Tagged: Felipe Lopez
Should Cards Have Made One More Free Agent Move?
Little has been said regarding the Cardinals’ free agent signings other than, “glad we got Holliday back,” but one more signing could haveset them in a far better position regarding their pitching staff.
A proven winner, Chien-Ming Wang, was on the market until just recently after being signed by the Washington Nationals.
Wang, a previous two-time 19-game winner for the New York Yankees, has proven his ability to pitch, when healthy, in the tenacious American League East. Previously with the Yankees, Wang injured himself running the bases in Arizona, and has struggled each of the last two seasons, only making a total of 24 starts.
Despite health issues, Wang looks as if he’s recovered from his right shoulder strain and bursitis he suffered last season, and is in good form for the upcoming campaign.
The Cardinals signed the always-dangerous Brad Penny this offseason for $7.5 million base salary, with a $1.5 million possible incentive bonus.
Penny struggled early on last season with Boston, but was sent to the Giants, where he returned to old form, managing a 4-1 record in six starts. His struggles in the AL East are what shipped him right out of town.
Wang, who has won many games in the AL East, slipped out of the Cardinals’ grasp without even a consideration.
Hesitation on the side of the Cardinals, as well as many other teams, allowed Washington to snatch Wang up, for a humble $2 million base salary with an additional million in possible incentives.
It looks as if, with the current payroll, the Cards have about $7 million to work with, according to Matthew Leach, Cardinals MLB.com Beat Writer.
The team supposedly wanted to wait until Spring Training or later to make a move that will bolster the team at any position. The Cardinals have made it known they are seeking help in a few positions: third base, back-end rotation help, and a left-handed bat off the bench.
A main target of the Redbirds for third base help is Felpie Lopez, who had a brief stint with the Cardinals in ’08. David Freese currently sits as the favorite to win the job, who has had his own problems this offseason.
Lopez would most likely take no more than half of the remaining budget of the Cardinals, which begs the question: Why was Wang not a candidate for back-end rotation help?
Instead of looking into the possibility of signing a pitcher with proven dominance, they signed former Cub lefty, Rich Hill.
Hill, with Baltimore a season ago, struggled mightily, recording a .500 record and a 7.80 ERA in 14 games (13 starts).
The departures of Joel Pineiro and John Smoltz left two vacant spots in the rotation, with one being filled by Penny, and the other still up in the air, and no overpoweringly strong favorite heading into Spring Training.
Wang would’ve been that favorite, had he been signed, but instead, it will be battled out by Hill, Jamie Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Mitchell Boggs and Blake Hawksworth.
For the small price to pay for Wang, the upside was tremendous, especially working with one of the most highly touted pitching coaches in the game, Dave Duncan.
Cardinals Done but Rattle D-Backs
Arizona was visiting St. Louis trying to keep their hopes alive to make the playoffs and catch the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, their dream for the postseason was decimated as the Cardinals took three out of four from the snakes. The Cardinals had no chance of making the playoffs when they slipped out of contention and the Mets and Brewers are fighting for the remaining spot in the NL Wild Card.
With having Adam Kennedy asking for a trade if he won’t be playing every day for the Cardinals, it looks like the Cardinals are showcasing him somewhat, giving him every day playing time for the last week or so to give teams the chance to catch some interest. Manager Tony LaRussa was not happy with the comments Kennedy made, especially at the timing in which he expressed his feelings. With Felipe Lopez, the Cardinals might look to keep him around as a starter, which looks to be a pretty good idea considering the way he’s played of late.
It’s nice to see that the St. Louis boys are still fighting with every game, not rolling over and giving up on the season now that a playoff berth is out of the question. Albert Pujols still has soemthing to play for: Three more runs for a 100 run season. The mindset of the players is, “If we can’t get in, why pave an easy way for another team?” That’s exactly the attitude to have in September if you’re out of contention! Watching the Birds still play hard daily is just a testimate to the never say die mentality Tony LaRussa embeds in all of his players.
Cards’ Wings Clipped in Rubber Game
Thursday night’s game in St. Louis very well could be the point of no return for the St. Louis Cardinals as they fell to the Chicago Cubs in game three of three game series. With both Houston and Philadelphia winning while Milwaukee lost, a shaking up of the Wild Card standings was inevitable. St. Louis remained 4.5 games back of the Brewers, while the Astros passed them up in the standings, moving to 3 games back with the Phillies. Tony LaRussa’s ball club would have it hard enough to be chasing two teams, now adding a third team to the mix makes it that much more difficult for the Cardinals to find a way into the playoffs.
A tight ballgame was being had in St. Louis, with pitching that was very solid for the first 4 innings of the matchup. Todd Wellemeyer and Rich Harden both performing well with the rain falling in St. Louis. Unofrtunately, Wellemeyer would be on the bad end of an error from sure-handed firstbasemen, Albert Pujols. Uncharacteristically of Pujols, everyone in the ballpark was in disbelief as the error allowed two Cub runners to cross home plate later in the inning. Two runs were only given up by Wellemeyer, both unearned. St. Louis got themselves on the board in the bottom of the 6th-inning when Albert (Pujols) dobuled to left that scored Aaron Miles. Pujols’ RBI double gave him 100 RBI’s on the season and puts him in company with Al Simmons and Ted Williams as the only players in history to begin his career with eight straight 100-RBI season. Felipe Lopez followed Ryan Ludwicks groundout with a sharp single to center, scoring Pujols easily. The 6th-inning would be the only inning the Cardinals would manage to score in, as they were shut down the rest of the way, but not without threatening, though.
In the bottom of the 8th-inning, Aaron Miles lead off the inning with a single, bring up the always dangerous Alert Pujols, yet again. Carlos Marmol, who was pitching for the Cubs made an attempted pickoff move to first, but didn’t step off the rubber before faking a throw. Thus is a balk in baseball, which would allow each runner to move up one base. Homeplate umpire, Mike Reilly did not call the balk, which very well could have cost the Cardinals the game. Sadly, I was able to catch the balk instantaneously, while these Major League umpires couldn’t pick it up. Any of the three other umpires could have stepped forward, but no call was made by any of them. As an umpire I know the stress that is put on you, as I umpire youth league baseball from ages 12-18. I hate to blame an umpire for a loss because I’m simply not the person that tries to find excuses for a bad outcome, but this call could have been a huge swing for the Cardinals at that point in the game.
With the Cardinals 4.5 games back in the Wild Card now, the door seems to be closing more rapidly as the Astros continue to make yet another late-season run for a playoff bid. Philadelphia doesn’t look to be going anywhere either with MVP candidate Ryan Howard leading the way for the Phils. Although, the Brewers seem to be fading for the second straight season, that will not be enough, as the Cardinals look to chase Houston and Philadelphia as well. LaRussa has done a great job with keeping this team afloat all season long, let’s just hope the recent injuries won’t be the demise of the St. Louis Cardinals for the 2008 season.
Lilly, Errors too Much for Cardinals
Left-handed veteran starter, Ted Lilly was outstanding in tonight’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lilly improved to 14-9 on the season, but made every bit of this outing count, both on the mound and on the base paths. The first inning was the only hiccup Lilly had on the night, when he allowed a run on an Albert Pujols RBI ground out, bringing his season total to 99. With the first inning behind him, Lilly put the Cardinals on lock for the next seven innings, shutting them out while only allowing four hits in his last seven innings of work without walking a single batter. After a two inning outing against the Reds, Ted Lilly made sure to right the ship for the struggling Cubs, only needing to throw 90 pitches (63 for strikes) to get through eight innings of work.
The mound wasn’t the only place Lilly managed to do damage against St. Louis. After a bunt that lead to an error on Felipe Lopez at third, when he tried to make a force play into a tag play, Lilly reached first on a fielder’s choice. The very next play, Lopez made another error after making a spectacular diving play to his left, got up to make a throw to second, making a low throw in the dirt. Lilly, running to second on the play, didn’t slide and ran over Cardinal second basemen, Adam Kennedy. With Derek Lee at the plate, Lilly tried to score on a soft chopper to Ceaser Iztruis, who threw Lilly out at home. With the close play at home, Lilly went in hard at home, trying to jar the ball loose from Yadier Molina, where Lilly’s knee went into the thigh of Molina. Molina suffered a bruised thigh which would later be the reason for him leaving the game after his at-bat in the bottom of the 4th-inning.
Lou Pineilla would take the ball from Ted Lilly after the 8th-inning and hand it to tenured Cub, Kerry Wood. After a strikeout of Felipe Lopez, Albert Pujols came to the dish, looking to spark some sort of rally for his Cardinals. Pujols doubled to deep right, giving exactly what the Cardinals were looking for; baserunners. Ryan Ludwick took a pitch out to deep right-center for a two run bomb, bringing the Cardinals within a run, while notching his 101st RBI and 33rd homer on the season. Kerry Wood would go on to retire the next two Cardinal batters, one by means of the strikeout, and another on a flyout to center. Wood obtained his 29th save on the year, but has made a number of those saves very interesting, keeping manager Lou Piniella on his toes.
The late-inning surge by the Cardinals was not enough to mount a complete comeback, but shows the type of heart St. Louis has shown all year. Tony LaRussa has his club using the “never-give-up” attitude which has kept them within contention for a playoff berth. Hopefully, the Cardinals can keep that attitude up, and overcome the newest dose of injuries to Troy Glaus and Yadier Molina. It’s up in the air now, but it’s only a matter of time before the playoffs will be set, and the postseason to begin. Intriguing is the most fitting word to use to describe the playoff races down the stretch.
8th-inning rally pushes Cards passed Brew Crew
Hopeful Cardinals fans witnessed a sight that should present more hope for their scrappy bunch of ballplayers. The Milwaukee Brewers came to St. Louis looking to stretch their lead in the Wild Card race, while the Cardinals were looking to the exact opposite.
With a 12-0 victory for the Beer Men, the Cardinals looked like a cellar dwelling team, instead of a lively ball club fighting for a playoff berth. Resiliency has been one term that the Cardinals could use about this season. They’ve always had resiliency. Not going on long losing skids that would resemble the 2006 campaign. Although, we all know what happened in ’06.
In the second of a two game series, St. Louis was trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th-inning, when Ryan Ludwick blasted his 32nd homer on the year, cutting the lead to 3-1. Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin teamed up to pitch scoreless 7th and 8th-innings respectively. After Franklin finished his inning on the mound, the Cardinals came to bat, but with a little more fire than usual. At the end of the 7th, relief pitcher, Carlos Villanueva got out of the inning, and began yelling towards the St. Louis dugout. Pujols, the on deck batter, walked towards Villanueva as he was walking off the mound toward the visiting dugout. Pujols and Villanueva jawed back and forth for about a minute, with homeplate umpire, Phil Cuzzi trying to keep Pujols from going after the right-handed reliever.
Unfortunately, for David Riske, Villanueva got him into trouble. “He woke a sleeping bear” Pujols said. Riske back-to-back doubles, to Pujols and Ludwick, Ludwicks being the latter, also driving in a run. Troy Glaus came to the plate and singled to beat the shift the Milwaukee defense had set for him, plating Ludwick to tie the game at 3. Good baserunning allowed the Cardinals to score the go-ahead run as Glaus took second base on the throw from Mike Cameron to try to cut down Ryan Ludwick at the plate. Yadier Molina did his job, grounding out to the right side, allowing Glaus to advance to third on the play.
Brewers manager, Ned Yost, was playing a matchup as he brought in Brian Shouse to face Skip Schumaker to create a lefty-on-lefty matchup. LaRussa quickly countered with switch-hitting Aaron Miles as a pinch-hitter. Miles hit a groundball to shorstop, J.J. Hardy, in which Troy Glaus bolted home on contact, and with a smart slide was able to avoid the tag of Jason Kendall to give the Cardinals the lead on the fielder’s choice. After a sac-bunt from Braden Looper, Felipe Lopez singled and Miles scored to make the score 5-3 in favor of the Redbirds.
Rookie “closer” Chris Perez took the ball from Tony LaRussa in the top of the 9th-inning, pitching a solid inning. He gave up one hit in the inning, a double to J.J. Hardy, but he fanned the other three batters he faced in the inning. One being his old college teammate, Ryan Braun. Braun battled him nicely, but Perez threw a slider that fooled Braun badly, and sent him back to the bench with his 110th strikeout of the year. Perez blew Prince Fielder away with 94 mph gas to strike him out and end the game.
St. Louis has moved within 3.5 games back of the Brewers for the Wild Card and head into Houston on Firday to wrap up the month of August. Another three games in Arizona to start September, and the Cardinals are back home in St. Louis to take on the Florida Marlins. The Brewers play Pittsburgh for three games, then take on the Mets at home for three. We’ll see if the Cardinals can gain any ground in the Wild Card over the next week.
Birds Claim Game One Against Fish
Monday brought a bounce-back victory for the Cardinals, after losing the rubber game of the 3 game series to the Chicago Cubs. A sweep from the Marlins is what the Cardinals need to keep pace in the NL Wild Card with the Milwaukee Brewers. The 4-2 victory Monday night wasn’t much of an offensive explosion for either team. Joel Pineiro took the mound against Anibal Sanchez, who pitched a no-hitter in 2004. Pinerio pitched seven strong innings, gave up two runs, only one being earned, and fanned four.
Scoring got started early as the Cardinals plated one in the first inning. Rick Ankiel, who had been battling an abdominal strain, singled in the first to bring newly signed Cardinal Felipe Lopez to pay dirt. Pineiro gave up the two runs in the first and second inning, and that was it for the Florida Marlins. In the fourth-inning, the Cards were put on top for good by a Yadier Molina two-run homer to deep left. That homer being the first for Molina since June 20th. Although, Yadi hasn’t had a lot of pop in the bat this year, he’s been a consistent offensive performer. He’s the hardest player in the NL to strikeout, while batting the highest he has in his career, .304. The Cardinals were leading 3-2 heading into the ninth-inning. Joe Mather, who has shown the Cardinals that he possesses power, hit a solo homer to left-center field, putting the Cardinals up by two. With a two run lead, Chris Perez came on for the save, and has put and end to the woes in the back end of the bullpen for the Cardinals. At least for the time being. The flame-throwing right-hander stifled Marlins hitters, after walking Dan Uggla. Uggla was thrown out trying to steal second base by Yadier Molina, with Wes Helms and Cody Ross both striking out to end the game.
Rick Ankiel has come back and looks like he’s at 100% after an abdominal strain held him out of the starting line-up for nearly two weeks. Ankiel will be a good asset to have back on the field both offensively and defensively. Chris Perez looks to be stepping into the closers role nicely and has somewhat sured up the tail end of the bullpen. Down the stretch the Cardinals are going to need all the help they can get while they try to chase down Milwaukee, and Chicago.
Glaus Breaks 0-30 In Big Way Against Cubs
St. Louis third-basemen, Troy Glaus, had been in a deep slump against the Chicago Cubs this year. His .000 batting average made Tony LaRussa ask if Glaus wanted a day off on Saturday, with Glaus replying “No way, I want to play.” Glaus rewarded the Cardinals and his manager by going 3-5 with 2 homers, 5 RBI’s, and 2 runs scored on the way to a Cardinal route of 12-3. Troy had been 0-30 against the Chicago Cubs this year, and his chances didn’t look very good against Cubs ace of the staff, Carlos Zambrano. After the victory, Glaus was asked if he knew what kind of serious slump he’d been in, and claimed he had no idea. It wasn’t just Glaus who saw the ball well out of Big Z’s hand, it was the whole Cardinals team. Albert Pujols and Skip Schumaker both joined the power club on Saturday, nailing a solo homer each. New Cardinal Felipe Lopez had a good day at the plate, going 2-4, driving in a run, and scoring twice.
The Cardinals exploded offensively for twelve runs on Saturday, after only scoring 3 runs in their previous two games. St. Louis will get another tough match-up Sunday night against right-hander Ryan Dempster. Dempster hasn’t faced the Redbirds this season, and has been very effective against the rest of the league. Chris Carpenter will be on the mound for the Cardinals, looking to get his first victory, after taking no-decisions in his previous two starts. Carpenter has looked good in both starts so far, so the Cardinals have something to be very excited about. Sunday will be the rubber game of the series, with both Chicago and St. Louis winning one game a piece.
Cards Ink Infielder Felipe Lopez
Wednesday the St. Louis Cardinals added some depth to their middle-infield by signing the switch-hitting Felipe Lopez. Lopez was recently released by the Washington Nationals after a terrible start to the 2008 season, and was having difficulties getting anything generated offensively. He’s proved to be a decent player over his six-year career, snagging an All-Star appearance in 2005 when he was still with Cincinnati. An aspect that I really like about the signing of Lopez is the speed he brings to the team. St. Louis isn’t known for having speed on the base-paths, so Lopez will help out in that facet of the game for the Cards.
Redbird Report 