Tumbling down into the Basement was FredBird. He hadn’t been down there for a long, long time! FredBird had been spoiled! He’d been in 4 straight post-season series (2019-22). He missed the playoffs for 3 years (2016-18) but he wasn’t down here in the Basement. Fred was living “high off the hog” from 2011-2015 as they were in the Playoffs. The Cards missed the playoffs and were last in the in 2010. A World Series victory in 2006 and post-seasons in 2005,04,1997-99 kept him a long way from the basement.
…This year the Cards were all the way down in the Basement(last place). The Last time that they finished in Last Place was 1960 in NL East Division Race. Prior to that it was 1918!! BTW…the record in 1918 was 51-78-39.5% (the ALL-TIME low). The Current Cards with 36-52 (as I write this)are 40.9%. WOW!! The 2023 Birds FredBird didn’t remember much about this basement and those numbers made him dizzy.. He wasn’t sure when he was even born😊
…But….then…he noticed some one sleeping over in the corner of the Basement. It was Louie (the Blues mascot). Louie had been down here for quite awhile. The Blues didn’t finish in last place but they missed the Playoffs….soooo….missing the Playoffs got your thrown into the Basement. In 2018, 2011, & 2010 the Blues had also missed the playoffs. From 2006, 07,08, Louie lived in the basement as the Playoffs were only a dream. Louie also missed out way back in 1979,1978 and 1974 playoffs. But… that were ancient history. He could hardly remember them.
….The two commiserated about the situation. FredBird remembered when Harry the Hawk flew though without stopping. His St Louis Hawks never finished in last place. But … then, Harry moved to Atlanta to become the Atlanta Hawks.
….Louie & Fred continued their discussion…frankly, what else was there? Fred told the story about Truman the Tiger being confined to the basement for just 1 year. In 2016, under 1st year HC Barry Odum the Tigers finished last with a 2-6 SEC conference record and 4-8 overall. Truman has never been seen since…and a Odum completed his 4 year stint @ Columbia with a 25-25 record. Since then the MU coach has learned to schedule at least 3 wins in the nonconference schedule. That ensures a .500 season. Fred continued….looks like that Truman will never see those REALLY big bowls. He’s seen in 2015-Citrus Bowl; 2016-no bowl; 2017-Texas Bowl; 2018-finally a bowl I recognize—the Liberty Bowl; 2021-Armed Forces Bowl; and 2022 the ever popular– Gasparilla Bowl. Yep..Truman has seen tough times. Truman ambled back dejectedly to a quiet spot in the basement.
…..Finally, after building up some rapport, Louie asked FredBird…so what’s up with you guys? Why are YOU in the basement. There wasn’t any indication or talk about the Cardinals being in the basement. Quite to the contrary, a 1st place finish was expected!! Fred hesitated…he knew it was an ugly path that he was about to begin. But… he just couldn’t keep it in! Fred blurted out…one night its one thing, the next night-its another, yada-yada-yada.
…Fredbird hesitated—he was going into dangerous, private territory. We’re not really being “open” that we’re in a rebuild. We don’t dare use that word (rebuild). It’d impact our attendance. Our clubhouse is like a transfer station. People coming & going continually. We’ve had 41 different players play this year. Our IL list seems like it’s constantly adding/subtracting players. Ollie keeps juggling the lineups like he’s in a circus juggling act…not only different players but different positions for some of the same players. Only Goldy & Arenado are usually exempt from moving all around. Let me add…. I don’t know why they’re giving Goldy so many days off at 1b. Why DH him? 1b isn’t a strenuous position and he IS far better there than anyone else there defensively. Myself…I think the juggling makes it much tougher for all the players. It hurts confidence, continuity, causes doubts about their role in a player. How can they adjust from 1 week to the next in 1 spot or the other. They can’t complain…they like being in the MLB.
Louie….sounds like your high hopes have all been blown up. But the Blues….We knew it was coming, not quite to the extent that it did…we really fell off in a hurry. But.. too many of our older, better players were going to be free agents. Sooo.. we moved them to get something in return. It was a lot easier to do since our record wasn’t up to par. In hockey, the younger players don’t seem to require as much adaptation as the MLB youngsters require. From what I hear, we drafted some quality young players who might help get me out of the basement and soon …hopefully!!
…Just then…someone came stumbling through the door. It was BoSox. He hadn’t been in the basement for a long time. BoSox looked confused…he & the Red Sox thought that they’d contend. They have a $163m payroll while adding $17m to their payroll with 5 signings this year! Bo spoke up, “it’s weird man…we’re fighting the Yankees .. not for 1st place but last place! This has got to be a bad dream..but it isn’t! ugh!! He looked for a place to sleep…this was going to be a long year.
….After BoSox left, Fred blurted back out, “We just don’t look like the same team. Sure…we win some .. you can’t lose 162 games…but it seems like we miss Yadi far more than expected …especially defensively. Some say we miss him in the clubhouse too—setting the tone. And…don’t forget Albert was our KEY man in the 2nd half surge last year. Without his bat, we would never have seen the “Quintana removal” disaster.
Louie…ya know, I’m not a baseball guy but I do watch the Birds. It sure seems like that Jim Edmonds knows a lot about hitting. He doesn’t talk about the numbers…he talks about the actual swing, the preparation for the batter, the expectation of a pitch thoughout his AB. Why don’t they use him? Even if it was only part time.
…His outburst was so loud that it woke up Stomper from the Oakland A’s. He’d been sleeping for several weeks now. The A’s have won 25 games all year! Stomper stretched out, rubbed his eyes, it’s been a long, long season guys. Any good players we get…we sell off anybody good to make “ends meet”. Stomper started to reminisce…we’ve been so bad for 2 years now that people forget that we were in the 2019 (covid year) playoffs and actually beat the White Sox in the 1st round. I hear that we’ll be in Vegas next year. We’ll spend money on players then!! He wandered back to his sleeping hole…nothing was going to happen this year to get him out of the basement.
…Louie continued as if Stomper had never been there…well….at some point, you’ll have to do what we did…we cleared out the older, higher paid guys. Sure…it as a hard hit on the winning column but we set ourselves up for the draft.
Fred interrupted….But Louie….the MLB draft doesn’t provide the immediate help like hockey. Trades have to be made that have a purpose. My ballclub needs a #1 and #2 pitcher in the starting staff AND we need a closer. Not a closer that is bounced in & out from 1 week to the next. I mean we’re 8-18 in 1 run games. Turn that around and we’re in the thick of the Central. I think we’ll have to trade some of our corp players & at least 1 of our 2 “real” stars to address these issues.
Louie… will your fans keep coming to games like they do now if you do that? Our fans have stayed in force. But..hate to say it…You’ve all been spoiled ….being in that soft Division for many years when some, maybe most of the 4 teams weren’t spending and weren’t developing young players. That’s not the case this year! It looks like Cincy & Pittsburgh have traveled down the “YOUNG” player with a good bullpen route this year with good results. Cincy has become a “speedy” team like the Cards used to by under Whitey. Cincy has 112 stolen bases, the Cards 56…exactly TWICE as many SB’s!!
FredBird…maybe so…the fans keep hollering for it…but it’s tougher to do than it is to talk about it.
Louis… well…let’s stop talking, and go to sleep—we may be here for awhile! 😊
FredBird….before YOU go to sleep reading this…send us YOUR thoughts an any part of this Buzz. Thanks for your read & response! Bob
bobryansportsblog 