This past week, Cards Catcher Willson Contreras REACHED TOO FAR. His arm was struck by JD Martinez’s swing. Contreras’ reach caused the injury…not the swing of Martinez. Contreras will miss several weeks of action.

…It’s a real loss for the Cardinals who are struggling offensively.  Contreras leads the club in Home Runs, runs scored,  On-Base-Percentage, OPS (on base + slugging %), Home Runs & Doubles. As a team in a 30 team league, the Cards are 28^th in runs scored; 28^th in Hits; 29^th in HR; tied for 27^th in stolen bases; 27^th in OPS! Yet the Cardinals are 6^th in attendance in MLB  with an average of 36,849. I must admit that in the few shots provided by cameramen of the crowd for home games, the crowd appears much, much smaller to me than that figure of 36,000+.

…The trend of catchers trying to “frame” a pitch to make it “look better” has accelerated in usage and in the movement of the glove as it catchers the ball.  Frequently, you’ll see the catcher catch the ball and immediately move his glove (with the ball in it) laterally until the ball is behind the plate. The thought is that the final “stop” will convince the umpire that the pitch was a strike.

….This isn’t anything new. Decades ago at a much lower baseball level as an umpire, catchers would catch a ball, then move their glove several inches laterally to get their glove behind the plate. (exactly the same as MLB catchers are doing now) As an umpire way back then, I stopped it.  Between batters, I went out to brush off the plate while the catcher was there alone. I said to him, ”Hey, thanks for helping me out. Every time you move the glove laterally like you’re doing, I know it’s a ball”. MLB catchers today are STILL moving their glove laterally (as well, as upwards & downwards) on pitches out of the strike zone. Who are they kidding! If you have to move your glove that far…it’s a “ball”.

…Have TIES (or DRAWS if you prefer) REACHED TOO FAR in the MSL? Take a look @ our StL City Club. Currently in 9th place in the 14 team Western Conference a 2-7-1 record and 13 points. I realize that that City has been missing two of their better players—Eduard Lowen &Njabulo Blom—and that certainly has taken away some of the “punch” of the offense.

…..The MLS standings gives 3 points for a win, 1 pt for a tie. So, City has just 1 loss but the abundance of draws has them in 9th spot of 14 teams. City is tied with 5 other teams with just 2 wins. City SC picked up its league-high seventh tie in 10 games. As of May 2023, 30% of Major League Soccer (MLS) games have ended in a tie, which is the highest percentage since 2016.  It makes me wonder, do teams PLAY FOR ties?

……Should 0-0 ties be treated differently than ties with goals being scored?  Do they gamble a bit more and take more risks to win if more is at stake?  Should the league reward those teams that are actually trying to score? In a 0-0 game(not every tied match), should the team with the most shots on goal get a point? Rewarding the keep-away defensive style with the same number of points seems out of kilter to me. Now, I’m not a soccer purist….not even a soccer player at any time of my life…but it seems to me that the USA & Europe look upon professional sports, especially soccer,  with a different “look”.

…in local Soccer, City Park has been voted the best stadium in the MLS. It does resemble some of the Premier League stadiums. Now, an entirely new grass field  has been installed to keep the playing surface as “perfect” as possible for the remaining games in 2024 season and the immediate future. Congrats to the City officials for their hard work, planning and execution while REACHING FAR beyond the norm.

….As long as we’re looking @ the sports world of St Louis, let’s REACH FAR, FAR OUT THERE!  Could the Lou be an NBA city again? It’s noteworthy that St. Louis is the 3rd largest US metropolitan city without an NBA team. StL trails only Seattle and Tampa in market size w/o an NBA team. Location-wise, St. Louis could be flexible in either the Easter or Western Conference. With its’s Midwest location, rivalries could form easily. The Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies are all close in proximity. Where would they play? The Enterprise Center has proven capable of holding multiple other events around a busy stretch of games for the St. Louis Blues. They could add an NBA team to the mix. It would be a unique challenge, but plausible, given that 11 NBA arenas are also used as NHL homes.  I was an avid “StL Hawks” fan as a youngster. Sometimes, I took the bus downtown with friends to watch the Hawks in action on occasion. Bob Pettit (the least athletic player to ever be considered a star), point guard-Dugie Martin(my personal hero), Lou Hudson, Cliff Hagan, Bill Bridges, Lennie Wilkens, Zelmo Beatty, Charlie Share, and for a short while-home-town boy-Ed McCauley, are just some of the names that come right to mind as I think about the Hawks.

…The sad situation with the Houston Astros has REACHED TOO FAR. The last place Astros have been in the league championship series 7 consecutive years. They have the 3^rd highest payroll in the MLB. Yet in 2024, they are 10 games under .500!! Key stars have failed! Alex Bregman has been brutal, Jose Abreu was so bad he willfully accepted a minor league complex assignment and $95 million closer Josh Hader has been one of the worst relievers in baseball.  The only “crown” that they are currently wearing is “THE AL’s BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT in 2024” 😊

…apparently, it was REACHING A BIT TOO FAR for the Cardinals to get into the contest to trade for Luis Arráez. Arraez won the NL batting title with a .354 average went on the “market”. Miami wanted to dump his $10m contract. I don’t know IF the Cards made a “run” for him…but I doubt it. He has a $10m contract and he’s not batting like he did in 2023. But….he’s still a good hitter—probably better than anyone that the Cards have in their lineup. San Diego grabbed up this valuable lead-off man for their roster for 3 minor league players. Once again, the lack of signing a good free agent at a reasonable MLB cost may indicate the ownerships thoughts about blotting out long range gains.

….it’s interest is REACHING FAR…FAR FURTHER than ever before! An upcoming Women’s Professional game has been moved!  The LA Sparks moved their May 24 game against Caitlin Clark (on Indiana Sparks team) from a 4,000 seat Arena to the the 19,000 seat Crypto.com Arena. It’s exciting to see the huge jump in interest of women’s basketball.

….Have our denials REACHED TOO FAR?  When close-up looks are taken on the Cards 2 “stars”, some sad data pops up. The exact numbers may change ever so slightly since I wrote this Buzz on Thursday. This will be even more evident with Contreras injury. Paul Goldschmidt holds a .195 average! A deeper look shows us more scary data—his average exit velocity (90.6mph); barrel percentage of just 4.9%, and a “hard hit” % of 43.2% raises several flags of concern. Further Goldy has struck out30% of the time including 44% of the against sliders. Unfortunately,  it appears that Fr Time is tapping him on the shoulder now that he’s 36 years old.

Nolan Arenado is very similar. While Arenado’s .286 average is par for the course and he’s driven in a team-high 20 runs—that’s not impressive. It’s his slugging numbers that are raising red flags. After 35 games, Arenado has just 2 HR and his slugging percentage has dropped to .393 — far from his career mark of .525. While his batting average is .287, the Cards didn’t acquire him to be a “singles” hitter. He was brought in and paid substantially to be a slugger.  

….Going back to a recent Buzz where I indicated that I thought that the DeWitt’s were going to sell the team, the policy of NOT acquiring veteran, proven batters, right now, who will cost some money, fits right into that “selling off” policy. Why pay a lot of money NOW if you looking to sell the team “down the road”?

….I threw out a lot of different topics.  Let’s read YOUR thoughts on any of them. You don’t have to REACH OUT TOO FAR to get your ideas. They’re there…just send them. Send to me—rjryansr@charter.net, or post on Facebook-Bob Ryan. Thanks for your time & read!   Bob