Saturday, July 25, 2009

A New Era of Cardinals Baseball

Recapping the storylines from Matt Holliday's debut.

So many storylines from yesterday's game, so little time to write them. For starters:

Matt Holliday makes his Cardinal debut a smashing success. Holliday did his best to make me look like a disgruntled blogger by going 4-5 with a double, 3 singles, 1 RBI, and a stolen base. Not only did he produce in the cleanup spot, it seemed like the entire lineup was rejuvenated by his presence.

15? Really? 15, Matt? Jim Edmonds was, in my mind, the last person that should wear the 5x3 in St. Louis. A sign of respect for a player who may have an outside chance at the Hall of Fame. Jim led us to two World Series, redefined the centerfield position for the franchise, was a hands-down fan favorite, winner of 8 Gold Gloves, and has the fourth most home runs in Cardinals history. If Holliday really is going to keep 15, we may have a petition start here soon.

Lugo hits a dinger. This is hilarious, really. The fans of Boston wait for Julio Lugo to show any power at all for the past year-and-a-half, and he hits a homer in his first start as a Cardinal. Heck, Lugo has already shown more power than Duncan the past few months. Are you kidding me?

Joel "Zorro" Pineiro. Joel Pineiro (.331 WPA) and Holliday (.162) alone gave the Cardinals a near 50% chance of winning the game. Pineiro and his sinker has been incredible this year. Simply incredible. 2.90 FIP, 0.21 HR/9, 4.15 K/BB, and 2.65 GB/FB. In my eyes, we have three aces on this starting rotation right now. Freakin' Joel Pineiro.

This team looks completely different. Did anyone else get the feeling that this team looks COMPLETELY different now. 1/3 of the starting lineup was acquired in the last month, and overall this team has a drastically different look at the beginning of the season. I feel like we're on franchise mode on MLB '09, and I just traded 3 70's for a 90.

Just what we needed. Another bald guy. I heard Vin Diesel is in negotiations with Mozeliak. I'll keep you posted.
Posted by at 10:44 AM
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4 comments:

  1. Edmonds led the Cards to the World Series? I'd have probably said Pujols, but maybe that's just me...

    I really don't understand all the consternation over Holliday wearing 15. It's not a retired number, and the Cardinals are running out of numbers below 20 that can actually be worn.

    Which team will be first to have all numbers 1-9 retired, the Cards or the Yanks?
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  2. The remark was a bit of an exaggeration to prove a point, yes, but Jim Edmonds was extremely valuable to our 2004 run, where he put up a 170 OPS+ to Albert's 172. And then there's his performance in the NLCS against Houston.

    It's a sign of respect to set aside numbers of players that are important members in team history. Edmonds was one of the best outfielders to ever don the Cardinal red, at least in the past 50 years. It seems like there's a sense of entitlement with giving Holliday 15, whereas some fans, like me, feel that respect for that number has been earned by a Cardinal great.
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  3. Appreciate the comment, by the way. Even if we have to respectfully disagree. ;)
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  4. Perhaps rather than a sense of entitlement, it's a means toward coaxing him to stay?

    "Here, this is your number. The last person to wear this really meant a lot to the organization, we hope you will too."
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