Originally Posted by whoman69 (Post 8597737)

Tyler Greene must have got the memo that he is in consideration of being optioned down when Berkman comes back even though he is out of options.

Originally Posted by veist (Post 8599951)

I almost feel bad for the Brewers at this point, Gonzalez also has a torn ACL and is done for the season. Second week in a row they've lost an everyday player for the season to an ACL tear.

Originally Posted by Scott Pilgrim (Post 8600675)

I didnt know we were allowed to play teams out of the central

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8600923)

If they were smart they would bring up some junk throwing left hander who throws a 87 mph fastball. He will have a career day.:shake:

Originally Posted by Scott Pilgrim (Post 8600986)

Craig now has 9 RBIs in `19 ABs. Tied with Pujols who has 9 RBIs in 117 ABs.

Originally Posted by Scott Pilgrim (Post 8600986)

Craig now has 9 RBIs in `19 ABs. Tied with Pujols who has 9 RBIs in 117 ABs.

Originally Posted by veist (Post 8601196)

Now lets just hope he stays healthy this year because he can rake.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 8601671)

There aren't many hitters out there that can (and will) take that pitch and drive it that far to straightaway center.

Pujols would've spun his foot, thrown his hips open, whipped his shoulder out and grounded to SS with it. Holliday would've probably popped it up, though if he were on one of his streaks, he'd have simply muscled it into a liner off the left-center field wall.

But for Craig to simply take the pitch where it was thrown, drop the bathead and drive that mother 450 feet to dead center was incredibly impressive.

The guy is the best pure hitter as the system has produced since Albert. And if you take Albert out, he's likely to end up as the best the system has produced in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by whoman69 (Post 8603761)

Cubs are playing better. They are up to .400 now. At this rate they won't be out of it until July.

Originally Posted by ricoswaff (Post 8603786)

I'm not content until their hopes are completely squashed.

Originally Posted by ricoswaff (Post 8606147)

Wholesome goodness.

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8606161)

More like wholesome badness. Bases loaded, one out in the bottom of the 9th.

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8606190)

Braves lost 2 out of 3 to the Cubs - hopefully they'll keep sucking through the weekend.

The wife and I will be at the games Saturday and Sunday.

Originally Posted by ricoswaff (Post 8606212)

Nice... Hope ya have a good time.

I was watching our local news yesterday, and they showed highlights from Single A minor league Cardinals team, the Quad City River Bandits. Evidently, Colby Rasmus's brother, Casey had a big game for them last night. I had no idea he was a part of the Stl farm. In fact, I didn't know Colby had a brother. I wonder if he's as attached to the hip to his daddy as his brother is...?

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8606190)

Braves lost 2 out of 3 to the Cubs - hopefully they'll keep sucking through the weekend.

The wife and I will be at the games Saturday and Sunday.

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8606222)

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8606226)

He must be watching his average tank. :p

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8606242)

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8607503)

His wife is a Braves fan. :eek:

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8607517)

Well, she's from here. Better that than a Cubs fan.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8607586)

Or a ****ing Broncos fan :banghead:

Originally Posted by Scott Pilgrim (Post 8607924)

Complete side note. Chipper Jones, Dan Uggla, Freddie Freeman, Jonny Venters, and a few others I could not ID came into the movie theater I work at today. Chipper paid for the tickets Uggla paid for the food

Originally Posted by ricoswaff (Post 8607973)

I made my fiancee switch from being a Cubs fan to a Cardinals fan. Literally told her that there would be problems if she continued liking the Cubs. Now she is just as die-hard of a Cardinals fan as I am.

Originally Posted by Marcellus (Post 8609896)

Beltran is the man right now. The guy I am up against in FB has him on his team too.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8609988)

Looks like money well spent. Cheaper than he could have recieves other places too.

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8610041)

Originally Posted by Marcellus (Post 8610044)

Yea that was a BAD call.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8610051)

There seems to be more shitty umps than usual this year. It's total BS that you cant see replays in the stadium. They ****ing need to forget about being shown up and worry about bad calls making the loser a winner and a winner a loser.

Our NFL refs better at their job or worse since the advent of instant replay?

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8610052)

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8610057)

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8610062)

It looks so effortless also. I dont remember him crushing balls like this before.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8610062)

It looks so effortless also. I dont remember him crushing balls like this before.

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8610079)

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8610170)

Glad I didn't have tickets to this turd. Ugh. What an epic choke job.

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8610170)

Glad I didn't have tickets to this turd. Ugh. What an epic choke job.

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8612397)

At the game today. Hopefully it'll work out better than yesterday's steaming turd.

Shout out to Chipper Jones, who signed autographs for over an hour. Very classy. The wife got one - she's thrilled.

Originally Posted by chefsos (Post 8612406)

Is this Chipper's last game in StL? Did they get him a nice retirement gift?

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8612397)

At the game today. Hopefully it'll work out better than yesterday's steaming turd.

Shout out to Chipper Jones, who signed autographs for over an hour. Very classy. The wife got one - she's thrilled.

Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 8610079)

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8613196)

Did it look as bad in person as on TV?

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8613398)

Yeah, it sucked. Especially after sitting through yesterday's debacle. We left after the 7th inning to beat traffic.

Had a nice time other than the crappy games. Saw a couple of old friends and the weather was perfect. The wife, of course, was thrilled. The bitch. :grr:

Originally Posted by frazod (Post 8617236)

Finally, a win. Molina with the RBI single in the bottom of the 9th.

Originally Posted by O.city (Post 8621008)

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story...er-hitters-mlb



Just read this on ESPN. Had heard about this guy, but didn't realize he was that respected as a hitter. What can you Birds fans tell me about the guy?

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 8620583)

just for you from Bernies column this week:

Every time Matt Holliday has an 0-for game, a mini-slump or doesn't get a hit with runners in scoring position, the dip invariably invokes a noisy response from the fan base. I've never understood the overreaction to Holliday. Well, maybe I do. I've said it before, so I'll repeat it: for some reason, at least a percentage of the fan base can't get past the psychological obstacle of Holliday's contract.

Because he signed a deal that averages $17 million a year, these folks inexplicably expected Holliday's performance to improve. It doesn't work like that. An increase in paycheck doesn't translate into an increase in power. Holliday is doing exactly what the Cardinals thought he would do when they signed him to the 7-year, $120 million deal.

Since signing the contract, this is where Holliday ranks among major-league left fielders: 2nd in homers, second in RBIs, 2nd in onbase percentage, 4th in slugging percentage, 2nd in extra-base hits, 4th in batting average, 2nd in runs created. Only one LF in the game has produced more than Holliday since the start of the 2010 season -- Milwaukee's Ryan Braun.

I'm sorry, but I don't see the problem here. Despite a high line-drive rate, Holliday started slowly in April. But in his last 96 plate appearances, he's batting .305 with a .406 OBP and a .524 SLG, and 4 homers and 19 RBIs. He's 9 for 29 with runners in scoring position, a .310 average.

If there's something wrong with that, I'd like you to explain what it is. But honestly, the problem isn't with Holliday. It's with the good folks that can't get past his contract, because they expected him to become a better player just because he signed a larger contract. It's just silly. I'm wondering what the reaction would be locally if the Cardinals were paying this kind of money to have Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford playing LF (or not playing) instead of Holliday.

Holliday's production in 2010 and 2011 actually exceeded the value of his salary, based on the metric formula used by FanGraphs.com You can chuckle at this if you'd like but baseball GMs and front offices look at these value ratings to evaluate the quality of an investment.

In 2010, Holliday's production and overall play was valued at $26.7 million. In 2011, Holliday's value was assessed at $22.7 million. The Cardinals paid Holliday $17 million in each of those seasons.

Holliday value of 6.7 wins above replacement level (WAR) in 2010 was the 10th best WAR in MLB. Last year, some injuries limited Holliday's ABs, but his WAR of 5.0 put him right there with Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman.

Critics carp about Holliday's low batting average (.158) in the 2011 World Series but leave out his walks, .385 onbase percentage and five runs scored. They'll leave out the the important play he made in Game 3 to throw Mike Napoli at the plate to snuff a Rangers' rally. (Napoli tried to tag up from third on a fly to LF.) And if you're going to rip Holliday's World Series, it might be fair to mention that he played a major role in getting the Cardinals to the World Series by batting .435 with a 1.152 OPS in the NLCS against Milwaukee.

Some fans, however, will never quite forgive Holliday for the dropped line drive in Game 2 against the Dodgers in the 2009 NLDS. And the perception persists that Holliday isn't a "clutch" player -- whatever that means. The numbers don't support that opinion; Holliday's numbers with RISP over the last 2+ years are .281 BA, .373 OBP, and .467 SLG. In Close & Late situations, Holliday since 2010 is batting .313 / .404 / .520.

I realize we'll continue to go around in circles on this; the people who think Holliday is overrated or overpaid aren't going to come off their position, evidence and facts be damned. And that's OK. But I'll do my best to explore these things, especially if I think a player is getting a bit of an unfair rap. Thanks.


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colum...#ixzz1v50824wz