BERNIE BITS 1. Let’s begin with the Blues, who pulled themselves out of the sewage-disposal tank to begin a cleanup process that produced consecutive wins over San Jose and Las Vegas over a 48-hour period. After losing eight straight in extreme, non-competitive...
Four Cardinals were Rawlings Gold Glove finalists on the National League side of the awards for 2022. The hopefuls were first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, third baseman Nolan Arenado, second baseman Tommy Edman and utility player Brendan Donovan. And it should be noted...
For the most part, we anticipated good news on the Nolan Arenado opt-out drama. But until he made it official over the weekend, there was at least a little anxiety over his St. Louis future. No worries. Arenado is back. He’s staying for a long time. He really does...
As you undoubtedly know by now, the Cardinals have lost nine of their last 10 postseason games and have faded into also-ran status in October. My job would be much easier if I simply blamed all of this on the batting coach or some other convenient fall guy. I...
BERNIE BITS If the Cardinals want to make headway in the postseason by actually winning games, they must reevaluate their goals in curating a pitching philosophy. The ground-ball obsession, backed by superlative infield defense, is a pragmatic and effective way to go...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW The Cardinals gave us a fun season … the regular season … before getting chucked out of the NL playoffs by the bouncers from Philadelphia. Two games. Gone. Bye. In actual time of play, the St. Louis postseason lasted only 6 hours and 43 minutes. We...
It’s around 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, and I’m still struggling to process Oli Marmol’s thinking during the Cardinals’ devastating Game 1 loss to the Phillies at Busch Stadium. The first-year manager, so smart and cool-headed during the regular season, entered his...
NOTES ON MY SCORECARD 1) How many arrows does Albert Pujols have left in his quiver? Even the best hitters in the game can come up empty over a short series. That’s the randomness of postseason baseball. But Pujols defied that canon throughout his early–career...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW Oli Marmol has been a very good manager for the Cardinals this season. As we’ve written before, the first-year leader has modernized his team’s tactics by dramatically increasing the platoon-split advantages, and displaying creativity with his...
