team's best hitters period and not just for a pitcher -- he's hitting .357 and that is no accident -- pulled one bunt foul and then decided to swing away, ending up with a two-run double. There's no way to say that La Russa himself didn't call for the false bunt and then change the signs, knowing that Wainwright can swing it, and either way the outcome was favorable for the Cardinals, but it makes one wonder who chose to go that route. Again, baseless speculation, but interesting nonetheless.
Go Cardinals. Do try to win some games, but when you play the Rockies for four, let them have at least two.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Man of the Minute: Adam Wainwright
In keeping with the tradition of bringing you the inside scoop, and hard-hitting fictitious journalism on all your (my) favorite players and incidents, Sparks of Dementia finally managed to catch up with last night's hero for the Cardinals, closer-turned-starter Adam Wainwright, whose pitching and hitting led the Redbirds to their first win of '07. (They flopped again today, but that's another matter). Here's what Adam had to say to that effect... enjoy.
(That's Adam kissing the box containing his World Series ring, which he richly earned. You're welcome).
SD: Well, first off, congratulations for a lot of things, Adam. Congrats on having a stellar rookie campaign, the birth of your daughter, winning the World Series, making the conversion flawlessly from rock-solid bullpen brat to potential ace-in-training, and for having a sterling debut on both sides of the ball.
AW: Thanks. It's been an exciting few years.
SD: Your strikeout of Carlos Beltran in NLCS Game 7 is now going to be an ingrained part of postseason lore. What can you say about that?
AW: Well, I've talked a lot about it already, and you know, I don't want to disrespect Beltran or the Mets by going over it again. He's a great ballplayer, that's a really strong club over there in Queens -- guess we should know, the way they just hacked through us [laughs] -- and that's from 2006 and I'm trying to keep my focus on 2007 now. Still, though, it was pretty much perfect. It was a little leaguer's dream to be standing out there in that situation and come through. I just trusted Yadi [catcher Yadier Molina] threw the hook, and it worked out well for us. I'd be singing a different tune now if it hadn't. [laughs] But championships don't carry over from season to season and my focus now is only on returning the trophy to St. Louis in '07.
SD: Very well, let's talk about 2007. Do you anticipate preparing for your game differently now that you know you're going to be run out there every fifth day on a schedule instead of being called upon as situations demand?
AW: No, not really. I go about my game the same way. I've just got to keep my head in there, focus on what I'm doing, not get too caught up in the peripherals, and make my pitches. It's definitely different now that I know when I'm going to be pitching instead of being used out of the bullpen, but I like that stability. I was a starter in Memphis [the Cardinals' AAA affiliate] and I've always been used as one, but clearly last year there was no chance of me cracking the rotation -- coming into camp, I didn't even think I was going to make the team -- so I'm just happy that I got to experience it from the bullpen. But now, you know, situations have changed, guys have left, and I have my chance, so I just want to take it and run with it. I'm confident in my ability, I don't have any fear -- there's no room for it at this level -- and I'm looking forward to getting out there every fifth day and giving my team a chance to win.
SD: How important was it for you guys to capture this first win coming off a tough season-opening sweep?
AW: Very. Oh, definitely, it was big. We played like crap against the Mets and we know that we're better than that. We're hitting the ball hard, but you know that everyone wants to elevate their game and nobody wants to start off 0-10 or something. So I just came out and thankfully I kept them off-balance, my teammates really helped me out and we picked up that win. I hope we'll be seeing that a lot this year. [smiles]
SD: For a pitcher, you sure seem to be a terrific hitter. You homered last year on the first pitch you saw in your first major-league at-bat, you ripped a two-run double in the Civil Rights Game, and last night you helped yourself out again.
AW: That's just the way it is... not sure why, but I've always been pretty decent with swinging the bat. It just happens, I guess. [shrugs]
SD: Which pitcher on the team influences you the most?
AW: I would definitely say either Carp [Chris Carpenter] or Izzy [Jason Isringhausen]. Those guys have been around a long time, they're veterans, they've had a lot of success at the big-league level, and I really like just watching them do their thing. Last year Izzy was sort of the mentor for all the bullpen guys and there's a lot you can learn from observing him, noting what he does, just trying to emulate him. I think he was more happy than I was for all that postseason stuff I did, and that's saying a lot. [smiles] As for Carp, he's amazing, he's our ace, he's possibly the top righty starter in the league. He knows what to do out there, he has a great feel for a game situation and mixing up his pitches, and he's so professional. He just goes out there and does his job game after game, really gives us the best chance to win. He's a special guy, a special teammate, great pitcher, good friend. All the young guys on the team want to be like him, to just reach that consistent level of quality.
SD: Tell Chris to come back healthy soon and get out there and win for us.
AW: Will do. [smiles]
SD: Who's going to win the NL Cy Young?
AW: Me, of course. [laughs] In all seriousness, I don't know. It was kind of a two-horse race between Carp and Webb last year and Webb won. He had a good year, he deserved it. But this year there's a lot of candidates who are really talented and I don't want to insult anyone by naming names, so I guess that's a mystery.
SD: When you reach your free-agency years, is there any hope that the Cards can keep you from going to the Braves?
AW: Aw, man, you had to ask that, didn't you? [smiles] You know, I was born in Georgia, I grew up there, I live there in the offseason, and me and my brother had this whole elaborate plan to get me drafted by the Braves. It even worked, but then of course, I got traded. [laughs] I won't deny that it would be really special for me to play there, they're such a successful franchise and I've loved them for as long as I can remember. All my family lives in Georgia, my brother's in Atlanta, and I know it would be really meaningful for them too, but right now I'm part of something special in St. Louis. I've won a world championship here and this team has some great players -- Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds, everyone, really, and I'm content to be here and to play for the Cards and hopefully see another Red October this fall.
SD: About tonight... the Cards couldn't quite build momentum, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Astros and Roy Oswalt. Do you guys think you can get the ship into gear?
AW: Absolutely. It's still extremely early -- we've only played, what, five games? There are still 157 to go, and anything can happen between now and September. We're not going to score a total of six runs all year. [laughs] We've gotten off the schneid and we're going to play better. But tonight, well, we ran into a guy who's going to win a Cy Young eventually, you just have to tip your cap and say that the better man won. But we're going to come out tomorrow and try to get something going before we head into Pittsburgh. We can't rest on our laurels anymore -- the banner's been raised, we have our rings, and now it's open season and we've got to execute as a team. And we are a team, we're going to win or lose together, and I'm excited to see where we go.
SD: Me too. But... well... it would help if you could score runs.
AW: [laughs] I know. But the big guys -- Albert, Jimmy, Scottie, Eck, everyone's going to get into gear and then we'll score more, I promise. [laughs]
SD: A final question...
AW: Sure.
SD: ...... Can I.... Can I have a hug?
AW: [laughs] No problem.
SD: [completely forgets witty closing remark because in addition to a hug, Adam gave her a kiss on the cheek]
(That's Adam kissing the box containing his World Series ring, which he richly earned. You're welcome).SD: Well, first off, congratulations for a lot of things, Adam. Congrats on having a stellar rookie campaign, the birth of your daughter, winning the World Series, making the conversion flawlessly from rock-solid bullpen brat to potential ace-in-training, and for having a sterling debut on both sides of the ball.
AW: Thanks. It's been an exciting few years.
SD: Your strikeout of Carlos Beltran in NLCS Game 7 is now going to be an ingrained part of postseason lore. What can you say about that?
AW: Well, I've talked a lot about it already, and you know, I don't want to disrespect Beltran or the Mets by going over it again. He's a great ballplayer, that's a really strong club over there in Queens -- guess we should know, the way they just hacked through us [laughs] -- and that's from 2006 and I'm trying to keep my focus on 2007 now. Still, though, it was pretty much perfect. It was a little leaguer's dream to be standing out there in that situation and come through. I just trusted Yadi [catcher Yadier Molina] threw the hook, and it worked out well for us. I'd be singing a different tune now if it hadn't. [laughs] But championships don't carry over from season to season and my focus now is only on returning the trophy to St. Louis in '07.
SD: Very well, let's talk about 2007. Do you anticipate preparing for your game differently now that you know you're going to be run out there every fifth day on a schedule instead of being called upon as situations demand?
AW: No, not really. I go about my game the same way. I've just got to keep my head in there, focus on what I'm doing, not get too caught up in the peripherals, and make my pitches. It's definitely different now that I know when I'm going to be pitching instead of being used out of the bullpen, but I like that stability. I was a starter in Memphis [the Cardinals' AAA affiliate] and I've always been used as one, but clearly last year there was no chance of me cracking the rotation -- coming into camp, I didn't even think I was going to make the team -- so I'm just happy that I got to experience it from the bullpen. But now, you know, situations have changed, guys have left, and I have my chance, so I just want to take it and run with it. I'm confident in my ability, I don't have any fear -- there's no room for it at this level -- and I'm looking forward to getting out there every fifth day and giving my team a chance to win.
SD: How important was it for you guys to capture this first win coming off a tough season-opening sweep?
AW: Very. Oh, definitely, it was big. We played like crap against the Mets and we know that we're better than that. We're hitting the ball hard, but you know that everyone wants to elevate their game and nobody wants to start off 0-10 or something. So I just came out and thankfully I kept them off-balance, my teammates really helped me out and we picked up that win. I hope we'll be seeing that a lot this year. [smiles]
SD: For a pitcher, you sure seem to be a terrific hitter. You homered last year on the first pitch you saw in your first major-league at-bat, you ripped a two-run double in the Civil Rights Game, and last night you helped yourself out again.
AW: That's just the way it is... not sure why, but I've always been pretty decent with swinging the bat. It just happens, I guess. [shrugs]
SD: Which pitcher on the team influences you the most?
AW: I would definitely say either Carp [Chris Carpenter] or Izzy [Jason Isringhausen]. Those guys have been around a long time, they're veterans, they've had a lot of success at the big-league level, and I really like just watching them do their thing. Last year Izzy was sort of the mentor for all the bullpen guys and there's a lot you can learn from observing him, noting what he does, just trying to emulate him. I think he was more happy than I was for all that postseason stuff I did, and that's saying a lot. [smiles] As for Carp, he's amazing, he's our ace, he's possibly the top righty starter in the league. He knows what to do out there, he has a great feel for a game situation and mixing up his pitches, and he's so professional. He just goes out there and does his job game after game, really gives us the best chance to win. He's a special guy, a special teammate, great pitcher, good friend. All the young guys on the team want to be like him, to just reach that consistent level of quality.
SD: Tell Chris to come back healthy soon and get out there and win for us.
AW: Will do. [smiles]
SD: Who's going to win the NL Cy Young?
AW: Me, of course. [laughs] In all seriousness, I don't know. It was kind of a two-horse race between Carp and Webb last year and Webb won. He had a good year, he deserved it. But this year there's a lot of candidates who are really talented and I don't want to insult anyone by naming names, so I guess that's a mystery.
SD: When you reach your free-agency years, is there any hope that the Cards can keep you from going to the Braves?
AW: Aw, man, you had to ask that, didn't you? [smiles] You know, I was born in Georgia, I grew up there, I live there in the offseason, and me and my brother had this whole elaborate plan to get me drafted by the Braves. It even worked, but then of course, I got traded. [laughs] I won't deny that it would be really special for me to play there, they're such a successful franchise and I've loved them for as long as I can remember. All my family lives in Georgia, my brother's in Atlanta, and I know it would be really meaningful for them too, but right now I'm part of something special in St. Louis. I've won a world championship here and this team has some great players -- Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds, everyone, really, and I'm content to be here and to play for the Cards and hopefully see another Red October this fall.
SD: About tonight... the Cards couldn't quite build momentum, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Astros and Roy Oswalt. Do you guys think you can get the ship into gear?
AW: Absolutely. It's still extremely early -- we've only played, what, five games? There are still 157 to go, and anything can happen between now and September. We're not going to score a total of six runs all year. [laughs] We've gotten off the schneid and we're going to play better. But tonight, well, we ran into a guy who's going to win a Cy Young eventually, you just have to tip your cap and say that the better man won. But we're going to come out tomorrow and try to get something going before we head into Pittsburgh. We can't rest on our laurels anymore -- the banner's been raised, we have our rings, and now it's open season and we've got to execute as a team. And we are a team, we're going to win or lose together, and I'm excited to see where we go.
SD: Me too. But... well... it would help if you could score runs.
AW: [laughs] I know. But the big guys -- Albert, Jimmy, Scottie, Eck, everyone's going to get into gear and then we'll score more, I promise. [laughs]
SD: A final question...
AW: Sure.
SD: ...... Can I.... Can I have a hug?
AW: [laughs] No problem.
SD: [completely forgets witty closing remark because in addition to a hug, Adam gave her a kiss on the cheek]
Friday, April 06, 2007
Piazza Delivery Man
Mike Piazza, the A's most recent rent-a-player/offense-injecting scheme, finally came to life last night, notching a double, a single, and most importantly, a two-out solo jack in the top of the ninth off monstrously irritating considerably talented Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to break a 3-3 tie and secure a win for the A's. To further juicify the picture, Jason Kendall, he of the noodle arm only surpassed by Piazza himself, ended the game by nailing a thieving Erick Aybar with a perfect throw at second. The A's drew their record even at 2-2 and continue to battle the O.C. Bitches tonight, with Joe Kennedy (gulp) trying to prove that he's able to start at a major-league level. The answer, if you watched him with the D-Rays and Rockies, is a resounding no. But at the moment, the A's really have their hands tied, as their starting rotation is stretched as thin as chewing gum anyway. Esteban Loaiza went on the DL with yet another early-season shoulder issue, but deactivating him is FAR preferable to running him out there and making him pitch anyway, as management tried to do last year with gory results.
Both the Cards and the Rockies had an off-day, where they traveled to Houston and San Diego, respectively. The Cards' game is over, and they won (hallelujah) thanks in large part to a certain dashing Mr. Wainwright. Sparks of Dementia will track him down and get the inside scoop, so you know what that means. ;) In addition to contributing the Cardinals' first stellar start of the season (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 BB, 4 K, and notching his first win as a starter) Adam continued to prove that his success with the bat is no fluke. He ripped a two-run double in the exhibition Civil Rights Game before the start of the season, and helped himself out again tonight with an RBI double to start the scoring, the Cards' first run since Scott Rolen's homer in Game 2 against the Mets, and subsequently scoring on a Chris Duncan jack. Honestly, when he's pitching, the number-nine hole for the Cards has legitimate kick, and I love it. :)
At the moment, Joe Kennedy is slowly beginning the process of implosion, as it's already 2-0 Angels with men on second and third and only one out. Seeing as he's 0-8 with a 6.31 ERA against the O.C. Bitches anyway, throwing him anyway seems to fit neatly under the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results. But as mentioned, the A's are shockingly short on options. Brad Halsey is just as bad, Shane Komine and Jason Windsor are in Triple-A Sacramento and haven't proved that they're ready to compete on a Major League level, and the A's only viable other choice is lefty long man Lenny DiNardo, who would need to be stretched out and is unlikely to be at this point. I developed a confoundedly deep affection for Lenny despite the fact that he used to be a Red Sock, and I'm happy that he made the team.
One more thing - the humorous TV spots for both the A's and the San Diego Padres are on the air now. I love these things -- the Mariners started them and they've been a huge hit for a number of teams since. I highly recommend that if you find yourself with a spare moment, you go to their official sites, click "Multimedia" (or "Fan Forum") and indulge yourself in some comic genius. The M's older ads are particularly hysterical.
More later once I find Adam and get the goods for you. ;)
Both the Cards and the Rockies had an off-day, where they traveled to Houston and San Diego, respectively. The Cards' game is over, and they won (hallelujah) thanks in large part to a certain dashing Mr. Wainwright. Sparks of Dementia will track him down and get the inside scoop, so you know what that means. ;) In addition to contributing the Cardinals' first stellar start of the season (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 BB, 4 K, and notching his first win as a starter) Adam continued to prove that his success with the bat is no fluke. He ripped a two-run double in the exhibition Civil Rights Game before the start of the season, and helped himself out again tonight with an RBI double to start the scoring, the Cards' first run since Scott Rolen's homer in Game 2 against the Mets, and subsequently scoring on a Chris Duncan jack. Honestly, when he's pitching, the number-nine hole for the Cards has legitimate kick, and I love it. :)
At the moment, Joe Kennedy is slowly beginning the process of implosion, as it's already 2-0 Angels with men on second and third and only one out. Seeing as he's 0-8 with a 6.31 ERA against the O.C. Bitches anyway, throwing him anyway seems to fit neatly under the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results. But as mentioned, the A's are shockingly short on options. Brad Halsey is just as bad, Shane Komine and Jason Windsor are in Triple-A Sacramento and haven't proved that they're ready to compete on a Major League level, and the A's only viable other choice is lefty long man Lenny DiNardo, who would need to be stretched out and is unlikely to be at this point. I developed a confoundedly deep affection for Lenny despite the fact that he used to be a Red Sock, and I'm happy that he made the team.
One more thing - the humorous TV spots for both the A's and the San Diego Padres are on the air now. I love these things -- the Mariners started them and they've been a huge hit for a number of teams since. I highly recommend that if you find yourself with a spare moment, you go to their official sites, click "Multimedia" (or "Fan Forum") and indulge yourself in some comic genius. The M's older ads are particularly hysterical.
More later once I find Adam and get the goods for you. ;)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
HAHAHAHA! I'm SO HAPPY!!!
Yes, yes, the Devil Rays are last on the list for the AL East previews, can you blame me if I'm not raring to write about them? I'm just so thrilled beyond belief that I can't get to them. Maybe tonight, once I get back from softball practice. In the meantime.... BASEBALL HAS STARTED.... and some enterprising fellow on Viva El Birdos discovered a link to watch spring training games on MLB.com Gameday, which is how I do the vast majority of my game-watching. So... right now... I am watching ADAM pitch against the Marlins, and can you blame me for squealing with happiness? The update time isn't the greatest... but it's ADAM... and the CARDINALS.... and BASEBALL!!!
The offseason is over! Praise jeebus!
The man is just so fricken' adorable. Look at him concentrate on that bunt like it's the most important thing in the world.
He's even cute as a bobblehead. Yes, I have been sorely tempted to buy the Adam World Series bobblehead off eBay.
No, there is no point and purpose to this post except to a) rejoice in the glory that is baseball reborn from the depths of offseason darkness, and b) Adam Wainwright is just so cute I can't stand it. Devil Rays preview later, if you must.
edit: The Cards win 6-3, with Randy Flores permitting 2 of the runs in the ninth. Adam threw 3 scoreless, hitless innings, needing only 30 pitches. The Rockies are currently whipping up on the White Sox 11-4, with big men Atkins, Holliday, and Hawpe all showing up and contributing in a big way. Baseball is back and this girl is happy.
The offseason is over! Praise jeebus!
The man is just so fricken' adorable. Look at him concentrate on that bunt like it's the most important thing in the world.
He's even cute as a bobblehead. Yes, I have been sorely tempted to buy the Adam World Series bobblehead off eBay.No, there is no point and purpose to this post except to a) rejoice in the glory that is baseball reborn from the depths of offseason darkness, and b) Adam Wainwright is just so cute I can't stand it. Devil Rays preview later, if you must.
edit: The Cards win 6-3, with Randy Flores permitting 2 of the runs in the ninth. Adam threw 3 scoreless, hitless innings, needing only 30 pitches. The Rockies are currently whipping up on the White Sox 11-4, with big men Atkins, Holliday, and Hawpe all showing up and contributing in a big way. Baseball is back and this girl is happy.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Preseason Preview: Cardinals
So close, and yet so far... The good news? Pitchers, catchers, and most of the position players have now reported to Spring Training, dispersing out through Arizona and Florida Rockies will get there, since Clint Hurdle's maxim is to get rid of anyone who is "developed" and by extension good, but hey. If there was a World Series game in Denver , I'd be pissed since I'd be in New York
This post will preview the Cards. A's next, and then the
The
PITCHING
Starters
Who's Gone? Jeff Suppan (4 years for the Brewers) Jeff Weaver (1 year for the Mariners) Jason Marquis (3 years for the Cubs). Not that happy about losing Suppan - he was a strong #2 to slot behind Carpenter. Not sure about Weaver, who could have been either the pitcher he was in the '06 postseason or the pitcher he's been for a large part of his career. Thrilled to see Marquis go, especially to the Cubs, where the Cards will have a chance to beat him frequently.
Who's Here? Chris Carpenter, naturally. After that, nothing is certain. Kip Wells, Anthony Reyes, Adam Wainwright, and Braden Looper are the leading candidates to fill the other four spots. Yes, you read that right. Braden Looper. See my thoughts on this below.
Things stack up thusly:
- Chris Carpenter (obviously, #1, legit ace, should be in the running for another Cy. Carpenter's signature pitch is his cutter, which breaks low in the zone and is extremely hard to get a fix on, but if he relies on it too much, hitters will start sitting on it, with ugly results. See late September games versus
- Kip Wells (most likely, mediocre-to-average Pirates stopgap filler. I don't know much about him, but he's a high-80s velocity type guy who relies more on offspeed stuff and deception rather than overwhelming power).
- Anthony Reyes (likely, has flashes of brilliance and of extreme incompetence, but still could amount to something special. He features a plus two-seam fastball, but hitters tend to feast on it since management is, for some reason, leery about letting him mix it up with his four-seamer).
- Adam Wainwright (my darling baby, etc., etc., is ticketed to make the move from closer to starter. Hurrah. More Adam never goes amiss. Adam's signature pitch is his curve, which he can bury in the zone and locate effectively against both lefties and righties. Carlos Beltran, who he struck out to end the NLCS, is still having nightmares about that dreamy bender that floated right by. Beltran says that even on a good day, with him fully healthy, hitting the ball well, there's no way he'd be able to do anything with that curve... that's how good it is. Adam also uses a splitter and low-nineties fastball to complement the Yellow Hammer).
- Braden Looper (fuck me sideways with a lunchbox, to borrow a colorful saying from one of my friends... Looper is absolutely terrible, hasn't started since 1997 when he was in Single-A, and has maybe three pitches, none of which are good. If a pitcher absolutely has to get an out, there's usually one killer pitch he can turn to - Carp has his cutter, Adam has his curve, and even young bullpen brat Ty Johnson has a wicked slider. Looper, on the other hand, is not good, so it follows that neither are his pitches. I have no idea what Dave Duncan professes to see in Looper, and no idea how a cringe-inducing reliever will make even a suitable fifth starter. I see a decent start, ala Sidney Ponson of last year, followed by such jarring and terrible incompetence that they're forced to remove him with a hook before they sink all the way to the bottom of the NL Central, which admittedly would be hard when you consider that they have the Pirates in their division).
Other possibilities - Mark Mulder, Ryan Franklin, Chris Narveson, Brad Thompson. They really need Marky Mark to come back at full throttle and be the caliber of pitcher that he was for the A's, but who knows if or when that will happen? If Jason Isringhausen isn't ready to go by Opening Day, Adam could also continue in the closer's role until he is. Chris Narveson made one start last year and was serviceable. Ryan Franklin was with the Mariners, is pretty bad, and is best known because not even taking steroids could make him good, which he subsequently got busted for. One Mariners fan friend of mine opines that he probably gets neck strain from turning to watch all the homers he gives up flying out of the park... not a good sign. Brad Thompson is a decent to average reliever and even he is a better choice than Looper. Jeezus Key-rist, I foresee antacid-popping and mass hemorraghes whenever he's on the mound. Maybe the Cards need to bite the bullet and admit that the state of their starting rotation is suspect.
Best-Case Scenario: Carp dominates, wins 20 games and the Cy while posting a sub-3 ERA. Kip Wells is serviceable to decent and wins 12-15 games with a mid-4 ERA. Reyes harnesses his oftentimes-wild stuff and posts 10-15 wins with a high 3-middle-4 ERA. Wainwright makes a smooth transition from closer to starter, wins 15+ games with a high 3 ERA. Looper, after one or two debacles in April, is demoted to mopup guy when a healthy Mulder comes back and wins 15 games for the eventual NL Central Champs.
Worst-Case Scenario: Carp starts off strong, gets injured around the break, and isn't the same pitcher afterwards, registering only 13-16 wins with a mid-4 ERA. Wells proves to be, well, an ex-Pirate and barely manages to win 10, often helped out by a lot of run support, posting an inflated ERA of close to 5. Reyes can't turn off the mercurial switch and vacillates between suck and serviceable, spending too much time at the former and stumbling to 5-7 wins and a mid-season demotion to iron out his mechanics. My sweet Adam can't replicate his postseason heroics and only wins 10 or 12 with a high-4 ERA. The only pitcher who stays in the rotation all season long is Looper, bluffing his way to 10 wins and 16 losses with a 5+ ERA. The Cards are sunk in the NL Central by September and the Cubs win the division, culminating in Jason Marquis beating his old mates in the clinching game. This causes groans, agony, and spontaneous suicide in Redbird nation. This Cards fan hits the Prozac to dull the pain.
Bullpen:
- Jason Isringhausen (aging, with his effectiveness in decline, Izzy enters the spring tagged with a hundred question marks. Can he regain the job that Adam took from him last September? Can he become healthy again, and most importantly, regain the trust of the Busch III fans that booed him while he was in the process of blowing one of his 11 total flubbed saves? Whether or not Adam opens the season in the rotation rests squarely on the shoulders of the good ol' Izzster).
- Tyler Johnson (a talented 25-year-old with a lively fastball and killer slider, he proved to be dominant against lefties last year, but righties beat him like a pinata. Can he find some consistent rhythm so he can be used for multiple batters, instead of only lefties?)
- Brad Thompson (a serviceable reliever who was used once as a starter when Carp was unavailable, all he needs to do is provide a reliable fallback plan in case one of the main bullpen guys goes down).
- Josh Hancock (known as the "fat pitcher" who was cut from Reds camp last year for being 17 pounds overweight, he was picked up by the Cards and subsequently won a ring. Also serviceable, if unproven).
- Josh Kinney (nabbed from the independent leagues, he was quite good in limited action last year, and engendered, surprisingly, a decent amount of trust from me. I would like to see him perform further, but only if good... obviously. ;))
- Russ Springer (returning from the Astros for his second tour of duty with the Cardinals, best known for failing to hit Barry Bonds three times in retaliation for an earlier beaning. Another dime-a-dozen stopgap bullpen guy, lumped in with his fellows as needed only to get the ball to the closer with the lead intact, whoever the closer may be).
- Ricardo Rincon (was excellent at producing ulcers, head-banging, and deep moans when he was on the A's. Unfortunately, I see no change here, especially as he's returning after missing an entire year with injuries).
Best-Case Scenario: Izzy comes back healthy and begins closing games with his old machine-like regularity. Ty Johnson and Josh Kinney flourish as the bullpen brats and become legit set-up guys. Looper is nowhere to be seen.
Worst-Case Scenario: Izzy sucks. A number of experiments to replace him commence, none of which work. The Cards' starters learn that to have any hope of winning a game, they need to take it all the way, and in doing so, blow out their arms, one by one. Looper is the only one exempt from this malady and keeps on pitching.
The Nonexpert Nostradumus Predicts:
(note - pitchers who could both start and relieve are listed for total numbers, not separately)
Starters
Chris Carpenter, RHP, 18-7, 2.95 ERA, 230 IP, 200 K, 33 starts
Kip Wells, RHP, 13-10, 4.30 ERA, 190 IP, 132 K, 31 starts
Anthony Reyes, RHP, 14-9, 3.97 ERA, 190 IP, 170 K, 29 starts
Adam Wainwright, RHP, 16-9, 3.85 ERA, 175 IP, 160 K, 32 starts
Braden Looper, P? (AHAHHAHA) 6-9, 5.56 ERA, 90 IP, 75 K, 13 starts
Mark Mulder, LHP, 7-5, 4.20 ERA, 50 K, 12 starts
Ryan Franklin, RHP, 2-4, 5.75 ERA, 30 K, 7 starts
Chris Narveson, LHP, 1-3, 4.15 ERA, 55 K, 3 starts
Brad Thompson, RHP, 2-2, 4.00 ERA, 20 K, 2 starts
Relievers
Jason Isringhausen, RHP, 3-2, 4.00 ERA, 25 SV/32 SVO
Randy Flores, RHP, 1-2, 5.00 ERA, 1 SV/2 SVO
Tyler Johnson, LHP, 1-3, 4.25 ERA, 2 SV/2 SVO
Russ Springer, RHP, 1-1, 4.35 ERA, 2 SV/2 SVO
Josh Kinney, RHP, 1-1, 3.55 ERA, 1 SV/1 SVO
Josh Hancock, RHP, 1-3, 4.10 ERA, 1 SV/ 3 SVO
Ricardo Rincon, RHP, 0-3, 4.95 ERA, 1 SV/4 SVO
HITTING
Projected Lineup (in positional, not batting, order)
1B Albert Pujols (no worries. Man is a machine)
2B Adam Kennedy (hopefully will benefit from transition to NL and reunition with former/current DP partner Eckstein)
SS David Eckstein (totally overrated, but should provide decent average with a scattering of extra-base hits)
3B Scott Rolen (needs to come back strong from injury and off-year)
RF So Taguchi/John Rodriguez/Juan Encarnacion (none of which are great, but combined can provide a little power to a lower-order spot)
CF Jim Edmonds/Preston Wilson (Edmonds is aging and had a lot of injury problems last year... can he rebound or is he on the way down?)
LF Chris Duncan/So Taguchi/Scott Spiezio (
C Yadier Molina/Gary Bennett (Molina is a very light hitter, but is kept on the team for his knack for working with pitchers and his cannon of an arm - he threw out a ridiculous percentage of base-stealers last year).
Best-Case Scenario: Pujols resumes his usual monster-mashing ways and hits an insane number of clutch homers to bail out the Cards' bullpen in moments of weakness. Rolen comes on like a machine in his blossoming year, providing almost an equal amount of power from across the diamond. Jimmy Ballgame shows that the injuries were a fluke while providing 20 HR, 80 RBI, and Gold Glove/highlight reel defense. Juan Encarnacion remains where he does most good, on the bench. Chris Duncan learns how to field, gets more playing time, and blasts in excess of 20 HR. Even Molina discovers his bat and contributes 10 HR. Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein provide decent production from traditionally light-hitting positions, with a .275/.285 average, respectively. The Cards' offensive firepower combines with some standout pitching and they win the NL Central handily.
Worst-Case Scenario: Pujols does his thing and a) gets seriously injured (please God no) or b) runs a one-man show since no one can help him out. Rolen continues to underwhelm offensively despite generally solid defense. Poor old Jim just can't recover from being knocked silly last year and provides only a .250 average with 10-15 HR and waning play in the field. Juan Encarnacion gets too much playing time. Yadier Molina hits exactly 1 HR all year, and that in a game where Looper has already allowed 10 runs. All the sneering prognosticators are right about the miserable state of the Cardinals' offense, and they're sunk in the Central by August. The Cubs win the division, culminating with a complete-game shutout by Jason Marquis. Cardinals Nation commits hara-kiri.
The Nonexpert Nostradamus Predicts:
Albert Pujols, R/R, 1B: .335 AVG, 45 HR, 144 RBI, .440 OBP, .680 SLG, 1.120 OPS
Adam Kennedy, L/R, 2B: .270 AVG, 4 HR, 40 RBI, .320 OBP, .380 SLG, .700 OPS
David Eckstein, R/R, SS: .285 AVG, 2 HR, 20 RBI, .340 OBP, .330 SLG, .670 OPS
Scott Rolen, R/R, 3B: .277 AVG, 30 HR, 96 RBI, .370 OBP, .525 SLG, .895 OPS
So Taguchi, R/R, RF/LF: .255 AVG, 4 HR, 30 RBI, .330 OBP, .340 SLG, .670 OPS
John Rodriguez, L/L, RF/LF: .299 AVG, 5 HR, 40 RBI, .380 OBP, .390 SLG, .770 OPS
Juan Encarnacion, R/R, RF: .260 AVG, 17 HR, 67 RBI, .315 OBP, .420 SLG, .735 OPS
Jim Edmonds, L/L, CF: .266 AVG, 21 HR, 85 RBI, .360 OBP, .485 SLG, .845 OPS
Chris Duncan, L/R, RF/LF: .288 AVG, 25 HR, 65 RBI, .375 OBP, .580 SLG, .955 OPS
Yadier Molina, R/R, C: .240 AVG, 7 HR, 41 RBI, .290 OBP, .325 SLG, .615 OPS
Gary Bennett, R/R, C: .220 AVG, 3 HR, 19 RBI, .270 OBP, .320 SLG, .590 OPS
Preston Wilson, R/R, CF/RF: .260 AVG, 17 HR, 60 RBI, .305 OBP, .477 SLG, .782 OPS
Scott Spiezio, S/R, LF/RF: .270 AVG, 12 HR, 50 RBI, .350 OBP, .470 SLG, .820 OPS
OVERALL PREDICTION
The NL Central will be close all season long, with the Cubs and Astros each overtaking the Cards at one point, but never staying in the catbird seat for long. Even the Brewers will briefly compete, and the Reds will look legit before being proven to be smoke and mirrors with late-season injury woes. The Pirates? The Pirates are run by Dave Littlefield. Pity them. The Cards will win another division title, without an epic late-season collapse this time. This may be a highly biased prediction, but I've done my best to assess the Cards fairly, and I think that they have more than enough talent to do it. It's the question of making it click. I don't get the hoopla about the Cubs. They added a talented but K-prone "outfielder" with extremely suspect defense (Alfonso Soriano) and if they plan on playing him on the outfield in Wrigley, good luck to them. They have Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, who will stay healthy when hell freezes over. And they have Jason Marquis. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! For the Cubs to improve 10 games in '07 (in other words, by quite a lot) they would still only win 76 games, and I do think the Cards are capable of outstripping that. I suppose the question remains as to who is more of a sparkplug: Tony La Russa or Lou Piniella? I also think that the Cards will have a better year than most people give them credit for, and will take the Central crown.
Notice that I'm being nice to the Cubs. I gave them a whole 12 games' worth of improvement. Where they're gonna get that from, I haven't a clue. If it's from Marquis, I'll eat several items of clothing, including but not limited to my hat.
NL CENTRAL
1. Cardinals, 89-73
2. Astros, 86-76
3. Reds, 85-77
4. Cubs, 78-84
5. Brewers, 77-85
6. Pirates, 63-99
The next post will preview the A's, and by extension the AL West. God, I need baseball....
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Playoffs, Day 14: Incredible, Unbelievable, Indescribable
I just... wow. Wow. It's been two hours since the game ended and it's only now that I can finally put my thoughts into any sort of semantic cohesion. It's only now I've finally settled down enough to write about what may be the best moment of my baseball life. Screw all the ESPN pricks who think that a team from New York is a vital ingredient for a good Series and that the Tigers were going to take out the Cardinals in "three." Screw 'em. Screw anybody who doesn't believe that any Fall Classic, ever, isn't well, a Classic. And above all, o ye of Redbird loving persuasion, be thou glad.
As you may have guessed by now, the St. Louis Cardinals are the World Champions. It's just starting to sink it. Did I think they were going to do it? Not really, no. I wanted them to. I thought they'd put up a fight. And then....it's like Christmas.
So I lied. I didn't watch the game. I was dying. Rocking back and forth and hyperventilating and feeling like I was about to expire. Then my phone rang. I'd left it on for this very necessity. My hands started to shake and I couldn't fumble it out of its case.
It was my sister. She said, "Your St. Louis Cardinals are the 2006 World Champions."
I screamed. Loudly. Then I began to shake even more and laugh and say, "OH MY GOD," in this wild, giddy voice over and over. I rocked back and forth and then I cried and talked to her and called my family, who were a) lucky and b) brave enough to watch the proceedings as they unfolded. They nearly died during the ninth, as I might have (my baby put two men on before ending it with a strikeout... my God, Busch III went berserk).
It gives me chills just thinking about it. Now... the offseason. Wow. No baseball. Ouch. I must fill the void with a constant succession of baseball movies recommended by a friend of mine, and I'm going to start tomorrow night (well, technically, tonight, as it's 1:47 AM) with Bull Durham. Should be fun. "He's having trouble breathing out of his left eyelid."
One week until my family comes. That's going to be awesome. But.... wow. WOW. If you'd told me this as I was suffering through their third losing streak of seven games or more, I would have swatted you aside and told you mournfully not to tease me like that.
I can't wait to see the World Champion Cardinals on May 28-31 at Coors Field in lovely Denver, Colorado. You can bet that I will be there, in any assortment of:
a) an Adam Wainwright T-shirt
b) a Chris Carpenter T-shirt
c) a Cardinals National League Champs shirt (should they ever ship it)
d) a Cardinals World Series Champs shirt (ditto)
I love the Cardinals so much that it hurts. My heart is raw and overflowing. And the Church of Baseball is the only one I worship. Because this is more than a game to me. It's everything. And tonight was the pinnacle of ecstasy. I've been down to the dumps before. I've cried in pain instead of happiness. But tonight reminded me why I'm in this mofo for the long haul.
St. Louis Cardinals, all my love to you and you can bet there was at least one fan in Bronxville, New York, screaming her heart out with pure, true, delirious happiness. You guys are the champs. Drink that champagne. Savor it. You earned every inch.
I love you guys. Goodbye and good night for 2006, and when you pull up the curtain for 2007, I'll be there to adore you every step of the way.
As you may have guessed by now, the St. Louis Cardinals are the World Champions. It's just starting to sink it. Did I think they were going to do it? Not really, no. I wanted them to. I thought they'd put up a fight. And then....it's like Christmas.
So I lied. I didn't watch the game. I was dying. Rocking back and forth and hyperventilating and feeling like I was about to expire. Then my phone rang. I'd left it on for this very necessity. My hands started to shake and I couldn't fumble it out of its case.
It was my sister. She said, "Your St. Louis Cardinals are the 2006 World Champions."
I screamed. Loudly. Then I began to shake even more and laugh and say, "OH MY GOD," in this wild, giddy voice over and over. I rocked back and forth and then I cried and talked to her and called my family, who were a) lucky and b) brave enough to watch the proceedings as they unfolded. They nearly died during the ninth, as I might have (my baby put two men on before ending it with a strikeout... my God, Busch III went berserk).
It gives me chills just thinking about it. Now... the offseason. Wow. No baseball. Ouch. I must fill the void with a constant succession of baseball movies recommended by a friend of mine, and I'm going to start tomorrow night (well, technically, tonight, as it's 1:47 AM) with Bull Durham. Should be fun. "He's having trouble breathing out of his left eyelid."
One week until my family comes. That's going to be awesome. But.... wow. WOW. If you'd told me this as I was suffering through their third losing streak of seven games or more, I would have swatted you aside and told you mournfully not to tease me like that.
I can't wait to see the World Champion Cardinals on May 28-31 at Coors Field in lovely Denver, Colorado. You can bet that I will be there, in any assortment of:
a) an Adam Wainwright T-shirt
b) a Chris Carpenter T-shirt
c) a Cardinals National League Champs shirt (should they ever ship it)
d) a Cardinals World Series Champs shirt (ditto)
I love the Cardinals so much that it hurts. My heart is raw and overflowing. And the Church of Baseball is the only one I worship. Because this is more than a game to me. It's everything. And tonight was the pinnacle of ecstasy. I've been down to the dumps before. I've cried in pain instead of happiness. But tonight reminded me why I'm in this mofo for the long haul.
St. Louis Cardinals, all my love to you and you can bet there was at least one fan in Bronxville, New York, screaming her heart out with pure, true, delirious happiness. You guys are the champs. Drink that champagne. Savor it. You earned every inch.
I love you guys. Goodbye and good night for 2006, and when you pull up the curtain for 2007, I'll be there to adore you every step of the way.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Playoffs, Day 13: An Ode to Adam
Having been bombarded by bad bloggery and putrid photoshoppping, prepare yourself for the advent of VILE VERSE!
(And yes, you've figured out that my date headers are in no way relative to the actual days of the playoffs, just when I remember to blog about them).
Curveball buckling at the knees
Go ahead and swing, but hit it? Please!
You are gone, bitch, gone wit'out a fight
You don't know who it is; it's ADAM WAINWRIGHT
Man stands six-foot-seven, he's as skinny as a pole
Stop talkin' about hittin' him; yeah, shut your damn hole
He's going to wind up and put that Yellow Hammer in there
Stand up there if you want, even swing the bat if you dare.
We got him from Atlanta and we snagged him for a song
(Remember J.D. Drew? We're glad that he's gone)
It's just a beautiful sight when the man in number fifty
Comes out there and does his thing; he's really kinda nifty.
You may have noticed that I have a total Adam obsession
I can't go without mentioning him each blogging session
That's because the man is amazing, and also hot as hell
If he'd just wear his socks like Anthony Reyes, all would be well.
The World Series has come down to this mind-bending fact:
The Cardinals have easily fended off the Tigers' "attack"
And after the heroics of Runt Eckstein and Adam my man
The "scrappy underdog Cardinals" are the "Cardinals who can."
If tomorrow comes and Jeff Weaver does not do very badly
Every Redbird fan will explode from their chair and shout very gladly
For we would have nailed down championship twice-five
The last time they did it, I wasn't even alive.
So all I can do at this point is to cheer and to cheer
And hold my breath tightly as the moment draws near
I'd say that I'm turning blue, but that isn't quite true
As a matter of fact instead I'm turning a lovely shade of RED!
GO CARDINALS!!!!!
(And yes, you've figured out that my date headers are in no way relative to the actual days of the playoffs, just when I remember to blog about them).
Curveball buckling at the knees
Go ahead and swing, but hit it? Please!
You are gone, bitch, gone wit'out a fight
You don't know who it is; it's ADAM WAINWRIGHT
Man stands six-foot-seven, he's as skinny as a pole
Stop talkin' about hittin' him; yeah, shut your damn hole
He's going to wind up and put that Yellow Hammer in there
Stand up there if you want, even swing the bat if you dare.
We got him from Atlanta and we snagged him for a song
(Remember J.D. Drew? We're glad that he's gone)
It's just a beautiful sight when the man in number fifty
Comes out there and does his thing; he's really kinda nifty.
You may have noticed that I have a total Adam obsession
I can't go without mentioning him each blogging session
That's because the man is amazing, and also hot as hell
If he'd just wear his socks like Anthony Reyes, all would be well.
The World Series has come down to this mind-bending fact:
The Cardinals have easily fended off the Tigers' "attack"
And after the heroics of Runt Eckstein and Adam my man
The "scrappy underdog Cardinals" are the "Cardinals who can."
If tomorrow comes and Jeff Weaver does not do very badly
Every Redbird fan will explode from their chair and shout very gladly
For we would have nailed down championship twice-five
The last time they did it, I wasn't even alive.
So all I can do at this point is to cheer and to cheer
And hold my breath tightly as the moment draws near
I'd say that I'm turning blue, but that isn't quite true
As a matter of fact instead I'm turning a lovely shade of RED!
GO CARDINALS!!!!!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
In Which My Rudimentary Blogging Is Surpassed
...only by my amateurish photo-retouching skills.
He looks great. Seriously, he does. Isn't that one of the most amazing things you've ever seen in your life?
a) ADAM, enough said
b) celebrating a Cardinals trip to the World Series, enough said
c) high socks, enough said
d) ADAM IN HIGH SOCKS, [thud]
Okay, so you have to put up with my suspect skills to see it, but seriously. Adam, baby. Do it for me. Right? [nudge nudge wink wink]
Also, Adam is trying to fiercen up his adorable face with a playoff beard. He is far from the only one. Jeff Suppan, Baby Duncan, Carp, and other notables are doing so as well. I think that Adam is trying to look more bad-ass. Well, he has a prerequisite. Those curveballs he fed to Beltran were pretty fucking bad-ass.
I think that all this post proves is that I need to quit while I'm ahead. Seriously, it's 1:54 and I don't think I should have access to a computer right now, much less the Internet.
He looks great. Seriously, he does. Isn't that one of the most amazing things you've ever seen in your life?
a) ADAM, enough said
b) celebrating a Cardinals trip to the World Series, enough said
c) high socks, enough said
d) ADAM IN HIGH SOCKS, [thud]
Okay, so you have to put up with my suspect skills to see it, but seriously. Adam, baby. Do it for me. Right? [nudge nudge wink wink]
Also, Adam is trying to fiercen up his adorable face with a playoff beard. He is far from the only one. Jeff Suppan, Baby Duncan, Carp, and other notables are doing so as well. I think that Adam is trying to look more bad-ass. Well, he has a prerequisite. Those curveballs he fed to Beltran were pretty fucking bad-ass.
I think that all this post proves is that I need to quit while I'm ahead. Seriously, it's 1:54 and I don't think I should have access to a computer right now, much less the Internet.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Playoffs, Day 9: OH. MY. GOD.
[swoon]
[faint]
[thud]
Okay. So. I love my Cardinals dearly, but my heart just can't take the pressure of watching a Game 7 after Chris Carpenter did his damndest but Braden Looper blew it last night in an agonizing Game 6, forcing the series to the limit. Game 7s are good for baseball. NOT for my nerves.
So I didn't look at a single baseball-related site all day long. Not one. Except for the Rockies blog, which is lightly trafficked and where I might be less likely to see if they were losing. That was it. I stayed utterly away until 11:30. Then my cell phone rang. I saw it was my sister. I thought, "OH MY GOD WHY IS SHE CALLING I THINK I KNOW..."
I picked up. She said, "Do you want to know?" I said, "YES." She said, "They won."
I went apeshit. I screamed and began to shake and began to babble and laugh in incoherent happiness. I felt like a million dollars. I was pure light and happiness and joy. I was trembling all over and ecstatic. It was an amazing feeling.
And yes. HELL. YES. Jeff Suppan and Oliver Perez duel, keeping it tied at one all the way until the ninth. Scott Rolen is robbed of a two-run homer in the sixth. (As you can see, I came up to speed very quickly). And then in the top of the ninth, Yadier Freakin' Molina pumps a two-run homer to shut Shea Stadium up very quickly. It starts coming back to life in the bottom of the ninth. My husband gets two outs, but also permits two baserunners. Then he walks Paul LoDuca to bring up Cardinals murderer, Carlos Beltran.
What does my husband do? He strikes him out. HE STRIKES OUT CARLOS MOTHERFUCKING BELTRAN. On three straight pitches. LOOKING. And the Cardinals are on their way to the 2006 World Series. I bought an NL champs shirt pronto. I spend too much money on my teams, but you'd better believe that I love them to death.
Everybody. EVERYBODY thought that the Mets were going to wipe their shoes on the Cardinals. What do the Cardinals do but WIN IN SEVEN GAMES. And now they're on their way to face the other team that no one thought would make it out of the first round, for an All-Underdog World Series.
If you see a girl walking around SLC tomorrow, wearing an Adam Wainwright T-shirt and a giant smile, that's me. *
* Of course I'll be wearing something else as well. You people and your perverted minds.
Presenting Your 2006 National League Champions:
THE SAINT LOUIS CARDINALS.
I'm so happy right now... I can't even tell you how it feels.
[faint]
[thud]
Okay. So. I love my Cardinals dearly, but my heart just can't take the pressure of watching a Game 7 after Chris Carpenter did his damndest but Braden Looper blew it last night in an agonizing Game 6, forcing the series to the limit. Game 7s are good for baseball. NOT for my nerves.
So I didn't look at a single baseball-related site all day long. Not one. Except for the Rockies blog, which is lightly trafficked and where I might be less likely to see if they were losing. That was it. I stayed utterly away until 11:30. Then my cell phone rang. I saw it was my sister. I thought, "OH MY GOD WHY IS SHE CALLING I THINK I KNOW..."
I picked up. She said, "Do you want to know?" I said, "YES." She said, "They won."
I went apeshit. I screamed and began to shake and began to babble and laugh in incoherent happiness. I felt like a million dollars. I was pure light and happiness and joy. I was trembling all over and ecstatic. It was an amazing feeling.
And yes. HELL. YES. Jeff Suppan and Oliver Perez duel, keeping it tied at one all the way until the ninth. Scott Rolen is robbed of a two-run homer in the sixth. (As you can see, I came up to speed very quickly). And then in the top of the ninth, Yadier Freakin' Molina pumps a two-run homer to shut Shea Stadium up very quickly. It starts coming back to life in the bottom of the ninth. My husband gets two outs, but also permits two baserunners. Then he walks Paul LoDuca to bring up Cardinals murderer, Carlos Beltran.
What does my husband do? He strikes him out. HE STRIKES OUT CARLOS MOTHERFUCKING BELTRAN. On three straight pitches. LOOKING. And the Cardinals are on their way to the 2006 World Series. I bought an NL champs shirt pronto. I spend too much money on my teams, but you'd better believe that I love them to death.
Everybody. EVERYBODY thought that the Mets were going to wipe their shoes on the Cardinals. What do the Cardinals do but WIN IN SEVEN GAMES. And now they're on their way to face the other team that no one thought would make it out of the first round, for an All-Underdog World Series.
If you see a girl walking around SLC tomorrow, wearing an Adam Wainwright T-shirt and a giant smile, that's me. *
* Of course I'll be wearing something else as well. You people and your perverted minds.
Presenting Your 2006 National League Champions:
THE SAINT LOUIS CARDINALS.
I'm so happy right now... I can't even tell you how it feels.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Playoffs, Day 8: A Sound as if a Million Sportswriters Cried Out In Terror
....and were suddenly silenced.
Wow. Just wow. I think that the only reason I wasn't crushed about the A's was because the Cardinals were still alive, and making it a respectable series at that. That feeling was vindicated tonight in another amazing Game Five for the Redbirds. Last year at this time, Albert Pujols was launching moonshots off Brad Lidge that probably still have yet to come down, and the series switched back to St. Louis for a sixth game, which the Astros won. Now, the series is switching back to New York for a sixth game, and if the Cards win, they're in. Who would have believed it. No one, absolutely no one, including to some degree myself, gave them a chance in this series. Certain smug Yahoo! sportswriters were publishing snide opinion pieces that the baseball world might as well crown the Mets the champs.
Well, said sportswriters can't be feeling that confident today. Jeff Weaver turned in six outstanding innings - yes, Jeff Weaver. Baby Dunc, also known as Chris Duncan, can't hit lefties and was put in against a lefty that was mowing the Cards down. What does he do? He hits a home run. King Albert retorts immediately after the Mets had scored two early runs with a homer of his own. And Adam... ah, I mean my husband, came in with two on and two out in the top of the eighth and absolutely bedeviled Jose Valentin (who had hurt the Cards earlier) with filthy stuff to end the inning before making similarly quick work of the ninth. I'm so in love with him I don't think it's possible for me to be more. I need to wear my Carpenter shirt tonight because Chris is pitching tomorrow with a chance to punch the Cards' ticket to the 2006 World Series, but DAMN. Adam, my baby.
Wow. To say that I'm thrilled with this turn of events would be a major understatement. And I know that I should write about something besides baseball, but baseball is my life right now. And speaking of writing about baseball, that's actually a job of mine. Yep, I'm now a sportswriter for The Phoenix, SLC's school newspaper, as I was recruited by a friend on the softball team who knows about my mutual passions for a) baseball and b) writing. How enthusiastic am I about this job? I already prepared a piece - 700 words on the World Series. I did two versions of it, one with the Mets as NL champs and one with the Cards as NL champs. I pray I never have a need to send the Mets' one to my editor.
The Mets have to be worried. They admitted they felt tremendous pressure to wrap this up in six games, and now that's not possible, unless of course the Cards wrap up things in six games, which they have a good chance of doing with Carp on the mound tomorrow. They have to win two games started by John Maine and Oliver Perez while the opponent throws the NL Cy Young winner and a guy with a 2.39 ERA after the All-Star break. That has to be in their heads just a little bit. Game Fives are pivotal for series that are tied at 2 - something like 6 of 7 teams that won 5 went on to capture the title.
LET'S GO RED-BIRDS!!!!!
Wow. Just wow. I think that the only reason I wasn't crushed about the A's was because the Cardinals were still alive, and making it a respectable series at that. That feeling was vindicated tonight in another amazing Game Five for the Redbirds. Last year at this time, Albert Pujols was launching moonshots off Brad Lidge that probably still have yet to come down, and the series switched back to St. Louis for a sixth game, which the Astros won. Now, the series is switching back to New York for a sixth game, and if the Cards win, they're in. Who would have believed it. No one, absolutely no one, including to some degree myself, gave them a chance in this series. Certain smug Yahoo! sportswriters were publishing snide opinion pieces that the baseball world might as well crown the Mets the champs.
Well, said sportswriters can't be feeling that confident today. Jeff Weaver turned in six outstanding innings - yes, Jeff Weaver. Baby Dunc, also known as Chris Duncan, can't hit lefties and was put in against a lefty that was mowing the Cards down. What does he do? He hits a home run. King Albert retorts immediately after the Mets had scored two early runs with a homer of his own. And Adam... ah, I mean my husband, came in with two on and two out in the top of the eighth and absolutely bedeviled Jose Valentin (who had hurt the Cards earlier) with filthy stuff to end the inning before making similarly quick work of the ninth. I'm so in love with him I don't think it's possible for me to be more. I need to wear my Carpenter shirt tonight because Chris is pitching tomorrow with a chance to punch the Cards' ticket to the 2006 World Series, but DAMN. Adam, my baby.
Wow. To say that I'm thrilled with this turn of events would be a major understatement. And I know that I should write about something besides baseball, but baseball is my life right now. And speaking of writing about baseball, that's actually a job of mine. Yep, I'm now a sportswriter for The Phoenix, SLC's school newspaper, as I was recruited by a friend on the softball team who knows about my mutual passions for a) baseball and b) writing. How enthusiastic am I about this job? I already prepared a piece - 700 words on the World Series. I did two versions of it, one with the Mets as NL champs and one with the Cards as NL champs. I pray I never have a need to send the Mets' one to my editor.
The Mets have to be worried. They admitted they felt tremendous pressure to wrap this up in six games, and now that's not possible, unless of course the Cards wrap up things in six games, which they have a good chance of doing with Carp on the mound tomorrow. They have to win two games started by John Maine and Oliver Perez while the opponent throws the NL Cy Young winner and a guy with a 2.39 ERA after the All-Star break. That has to be in their heads just a little bit. Game Fives are pivotal for series that are tied at 2 - something like 6 of 7 teams that won 5 went on to capture the title.
LET'S GO RED-BIRDS!!!!!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I Condemn The A-Roddian Heresy
[crosses self, crosses self, crosses self]
What's going on? I'm getting there in a minute, once I put my blog muscles back into use after I've spent an evening of alternately doing my homework and telling myself that I should. I've exhausted my profundity quota for the night with my dismantling of A-Rod over on Viva El Birdos, not as if that requires you to be profound, only stubborn and with a hide of steel. Reading back over it, I realize that I was way too nice to the little bitch. Especially since some other poster there was tossing around a sacrilegious idea. In his defense, it came from the spawning fount of stupidity, which is sports talk radio, and not from him.
The Crank Yankers, evidently realizing that their "buy up superstars" plan to win the World Series has been backfiring for the past few years, have decided that they're going to go in a rebuilding direction, starting with (reportedly) firing Joe Torre. No official word on it yet. I personally believe that this is incredibly stupid. Joe manages all those gargantuan egos as best as he can, and he can only work with whatever Georgie's cash supplies for him.
Okay. I'm getting to the blasphemous part. I don't know if the Yankees actually brought up the name or if some bored sports commentator had a spreadsheet in front of him and picked out a name at random. Whatever it was, it was heresy. They suggested a possible Yankees/Cardinals trade. To the Cards: A-Rod. To the Yanks: Adam, and/or Anthony Reyes and presumably, lots of cash.
I'm sorry. I need to continue this post in a moment. I just had an aneurysm.
If you're interested, this is what I said in relation to that idea. Like I said, I let A-Rod off the hook way too easily, but I'm tired of butting heads with people who think he's a superstar. You know how I feel about Adam. This is like, the worst of all possible trade scenarios. Fortunately, it's total hot air. There's no way the Cards are stupid enough to take on the Yanks' problem player. Right? And even if they do (God, let me die quickly) there's no way they'd cough up Adam to do it.
Grr. You stupid Yankers can never have my husband.
-----
Ahem. Anyway. I thought I'd try out some bloggery that doesn't have expressly to do with baseball, which I have not done much, and which is what I'll be doing once the season is over. (SOB! SOB!) So I thought I'd best dust off my life-bloggery skills, if you all really find that fascinating. (And yes, I'm aware that "you all" is limited to a goofy sixteen-year-old in Colorado. Hi, Gillian. If you're still reading, you little cretin).
Life here is well...different. I can definitely say that for sure. And at the same time, it's not too radically out of line. I still sleep and stay up late, and do homework, and my idea of a fun Saturday night is to hang out in my dorm, write, listen to music, and occasionally purloin a peanut butter sandwich. I am not a party person, and that is just fine with me. I've already made over 20 friends without having to make a spectacle of myself and doing an impression of the Cardinals after they clinched. (To see what I mean, please reference the post beneath this one).
I have activities. I have classwork and conferences and my usual trip to Bronxville, and I also have softball, which is going to be a lot of fun. However, I'm already foreseeing one little problem with that. Nothing major, and certainly nothing big enough to derail me from my desired position, first base, where I've been playing at pretty much every practice and where I dearly hope to stick.
It was just that we were playing a scrimmage game tonight (with eight girls, four on each team) and I realized that I don't quite fit the typical Sarah Lawrence athletic participant model. Let's face it, this is not a school for jocks. It is a school for intellectuals, nerdy intellectuals, slacker intellectuals, and nerdy slackers. Therefore, you can probably understand why we're practically going door-to-door and begging for participants.
Also, the SLC mantra is "go out, play, have fun, don't care about winning." There is just a little problem with this, as admirable as it may be. I DO care about winning. The other team was beating my four-girl team badly at the scrimmage (I think the score was something like 6-0 after three innings) and I was like, "This sucks. Even if it is a freakin' scrimmage game with not even a whole team to scrimmage with."
(In case you're wondering, I went 3-for-4, all singles, and picked a few out of the dirt at first base. Being flexible helps when you are corralling frequently wild throws from your third baseman/shortstop).
This being SLC, all the devoted athletes and competitors are on the team already, and everyone else is just out doing it for a lark...which is perfectly fine, but dammit, I hate losing. Part of the reason that the other half of the team was scoring 4 runs in one inning against our team was because we could not play defense to save our lives. Muffed grounders, bad throws, total misjudgments - you name it, we did it. In their defense, I suppose that's why we have all winter to sharpen up before we start playing actual games against other colleges.
Also, however, I'm having a moment of revelation in that I'm actually starting to understand one of the major, major baseball cliches: "Get a pitch you can hit and try not to do too much with it." If you're up there, have a good stance, not doing anything funny with your feet or hands, and have a mechanically sound grip, etc., then you have a pretty good chance of doing something. Gaah, I'm going to end up in that scene from Bull Durham, I just know it, which I am going to have to actually watch now that I am at college and can get R-rated movies whenever I want.
Speaking of movies, I rented several from the library. The Bronxville Public Library is very nice, with a decent collection, and the free-movie situation makes it ideal for a college student such as myself. But since Sarah Lawrence is apparently in Yonkers despite having a Bronxville address, it'll take a little while longer to get my card. Whatever, Westchester municipality planners.
On that note, I love Bronxville. It's a cute and comfortable little town with shops and trees and it's my personal weekend retreat from campus. It is, in fact, equipped with coffee shops - two of them, in fact, which was something that my dad was concerned about when we first came out here last year. There's Starbucks, which is always good, and then Slave to the Grind, which has the whole Seattle/Pacific Northwest vibe going for it and makes the world's best muffins. Cappuccino chip. Cinnamon streusel. Mmmmmmm.
I love my freedom. I like not having parents to nag me, and I like doing what I want (well, to some degree) when I want to. I can eat dinner, go to bed, wake up, go where I want, etc., and not have to answer for it. However, there is one really weird thing that I'm missing, aside from the usual home/family thing, and that is: driving. I'm serious. I really miss the days when I could hop behind the wheel and drive somewhere. Especially since my family apparently got rid of our two stick-shifts and got a freakin' automatic instead. Feh. Americans are evidently too lazy to drive manual-transmission, so they stopped making them. :( Yet another reason I can't wait to go to Oxford. ;)
There are also some aspects to college life that are quite interesting and probably shouldn't be written about here in case they were accidentally read by the person that is the subject of it. Let's just say that yeah, I want a boyfriend, and it'd be nice, and yeah, one of my hobbies is being uselessly horny, and yes, I have all sorts of X-rated imaginings that definitely cannot be written about, but I cannot imagine ever doing some of the stuff that people talk about. I mean.... eeeew.
What should I be doing? Finishing my piece for tomorrow's writing class. At least I got the reading done, although I probably should have written up my customary blurb about each story. Tomorrow, I need to re-read Spinoza, again, finish up Freud, read a few chapters in The Anglo-Saxons for history, and give my story to Joan at conference. And I should probably write up the blurbs before I fall behind. I live in mortal fear of doing that. I am also disgusting myself with my apparent habit of slacking off on the weekends, so I cram on Monday before my first class, which is at 3:30. It is nice not to have to wake up right away. I am opposed to morning people on principle.
Okay. It's 1:00 AM. I either need to do a little more homework, or go to bed. Butterfly kisses and rainbow wishes to you all. Or whatever.
What's going on? I'm getting there in a minute, once I put my blog muscles back into use after I've spent an evening of alternately doing my homework and telling myself that I should. I've exhausted my profundity quota for the night with my dismantling of A-Rod over on Viva El Birdos, not as if that requires you to be profound, only stubborn and with a hide of steel. Reading back over it, I realize that I was way too nice to the little bitch. Especially since some other poster there was tossing around a sacrilegious idea. In his defense, it came from the spawning fount of stupidity, which is sports talk radio, and not from him.
The Crank Yankers, evidently realizing that their "buy up superstars" plan to win the World Series has been backfiring for the past few years, have decided that they're going to go in a rebuilding direction, starting with (reportedly) firing Joe Torre. No official word on it yet. I personally believe that this is incredibly stupid. Joe manages all those gargantuan egos as best as he can, and he can only work with whatever Georgie's cash supplies for him.
Okay. I'm getting to the blasphemous part. I don't know if the Yankees actually brought up the name or if some bored sports commentator had a spreadsheet in front of him and picked out a name at random. Whatever it was, it was heresy. They suggested a possible Yankees/Cardinals trade. To the Cards: A-Rod. To the Yanks: Adam, and/or Anthony Reyes and presumably, lots of cash.
I'm sorry. I need to continue this post in a moment. I just had an aneurysm.
If you're interested, this is what I said in relation to that idea. Like I said, I let A-Rod off the hook way too easily, but I'm tired of butting heads with people who think he's a superstar. You know how I feel about Adam. This is like, the worst of all possible trade scenarios. Fortunately, it's total hot air. There's no way the Cards are stupid enough to take on the Yanks' problem player. Right? And even if they do (God, let me die quickly) there's no way they'd cough up Adam to do it.
Grr. You stupid Yankers can never have my husband.
-----
Ahem. Anyway. I thought I'd try out some bloggery that doesn't have expressly to do with baseball, which I have not done much, and which is what I'll be doing once the season is over. (SOB! SOB!) So I thought I'd best dust off my life-bloggery skills, if you all really find that fascinating. (And yes, I'm aware that "you all" is limited to a goofy sixteen-year-old in Colorado. Hi, Gillian. If you're still reading, you little cretin).
Life here is well...different. I can definitely say that for sure. And at the same time, it's not too radically out of line. I still sleep and stay up late, and do homework, and my idea of a fun Saturday night is to hang out in my dorm, write, listen to music, and occasionally purloin a peanut butter sandwich. I am not a party person, and that is just fine with me. I've already made over 20 friends without having to make a spectacle of myself and doing an impression of the Cardinals after they clinched. (To see what I mean, please reference the post beneath this one).
I have activities. I have classwork and conferences and my usual trip to Bronxville, and I also have softball, which is going to be a lot of fun. However, I'm already foreseeing one little problem with that. Nothing major, and certainly nothing big enough to derail me from my desired position, first base, where I've been playing at pretty much every practice and where I dearly hope to stick.
It was just that we were playing a scrimmage game tonight (with eight girls, four on each team) and I realized that I don't quite fit the typical Sarah Lawrence athletic participant model. Let's face it, this is not a school for jocks. It is a school for intellectuals, nerdy intellectuals, slacker intellectuals, and nerdy slackers. Therefore, you can probably understand why we're practically going door-to-door and begging for participants.
Also, the SLC mantra is "go out, play, have fun, don't care about winning." There is just a little problem with this, as admirable as it may be. I DO care about winning. The other team was beating my four-girl team badly at the scrimmage (I think the score was something like 6-0 after three innings) and I was like, "This sucks. Even if it is a freakin' scrimmage game with not even a whole team to scrimmage with."
(In case you're wondering, I went 3-for-4, all singles, and picked a few out of the dirt at first base. Being flexible helps when you are corralling frequently wild throws from your third baseman/shortstop).
This being SLC, all the devoted athletes and competitors are on the team already, and everyone else is just out doing it for a lark...which is perfectly fine, but dammit, I hate losing. Part of the reason that the other half of the team was scoring 4 runs in one inning against our team was because we could not play defense to save our lives. Muffed grounders, bad throws, total misjudgments - you name it, we did it. In their defense, I suppose that's why we have all winter to sharpen up before we start playing actual games against other colleges.
Also, however, I'm having a moment of revelation in that I'm actually starting to understand one of the major, major baseball cliches: "Get a pitch you can hit and try not to do too much with it." If you're up there, have a good stance, not doing anything funny with your feet or hands, and have a mechanically sound grip, etc., then you have a pretty good chance of doing something. Gaah, I'm going to end up in that scene from Bull Durham, I just know it, which I am going to have to actually watch now that I am at college and can get R-rated movies whenever I want.
Speaking of movies, I rented several from the library. The Bronxville Public Library is very nice, with a decent collection, and the free-movie situation makes it ideal for a college student such as myself. But since Sarah Lawrence is apparently in Yonkers despite having a Bronxville address, it'll take a little while longer to get my card. Whatever, Westchester municipality planners.
On that note, I love Bronxville. It's a cute and comfortable little town with shops and trees and it's my personal weekend retreat from campus. It is, in fact, equipped with coffee shops - two of them, in fact, which was something that my dad was concerned about when we first came out here last year. There's Starbucks, which is always good, and then Slave to the Grind, which has the whole Seattle/Pacific Northwest vibe going for it and makes the world's best muffins. Cappuccino chip. Cinnamon streusel. Mmmmmmm.
I love my freedom. I like not having parents to nag me, and I like doing what I want (well, to some degree) when I want to. I can eat dinner, go to bed, wake up, go where I want, etc., and not have to answer for it. However, there is one really weird thing that I'm missing, aside from the usual home/family thing, and that is: driving. I'm serious. I really miss the days when I could hop behind the wheel and drive somewhere. Especially since my family apparently got rid of our two stick-shifts and got a freakin' automatic instead. Feh. Americans are evidently too lazy to drive manual-transmission, so they stopped making them. :( Yet another reason I can't wait to go to Oxford. ;)
There are also some aspects to college life that are quite interesting and probably shouldn't be written about here in case they were accidentally read by the person that is the subject of it. Let's just say that yeah, I want a boyfriend, and it'd be nice, and yeah, one of my hobbies is being uselessly horny, and yes, I have all sorts of X-rated imaginings that definitely cannot be written about, but I cannot imagine ever doing some of the stuff that people talk about. I mean.... eeeew.
What should I be doing? Finishing my piece for tomorrow's writing class. At least I got the reading done, although I probably should have written up my customary blurb about each story. Tomorrow, I need to re-read Spinoza, again, finish up Freud, read a few chapters in The Anglo-Saxons for history, and give my story to Joan at conference. And I should probably write up the blurbs before I fall behind. I live in mortal fear of doing that. I am also disgusting myself with my apparent habit of slacking off on the weekends, so I cram on Monday before my first class, which is at 3:30. It is nice not to have to wake up right away. I am opposed to morning people on principle.
Okay. It's 1:00 AM. I either need to do a little more homework, or go to bed. Butterfly kisses and rainbow wishes to you all. Or whatever.
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