***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 BigRedChief

When Carp and Peralta are slumping, hitting #2/#3 we are going to have issues. Having Holliday back in there will make us much better offensively.

We got a big lead in the division. Pitching wins playoff games. We should be fine by October.

No. This team will go into enough of an offensive funk in the playoffs to lose three straight and get bounced, and because this team is terrible at manufacturing runs, it's unlikely they'll be able to cobble a few together even when the bats are cold.

[bdj23]

Pham is making an impression

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Bring in Reynolds, move Carpenter to second, and bench Wong for the rest of the game. That shit is inexcusable.

Such stupid ****ing baserunning from this team.

[Miles]

BJ Upton might be the worst big money contract for a position player that turned into such rotting garbage that wasn't obviously driven by injury.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BDj23

Pham is making an impression

Won't matter.

Greg Garcia hit ****ing .400 with strong plate appearances even when he was making outs.

Yet Kozma stays and Garcia gets demoted when Matheny's dumb ass thinks we need 13 pitches again.

When Holliday and Jay are healthy, if Pham is extremely lucky he'll get buried on the bench where he'll see 2 ABs/wk while wasting the few remaining prime years he has.

More likely is that we'll just ship his ass back to Memphis and probably end up losing him as a Rule 5 pick or 6 year minor league FA. The organization won't make a home for him when they have such luminaries as Jon ****ing Jay on the roster.

Honestly, this last Garcia demotion may have just ruined this team for me. I'm so goddamn tired of seeing failure rewarded. This team isn't a meritocracy. It's Mike Guys and then the rest of the team. Jay, Cruz and Kozma simply cannot be removed from their favorite son status and our moron manager needs 13 pitchers but only uses 10 of them anyway.

I really hate the leadership of this team. Moreover, I hate that Mike Matheny is getting credit as some sort of wizard when it fact the Cardinals are winning because this starting staff is pitching out of its mind. I could win 85 games with a starters ERA over a run better than league average.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

No. This team will go into enough of an offensive funk in the playoffs to lose three straight and get bounced, and because this team is terrible at manufacturing runs, it's unlikely they'll be able to cobble a few together even when the bats are cold.

Exactly.

This idea that the Cardinals are 'finding ways to win ballgames' is largely bullshit.

They have one way to win ballgames - hope the starter gives up 2 ER or fewer and the bullpen throws enough donuts for the Cardinals to scratch out 3. They aren't a team that creates runs with speed. They aren't a team that can use power to come back from a deficit.

This is a one-trick team. I don't care how many games they win in the regular season, they'll get out-managed in October and they'll probably lose at least 1 game because they didn't have their best team in the field. Combined with their complete lack of offensive versatility, I'm guessing they're a one and done squad.

Pitching's the great equalizer, but this team is capable of going weeks without generating sufficient offense. You can't get through October that way.

[Miles]

The reliance on the pitching is reminding me of regular season Giants but without the large pitching friendly parks of that division.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Won't matter.

Greg Garcia hit ****ing .400 with strong plate appearances even when he was making outs.

Yet Kozma stays and Garcia gets demoted when Matheny's dumb ass thinks we need 13 pitches again.


I really hate the leadership of this team. Moreover, I hate that Mike Matheny is getting credit as some sort of wizard when it fact the Cardinals are winning because this starting staff is pitching out of its mind. I could win 85 games with a starters ERA over a run better than league average.

Every team's fans are unhappy with their manager most of ther time. Bouchy may be the best manager in baseball. Take a look at their forums. Just part of being a fan.

I agree and have railed on here about the bible study group getting playing time over other players that have earned that time. It's a double edged sword with him. No one can dispute that the players play hard for him. They are on the same page in the clubhouse/locker room. Thats the main job of the manager.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Won't matter.

Greg Garcia hit ****ing .400 with strong plate appearances even when he was making outs.

Yet Kozma stays and Garcia gets demoted when Matheny's dumb ass thinks we need 13 pitches again.

We are talking about a sub and pinch hitter. I ****ing hate Kozma but Garcia will not be the difference maker.

[Miles]

Hopefully a market for a 1B replacement develops because it has been a wasteland after Adams went down (not that it wasn't when he was healthy). So far it has seemed there isn't all that much out there for a position that is cheap/reasonable to fill. Getting creative with moving Holliday to 1st might sound nice but he hasn't played an inning in his career out of LF.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Pitching's the great equalizer, but this team is capable of going weeks without generating sufficient offense. You can't get through October that way.

I disagree. All the world Series winning teams have had great pitching. They have beat run scoring offensive teams along the way. Pitching wins World Series's.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Miles

Hopefully a market for a 1B replacement develops because it has been a wasteland after Adams went down (not that it wasn't when he was healthy). So far it has seemed there isn't all that much out there for a position that is cheap/reasonable to fill. Getting creative with moving Holliday to 1st might sound nice but he hasn't played an inning in his career out of LF.

I don't understand why they are not giving Piscotty some time at 1B this year. See if its a possibility for next year.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Every team's fans are unhappy with their manager most of ther time. Bouchy may be the best manager in baseball. Take a look at their forums. Just part of being a fan.

I agree and have railed on here about the bible study group getting playing time over other players that have earned that time. It's a double edged sword with him. No one can dispute that the players play hard for him. They are on the same page in the clubhouse/locker room. Thats the main job of the manager.
We are talking about a sub and pinch hitter. I ****ing hate Kozma but Garcia will not be the difference maker.

Agree with all of that.

Still **** Kozma. I haven't had much chance to watch the games regularly but does he at least still play good D like he used to? Likely asked that some other time recently but how he is on the roster is ****ing annoying even though was a very likable guy when not completely sucking ass.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Miles

Agree with all of that.

Still **** Kozma. I haven't had much chance to watch the games regularly but does he at least still play good D like he used to? Likely asked that some other time recently but how he is on the roster is ****ing annoying even though was a very likable guy when not completely sucking ass.

Last time he played in place of wong, he made two errors that cost us the game.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Last time he played in place of wong, he made two errors that cost us the game.

Ugh.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Every team's fans are unhappy with their manager most of ther time. Bouchy may be the best manager in baseball. Take a look at their forums. Just part of being a fan.

I couldn't give a single **** about 'every team's fans'. I don't speak for them and I damn sure won't be saddled with their idiocy. I don't universally hate my teams managers. I'm a fan of Reid, was a fan of Quenville, can't stand Byron Scott but actually like D'Antoni when everyone else hated him. I'm a LaRussa fan.

Stop with this 'all fans hate their managers' bullshit. It's Hootie garbage that doesn't actually mean anything. I personally do not hate all my team's head coaches/managers. This particular manager, on the other hand, is an addle-brained ****ing half-wit.

I agree and have railed on here about the bible study group getting playing time over other players that have earned that time. It's a double edged sword with him. No one can dispute that the players play hard for him. They are on the same page in the clubhouse/locker room. Thats the main job of the manager.

And this gets back to what I was saying earlier - overblowing how this team wins games. What do you mean 'teams play hard for him'? These guys give away ABs daily. They're unfocused both on the bases and in the field.

They pitch. And pitch and pitch and pitch. This shit about his players playing hard for him is nonsense - he's getting credit for a historic run of success by his starting pitchers. Give me some evidence that his guys 'play harder' than any other group of starters - they damn sure don't do it at the dish, on the field or on the bases.

He just has good pitchers. He's not some master motivator.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I disagree. All the world Series winning teams have had great pitching. They have beat run scoring offensive teams along the way. Pitching wins World Series's.

Says a fan of a team that bludgeoned its way to a WS in 2011 and put together two more pennants on the backs of its offense. The 2013 Red Sox did nothing but hit their way to the championship over the NL's elite offense in STL; both of those teams hit their way to the World Series. The Giants had Bumgarner and crap crap and crap as starters. Prior Giants teams all had above average offenses backing guys like Ryan Vogelsong or Barry Zito.

Teams aren't winning championships 2-1 anymore.