Beating Cardinals with Cardinals

The first thought I had when I heard the Reds picked up Jim Edmonds from the Brewers was "I wonder why the White Sox didn't deal for Edmonds when the trade for Adam Dunn fell through.

But next of course I thought of the Cardinals of the 2000s. In the 2004 NLCS, Pujols may have been the Series MVP, but it was Edmonds and Rolen who supplied the dramatic homers.

Edmonds hit the walk off homer in the 12th inning of game 6 to tie the series and Rolen's 2 run homer off Roger Clemens in the 6th inning of Game 7 gave the Cardinals the lead that they wouldn't give up.

And in the 2006 World Series, Rolen batted .421 with an OPS of 1.213 and Jim Edmonds got a key go ahead double in the critical Game 3 of the World Series.

Now these huge Cardinals heroes have one duty... take down the Cardinals.

It is an ingenious strategy... get guys who are not intimidated by the Cardinals.

"Am I afraid of the Cardinals recent success? We ARE the Cardinals recent success."

It will be interesting to see the Cardinal fans reaction. The supposed nicest fans in the game will see some of their own trying to beat them.

If the Reds get Pujols, I'll be impressed.

I can't help but feel partially responsible for the brawl tonight

I thought it was fun that Brandon Phillips wants to get the Cardinals' goat.

Why not put a little electricity into a potential rivalry. I mean have the Cardinals and Reds, two of the oldest franchises in baseball, EVER been considered rivals?

Why not start now?

What I DIDN'T expect is to see an all out brawl in the first inning.

But I guess that's what a rivalry is like. It's bad blood. It's "I want to beat you because I don't like you."

I tell you something I found very interesting... not that Brandon Phillips got under the Cardinals skin or that LaRussa and Dusty Baker were at each other (there is no love lost between them.)

It was Scott Rolen going after Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter said something to Dusty that got an f--- you from Baker.

And then Rolen, who earlier was trying to be a peacemaker, went right after his former teammate and fellow 2006 World Series winner.

So Rolen, the former Cardinal and current Red, is smack dab in the middle of this rivalry. And to quote Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi... There is no conflict!

They play tomorrow, 9:30 AM Pacific time, and three more times in September.

This could be good folks.

GOOD FOR BRANDON PHILLIPS!

Seriously... there can sometimes be too much gentile friendliness among baseball players these days.

Look, I understand that most of the ballplayers are friends now and you aren't going to get any true bad blood between the teams. We hear how rivalries are media creations and teams don't really care who they beat.

Yeah, as if Aaron Boone's homer would have meant the same to the players if it beat the A's... or the 2004 ALCS comeback would have been as sweet for the Red Sox if it were against the Twins.

Well Cincinnati is in its first REAL pennant race in over a decade. (Sorry, I am not counting the end of the 2006 season when the Reds almost backed into the playoffs because the Cardinals imploded down the stretch... even though the Cardinals went on to win the whole shebang.)

Cincinnati fans are coming back. There is reason to be excited again.
And the Reds and Cardinals are starting a TRULY meaningful series. I'm not talking about the "Can the Sox struggle back into the race" series they had with the Yankees.

I'm talking a "Two teams tied in the loss column for first place in mid August playing each other" series.

Now the midwest is supposed to be above anger, hatred and meanness (or so I have read) but Brandon Phillips is having none of it.

He threw a Molotov Cocktail in the direction of St. Louis. According to Rob Neyer (and why would he lie to me?) Brandon not so diplomatically declared “I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”

I love the caveat that he needs to compare his hatred of the Cardinals with the relatively low hatred of the Cubs. As if we ALL knew how much he hates the Cubs and we'd think "Holy Cats! He hates them more than the CUBS! Thems is fighting words!"

How much of this was show? How much of this was playing for the fans?
Who knows and who cares?

Baseball needs to let loose every once in a while. There needs to be a few Kevin Millars and David Wells and Brandon Phillips out there willing to pop off and be fun.

It's fun, remember?

Now Millar and Wells also both came up big in games that led to a World Series title.

If Phillips comes up small down the stretch, he'll be all talk.

But hey, at least it is fun to see this energy out of Cincy.

Keep talking, Brandon. Tell us what you REALLY think.

It's ANYONE'S Division to win but Wainwright's Cy Young to lose

I am sure this is not how Brandon Phillips saw this series unfold... The Reds went from 2 up to 1 back... and Cincinnati has 47 games to get back on track.

If they don't they can look squarely at this weekend as a big time lost opportunity... when they showed they couldn't play with the big boys.

The Reds are part of my "Less Than Magnificent Seven"... the seven teams that went from 2000 to 2009 without making the post season once.

They can get off the schnide with a division title in a month and a half... and the lead in the NL Central hasn't been more than 2 games since May 9th with the exception of one day where the Reds opened up a 3 game lead.

In other words, a tradition filled midwestern team that has a lot of red in their uniform will be playing in October this year... your guess is as good as mine as which one.

But despite Ubaldo Jimene's solid performance last night in New York, Adam Wainwright at this point has to be the Cy Young winner.

He came up big in today's big game that put the Cardinals in first by themselves.

He's matched Jimenez's 17 wins... his ERA has joined Josh Johnson as sub 2.00. Wainwright's 1.99 ERA trailed Johnson's league leading ERA by 0.02 points.

His 0.97 WHIP is the lowest in the league.

His 176 1/3 innings pitched is second only to Roy Halladay. His batting average against is third in the league.

It's an amazing year for aces, and a strong August and September could put Jimenez, Johnson, Halladay and even Lincecum into the winner's circle.

But right now, it needs to be wrestled from Wainwright.

Albert Pujols doesn't have to look up to anyone

You can write it in ink... Albert Pujols is winning the 2010 National League MVP.

Oh right now it is close between Pujols and Joey Votto with about 30% of the season left. It also looked like Mechagodzilla was going to beat Godzilla with 30% left in THAT fight too.

At the 1/3 mark, I wrote that Pujols was the MVP until someone else proved otherwise.

Well, Joey Votto answered the bell and is having an outstanding season... and right now it would look like it would be a neck and neck vote.

Votto is #1 and Pujols #2 in on base percentage, slugging and, it would make sense, OPS.
Votto is second in hitting. Pujols fifth.
Pujols is second in home runs. Votto third.
Pujols is first in RBI. Votto third.
Votto is first in runs scored. Pujols fifth.
Pujols is first in total bases. Votto third.
Pujols is second in walks. Votto third.
Votto is first in runs created and offensive win percentage. Pujols second.

Votto is also first in situational wins added. Pujols second.

I have no clue what situational wins added means, but damn it sounds impressive.

Remember how this was supposedly a down year for Pujols?

With a race this tight, why am I writing Pujols' MVP in ink?

Have you SEEN how Pujols has been playing? He's batted .442 since July ended with 5 homers, 13 RBI, has an OPS of 1.327 and in 47 plate appearances has 1 strikeout.

And oh yeah the Cardinals leap frogged the Reds into first place during that stretch.

Yeah, I know... we aren't supposed to look at anything other than stats for MVP... but going on a tear as his team takes over the top spot SHOULD count for something!

It's safe to say that he is heating up and Votto has as much chance to stop his momentum as Tia Leoni and Maximillian Schell had to stop the tidal wave in Deep Impact.

It's Albert's award to lose and when the waves subside, he should have his 4th MVP and 3rd overall.

Man how great would it be to HIS agent!

The A's are losing again... and Wes Hoffman is fuming

It is a beautiful summer day in Oakland and the A's and Reds are playing a day game.

Naturally it is not being televised. And also naturally the A's are floundering and falling in the standings. As I pointed out earlier, the Rangers are indeed in first place and will probably eventually fall on their face as is their M.O.

If the A's hang in close to the Rangers, they could find themselves in a position to win the AL West in August.

Instead they are being slowly flushed down the drain.


As I am typing this, the A's blew a bases loaded nobody out chance.

But what can I say about the A's that my friend and Bay Area based comic Wes Hoffman couldn't also write.

He is a big A's fan and while I don't always link up other people's articles, I love his latest A's rant that you can read right here.

Keep the faith Wes.
1989 wasn't THAT long ago.

Not to sound too much like Mike Francesa but...

I kinda miss Bronson Arroyo... especially when he won again for the Reds.

Keep in mind Wily Mo Pena, the right handed slugger for the future that the Sox got in that deal, is now with the Independent Bridgeport Blue Fish.

Man that trade ALWAYS sucked.

I said it then and I'm saying it now.

WILY MO PENA UPDATE

Old friend Wily Mo Pena is hitting .311 with 6 homers for the Bridgeport Blue Fish.

Meanwhile Bronson Arroyo won his 9th game, going 8 strong against the Mets with 1 earned run well on his way to yet another double digit win season with 200+ innings for the Reds.

Just felt like pointing that out.