Yardbarker: Yadier Molina

Jose Molina's father passes away at the age of 58

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:34:59 -0500

Jose Molina's father (Bejamín Molina) passed away yesterday afternoon. He was only 58 years old. He was on his way to coach a little league team when he suddenly had a heart attack and passed away. He dedicated his life to the game of baseball, and had 3 terrific sons, who play in the major leagues. That's amazing. "He always said that he wanted to die in a park. He told us thus. And that's how he died. He died like he wanted", said Luis Molina. (Bejamín Molina's brother) Bejamín Molina is survived by his wife, three children and three grandchildren. RIP Bejamín Molina

Game 153 Thread / Cardinals @ Cubs (2 of 3)

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:11:18 -0500

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP	Joel Pineiro	SP	*Ted Lilly
	6-6, 5.24, 71 K, 31 BB, 135.2 IP		15-9, 4.13, 175 K, 61 BB, 191.1 IP

SS	#Cesar Izturis	LF	Alfonso Soriano
CF	Ryan Ludwick	SS	Ryan Theriot
1B	Albert Pujols	1B	Derrek Lee
2B	#Felipe Lopez	3B	Aramis Ramirez
3B	Troy Glaus	CF	*Jim Edmonds
RF	*Adam Kennedy	C	Geovany Soto
LF	Brian Barton	2B	Mark DeRosa
P	Joel Pineiro	RF	*Kosuke Fukudome
C	Jason Larue	P	*Ted Lilly

It be clinching day...we hope. Lou gets nostalgic with the lineup by letting Fukudome start again and Ted Lilly tries to tie Dempster for the team lead in wins. He'll also need to watch his head in case LaRussa tries to retaliate for Lilly's takedown of Yadier Molina last week.

Clinch! Clinch! Clinch!

Game 152 Thread / Cardinals @ Cubs

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:29:58 -0500

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SP	Adam Wainwright	SP	Carlos Zambrano
	9-3, 3.20, 84 K, 26 BB, 121 IP		14-5, 3.41, 127 K, 65 BB, 182.1 IP

CF	*Skip Schumaker	LF	Alfonso Soriano
LF	Ryan Ludwick	SS	Ryan Theriot
1B	Albert Pujols	1B	Derrek Lee
2B	Felipe Lopez	3B	Aramis Ramirez
3B	Troy Glaus	CF	*Jim Edmonds
RF	*Adam Kennedy	RF	Mark DeRosa
SS	*Aaron Miles	2B	*Mike Fontenot
P	Adam Wainwright	C	Henry Blanco
C	Jason Larue	P	#Carlos Zambrano

In his post-game press conference Thursday, a giggly Lou Piniella implied he was planning to go out last night to tie one on in celebration of the spectacular comeback victory. (I believe the exact quote was, "This is going to be a bad night for me.") It's a relief then, looking at today's lineup, to see Lou didn't stumble into the lockerroom still drunk and blindly pencil Koyie Hill into the leadoff spot as his second baseman or give a spot start to Michael Wuertz.

Geovany Soto gets the day off owing to irritation of a joint in his left hand. He is listed as day-to-day.

Our man Zambrano makes his first start since last Sunday's no-no at Milwaukee. I took a look at the last ten National Leaguers to throw complete game no-hitters before Zambrano to see how they fared in their very next outing.

First of all, the ten pitchers constitute a fairly motley crew, with luminaries like Randy Johnson, A.J. Burnett, and Kevin Brown mixed in with much lesser lights like Bud Smith and Jose Jimenez. In other words, the ten are hardly are a perfect list of comparables for Zambrano.

Anyway, in their first, post-no-hitter starts, these pitchers averaged a little over 6 IP, with about 6 hits and 3 ER allowed, for a cumulative ERA of 4.18. Combined they won 5, lost 3, and had a couple of ND's. Also, these 10 NL pitchers, who averaged 112 pitches in their respective no-hit games, averaged about 104 pitches in their first games following.

I'm not sure how instructive any of this is—as I said, it's not a great list of comps for Zambrano. What's more I don't know that any of these pitchers was fresh off a bout with rotator cuff tendinitis, which raises what is probably the most important aspect of this afternoon's game as it relates to the Cubs' World Series-winning prospects: gauging how well Zambrano has bounced back after a 110-pitch start.

One other thing to keep your eye on in this series: whether or not Tony LaRussa, who strikes me as being insane, decides to exact "revenge" on the Cubs and Ted Lilly, Saturday's scheduled starter, for Lilly's clean takedown of Cards catcher Yadier Molina last week in St. Louis. (I put revenge in quotes because I don't personally understand why a completely fair home plate collision would beg for some sort of vengeance, but I believe in TLR's world, it just will.)

The Lillyhammer Drops

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:34:51 -0500

UPDATE: Thanks to reader "The Joe" for finding the video of the collision which is at the bottom of the post.

With the Cubs in desperate need of a dominating pitching performance to take the pressure off the struggling offense, Ted Lilly delivered. 90 pitches, 8 IP, 5 H, 5 K,1 ER and a KO. All good for a 73 game score that could have been a bit higher if Lou didn't curiously go to Kerry Wood in the 9th. Padding save stats is nice and all and I'm sure Kerry's bank account will appreciate it next year, but when your team is in a funk and Lilly retires 11 straight and is only on 90 pitches, I'm not sure it's the best time to just give Kerry some work.

Nonetheless, the Cubs prevailed and our pals at TLFC couldn't be more thrilled with the performance. The other play of note was Lilly knocking over and knocking out Yadier Molina. In the theater of baseball, it was one of those plays that makes you stand up and cheer and hope it riles up the team to reel off 10 straight wins. When you think about the foolishness of your pitcher leading with his throwing arm to bowl over someone who outweighs him by 40 pounds, the shine wears off pretty quick.

But damn, it sure was fun to watch (Pictures after the jump)...

Mr. Molina, you're a great ballplayer and I just like to say, your standing on the tracks and the train's coming through butthead

Game--4 Thread / Cubs @ Cardinals (1 of 3)

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:22:37 -0500

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SP	Ryan Dempster	SP	Kyle Lohse
	15-6, 2.99, 167 K, 72 BB, 183.2 IP		13-6, 3.76, 106 K, 44 BB, 182 IP

LF	Alfonso Soriano	CF	*Skip Schumaker
2B	*Mike Fontenot	3B	Troy Glaus
1B	Derrek Lee	1B	Albert Pujols
3B	Aramis Ramirez	RF	Ryan Ludwick
RF	Mark DeRosa	LF	*Rick Ankiel
CF	*Jim Edmonds	C	Yadier Molina
C	Geovany Soto	2B	#Felipe Lopez
SS	Ronny Cedeno	P	Kyle Lohse
P	Ryan Dempster	SS	Cesar Izturis

The Cubs and the Cardinals meet in the first of three at Busch and the first of six matchups between now and the end of the season. The Cubs lead the season series, 5-4, and have won 10 of their last 15 in St. Louis.

Dempster won his only start this year against the Cardinals, allowing 2 ER over 6 2/3 in a 6-2 Cub victory in early August. Lohse is 0-1, 6.92 in a pair of starts this season vs. the Cubs, but is otherwise having a fine year, producing more ground balls, yielding fewer long balls, and allowing fewer walks than at virtually any other point in his MLB career.

By Baseball Prospectus's reckoning, the Cubs, 4 1/2 games up on Milwaukee, enter play with an 88.8% likelihood of winning the division, 10.3% chance of winning the Wild Card, and a 99.1% overall likelihood of reaching the post-season. The Cardinals, 9 games back of the Cubs and 4 1/2 behind the Wild Card-leading Brewers, come in at .2% / 4.5% / 4.7%. In other words, deprived of greater glory, Cardinal fans may realize no more significant joy in these last few weeks than seeing their heroes get in the way of a Cubs celebration.

Every time the Cubs and Cards meet and I enter the batting orders, I stumble as I remember to enter the St. Louis pitcher in the eighth spot. That led me to look up a few team season stats. First, what kind of production the Cubs and Cardinals are getting from their respective #8 hitters:

	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HR	RBI
Cubs 8th-place hitters	.300	.362	.442	804	12	79
Cards 8th-place hitters	.196	.247	.292	539	8	51

Then from the #9 hole:

	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HR	RBI
Cubs 9th-place hitters	.231	.271	.340	611	10	60
Cards 9th-place hitters	.266	.322	.323	645	2	34

The Cubs' #8 numbers have been helped by the fine season they have received from Reed Johnson. The Cubs #9 numbers reflect an offensively outstanding pitching staff (thank you, Carlos Zambrano!), one that's 105 OPS points better than the next best-hitting group of pitchers, which happens to belong to St. Louis.

And the Cardinals' production from the 9th place? That right there is what you call the handiwork of a former Chicago Cub, one Cesar Izturis.

Rob G: Just a little roster note that Felix Pie and Randy Wells will be joining the team. To make room for Wells on the roster, the Cubs have moved Jon Lieber to the 60-day DL.

MLB Top Weekly Performances - Catchers

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:15:42 -0500

Who were the top three fantasy performers at each position this past week? Beginning with the catchers, the Screaming Sports team hand out gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three statistical players at every position. Navigational links appear at the bottom of each article.

Diamondbacks drop another to Cards

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:16:50 -0500

The Skinny: Troy Glaus and Yadier Molina both hit 2-run home runs, and Felipe Lopez added a solo shot as the St. Louis Cardinals trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 at Chase Field. St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright pitched very well, allowing only 1 run and 3 hits in 5 and a third innings for [...

Wainwright wins as Cards pound D'backs

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:29:03 -0500

Never count out the Cards, not even when the St. Louis media does.

Singular Sensation

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:19:55 -0500

The Cardinals and the Braves met up at a singles dance last night and the boys in red were a big hit. Adam Wainwright's first night back on the hill led to not only a dominant pitching performance, but an offensive explosion unmatched by a Cardinal team since 1930. The Redbird lineup feasted [...]

GameDay #127 at Cardinals

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:26:30 -0500

Pirates (57-69) at Cardinals (70-58)
8:15--Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Jason Davis (1-2, 1.80) vs. Todd Wellemeyer (10-4, 3.79)
[Preview]
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Doesn't it seem like this is the millionth time we've faced Wellemeyer this year? OK, it's 4, and he's 2-0. Meanwhile, Jason Davis has been a ton better than Yoslan Herrera, but it's not resulting in wins. The Bucs haven't won a game he started despite that very tidy ERA.
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The Cards won't be looking to help the Pirates along tonight, either. Yadier Molina pretty much gave the Pirates three runs in the ninth last night via a series of bonehead plays. Look for him and the team to come out firing today.
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The Cardinals are 12 games over .500--and they're STILL 8.5 games out of first place. What a turnaround this division has made since last year.
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[Box]

Redbird Randoms...Lohse, Wainwright, Carpenter, Parisi, Mulder, Barton

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:56:39 -0500

Tidbits regarding the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pineiro notches victory, Molina, Mather homer in Cards win

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:28:28 -0500

Cards take series opener from the Marlins.

4thebirds...LIVE Phillies vs. Cardinals 8/2/08

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:36:02 -0500

Live blog. Post your comments or forever hold your ... well, peace.

Pujols goes deep again, Cards pounce on Braves

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:06:47 -0500

You could say the Cards almost didn't win, not taking advantage of an overly injured Braves club until the ninth inning.

Looper deals, Mather launches, Molina runs and runs and runs

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:46:54 -0500

The St. Louis Cardinals took full advantage of a beat-up Braves team.