BERNIE BITS
The Cardinals. Oh, man. The 32-33 Cardinals. It’s bad. After being swept by the Cubs over the weekend at Wrigley Field, the Cardinals were dumped into fourth place in the NL Central. They’ve won two games in June. After being swallowed by Wrigley Field, They are suddenly six games behind division co-leaders Chicago and Milwaukee.
This all went down very quickly.
It’s increasingly difficult to remember that this team was in first place for 31 days, and led the NL Central by 3.5 games on May 19. It’s increasingly hard to believe that the Cardinals were eight games over .500 as recently as May 29. Where are those 30-22 Cardinals? Where did they go? The Cardinals trail the Cincinnati Reds now?
Hey! Do not worry. Be happy. Manager Mike Shildt insists everything will be fine. And he’s right — well, at least under certain conditions: The front office acquires an above-average starting pitcher, a shutdown reliever, and a “plus” bat for the bench. Do all of that, and all is swell again.
READING TIME 5 MINUTES
1) In modern times, has Mizzou ever had a football coach that’s more relentless at recruiting than Eli Drinkwitz? Does this man sleep? Are meals served on his iPad tablet? Here’s the latest from the esteemed Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and STLtoday. Keep flipping, coach.
2) Someone catch me up. How did the Stanley Cup parade go for the Colorado Avalanche? Was Denver rocking, or what? After the Avs swept the weary, diminished Blues in the first round, I just assumed the Stanley Cup had already been won by the Avs. Greatest team on skates, and all of that. What’s this? THEY LOST to Vegas in the second round? Headline from the Denver Post: “Pretty Avs prove they’re built to win Ice Capades, not the Stanley Cup.” Columnist Mark Kiszla demanded answers from GM Joe Sakic, writing: “How much longer are you going to just stand there as your oh-so-pretty Avs repeatedly fail in their quest for the Stanley Cup because they’re not gritty enough?”
3) The proposed expansion of the college football playoffs to 12 teams works for me. Love the idea of more teams receiving a chance to compete for a national championship. And even if chances for upsets over The Big Boys (‘Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, etc.) are minimal, that isn’t the point. It’s all about getting the chance to pull off the upset. That’s why the NCAA basketball tournament is so charming and special.
I don’t think the expanded format is especially healthy for unpaid collegiate football players that may have to play 16 games in a season if their team makes a postseason run. But when did the NCAA ever care about what’s best for the prolific student-athlete earners that historically put cash in every pocket except their own?
4) No. 1 Cardinals prospect Nolan Gorman, age 21, had an amazing weekend for the Double A Springfield Cardinals. After cudgeling two home runs on Friday, he followed with three homers in Saturday’s game.
In his last six games (26 at-bats) Gorman is batting .346 with seven homers and 12 RBI. In 147 plate appearances for Springfield this season Gorman has four doubles, 10 homers, 23 RBI, a .588 slugging percentage and .989 OPS. In his first 12 games in June, Gorman is hitting .385 with a 1.246 OPS.
“I’m up there hunting a pitch in my zone, being on time and putting a good swing on it,” Gorman told MLB.com. “When you’re having success, you’re pretty confident. Every day you’ve got to step in the box and have confidence.”
Gorman has struck out in only 21.6% of his plate appearances this year. And he’s walking nearly 11% of the time. His plate discipline has improved dramatically.
The LH-swinging slugger has played 176 innings at third base and 79.2 innings at second base this season. No need to have anxiety over the “Where Will He Play In St. Louis?” question.
First of all, unless Gorman can pitch and give the Cardinals 6+ innings every fifth day, he won’t be called up to St. Louis anytime soon.
Second point: The Cardinals will give Gorman a bunch of at-bats at Triple A Memphis before talking about his role in St. Louis. And please don’t compare him to Albert Pujols, who zoomed into the majors in quick time. It isn’t fair to the kid to do that. Gorman will cool down. And when he does, his education will be enhanced by making adjustments to get through slumps. That’s good for him, long term.
Finally: as long as Gorman hits, the Cardinals will have a spot for him when his time comes. IThis is true whether the time comes much later this season, or in 2022. Don’t forget that the designated hitter is all but certain to be adopted by the National League in 2022. I wish it had been adopted for 2021 so the Cardinals could still have Jack Flaherty and Kwang Hyun Kim in the rotation — you know, instead of losing them to injuries that occurred on a swing in the batter’s box (Flaherty) and while running the bases (Kim.)
4a) Oh, and one more quickie comment on Nolan Gorman: do not trade this young man. It would be nothing short of craziness to trade Gorman for a rental pitcher or some other short-term addition.
5) Remember when manager Tony La Russa, 76, supposedly destroyed the harmony of the Chicago White Sox clubhouse and put the team’s entire season at risk by publicly expressing disdain over rookie Yermin Mercedes swinging at a 3-0 pitch and homering in a blow-out win? One such piece all but called La Russa a bigot. It was, and is, ridiculous. Retire, Tony. Out of touch. Out of date. Can’t relate to young players. Go back to your old school. This generation doesn’t understand you, won’t play for you. So just go away …
Well, now.
So much for the manic media narratives that largely were based on one thing: it’s way too easy for the posers in the woke sports media to please each other and earn life-affirming Twitter approval by targeting an old white guy.
TLR’s White Sox have won 15 of their last 20. They have the second-best record (41-24) in the majors. And they’re doing this without the services of three key injured players: outfielders Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez and second baseman Nick Madrigal.
La Russa will make seemingly odd strategy decisions at times, but let’s repeat a crucial point by remembering that he screwed up some decisions in St. Louis, and in Oakland before that. Because all managers do that. They have done that forever. Even the young managers!
The White Sox players enjoy playing for La Russa. And that’s what so many failed to understand: it’s OK when players disagree with their manager. La Russa has always embraced open dialogue and back-and-forth exchanges with his players. Just because he was outspoken — one time — in his criticism of a player, it doesn’t mean his style of managing should go back to the Ty Cobb Era, where it belongs.
When several White Sox players expressed support for Mercedes, it wasn’t an attack on La Russa. Just because you back a teammate with positive messages in a silly controversy, it doesn’t mean you hate the manager. Families have frequent disagreements. Even baseball families.
Even baseball families headed by Don Tony.
La Russa has things to prove, including his stamina and endurance over 162+ games. Another challenge will be a CWS schedule that turns more difficult going forward, with the next seven games played against Tampa Bay and Houston.
But La Russa is in step with his team. As as I wrote at the time, the kerfuffle over Mercedes was a moment that La Russa would use to strengthen a bond. His first unpleasant episode with a player had value; it opened a higher level of communication between the manager and his team. Air it out. And then move on, together. That’s a good thing. Not a crisis.
Shortstop Tim Anderson is the undisputed team leader in Chicago. He has a strong presence and doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind. Anderson wasn’t sure about La Russa when the CWS hired him. But now that he’s played for La Russa he has nothing but praise for La Russa.
“Tony is good. He’s awesome, man,” Anderson told the Chicago Sun-Times over the weekend. “I can go in and talk to him about whatever. He has a game plan. He knows his stuff. You want to learn from him, a Hall of Fame manager like him. Why wouldn’t you talk about things he’s experienced and things he went through?
“It’s definitely been great. We’ve been getting along fine, we’re one big happy family. We’re trying to keep the clubhouse great, keeping all the noise out, because we know what the ultimate goal is. We’re all pushing for the same thing.”
But … but … TLR is old!
Yes, he is. But as we say in sports: winning never gets old.
Thanks for reading …
Next, I’ll be getting to work on Monday’s Redbird Review.
–Bernie
Check out Bernie’s sports-talk show on 590-AM The Fan, KFNS. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen live online and download the Bernie Show podcast at 590thefan.com … the 590 app works great and is available in your preferred app store.
The weekly “Seeing Red” podcast with Bernie and Will Leitch is also available at 590thefan.com.
Follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
For the last 36 years Bernie Miklasz has entertained, enlightened, and connected with generations of St. Louis sports fans.
While best known for his voice as the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch for 26 years, Bernie has also written for The Athletic, Dallas Morning News and Baltimore News American. A 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie has hosted radio shows in St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington D.C.
Bernie, his wife Kirsten and their cats reside in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood of St. Louis.
