Pitching matchups:

Loshe vs Arroyo

McCellan vs Cueto

Carp vs Wood

I was listening to 101.1 radio with D-Farr talking about this series. The question simply was, do you retaliate against Cueto? D-Farr said, "As soon as he steps in the box, I'm drilling him. I'll pay the fine, take the suspension, whatever. You tell Batista you will need him for long relief, prep your pen for the long game, and put a fastball in his ribs."

They were skeptical of it, he replied.... "I once took a 7500.00 NFL fine for racking Steve Young, I did it because Dana Stubblefield was getting filthy hits on Tony Banks, and the refs weren't calling it. I told him at halftime if he did it again, I was going to go get his QB. He did, and I hit Steve Young, then I REALLY hit him. Best 7500.00 I ever spent, I had my wallet ready. You can limp into the playoffs now, enjoy it, and blame Stubblefield for it."

Obviously baseball players are not nearly so "out in the open" about this kind of thing, but Larue was a clubhouse buddy to the entire pitching staff, and this ended his career. It's hard to say you expect retaliation, because sometimes they will sit on this for a bit, maybe the second time they play him, or his 2nd at bat....

My curiousity becomes seriously piqued however by the absense of TLR. Pettini is the (acting) manager, and that could mean nothing goes down here, or it could mean that it blows up bigtime. Let's assume you tag Cueto (a bad move from the game perspective, normally you hit someone that you would be apt to intentionally walk, but in this case, it would happen to Cueto). That's going to leave Dusty Baker with a plunked Cueto, so what do you think happens then? He's going to plunk Holliday, Berkman, or Pujols. Now you really have a shitstorm, because that means Votto is getting tagged, and probably Phillips just because we're settling scores, and he an ass.

Anytime you can easily envision this shit going down.... This could be a game for the ages. Tivo it.

Yeah, the only way the Cardinals should go after Cueto is if the game is out of hand. I wouldn't be surprised if McClellan were tossed immediately after hitting Cueto.

I think Pettini would really upset La Russa if he did such a thing because La Russa despises throwing at hitters.

artie_fufkin wrote:

I'd do nothing tomorrow night. Cueto's a coward, so he'll sweat, and squirm and figdet. Let him. The best way to pay him back tomorrow is to hang about nine runs on his ass. There's plenty of season left.

I would be nice to let him sweat but I am ready for him to get nailed.  Plus I like the idea of these two teams hating eachother.

i think Alz's story shows the way.  Which is worse, plunking Cueto and making him feel pained but justified, or drilling Votto and making the whole team hate Cueto?  artie's suggestion of making cueto squirm isn't a bad one either, a baseball-ian version of the sword of damocles.

the bastard in me would do it like this: claim McClellan has an unspecified problem and is only available i case of emergency.  use our hardest throwing reliever, who we can accept being suspended, to start the game.  i'd use motte, but i don't want him suspended, so it might have to be batista.  drill votto first pitch first inning and be done with it.  then bring mcclellan in.

Last edited by Max (5/13/2011 6:03 pm)

Max wrote:

APRTW wrote:

I would rather have green leading off

NOOOOOooooo. Let's put all that speed on base just before the pitcher comes to bat.  That ought to scare 'em!

If Greene played everyday he a 50 SB guy at least.  I think it would be worth giving him the gig for that reason.  I hope he proves he can hit .280 this year and forces he way on the team in 2012.

Last year was so boring for me to watch.  This year has been alot more fun.  Descalso has been clutch.

Don't like the way this one's shaping up. Cards are going to run out of pitchers, be forced to go to Franklin who will promptly blow it.

Never mind. Motte blows it before Franklin gets the chance.

Not a good night for the bullpen, and not a good start to this series.