Thoughts From The Ballpark
I went to see the Springfield Cardinals play and wanted to talk about it.
So last night I took my son, my pastor, and a member of our church down to Little Rock to see the Springfield Cardinals play the Arkansas Travelers. I hadn’t been following the AA team that much, just knowing that they weren’t necessarily off to the best start, but I was excited to see some names I’d heard of. What transpired was a game I doubt I’ll ever forget, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. If you haven’t seen, here’s the box score, but some quick thoughts I wanted to put down:
The lineup was full of names I knew from the past few years. Delvin Perez, Nolan Gorman, Ivan Herrera, and Luken Baker were the top four. Conner Capel and Nick Plummer were also in the lineup. I didn’t know much about the last three, though I’d see David Vinsky’s name a couple of times on Twitter this year.
For the first half of the game, the scoreboard wasn’t working. When Luken Baker hit a home run in the top of the second, the scoreboard reflected it—in both the top and the bottom of the inning. When Vinsky doubled in two later in the frame, suddenly it was 3-3. We had to ask people around us when we got back from the concession stand what the actual score was. They got it working right about the fourth inning.
Baker is a solid young man. His home run was a no-doubter and he almost added one later in the game, flying out to the warning track. He also played some very adept first base. Nothing terribly flashy but he had at least two 3-unassisted off of balls he fielded on one hop.
Herrera destroyed a baseball for a grand slam that made it 8-4 in the seventh and had all of us in my group thinking that the Cards were going to take this one. He also was very, very close to pulling a Molina and picking off a runner on first. He caught this entire game and, as you’ll see, that might have led to him striking out in the ninth to end the game just from fatigue.
Domingo Robles was the starting pitcher and looked pretty good on the mound. He looked outstanding in retrospect. He struck out 10 and the biggest damage against him was a two-run homer in the bottom of the second. When he left the game, the Cards were up 4-3 with a runner on first.
Robles did have one flaw—all three of his walks came with two outs. Two of them didn’t hurt him, the third was his last batter of the game as he was at 96 pitches. Not knowing how far he usually goes, whether he was on a pitch limit, etc., I’d have probably stuck with him to see if he could get the out, but it was a one run game.
Griffin Roberts came in and that was also a guy I was hoping to see. I knew his reputation and I had of course heard about the slider. It would seem he didn’t have control of anything but his fastball and that was iffy. Remember, there’s a runner on first with two outs. Roberts hit the first batter he faced, then walked the next two to blow the save. He was able, after a mound visit, to strike out the next one to keep the game at 4.
We noticed the pitching coach doing it with Roberts and also with the next pitcher, patting their front up around the shoulder while talking to him. I don’t know if that was a technique to remind them to keep their shoulder in or if it was the minor league equivalent of Mike Maddux’s shoulder rub.
Herrera’s slam made it 8-4 and Roberts went back out there. He walked the first guy, then turned a comebacker into a 1-6-3 double play. Bases empty, two out, things are looking good. Then he hit the next guy, threw two wild pitches to move him to third, walked that batter, and his night was done. Never did allow a hit.
Patrick Dayton came in and we thought that things had to be getting better. They were not. A single brought in a run and put runners on the corners. Dayton then threw a wild pitch that made it 8-6. Another hit (and a misplay in the outfield) made it 8-7 before, mercifully, the final batter grounded to Baker.
Mercy didn’t last. Dayton’s third pitch of the eighth was put over the right field wall, tying the game at 8. After a strikeout, he hit the next two batters, then walked two batters (forcing in the go-ahead run) and hit another batter, making it 10-8.
This wasn’t a tight zone or anything by the umpire, BTW. Where we were sitting we didn’t necessarily have the best angle, but many of these pitches for all of these relievers were either in the dirt or up high enough that Herrera had to stab at it. While they might not have gotten some close calls, there weren’t many of them and they sure didn’t earn the benefit of the doubt.
Jacob Patterson came in to relieve Dayton. Patterson had a very weird motion, where he basically faced second base to get his grip, then turned and threw. I would guess, at some point in time, that was successful for him. However, he entered this game with a 19.64 ERA and after watching him, I think it’s probably time for a different approach.
Patterson threw back-to-back wild pitches to his first batter, bringing in a run each time. He’d have thrown three in a row but that one hit the guy instead of being wild as initially thought. He was able to get a groundout (which brought in a run) but then walked three more guys, two with the bases loaded.
The best relief pitcher of the night was probably the second baseman. Imeldo Diaz allowed hits to the first two guys he faced, allowing two more runs, but at least they were strikes. He got the final out in a groundout to loud cheers from the home crowd.
After seeing the Cardinals walk 12 batters and hit three more in San Diego on Friday night, a night like this really gets you concerned about the organization. Can nobody throw strikes? What sort of depth do they have if they need to call someone up? I saw Memphis lost a game in the late innings Saturday night as well. Obviously things are tinted through the lens of a game like this, but it really makes you wonder if the strength of the Cardinals, which has always been pitching, is starting to show some cracks.
All that said, it was fun to be back at the ballpark. Had a hot dog and some nachos, hung out with some friends, and got to watch a game. After last year, that’s just about heaven.