After horrific hurricane weather and destruction in Texas & Florida …or in our own lives…following disappointing, or joyous moments, we must move on…as we cross mid-September sports…many teams and players have moved on…or tried to move on. Let’s check out some of the sports world…
…Cubbies sweep the Cards….some thoughts…the Cards were red hot in early September as they won 9 of 11 games….you can’t keep playing at that rate unless ur the 1929 yankees..soooo….we’re 1-4 since then with the Cub series accentuating the importance of each game…Cards could have easily won 2 of the 3 games…maybe even all 3 games…but they are who they are…a team that often beats itself with its fielding, poor base running , a bullpen that is beleaguered, a starting staff that now high-fives for 5 inning starts, and often lack of base hits at crucial times of the game…6 behind Cubs and 4.5 behind the Rockies… don’t forget Milwaukee who is 2 games ahead of us…time to move on?
….so the FIRST hire for Head Coach Barry Odum is DeMontie Cross…in your 1st year you remove him as Def Coordinator and now suddenly…2 games into the year…you fire him…this is very,very unusual to fire a coach in mid-year….saving some type of personal miscue…. Odum claims that it wasn’t related to on-field performance…….soooo?…it had to be personal…it least that’s my deduction..if this guy is your 1st hire.. the one that you wanted most…. and you fire him in this way…don’t we have to wonder about YOUR decision making on & off the field?..moving on
….it’s hard to believe but….if anyone cares….of our 2 former NFL teams….I think that the Arizona Cardinals have actually fallen below the LA Rams….AZ’s roster is littered with ol’ folks… losing David Johnson is a real significant blow..for 1 week…and maybe only 1 week …the Rammies actually looked like an NFL team….gee..wonder if a new coach made the difference?.. moving on before you quit reading since I have some Ram talk here 
….if you’re a Cardinal bullpen guy who’s doing well at the moment… Lyons particularly….what are you thinking when the Cards bring in a veteran relief hurler who has 3 saves in his entire career of 260 games, Juan Nicasio…. he isn’t Aroldis Chapman, Mariono Rivera, or even Craig Kembrel and yet as soon as he arrives he’s put into 2 save situations? Don’t ya think that the StL bullpen guys are scratching their head…wondering whatta I got do? Nicasio doesn’t hold any claim at all to being a closer….he was 2 of 6 in save opportunities in Pittsburgh this year YET he was made a quick closer??… once again Manifesto displays one of his weakest abilities—handling the bullpen…. let’s move on
…speaking of moving on….based on 1 or 2 week observation…I think many of the older NFL QB stars are slipping…Brady didn’t throw deep, Rogers was frequently caught from behind while scrambling, Drew Brees has a million short routes to throw but no deep ones with a good trajectory, Carson Palmer just looks slower….it may be time for them to move on….ya can’t fool Fr.Time….
….if I could develop the Stan Musial Award… a very good hitter who contributes to his team daily, without all the fanfare & hoopla and seems to do it in a gentlemanly way…for 2017, I’d give it to Joey Votto…he currently leads the league in On-Base %-.451, games played 147, drawing Bases on Balls-122, most times on base-290, 6th in NL in runs scored, 4th in NL in batting avg .318,6th in slugging % .586 and 1st in NL in OPS 1.039…and as a topper…he actually “chokes up” on the bat….how can you beat those stats?….moving on
…the most prolific HR hitting team in the AL since Sept 1 are the Minnesota Twins…the Twinkies are still clinging to that 2nd wild card spot with 2 weeks remaining…Minn is 2nd in OPS in the AL since the calendar turned to Sept….clearly they want to Move on to the post-season
…this weekend wasn’t particularly good for the SEC…discounting the “blood games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Mercer and Samford, the SEC went 2-2 as Vandy upset #18 K-State, Bama easily handled Colorado State but Mizzou was crushed by Purdue and California beat Ol’ Miss. The most notable game of the conference schedule was Mississippi State whipping LSU 37-17. Most observers concurred that the Bulldogs dominated the Tigers with their Offensive & Defensive lines…. It was the largest margin of victory for the Bulldogs in the 111-game series. Auburn…Mizzou’s next opponent…beat Mercer (from Southern Conference) in a score much closer than I expected 24-10…by today… all the teams and coaches have moved on to next week’s opponent…
…..when the Cards procured Dexter Fowler, we were told that he’d change the locker room culture, be a true lead-off man and be our center-fielder…as the season has moved on…some reactions…the locker room doesn’t seemed to have changed…I don’t know exactly what it is…since I’ve never been there…but something seems to tighten up our players…anyway..moving on…some anomalies for Fowler…he’s only played in 108 games of the 149 played…just 72% of the games ..this is nothing new…he’s only played more than 135 games in a year twice in his 10 year career…not exactly “every day”….his lead off batter skills have evolved into a watered-down slugger…he’s hitting .261..2nd lowest of his career…stolen 5 bases lowest of his career….has 55 rbi’s ..a career best and 14 dingers..just 1 short of his career best..he seems to have moved on from his lead-off skills
…on the High School front….
…Ritenour football moves on to week 6 next week with a 5-0 mark…the Huskies outlasted the Summit Falcons 41-34…their best start since 2011…QB Mann McGruder scored 3 touchdowns & threw for two more scores to lead the Huskies to their Homecoming win
…in a thrilling softball game, the Oakville Tigers (13-4) snapped the perfect season mark of the Marquette 4-3 in 8 innings last week…Marquette bounced back the next day to shut out St Joe’s and elevate their record to a glossy 19-1…with the regular season ending in 2 weeks…each club is moving on with the hopes of playing deep in the MSHSAA playoffs
…. moving onward and upward …just 2 years ago the Bayless soccer team was 5-19 for the season…currently perched in the 7th spot of the small school rankings, the Broncos are 10-0-1..they’ve scored 35 goals and surrendered on 7 for the season….Congrats on moving on to this new level of play
…speaking of moving on players….the Cards have designated for assignment….PC code—cutting them outright… 5 players from the opening day roster… you are still obligated to pay them but are we..or the Cards….admitting that they made an error in judgment on their expected performance level…5 players is 20% of the team….what a waste…who’s responsible MO? Manifesto? Girsch? All three?..the feckless fivesome are Siegrest, Peralta, Socolovich, Broxton, Fryer..
….the Mizzou-Purdue doesn’t leave me much room to be positive…the score says it all 35-3..move on
…the Lou isn’t the only place shunning NFL games as many viewers seemed to have moved on…ratings for the opening week were down 13% overall(prior to Last Monday nights game)..Fox’s regional games sagged by 28%…some possible reasons….frankly…across the nation few..if any care that the Rammies moved to LA but they but…some view game as too rough…that the game has gone soft in protecting its players during and after their career, bad matchups, violence of the players OFF the field, referee reviews are too slow, games are too long….and the biggest culprit from my view…updates, scores, etc are found in real time, quicker and easier on devices without watching the entire game…I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NGL (National greedy League) start charging to receive those updates
…sometimes we have these notions about certain players or teams….one I heard frequently…and it sounded right to me… in early to mid-summer was all the talent on the Florida Marlins….check out their record—69-80…the last place team in our division is the Reds ..who are 66-84….so the Fish are 3.5 games better than the worst team in our division…maybe I better move on from those glowing thoughts on the Marlins
….I really believe that Lance Lynn won’t resign with the Cardinals….so what do we have to replace in the rotation if he’s moved on? He’s 71-46 lifetime..60.6% wins… the Cardinals have been over 60% wins as a team only once in the last 10 years… with his most wins in 2012 (18)…his lifetime ERA is 3.31…he’s at 3.09 THIS YEAR(after the Cubbies game)…the number of starts in his full seasons have been 35, 33, 33, 31 and is at 30 right now for 2017….keep in mind that in a 162 game schedule with a 5 man rotation, the “maximum” number of starts would be 32.4….I’m not sure why the Cards wouldn’t dig a bit deeper in their flush pockets to bring him back…maybe…maybe..they’ve moved on in their plans.
… in early August the Cubs were concerned when Wilson Contreras was injured and was going to miss many games…he missed 1 month of the season—Aug 10 to Sept 9…arriving at the same time was a Charmin-like schedule…this softy part of their schedule saw the Cubs play the Red 7x, Pirates 7x, Atlanta 4x, Philly 3x, Mil 2x and Arizona 3x…result Cubs went 18-11…they were able to move on despite missing a vital element to their starting lineup