The Cardinals brought an end to a brief slide over the weekend with a series win over the Cincinnati Reds. Despite still not getting the offense going on all cylinders, the strong starting pitching staff continued to hold the fort down in the mean time. After dropping the first game of the series 2-1, club surrendered only three runs over the next two contests to pull itself out of a three-game losing streak, and back atop the National League Central.

Yet, as the club moves back onto the road for a four-game series in Milwaukee beginning this evening, they are grinding out wins in an efficient style, but are still giving the vibe that there is more to come. They finished the home stand at an even 3-3, and take back to the road where they have a NL-high nine wins on the year. Yet before that gets underway, let’s look at three deciding factors in the series that just was against their toughest recent rival:

1. Lynn-sanity: Lance Lynn would be a sprinter’s favorite pitcher. For the second year in a row, he’s opened up a season 5-0. And while he doesn’t have last season’s insane 1.60 ERA that he carried through April, he’s on currently enjoying the best stretch of his career to date. Over his last three starts, he is sporting a 0.85 ERA, surrendering only two earned runs over his last three starts, which have each gone seven innings. Over this same stretch, he’s surrendered only eight hits and eight walks, and has not surrendered a home run since April 15.

However, what’s most telling for Lynn is how much better he’s controlled the ballgame via his work rate. In his first three starts, he crossed over at least 94 pitches in each start, despite not getting out of the fifth inning. Now he is staying at a slightly higher pitch count (averaging 107 per outing), but he’s going two innings longer, and working at a much more efficient rate. Efficiency is what escaped Lynn throughout the late stages of 2012, and half of the first month of the year. While the results of his last few outings aren’t sustainable throughout a full year, the more economical approach is, and that is the next step in Lynn’s evolution as a starting pitcher.

2. Freese Frame: 2012 has not been David Freese’s year so far. After starting the spring swinging a very good bat, he was sidelined by a back injury that kept him out of action through the beginning of the regular season. So far, it’s like he hasn’t shown up yet either. He is hitting only .163 on the year through 49 at-bats, with only two extra base hits. Freese has been held out of the lineup the last two games, and could continue to be out of the everyday lineup while he works out his slump. Whether it’s the fact he’s never quite mended from the injury, or is just plain having the worst breaks possible, him breaking out of his issues is key to the offense balancing out.

3. Stressing the Division: The Cardinals are faring well inside the NL Central thus far. They are tied with Pittsburgh for the most wins inside the division with eight, but they have had particular success with the Reds so far. They have outscored the Reds 26-19 on the season, while working to a 4-2 record early on. Yet looking inside of that breakout doesn’t tell the true story of the Cardinals dominance over the Reds so far. The Reds scored all but six of those runs in one game, and otherwise the Cardinals have dominated the series thus far. The Cardinals have only lost one series at home on the season, and have gone 32-3 vs. the Reds in their last 35 series in St. Louis.

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Jeff Cirillo

Why He Should Get In
Cirillo was a light hitting player that patrolled the defensive areas of power hitters and run producers.  His career was average.

Why He Should Not Get In
Average does not produce greatness.  While he achieved minor milestones, he did not come close to the types of numbers that Hall Of Fame voters expect, much less considering he played first and third base.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

It’s not yet time to close the books on the Zack Greinke trade of a year and a half ago. That day won’t come for a long time.

But now is a great time to check the bottom line, to begin to gauge who is coming out better on the trade – the Royals or Brewers.

It will be years before we can judge just what the Royals let get away in Greinke, what they got in return in Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, and what the Brewers got in trading away Greinke on Sunday. But we can take a first look now that Greinke’s time in Milwaukee is finished.

By one standard, the Brewers came away from the trade as the decided victors. After all, they did reach the NL Championship series with Greinke, while the Royals haven’t sniffed the playoffs in a generation. After all, in the end, you play to win the World Series. The Brewers did what they could to make a run at it.

But taking a bit more of a long-term perspective, the balance tips currently in favor of the Royals.

While the Brewers have plummeted to fourth in the NL Central (nine games below .500 at the time of the trade), the Royals’ “process” sputters along. The Brewers found themselves in such need of help at a host of positions that it made sense to pack Greinke off rather than attempt to re-sign him.

Meanwhile the Royals are plugging into the process the pieces acquired a year and a half ago.

So the Greinke Adventure in Milwaukee lasted just a year and a half. But how good really was Greinke in Milwaukee?

At the time of the trade that sent him to Anaheim, his ERA of 3.44 this year was just 20^th in the National League. His WHIP of 1.20 was also just 20^th. His nine wins were tied for 16^th. His WAR this year was 2.3, good for 15^th among pitchers.

And while the Brewers made a run in the playoffs in 2011, you could argue Greinke was even worse that year than this. Last year his ERA, 3.83, was 34^th in the NL. His WHIP of 1.20 was 15^th. His WAR was just 1.4, 52^nd in the league. His 16 wins did at least tie him for 6^th in the NL.

But when the Brewers needed Greinke most, he was far from the star they traded for. His ERA in one playoff game against Arizona ? 7.20. And in two games, one a win and one a loss, in the NLCS versus St. Louis, his ERA was 6.17.

Greinke failed to make the All-Star Game in either season as a Brewer. He was not a fan favorite. He was not popular with teammates. He was not a leader.

In short, Greinke hasn’t been the Greinke of 2009 since, well, since 2009. That season stands out more and more as a statistical anomaly. A one-hit wonder who keeps cranking out tunes, but just can’t quite capture the sound of his Cy Young season.

The Brewers dealt away the shortstop of their future – Alcides Escobar – to get Greinke. So this year they were so in need of a shortstop that that’s essentially what they traded Greinke to get. They got Jean Segura, with a total of one game in the bigs to his credit. He’s currently getting his legs under him at Double A.

Meanwhile, Alcides Escobar may not be an All Star, but he should be. Just three years older than Segura, Escobar has established himself as one of the top fielders and hitters at the position in the American League.

Added recently to the Royals otherwise dismal lineup is Lorenzo Cain. The man who could soften the blow of the Melky Cabrera/Jonathan Sanchez disaster has rebounded from injury to flash some tremendous potential. So far he’s provided some pop with the bat. And when he’s fully healthy, he should be a dynamic fielder in center and a dangerous base runner too.

The Brewers also acquired from the Angels in Sunday’s trade two 23-year-old pitchers who were laboring unspectacularly in Double AA for the Angels.

In contrast, the Royals got in the 2010 Greinke trade 22-year-old Jake Odorizzi, who has asserted himself this year as one of the best pitching prospects in all the minor leagues.

And one final wild card in the equation is Jeremy Jeffress, who is still just 24 and is working to harness the talent that made him a first round draft choice in 2006.

Escobar and Cain are under team control through 2017. If “the process” is to finally succeed, they will be key components of it. Odorizzi will almost certainly be in the KC rotation next season. Jeffress might be back in KC before it’s all over too.

A year ago, the Brewers looked like they made the right move to get Greinke. But the more time passes, the more it looks like the Royals will come out the winners in that trade.

Check back in about a decade to see the final result. But right now, it looks like Dayton Moore is the winner in this trade.

As I wrote last week in this space, everything was rainbow and lollipops in Cardinal Nation after such a fast start out of the gate, beating up on division foes.  The St. Louis Cardinals were the first defending World Series champions to win their first six series of the season since the 1922 New York Giants. That, as you know by now, came after a season of incredible turnover and uncertainty heading into 2012.

Going into Opening Day, this was the talk, “Yes this team has talent, how will they respond without Pujols, Duncan, and LaRussa?”  “Can the team hold up through injuries with so many veterans?”

Then something happened. The team started winning in convincing fashion. And subtly, expectations became reset.

A tremendous start to the season. Heading into the Chicago series, the Cardinals led the NL in almost every offensive category and in run differential (second only in the league to Texas Murderer’s Row Rangers).

Then the first two games against the Cubs happened. Both 3-2 losses. Both 2-1 leads given up by the bullpens in the 9th inning. Now the team is 11-7 and only two games out in front of the Brewers. Now the team is dealing with the bats cooling off. Now they are dealing with fighting through blown calls by umpires and the bullpen giving up leads. They are dealing with multiple injuries that test not only their depth but their resolve. In a word, for the first time of the Mike Matheny era, they are dealing with significant adversity.

Making too much of a simple two game losing skid against Windy City Rivals? I am not so sure.

There are 9 more games in a row against the NL Central. As I have written many times before, these games are crucial. Even if they go 5-4, the fast start would ensure a 16-11 record, which is nothing to make light of. Personally, I think the team should be shooting for 17-10 or 18-9 through the NL Central start of the schedule. They still have the opportunity to run out to a good lead in the division, but it will depend on their ability to push through adversity, to push through a lack of run support for pitching over the last four games, the bullpen shaking off a couple of tough losses and blown saves.

This is the moment a lot of Cardinals fans have been waiting for. To seem what the team is truly made of. As my UCB co-host Dathan Brooks often says, every win in April is a win you don’t have to get in September. These April games really matter because they are all against the Central. And these next nine games will show us how the team handles its first bit of adversity on the young season.

It sure would be nice if they could give Wainwright a little bit of support as he is trying to get back to form. So far, he has had zero, that’s right zero, run support in his first four outings. That will change. His stuff still is not what it once was, but that is to be expected at least for a couple more months. He showed last night he will fight to make pitches and get outs with less than his best stuff. It is a move in the right direction. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Waino doesn’t go for another four games.

The first battle to get back on track and further the division lead is today at Wrigley Field at 1:20 Central Time. Can the Birds shake off a couple tough losses, and show the resolve and grit their new manager preaches? Or will they allow the sting of the last two nights to carry over and leave them in a division dogpile?….

It sure will be fun to watch and find out.

In case you have not heard, and if you have not I have to wonder how you stumbled on it here first, the Cardinals are well within striking distance of a National League Wild Card win. In fact, going into today, they are now one and a half games behind the crumbling Atlanta Braves for the final playoff spot in the National League. To top it off, they are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now. This team could be dangerous.

Back on September 7th, it appeared the Cardinals were done for the season. The team was struggling, falling further and further out of the race, and they were wrapping up their final game of the season with division rivals (and soon to be division champs) Milwaukee. As the game wound down, the every flamboyant Nyjer Morgan decided to draw some attention and caused a brawl that seen him at odds with the Cardinals super star first baseman Albert Pujols after Morgan threw his chewing tobacco in the direction of Chris Carpenter.

While the move was classless, it quickly became apparent to most of us that it was also cowardly. The final at bat of the final series against a team that had fallen from contention, Morgan made a statement without fear of retaliation. He even went so far as to carry it over to Twitter after being ejected from the game, calling Pujols out knowing full well they would not face each other again this season, nor was there a guarantee that Pujols would be a Cardinal by the time Milwaukee returned.

Alberta couldn't see Plush if she had her gloves on!!! Wat was she thinking running afta Plush!!! She never been n tha ring!!!

September 7, 2011 9:18 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@TheRealTPlush

Nyjer Morgan - T Dot

You can read 10 Things More Likely Than Nyjer Morgan Beating Up Pujols from our friends at CardsDiaspora.com for a fun look at the situation. I don’t mind, I’ll wait here for you…

Done reading? Good, let us continue.

Nyjer did downplay the situation after the game during post game interviews as captured here by 101 Sports:

This was not the first incident between Carpenter and Morgan. In fact, this one goes back quite a ways now. It was last year, while Morgan was a member of the Nationals, that he would elbow Bryan Anderson after scoring a run, despite Anderson not being in the way of the play. This spring, again while with the Nationals, Morgan would charge the mound after Carpenter pitched him inside repeatedly, though no punches were thrown. It was in August that the Brewers would visit St. Louis and Morgan would need to be removed from the dugout while he was yelling and cursing Carpenter during that late innings of a ball game.

After the September game, Carpenter would admit to yelling at Morgan after he struck him out in the ninth, which prompted Morgan to react the way he did. All in all, it is two very explosive personalities that are boiling over when they are near each other.

Suddenly, a few weeks later, the Cardinals are riding a huge surge and may be putting themselves into a position to make the playoffs. While that will not ensure a showdown with Morgan and the Brewers in the first round, it could very well put the two teams on a collision course this October.

Imagine the scenes as “T-Plush” takes to the batter’s box against Carpenter in the opening game of the National League Championship Series just to receive a fastball somewhere in the vicinity of the ear-hole of his helmet. Benches may clear. It may be as ugly as Cincinnati last season. Even still, when the dust settles, Morgan may have to take his place at first base with the very man he decided was not man enough to stand toe-to-toe with him. Can those two men coexist well enough to not start a second brawl minutes after the first calms down?

The playoff push is interesting enough. But the sub-plot that is developing may steal the show.

Be careful, Nyjer, your plan might just have backfired.

Edwin Jackson has made four stats for the Cardinals. Given that he was acquired on 27 July, and started his first game for his new club two days later, he will make at most 11 starts for St Louis in 2011. Having already started a third of those, how do his numbers compare to his career norms?

First, his career numbers in some selected categories: 4.53 ERA, 1.483 WHIP, 1.81 strikeout-to-walk (SO/BB) ratio, 4.39 xFIP. While with the Chicago White Sox earlier this season, he posted better-than-his-career-norm numbers in ERA (3.92), WHIP (1.422), SO/BB (2.49), and xFIP (3.48). Since joining the Cardinals, however, he appears to have regressed (4.62, 1.697, 2.00, 4.00). Is that a fair assessment?

Actually, no it is not. Jackson was left on the mound to take a beating at Milwaukee’s hands on 3 August, because the bullpen had been completely expended the previous night in an extra inning win. Jackson went seven innings and allowed 10 runs (8 earned) that night. His other 3 starts? Five earned runs total in 18.1 innings pitched (ERA: 2.45). That first August game accounts for 61% of the earned runs he has allowed since the trade. Looking solely at the same categories as above, and removing that 3 August start, his ERA lowers to the aforementioned 2.45, his WHIP to 1.581, his xFIP to 1.64, and his SO/BB ratio rises to 1.43. Those are much better numbers. His WHIP is still high, but his WHIP has always been high. Jackson’s SO/BB ratio is below his career norm, but will likely continue to improve. His ERA and xFIP are sterling.

Edwin Jackson has pitched very well so far in his time with the Cardinals, and he’s also done the consummate teammate thing and ‘taken one for the team’. He has been a fine pick-up.

Many of us, this writer included, believe the Cardinals gave up too much to get him. For the record, through Wednesday’s games Colby Rasmus had a .225/.243/.394 slash line, not far different from the .226/.342/.420 line he posted with the Cardinals this season. It clearly is too early to accurately evaluate that trade, and a couple of seasons will have to pass before it can be done objectively. In the near term, St Louis acquired Edwin Jackson for 11 starts in 2011 so he could solidify the back end of their rotation and help propel them into the post-season. Through the first third of those starts, he has pitched better than reasonable people could have expected.

Jackson’s next start is Saturday at Wrigley, against former teammate Matt Garza. Hopefully the hamstring tightness that forced him from his last start is completely gone, allowing him to continue pitching very effectively.

Mike Metzger is a San Diego Padres blogger and life-long Cardinal fan.

The NL Central has seen its share of weirdness throughout most of the 2011 season. The division leader has been a revolving door that the Cardinals, Reds, Brewers, and even the Pirates enjoyed a few turns through. But as the All Star Break shrinks in the rear view mirror, so does the number of contenders for what will likely be the only playoff spot to come out of this division.

The Brewers currently occupy first place, and the Cardinals are not far behind them. These two teams play each other nine more times this year; fortunately for the Cards, six of those meetings are in St. Louis. Playing in Milwaukee this season has roughly resembled walking into a minefield, which means the Cardinals must make the most of the Brewers’ visits to Busch Stadium. Those two series will be about as “must-win” as any regular season set.

And the two teams have remarkably similar schedules the rest of the way. They actually play all the same teams in the same number of series except for one; the Cards still have to play the Atlanta Braves, and the Brewers have one more series against the Astros than the Cards do.

The similarities don’t stop there, either. The Cardinals and Brewers are pretty even in most team stats. The Cardinals have the edge in a lot of offensive categories; the Brewers have a little better pitching overall. It probably comes as no surprise that the Cardinals have ground into way more double plays than the Brewers, but the fact that the Cards only have one more blown save is a little surprising. And the two teams have committed about the same number of errors, too.

If the teams are so even, then why is Milwaukee in front now? For starters, the Brewers are hot right now and the Cardinals are playing good—but not great—baseball. In the first half of the year, the opposite was true—and the standings were flip-flopped. But with less than a third of the season left, that seems like eons ago. Now every win is important and every loss has the potential to be disastrous. Falling five or six games out of first place at this point in the year could be the death knell, even for the Cardinals and that dynamite lineup.

For the Cardinals to keep pace and make a move to overtake the Brewers in the standings, they have to do the following:

1. Get the maximum out of the rotation. This does not mean every starter has to throw eight innings or 120 pitches every night. But these four and five inning outings have to disappear. The Cards have a stronger bullpen than before the trade deadline, but they will come apart quickly if overexposed. The five starters have to pitch efficiently, something that may be a little easier with Rafael Furcal manning shortstop.
2. Finish games. It hasn’t been pretty every time out, but the bullpen has certainly been better than it was in the first half of the season. That must continue. If the Cardinals win the division, it will be in spite of the numerous blown saves and ineffectiveness of pitchers who were so bad they were dumped by the team. If they lose the division, those shortcomings will catch a lot of the initial blame.
3. Beat the Brewers at Busch. It sounds oversimplified, but considering how good the Brewers are at home the Cardinals cannot afford to lose either of the remaining series against Milwaukee in St. Louis. Those are easily the six most important games of the stretch run in 2011.
4. Dominate the three weeks around Labor Day. Pirates, Brewers, Reds, Brewers, Braves, Pirates. Those are the Cardinals’ opponents August 25-September 14. Emotions will be high and position in the standings will be on the line every night. Winning most of those games would make a huge statement. So would losing most of them.
5. End on a high note. The Cardinals’ final three series of the regular season are against the Mets, Cubs, and Astros. All three teams could be showcasing a lot of youngsters to see what they have for next year. The Cards need to take it to them, especially with the Brewers finishing with six home games.

The Cardinals will have every opportunity to win the NL Central title this year. But the Brewers show no signs of folding, and the Reds or even the Pirates could nudge their way back into relevance. Even the Cubs are riding a six game winning streak. The Cards would do well to put together something similar. In fact, this would be a good time for a couple winning streaks like that. Stranger things have happened, and 2011 has already been strange enough.

Greinke’s Legacy: Good Memories or Sour Grapes?

The fable of the fox and the grapes goes that when the fox couldn’t reach the grapes that hung just out of his reach, he responded by saying “I didn’t want those grapes anyway. They are too sour.”

Often the response by fans when a player rejects their team is “If he doesn’t want to be here, then we don’t want him here.”

As I read Zack Greinke’s comments from spring training with his new team, I am tempted to apply some of the fox’s rationale – if Zack is so much happier elsewhere, then I’m glad he’s gone.

Call it sour grapes, but looking at the situation now, my opinion is this: we KC fans tried to love Zack, but the truth is he’s not that easy of a guy to love.

In his typically mystifying way, Greinke missed some time in Milwaukee’s camp last week due to bruised ribs suffered off the field in an incident about which the team, and Greinke, has refused to comment.

Greinke was less than sharp in his spring training debut on Tuesday, possibly due to the injury. He loaded the bases in the first on a leadoff single and two walks. He exhibited his ability to wriggle off the hook by getting two strikeouts, however.

With one out in the second, Greinke surrendered another walk and was pulled. His line: 1.1 innings, one hit, three walks, two Ks, 39 pitches.

We all know Zack will knock off the rust and pitch really well in Milwaukee. And we didn’t exactly come up empty in the deal that sent him to the Brewers. KC has plenty to show for the trade and a lot to look forward to.

But what will KC fans do with Greinke? Will Royals fans cheer for him as a favorite player who moved due to the harsh realities of the business? Or will they root against him as a petulant prodigy who we’re glad to be rid of?

His comments to reporters in the Brewers’ training camp won’t endear him to Royals fans. He’s a little too frank about how happy he is to be gone for my taste.

“It’s more fun to win games,” Greinke told the Associated Press last Tuesday. “Not saying we’re guaranteed to win every game we play, just it’ll be a better chance and more than likely we’ll win more games than I’ve won in any of my seasons prior, so it should be a fun season.”

Those are true statements, obviously. It is more fun to win, and KC didn’t win much. But evidently Zack found the Royals camps too stressful.

“It has been fun so far, just a real relaxed camp,” Greinke told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It’s been easy to fit in so far. It’s just more relaxed here.”

I guess Zack didn’t like the stress of trying to build and improve the Kansas City franchise. It’s more fun, evidently, to relax and enjoy being everyone’s favorite to win the NL central. I’m glad you get to really kick back and take it easy, Zack. (For that matter, I bet Cardinal fans hope you really take it easy this spring, too.)

We could all tell something wasn’t quite right with Zack last year, and he admitted last week that he wasn’t really that into it.

“When the games started, I pitched 100 percent every time, but going in, I probably did what most people do. Usually, I feel like I do a lot more than most people in between starts and the second half I felt like I kind of did what was asked and nothing more,” Greinke said.

In cryptic Greinke-speak, he’s saying I didn’t really give it my all every day, every chance I had to prepare, practice and improve. We can assume he wasn’t exactly setting a great example, leading the clubhouse, pumping his teammates to give their all as well.

Zack obviously is a different guy. Not necessarily a nice, friendly guy. I bet there weren’t a lot of tears shed by teammates when the deal was made in December.

But now Greinke is taking an unexpected tack with the media, playing the “cruel to be kind” card on why he made his discontent with Royals’ management fodder for reporters. He told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy Tuesday that he played the villain so that the team could save face.

“I kind of had to play the bad guy in order to do it. It would be nice if that didn’t happen, but the way things were in Kansas City, if I just kept on being the sweet person, the fans would have been outraged if I got traded. I kind of had to be the bad guy. It isn’t always your No. 1 choice.”

McCalvy wrote Tueday: He realized he was a fan favorite — “I don’t know why,” Greinke said — and by making his trade requests public, he feels he helped avoid “backlash on the organization.”

Greinke’s relationship with the media has always been odd. He’d rather not talk to reporters, but when he does you never know what he’ll say. He basically told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week that he considers talking to them a waste of his time.

“Probably 99% of the time I (don’t want to talk to the media) is because every day I come to the park and want to get focused on my start, and then random people come and waste my time talking every day. It takes eight minutes to get a real question out because they’re like buttering me up. Then they get to the question and it’s a stupid question. So it’s a waste of 10 minutes, and in that 10-minute time I don’t get to do what I needed to do.”

So he forces his way out of KC, talks about how happy he is to be somewhere else, admits he didn’t give it his all last season, then says he was playing bad cop so the Royals could play good cop, all the while making condescending remarks to reporters in the town trying to embrace him. How are we to feel about him now?

Greinke did compliment the KC management and fans in comments he made last week, and admitted he understood the decision of the organization to fully invest in the current crop of prospects.

“The organization was really good to me, the fans have always been amazing, but it just seemed like we were going in different directions,” he said to the AP. “Like I said before, I know young guys are very, very valuable, but there comes a point where it has to take the next step.”

So he got what he wanted, which was out. We got Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi, who all, hopefully, want to be in. And we got to get rid of Yuniesky Betancourt too?

The fox would say that was a pretty good deal. If I root against Zack Greinke from this point on, call it a case of sour grapes if you want. It’s not like he’s making it that hard to dislike him.