Yadier Molina will be back in the Cardinals dugout this weekend. As with before, he’ll be a guest of Oli Marmol and the coaching staff for all three games against the Giants.
I cover the St. Louis Cardinals for the Belleville News-Democrat. Everything else is a take specially designed for you.
2,245 followers 218 following 3,498 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Yadier Molina will be back in the Cardinals dugout this weekend. As with before, he’ll be a guest of Oli Marmol and the coaching staff for all three games against the Giants.
The A's did not play very good outfield defense, Nolan Gorman did play very good third base defense, and Matthew Liberatore piled up some strikeouts en route to a series victory. The Cardinals climb within a game of .500 with the Giants here this weekend.
Soderstrom slides and whiffs on a sinking liner off Contreras' bat. Goes as a two-run triple and a 5-1 Cardinals lead in the eighth.
Nick Kurtz skies one oppo with Romero seemingly ready in the bullpen. Weird! 3-1
Gorman poke to the bullpen for some cushion. Now 3-0 in the seventh.
Tonight's attendance of 17,516 gets the Cardinals across two million, they say, for the 40th consecutive season, 2020 and 2021 exempted. The Dodgers apparently have a 49-year streak, the only one longer.
Starting to rain pretty steady at Busch but they haven't taken the cover off the tarp, so perhaps they plan for it to pass quickly.
At the moment, no error has been awarded on that play, so I suppose Iván Herrera scored from first on a single.
A whole lot of bad baseball just happened right there in the Cardinals' favor, and they lead 2-0.
Asked for a John King update and got a good one — he and his wife, Jillian, welcomed a baby boy yesterday. All is well on that front, and he’ll be away a few days doing dad stuff before getting back to rehab.
Cardinals say Liam Doyle will make his organizational debut for Palm Beach on Saturday.
You know, I spent some time going over The List a few days ago, and honestly, it’s primarily two guys, five years ago, one of whom was cut by the team he eventually broke out for, and the other of whom has never so much as appeared on an MVP ballot.
Winn to the top against a lefty: Winn 6 Herrera DH Nootbaar 7 Contreras 3 Saggese 4 Gorman 5 Pagés 2 Walker 9 Scott II 8 Liberatore 1
That’s sure what it looks like.
Whether or not Jordan Walker is preparing in a sufficient manner to allow him to succeed is something to be sorted out between him and the team. What stands out most is that they chose to air a challenge publicly, a substantial diversion from past practice: www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/s...
Miles Mikolas pitched around some early hard contact, Iván Herrera hit a homer, and the game was half as long as the pregame. Smallest crowd of the year saw the season's fastest home game; second one overall that clocked in under two hours. Rubber match tomorrow.
All but three of last year's Blues home games -- 38 of the 41 -- had a larger paid attendance than tonight's season-low 17,002.
Iván Herrera liftoff. Two-run homer to the gap in left-center gives the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the sixth.
Nathan Church let a ball roll past him in the corner in right in the top half of the inning and just got picked off first as the trail runner with one out in the bottom half of the inning. It's not what you want.
Doubles from Bleday and Kurtz have the A's up 1-0 in the third.
Severino first inning: six pitches Severino second inning: struck out the side in order Perhaps the third!
I'd be surprised if he didn't.
I feel partially responsible.
I watched all of these guys pitch for the 2020 Cardinals but I'll be damned if I knew so many of them pitched in Atlanta.
Alec Burleson got a wrist injection Friday to calm down pain and inflammation and he said today that he feels much better over the last 24 hours. Was able to hit off a tee today with his regular bat. He’s hoping it’ll be a minimum IL stay or close to it; unsure as of yet whether he’ll go on a rehab.
I won’t profess to know enough about the workings of other organizations to answer that definitively, and Molina is certainly a variable, but consider that probably the most dominant team of the last ten years put Martín Maldonado behind the plate as often as they could.
No idea. The holiday was part of it. Usually with these things there’s a reason for it to drag out that makes it fit everyone’s schedule better — like, say, the Cardinals having their other 1B on the IL.
The Cardinals were planning to recall Jimmy Crooks for September even before Yohel Pozo was injured. They’ll have him and Pagés on a rotation through the season’s final weeks, and that might be the clearest 2026 preview the team has offered to date: www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/s...
On a Tuesday: Nootbaar 7 Herrera DH Contreras 3 Gorman 5 Winn 6 Crooks 2 Fermín 4 Scott II 8 Church 9 Mikolas 1
He did this, he did plyos, and he was a great deal more optimistic postgame than he was pregame. No IL move coming for now, Cardinals going to give it a few days to see if he can work through it.
The Cardinals were bad in essentially every phase today. Didn't have any base running boo boos, but they also didn't have many base runners. That was their last holiday game at home until at least 2027, so hopefully you had fun! Back at it tomorrow night.
RBI single for Fermín puts lipstick on the pig, now 11-3.
11-2
E4, double, ground out, single, 9-2 A's
Soderstrom back through the box and it's 7-2. Go grill something.
...and here he comes without Sonny throwing another pitch.
Rooker plugs the gap with an RBI double to juice the A's lead to 6-2 in the seventh. Cardinals bullpen has had no motion yet today, as Gray goes through 80, Fernandez warms.
Two-out RBI single for Winn cuts the deficit to 5-2 in the sixth.
...timely, because Bleday just mashed another rocket. 5-1
Double and a single to lead off the sixth puts the A's back up 4-1, but Thomas overslid to clear the bases.
Iván Herrera's bolt to Big Mac Land gets one back, now 3-1.
...and Gelof back-to-back, setting a new career high in HR allowed for Gray. 3-0
Bleday out to right with two out in the fourth, A's out to a 2-0 lead.
Sonny Gray strands the bases loaded in the first inning, and labor has fully commenced at Busch.
He is currently playing catch on the field with a trainer, which is a thing he said this morning he did not expect to do today, so there's that. He has an appointment to meet with the doctor in the middle of the game today.
Riley O’Brien had an MRI on his right shoulder this morning and there should be results imminently. Did not sound like there was much optimism he’ll avoid the IL; Cardinals will be down a pitcher today (though even with Roycroft here).
I would expect Crooks to be up for the duration — Marmol said they were planning to have him here even without injuries — so we’ll see how the rotation goes.
Cardinals are roughly planning to alternate catching starts for Pagés and Crooks this week. Crooks will catch Mikolas tomorrow, Pagés presumably has Liberatore on Wednesday. That would line up Crooks and McGreevy on Friday, but Pozo is also expecting to come off the IL that day, so we’ll see.
Labor Day lineup: Nootbaar 7 Herrera DH Contreras 3 Gorman 5 Winn 6 Saggese 4 Pagés 2 Walker 9 Church 8 Gray 1
Cardinals activated Victor Scott II and recalled Chris Roycroft to fill out their roster to 28.
As long as I live, I will never get over big leaguers not knowing the infield fly rule.
Oklahoma City
Neither Crooks nor Prieto in tonight’s lineup.
Pozo took a hard foul tip off the mask yesterday that knocked him back to his butt from his crouch. Was checked on the field for a long time and allowed to remain in the game.
Moves official: Crooks and Prieto selected, Burleson (right wrist inflammation) on the 10-day IL, Pozo on the 7-day concussion IL. 40-player roster is now full.
Folks: Jiminy Criminy
Francys Romero reported late last night that the Cardinals will be promoting César Prieto before the series opener in Cincy. Corresponding move TBA but they do have two vacant 40-man slots.
Cardinals minor league hitting coordinator Russ Steinhorn announced on Twitter yesterday evening that he’s been fired. Has been a prominent roving instructor since 2020 and logged some big league staff time. Would expect many, many more player development staff changes as administrations turn over.
After a couple days of snoozy offense, Thomas Saggese and Jordan Walker power the Cardinals to a late breakout and a series split. Bullpen was very good behind Miles Mikolas, who kept himself out of trouble. They're on to Cincinnati.
Whoops. The previous hit snapped it.
...followed by a Walker HR to bust it open. 4-1
Saggese doubles off the wall to bring Winn around from first and the Cardinals have a 2-1 lead in the eighth. All that after he couldn't get a bunt down. Huh.
That infield single for Nootbaar snaps an 0-for-20.
Diving stab and flip by Contreras gets Mikolas through five on 92 pitches. Flirted with disaster but avoided it other than the Pham nuke, will likely exit being unable to lose.
RBI double ripped into the corner by Herrera ties the game, but he TOOTBLANs.
Remaining in the game. He got that one square and toppled right back into a sitting position.
Yohel Pozo took a foul ball square off the mask and he is in some distress, being tended to.
Tommy Pham hit a lunar-orbiting tank. Pirates out to a 1-0 lead.
Brendan Donovan just received his Heart and Hustle award on the field to the enthusiastic applause of at least one person sitting right in front of me.
There’s a scene in Moneyball in which Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane tells his assembled staff, “adapt or die.” The pitches coming out of Andre Pallante’s hand in 2025 are just about identical to 2024. The difference? How hitters are reacting. Adapt, or… www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/s...
Day game: Nootbaar 8 Herrera DH Burleson 7 Contreras 3 Gorman 5 Winn 6 Saggese 4 Walker 9 Pozo 2 Mikolas 1
The Cardinals turned in an outstanding pitching performance from Sonny Gray and Matt Svanson, and an equally poor hitting performance, especially from the middle of the order. They saw fewer than ten pitches in four of the nine innings. Day game tomorrow to split.
Two-run single by Pham, Pirates lead 2-1 in the sixth.
Pirates have loaded the bases with no one out in the sixth. Kiner-Falefa doubled, Triolo walked, and Horwitz hit a tapper to first that turns into a circus when Gray whiffs the toss looking the wrong direction.
It was low enough to see clearly with the naked eye, and the radar data was not reassuring!
RBI single for Pagés after Saggese forces the cut and gets himself tagged out at third for his trouble. Cardinals take a 1-0 lead to the third.
The doomsday plane just flew almost directly over Busch at a 2,000 foot altitude. That seems like a good omen, right? Looked cool, though!
Brendan Donovan isn’t quite to that point yet, so probably a couple days at minimum behind him.
Marmol says Victor Scott II should join Springfield tomorrow for pregame work and could be in the lineup as soon as Friday. Unclear as of yet whether he’ll be ready on September 1.
Yes, and when they rebuild it, rotate the building 15 degrees counter clockwise.
It would never happen, but the Nats really should just forfeit this game. It is the clearly correct decision.
Wednesday lineup: Nootbaar 9 Herrera DH Burleson 7 Contreras 3 Gorman 5 Winn 6 Saggese 4 Pagés 2 Church 8 Gray 1
Cardinals put John King on the IL with a mid back strain, retroactive to yesterday. Andre Granillo recalled.
With a month to go in the season of evaluation, the Cardinals say they still have plenty to learn. To some extent, that includes learning about what the incoming evaluators think, and how that shapes both roster and staff moving forward: www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/s...
"It's more than just...there's more moving parts to it, for sure...We'll sit down tomorrow and review everything and make a decision on next steps."
Cardinals are clearly at the point of considering a change in Andre Pallante's rotation slot. Marmol: "We have to take a look and figure out what's best for him, but also take into consideration all the other variables of what we have below and what that would look like..."
The Pirates scored more runs and recorded more hits before making an out than the Cardinals did in 27. Tough way to make a living. Tough too to have to keep climbing back into bad Pallante starts; we'll see if there's any change in those. Game three of four tomorrow night.
RBI ground out for Contreras, 8-3 Pittsburgh in the sixth.
Cardinals used Paper Rings behind the kiss cam tonight. I guess you gotta.
Nine strikeouts through five for Keller marks a season high. He's put up at least six on seven occasions this season; four are against the Cardinals.
Pallante through five on 91 pitches. Three ugly ones, two good ones.
Nolan Gorman way way way back and gone, 8-2 in the fourth.
Henry Davis jack, 8-0
RBI ground out, 7-0
