SB Nation - Skip Schumaker

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:03:58 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Dear front office: Please don't acquire Gary Matthews Jr., unless the Angels are willing to eat his salary AND take on Jeff Suppan's. Sincerely, Everyone

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Some things to read while getting a new backpack.

So apparently Gary Matthews Jr. wants out of Anaheim, and some Brewer fans (including Al) think he could be a good fit in center field next season, if the Angels agree to pay most of his salary. Meanwhile, Angels management is somewhere hoping and praying that there's one general manager left in baseball who thinks Matthews can be a productive major leaguer next season. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Matthews has been worth -$5.3 million in salary over the last three seasons. And while he was a pretty good defender at one point, TotalZone ranked him as the fourth worst defender in all of baseball last season. And he's 35 years old. On the scale of center fielders, Matthews is much closer to Corey Patterson than Mike Cameron.

The Milwaukee chapter of the BBWAA has unveiled their postseason awards, with Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo surprising no one by taking home Team MVP and Pitcher of the Year honors, respectively. Trevor Hoffman was named top newcomer, Todd Coffey was named Unsung Hero and Craig Counsell won the "Good Guy" award, which may be renamed for him when he retires. Mike Cameron also received two community service awards: one from the team and one from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Congratulations to all of them.

Speaking of Mike Cameron, he's one of two Brewers among the top 6 free agents by WAR. Cameron ranks sixth with 4.3 WAR, a couple spots down from Felipe Lopez, who is fourth with 4.6.

Josh Butler has a new blog post from the AFL. Today's topics include night games, strep throat and his repertoire. Butler has been home for a few days with strep but still expects to make his scheduled start today.

Unless another package of stuff shows up on my doorstep, today is your last chance to enter the Bring Back Seth McClung contest. As of this writing, 401 people have signed up. I'll draw seven winners from the group at 5 pm today.

There had previously been speculation that Doug Melvin could consider leaving the Brewers to become president of the Blue Jays. You can lay that rumor to rest: Interim President Paul Beeston has been given the full time job. Elsewhere around baseball:

Astros: Signed former Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills to be their new manager.
Rays: Signed Gabe Kapler to a one year deal for slightly more than $1 million.

As you may have heard, Mark McGwire is coming out of hiding to return to the Cardinals as hitting coach. Lookout Landing speculates on how his first meeting with Skip Schumaker might go.

Speaking of Lookout Landing, they spent the evening last night watching a winter league game in Venezuela, and have some observations on the experience.

Side note: Lookout Landing also has a link to free live broadcasts of VWL games, but when I clicked on it the first thing I got was a box asking for permission to connect to my Facebook account. Don't fall for it.

Still looking for a replacement for Jason Kendall? MLB Trade Rumors has a list of catchers that may be available via trade. Most of them aren't too exciting, but it's possible all of them would be better than Kendall next season.

So this is how the other half lives: As part of the McCourt divorce, Jamie McCourt has submitted a list of her monthly living expenses, which includes over $30,000 (per month) for clothing and accessories, over $1000 for wine, and $533 per month for a birthday party. Apparently when you're that wealthy, you get a birthday every month. Who knew?

Speaking of birthdays, happy birthday to:

Braden Looper, who turns 35.
Lenny Harris who spent 2002 as a Brewer and turns 45.
Mark Knudson, who appeared in 106 games as a Brewer in the late 80's and early 90's, and turns 49.
And Bob Melvin, who served as Phil Garner's bench coach and turns 48.

Staying on the subject of birthdays, Wezen-ball has compiled a calendar of Top Birthday WARs. So if you've ever wanted to know the best player born on your birthday, there you go. Mine is Joe Judge, who racked up 43.7 WAR playing first base for the Washington Senators from 1915 to 1932.

That's all I have for you today, unless you're someone in need of a list of unacceptable Halloween candy.

Drink up.

The Return of Mark McGwire

Jeff — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:22:19 -0000

This should be good.

McGwire: See, what you want to be doing is hitting dingers.
McGwire: When you go up there, first pitch, you're looking dead red so you can hit a dinger.
McGwire: Sometimes you're gonna miss. That's okay. Stick to your guns. There's no more efficient way of scoring than hitting a dinger. That's what we want to be doing.
McGwire: The pitcher might pick up on your strategy. Don't worry about it. He's more afraid of you than you are of him.
McGwire: If he throws you something offspeed, like a curveball, don't be fooled. Just hit it for a dinger.
McGwire: Walks are good too. If the pitcher tries to get you to chase something out of the zone, don't swing at it.
McGwire: You only want to swing at strikes. Take balls. Hit strikes for dingers.
McGwire: Now let's break up and practice. Group A, get in there. I want to see you guys hitting dingers. Group B, practice your dinger swings.
McGwire: Who's first in Group A? Skip? Get in there, Skip.
McGwire: Let's see some dingers!
Schumaker:
Schumaker: Coach, I don't
McGwire: What're you doing over there?
McGwire: You're standing on the wrong side of the plate. Bat righty.
McGwire: You hit dingers batting righty.

Dodgers Turn To The Wolf To Get Even

Eric Stephen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:59:15 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

The Wolfman Cometh tonight for the Dodgers

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So, other than that, how was the play last night, Mrs. Lincoln?

If baseball had a football schedule, we would have a week to stew over last night's debacle, but luckily the greatest game on Earth is quick to forgive and forget, as the Dodgers have a chance to quickly erase last night's memory from their minds.

Randy Wolf returns to his old stomping grounds tonight, trying to even the NLCS at two. Wolf was drafted by the Phillies in 1997, and spent his first ten years as a pro in the Phillies' organization. He started the very first game at Citizens Bank Park, in 2004. Manager Joe Torre thought highly enough of Wolf to start him in the NLDS opener against the Cardinals. However, Wolf was inexplicably dropped to fourth in the rotation for the NLCS, but that decision may just pay off just when the Dodgers need it most. Wolf was a rock for the Dodgers this season, leading the club in starts, innings, and quality starts.

Left-handed batters hit just .159/.217/.200 against Wolf this season, striking out in 60 of 185 plate appearances, a stellar 32.4% of the time. In Game 1 against the Cardinals, lefties Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus had two hits and two walks in five plate appearances against Wolf. Ryan Howard, who struggled against LHP all season, has a double and two walks in five plate appearances against southpaws in the NLCS, with three runs batted in.

Joe Blanton, who was used in relief in the NLDS, starts tonight for the Phillies. After giving up five runs in five innings in Cincinnati on May 21 (in a win!), Blanton's ERA stood at 7.11, as home plate was always open for the opposition. Since then, however, Blanton really turned it around, going 10-5 with a 3.16 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 23 starts, averaging 6.57 innings per start.

To win tonight, the Dodger offense needs to show up. Over the last two games, the Dodgers have no extra-base hits, and have just two runs and 11 baserunners in total, hitting .145/.190/.145. I keep hearing Citizens Bank Park is a hitter-friendly park, but the Dodgers are doing their best to convince me otherwise. Since the beginning of 2008, the Dodgers have scored just 29 runs in 10 games in Philadelphia, including the playoffs. Nine of those runs came in one game, earlier this season, but other than that runs have been few and far between for the Dodgers in the city of brotherly love. To win tonight and in this series, they need to score, and score often.

A few notes:

Manny Ramirez has 15 hits in 26 at-bats against Blanton, hitting .577/.636/.731 with one home run
James Loney is seven for 10 with a double off Blanton, hitting .700/.750/.800
Andre Ethier has six hits in 14 at-bats, including two solo home runs, against Blanton, hitting .429/.467/.857
Casey Blake has just one single in 23 at-bats against Blanton, hitting .043/.154/.043
Pedro Feliz is five for 19 with three homers off Wolf, hitting .294/.316/.824
Carlos Ruiz if four for six, with two doubles and a home run (shocker, I know) off Wolf, packing a lot of production (.667/.750/1.500) into just eight plate appearances

The Dodgers this postseason are 4-0 when playing on a day with other games scheduled, and 0-2 when they are the lone game on the schedule. The Yankees and Angels play Game 3 of the ALCS today at 1:13pm.

Here are the lineups for Game 4:

Dodgers		Phillies
SS	Furcal	SS	Rollins
CF	Kemp	CF	Victorino
RF	Ethier	2B	Utley
LF	Manny	1B	Howard
1B	Loney	RF	Werth
2B	Belliard	LF	Ibañez
C	Martin	3B	Feliz
3B	Blake	C	Ruiz
P	Wolf	P	Blanton

**********

Check out Xeifrank's simulation of today's game here.

Game Time: 5:07pm

TV: TBS (Chip Caray, Ron Darling, Buck Martinez)

Baseball Reference Game Four Preview

No Rest, No Problem For Dodger Relievers

Eric Stephen — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:55:35 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Going to the bullpen is a welcome sight in Los Angeles.

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Last night, the Dodgers were able to utilize their top four relievers to close out the game. It wasn't the conventional way of course, as Randy Wolf was pulled in the fourth inning, but the Dodgers have to be happy any time they have a lead after five or six innings and can turn the game over to their bullpen. The site of Ronald Belisario, Hong-Chih Kuo, George Sherrill, and Jonathan Broxton usually means curtains for the other team.

In a perfect world, the Dodgers will get to use those same relievers tonight, perhaps adding a pinch of Ramon Troncoso to the winning recipe. Here's a look at how these relievers did with zero games rest on the season:

	With 0 Days Rest					With Rest
Pitcher	G	ERA	BB/9	K/9	BA/OBP/SLG	G	ERA	BB/9	K/9	BA/OBP/SLG
Broxton	26	1.71	2.73	11.96	.151/.216/.172	47	3.08	3.81	14.32	.172/.263/.264
Sherrill*	21	3.32	4.26	10.42	.200/.291/.286	51	1.08	2.70	7.02	.212/.277/.315
Kuo	3	7.71	11.42	15.43	.250/.455/.625	32	2.60	3.25	9.11	.194/.282/.276
Belisario	19	0.96	3.86	6.75	.206/.316/.279	50	2.42	3.63	8.65	.199/.286/.288

*I used Sherrill's numbers for the entire season, including his time in Baltimore.

There's really not a huge difference either way for Broxton, Sherrill, and Belisario, who have been used on back-to-back days quite often this season. The outlier is Kuo, who was only used three times in such situations all season, an understandable strategy given his injury history. Kuo was ineffective in one of his three outings, giving up a couple runs to Atlanta, a game in which he allowed his only home run since returning from the disabled list in late July. Aside from the small sample size, don't be alarmed by the high walk rate with no rest for Kuo; two of his three walks were intentionally issued to Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday to set up one of the most thrilling strikeouts of the season, the "I want Parkman" moment, if you will.

Since it's the playoffs, I would guess Kuo is available again today, if needed, although Ramon Troncoso might be added to the mix as well. Then again, Clayton Kershaw could shorten the game all by himself. But should the Dodgers need to go to the bullpen again today, fear not.

**********

Here are the lineups. The only change for either team is Julio Lugo starting at 2B instead of Skip Schumaker.

Cardinals		Dodgers
2B	Lugo	SS	Furcal
SS	Ryan	CF	Kemp
1B	Pujols	RF	Ethier
LF	Holliday	LF	Manny
RF	Ludwick	1B	Loney
C	Molina	3B	Blake
3B	DeRosa	2B	Belliard
CF	Rasmus	C	Martin
P	Wainwright	P	Kershaw

Dodgers, Cardinals Set Rosters for NLDS

Eric Stephen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:31:23 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

Emperor Palpatine takes questions before tonight's game

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NLDS: Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Game 1	Tonight	Dodger Stadium	6:37pm
Game 2	Thu	Dodger Stadium	3:07pm
Game 3	Sat	Busch Stadium	3:07pm
Game 4*	Sun	Busch Stadium	TBD
Game 5*	Oct 13	Dodger Stadium	TBD
*if necessary		All times Pacific
All games televised on TBS

The Dodgers and Cardinals have announced their roster for the division series.

Dodgers

Catchers (2): Russell Martin, Brad Ausmus

Infielders (7): James Loney, Ronnie Belliard, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Orlando Hudson, Juan Castro, Mark Loretta

Outfielders (4): Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre

Pinch Hitters (1): Jim Thome

Starting Pitchers (4): Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw, Vicente Padilla, Chad Billingsley

Relievers (7): Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, Hong-Chih Kuo, Ronald Belisario, Ramon Troncoso, Jon Garland, Jeff Weaver

Cardinals

Catchers (2): Yadier Molina, Jason LaRue

Infielders (7): Albert Pujols, Skip Schumaker, Julio Lugo, Brendan Ryan, Mark DeRosa, Troy Glaus, Old Friend Joe Thurston

Outfielders (4): Matt Holliday, Colby Rasmus, Ryan Ludwick, Rick Ankiel

Starting Pitchers (4): Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Joel Pineiro, one of John Smoltz or Kyle Lohse

Relievers (8): Ryan Franklin, Kyle McClellan, Jason Motte, Trever Miller, Dennys Reyes, Blake Hawksworth, Mitchell Boggs, one of Smoltz or Lohse

The Dodgers starting rotation will be Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw, Vicente Padilla, and Chad Billingsley, in that order.

The Cardinals will counter with Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Joel Pineiro for the first three games. Either John Smoltz or Kyle Lohse, who will both be available in the bullpen tonight, will start game four on Sunday.

The Dodgers & Their Postseason Roster

Eric Stephen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Will Doug Mientkiewicz be on the active roster come Wednesday?

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The rosters for the division series don't need to be turned in until 10am on Wednesday, but here's a look at the likely Dodger NLDS active roster. Keep in mind, this is what I think the Dodgers will do, not necessarily what I would want them to do.

NLDS: Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Game 1	Wed	Dodger Stadium	6:37pm
Game 2	Thu	Dodger Stadium	likely 3:07pm
Game 3	Sat	Busch Stadium	3:07pm
Game 4*	Sun	Busch Stadium	TBD
Game 5*	Oct 13	Dodger Stadium	TBD
*if necessary		All times Pacific
All games televised on TBS

First, the locks:

Catchers (2)
Russell Martin, Brad Ausmus

Infielders (7)
James Loney, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard, Juan Castro, Mark Loretta

Outfielders (4)
Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre

Starting Pitchers (2)
Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw

Relief Pitchers (5)
Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, Hong-Chih Kuo, Ronald Belisario, Ramon Troncoso

That leaves five spots:

Lefty Pinch-Hitter (1)
Jim Thome has struggled as a pinch hitter, both this season and in his career. He has four singles in 17 at-bats as a Dodger. He can't run, because he's slow and because he has a bad foot. He can't play first base, because of chronic back problems. Yet I believe he will make the roster over Doug Mientkiewicz, simply because Thome represents the threat of power, something lacking on the Dodger bench. Mientkiewicz would be a fine choice for a spot, especially if his shoulder is healed enough to play first base if needed, and in fact I would take him over Loretta, but I don't think that will happen.

Starting Pitchers (2)
Three guys are fighting for two spots, to start games three and four. Joe Torre hasn't officially named his starters for those games yet, but based on other comments he has made, I believe Chad Billingsley will start game three as long as he gets through his simulated game today in Arizona without any problems. That leaves Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland fighting for the other two spots. Padilla has pitched better of late, but over the course of the season, they were pretty similar pitchers (4.46 FIP for Padilla, 4.48 for Garland). I believe Padilla will be the choice to start Sunday in St. Louis.

Relief Pitchers (2)
I think Garland gets the nod as the long man in the pen, leaving Jeff Weaver out in the cold. That leaves one more bullpen spot, which I think will go to James McDonald, over Guillermo Mota and Scott Elbert. McDonald had a good season as a reliever, after a shaky start in the rotation, posting a 2.72 ERA and a 3.41 FIP from the bullpen. Over the last two months, McDonald has passed Mota on the depth chart, even when Mota was fully healthy. The other viable option is Elbert, because the Cardinals struggle so much against left-handed pitchers. However, the Cardinals really only have three lefty batters: Skip Schumaker, Colby Rasmus, and Rick Ankiel. Their struggles with southpaws are largely due to their right handers failing to hit them (hitting .244/.328/.392), and I don't think Torre would use Elbert to face a righty, regardless of how they hit lefties. If the Dodgers were facing the Phillies, Elbert would have been more likely to make the roster, simply because they have more left handed batters Elbert could face in a LOOGY situation.

That's my prediction for the NLDS roster. What's yours?

Playoff Teams Defense Analysis - How They Got There and What to Expect - National League Edition

Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:18:58 -0000

With the increased emphasis on defense the last few years, I figured I would look at what playoff teams did statistically during the season and what can be expected of the teams in the playoffs. We will begin with the National League and look at the American League in a day or two once Minnesota and Detroit figure who is going. For this analysis, I will be using UZR data from from Fangraphs.com. Fangraphs updates their data on Mondays, so this article doesn't contain the most recent week's fielding data, but should still give a general idea of the teams' defensive strengths and weaknesses.

First, here is the totals of all the NL teams in the playoffs:

As it can be seen, the Phillies defense this season was the best of the four teams with them saving about 40 more runs than the Rockies with the Dodgers and Cardinals just a little better than the Rockies.

Besides the team totals, the UZR can be broken down to individual positions. Here is a comparison of each of the 4 teams by position totals.

The major point I got from this comparison is that most of the teams were rather even except for the holes in the Colorado outfield.

Even though these graphs show how a team did during the season, it doesn't show what to expect in the post season. For example, the Cardinals picked up Matt Holiday at the trading deadline. Matt will be for sure in the Cards lineup and the defense of the previous players shouldn't matter. For each team, I went ahead and calculated the true UZR value of each player projected to start in the playoffs.

For those that need to know, it was a 5-4-3-2 weighted average of season values and regressed to 125 games with no final age adjustment. For example, Albert Pujols had a 1.8 UZR for 2009, but taking into account his previous seasons his true talent level is near 6.4 UZR.

So here is a look at each team's 2009 numbers and the weighted UZR values of the players expected to play during the post season (I will add more as needed - when injuries happen or if I happened to miss someone). These values show the true talent of the fielders better than the small sample set of a single season.

Philadelphia Phillies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Pos	Name	UZR
1B	Ryan Howard	1.8
2B	Chase Utley	12.0
3B	Pedro Feliz	8.8
SS	Jimmy Rollins	6.1
LF	Raul Ibanez	-5.6
CF	Shane Victorino	0.1
RF	Jayson Werth	5.7

LA Dodgers (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Pos	Name	UZR
1B	James Loney	-1.9
2B	Orlando Hudson	-2.3
3B	Casey Blake	-0.1
SS	Rafael Furcal	0.3
LF	Juan Pierre	1.7
LF	Manny Ramirez	-8.6
CF	Matt Kemp	2.0
RF	Andre Ethier	-5.9

St. Louis Cardinals (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Pos	Name	UZR
1B	Albert Pujols	6.4
2B	Joe Thurston	0.5
2B	Skip Schumaker	-4.1
3B	Joe Thurston	-0.1
3B	Mark DeRosa	-1.2
SS	Khalil Greene	-2.8
SS	Brendan Ryan	5.3
LF	Matt Holliday	5.1
CF	Rick Ankiel	-2.2
CF	Colby Rasmus	4.5
RF	Ryan Ludwick	1.6

Colorado Rockies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Pos	Name	UZR
1B	Todd Helton	2.2
1B	Garrett Atkins	-1.3
2B	Clint Barmes	3.5
3B	Garrett Atkins	-5.6
3B	Ian Stewart	2.4
SS	Troy Tulowitzki	3.1
LF	Ryan Spilborghs	0.9
LF	Seth Smith	2.8
LF	Carlos Gonzalez	1.1
CF	Dexter Fowler	-6.1
CF	Carlos Gonzalez	1.8
RF	Brad Hawpe	-18.1
RF	Ryan Spilborghs	0.1

------------------------------------------------------------------

First, thanks to Justin for supplying the graphics and let me know if any players might be seeing playing time in the first 2 rounds. I am not going to go through all possible lineups once the DH is added and removed in the World Series until two teams qualify.

I'm gonna keep on loving you, Arroyo Speedwagon. Reds win, 6-1.

Brendanukkah — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:20:27 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Graynd Slaym. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

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Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Laynce Nix. The Daynce Mix hit his first career grand slam to lead the Reds over the Cardinals.

Key Plays

Scott Rolen and Jay Bruce led off the second inning with walks, and RBI man Ryan Hanigan hit a single to score Rolen. Bronson Arroyo then singled to load the bases, and Drew Stubbs also drew a walk to force in Bruce. Reds 2, Cardinals 0.
The walks continued to haunt in the third inning. Brandon Phillips walked, Rolen doubled, and Bruce walked again. Up stepped Laynce Nix and bye bye baseball. Grand slam! Reds 6, Cardinals 0.
Nix was still feeling swell after his homer, and let Skip Schumaker's ball fall under his glove for a double. Albert Pujols then drove him in with a single. Reds 6, Cardinals 1.
Bronson left the game with one out in the ninth, after having walked Troy Glaus. Nick Masset came in and gave up a single to Pujols, a fielder's choice to Matt Holliday, and a walk to Colby Rasmus, before striking out Ryan Ludwick with the bases loaded. REDS WINNARS!

via FanGraphs

Other Notes

The Reds can do no worse than split the season series with the Cardinals. A win tomorrow gives them a 9-7 advantage.
The Reds went 18-9 in September, the only month in which they did not have double digit losses. Four of those losses were to Colorado, and five of those losses were by only one run.
John Smoltz complained that the game balls had not been properly rubbed with mud. Obviously it didn't seem to affect Arroyo, but Bronson did share this interesting nugget: "They don't mud them up as much here as they do at other places. It was a cool night, and it's hard to hold on sometimes." Could a mudding deficiency help explain some of our historically lackluster pitching?
Who says Dusty Baker ruins arms? Listen to why he pulled Arroyo with one out in the ninth: "He said he was running on empty and his legs were spent," Baker said. "When I heard that, you go get him, especially late in the season, 111 pitches and Pujols up there."
Joey Votto and Paul Janish both hit doubles. It was Votto's 16th double in September and Janish's tenth (out of 37 and 20 on the year, respectively).
Arroyo won 15 games for the second year in a row. He hasn't given up more than three runs in a game since July 22.
The Brewers lost, so the Reds are only one game out of third place.

Final - 9.30.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis Cardinals	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Cincinnati Reds	0	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	X	6	8	0
WP: Bronson Arroyo (15 - 13) LP: John Smoltz (1 - 3)

Complete Coverage >

Homers in the lineup, Homer's on the mound. Can't nobody beat us, we're the best damn team around! Reds win, 7-2.

Brendanukkah — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:01:20 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Jay Bruce doesn't like autotune. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

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Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jay Bruce. Hova went 2-4, but his Two Bomb Turks provided five RBI, a career high.

Key Plays

In the second inning, Brandon Phillips used his speed to reach on an infield single, and Scott Rolen drew a walk. Then Jay Bruce announced that he was here to hit home runs and chew bubble gum... and he was all outta bubble gum. Reds 3, Cardinals 0.
Joey Votto then made a matching donation to Jay Bruce's Give Kids In the Outfield Seats a Baseball Fund. Reds 4, Cardinals 0.
The Cardinals began to threaten in the fifth inning. Jason LaRue got an infield hit (!), Skip Schumaker walked. Julio Lugo singled to load the bases with one out and Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday coming to the plate. Pujols hit a sacrifice fly, and Holliday grounded out to second. One run scored in a very Classic Reds performance. Reds 4, Cardinals 1.
Bartender! Gimme some triple sec! ...Which is my Neil Everett way of saying Brandon Phillips tripled in the sixth. Scott Rolen singled him in, and then Jay Bruce hit his second homer of the night to put the Reds up, 7-1.
Someone named D Freese hit a home run for St. Louis in the ninth inning. REDS WINNARS!

via FanGraphs

Other Notes

This was Jay Bruce's third multihomer game of the season and fifth of his career.
Speaking of five of things, Albert Pujols has five grand slams this season. His sacrifice fly was darn close to being number six.
"Cardinal-eater" Homer Bailey is now 1-3 against the Cards with a 7.06 ERA in five starts.
However, Homer is 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA over his last eight starts.
Jay Bruce now has career highs in home runs and RBI. Votto is one home run and three RBI from setting career highs in those marks. Hey, remember all those times that Votto's come to bat with two runners on ahead of him?

Final - 9.29.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis Cardinals	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	9	0
Cincinnati Reds	0	3	1	0	0	3	0	0	X	7	8	0
WP: Homer Bailey (7 - 5) LP: Joel Pineiro (15 - 12)

Complete Coverage >

Cardinals 6, Rockies 3: Cards' bench powers past Rox for division title

Poseidon's Fist — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:33:24 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Unfortunately, he touched the plate

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A night after the Rockies collected around first base to celebrate a walk-off win, St. Louis met midfield to celebrate clinching the NL Central at Coors Field after defeating the Rockies 6-3.

For the second straight start, Ubaldo Jimenez struggled in the first inning. For the second straight time, the Rockies rallied against one of the top starting pitchers in the game.

To start the game, Ubaldo walked Skip Schumaker on 7 pitches and Albert Pujols on six, the latter with an assist to home plate umpire Dan Iassogna. A bloop hit, ground ball and soft ground ball single later, and the Rockies were quickly down 3-0. The bad first inning raised Jimenez' first inning ERA to 5.91. But like last Sunday, Jimenez settled down, allowing just two hits and no runs the next five innings.

Jimenez' rebound helped Colorado mount a comeback against Adam Wainwright. In the third inning, Todd Helton laced a two-out double, one of his three hits on the evening. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a ground ball to third, scoring Helton when Joe Thurston airmailed the throw past first.

87 - 68

NL West: 6.0 GB

WC: 2.5 Game Lead

Streak: Lost 1

Pyth W-L: 86-69

Magic #: 6

The comeback was complete just an inning later when Yorvit Torrealba led off the fourth with a single. Then up strode Brad Hawpe, who in the last 24 hours, was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning and dropped to seventh in the batting order. To the delight of Rockies fans everywhere, he deposited a Wainwright two-seamer into the left-field seats for his 21st home run of the season.

The score would remain tied until the seventh, when Ubaldo hung a slider to Jason LaRue, who was only in the game after an injury to Yadier Molina. LaRue hit it out to left for his second home run of the year and just his fourth RBI.

Ryan Ludwick added a pinch-hit two-run homer in the ninth off Matt Daley for the final score.

Comment of the Night

The umps

have won the kesselschlact.

by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

Join after the jump for the fangraph and the row call.

WPA Heroes:
Brad Hawpe (.319) - 2-for-3, HR, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, R, K.
Todd Helton (.124) - 3-for-4, 2B, R, BB
Yorvit Torrealba (.063) - 2-for-4, R, K

WPA Zeroes:
Ubaldo Jimenez (-.236) - 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 7 K. 0-for-3, 2 K.
Ian Stewart (-.216) - 0-for-5, 2 K
Dexter Fowler (-.124) - 0-for-4, K

Row Call

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1559 comments, 50 Rowbots

GoRockies!! hit 200 on the nose.

SB Nation - Skip Schumaker

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

The Return of Mark McGwire

Dodgers Turn To The Wolf To Get Even

No Rest, No Problem For Dodger Relievers

Dodgers, Cardinals Set Rosters for NLDS

Dodgers

Cardinals

The Dodgers & Their Postseason Roster

Playoff Teams Defense Analysis - How They Got There and What to Expect - National League Edition

Philadelphia Phillies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

LA Dodgers (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

St. Louis Cardinals (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Colorado Rockies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

I'm gonna keep on loving you, Arroyo Speedwagon. Reds win, 6-1.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Key Plays

Other Notes

Homers in the lineup, Homer's on the mound. Can't nobody beat us, we're the best damn team around! Reds win, 7-2.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Key Plays

Other Notes

Cardinals 6, Rockies 3: Cards' bench powers past Rox for division title

Comment of the Night

The umps

have won the kesselschlact.

by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

The umps

have won the kesselschlact.

by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

The umps

Row Call

SB Nation - Skip Schumaker

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

The Return of Mark McGwire

Dodgers Turn To The Wolf To Get Even

No Rest, No Problem For Dodger Relievers

Dodgers, Cardinals Set Rosters for NLDS

Dodgers

Cardinals

The Dodgers & Their Postseason Roster

Playoff Teams Defense Analysis - How They Got There and What to Expect - National League Edition

Philadelphia Phillies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

LA Dodgers (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

St. Louis Cardinals (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

Colorado Rockies (2009 UZR Results and Weighted UZR Values)

I'm gonna keep on loving you, Arroyo Speedwagon. Reds win, 6-1.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Key Plays

Other Notes

Homers in the lineup, Homer's on the mound. Can't nobody beat us, we're the best damn team around! Reds win, 7-2.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Key Plays

Other Notes

Cardinals 6, Rockies 3: Cards' bench powers past Rox for division title

Comment of the Night

The umps have won the kesselschlact. by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

The umps have won the kesselschlact. by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

The umps

Row Call

The umps

have won the kesselschlact.

by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT

The umps

have won the kesselschlact.

by Russ on Sep 26, 2009 9:17 PM MDT