Hell I wish we had Colon instead of Infante at this point.

Michigan mike will go right back to rosenthal to save his confidence

An I-70 world series will destroy the server.

I agree. Hes bitchmade

And a lot of friendships

LMAO Yep. Great fun to be had watching this board if it happens.

I took this thread off ignore just for that possibility.

:LOL:

Same. I don't get the inner state hate thing. I pull for the Cards unless they play us or the Dbacks( I guess). Plus Kolten Wong is my favorite player, so I gotta love the Cards a little bit!

That kind of win with Lackey on the hill next up could lead to a 5-6 game victory for the Cards. I am and have been hoping for an I-70 series. Cards fans would be much less upset over losing than Royals fans would be understandably so.

Try living in the middle of the state. its going to be almost blood shed lol.

LMAO

I don't see us winning more than 1 in sf

I totally see this series going 7

What's crazy is that the royals and cardinals are winning in similar ways in the postseason, which is exactly opposite if the regular season

The young gun studs are finally hitting.

The next one? Lackey will win. You just need 1 other of 2.

thank you and all the other Royals fans that hung out with us tonight. You guys are always welcome.

I dunno. I get that Yadi is a HUGE loss.

Our #4 starter has issues on the road.

Thankfully, they put aj on the roster

All the faith in the world in rosenthal

Hablida Esperanza TOYOTA CAMRY!!!

:facepalm:

How many meltdowns does the Server have?

How many people get banned from the thread?

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Doesn't matter. No way he doesn't start Cruz.

we should have two separate threads going if it is the royals/ cards, shouldn't we? :shrug:

Was that enough clutch hitting to make you feel better tonight?:p

Probably but one big battle royale cage match thread would be gold.

Abso****inglutely.

absolutely!

I would think that to avoid friction, ending frindships and everyone mad at each other.......might not be a bad idea.

But, cart before the horse discussion. I think you guys are in. Should be the favorites to win. The loss of Molina is going to make it really tough for us.

It might make it up into the discussion of the best threads of all time on the Planet.

Matheny post game interview:

"Cruz jumped in behind the plate for us and did a great job for us."

WTF Matheny, open your damn eyes.:banghead:

Someone also asked him about OT's HR and he immediately pivoted to Grichuk.

:shake:

I don't know. Guess it depends on how the games and the series goes. I know I won't be getting banned or melting down. I'll just be there for the show. And to keep my fellow Royals fans chins up whenever something bad happens.

He buried Wong early, now he's hitting. Hopefully same thing with otav

I don't know of a single Cardinal fan that posts in this thread that considers the royals a rival. But, if we somehow get by the Giants to join the Royals in the WS, the smack will probably flow freely.

It won't be from me though. I have no interest. I've been championing the Royals fan as good fans when you were losing 100 games a season. You guys deserve this playoff run.

I don't know why the Cardinals fans would want to have a "battle royale"...it'll be all 90% Royals fans. I'd just be annoyed if I were a Cardinals fan. I couldn't imagine having to listen to Pete as an opposing fan for an entire 4.5 hours.

I don't think one thread could contain that many hamas/hootie meltdowns

although, I'm really trying to just remain positive with everyone on the Royals including Yost. They've already exceeded my expectations and brought me a lot of joy. Something I've never had much of as a KC fan.

I honestly wonder if it would be better to have two separate game threads. Not that people couldn't float between them, but just that one would be more Royals-centric and one would be more Cards-centric.

But this is probably getting ahead of ourselves.

Lose on a walk off to a turd like Wong ROFL suck it u lucky bastards!!

there would be tons of drama

Cruz is the worst player on the team

He hit .200 during the season

He had a passed ball last night

He didnt block the wild pitch..instead he tried to back hand it.

He struck out at the plate..in fact....he has been at the plate 3 times in post season...all 3 k's!


AJ is just as good as catcher. Which ain't saying much. AJ has a 69 point better BA and he has playoff experience.

But, I still expect to see Cruz out there in game 3.:cuss:

If Matheny starts Cruz when Lackey pitches he should be kicked in the nuts by A.J.

The people who bash Wong are just stupid. The kid needs a bit more time and makes mistakes here and there but he is a top 5 2nd baseman offensively and defensively.

:spock: Why are Cardinal fans so scarred and always acting like the team is this underdog. It makes no sense.

That is a bit steep ROFL Sad sad state of affairs if this clown is a top 5 hitter at his position.

Congrats on the dramatic win, Cards fans.

Couldn't help but notice Matheny displaying no excitement and barely congratulating Taveras when he hit his bomb. He REALLY dislikes the kid, eh - or is that just typical Matheny behavior?

LMAO

Wong isn't even in the top 15 of his position in MLB. WTF are you talking about?

Wait and see. I guess I should have said top 5 potential, but its there.

I believe we were the underdogs in the LA series and this one with the Giants. I think we have been the underdogs in the playoffs more than the favorites on this 4 year run. The national beat writers see us facing the best pitchers in the game. Look at our offense and go the Cardinals can't beat these guys. And they are probably right. What are the chances of us beating Kershaw twice?

No, there is something going on. For whatever reason that is yet to be explained, Matheny hates OT. Maybe it was the Craig trade. But it was happening before. OT goes 2-4 and gets benched the next game. The veteran goes 2-32 and starts.


Most of us expect a trade in the off season of Taveras.

OT seems like the next Will Myers. He had a tear in the minors and just needs some time to get used to big league stuff. (Myers played like ass this year though.)

That seems incredibly foolish.

Not only would the Cardinals be selling LOW on an incredible talent, but they also would be sacrificing the one internal piece who can be a true hitting superstar for them.

Wong and Piscotty are good players, but neither projects as a superstar type bat.

Mozeliak needs to tell Matheny to get the **** over the fact his butt-buddy Bible study partner is gone, and play the kid.

Oh, potential! Gotcha. Then, Mike Moustakas is definitely top 5 at his position - potentially speaking:evil:

I think everyone but Matheny has the same opinion.
Cruz is his bible buddy too. AJ hits 68 points higher BA. But, being a bible buddy has no effect on his decisions.
There are so few players with his ceiling. They just don't come around that often. He could be a perennial All-Star, win a batting title ceiling kind of guy. He may never get there and flame out but you just don't trade potential like that until you know he is going to flame out.

The Cardinals are not trading Taveras. That was made abundantly clear when they sold as low as possible on Allen Craig.

The FO is perturbed with Oscar because he put on about 20 pounds over the off-season as he rehabbed his ankle injury. Strauss says that the vets might be a little miffed by his work ethic, but I don't believe a word that rumor-mongering dipshit says, just offering you another opinion.

Wong was at 90 wRC+ this year. His biggest issue is plate discipline. As you've seen, he has legitimate pop, and he generates a ton of power for his frame. Despite his struggles, he was a 2.0 WAR player this year. He can provide the team with 10-12 million of surplus value annually.

Frustrating. Know how you guys feel... watching a lesser player with far less upside get PT while another with much higher inexplicably rides the pine. Painful to watch.

Yeah, Wong is going to be a good little sparkplug type player. But with OT... he could be a lefthanded Holliday-in-his-prime type hitter. A lineup centerpiece. Just a different level of talent, as you pointed out.

Right now, I understand not riding Taveras in the OF. I think he needs a full offseason of conditioning and work with the big league club and a chance to hit the "reset" button.

Were the Cardinals fortunate enough to get to the WS, I would hope that Matheny would be smart enough to DH him in the AL park, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him start Bourjos in center, Jay in left, and Grichuk in right, and DH Holliday. It would give the Cardinals an unreal OF defense, but leave a lot of potential power behind.

Yeah, he needs to work on his game and get in better shape thats for sure. The hitting talent upside is soooo intriging. You just can't wait for him to put it together.
OT will continue to ride the bench. Your scenario above is the likely lineup. And I understand that lineup. If we get that far, Against the Royals we would need the best OF defense out there possible.

Wow.

I can't say, as a Royals fan potentially facing that lineup, that I'd be sad to see it.

Jay has been red-hot, but having Bourjos and Grichuk in the lineup is pretty nice (from the opponent's perspective). Especially if it's a lineup missing Molina.

Molina hasn't been driving the ball. He came back to early from the thumb injury. But his behind the plate worth is off the charts. No way Duffy scores from 2nd if Molina is behind the plate.

If it happens, you guys will run all day on any catcher we have back
There not named Molina.

AJ Pierzynski is 8 for 21 vs Tim Hudson. He has caught nearly 15,000 innings. He should catch 9 more in game 3. #StLCards @KSDKSports
— Frank Cusumano (@Frank_Cusumano) October 13, 2014


Looks like AJ should get the start.

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This series is a dogfight. Looking forward to tomorrow night.

Two closely matched teams. Same basic type of team. Both never give up. Going to be a long series.

You going to any games?

I hope the Cards play AJ this series. I saw an interesting spot about him on MLB network talking about how hated he is in the Bay Area even to this day because of how much the Giants gave up to get him in 04, and what was perceived as an apathetic attitude, and eagerness to get out of SF. They say he'll be out for blood, and I'm a big fan of redemption and giving athletes their chance to be great against those who have slighted them. It's why I went bat shit over Alex last week. I'm huge on it.

I could easily see AJ having some career games against these guys.

I also want to congratulate you guys in how you've dealt with Royals fans. A week ago, no Royals fans I knew wanted the Cards to make it to the World Series, but by killing them with kindness I think Reaper is the only one who's left that feels that way. It's been a pretty cool thing to watch on this board, and in my local community. You're some classy mother****ers, and deserve the sustained success you've achieved.

Now go whoop some Giant asses!

Maybe, not tomorrow. I am probably going to hold out for the world series. Then again it depends on the deal I can find. If I hold out I realize may risk saving some money.

Welllllll, I hope you keep your money in your pocket. ;)

Testing out the camera on my new phone...

http://i.imgur.com/4YsfHsP.jpg

Photo is about as noisy as that stadium was after that hit.

LMAO I bet you do.

Fruit Ninja,

I hearing rumors that the Dodgers are shopping Puig? You hearing any truth to those rumors in your part of the world?

Matheny on Rosenthal: He is still our closer and hopefully we have a lead late and we can see him again

10 of 21 batters have reached base against Rosenthal this post season.

It's really important for our state to get one at least into the Series. Two would be ideal.


On the topic of Rosenthal, I love his arm and I'd strongly consider trading Holland even up for him if they'd do it. They have the financial muscle to extend Holland and we'd get a cost-controlled gun for the pen, ideally to close out 7 or 8 before Davis gets the call.

As good as Holland is, IMO, you should never sign relievers to FA deals. They are too volatile and their velocity drops too precipitously to make it cost effective.

If you want something else scary, consider this: Rosenthal throws a league average number of strikes and the same percentage that he threw last year, yet he has walked more than twice as many players this year than last, and he has one of the worst walk rates in the majors. This happened despite batters swinging at pitches out of the zone at a 29% rate this year compared to 37% the year before, which means that he is actually throwing more pitches in the zone overall. His swinging strike percentage did drop by 1.9%, however.

Thus, the only explanation for his walk rate is that he just loses his ****ing mind.

He's proven he can get big league hitters out and I'd feel fine about him reverting to old numbers. He might be a Drew Storen type who is better as a setup than closer but either way I like him just fine

I think all the venom for Cardinal fans stems from their interactions in college with Cardinal fans or live in the middle of the state where the fans overlap. Not from the fans on this site.

The thing is the Cardinal fans on this site don't consider the Royals a rival. Not a single one. As far as I know. not a single Cardinal fan on this site has ill will toward the Royals fans. Most are cheering their success on the field because we know and are friends with many. They are great fans that deserve to cheer and see a winner.

Glad you are seeing a softening of views from the Royals fans. We are not the enemy. We are happy and cheering them on. Even if we get to the World Series and its I-70II, we would be cheering on our team, not rooting against the Royals.