10 Thoughts on this Redbird Rundown from Game #1.
- What a start for Carlos Martinez. Carlos went 7 and ⅓ scattering 6 hits while striking out 10. After giving up singles to 2 of the first 3 batters, he got a huge double play off the bat of Ben Zobrist to escape the first unscathed on his way to a great season debut. Given a 5 year 51 million dollar extension to be the ace of the pitching staff over the offseason, he was nothing short of an ace Sunday night.
- Randal Grichuk hit a huge 2 strike 2 run homerun to extend the Cards lead to 3-0. He then hit a walkoff single off the base of the wall in the ninth to win it for the Cardinals. Grichuk, a guy who is known for his big power/big strikeout numbers did a great job of going opposite field on the Cardinals first homerun of the year. Grichuk also coaxed a walk after falling behind 0-2 earlier in the game. Look for Grichuk to bat higher in the order than 8th (possibly even 4th) on Tuesday night. As my friend Jeff and most of Chicago probably feels after the game – You’re a mean one, Mr. Grich.
- Yadier Molina after signing the big 3 year 60 million dollar deal earlier in the day went 2-3 with a pair of walks. Molina was his customary self behind the plate leading the Cardinals pitchers around trouble while providing exemplary leadership for the pitching staff. ** SIDENOTE **Molina also was the recipient of the first intentional walk without a pitch being thrown in MLB history.
- Jose Martinez coming off of the bench to bang a double off the wall in right center, and eventually scoring the winning run. All he did was hit this spring, and he carried it over into the regular season by starting the rally in the ninth.
- What in the world was Mike Matheny thinking with his bullpen usage? #1 He shouldn’t of sent Martinez out to start the eighth after having thrown around 100 pitches through 7. I know the World Champs are in town but this isn’t Game 7/7 this is 1/162. I was actually okay with Martinez batting with the bases loaded in the 6th as he was rolling (he hit into an inning ending double play). #2 Why bring in your closer Oh in the eighth inning? Using Oh in the eighth tells the rest of the bullpen guys that he doesn’t trust them. Earlier in the spring I wrote about Matheny burning guys in the bullpen (see Matheny’s Bullpen Usage March 20th), and he took all of 1 game to start to do that with Oh.
- Matt Carpenter has to know the situation in the ninth inning as the Cardinals new 1B. You’re up by 3 with a runner on first and one out. You don’t need to try and turn a double play on a slow hit to first. It’s going to be hard with Heyward running to turn two anyways. Get the out at first and set yourself up with a man on 2nd and two outs. He failed to make the play that was needed and then Contreras hits a game tying 3 run bomb.
- Matheny, Carpenter, and Oh (to a lesser degree) should buy Jose Martinez and Randal Grichuk a steak dinner after they rescued them in the 9th.
- While a lot of people are down on Kolten Wong, he did walk to setup Grichuk’s at bat in the bottom of the ninth. Wong, who went 0-2 as a pinch hitter/defensive replacement midway through the game, is a guy who is going to have to crawl out of Matheny’s doghouse (once again). However, his walk can’t hurt his chances as much as his mouth can.
- According to Baseball Reference, Randal Grichuk is the first Cardinals player to have a 3 RBI Opening Day game since some guy named Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina did it back in 2010.
- The Cardinals left 14 guys on base in a nine inning game. The league average last year for guys left on base was under 7. The Cardinals won’t be able to leave that many guys on base night after night and expect to win.
The great thing about winning on Opening Day is that you have plenty of time to soak in the win and be undefeated. I’m thankful they won, as Monday would have gotten much worse if they had blown that game. Sitting around after a Opening Day loss, and then having to wait almost 48 hours for a crack at their first W wouldn’t have been fun. The sky isn’t falling in Chicago either – just in case your friends or social media say otherwise.
Game 2 will pair Jake Arrieta vs Adam Wainwright at 7:15 Tuesday night. It will be interesting to see what version of Wainwright shows up Tuesday night. He pitched to an ERA of over 7 last April, and had the shakiest spring of all 5 starters.
Cardinals #s vs Arrieta
Matt Adams is batting .318 with a pair of doubles in 22 at bats
Matt Carpenter is 0 for 24 with 6 walks – Carpenter was teammates with Arrieta at TCU
Aledmys Diaz is 3 for 6
Randal Grichuk is batting .333 with a bomb and 6 K’s in 12 AB
Stephen Piscotty is 2 for 11 .182 with a homerun
Jhonny Peralta has the most Cardinal hits with 9 of Jake while batting .281
Cub #s vs Wainwright
Wilson Contreras is 2 for 4 with a bomb
Jason Heyward 4 for 22 .222 with a bomb
Miguel Montero is batting .304 (7 for 23) – I doubt he starts (would put either Contreras or Schwarber on the bench) but who knows what Maddon is thinking
Anthony Rizzo is hitting Waino at a .306 clip with a bomb and 5 RBI
Addison Russell is wearing Wainwright out going 4 for 7 (.571) with a pair of doubles
Javy Baez is just 1 for 7
