My fellow Cardinals bloggers and I complain on Twitter night after night 
about manager Mike Matheny’s constant lineup changes. The lineup is never the same from one night to the next. Even the casual fan can see the lack of results that this constant changing produces. But last night, it appeared that Mike spun the wheels on the lineup machine and finally hit the right jackpot. Here was the lineup for last night’s game:
Carpenter 1B
Gyorko 2B
Moss LF
Piscotty RF
Molina C
Peralta 3B
Grichuk CF
G. Garcia SS
Martinez P
And lo and behold, Mike is using this same lineup in tonight’s game as well, with Waino pitching. See how easy that was? Carpenter celebrated being back in the leadoff spot last night by hitting a home run. Stephen Piscotty and Randall Grichuk hit home runs too, and the Cardinals beat the Mets 8-1. It was a fun game and even though I was at Bible study, I stealthily looked at my AtBat app to see how the game was going. Yadi getting caught trying to steal third, however – no, Yadi, don’t do that anymore, or I will have to tweet at your brother Bengie to get on you about that.
I think this lineup should be on the field every night for the rest of the season, and even into the playoffs, if these Cards should get that far. The only subtraction that I would make is when Aledmys Diaz returns from the disabled list, he would go in Garcia’s spot, and of course, the pitcher varies every game.
Garcia, Matt Adams, and Kolten Wong could come off the bench to pinch hit or spell one of the regular infielders if they need a night off or get hurt (God forbid – the disabled list has been overcrowded this season). Matt Holliday and Jeremy Hazelbaker could do the same for the outfielders. Tommy Pham – the jury’s still out on him.
A couple of random thoughts: Could Jaime Garcia just be released now instead of the end of the season when his option is up? It’s bad enough that you don’t know whether you’re going to get Good Jaime or Bad Jaime when it’s his turn in the rotation. Lately, however, only Bad Jaime has shown up to pitch. Alex Reyes has shown that he’s more than ready to be a starter in the show. Maybe I’m being selfish, but since my son and I will be going to the game on Sunday (which is Jaime’s next start), it would be really great to see Alex’s debut as a starter.
And why, with the exception of Martinez, are our pitchers not ready to pitch in the first inning? It never fails that the other team starts scoring in the first inning. The Cards have to start playing catch up already in the bottom of the first. Are the pitchers not getting enough throwing time before the games? Or are they getting too much throwing time? Could the pitchers not be mentally ready to go in the first inning? That appears to be something that Derek Lilliquist needs to work on with them. This problem needs to be solved ASAP.
On Saturday, August 27, Chris Carpenter, Joe Torre, Sam Breadon and Terry Moore will be inducted in the Cardinals Hall of Fame. The ceremony starts at 2 PM at Fox Sports Midwest Live in Ballpark Village. The doors open at 11 AM, so get there early to wait in line. Last year, my son and I didn’t get there until 12 noon and we had to share a table with some other folks. I told him we needed to get there earlier. One of these days, he’ll learn to listen to me. However, if you can’t make it, Fox Sports Midwest will show the ceremony on Sunday, August 28 at 11:30 a.m. If you’re at the ceremony, find me and say hi – I always love to meet folks who read my blog.
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and see you next time!
Diane
