Bored to death in the middle of a hot summer day, Sam, Antonio, Juan, Willy (all big sports fans) were “just hanging out” on a hot summer day. All were too young to be in the “real” work world so they were sitting around talking about sports. Each had their own questions/topics that THEY wanted to talk about.But…seldom did more than 1 guy have the same topic. Sooo…they devised a game…bring up your topic or question, then roll a pair of dice.. If it wasn’t “doubles”, the next guy to your right gets to bring up the next topic! If it was doubles, talk over…done…finished…go home.
Willy starts if off with…Hey what is happening to our next super stat—Jordan Walker—these days? Should he be back in the Lou?
Juan answered him first—not so “hot”…man..he’s batting .203, 2 HR, OPS of .620 in Memphis…I’m thinking that he was just a “prop” to build up interest in spring training. Maybe even to draw fans in the early season games. He’s NOT ready…man…he’s got almost as many stolen bases as extra base hits (3 SB= 3 dbl+1 HR). Juan rolled a 6 and 4 ..then gave the dice to Willy.
Willy piped up,” we’re already screwed up in the OF—4 …maybe 5 guys for 3 spots—O’Neill, Burlison, Carlson, Nootbaar and now Tommy Edman. Now I’m hearing, “play Carlson in CF he’s a good defensive CF”… Are you kidding me…we traded Harrison Bader who was twice as good as Carlson defensively but he wasn’t “hitting enough”. Right now, Bader is batting .286. Yea, yea…he has only played in 17 games but… look @ our “guys”..Burleson @ .224 and looks like he’s carrying baggage on his back tracking down long fly balls; Carlson is at .230 & Gorman .283. Noooots IS @ .310. Willy was all fired up…he continued…yea, I think Gorman should be playing EVERY day! When he blasted the HR off a LHP on Saturday, he threw his bat hard to the ground. I’m thinking that the was thinking, “here ya go Ollie…take those analytics & shove it! LHB can hit LBP!! He should be In the OF or as the DH..and
Sam interrupted him blurting out,”Man…a couple days ago Edman (RF) & Noots (CF) crashed into each other at full speed. All these different guys out there…some natural outfielders…some not…trying to make an impressions—going full speed…not knowing how much ground the other Outfielder can cover…that’s the danger of having different OF alignment every day…somebody’s going to get hurt.
Willy piped in….yea… Well you don’t have that problem with Yepez. He can’t judge a fly at all and doesn’t’ have enough speed to get close to any other OF while chasing a fly. He covers very small amount of ground. Burlison is another misplaced outfielder. He chugs around like a slow-pitch outfielder. It ties into the pitching….some of those flies should be OUTS. But..our mediocre defense in the OF can’t make the plays. Sam disgustedly throws the dice & saw a 1 & 2 on the dice. So Juan it’s all yours!
Juan blurts out,” With their starting staff….just think if the Cards had kept Alcantara and….
ANTONIO interrupted him right there…”whatta mean”…last year he was “really” something..but he sucks this year! In 2022 he was 14-9 with a WHIP of 0.98, an ERA of 2.28, 6 complete games. And… that was for that crappy Fish team. This year his ERA is up to 4.91, is 1-4 with a WHIP of 1.21.
Juan continued as though he hadn’t heard a word, “not only did the Cards trade Alcantara but also Zac Gallen, who Florida moved to Arizona.
Juan ignored him and continued.”Yes…Alcantara has slipped but Gallen has improved. He’s 4-1 for Arizona. He just posted 44 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings! He’s had 6 straight scoreless starts for Arizona. Just think..man….if we still had both of them in OUR rotation. And….our current staff is 16th in the MLB in ERA of 4.28 and….this isn’t a young staff….our average age is 29.7 years & Liberatore just brought that average down since he’s 23 years old. Man…did you know that in the first 38 games of ‘23, Cardinal starting pitchers won just 6 games! Six Games! Northing easy for them…in those same 38 games, the Cardinal starters retired the first 6 batters of the game just ONCE!! Jordan Montgomery on April 8 v Milwaukee. Come on Antonio…throw the dice! Maybe you have more “stuff” than our pitchers 😊
Antonio picked up the dice…rolled them.. banging them off the steps to the house…a 4 & 2 came up.
Juan grabbed the dice back since now it really was HIS turn…I didn’t even get a chance to ask my question.Do you know how good Schildt really was as a manager? Yea…he got fired because he was filmed cursing out this team after a really, really bad game. Do the Cardinals think that these players haven’t heard those words before? ….Anyway…why DID they fire him? In 2019, Schildt took a team with just 1 All-Star…of all people—Paul DeJong….he took that team to the NLCS. In 2021 he won 90 regular season games (including a 17 game win streak) with the world’s worst rotation—Waino, J.A. Happ, Jon Lester, Kwang Kim, Carlos Martinez & Johan Oviedo. Are you kidding me….how did he win 70 games ..much less than 90? How? He got screwed by a rookie taking a video of him on a rant on his camera! Let me roll…I’ve got another good one…he grabs the dice, rolls them out and sees a 1 and a 4!! Oops…JUAN grabs them back…he quickly throws them and sees a 4 & 5 after spinning around.
Willy blurts out….”hey man…it’s MY turn”. Hey….how about this….in the NBA draft for the first time a non-American will be chosen 1st overall! Frenchman Victor Wembanyama,7-2 is going to be “THE MAN” as the # 1 overall pick. Who would have ever thought that it wouldn’t be an American College player? He picks up the dice and slings it across the sidewalk as a 3 & 2 appear. Sam takes over…
Sam…hey….let’s look ahead for our Blues…they have those 3 1st round draft choices but I think that they’ll trade at 1 of them. Use the others to get “help” right now. How about this Clayton Keller of Arizona? He grew up in the Lou…he’s got talent…was the 7th overall pick in 2016 draft. Soooo..he’s getting into the prime of his career.. Use 1 of those picks w/a defenseman and get a scorer…right now! The Blues need help on both ends of the ice…but ya can’t win w/o goals! LGB!! Sam then picked up the dice …still fired up…he also threw them hard against the steps….they rolled around and then landed in a pair of 1’S… Everybody groaned…that pair of doubles ended it for the day.
…But…it doesn’t have to end it for you. Take any of the topics above …or YOUR OWN topics. Put them up on Facebook or on my website—www.bobryansportsblog.com! Or…send to me & I”ll post them. Thanks for your read! Then ROLL THE DICE! Bob
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