The Cardinal Quandry

[janradder]

Okay -- what is it with Red Sox castoffs going to the Cardinals and suddenly becoming world-beaters?

You've got Joel Piniero from last year who was cast-off from the Sox bullpen only to emerge as a stud in St. Louis (5.03 ERA in Boston in 2007; 3.15 ERA in St. Louis this year). Then you've got Julio "I-can't-make-routine-throws-to-first" Lugo who spent most of his Boston career hitting anywhere from .230 to .268 over parts of three seasons and then went on to the Cards where he's been hitting over .300 (and gone from seven errors in 32 games to 1 in 23). The latest addition is John Smoltz who spent 8 games serving batting practice to the opposing team and then travelled to the Gateway City where he promptly went back to looking like the future Hall of Famer that he is.

Comments

[pierogi-queen.livejournal.com]

I read this morning that the Cardinal's pitching coach made a change to Smoltz's delivery because he was doing something that was telegraphing his pitches.

You forgot the "Roger Clemens is at the end of his career - let's get rid of him so he can have a second hall of fame career with the Yankees"

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I left him out because he didn't go to the Cards. I heard that too, about Smoltz telegraphing his pitches. I;d believe it more, though, if the guy had actually had any command with his fastball when he was in Boston -- it seemed like everything he threw missed over the middle of the plate, which was why sop many hitters hit him so hard.

[sacwentie.livejournal.com]

Damn straight. This is bull shit.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I knew I could count on you to back me up on this.

[sacwentie.livejournal.com]

I would have elaborated about exactly why this is all so wrong, but I was just too upset.