The Two Gamer

The Cards host the Pirates in one of those annoying, tell-you-nothing series

Really, what can you learn in a two game series?

A typical three gamer has a little more sample size. Unless a team only has one good pitcher, it’s harder to avoid at least the top of their rotation. Twelve or thirteen plate appearances for the regulars instead of seven or eight. The good thing is that usually they have an off day on one end or another, so the big bats aren’t likely to miss a game and really have minimal impact.

It’s just strange. About the time you get used to seeing the team, they are up and gone. I’m not saying that I’m advocating for what the minors are doing this year, six game series from Tuesday through Sunday, but at least you get the measure of a team that way.

Weird things can happen in a two game set. Lose a tough one in the opener and have a couple of flukes go the wrong way in the second and all of the sudden you are swept, even if you are well better than the other side. It’s harder for Pittsburgh to sweep St. Louis in three or four games. It’s much easier to do it in two.

The Last Time We Met……

The Cards and Pirates tangled in Pittsburgh a couple of weekends ago, as you might remember. It was the only road trip in a span of 17 straight games and St. Louis enjoyed the respite by taking all three games in the Steel City.

Game 1 was a sprinkling of offense (solo tallies in the first, second, and fourth) before the magical Matt Carpenter three-run pinch-hit homer for the second straight day. Tyler Webb tried to give them all back but was unsuccessful. Game 2 saw the Cards score four in the first (three on a Paul DeJong blast) and five in the ninth (Justin Williams two-run shot capped it) on their way to a 12-5 win that was much closer than you’d like until that ninth. Game 3 was a 3-0 win which you’d think meant Jack Flaherty pitched but instead it was Carlos Martinez putting up the zeros. Harrison Bader’s two-run blast was the biggest blow and led them to the sweep.

Season series between these two: 3-0 Cardinals

The Opponent

It’s the Pirates, so you probably won’t be surprised to hear that they haven’t won a series since the Cardinals left town. They lost two of three against the Padres in San Diego, which puts them one up on the Redbirds after the last week (and all three games were low scoring and close). They played three straight one-run games against the Cubs, losing the first two before salvaging the finale. They then lost two of three to the Reds at home before, intriguingly, splitting a four game series with the NL West leading Giants.

Over that span, Pittsburgh has averaged scoring three runs a game (hitting .231) while posting a 3.88 ERA. They’ve given up 11 homers but walked just 43. In comparison, St. Louis has walked 76 in that thirteen game stretch. (That’s an insane gap, by the way.)

Jacob Stallings has two homers over the past 15 days to lead the team, while Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds have a 1.025 OPS over that span. On the bullpen side, Clay Holmes hasn’t allowed any runs in 5.1 innings while Richard Rodriguez has a 1.69 ERA.

The Mound Men

Tuesday: JT Brubaker (3-2, 2.58 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 3.50 xERA) vs. John Gant (2-3, 1.83 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 5.16 xERA)

Wednesday: Trevor Cahill (1-4, 5.97 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 4.08 xERA) vs. Jack Flaherty (7-0, 2.47 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 3.97 xERA)

—xERA courtesy of FanGraphs

Tuesday’s game is a rematch of the first game of the past series, the one the Cardinals won 7-3. Brubaker did not pitch badly in that, allowing three runs in five innings but also striking out seven. Since then, he allowed two runs in five innings (again with seven K) against the Padres and one run in six against the Giants. Gant, as you know, is coming off facing the Brewers in Milwaukee, where he gave up one unearned run in five-plus innings.

Wednesday’s game is also a rematch, of Game 2, and the Cardinals got to Cahill in that one. He went five innings but allowed five runs (as noted, four in the first) on seven hits and three walks. He’s pitched well since then, though, combining for four runs (three earned) in 10.1 innings over his last two starts, though with only three strikeouts in that span. Flaherty is Flaherty, of course, and he’s not allowed a run in either of his two starts since this game.

The Hot Seat

I don’t know if there’s a specific person that goes here. The club is missing Paul DeJong, but neither Edmundo Sosa or Max Moroff has done anything egregious enough to get fans worked up. Perhaps Mike Maddux might get a little heat if the command issues continue to be a problem (the Cards lead the league in walks by a good margin, though the Reds are coming up fast). I mean, we give Jeff Albert enough grief.

Assorted Crudités

Nolan Arenado got some consideration for Player of the Week. Hitting .400 with three homers will do that for a guy. He’s already had three three-hit games in May after having none in April.

After a four-hit game against the Pirates to start the month, Tommy Edman is hitting .207/.270/.276 in 63 plate appearances. He’s not had a day off yet and he’s not likely to in this series with off days on either side, but he’ll need to pick it up soon to stay in the leadoff spot. Well, to be effective in the leadoff spot. I don’t know that Mike Shildt is really very close to moving him in the lineup.

Harrison Bader has four home runs in 16 games. He had four home runs the entirety of the (shortened) 2020 season.

Random Links

Currently listening to: Cardinals Off Day Episode 7: Dodger Pujols. I think my personal podcast listening rankings are

1) Chirps
2) COD
3) Conversations With Cerutti
4) Seeing Red

I’ve always enjoyed having Ben Godar on Musial and I was excited to hear about his podcast with Ben Humphrey, though I admit I did have some trepidation that it would be much too smart for me. Both of those guys know their baseball better than I, but it allows for a good conversation that’s not too heavily focused on the intellectual side of the game.

(BTW, 1-3 are really close and I’m always going to prioritize them over other shows. I also have enjoyed Turnin’ 2 when I’ve listened, but by time I get through one of these they’ve put out two more and I can’t keep up.)

Currently reading: I haven’t finished anything that I have mentioned in this space recently, but I’ve also gotten started on Skywalker-A Family At War. I bought this even though I read that it was like charging people to read Wookieepedia. I was hoping that it’d bring some new insights or some fleshing out of things in the movies, but so far it’s basically just been a retelling of the movies (I’ve gotten to the events of Attack of the Clones) with an occasional tidbit here and there. I’ve not been overly impressed. Though it still has me wanting an autobiography of R2-D2, showing his point of view through everything.

Personal info: Technical issues kept Russ Robinson of Redbird Rants from joining me on Gateway Sunday night, but I will be on with Alex to fill in for Tara on Chirps this evening!