Pinkel to Media: "Neener, Neener, Neener!"

The following quotes were overheard before the 2009 Arch Rivalry Game (paraphrased to help our analysts get to the point much faster)

KIRK HERBSTREIT: I just don’t see how Missouri will be able to handle that Illinois offense. Last year they allowed Juice Williams to pass for over 400 yards and gave up 42 points. This offense just isn’t the same that it was last year. Illinois hands the Tigers the first loss in this game since 1994.

LEE CORSO: Missouri just can’t handle that Illinois offense and Gabbert is unproven at running the spread. No question: Illinois takes it.

LOU HOLTZ: Blah, blah, blah, (insert something stupid about Notre Dame here), blah, blah, blah, Notre Dame could beat God in a hot dog eating contest, blah, blah, blah, blah, what do you mean there’s more than one team that plays college football?

"The great thing about Notre Dame is that Notre Dame is Notre Dame."

Okay, one of those quotes may have been exaggerated just a little bit, but you get the general idea. This year, the national media does not like the Tigers chances. Some prognosticators had the Tigers finishing as low as fourth place in the North Division of the Big XII. And for the first time since the Arch Rivalry was renewed, analysts across the board picked the Illinois Fighting Illini to beat Mizzou.

FINAL SCORE: Missouri 37 – Illinois 9.

I’m not one to say I told you so. Instead I will simply reference you to my previous post about the upcoming Tiger season. If it helps, please picture me waving my hands in the air and sticking my tongue out at you.

I understand the media’s pessimistic outlook on the Tigers. It’s hard to be positive about a team that just lost the most successful class in school history. Plus, it is simple protocol for national sports journalists to follow the formula of, “I know nothing about you, therefore, you are a bad team.” For example, look at the national coverage the Tigers received in 2007 before they entered the rankings. College Gameday did not even recognize their existence until the Tigers destroyed Nebraska 41-6 in Columbia, when players like Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin became household names.

Needless to say, several media outlets (including local Mizzou homers) were shocked at how Mizzou performed. Granted Illinois played a sloppy game, but nobody expected the largest Mizzou victory in this rivalry game since the Tigers won 31-3 in 1993, the last time the game was played at Faurot Field in Columbia.

Coach Pinkel wanted to say I told you so, but he couldn’t and is too much of a professional to say such a thing. Instead, he kept things in perspective.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do…Remember we are talking about one game,” Pinkel stressed in a post-game interview. This is fine. This is exactly what a fan wants and needs to hear, especially with the Tigers next game coming against frequent trouble maker, Bowling Green.

"YOU were wrong. And so were YOU and so were YOU!"

I don’t want to jog any bad memories so I will make this quick. In Gary Pinkel’s very first game as Mizzou’s head coach, The Bowling Green Falcon’s upset the Tigers on their home field and walked away with a 20-13 victory. The next year, the Falcons destroyed the Tigers at Bowling Green by the score of 51-28. The Tigers haven’t scheduled the Falcons ever since.

It’s easy to see why Pinkel is concentrating hard on next week. He doesn’t want his team to be overconfident and would really like to makeup for a rough start to his Mizzou career. But there are several things I would be smiling about if I were Gary Pinkel.

1. BLAINE GABBERT

It was one game, but what a way to make your presence known. Gabbert completed 25 of 33 passes, compiled 319 yards with three touchdown passes and topped it off with 39 yards rushing, including an 8-yard touchdown run. His quarterback rating of 186.96 was the highest QB rating of any Big XII quarterback playing last Saturday. It’s just one game, but Gabbert showed he can run the spread offense. The great thing is, Gabbert says he can get better.

"Chase who?" (at least for one game)

If Gabbert can find a way to improve on a very complete game (for a quarterback), Mizzou fans should be salivating about now.


2. DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT

Under new defensive coordinator Dave Steckel, the defense held Illinois to nine points; a 33 point improvement from last year. Steckel greatly simplified the Tigers’ defensive scheme and frequently had three pass rushers running down Illini quarterback, Juice Williams, making him rush throws and not giving him enough time to look down field for deep passes, which plagued the defense all of last year. Using three pass rushers is nothing new. In fact, this type of defense has already lead a team to a Super Bowl victory. In 2008, Steve Spagnuolo (then the New York Giants defensive coordinator) used this type of defense, often called a Scorpion defense, to contain Tom Brady and a very explosive New England Patriots offense. Granted it is just one game, but the defense looked much faster and much more responsive this year than it did last year when it gave up 42 points and allowed Juice Williams to throw for 451 yards.


3. STILL UNDER THE RADAR

Mizzou won’t be receiving much national attention this year, which is exactly what Pinkel wants. It allows the Tigers to sneak up on teams and to put a game away before their opponent realizes what just happened. In 2007, the Tigers very quietly got off to a 5-0 start. After gaining the spotlight with a win over Nebraska, the Tigers lost to the Oklahoma Sooners and fell off the national radar. Again, they quietly won five games in a row and rose to number four in the BCS rankings before beating the Kansas Jayhawks on the national stage. No media spotlight means Pinkel has an easier job of keeping his players focused purely on the next game to be played. He doesn’t have to worry about the distractions of frequent interviews and questions about a possible national championship or BCS bowl run. His players can live and play for right now. Just look at last season. The Tigers started off red hot, but with a nation watching and a possible number one ranking waiting, Mizzou stumbled against Oklahoma State and never fully recovered. No attention means no big head. Of course, if the Tigers rattle off the wins, this will all change. In which case, Pinkel will have some experience under his belt and be able to prepare his players better.

Pinkel was right when he said this was just one game and there is plenty of season left. But why not get excited? After all, it’s not everyday that you get to rub a victory in the face of the nation’s sportswriters.

TEAM OF DESTINY?

As August begins to turn into September, the race towards October starts to pick up speed as the six month marathon suddenly becomes a 30 game sprint. These last few games can either make or break a team’s chances of punching their tickets for a trip to the eight team tournament that is played every October (since 1995).

The last couple years have not been too kind to the Cardinals come September as late season collapses have done in any hopes of postseason baseball in St. Louis. In 2007, the Cards were attempting to make a playoff push despite the fact that Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen were in severe decline and Albert Pujols was having the worst year of his career (I use the term “worst” very loosely). However, the Cards managed to be seven games out of the Wild Card race with a little over a month to go. The team would go on a tear for a week and actually get to a season high one game over .500 and be only 3.5 games out of the Wild Card lead. But that was short lived as the team went on to lose nine games in a row.

The 2008 version was slightly better. At this time last year, the Cards stood at 73-59 and were in the midst of playing their best baseball all season. They were only 3.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the Wild Card lead. However, fortunes turned quickly as just a week later, the Cards dropped to 74-63. Things only got worse from there as they played a game under .500 the rest of the way to finish four games out of the Wild Card.

The Cardinals currently lead the Central Division by 8 games and with the way the Cubs are playing, postseason play could almost be a certainty. The Cardinals also have history on their side as they have never blown a lead this large with so few games left in the season. When you have a large lead, you don’t have to play great; you just have to play well enough to survive.

Take the 2006 World Champion version of this Cardinal squad. On August 25, 2006, the Cards lead the Central Division by just one game with a record of 67-60. Ten days later, they had turned that into a 6 game lead and were eleven games over .500. We all remember what happened with that team. They struggled almost the rest of the month, at one point losing seven games in a row but held on just long enough to win the division. If that team can hold on long enough to make the playoffs, I am confident that the 2009 version, which is much more talented in all facets of the game, will be able to hold off a struggling and quite injured Chicago Cubs ball club.



Several things would have to go wrong for this team to not be playing in October. But there have been so many things that have gone wrong already this year, and yet, the team has been in first place the majority of the season (91 game days) and have been no further back than three games out of the lead. Chris Carpenter was out for over a month and still the team fought through it. Adam Wainwright struggled with control problems in his first few starts but still, the team fought through it. Todd Wellemeyer forgot how to throw a baseball, and the team survived long enough for him to wind up in the bullpen and then the DL. Kyle Lohse has been hurt several times in freak accidents and hasn’t been the same pitcher, but the team has prevailed. The offense didn’t wake up until late July and the team prevailed. This team even survived having to put out a lineup that had both Chris Duncan and a poorly hitting Rick Ankiel in it. If surviving that dreaded combination isn’t a sign that this team is destined to make the playoffs, than I don’t know what is.

Even having to survive all of those ordeals, there were several things that did go right for this team. Things that will have to continue to go right for this team to go deep into the playoffs.

1. CHRIS CARPENTER AND ADAM WAINWRIGHT

The Cardinals two best pitchers both have 14 wins, which is good enough to be tied for second for the Major League lead. Both have an ERA well under 3.00. The Cardinals are 6-0 in Carpenter’s last six starts, with Carpenter receiving the winning decision in five of them. Both Carpenter and Wainwright must continue to anchor this team’s rotation for the club to be successful in the coming month as the offense still shows signs of sluggishness (look at previous road trip for example).

2. JOEL PINEIRO


Pineiro picked the perfect time to establish his deadly sinker which has allowed him to accumulate the most groundouts in the Majors (282). Pineiro hasn’t lost since June 28 and is in the midst of having his best season since 2003 with the Seattle Mariners when he went 16-11 with a 3.78 ERA. If Pineiro continues to have a career year, there is no question that this team will be playing in October.



3. CARDINAL OFFENSE


The acquisition of Matt Holliday has definitely panned out the way the Cardinals need it to….so far. In 28 games with St. Louis, Holliday has hit .398 and driven in 27 RBIs as well as belting six homers. With Holliday hitting the way he has, not to mention Ryan Ludwick taking better and better swings at the plate, the offense has definitely come to life in the last month or so. However, the team must score more runs at home to help out their pitchers. In 60 home games, the Cardinals have scored 253 runs, good enough for an average of 4.21 runs per game, as opposed to 66 games on the road and scoring 312 runs to average 4.72 runs a game. This team is making a run at having home field advantage throughout the National League side of the playoffs, which means scoring at home is that much more important. If this team can continue to average nearly five funs a game on the road and start scoring more at home, you are looking at a trip to the World Series.

4. ALBERT PUJOLS














This might seem redundant since we just discussed the importance of the Cardinal offense, but Pujols is a side of the Cardinal attack all by himself. He has noticeably cooled off since the All-Star Break, but that was to be expected. His presence in the lineup is help enough for the Cardinals. With Pujols batting in the three hole, teams start having to second guess themselves frequently, especially since Holliday and Ludwick are backing him up. Albert must continue to stay healthy and play consistently for the offense to run on all cylinders. If not, the Cards could be in trouble.



5. JOHN SMOLTZ


With Kyle Lohse landing on the DL again, Smoltz’s presence becomes that much more important. After one start, it appears that Carpenter’s verdict that Smoltz had been tipping pitches was correct as Smoltz pitched five shut out innings against the Padres while striking out nine (seven in a row at one point). Smoltz will most likely be making more starts than previously expected, and if Lohse isn’t able to pitch at an appropriate level, Smoltz may be thrown into the postseason rotation. Even if Smoltz does end up in the bullpen, which is pretty likely, he will be able to pitch the 7th or 8th inning which is becoming more and more problematic as Jason Motte struggles and Kyle McClellan begins to tire.

If all these things go correctly, the Cards will waltz into October. If not, well, you can look on the bright side, the Cardinals aren’t the New York Mets.

BONUS BLOG!

If appears that the conspiracy against Chris Duncan is a nationwide thing. Less than a month after being traded, Duncan was released by the Red Sox before he even made a single plate appearance for Boston. In 92 at-bats for the Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston’s Triple A Affiliate), Duncan hit .188 with 2 homers. Meanwhile, Julio Lugo continues to bat over .300 for St. Louis.



MORE BONUS BLOG!
We aren’t all baseball and hockey here at fromoutofrightfield.blogspot.com, we are also avid football fans, especially college football. Posted below is a link to a rant about the Missouri Tigers and the call from other Big XII schools that the Tiger’s should be “humbled” this year. Hope you all enjoy.

A TIGER RANT!

http://www.tigerboard.com/boards/missouri-tigers.php?message=6815284

It's Anyone's Year

Former Cardinal pitcher and fan favorite Joaquin Andujar once said, “This game can be summed up in one word: Youneverknow." Andujar, of course, was referring to the old baseball adage that any team can beat any other team on any day; you just never know if the better team is going to be the one that comes out on top.

This baseball season has taken the idea of “youneverknow” and expanded it to more than a game by game basis and has turned it into this year’s theme. Only one team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is running away with their division and, barring an unheard of collapse, is almost certainly going to finish with the best record in the National League and a trip to the playoffs. The rest of the league, however, is a different story. Every other division, in both the National and American League, has at least three teams within 5.5 games of first place. The NL Central Division alone has five teams fighting for first place. And at this point in the season, that is relatively unheard of. What’s even more unheard of is that over half of the league’s teams are at .500 or better. Eighteen teams to be exact.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE!

On this date last year, only one division had more than two teams within 5.5 games of first place, which was the Central Division. This includes the God awful NL West, where at this time last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks were in a first place tie with the Dodgers with the ever so stellar record of 45-46. To make things even worse, only half of the MLB’s teams were at .500 or better.

If you go back even further, things only become more separated. Only one division, the AL East had more than two teams fighting for first place and one division was almost completely locked up as the Cardinals enjoyed an 11.5 game lead over the Houston Astros in the NL Central and were the only team above .500 in the division. To make things worse, less than have of the MLB was above .500.

So what has led to this “spreading of the wealth” in baseball? For your consideration, I present my three theories on the newfound parity in baseball.

1. ALMOST EVERYONE IS STRUGGLING

No team has been able to runaway with their division because almost no team has been able to stay hot for very long. Only two teams have been able to string together exceptionally large winning streaks: The Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies (both tied with one eleven game winning streak each). The longest after that is a respectable seven game winning streak by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who spoiled the winning streak by having no offense or any pitching after stud pitcher and former Cardinal Dan Haren. There have been two losing streaks of note, one by the Toronto Blue Jays and one by the Chicago Cubs. The Blue Jays were looking like real contenders until they decided to lose nine games in a row, catapulting them to third place behind the Red Sox and the Yankees, but somehow they are still within striking distance of first place. The Cubs lost eight in a row earlier this year, which dropped them below the .500 mark. They have been hovering around .500 ever since, yet they are still only three games out of first. It could be an interesting year for several teams if nobody steps up and starts to take control of their division.

2. THE UNBALANCED SCHEDULE IS TAKING ITS TOLL

When Major League Baseball created the unbalanced schedule for the 2002 season, many fans were outraged as their favorite team was going to start playing the majority of their games against foes within their division, which meant seeing the same teams over and over and over again.

While the lack of variety in match-ups kind of stinks, it is beginning to create some very interesting division races. By making teams beat up on each other, it means that each team has more control over its own destiny and keeps some teams from running away from the rest of the field. In the Central Division, the Brewers have the best interdivision record standing at 23-14. But after that, the Cards have the best record being at just 22-17 followed by the Cubs who are only three games over .500 when playing their division rivals.

Only one team in all of baseball has a record within their division that is far and away better than any other team chasing them: The Dodgers. With an interdivision record of 30-12, they are the only team playing over .500 ball within the NL West. The San Francisco Giants are second best with a record of 15-16. It’s no wonder why the Dodgers are running away with that division. With no team able to really get a groove going against their division rivals, teams will continue to beat up on each other until the team with the least amount of bruises takes the division crown.

3. HOW MANY INJURIES CAN YOU HAVE?


With this being a Midwest sports blog, we focus on the NL Central for this theory. No team in contention has been completely healthy this year. While injuries are to be expected throughout the year, I cannot remember a year in which so many key players were hurt at the same time. For the Cardinals, Troy Glaus is yet to play in a game and there is a chance he has played his last game in a Cardinal uniform. Shortstop Khalil Greene apparently doesn’t know how to handle failure and, in a move to protect him from physically hurting himself, the Cards not only removed all sharp objects from the team clubhouse, but they put Greene on the DL twice to help him solve his anxiety problem. Now, newly acquired Mark DeRosa is on the DL with a wrist injury before recording his first hit as a Cardinal.

The Cubs have had it even worse. With Aramis Ramirez being out a majority of the season, the Cubbie offense has been fairly silent and inconsistent (much to the delight of your’s truly). Now things have gotten even worse as mediocre Cubs super pitcher Ryan Dempster is out with a fractured toe after trying to climb the fence in front of the Cubs dugout and one hit wonder Geovany Soto has now landed on the DL, though this might be for the best as Lou Piniella is no longer forced to continue to play him.



The Brewers have had a key injury as well. Rickie Weeks is out for the season with a wrist injury similar to Mark DeRosa’s, only much more severe, apparently.

The injury bug isn’t only affecting the NL Central. The Mets were expected to make a push for the playoffs this year, or at least a push for September, but they have had several key injuries to flamboyant shortstop Jose Reyes, Cardinal killer Carlos Beltran and future hall of fame first baseman Carlos Delgado. Needless to say, David Wright can’t carry an entire team by himself and a team full of bench players has left the Mets three games under .500.



Some say that parity in sports is a sign of mediocrity. Even if this is the case, who cares? The more teams involved in a pennant chase the better. One of the reasons that Opening Day is so great is because for one day of the baseball season, everyone is in first place and everyone is contending for a playoff spot. What’s wrong if the majority of team’s feel like they have a fighting chance halfway through the season? I say sit back, open up an ice cold Bud Light (the difference is affordability!) and get ready to watch some bare knuckle baseball. Even if your team is barely hanging on to a respectable record, there’s still hope.

After all...

...you never know.