September 30: Pirates @ Cardinals
Jenifer Langosch/MLB.com
Records: Cardinals (83-76, -18.5 in NL Central), Pirates (78-80,-23.0 in NL Central)
Wild Card: Mets (+1.0), Giants, Cardinals (-1.0)
First pitch: 7:15 pm CT
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Midwest, 1120 KMOX
Cardinals lineup: Matt Carpenter (1B), Aledmys Diaz (SS), Yadier Molina (C), Stephen Piscotty (RF), Jhonny Peralta (3B), Brandon Moss (LF), Jedd Gyorko (2B), Randal Grichuk (CF), Carlos Martinez (RHP)
Pirates lineup: Josh Bell (RF), Gregory Polanco (LF), Andrew McCutchen (CF), Jung Ho Kang (3B), John Jaso (1B), Sean Rodriguez (SS), Alen Hanson (2B), Eric Fryer (C), Tyler Glasnow (LHP)
Transactions: The Cardinals activated LF Matt Holliday from the 15-day disabled list
Reading material:
- Cardinals do not plan to exercise their 2017 club option on Matt Holliday, but will try to script a sendoff for him this weekend (link)
- Game recap from a controversial 4-3 win over the Reds on Thursday (link)
- More on the controversial conclusion to Thursday’s game, with reaction from all parties involved (link)
- Yadier and Bengie Molina share a special moment as part of the Cardinals’ first Spanish-language broadcast (link)
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By Gosh, It's Langosch 
Holiday going out in style.
Yessir, he is! He actually shed a few tears there, as he ran the bases and down into the dugout. No doubt if they need a pinch-hitter today, Holliday will be sent to the plate.
According to one article, Holliday & the Cards still could RE-negotiate something for next year. Unlikely….but Mo said he wasn’t ready to say it couldn’t happen. The $17M option may have been more than Mo & DeWitt wanted to pay. I wonder if “Holly” as MM calls him, could have thoughts about asking the Cards for a coaching job?
And after today’s appearance, looks like maybe Rosenthal could switch to a starter in 2017? At least that’d probably be less dangerous than trying to close a tight game.
Well, Kershaw’s having problems. SF leads LA 3-zip top of the 8th. C’mon Dodgers, get busy.
Today’s win may have cost us the bull pen for tomorrow. But it better be all-hands-on -deck or its over.
Nobody pitched too long this afternoon, so shouldn’t everybody be good ‘nuf to go tomorrow?
Three exciting wins in a row but perhaps too little too late. Wacha seems done as an effective presence for the year. Will see how Wainwright fears tomorrow but unless the Dodgers are motivated it won’t matter anyway.
Why even start Wacha? What purpose did it serve. Sit him down for the year, evaluate the need for him and get him ready for next year. But no, lets risk his career/trade value for one useless inning. OH, not to mention the Cards are still in the WC race ,so lets play”lets see what we got” game. Hey we have one more game in the season so lets experiment.
As far as pitching goes, the only starters I’d hold onto are Martinez, Reyes, and Wainwright. Everyone else is expendable. We have 20 games to make up………that’s huge, so the moves may have to be huge also.
Prediction: Winter meetings will provide zero, and the team will NOT make any major move(s).
Wonder if any player is thinking about their bonehead base running or botched defensive play, back in July or August that cost us a ‘W’ coming back to haunt us now??? NOT
Your prediction may end up being correct, sir. The Cards will probably look internally, for for the likes of another Reyes, Diaz and/or Piscotty. It’d be pretty interesting to find out just how much input MM, Mo & DeWitt EACH has on trades n’ stuff.
No doubt Waino, Reyes & Martinez will be the backbone of the starting rotation next season. That said, they might possibly want to give Rosenthal a shot as a starter, as well?
I think management will definitely shop the Asian market in the off-season. They were lucky the first time with Oh, so why not try again.
Right on. Poor base-running, fielding errors & neglecting to put certain dangerous batters on base, have all cost the Cards some unnecessary losses. Plus early in the season, continual attempts to close with Rosenthal, cost the Birds a few games too.
There are 2 ways to look at this afternoon’s Dodgers/Giants match-up. Either the Dodgers will rest their best players, come what may….or there’s been a bit of chatter hoping LA’s last game will be a “A Win for Vin”, in honor of Vin Scully’s final call.
Maeda’s starting for the Dodgers. He’s got a 3.28 ERA. Not too shabby.
On the off-chance we win & SF loses? The elimination game would be tomorrow nite in St Louis. At least we’d be the more rested team.
As for Wacha? He’s toast. With the ongoing shoulder issue (inoperable) he’ll never be able to be a regular starter again….and he hasn’t been very good out of the bullpen either.
One of the local sports guys mentioned trading Leake. Not quite sure how that could/would work. Not a bad idea, tho’….as I’ve always sensed Leake isn’t crazy about playing in St Louis.
With Waino starting today, it’s kinda’ scary. As one of you guys said before? Ya’ never knows WHICH Waino will show up. ~
I was thinking of the errors and glitches and MM’s decisions which affected individual games early on. Even 2 or so of those and we wouldn’t be in this situation. Waino is uneven and if recent post-seasons are any indication, he does worse under pressure. Too bad for Wacha as his career started so brightly (and he rescued us from Waino’s miscues in 2013 post season) but he didn’t have the physical durability to continue.
But let’s face it this team falls short of a championship club by a long-shot so it will be 1-2 more games at most or a rout by the Cubs. I am uncertain if they will do what is needed but based on past decisions not sure the off-season will accomplish enough.
We can only hope MM & Mo have learned at least one thing this time around. That EVERY GAME COUNTS.
MM probably gave Rosenthal those few chances to close, figuring it’s only 1/3 of the way thru the season, and with so many more games to play, he probably thought it was no big deal if Rosenthal blew a save. Well…..MM was wrong.
The Dodgers aren’t playing their best this afternoon SF could sweep LA. So it probably won’t matter if the Cards win today. Ah well, so it goes.