Game of the Week: September 24: STL @ COL

[Commissioner Erick]

St. Louis Cardinals (75-73) @ Colorado Rockies (76-74)

STL: Lucas Giolito (0-2, 4.57)
COL: Chad Bettis (12-8, 3.60)


The Colorado Rockies suffered two heartbreaking walk-off home run losses in San Francisco and a somnambulatory offensive performance in San Diego leaving their wild card hopes in the balance. The St. Louis Cardinals have won just three series since August 12th to see their playoff hopes teeter on the brink.

Whatever slim playoff hopes these teams have remaining will be evaporated with a loss, adding extreme stakes when the St. Louis Cardinals travel to take on the Colorado Rockies.

The Cardinals offense has fallen apart in September. Randall Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty, Jose Adolis Garcia, Carson Kelly, and Jed Gyorko all have averages under the mendoza line. Nobody with more than 30 at bats is hitting over .300. The team has stolen only 10 of 18 steal attempts. The offense just isn't working. If a trip to Coors Field can't juice the offense, nothing can.

If the Cardinals can get their offense clicking, they have the ball in their court for making the postseason. They have eight of their remaining 14 contests against teams directly ahead of them in the playoff race. The other six games are against losing teams. This doesn't account for the Nationals or Cubs, but it gives the Cardinals the opportunity to do damage to their nearest competitors.

They just need a disappointing offense, 12th in the National League, to pull through. Unfortunately, Matt Carpenter and Yonder Alonso make up the meat of their lineup and may not make it to 20 home runs this year. Carson Kelly is the cleanup hitter. He has a .207 average on the year with four home runs in over 300 plate appearances.

They'll send Lucas Giolito to the mound to make up for the bad offense. Giolito is young and still has major potential and was a key part of the Carlos Martinez trade. Whereas Martinez may finish with the best pitching season in PBA history, Giolito has the pressure of justifying being part of the return. He wasn't a great minor league pitcher last year and his command is very spotty, but he's missing bats. St. Louis will hope he misses Colorado's bats tonight.

Colorado is missing bats, but one returns in David Dahl. After fracturing his rib, Dahl will come back off the disabled list and look to produce some dynamism in a lineup sorely lacking it. However, Dahl himself has slowed to a crawl after a nagging in-season wrist injury. Dahl tried to play through the wrist issue he suffered June 21. At the time, he was slashing .310/.344/.595. That has dropped to .269/.312/.503 presently.

With Dahl struggling before missing time with the rib issue, Colorado has had trouble getting guys on base. The team is first in slugging and second in runs, but only ninth in OBP. That reared itself in the ugly results last week. Dahl was joined by Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez on the disabled list so the fearsome Rockies outfield was reduced to backups. Of those backups, Gerardo Parra has an OBP under .300, and Abraham Almonte has an OBP under .300 as a member of the Rockies. Colorado will need to find a way to get on base against Giolito.

Also, Colorado's bullpen has completely fallen apart. Greg Holland has an ERA over 5. C.C. Lee has an ERA over 5. As a member of Colorado, Shawn Tolleson has an ERA over 5. Carlos Estevez has an ERA over 5. Jerry Blevins has an ERA over 5. Jordan Walden has a 4.42 ERA. Outside of Adam Ottavino and Sam Moll, Colorado has been extremely unreliable in late inning pitching. Some of the ERAs are a result of tired arms left to try at the end of blowouts, but if the game is close late, the Cardinals will have a chance.


Questions for the GMs:


For Stephane Legace, you released Yadier Molina midseason, but your team hasn't been able to replace him. Was it a mistake taking him out of the catching spot?

You weren't responsible for the Carlos Martinez trade, but watching him turn into a legend in the AL, how do you feel about the deal from your end?

Will you try to make changes to a lineup that hasn't been productive this month?

For Erick Blasco, your team is last in wSB? Will you stop running so much?

You've gone out and acquired many of the pitchers in your bullpen that have failed so much. Ottavino and Dunn teamed to blow a 3-run ninth-inning lead in San Francisco last Monday before Jordan Walden lost it in the 12th. Tolleson gave up the 10th inning home run to Posey last Wednesday? How do you explain their struggles?

Since losing 3 straight games to Miami Jun 29-Jul 1, you're 30-41. Can you explain what happened during this series to precipitate the slide? How much do you attribute to to the paltry GOTW coverage given to your opponents?

[Commissioner Erick]

For Erick Blasco, your team is last in wSB? Will you stop running so much?

Not really. We wanted DJ LeMahieu to be a hit-and-run player at the top of our lineup behind Blackmon or perhaps Dahl. However, farther down in the order, he's not making as much contact, and the players ahead of him aren't as good on the bases. We're going to ease up on that down the stretch and see what happens. The guys we want running are dynamic base runners and we want to keep that element of our team.

You've gone out and acquired many of the pitchers in your bullpen that have failed so much. Ottavino and Dunn teamed to blow a 3-run ninth-inning lead in San Francisco last Monday before Jordan Walden lost it in the 12th. Tolleson gave up the 10th inning home run to Posey last Wednesday? How do you explain their struggles?

It's on me and nobody else. I'm the one who picked up Tolleson and he's struggled. I've stuck with Estevez. I traded for Walden. Some of the struggles are the result of exhaustion and blowouts. Greg Holland was left in after essentially three bullpen days to take a beating against the Dodgers when my team was worn out, plus he gave up six runs to Miami in the second game of a doubleheader. But mostly, it's been me not making it a priority to get good pitchers for my pen.

Since losing 3 straight games to Miami Jun 29-Jul 1, you're 30-41. Can you explain what happened during this series to precipitate the slide? How much do you attribute to to the paltry GOTW coverage given to your opponents

I don't think any of it is the result of Game of the Week coverage lol. A week before that series, David Dahl got hurt with an injury against the Marlins that lingered for more than double the time it was supposed to. In the June 29-July 1 series, we lost Raimel Tapia as well. We didn't have good backups to replace them, as Gerardo Parra and Chris Heisey were subpar. We also were dealing with an injury to Michael Fulmer leaving us without an ace.

The secondary players on our team haven't stepped up. It's hurt us not having a wave of hitters replacing some of that production, as Ian Desmond and Tom Murphy have a sub-.300 OBP, and Trevor Story isn't much better. Jon Gray hasn't taken a leap, and our cast of middle relievers and fifth starters have disappointed. In short, it's not so much what happened in terms of play in that series, but the crucial injuries that happened around that time and how the supporting cast on my team has not been able to up the production needed to cover for the loss of key players.

[Commissioner Erick]

Rockies 8 - Cardinals 6


WP: C. Bettis (13-8)
LP: L. Giolito (0-3)
SV: G. Holland (26)


Chad Bettis showed himself once again to be one of the more reliable, underrated arms in the National League. Lucas Giolito showed himself unready for primetime.

Bettis pitched 6 innings of two-run ball, a key baserunning mistake kept St. Louis from coming all the way back, and the Colorado Rockies kept their playoff hopes alive with a huge 8-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

In a pivotal game, Chad Bettis put aside a shaky first inning to pitch a solid outing. Two hits put runners on the corners right off the bat, but Matt Carpenter hit into a double play to limit trouble. Kolten Wong scoring a first inning run on the play, but it emptied the bases. St. Louis stayed focused and two walks set up Jedd Gyorko's power bat with two on and two out. However, Bettis' groundballing ways forced Gyorko to pull over the top of a grounder, Nolan Arenado made a smooth stop at third base, and the Cardinals were left with just the one run.

That was huge for Colorado as they were not fooled a bit by Lucas Giolito. The first five Rockies reached, and a sixth hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Colorado after their first six batters went to the plate. After a scoreless inning by Bettis in the second, David Dahl cranked a double to make it 5-1. With a sore knee coming into the game, Colorado proactively substituted him for the slick defense of Abraham Almonte.

The Cardinals missed a golden opportunity in the third. As in the first, two men reached to start the frame. As in the first, Carpenter grounded into a double play to neutralize the threat. Bettis escaped without a run and Colorado maintained a 5-1 lead.

That lead would grow in the third. Gerardo Parra doinked a grounder right on the first baseline and legged it into a one-out double. Tony Wolters lashed a harder double that brought home Para and made it 6-1 Rockies. Giolito exited with a disappointing line. He allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out nobody, over 2.1 innings. He wasn't able to miss bats with his fastball, and Colorado destroyed his secondary offerings. It was a disappointing loss for the phenom who is 24-years-old and has yet to make much of an impact in the upper minors, let alone the big leagues.

Justin Smoak homered in the fourth, and a Bettis wild pitch in the fifth accounted for an additional run for each team. Bettis left after laboring through 6 innings. He allowed only two runs, one earned, in the game. However, he walked four batters, only fanned two, and needed some key double plays to rescue him. With a 7-2 lead, Colorado's manager-bot decided to go to ineffective former starter Chris Rusin, and the Cardinals went to work.

Rusin allowed doubles to the first two batters he faced before allowing a walk and getting a fielder's choice. Carpenter than doubled over Almonte's head, and a 7-2 lead became 7-5 in a heartbeat. Adam Ottavino came in to strike out Carson Kelly, but Yonder Alonso went the other way off Sam Moll, grounding a pitch through the left side to score Carpenter and make the game 6-5. Jordan Walden came on, and in a huge blunder, Alonso was picked off first base to end the threat.

It was a huge blunder as Alonso isn't a base-stealing threat and Walden has no real move to speak of. Gyorko had a 1-0 count but didn't have a chance to try to do damage with a man on base.

Tony Wolters tripled with one out in the eighth, and Matt Carpneter, in his haste to try to gun Wolters down, couldn't handle a D.J. LeMahieu grounder at him that Carpenter bobbled for an error.

Greg Holland worked around a double to strike out three in the ninth, sealing the win. The game allowed the Rockies to remain 2.5 back of the Nationals, who beat the Mets 3-1.


Questions for the GMs:


For Stephane Legace, Giolito was awful for you. How disappointing was it to get so little from him in such a big game?

Matt Carpenter had a rough game. He hit into two double plays, lined out with two in scoring position, struck out looking with a man on second to end the game, and wasn't sharp defensively. What can you do when such a key player performs so poorly?

Yonder Alonso was picked off in a key spot. Any thought of pinch running for him?

For Erick Blasco, were you happy with the decision to pull Bettis and bring in Rusin?

David Dahl was pulled very early in the game. What happened there?

Justin Smoak homered again, his fourth. What has he meant to your team?

[Commissioner Erick]

For Erick Blasco, were you happy with the decision to pull Bettis and bring in Rusin?

Bettis pitched well, but he threw close to 100 pitches and was under duress right from the start, so I had no problems with that decision. Rusin has been so bad that I would have liked to have seen an early hook. His last three batters were against lefties so I guess he was actually pulled at the right time, but why not go to a right-hander to begin the inning? With September call-ups on my roster, I thought that could have been handled better.

David Dahl was pulled very early in the game. What happened there?

Dahl had mentioned a bit of a sore knee coming into the game and it stayed acting up early. With a big lead, we figured we could take him out and rest him. We don't foresee this being a big deal and he'll almost certainly start tomorrow unless it gets worse.

Justin Smoak homered again, his fourth. What has he meant to your team?

Mercy has he been a godsend. I kept him on my team for Triple-A depth, but I never really had a spot for him. I have young talent like Rossell Herrera, Jordan Patterson, and Ryan McMahon so I just wanted him to be insurance and to help our squad in Albuquerque get results. I mean, he hit .211 in Toronto last year so I would expect too much from him? He hit .273 with 17 home runs in the minors, which are good numbers, but not special ones. I loved that he walked 99 times, but that could have been timid youngsters intimidated by him. I didn't even look at him as a key member of my Triple-A team. I called him instead of Ryan McMahon because I wanted McMahon to help my Triple-A team win a title!

With all my outfielders hurt, Smoak's ability to get on base was appealing as most of my guys didn't do that. I also had a dearth of left-handed power with CarGo, Blackmon, and Dahl on the shelf. All Smoak has done since being called up is hit. He's been able to get pitches and put them over the fence. He's been able to draw walks. He may be playing himself into a role next year. What a month he's had, going from Quad-A guy to playoff propellant in one month!

[stephcards]

you released Yadier Molina midseason, but your team hasn't been able to replace him. Was it a mistake taking him out of the catching spot?

Not at all, Molina was a great teammate with a very good leadership in the clubhouse. his contract versus his ability at bat were deficient and we had to take a decision. Young prospect Catcher Carson Kelly got almost the same average after 97 Games so the lost of Yadier’s why we failed to get a playoff spot.

You weren't responsible for the Carlos Martinez trade, but watching him turn into a legend in the AL, how do you feel about the deal from your end?
Who?

Giolito was awful for you. How disappointing was it to get so little from him in such a big game?

Well, he’s not the only one to blame, it’s a team lost and we will deal with that. For sure 11 BB doesn’t help us but again, Giolito’s young and we are confident that he will bounce back.

Matt Carpenter had a rough game. He hit into two double plays, lined out with two in scoring position, struck out looking with a man on second to end the game, and wasn't sharp defensively. What can you do when such a key player performs so poorly?

Again it’s a team lost, next question?

Yonder Alonso was picked off in a key spot. Any thought of pinch running for him?

No, Next question?