Surely no one from Missouri will tweet something incredibly stupid this year: The 2016 St. Louis Cardinals

This is a funny starting lineup.

Yadi's playing 1B (i'd rather just see him get a rare night off, especially with adams, moss, piscotty, and holliday all capable of playing 1B)

never put piscotty at first

interesting stat on the broadcast just now

they've scored 7+ runs 13 times, most in MLB
they've scored 1 run or less 9 times, second most in MLB

and that lines up with the experience of watching them so far this year. either blowouts against bad teams or incredibly frustrating near shutouts.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/51231442/v660805583/?game_pk=447291

it began with such promise

fyi pete kozma is hitting .172/.274/.237 for the yankees' triple-a club

his best ISO in several years

*drudgesiren* Matheny pulls head out of 2014 stat sheet *drudgesiren*

Jenifer Langosch ‏@LangoschMLB 3m3 minutes ago

#STLCards, who have gotten an awful .186/.270/.333 slash line from their cleanup hitters, try Piscotty in the spot tonight. Diaz to bat 2nd.

but...Piscotty isn't a big first basemen?

?!!??!

although on second thought, maybe matheny can use Piscotty at 1B tonight. then all will be right in the world

looks like Peralta is expected to get rehab work in at both SS and 3B. hoping they go for something like:

Diaz: SS
Peralta: 3B
Carpenter: 1B
Keep one of Moss or Adams, and trade the other.

maybe peralta should get some work at 2B as well

btw reyes is making his first start for memphis on sunday; maybe waino heard the footsteps last night

Marp at 1B today. Matheny reads ILX!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-kxwJES7yA

featuring the world's most unbearable play-by-play announcer

omg you're not joking. holy shit, that guy

that was satisfying

they're really into dumping the gatorade on each other this year aren't they

cardinals acquire Jose Martinez from KC for cash considerations. Jose Martinez is the son of Carlos Martinez, which sounds absolutely amazing but it's the former MLB outfielder Carlos Martinez, not el gallo. he won the AAA batting title last year and had a wRC+ of 177, but he's 27 and has never played in the big leagues.

unrelated, and not blaming his recent 0 fer 17 entirely on this, but hey matheny why don't you give aledmys diaz a game off every once in a while. he's played pretty much every game since he came up

gotta run those kids into the ground

he'll give him two days off, relegate him to pinch-hitting for a few days, then put him back in the 8-hole. diaz is not allowed to hit anywhere except for 8th or 2nd.

adams is hitting .316/.374/.561

why do u hate him

I don't big city, I would just like to get some return on him while he's hitting .316/.374/.561

Or hell, same deal with Brandon Moss.

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-news-analysis-mlb/2016/6/1/11828806/stephen-piscotty-plays-guitar-dislikes-advanced-metrics-wants-to-save

Stephen Piscotty is smart. We have heard all about his Stanford background since he first graced a baseball field wearing the Birds on the Bat. We know he does not like chess, but what other things interest this smart guy? Mark Saxon of ESPN has the answers and one of them is not advanced metrics:

"It bothers me for some reason. I just don't like it and I don't really understand any of it. I just think it takes away so much of what it means to be a well-rounded ball player. I just think of these Little League kids and everybody's talking about these complicated statistics and it's really just about going and playing and competing."

"I get that you play 162 games and the computer can help you out and I think baseball will find a balance for that, but I think it's definitely shifting in a way that is overblown."

Stephen Piscotty is not smart.

wong optioned!

wow, that's the right move but i'm very surprised! at least wong will get some playing time there. i expected that the situation would be resolved by some sort of mid-season trade, or worse, by letting matheny handle it via his famed lineup construction skills

he's killing the ball in memphis, of course. and played center field last night!

thread activity level correlates with enjoyment of season

the time of the year I cry that we need to SELL SELL SELL and then the team proves me wrong.

yeah this recent surge has lifted the pirates' playoff chances to a whopping 14%, ie just enough that they'll hang on to people they should sell

I would be whining more on this thread but I've been traveling.

I haven't seen Jaime pitch for a while, but it wouldn't surprise me if we soon find out he's been pitching hurt for the last month+. I don't think it's time to sell yet, but the answer might depend on how long marp is out.

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kEZYXOyPhHXlQW28qhLlhk5YJHw=/1600x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6799601/ns2.0.png

for those complaining about cardinals devil magic for the last several years, 2016 is the payback

http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ops-differential.png

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cardinals-have-had-historically-horrible-timing/

i'll be seeing them twice next week, Monday at Mets (rootin' agin em) and Friday in Miami (rootin' for em)!

maybe Thurs too as Jose F is pitching and it could be Ichiro 3000 Night.

Grrrrr, wish I could go that Monday game but everything is haywire for me right now. I'm in Chicago right now. sabotaging the baseball operations of the Cubs trying to find a new apartment, and as soon as I get back sometime next week it'll be a frenzy of packing and a thousand errands

well, gbye. :( I'm back in NY evening of Aug 1 if you haven't moved yet!

there's a chance i could make the monday game (check yr facebook)!

also, aledmys diaz had the #1 wRC+ in baseball during March/April (217) AND the #2 wRC+ in baseball during the last 30 days (213)

booooooooooo

yaaaaaaaaay

good night

Mark Saxon ESPN Staff Writer
How hot is Jedd Gyorko (Yes, you read that right)? Not only has he homered in six of his last nine games, his seven homers since July 18 are the most in the majors and they have come over just 32 at-bats. "I don't think people realize how good a player he is," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

jaime going for a maddux, headed into 9th inning with zero runs, 11 strikeouts, one walk, 3 hits, 89 pitches

(and only 2 hits given up by the barve's de la cruz)

looks like oh's getting the call for the 9th, nm

reyes up

weaver too

Holliday broken thumb

lance lynn had TJ on november 10; he is making a rehab appearance in palm beach tonight

not sure i've ever heard of such a thing

whoa
that's the first i'm hearing of it, too. that's insane

then again, that's what you can expect when you follow the cardinal way

trying to follow the unwritten rule of blowing out your not completely healed arm

I expect that matheny will put him in the bullpen, let him sit 3 weeks without pitching, and then deploy him in extra innings during a must-win playoff game

just as The Lord told him to

obviously his agent isn't scott boras

he hits free agency after next season; this seems . . . imprudent