Cardinals ***OFFICIAL*** 2013 STL Cardinals Thread - Page 61

**BigRedChief** · 08:16 PM

From Bernie's column:

People have asked me why we’re not more emotional,” Matheny said in his office after Sunday’s game. “They say that we look subdued, always intense. That our actions are methodical, robotic at times. That’s what got us here. This isn’t the time to change it.”

It’s hard to argue with the manager’s assessment. The Cardinals finished with 97 victories, most by a Cards team since 2005, and tied with Boston for No. 1 in the majors this year.

Their 54-27 showing at Busch Stadium matches the 1985 team for the best single-season home winning percentage (.667) by the Cardinals since 1944.

A postseason theme has emerged, and it echoes the mantra that surfaced before the start of 2013: remember the fall of 2012. Remember falling to San Francisco in the NLCS.

The Cardinals’ veterans still haven’t forgotten. They still aren’t over it. It’s why Matheny resists GM John Mozeliak’s urgings to smile and put on a happier face.

Here's the most impressive aspect of the Cardinals' division championship: they prevailed over two other outstanding teams, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

The 97-win Cardinals were better this year (regular season) than they were in 2011, when they won 90 games, and 2012, when they won 88.
Here are a few numbers that help put the Cardinals' Central title and No. 1 NL seed in perspective:

* Since MLB switched to a three-division format in each league in 1994, this was only the sixth time that a division had three 90-plus win teams. St. Louis won 97, Pittsburgh 94, and Cincinnati 90.
* Since the format change, this was only the second time that an NL division had three 90-win teams. In 2002 the NL West had Arizona (98 wins), San Francisco (95) and Los Angeles (92).
* The 2013 Cardinals faced more esteemed and difficult competition at the top of the division than any of the division-winning teams managed by Tony La Russa.

The Pirates were hardly pushovers; the Cardinals had to work like mad and kick in with a strong finish to put the division away, and didn't clinch until Game No. 160.

The Cardinals went 9-10 against Pittsburgh this season and were 11-8 vs. Cincinnati.

The Cardinals won only three of 10 games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and split the 10 games at Cincinnati. The Cardinals were 6-3 against both teams at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals (1st), Pirates (3rd) and Reds (5th) ranked among the top five in wins in the NL. The three teams were among the top 11 in wins in MLB. All three teams finished in the top five in the majors for best overall ERA, and each were in the top five MLB for best starting-pitching ERA.

The original purpose to this piece was to point out that the Cardinals managed to finish with the league's best record while competing in a division that had three 90-win teams for only the second time in the last 19 years of National League baseball.

The Cardinals really earned this.
Thanks for reading ...
— Bernie

'Hamas' Jenkins · 05-22-2013, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Wait, a guy in your league dropped Gyorko LAST WEEK?

Is that guy f***ing high?
.323/.389/.585 in May for Gyorko.

He pulled Heyward off the DL. I couldn't believe the stupidity of the move. I was lucky enough to know that since Gyorko doesn't have a ton of HRs yet he'd probably be overlooked on the wire.

'Hamas' Jenkins · 05-22-2013, 02:44 PM

Jaime is officially done. He's finally going to have the surgery he should have had last year.

Pepe Silvia · 05-22-2013, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Oh no....

There wasn't enough Oh ****s with this pic so I'll just add another, Oh ****.

**BigRedChief** · 05-22-2013, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

Descalso was useful for once. Huh.

Once

**BigRedChief** · 05-22-2013, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Jaime is officially done. He's finally going to have the surgery he should have had last year.

I'm fine if he never returns. You just never knew what he was going to do out there on any given day.

**BigRedChief** · 05-22-2013, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PackerinMo

There wasn't enough Oh ****s with this pic so I'll just add another, Oh ****.

What about...........What the ****?

**BigRedChief** · 05-22-2013, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I loved those guys (except for Maris)

Pepe Silvia · 05-22-2013, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

What about...........What the ****?

SI Curse.

whoman69 · 05-22-2013, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Once

The end of Joe Piscapo's career and the beginning of Michael Keaton's. Odd how that happened.

**BigRedChief** · 05-22-2013, 06:43 PM

Wacha Clock Explained from STLToday

WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR WACHA

I’m trying to put all this in the most accessible terms possible, offering up a verbal flow chart – so to speak – of the mechanisms in place. Examples help. Let’s consider Michael Wacha.

The Cardinals’ top pitching prospect came to the club as the 19th overall pick last summer. Let’s follow his progress through the steps mentioned above …

40-man roster: As a college junior he was older than 19 at the time of the draft, so he has four Rule 5 drafts before he’s eligible for his first one. That means 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 have to pass before he needs to go on the 40-man roster.

Options: It won’t take that long. So, if Wacha is added to the 40-man roster and then sent back to Class AAA at any point this summer, 2013 will be the first of his three option seasons. No one expects him to use all three. In fact, if the Cardinals wait until, say, September to promote Wacha and put him on the 40-man roster then – as they did for Miller and Adam Wainwright – he’ll stay on it all winter. And if he makes the team out of spring training in 2014 he won’t have spent an option at all.
Super Two and Arbitration: Of course, when Wacha reaches the majors his clock starts ticking. In theory, a major-league team has control of a player for 13 years. The four years after the draft and before the 40-man roster, the three option years, and then the six years of service time before free agency. The better the player, the more that clock speeds up because the quicker he gets on the 40-man roster and the quicker he starts accumulating service time in the majors.

The Super Two concern is all about the salary a player can command, not the free agency he can achieve. What bringing up a player now does is puts him in line to reach Super Two status and gain a fourth year of arbitration eligibility.

If Wacha arrived today to pitch tonight and stayed in the majors from now on, he would reach arbitration eligibility before the 2016 season. He will then be eligible in 2017, 2018 and then 2019 before reaching free agency after that year. (There is no Super Five, so if a player hits six years of service time in April or August it’s all the same. Free agency arrives at the end of the season.) A prospect who arrives in August of this season and remains in the majors will be first eligible for arbitration in 2017.

Free Agency: If Wacha starts the 2014 in the rotation or joins it before then, free agency will arrive after he has at least six years of service of time. That will hit after 2019 season.
This is where the formality of all these rules and clauses and clocks comes crashing into reality.

For the elite players, they rarely matter. Allen Craig’s clock doesn’t tick so loud because the team negotiated an extension with him that swallows whole his arbitration years. The Cardinals did the same with Wainwright before that and Albert Pujols before that. Yes, arbitration eligibility does frame each of those extensions. Craig’s salary spikes every year to reflect the arbitration process. A player with an extra year of arbitration rights – a Super Two player – would not only have the leverage for an extension earlier but have those four years of escalators in place.
In that way, five days does matter.

But not as much as you may think.

For many contending teams, one earlier and extra year of arbitration is a palatable exchange for the return on another month or two with an elite player on the roster. The cost isn't as high as the perceived angst.

Mi_chief_fan · 05-23-2013, 05:24 AM

Reds get the Cubs again this weekend; hopefully, they'll begin the MLB part of their schedule soon they've had a lot of Cubs & Marlins already.

Frazod · 05-23-2013, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mi_chief_fan

Reds get the Cubs again this weekend; hopefully, they'll begin the MLB part of their schedule soon they've had a lot of Cubs & Marlins already.

Seriously. Seems like every game they play lately is against a floundering team that's 10 games under.

Thig Lyfe · 05-23-2013, 09:41 AM

hey guys baseball is cool huh

Swanman · 05-23-2013, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frazod

Seriously. Seems like every game they play lately is against a floundering team that's 10 games under.

Not surprisingly, according to ESPN's strength of schedule, the Cards are near the top and the Reds are near the bottom. I don't like having only a 1.5 game lead but in the big picture the Reds have been feasting on bad teams for the better part of the season so far. The Cards just need to keep up until the schedules even out.

Frazod · 05-23-2013, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swanman

Not surprisingly, according to ESPN's strength of schedule, the Cards are near the top and the Reds are near the bottom. I don't like having only a 1.5 game lead but in the big picture the Reds have been feasting on bad teams for the better part of the season so far. The Cards just need to keep up until the schedules even out.

They've pretty much been been owned by the good teams they've played - it looks like they've only won one series against a club with a winning record.

01-25-2013, 05:27 PM
BigRedChief Has a particular set of skills Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: On the water Casino cash: $3149627 VARSITY	*OFFICIAL* 2013 STL Cardinals Thread From Bernie's column: People have asked me why we’re not more emotional,” Matheny said in his office after Sunday’s game. “They say that we look subdued, always intense. That our actions are methodical, robotic at times. That’s what got us here. This isn’t the time to change it.” It’s hard to argue with the manager’s assessment. The Cardinals finished with 97 victories, most by a Cards team since 2005, and tied with Boston for No. 1 in the majors this year. Their 54-27 showing at Busch Stadium matches the 1985 team for the best single-season home winning percentage (.667) by the Cardinals since 1944. A postseason theme has emerged, and it echoes the mantra that surfaced before the start of 2013: remember the fall of 2012. Remember falling to San Francisco in the NLCS. The Cardinals’ veterans still haven’t forgotten. They still aren’t over it. It’s why Matheny resists GM John Mozeliak’s urgings to smile and put on a happier face. Here's the most impressive aspect of the Cardinals' division championship: they prevailed over two other outstanding teams, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The 97-win Cardinals were better this year (regular season) than they were in 2011, when they won 90 games, and 2012, when they won 88. Here are a few numbers that help put the Cardinals' Central title and No. 1 NL seed in perspective: * Since MLB switched to a three-division format in each league in 1994, this was only the sixth time that a division had three 90-plus win teams. St. Louis won 97, Pittsburgh 94, and Cincinnati 90. * Since the format change, this was only the second time that an NL division had three 90-win teams. In 2002 the NL West had Arizona (98 wins), San Francisco (95) and Los Angeles (92). * The 2013 Cardinals faced more esteemed and difficult competition at the top of the division than any of the division-winning teams managed by Tony La Russa. The Pirates were hardly pushovers; the Cardinals had to work like mad and kick in with a strong finish to put the division away, and didn't clinch until Game No. 160. The Cardinals went 9-10 against Pittsburgh this season and were 11-8 vs. Cincinnati. The Cardinals won only three of 10 games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and split the 10 games at Cincinnati. The Cardinals were 6-3 against both teams at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals (1st), Pirates (3rd) and Reds (5th) ranked among the top five in wins in the NL. The three teams were among the top 11 in wins in MLB. All three teams finished in the top five in the majors for best overall ERA, and each were in the top five MLB for best starting-pitching ERA. The original purpose to this piece was to point out that the Cardinals managed to finish with the league's best record while competing in a division that had three 90-win teams for only the second time in the last 19 years of National League baseball. The Cardinals really earned this. Thanks for reading ... — Bernie Last edited by BigRedChief; 10-02-2013 at 08:16 PM..
Posts: 79,009

05-22-2013, 02:44 PM	#902
'Hamas' Jenkins Now you've pissed me off! Join Date: Jan 2006 Casino cash: $8009572	Jaime is officially done. He's finally going to have the surgery he should have had last year. __________________ "When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”--Abraham Lincoln
Posts: 74,825

05-22-2013, 06:43 PM	#910
BigRedChief Has a particular set of skills Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: On the water Casino cash: $3149627 VARSITY	Wacha Clock Explained from STLToday WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR WACHA I’m trying to put all this in the most accessible terms possible, offering up a verbal flow chart – so to speak – of the mechanisms in place. Examples help. Let’s consider Michael Wacha. The Cardinals’ top pitching prospect came to the club as the 19th overall pick last summer. Let’s follow his progress through the steps mentioned above … 40-man roster: As a college junior he was older than 19 at the time of the draft, so he has four Rule 5 drafts before he’s eligible for his first one. That means 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 have to pass before he needs to go on the 40-man roster. Options: It won’t take that long. So, if Wacha is added to the 40-man roster and then sent back to Class AAA at any point this summer, 2013 will be the first of his three option seasons. No one expects him to use all three. In fact, if the Cardinals wait until, say, September to promote Wacha and put him on the 40-man roster then – as they did for Miller and Adam Wainwright – he’ll stay on it all winter. And if he makes the team out of spring training in 2014 he won’t have spent an option at all. Super Two and Arbitration: Of course, when Wacha reaches the majors his clock starts ticking. In theory, a major-league team has control of a player for 13 years. The four years after the draft and before the 40-man roster, the three option years, and then the six years of service time before free agency. The better the player, the more that clock speeds up because the quicker he gets on the 40-man roster and the quicker he starts accumulating service time in the majors. The Super Two concern is all about the salary a player can command, not the free agency he can achieve. What bringing up a player now does is puts him in line to reach Super Two status and gain a fourth year of arbitration eligibility. If Wacha arrived today to pitch tonight and stayed in the majors from now on, he would reach arbitration eligibility before the 2016 season. He will then be eligible in 2017, 2018 and then 2019 before reaching free agency after that year. (There is no Super Five, so if a player hits six years of service time in April or August it’s all the same. Free agency arrives at the end of the season.) A prospect who arrives in August of this season and remains in the majors will be first eligible for arbitration in 2017. Free Agency: If Wacha starts the 2014 in the rotation or joins it before then, free agency will arrive after he has at least six years of service of time. That will hit after 2019 season. This is where the formality of all these rules and clauses and clocks comes crashing into reality. For the elite players, they rarely matter. Allen Craig’s clock doesn’t tick so loud because the team negotiated an extension with him that swallows whole his arbitration years. The Cardinals did the same with Wainwright before that and Albert Pujols before that. Yes, arbitration eligibility does frame each of those extensions. Craig’s salary spikes every year to reflect the arbitration process. A player with an extra year of arbitration rights – a Super Two player – would not only have the leverage for an extension earlier but have those four years of escalators in place. In that way, five days does matter. But not as much as you may think. For many contending teams, one earlier and extra year of arbitration is a palatable exchange for the return on another month or two with an elite player on the roster. The cost isn't as high as the perceived angst. __________________ Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. -YODA
Posts: 79,009

05-23-2013, 05:24 AM	#911
Mi_chief_fan There was an idea..... Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Murfreesboro,TN Casino cash: $9942966	Reds get the Cubs again this weekend; hopefully, they'll begin the MLB part of their schedule soon they've had a lot of Cubs & Marlins already. __________________ Bandwagon Predators Fan!
Posts: 3,517

05-23-2013, 09:41 AM	#913
Thig Lyfe Banned Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Thigpen's America Casino cash: $10004900	hey guys baseball is cool huh
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