tkihshbt wrote:

12:45 p.m. start

TTIB

1. Billy Hamilton (S) CF
2. Brandon Phillips (R) 2B
3. Joey Votto (L) 1B
4. Jay Bruce (L) RF
5. Todd Frazier (R) 3B
6. Chris Heisey (R) LF
7. Devin Mesoraco (R) C
8. Ramon Santiago (S) SS
9. Mike Leake (R) P

St. Louis

1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B
2. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
3. Matt Holliday (R) LF
4. Matt Adams (L) 1B
5. Yadier Molina (R) C
6. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
7. Jon Jay (L) RF
8. Peter Bourjos (R) CF
9. Shelby Miller (R) P
 

Unless Leake gets arrested for shoplifting between now and first pitch ...

tkihshbt wrote:

I'm eating lunch across from Jim Edmonds. Pretty sweet day.

Tell him I said hi, and thanks for that catch off Ausmus in Game 7 of the '04 NLCS.
 

I wonder what the Cardinals record is in games when they have a chance to sweep a series.  Feels like they win fewer than 20% of these games.

forsberg_us wrote:

I wonder what the Cardinals record is in games when they have a chance to sweep a series.  Feels like they win fewer than 20% of these games.

I remember La Russa put such an emphasis on winning series that it almost seemed like he treated the third game after the Cardinals won the first two as a bonus, and there was some chatter during Matheny's first season that he was trying rid the team of that mentality. 
It would piss me off if I were the pitcher. I remember I never liked starting the second game of a doubleheader if we won the first game, because there never seemed to be as much urgency to win the second game.

tkihshbt wrote:

Yep, La Russa was always about winning series and getting five games over .500. Matheny wants to win every day. We won't be seeing many getaway day lineups if the Cardinals have a chance to sweep.

By the way, I prefer La Russa's philosophy on it.

La Russa had a knack for keeping (and because of his resume was able to keep) everyone on the roster involved, which I think is important once you get to October. Matheny, even with two trips to the post-season in his first two years, probably doesn't feel he has La Russa's level of job security yet.
If I were still in a worrying mode instead of my newfound mentality of just enjoying baseball, the only player I'd consistently worry about is Molina. Catcher is so much more of a grueling position than any other position on the diamand, and all those games behind the plate after all these years have got to start taking a toll at some point. And there's no doubt anymore this is Yadi's team.  
 

Tlr getaway game lineups used to drive me nuts.  I felt like he was throwing up the white flag and it was bs to ask a pitcher to go out there and throw 100 pitches with a lesser lineup and fielders behind them.  However it seemed tlr won as many of those games as he lost.  Idk how it happend but it seemed like they put up the runs to win more times then not.  So i kept my mouth shut.  I think in the long run getting the extras in the game and making them feel useful to the team was key to the cardinals being able to grind out 162 games.