***Official 2015 STL Cardinals Thread***

[BigRedChief]

2011 World Series Championship
2012 NLCS. One win from another WS appearance.
2013 World Series. Two wins from another World Series Championship
2014 NLCS. Three wins from another WS appearance

• Made the postseason 10 times in the last 14 seasons.
• Only 1 losing season since 2000.
• Reached the World Series 4 times since 2004 and won as many championships (two) the past eight seasons as it did from 1965 to 2005.
• Made the NLCS 9 times including the last 4 years 2011-2014
• Three million attendance? Take it to the bank.
• 65 post season wins since 2004. 22+ wins more than any other team.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

spoken like a guy who doesn't watch him pitch ... for two years straight

I'll up the bet if you'd like

Please, tell me all of the Edinson Volquez starts you watched when he was with the Pirates, as if that really matters.

Truth is, you're a lonely, worthless mother****er.

Apparently you aren't receiving enough attention in your dead end job and dead end life, so you decide to start trolling this thread. Unfortunately for you, we haven't yet nuked all of our brain cells, so we remember a few things:

1) Your constant berating of people for being bandwagon fans, including DJLN for being a Lakers fan

2) Your past as a Cubs fan

3) Your past as a Rangers fan

4) Your emergence in 2014 as a Royals superfan

And for all your bluster now about Cardinals fans, it was you in the WS thread who was begging me to help explain to your fellow Royals fans (a tradition since September) basic concepts of strategy and statistics.

We get it, you crave attention because you hate yourself and having people look at you, and whether you do it by turning every thread into a referendum on your own stupidity or throwing yourself through a coffee table while a bunch of 19 year olds look at you like an idiot, the end result is the same. You said it yourself last year. Your life sucks and you live a miserable existence. If I was you, I'd hate myself, too.

[Hootie]

is that why PB has a signature making fun of me for being stoked in 2010 about the Royals acquiring Jonathan Sanchez?

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

And for all your bluster now about Cardinals fans, it was you in the WS thread who was begging me to help explain to your fellow Royals fans (a tradition since September) basic concepts of strategy and statistics.

This I do not remember. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but the only 'Hamas' stuff I remember in the postseason threads was you trying to explain to everyone what the Royals needed to do arguing with those who have watched the ****ing Royals play all year long.

[Hootie]

and as for all the personal attacks, I kind of skimmed over them because I don't even know if they're supposed to make me mad or supposed to make me think. I'm just confused by them at this point.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

Meh. Let me put it this way ... if Joe Madden was the Cardinals manager, DJ's Left Nut would find a way to think he was the worst manager in baseball. Just like LaRussa, now with Matheny, and whoever is going to be next.

I will enjoy making Hamas donate that $20 he'll owe me for our Volquez bet, though.

Hey BRC - remember when I said you were engaged in Hootie level dipshittery? Here you go.

Good ol' Hootie - militantly uninformed and proud of it.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

The strike zone has always been a tacit understanding rather than a letter of the law. When the outside is given against lefties, it, like the neighborhood play, is expected, especially given how Wacha was painting it with precision, as indicated by the strikezone map I posted.

You can't expect them not to take umbrage. It's like a ref on the NBA level deciding to enforce traveling with absolute fealty to the rulebook.

But he was enforcing it the same way for both pitchers, was he not?

Teams always argue that they just want a consistent zone - that's exactly what Wacha got last night. And he wasn't asking for strikes to be called strikes, he was asking for balls to be called strikes just because they usually are.

The 'tacit understanding' is that every umpire has a little different strike zone and that a top of the rotation pitcher is going to be able to figure that out and adapt to it. Last night's zone didn't change all night and it was called the same for both side. If anything, the umpire was giving the low strike a little more often than I prefer (because that pitch is next to impossible to actually do anything with).

Ultimately Wacha got beat off a terrible pitch because the umpire didn't call a strike on a pitch that hadn't been a strike all night and that isn't a strike at all. It was off the outside corner. Expecting a favor there while ahead in the count with the bases loaded at a key spot in the ballgame is asking a bit much, IMO. If a Cardinal were batting and Cub got that pitch called for a strike to end that threat, I think we'd have all been pretty pissed off and justifiably so.

[O.city]

Well, maybe don't throw a guy 6 straight fastballs and it isn't a problem.

Especially when you have the level of change up that Wacha has.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Well, maybe don't throw a guy 6 straight fastballs and it isn't a problem.

Especially when you have the level of change up that Wacha has.

Just like the night before's fair/foul call - don't chuck the damn ball into CF on a routine comebacker and you go into the next inning tied. Had Maness not thrown a temper tantrum then Siegrist doesn't have to come in cold to escape the mess anyway (and if Siegrist isn't all wound up, he takes that half-beat pause you're supposed to take before that basic little 80% throw over the top of the 2b bag).

The Cards did a really poor job over the last 2 nights letting the umpiring get to them. Even in the post-game, Wacha and Matheny were still chirping. Yadi literally started arguing with the umpire when the ball was in play so Matheny couldn't go out there to get in the way and keep Molina from getting tossed. If Yadi finishes the play out and then looks to bark at the ump, Matheny probably could've have fallen on the grenade and kept Molina in the game.

Like I said - settle it on the field. Neither of those instances were so egregious that they should have spent any more time wound up about them.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Just like the night before's fair/foul call - don't chuck the damn ball into CF on a routine comebacker and you go into the next inning tied. Had Maness not thrown a temper tantrum then Siegrist doesn't have to come in cold to escape the mess anyway (and if Siegrist isn't all wound up, he takes that half-beat pause you're supposed to take before that basic little 80% throw over the top of the 2b bag).

The Cards did a really poor job over the last 2 nights letting the umpiring get to them. Even in the post-game, Wacha and Matheny were still chirping. Yadi literally started arguing with the umpire when the ball was in play so Matheny couldn't go out there to get in the way and keep Molina from getting tossed. If Yadi finishes the play out and then looks to bark at the ump, Matheny probably could've have fallen on the grenade and kept Molina in the game.

Like I said - settle it on the field. Neither of those instances were so egregious that they should have spent any more time wound up about them.

Exactly.

Although I will defend Maness a little in that angel was behind t he plate. Angel is angel so I get it.

[L.A. Chieffan]

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/...uding-children

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Just like the night before's fair/foul call - don't chuck the damn ball into CF on a routine comebacker and you go into the next inning tied. Had Maness not thrown a temper tantrum then Siegrist doesn't have to come in cold to escape the mess anyway (and if Siegrist isn't all wound up, he takes that half-beat pause you're supposed to take before that basic little 80% throw over the top of the 2b bag).

The Cards did a really poor job over the last 2 nights letting the umpiring get to them. Even in the post-game, Wacha and Matheny were still chirping. Yadi literally started arguing with the umpire when the ball was in play so Matheny couldn't go out there to get in the way and keep Molina from getting tossed. If Yadi finishes the play out and then looks to bark at the ump, Matheny probably could've have fallen on the grenade and kept Molina in the game.

Like I said - settle it on the field. Neither of those instances were so egregious that they should have spent any more time wound up about them.

I would imagine with Yadi it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. They all knew it was the same guy that made the call the previous night and he had a tight zone all night. Even if a fair zone, it will annoy the catchers and pitchers. Then you have a high pressure situation in a game that the Cardinals desperately need to win and Wacha makes an amazing pitch that doesn't get the 50/50 call. Next pitch gets smoked and at that point Yadi obviously had enough. I am not saying he was right but I get it. It was also funny in hindsight to watch guys crossing home plate behind him while he was screaming at the umpire.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

Being a die hard RedBird fan, I gotta question Yadi getting the hook there. They were chirping at home plate all game, but this is the Majors, he's a rookie ump I think and that strike zone was super tight.

The strike zone wasn't bad. I don't have a problem with Matheny and Yadi getting ejected.

Manness, OTOH, had every right to be ****ing pissed due to the blown call about the ball being called fair when it wasn't.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

But he was enforcing it the same way for both pitchers, was he not?

Teams always argue that they just want a consistent zone - that's exactly what Wacha got last night. And he wasn't asking for strikes to be called strikes, he was asking for balls to be called strikes just because they usually are.

The 'tacit understanding' is that every umpire has a little different strike zone and that a top of the rotation pitcher is going to be able to figure that out and adapt to it. Last night's zone didn't change all night and it was called the same for both side. If anything, the umpire was giving the low strike a little more often than I prefer (because that pitch is next to impossible to actually do anything with).

Ultimately Wacha got beat off a terrible pitch because the umpire didn't call a strike on a pitch that hadn't been a strike all night and that isn't a strike at all. It was off the outside corner. Expecting a favor there while ahead in the count with the bases loaded at a key spot in the ballgame is asking a bit much, IMO. If a Cardinal were batting and Cub got that pitch called for a strike to end that threat, I think we'd have all been pretty pissed off and justifiably so.

Those "balls" that are called strikes aren't balls. The zone interpretation of ML umpires has established that they are strikes. And you can take the outside pitch to lefties out of it. He bumble****ed the other side of the zone several times, calling several that were on the black of the traditional zone balls.

If you're going to have a tight zone inside, to the point where you are calling pitches on the black balls, you should have an expansive one outside. Instead, his was a shoebox.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Those "balls" that are called strikes aren't balls. The zone interpretation of ML umpires has established that they are strikes. And you can take the outside pitch to lefties out of it. He bumble****ed the other side of the zone several times, calling several that were on the black of the traditional zone balls.

If you're going to have a tight zone inside, to the point where you are calling pitches on the black balls, you should have an expansive one outside. Instead, his was a shoebox.

I'm sure the Cards would have been just fine with it had the roles been reversed.

It's sour grapes because Wacha followed it up with a shitty pitch. The hitter probably should have protected and had Wacha thrown that pitch to that spot again, every umpire in baseball would have rung him up - instead Wacha threw a cripple pitch.

I have no problem with that being called a ball and if it's ever called a strike against the Cardinals in that situation, I'll be livid. You would be as well. It had not been a strike all night - Wacha knew that, Molina knew that. They had no grounds to complain.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BDj23

This thread would be a whole lot better I'd hootie weren't allowed in it.

This is the 9th year of this thread. All the post season threads etc. We have banned LA Chiefs fan one year because he was such a troll that year. And maybe 2-3 non-regular Planeteers that are royals fans for being a dumbass. Thats a long history of us not being thin skinned about people flipping shit to us.

You guys want to ban more often, its up to the group.