1. TIGERS SHOW HEART IN CLOSE CALL
When the clock finally struck triple zero on Saturday night at Faurot Field in Columbia, 65,401 fans were allowed to breath again. Everyone had seen this story before. On September 1, 2001, Coach Gary Pinkel made his home Tiger debut with a thud, losing to Bowling Green 20-13. The next year when the Tigers visited Bowling Green the outcome remained the same. Bowling Green 51 - Missouri 28. Saturday appeared to be heading towards a similar outcome, as the Falcons lead the Tigers 20-6 halfway through the third quarter.
But these Tigers aren’t the 2001 or the 2002 Tigers.
After a hot start to his career against Illinois, it took Blaine Gabbert two and a half quarters to find his rhythm and start moving his offense downfield. In the end he threw for 172 yards and two touchdowns, both coming after his team went down by 14 points. Not the impressive numbers from the Arch Rivalry Game, but enough to get the job done.
While Gabbert’s performance may appear underwhelming, he accomplished something that the Tigers hadn’t done since 2005: Be down in the fourth quarter and come back to win the game.
After a rough start, Gabbert lead his Tigers to 21 unanswered points
The last time the Tigers accomplished a late, come-from-behind win was the 2005 Homecoming game against Iowa State. In that game, Missouri went three quarters without recording a single offensive touchdown. Down by ten points with a little over nine minutes left to play, the Tigers came back with a field goal and a touchdown pass with just twenty seconds left on the clock. The Tigers went on to win the game in overtime by the score of 27-24. This was Chase Daniel’s first real appearance wearing a Mizzou uniform and is credited as the game that saved Pinkel’s job. Daniel came in to replace a hurt (and struggling) Brad Smith. This would be the only time Daniel lead the Tigers to a late victory. Since he didn’t get the start, Daniel also has the dubious record of never starting a game for Mizzou and leading his team to victory after trailing for three quarters.
While Gabbert’s late leadership was impressive, the story of this game was Derrick Washington and the play of the defense. Washington ran for 124 yards on 23 carries and scored the game-winning touchdown. While Gabbert figured out the Bowling Green defense, Washington kept the Tigers hopes alive by moving the ball and setting up Mizzou’s two second quarter field goals.
After a questionable first quarter, the Tiger defense played with more heart than it did in any game last year. When the Mizzou offense fumbled within their own red zone twice, the defense held Bowling Green to just two field goals to keep the game within striking distance. They also made the key stop at the end of the game to lock up the Mizzou victory.
It was a telling win. While this team showed it may not be as talented as team’s in recent memory, it certainly has the heart to have a great season.
Of course, this close call could have been avoided all together. Pinkel may have learned his lesson to never schedule Bowling Green again. Dating back to his days as the head coach of the Toledo Rockets, Pinkel is 6-7 against Bowling Green, including four straight losses to the Falcons from 1991-1994. This team just has something against Pinkel, but it was nice to see him somewhat make up for his debut loss from eight years ago.
Maybe the smarter thing to do is just not schedule any teams at home that have a shade of orange as one of their primary colors. Since Pinkel took over the job, Mizzou is 0-3 at home when playing teams with orange in their uniform. These teams being Bowling Green and Oklahoma State. Since Oklahoma State has to play the Tigers in Columbia once every four years per Big XII scheduling, Pinkel should not play against the color orange any more than he has to.
It was not a great game to witness, but in the end the Tigers got the job done. Gabbert showed he can play through adversity and not lose his cool and the defense proved they are capable of keeping their team in the game when they are not running at full speed. This was a wake up call to the young players to never overlook an opponent, no matter how beatable they appear. Lesson learned. Victory intact.
FOOT NOTE: The official attendance of 65,401 was the largest opening day crowd at Faurot Field since 1978.
This picture was taken immediately after my pre-game breakfast meeting with Coach Pinkel. I offered him such pointers as, "Score more points than Bowling Green" and "Don't lose." He used both of my game strategies. Both were successful
2. CARDS COOLING OFF, BUT NOW’S THE TIME
It was an absolutely horrible three game set against the Braves this passed weekend. The statistics don’t need to be repeated. In essence, the offense sputtered (I’m sensing a theme for this season), Kyle Lohse doesn’t have the same stuff he did last year, and Chris Carpenter proved he’s human. With the exception of Lohse, I’m not too concerned with the other two problems. The Cards bats went silent for a series. After two weeks of smacking the cover off the ball, they were bound to experience a setback. Even after struggling this weekend, the offense is still averaging over 4.50 runs per game in the month of September.
What does concern me is the pitching of Ryan Franklin. While the five days off this month helped him boost his velocity in his latest outing, he demonstrated the same lack of control that has plagued him this month. So far, Franklin has walked five batters while pitching in 3.1 innings. Last month, Franklin walked just six in eleven innings. Since the All-Star Break, Franklin has actually walked more batters (12) than he has struck out (11).
We've been seeing too much of Franklin holding his head down. Time for him to get back on track, or for LaRussa to hand off the ninth to someone else
His control problems also feed another issue: The number of base runners Franklin allows in an inning. Franklin is averaging over one base runner per inning. While this seems insignificant, one base runner could mean the tying run is on base or at the plate. In his last save against the Pirates, he let his one base runner, acting as the tying run, reach third base until he recorded the third and final out in the ninth. His save before that against Milwaukee, Franklin entered the game ahead by three runs. Two hits, one walk and three hard outs later, the Cardinals won by one run.
I’m not sounding the alarm yet, but these increasingly below par numbers are becoming more worrisome. This team needs the ability to win close games in the postseason, and still needs to win close games in the regular season to finally close out the division. If Franklin continues to struggle this way, there is no way you can allow him to close out games in the postseason (look at Billy Wagner in 2006 and his struggles to see how frustrating this possibility could be). The good news is you have a veteran closer in John Smoltz who could fulfill the role the rest of the way (assuming he’s healthy and hopefully won’t be needed as a starter in the playoffs).
While this three game skid is alarming, it’s not completely bad. It is better to slump in September than to slump in October. The Cardinals are also a step ahead of their 2006 World Champion pace. On this date three years ago, the Cardinals’ magic number stood at 12. Today it stands at 11. Going back further, in 2002, the Cardinals again stood at 24 games over .500 and still had a magic number of 7. Slumps around this time are normal, especially when a team has a large division lead. The key is getting your head back in the game and realizing you haven’t accomplished anything yet. Tony LaRussa is good at reminding his players of this as he frequently chews out players that celebrate too early (see John Mabry during the 2004 season).
For now this team is right where it needs to be. Carpenter will be fine and this offense won’t stay down for long. If anything, it’s relieving to see the team struggle as it shrinks egos and makes players more cautious as they get closer to postseason play. If Franklin can figure himself out, or is simply replaced before it gets out of hand, this team is right back to where we thought they were last Thursday.
But if they continue to struggle for the next week or so, get back to me. Then we can start talking about panicking.
Don't cry Tony. Your team is still in first place by 9.5 games
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