Commish’s Offerings 5-8-2023
Rick Hummel is presented by:
Fast Eddie’s Bon Air
in Alton, Illinois
What We Learned
St Louis-
What we learned this weekend is that the Detroit Tigers and Cardinals are evenly matched ball clubs, which isn't exactly what the Cardinals fans thought when they saw the Tigers turn up on the schedule.
A come-from-behind 12-6 win over the generous Tigers on Sunday salvaged one game of the three for the Cardinals, who head out on a six-game trip to play the Chicago Cubs and Boston, a slate which begins Monday night. Sunday's game, however, will mean nothing if the Cardinals can't put together a 4-2 swing against teams they should at least be as good as.
This, of course, would require the Cardinals winning the first game of a series, which they have been unable to do in 11 tries this year. Also, their longest winning streak of the season is a measly two.
And they have achieved that only twice.
You will note that the Tigers, one of baseball's worst hitting teams, managed nearly six runs a game this weekend with erstwhile Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras calling nary a pitch.
Everyone seems to be trying to frame this situation in a different light but it is nonsensical under any circumstances. Contreras was signed as a catcher. He should catch. Yadi Molina is not coming back.
Nolan Gorman was signed as an infielder. He is too young to be a nearly everyday designated hitter at age 23, which he will turn Wednesday.
Brendan Donovan needs to play every day and that position is left field, where he is a better defender than burly Alec Burleson and a more reliable defender than the oft-injured Tyler O'Neill.
Oli Marmol doesn't need a designated hitter. He has a ton of them, just by giving his veteran players a day off from the field.
The Cardinals, while considering themselves unlucky in some recent games, actually are the luckiest team in baseball. While they were piling up eight consecutive losses, two of the teams they were chasing, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, dropped seven and six in a row, respectively, in the horrid as usual National League Central Division. Somehow, the Cardinals, at 11-24 after their win, are only nine games off the pace.
But there is this.
The Cardinals never have rallied from 14 games under .500 to secure a playoff spot. Not even close. The last time they were 14 or more under break-even was at the end of the 1997 season when they stumbled home at 73-89 but nobody noticed because the club had acquired this guy named McGwire at the July 31 trading deadline. He hit some home runs. Lots of home runs.
One hundred 27 games –a lifetime—remain. But, until the Cardinals establish what direction they actually are going in and win first games of series, let alone second and third. . . fans are going to boo.
First up, the Cubs, who have fabricated a rotation far better than people thought and now the dreaded Kyle Hendricks is rehabbing an arm injury at Class AAA Iowa although he has been clobbered twice. Hendricks has made a career out of beating the Cardinals,whipping them 13 times in 16 decisions.
