5-1 Post "Game" Thread: Optimists Tread Lightly

Leroy · Post by **Leroy** » May 2 07, 8:22 am

AJ wrote:
Michael wrote:
Leroy wrote:
DiLLaGii wrote:
Leroy wrote:Umm...

I smell something rotten in Cairo.
Can anyone guess which game is that?
I'm guessing Pittsburgh. But I think AJ isn't AJ, or wasn't, or isn't. Or something.

Look at AJ's sig.
I did that just to fool Leroy!!!

Who is Leroy? I'm so confused.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 2 07, 8:26 am

jagtrader wrote:
jim wrote:They need to get untracked - PRONTO!
Their teammate died four days ago. They're not turning this around in the immediate future.

I understand. I can't imagine how difficult this must be for them.

But I also understand Suppan and Hudson were hurting just as much or more than many of the Cardinal players and pitched their hearts out on Monday. Duncan was probably closer to Hancock than most on the team and he has done well the past two games.

If they don't turn things around soon then they are going to dig a hole they may not have the talent to climb out of.

jagtrader · Post by **jagtrader** » May 2 07, 8:29 am

Well, they're probably not climbing out of any hole. They were on the ropes prior to this event. One or two guys can produce through grief, but an entire roster will be shaken by it -- at least for a while. This team isn't talented enough to overcome something like this.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 2 07, 8:33 am

jagtrader wrote:This team isn't talented enough to overcome something like this.

You may be right, but I'm not giving up. Plenty of time, it's May 2, they can get out of this. But they can't go 10 games back and climb out, they need to stay close to .500. We have the Astros coming up, win today and take 2 out of 3 there and that puts us back on the right track. Keep your fingers crossed for Carp coming back, next thing you know you've won 7 of 10, 10 of 15 and you are back in business.

Dillagii · Post by **Dillagii** » May 2 07, 8:34 am

jim wrote:
jagtrader wrote:This team isn't talented enough to overcome something like this.
You may be right, but I'm not giving up. Plenty of time, it's May 2, they can get out of this. But they can't go 10 games back and climb out, they need to stay close to .500. We have the Astros coming up, win today and take 2 out of 3 there and that puts us back on the right track. Keep your fingers crossed for Carp coming back, next thing you know you've won 7 of 10, 10 of 15 and you are back in business.

Agreed. And I also predict a monster June from Jimmy.

jagtrader · Post by **jagtrader** » May 2 07, 8:40 am

jim wrote:
jagtrader wrote:This team isn't talented enough to overcome something like this.
You may be right, but I'm not giving up. Plenty of time, it's May 2, they can get out of this. But they can't go 10 games back and climb out, they need to stay close to .500. We have the Astros coming up, win today and take 2 out of 3 there and that puts us back on the right track. Keep your fingers crossed for Carp coming back, next thing you know you've won 7 of 10, 10 of 15 and you are back in business.

You're moving forward like there's not a funeral Thursday. The players don't have that luxury. I don't see them reeling off 10 of 15 under these circumstances.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 2 07, 8:43 am

jagtrader wrote:
jim wrote:
jagtrader wrote:This team isn't talented enough to overcome something like this.
You may be right, but I'm not giving up. Plenty of time, it's May 2, they can get out of this. But they can't go 10 games back and climb out, they need to stay close to .500. We have the Astros coming up, win today and take 2 out of 3 there and that puts us back on the right track. Keep your fingers crossed for Carp coming back, next thing you know you've won 7 of 10, 10 of 15 and you are back in business.
You're moving forward like there's not a funeral Thursday. The players don't have that luxury. I don't see them reeling off 10 of 15 under these circumstances.

Like I said, I understand.

But I'm not giving up. Not giving up on today, Friday, the next month, the entire season.

Popeye_Card · Post by **Popeye_Card** » May 2 07, 9:10 am

Personally, I think the Cardinals may not be that great this year. Better than they've shown over the past 2 weeks, but only around .500 for the year. That's OK I guess. It could be worse.

The only thing that's getting under my skin right now is LaRussa's attitude. Very sour. I understand that things have been very rough on him since his DUI, but I'm beginning to wonder about his overall well-being right now. He's acting like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I don't think his attitude has a gigantic effect on the team's play, but I do think that it's a factor. As much as we try to make it about stats, and regression to the mean, yadda-yadda-yadda--baseball is still a very emotional game. Right now the Cardinals are just...."blah".

--P--

jagtrader · Post by **jagtrader** » May 2 07, 9:18 am

They were blah before Hancock's accident. Virtually every player on the roster was underachieving. That's where I attribute the world championship hangover. I think this team has 80-85 win talent. But it was 10-13 prior to Sunday -- which is a 70-win pace. I don't see the Cardinals getting better in light of recent events.

Popeye_Card · Post by **Popeye_Card** » May 2 07, 9:38 am

jagtrader wrote:They were blah before Hancock's accident. Virtually every player on the roster was underachieving. That's where I attribute the world championship hangover. I think this team has 80-85 win talent. But it was 10-13 prior to Sunday -- which is a 70-win pace. I don't see the Cardinals getting better in light of recent events.

I certainly do not think that they're going to play at a 70-win pace all season. 6 of 8 regulars are not going to continue to have OPS+'s more than 30 points below their career average. 4 of our 5 starting pitching slots are not going to continue to have ERA+'s in the 60's. It is nearly impossible to continue to play as collectively bad as this team has played during April--death of a teammate or not.

--P--