"It just seems that things aren't trending well."

We're seeing the reversion to the mean, TK. They're not the best team in their division, and they may not even be the second-best team in their division. 

artie_fufkin wrote:

"It just seems that things aren't trending well."

We're seeing the reversion to the mean, TK. They're not the best team in their division, and they may not even be the second-best team in their division. 

You mean the Cardinals aren't going to play .640 baseball all year?  Crap!!!

I think they're better than Pittsburgh, and I'm not completely conceding yet that they aren't better than Cincy.  TK is right, Cincy's rotation is more experienced.  But right now their bullpen stinks and with Dusty at the helm, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts putting more and more stress (i.e. innings) on their rotation to make up for the rotation.  We've seen firsthand how quickly things can go south when the starters are gassed come August because they've carried the bullpen for 4 months.

That's not to say we won't have our own problems.  60% of our rotation will be looking at career highs in innings come August.  In all likelihood the division winner is the team that puts itself in the best position after about 120 games and then survives the last 42.

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"It just seems that things aren't trending well."

We're seeing the reversion to the mean, TK. They're not the best team in their division, and they may not even be the second-best team in their division. 

You mean the Cardinals aren't going to play .640 baseball all year?  Crap!!!

I think they're better than Pittsburgh, and I'm not completely conceding yet that they aren't better than Cincy.  TK is right, Cincy's rotation is more experienced.  But right now their bullpen stinks and with Dusty at the helm, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts putting more and more stress (i.e. innings) on their rotation to make up for the rotation.  We've seen firsthand how quickly things can go south when the starters are gassed come August because they've carried the bullpen for 4 months.

That's not to say we won't have our own problems.  60% of our rotation will be looking at career highs in innings come August.  In all likelihood the division winner is the team that puts itself in the best position after about 120 games and then survives the last 42.

That's a pretty good way of looking at it. I stand by my idea that they have to find a reliable veteran to eat some innings. Lance Lynn is better than I often give him credit for (probably because of my own unrealistic expectations of him), but is he ready to be the No. 2 starter in August and September? Is Westbrook going to hold up while continuing to use smoke and mirrors? Who figures as the No. 5 starter? How do you limit Miller's innings?

The best course of action, off the top of my head, is acquiring a veteran, then using some combination of Wacha, Martinez and Kelly to give Miller a skip through the rotation every other week beginning in August. I haven't looked at the schedule and how it would set up for a four-man rotation, but if they could limit him to six or seven starts in the final two months that should leave him semi-fresh in October, assuming the Cardinals make it.

"A RH bench option would be beneficial also."

With Wiggy coming off his best game of the season?

artie_fufkin wrote:

[
Waino can gripe all he wants, but he was done. He got lucky Murphy's double stayed in the park, and he couldn't put away Martin, who he handled pretty easily in Martin's previous at bat.
And MM did double-switch and put Descalso in the ninth spot in the order, so I assume Rosenthal was going to retire one batter in the seventh - which he does if Kozma makes a routine play - and then pitches the eighth. 
But Rosenthal ended up making 17 pitches to get out of the seventh and the Cardinals no longer had the lead. So I don't think it's fair to MM to say that he burned his best setup guy to get only one out. It was set up for Rosenthal to get four outs. 
 

Thanks for setting me straight.

JV wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

[
Waino can gripe all he wants, but he was done. He got lucky Murphy's double stayed in the park, and he couldn't put away Martin, who he handled pretty easily in Martin's previous at bat.
And MM did double-switch and put Descalso in the ninth spot in the order, so I assume Rosenthal was going to retire one batter in the seventh - which he does if Kozma makes a routine play - and then pitches the eighth. 
But Rosenthal ended up making 17 pitches to get out of the seventh and the Cardinals no longer had the lead. So I don't think it's fair to MM to say that he burned his best setup guy to get only one out. It was set up for Rosenthal to get four outs. 
 

Thanks for setting me straight.

It was me, too, JV.  I couldn't watch the game and so didn't understand that perhaps the original idea had been to have Rosenthal pitch for 4 outs.  

JV wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

[
Waino can gripe all he wants, but he was done. He got lucky Murphy's double stayed in the park, and he couldn't put away Martin, who he handled pretty easily in Martin's previous at bat.
And MM did double-switch and put Descalso in the ninth spot in the order, so I assume Rosenthal was going to retire one batter in the seventh - which he does if Kozma makes a routine play - and then pitches the eighth. 
But Rosenthal ended up making 17 pitches to get out of the seventh and the Cardinals no longer had the lead. So I don't think it's fair to MM to say that he burned his best setup guy to get only one out. It was set up for Rosenthal to get four outs. 
 

Thanks for setting me straight.

Didn't mean for it to be a ham-fisted response. I'm tired. Not just because I stayed up to watch the game. I would have been awake anyway because it was 90 degrees here last night and we don't have a/c. 
 

artie_fufkin wrote:

It's silly.
 

Yes, and it makes the sweep sting all the worse.