Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

With Spring Training out of the way, we can finally get to all that Opening Day has to offer on this version of the show. But before we can get there, we have to take a look at how the 25 man roster that Willie Singleton will be rolling out in his debut season.

LINEUP

Overall, the lineup wasn't that hard to configure. All the starters were pretty much given coming into camp. Compared to last year, I'd say there were a lot more threats. Jacoby Ellsbury now sits atop our lineup and gives us a dynamic speed-bat combo at the top of the order. Jhonny Peralta sits in the heart of the order with Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina. Molina and Holliday struggled offensively for much of last season and only got it going in late August. Hopefully the addition of Peralta will mean more production there in that part of the lineup that seemed to be a black hole last season. At the bottom, you'll notice that we've got Oscar "The most hyped player in the short history of this dynasty" Taveras and Kolten "I used to have an 80 OVR but now I have a 68 OVR" Wong hitting before the pitcher's spot. We've got the Rooks down there in order to get them going and give them a little bit of protection in the lineup.

Overall, 1-9 is pretty solid. We just need our power bats to get their stuff together and drive in runs this season. Our bench has Matt Adams, Tony Cruz, Jon Jay and Mark Ellis. Notably absent is Daniel Descalso who was forced to move to AAA after hitting .303 last season as a starter at second base. That just goes to show that roster cuts can sometime be a cruel mistress to those who've got jobs on the line.

PITCHING

Again, pitching is our strength this season. After coming out of literally nowhere last season and dominating the postseason, Michael Wacha enters the year as our #2 starter behind Wainwright. Behind him, we've got Garcia and Lynn who are both looking for bounce back years after underwhelming performances this season. In the 4th spot though is the guy to watch: Shelby Miller. He was incredible this spring and after the way he threw last season, there's no reason to believe that he won't get even better.

The bullpen is equally loaded. We've got Joe Kelly working as the long man and he's essentially the equivalent to a 6th man in basketball at this point after dominating the postseason last year. Looking at all the arms, it's certainly a colorful mix. We've got a bunch of guys who throw from a wide variety of arm angles. We've got a left handed submariner, a right hander who throws from the hip, a right hander and a left hander who throw from a low 3 quarters, a left hander and a right hander who throw right over the top and a flamethrowing closer who's untouchable.

Looking at the roster from top to bottom, this team is going to be very, very, very good. I don't think that it's going to be a problem making the postseason this year but then again, I felt the same way last season.

The player I really want to focus on though is Oscar Taveras. Expectations for this kid are through the roof, after all he destroyed AAA pitching and started doing crazy, Bo Jackson-esque things when he ran out of stuff to do in AAA. The rise of Taveras will be well chronicled through the pages of this year's thread and probably beyond. He came into spring and while he didn't hit .340, he mashed Grapefruit league pitching every time he stepped into the batters box.
First it was Stan Musial. Then it was Lou Brock. Eventually the torch was passed on to Jim Edmonds... And now...

it's Oscar Taveras' turn.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

I guess that since we've been companions for quite sometime, I'll let it slide.

How is ST for the Cards so far?

Well, it was pretty darn good. There weren't really any big time storylines coming out of camp because we pretty much had all of the positions locked up. Joel Hanrahan and Jason Motte looked really good in limited action. They'll definitely help the club out this season. As far as minor league guys goes, Oscar Taveras pretty much stole the show with his unbelievable skill set. Aside from him though, Kolten Wong was interesting and we're gonna give him a try at second this year and see how he does. Randall Grichuk was also pretty impressive too although I'm not quite sure where he fits into our current outfield situation. With all the additions, I think this team is even better than last year's World Series' winning squad.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

"This is what I've worked for my whole life. All those hours spent taking batting practice, taking fly balls and working out are finally about to pay off. It's only been 6 years but it seems like a century. I've lived in shacks in the Dominican and resorts in Arizona. I've been on chartered flights and chartered buses. I've eaten gas station sandwiches and the best BBQ Texas has to offer. Since I left home 6 years ago, I've lived out of suitcase. Now, I've got an opportunity to find a permanent home.

All those All Star Teams, MVP Awards and prospect rankings don't matter now. It's time to create a new legacy and leave my mark on the greatest game in the history of man-kind."

******

Just like last season, the Cardinals would make an obscure road trip yet again to begin the season. This time however, we wouldn't be expected to fly across the country to AZ. No, this time the big wigs of MLB decided to send the Red Birds to Cincinnati...



I have one word to describe our adventure all the way up to Cinci...

Lame

Why should we be forced to fly all the way up to Ohio where it's routinely 20-30 degrees this time of the year to play a division rival. I understand that we're the defending world champs and they gotta make it more difficult for us but damn... this just isn't fair.

At least the game was on prime time TV though right? You know ESPN had to show out to see Oscar Taveras and the defending World Champs kick the crap out of a division rival.



Unfortunately that wasn't they way things happened. Tavreas didn't go 4-4 with 4 home runs and have a month's worth of Web Gems. In fact Taveras' debut was "underwhelming if you will." He hit a sharp line drive to the right fielder in his first Major League AB then followed up in his next AB with his first career hit. Taveras would finish the day 2-3 and call it good.

Now speaking of Taveras' first major league hit, boy have I treat for you!

MLB.com: Taveras' big day



I've often talked about how I wanted to add more videos to my franchises and my struggles with Adobe Premiere have been well documented. Due to a recent breakthrough however, I've figured out how to add audio to the videos to make them more realistic. I can't take all the credit for this idea though. I have to give some to lilbiggio who's, hands down, the master of franchises on here. As far as I know, he's the genius who first developed this sort of creativity. Hats off to him.

Today was Oscar Taveras' debut! Of course ESPN was going to bring in "The Hawk" to call the game instead of their usual bunch. If you're gonna do it, do it big!

Luckily the whole focus was on Taveras so the whole nation didn't see us embarrass ourselves. To say we lost would be an understatement. We got punched in face and left on the curb to die.



If we're going to blame this on anyone, it has to be the new fielding. In Spring Training, it was realized that usually routine flyballs had a high propensity of leaving the yard thanks to the new fielding "reticule" or whatever it's called. During today's game, Matt Holliday came crashing into the left field fence at least 3 times today trying to read these fly balls. The way the fielding is set up, it's nearly impossible to take a good route to a fly ball. So the lesson learned today is we're going to have to figure this out quick unless we like losing all USER played games.

[Frank is the Tank]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Well, it was pretty darn good...... With all the additions, I think this team is even better than last year's World Series' winning squad.

That's good to hear. Surprised that you have Oscar up this early tbh, I thought he'd be a mid-season call-up. Anyways, what are you going to do about Matt "D3" Adams?

[k_mac]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

If we're going to blame this on anyone, it has to be the new fielding. In Spring Training, it was realized that usually routine flyballs had a high propensity of leaving the yard thanks to the new fielding "reticule" or whatever it's called. During today's game, Matt Holliday came crashing into the left field fence at least 3 times today trying to read these fly balls. The way the fielding is set up, it's nearly impossible to take a good route to a fly ball. So the lesson learned today is we're going to have to figure this out quick unless we like losing all USER played games.

Lol, I had a terrible first game with the fielding as well. Like three or four stupid errors just because I had no idea where the ball was going.

Great stuff by the way. It may be the Cards, but this stuff is hard not to follow!

[gsutiger]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

good stuff enjoying the reads

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

That's good to hear. Surprised that you have Oscar up this early tbh, I thought he'd be a mid-season call-up. Anyways, what are you going to do about Matt "D3" Adams?

Taveras absolutely raked AAA last season though. He hit .340ish with like 30 home runs. There was really no reason to keep him out off the big league squad any longer. He's more than ready.

As for D3, I'm trying to work him into the lineup as much as possible. I'm going to play him a lot at first base and occasionally third base. Currently though, he's going to act more like a 5th outfielder. He actually has a pretty good arm so I plan on playing him in left field. It's not ideal but at this point, it is what it is. He just has to keep playing until something opens up.

Lol, I had a terrible first game with the fielding as well. Like three or four stupid errors just because I had no idea where the ball was going.

Great stuff by the way. It may be the Cards, but this stuff is hard not to follow!

Its only been one game and the fielding is already a pain. Matt Holliday is going to have a tough time until I get this figured out. Jacoby Ellsbury was getting burnt on quite a few as well even with his speed. I've played a few more games and my outfielders are still smacking into the fences trying to get balls off the wall.

Thanks for following dude, I've always been a fan of the Phillies so you know I'm following yours as well.

good stuff enjoying the reads

Glad to hear it man, thanks for following!

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

After that fantastic road trip up to Cincinnati, the Red Birds flew to Pittsburgh and then back to St. Louis. I would like to take the time to thank Major League Baseball for sending us on a grueling road trip to kick off the season. Perhaps we can work out the details over a glass of sweet Florida Orange juice later on...

For the time being though, the road trip was brutal to our bullpen and starting rotation. Not even 2 full weeks into the season and we already need bullpen help... ****....

On the bright side though, we were back in St. Louis to kick off our own Opening Day festivities. The grounds crew forgot to spray the opening day logo on the field and they forgot to hand the banners... If I didn't know any better, I'd say that today was just another road game...

Luckily the fans knew better.



Look at the work that Oscar Taveras has been doing over the past week and a half. Not even 2 full weeks into his first big league season and he's already raking Major League pitching. I know it's early in the season but he's already fulfilling his lofty expectations. I'm not sure it gets any better than this.



Accompanying Taveras in making a splash would be Michael "I look nothing like the real Michael Wacha" Wacha. If you recall last season, Wacha was given a handful of Major League starts and was our #2 starter in the postseason. Needless to say, there were great expectations for Wacha as well. It sucks that it was Wacha and not Wainwright starting Opening Day thanks to that stupid road trip but it is what it is.

He threw well today, he had a couple of big innings pitch count wise but overall it was a solid outing for St. Louis' next big up-and-comer.

Still though, I can't get over the difference in looks.

How does he go from looking like this:




To looking like this:




If they didn't have the names on the back of the jerseys I would've just assumed it was just another scrub we pulled from the depths of our Farm System. I don't usually have problems with the way the roster guys put this stuff together but this time... I'm not quite sure what happened here.



We lost to Cinci to start off the season but this time around, we got hold of them and won a game. The Red Birds had started out slow but with this win, our offense and pitching got going and it looks like we've turned a corner here.

While it was nice playing Cinci twice in a row, we're ready for a new challenge.

Up next, The Milwaukee Brewers.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension



I love this picture. Carlos Gomez is laughing his *** off in front of Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Ellis. Ellis is just staring him down while Jacoby stands there with his bat about ready to beat the living crap out of Gomez. This my friends is what we like to see between the Red Birds and Brew Crew!

We all know the story between the Brewers and the Cardinals. They stole John Mozeliak... threaten the balance of power in the NL Central yahda yahda yahda. Instead of ESPN showing the Birds play the Reds, they should've come up here and shown this game. Then again it may have been for their own safety not to come up here.

If you sat in on the pitcher's and catcher's meeting prior to tonight's game, you would've heard severall incriminating comments between GM Willie Singleton, Manager Mike Matheny and starter Jaime Garcia.

I don't care if you gotta pop them sunsa*****es square in the face, we gotta show them who runs this here NL Central.

I don't care if they didn't provoke it! Pick out a target... Braun, Gallardo, Ramirez, Gomez, Braun, Gomez... hell even Segura... and let 'em have it. If you won't do it, I'll find somebody who will.

Yadi set the target away and Garcia ya bust their lips ya hear me?

In his first in-season act as General Manager Willie Singleton essentially called for the start of World War 3. Everyone on the face of the planet knew the Brewers would retaliate and that teams like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati would join Milwaukee in their crusade to unseat the Cardinals.

Under most circumstances, it's bad to throw at guys on purpose but sometimes, everyone needs to be reminded who runs this league.

After around the 2nd inning, it was pretty clear who was going to be getting the ball to the face. Khris "Look at my batflip Yasiel" Davis. Flipping the bat and then walking down the first base line will get you plunked every time you try to do it.

So during his next AB, we busted Khris Davis in the rear and started WWIII... Instead of hitting one of the Cardinal position players, the Brewers went straight for the jugular and hit Jaime Garcia in the shoulder...



I swear, that **** hurt the most. Throwing at the pitcher is an unwritten rule. If the Brewers want to play that game this season, we can tango but they probably won't like it.



This game should've been a rallying call for the Cardinals. All the trouble Willie went to in order to secure St. Louis' position at the top of the division was wasted. The thought was that by provoking a fight with the Brewers and winning it, the Cards could finally put the Brew Crew in their place... unfortunately though, it wasn't so...



No, Ryan "Juiced Up" Braun went overboard and hit a dinger off Joe Kelly in the bottom of the 9th. We should've taken the lead in the top of the inning but Kolten Wong made a base running goof and cost us a run.

This can't be life...

MLB.com Brewers and Cards Go At It

What the ****, you idiot.
-The Editor.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

April 17th, 2014
3:07 P.M.
Bill DeWitt's Office

What in the hell are you doing!?

Willie sat at the other side of Bill DeWitt's desk. His brilliant plan to establish the Cardinals at the top of the NL Central had backfired... badly.

We ain't even 2 full weeks into the season and you already put me in a sticky situation. Tryna start a fight with the Brewers? Damnit Willie; you really showed our *** out there. Make matters worse, the damn fools swept us.

Somebody had to keep Mozeliak and the Brewers in check. I sure as hell didn't see your plan Bill.

I don't know what you did with Boston but you can't just run around here like some sort of vigilante dealing justice left and right. That **** will get you canned real quick.

Bill, you own this team sure. But you don't participate in our day to day baseball operations. How about you leave the baseball decisions to me and my staff?

*Sigh* I don't like it any more than you do Willie... I don't... But you can't keep drawing such negative publicity to this franchise. The repercussions of what you've done are bigger than the game...

What are you talking about: "Bigger than the Game?"

You keep doing this silly **** Willie and your really going to make them mad.

******

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

When we last came to you, the Cardinals had attempted to halt the Brewers rise with some good 'ol fashioned hardball. As we all know however, the plan backfired and our hero Willie Singleton now resides in the dog house. I wish I was coming back to give you a positive update to the situation but unfortunately, that's now how this is playing out.

First thing's first though.


Kolten Wong finds his *** on the bench due to that absolutely ridiculous base running error during that game against the Brewers. On top of that Wong has been mediocre at the plate hitting .159 with 5 RBIs out of the 9 spot. Maybe the pitcher can get away with that type of production... but not an offensive starter. As a result, Mark Ellis would find himself suddenly out of the platoon role and starting every game for the time being.

Wong is lucky we didn't ship him to AAA for this awfully stupid season.

With that said, let's see how Shelby Miller aka "The Next Big Thing" is fairing against the Nationals...



(insert expletive of choice here). Already at 86 pitches and he isn't even through 5. What the heck is this? Last season, he was our go to guy behind Wainwright and now he can't even make it through 5 innings.

He's been like this all season folks. He dominated during Spring Training and then makes it to the games that actually count and now seems destined for AAA.

During the first USER start with Miller, it became apparent that he just isn't featuring the same arsenal he had last season when he blew away 242 batters. Last season, Miller could get it done with just his fastball and curveball. His fastball, which sat last season at 96+ is only at 92-94 now. The velocity he showed during the spring is absolutely gone. His ferocious sweeping curve? Not even a threat any more. I know he's only 2 or 3 starts into the season but one has to wonder: What is Shelby Miller becoming?

Despite Miller's awful start, the Cards managed to battle back and tie the game behind an Oscar Taveras home run. We turned the ball over to the suspect bullpen after 5 innings from Miller.



And as has been the case all season, the bullpen gave us some good innings then when crunch time hit, they fell apart. We put Eric Fornataro in to face Bryce Harper in the 13th and he gave up what had to have been a 480+ ft. blast.

Second USER game in a row this guy has come in and allowed a walk-off dinger. Maybe it would be best to stop using him in those high leverage situations...

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Heading back home, we actually had an excellent matchup waiting for us: The Pirates playing the Cardinals. The Pirates are having a fantastic season but that isn't the reason why this is a key game... no, it goes deeper than that. For the first time in this dynasty, we've got a matchup of 2 players. You see this would be the first time that we've got 2 rookie phenoms going head to head against each other.

In one corner, you have Gregory Polanco

Today: 4-4: 2 Singles, 1 Double and 1 Home Run.

Season: .324, 7 HR, 15 RBIs

Gregory Polanco was always a pretty good prospect but he wasn't on radars until he made a spectacular throw in a 2012 Spring Training game. Polanco has all 5 tools and the swagger to match. All day today, we attempted to stop him from doing something crazy. At every twist and turn, he was doing something unbelievable... making a web gem, throwing a runner out, hitting a home run, stealing 3rd on Yadi... the kid couldn't be stopped.

Luckily for us, we had our own phenom to match: Oscar Taveras.

Today: 5-5: 3 single, 1 Triple and 1 Home Run

Season: .384, 11 HR, 20 RBIs

At the end of last season, a lot of people were calling for Oscar Taveras to be promoted... and rightfully so. The potential has always been there but it wasn't until last season that Willie Singleton and his scouts identified him as a serious candidate to become a superstar.

Since joining the big league squad, he's exceeded expectations. We aren't even through one month of the season and he already has 11 HR. When Polanco did something special today, Taveras was right in there as well, one upping the young budding star.

Ironically, with the whole spotlight on the two phenoms, you'd think one of them would strike the final blow...


But it twas not to be... You see the Cardinals fought into yetanother extra inning game and as usual, yet another goof off cost us the game. This time with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th and the winning run on third, the veteran Matt Holliday camped under a seemingly catchable fly ball only to find it missed his glove completely and hit him in the chest... Sunuva...

Can we catch a break? Can we not blow a game late? Will this USER losing streak ever end?

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

And for our last update of the day kids, the friendly St. Louis Cardinals head north to play the Cubs... heh, a gimmie series like this couldn't have come at a better time. We've got Wainwright on the bump, all the starters are rested... you could say it was shaping up to be a blowout.

And then this happened:



Nate Shierholtz (who?) made a spectacular play in the first inning. In what was expected to be a blow out from the first pitch, the Cardinals suddenly found themselves played right into a trap. The Cubs were prepared to face the defending champs and to make a mockery out of them.

On the other hand, this is in fact the Chicago Cubs... the NL's punch bag... let's just forget this shall we? Surely this game was salvagable right?



Damn it though, he did it again! How are we supposed to win this game when the Cubs are playing like this? Some random guy with an annoying last name, gives us the bird not once but twice.

We're the St. Louis Cardinals, the defending World Champs! This game has turned from a gimmie for us to a matter of honor. The fielding shouldn't be this easy for the Cubs.

This new fielding system is making a great defensive outfield look like this:


How someone didn't die on this play is beyond me. Matt Holliday dove into the freaking ivy head first and Ells had to be shoveled off the ground like it was a damn Looney Toons cartoon.

The fielding is still giving me a ton of trouble. Routine flyballs are turning into 500 ft. blasts, Matt Holliday is flying head first into the fence left and and right, Jacoby Ellsbury is doing the "Air Jordan" jump and looking awkward as hell and Taveras? Well he's just standing out in right field shaking his damn head.



Losing to the Cubs is one thing... Being 2 hit by what might be the worst pitching staff in the league is another. We're making bums like Jason Hammel and Anthony Rizzo look like the best players in the league game in and game out. As the defending World Champs, you can't tolerate these sorts of shenanigans. We're better than this. I know it, you know and we all know it. The losing streak isn't the issue here folks... it's how we're losing.

The script is always the same:

• Starters start out strong then allow 2 or 3 runs by the 6th.
• Offense looks silly for the first 6 innings
• The Bullpen comes in following the starters and lets the game get out of reach.

And so, the USER losing streak continues as do the woes of the St. Louis Cardinals...

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

So while the USER playing streak continues, I figured now would be as good a time as any to check in and examine our situation.

It's only been one month of baseball but quite a bit has happened. Our offense has been good for the most part getting an MVP esque performance at the dish from Matt Holliday and as well as a solid performance by the rookie Oscar Taveras. Our offense has been hitting home runs left and right and been fairly productive. With the amount of offense we're getting we should be winning games left and right.

Unfortunately for us, you need pitching as well and our best have been spotty thus far in the season. Wainwright hasn't been himself, Wacha has been OK, Miller has been..., Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn have been fantastic but it's not nearly enough.

To make matters worse, the middle relievers are a pain in the *** too. The backend of the bullpen with Rosenthal and the set up guys has been money. The middle relievers ERAs are all good but they keep allowing runs in clutch times and it's starting to get annoying. I wish we could just can them all but that isn't feasible. Hanrahan and Motte are still rehabing and won't be available for at least 2 more weeks and Valverde has been lit up like the night sky on the 4th of July in AAA.



This is the worst case scenario for our ball club. We've got a tremendous group of talent with no real holes but for whatever reason they just can't seem to win ball games. This isn't an issue where you can go out there and trade away a bunch of guys and restructure the roster because the talent is going to be much better than that. We can't go into rebuild mode and sell off everybody ala the Boston Red Sox in 2012 because that's completely improbable. And you can't do the quick fix and fire the manager because public opinion would tank. Matheny has done nothing but good things for this franchise since he was hired.

No matter what angle you look at it from, we're handcuffed with this team and we have no choice but to effectively ride out the storm for a few months.

It's only the end of April so it isn't panic mode time yet but come July or August and if we're struggling this bad well... then it might be time to take more... extreme measures.

Going into May, we're fresh off being swept by the Brewers. It was another demoralizing defeat but one we must put behind us. We've optioned Kolten Wong and recalled Danny Descalso while also sending Miller to the bullpen and made Kelly a starter.

Despite the flurry of moves and the augmented roster, General Manager Willie Singleton has a few questions to answer from ownership...

[Frank is the Tank]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Maybe it was a good idea to bring up Oscar to the big leagues.. That's why you're the GM and not me