I was hoping to do this when the Cards hit a high note, not much high about tonight. I’m tellin’ ya folks, Mulder is DONE. Anyway, for a number of different reasons I don’t think I’m continuing this blog. I may sleep on it a night or 2, but I think this is the end. Not because the Cardinals are doing so bad, mostly because I’d like to have more time with my wife and I have a baby on the way, which I could imagine will cut into time and sleep. While I enjoy writing, I feel like there are a lot of other great Cardinal blogs out there (Viva El Birdos, The Birdwatch, Get Up, Baby! Fungoes, Cardnilly, Cardinal Diaspora, 26th Man and more.) and I know I’m not the best writer in the world, but like I said it was fun. Maybe too much fun, as I have a tendency to go overboard and waste TOO much time not just blogging but surfing the web combing over stats, articles, etc. I do appreciate all my readers and the good feedback, but unless I can find a way to better balance family life, work, church and blogging I’m hanging it up.

The site should be up for another week or so, so a crack in the door is open I suppose. Not trying to be wishy-washy or anything, I was going to wait seasons end but what else is there to say but this stinks, that stinks, blah blah blah?

If there’s an article of mine you like, better save it now because it will be gone soon.

I’m sure I’ll  post the occasional diary at VEB, and still comment over there regularly.

(WPA graph from www.fangraphs.com )

The 5 Stages of a bad season.

1. Denial. "This can’t be happening" "We still have Albert, Carp and Rolen so we have a chance" "Somehow, the pitching will get it together" "Mulder will be back" "Things could get better if this team every play’s as it’s capable"
2. Anger. "Why me?" "Stupid, cheap owners hand-cuffing Jocketty this winter" "Jock has lost his magic" "Izzy is garbage" "Boo Juan Encarnacion!" "Cardinal fans deserve better" "These bums don’t deserve to play in October"
3. Bargaining. "God, I’ll give you my firstborn if the Cardinals can just stop being so frustrating and start winning!"
4. Depression. "When does football season start?"
5. Acceptance. "This is a bad team". "Even if they make it to the playoffs, good luck getting past the first round." "So, who’s in 07’s free agent class?".

I’ve officially had it. Izzy is Jonah. Throw him off the boat and maybe the waters will calm. Well, don’t do that, but at least relieve him from his closer’s duties temporarily and let him pitch in some lower leverage situations until his chronic gopheritis heals. Isringhausen has had his ups and all, but far too many downs to the tune of 9 blown saves. Izzy has been good for around 88% of his saves the last three seasons. This season, 77%, or about 1 in 4 games ends up with Izzy coughing up the lead.  If Isringhausen was his normal, more reliable self we’d be 5  or 6 games ahead of the Reds right now, not just 1.

I’d like to see Wainwright get the oppurtunity, here’ my case with the help of fangraphs.com

Adam and Izzy are about the same as far as K’s go.

Izzy has cut down his walks some later in the season, but Wainwright has been much stingier with the free passes. I don’t know about you, but nothing is more frustrating then watching the Cowardly Isringlion walk guys like Rich Aurilia on 4 pitches to get to anyone, because all to often it’s come back to kill him, much to Cardinal fan’s chagrin. 

But worst of all is the homerun rate. This is the clincher. All too often we’ve seen him try and go back to his Benedict Arnold cutter, which usually ends in him walking off the mound with a despondent look on his face as the opponents are mobbing each other at home plate. On the other hand, Wainwright has allowed less then a HR per 9.

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My only concern, and it is a big concern, is his platoon split. Righties are hitting under .200 against Adam, southpaws over .300. Not only could that render him ineffective as a closer, it hurts his ability as a set-up guy this year and a starter the next (if that’s still the Card’s plan for him.) If he could remedy that, it would go along way. I have no idea if those sort of splits have dogged him throughout the minors or not. All I know is for now, please no more Izzy.

As for the game, you hate to see 7 RBI’s from Albert go to waste like that. I’ve been a fan of the Weaver trade, but the guy is mental. Just watching his body language and facial expressions is sick. He loses it all to often. That was a back-breaker of a game, and I’m not sure we can come back from that one.

A series win at Wrigley, very nice. Perhaps should’ve been a sweep, but I’ll take it. Just a few thoughts on the game, in bullet point fashion:

• 深度评测启辰星：全家人的快乐车_mm:2 天前 · 而长轴距、宽车身的伢势更是在后排乘坐空间上体现得淋漓尽致，一般的成年乘客坐到后排至少有三拳伡上的膝部空间，如果把腿伸到前排座椅下方，几乎需要把腿打直才能做到——这种坐姿也能够改善坐姿较低、对大大腿承托性…
• Who wouldn’t mind having Rule 5 pick Juan Mateo back? That first inning was rough, but as the game went on he looked very sharp. Cubs fans should be pretty excited about his progress from here. With all the pitching woes in the rotation, a guy like Mateo would be nice to have around now. Stupid visa issues!
• Carpenter continues to be nails. He’s just such a contrast from the rest of the rotation. For example, yesterday in the 4th inning Suppan just wilted under the pressure he was under, looking for that perfect pitch to get him out of the jam and taking forever to get with Molina on the signs. Carpenter had a man on first and second due to a silly error on Juan E. But rather then getting rattled, he went right after Nevin and induced a DP. I know the rest of the staff may not have Carp’s talent, but you wish they had his confidence and mental-toughness.
• Is Yadier Molina the most unlucky player in baseball? He stung the ball hard in 3 of his at bats, but to the fielders for outs except for his double. According to PrOPS, (Projected OPS), Yadier should be batting .288 with a .740 OPS. While that’s not terrific, it’s a far cry from his .217/.273/.329 numbers he has going into today’s game. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with PrOPS, it’s developed by JC Bradbury from The Hardball Times and the blog Sabernomics. It’s  a formula for predicting what a player’s OPS should  be in the future based on batted balls, strikeouts, home runs and walks. ) From watching Yadi, it seems like he hits the ball pretty hard, just to the guys with the gloves. If he could ever .280/.740, coupled with his defense, and the outcry to get rid of Molina would be silenced.
• Hand it to Juan for jumping on a mistake and driving it a long way for a 3 run homer. He ain’t a world beater, but he does have his uses.

The game is tied, it’s the bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, there are two outs, and Strawberry is due to bat.  Even though Darryl has hit nine home runs, Burns sends him to the showers because Strawberry and the pitcher are both left-handed.  (“It’s called playing the percentages.”)  He sends Homer, a righty, to the plate instead.  Burns reviews the signals with Homer.  Burns’ explanation goes on and on, and Homer’s mind wanders.  “I wish I was home with a big bag of potato chips.  Mmm… potato chips…”

–启辰T70：需要重新认识的老朋友 - Sohu:2021-11-30 · 一，平顺但加速平缓 讲真不能怪那位媒体老师对启辰的动力系统不熟悉，连我自己，2021年试驾的近40款车型中，也仅仅只有3款自然吸气发动机，其中就有奇骏的2.5L。 启辰这套2.0L自吸和CVT的组合，最美妙的是全程加速没有顿挫感。

Unlike the Simpsons episode, Juan wasn’t plunked in the head unconscious for a game-winning RBI.