You're Not Good Enough To Give It Away

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I guess the junior high coaches were right.  You can't turn it on and off.  You have to play the game the right way all of the time.  For most of the last month the Cardinals' offense has been pathetic.  The closer situation isn't the worst in baseball thanks to Brad Lidge.  But I asked the question previously, can the Cardinals flip the switch?  Members of the club dismissed the notion.  As it turns out it was just whistling in the dark.  What you see now is clearly the real club.  The Cardinals had six weeks of great baseball in them.  But that appears to be it.  The hitting with runners in scoring position is pathetic.  The club clearly wasn't ready to play game one.  Despite his solo home run Matt Holliday is having a nightmare.  He is insuring that Pujols will never see a good pitch. (Though Albert hasn't exactly distinguished himself either)

AND RYAN FRANKLIN CAN NEVER CLOSE A GAME OF IMPORTANCE AGAIN!

It hurts me to say that because I'm a big fan.  Franklin has been big for the club ever since he signed here.  But for whatever reason he's lost it.  Sometimes the feel for it comes and goes.  But if you're a closer the team can't afford to let you find it at their expense.  That's Tony's fault.  He shortened the the bullpen in the series against the Giants earlier in the decade and it appears he's done it again.  As I asked in an earlier blog, "Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle dixie?"  Well the big hog leg in the pen now is John Smoltz.  What's the point of being well heeled if you're not gonna slap leather?  You gotta go lefty righty all the way until you get to Smoltz.  The hell with game four...you need to win one first.

And while I'm complaining, I was chastized by many including Peter Gammons when I suggested that Matt Holliday is not a good outfielder.  Well guess what.  I don't blame you for not listening to me but, I've been around, you know.

Can the Cardinals come back in the series? Sure.  And I'll be Ihoping and praying on Saturday at Bud Park like everyone else. But as Micheal Mcdonald once sang, "I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see."