Maybe im splitting hairs or monday morning qbing.  I did howerever say i would of went with gregerson and norris to close the game out before i took a couch nap and matheny sent hicks out.  If norris was in fact "sore" i still wouldnt of sent hicks out for a second inning.  He first inning of work wasnt a simple task and i think it was clear by watching that it was time to pull him. 

In fact ill go this far:

Holland is a one inning pitcher as he finds his feet in 2018.  The exception would be if the cards are way ahead or way behind and uneeded for next day use.

Same can be said for gregerson. 

Id send hicks out for a second inning if his first was an extremely low pitch count and the lineup looked favorable. 

Norris would be the one guy id give multiple innings to and that would be relative to the schedule and the availability of the other pitchers for both that game and the next game.

Also weighing into my decision to not throw hicks a second inning would of been his availability for tonights game.  Norris being "sore" one amplifies that.

Bowman, id lock him in a storage closet.

"Holland is a one inning pitcher as he finds his feet in 2018."

Not sure if you were still napping at this point, but Holland looked pretty good last night. His slider was flummoxing the Mets.

APIAD wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"Holland is a one inning pitcher as he finds his feet in 2018."

Not sure if you were still napping at this point, but Holland looked pretty good last night. His slider was flummoxing the Mets.

Yeah i saw that. Commented on it even. I just wouldnt run him out there for multiple innings yet. He needs a few good outings to build confidence. Id hate to see him mow down the first inning of work and then get shelled in the second at this point. A few more outings like last night and my opinion will change.

Matheny has always had his "ahead" guys and his "behind" guys, and I assumed the goal when they signed Holland on March 29 was to get Holland to close with Gregerson, Lyons and Bowman as the "ahead" guys and Tui, Cecil and Leone as the "behind" guys. They had no idea what they had in Hicks except he can throw the ball harder than anyone else on the team, and as an aside it's telling that Matheny almost a month in the season still hasn't figured out how to use him.
I don't necessarily agree with the concept that guys in the bullpen have to have rigidly defined roles. If the manager wants you to come into the game to get outs, it shouldn't matter whether it's the fourth, fifth or ninth inning. But Matheny does believe in steady roles, and right now the only one who appears to have a defined role is Norris as the closer. Unless Matheny forgets he's on the team like he did last night.
 

Last edited by artie_fufkin (4/25/2018 3:23 pm)

I see hicks, leone, gregerson, norris and holland as guys that can be counted on.  The bullpen could be an advantage if maddux could be in charge of it.

Mags wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

Cardinals announce that Flaherty will start on Saturday.

Also, the team is now claiming Norris was unavailable last night with "soreness."  Anyone else feel like that's a pretty lame effort to try to mark the fact that the manager wasn't smart enough to realize you can't save your closer for a save situation in an extra inning game at home?

Fors, do you have any insight into how the decisions on call-ups are made?  Is it strictly up to Mo and Girsh or does Matheny, and perhaps Maddux, have a say?
 

I don’t. I’d be stunned if Maddux has any role. Matheny likely has some input, but not the final say.

I know even when TLR was the manager, he used to say that the front office could stick him with inferior talent, but he didn’t have to play them. So i don’t think ever Tony had final say in roster composition.

Is Carpenter just getting the night off or did someone with a brain finally tell Matheny that Carpenter stinks?

Wong is fast

When was the last time the cardinals scored 7 straight runs without hitting a home run.

I’m surprised Brebbia knew what to do when they called his name.

APIAD wrote:

Gyorko needs to play more

I don’t know. If Gyorko plays, the Cardinals have to bench a guy hitting .167 who can’t play defense.

APIAD wrote:

When was the last time the cardinals scored 7 straight runs without hitting a home run.

1991?

Mags wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Gyorko needs to play more

I don’t know. If Gyorko plays, the Cardinals have to bench a guy hitting .167 who can’t play defense.

I'm trying to think of someone on the Mets that the Cards could use (besides a pitcher) if they would be interested in trading for Kelly and Carpenter.  They could damn sure use Kelly and I think Carp might be a little better than this version Adrian Gonzalez.
 

Adrian Gonzalez has lost every baseball trait he ever possessed, except for his penchant for arguing balls and strikes.