Jose Aroldis Garcia hit his second home run of the night.  Ryan Helsley, in his second start since being called up to AA, pitched 6 innings of no-hit ball.  But he had given up 5 walks.  His era in the 2 games is 1.62.

 

Fors makes a good point about the umpiring being different in the post-season. The more experienced umpires were also better able to ignore Bobby Cox, whose only role was to complain about balls and strikes.
I also partly attribute the Braves' failures in the post-season to lackluster relief pitching. Mark Wohlers was never the same after Jim Leyritz hit that homer off him in the '96 World Series, and John Rocker was, among other things, unreliable.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jose-de-jesus-ortiz/ortiz-cardinals-must-use-depth-to-bounce-leake-from-rotation/article_c7aa5c0b-3959-5e06-8292-2cc567399a1a.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share


Another column by Ortiz that I like. 

For me, it's pretty clear that Weaver is the easy choice.  In the long run, he's probably my fourth choice.  But he's the only one currently on the 40 man roster and he's already started the clock running on his becoming arbitration eligible (I think).

Piscotty coming on strong at Memphis.  So is Flaherty.  No runs through 7 innings.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/minor-league-report-piscotty-smacks-fourth-homer-in-six-games/article_ab64380a-ff3d-5d25-adf3-251a13a10917.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Once again we've got the question of who will be coming off the roster.  One possibility would be to call put Rosey on the DL and go with one less pitcher.  That would mean depending more on Tui.  Which I'd like to see but I don't think the fans or Matheny would go for it.

I'm afraid it means sending out J. Martinez or running Pham through waivers while he is healthy.  But I'd really hate to see that happen to Pham.  And I don't think that is likely as long as they think have a chance of making the playoffs.  Or want the fans to think they do.

What in the hell are the Cards going to do with Wisdom?  Playing in Memphis.  He'll be 26 by the end of August.  This year he is hitting only .249 but has 28 home runs and 80 RBI's.  He's made 15 errors at third this season but is reputed to have good range and the strongest (though maybe not the most accurate) throwing arm of any position player in the organization.
 Even though not on the 40 man at the end of last season, no one grabbed him in the Rule 5 draft.  Possibly because of the number of days he spent on the DL last season.  I would be really surprised to see him clear the draft again this year unless he's on the Cards 40 man.

This little league game is one screwy promotion.

Cards get to have 26 players today.  Piscotty has been called up.

Any bets on who goes to Memphis on Monday?

20 year old Jake Woodford coming on strong at Palm Beach:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/minor-league-report-woodford-wins-pitchers-duel-with-eight-inning/article_cda53a89-6704-579e-9090-0c5078a1424e.html

 

Memphis won the game in the eclipse.  5-1.  Flaherty went 7 innings.  Gave up 1 run, 6 hits.

Wisdom (29) and Valera (6) homered.  Diaz had 2 doubles.  O'Neill 0 for 1, with 2 walks and a stolen base.

don.rob11 wrote:

Voit to Memphis to get the roster to 25 ....

Yes, of course he is, because the alternative is to sit and watch the great Matt Carpenter bitch at the plate umpire every time he calls a strike.

artie_fufkin wrote:

don.rob11 wrote:

Voit to Memphis to get the roster to 25 ....

Yes, of course he is, because the alternative is to sit and watch the great Matt Carpenter bitch at the plate umpire every time he calls a strike.

Rec