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5/16/2005

DUSTY IS JAURON & THE CARDS GET PROPS

Dusty is taking the whole player loyalty issue a bit too far. He's moving into Dick Jauron territory. Here's his take on Neifi Perez's errors yesterday.

"The errors we made cost us two runs, and that was the difference in the game," manager Dusty Baker said. Baker also said the infield was "a little chopped up," adding, "Neifi doesn't miss balls." Wow--blaming the field. That's pretty lame. No that's very lame. And not productive. I don't see where making an excuse for a player helps him to become better. Perez was at least real about it. "No excuses," Perez said. "If I'm playing, I have to make those plays." Yes you do. BTW, Neifi's average has dropped more than 50 points in less than 2 weeks. Here's hoping we see more of Ronny Cedeno and Hairston until Walker makes it back. But don't count on it. You must really like a guy if you're going to say things like 'the field was chopped up' to cover for him--especially when he's not saying it.

Meanwhile the hole gets a bit deeper day by day. Cubs now sit 7.5 back of the Cards, who don't seem to miss Rolen too much yet. They have won 2 in a row and they are now 24-13. Grudz is hitting .333. Reggie Sanders has 10 homers. John Mabry started for Pujols yesterday and hit a 3-run homer. Isringhausen is back and got the save yesterday. Matt Morris looks like the real Matt Morris. Carpenter is off to another great start. Even Yadier Molina's bat has been hot. Eckstein is getting on base and hitting over .300. Mulder has returned to form. It seems to be all lining up. Especially when you consider that they really don't have any pressure on them yet from their divisional foes. They might not all year. Seems like last year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First on the Cards: They are not the team they were last year when they won 100+ games. They will feel the effects of not having Rolen, I'm not sold on the health of Mulder, Morris or Carpenter, and thier bullpen is not as good as it was last year. That being said, they will win the division by 15 games...at least.

On Baker: I'm growing tired of his act. He needs to try to find more ways of winning games and less ways of finding excuses. You think Niefi's numbers are down? Lee has 3 hr's, 5 rbi and a .234 avg since May 1. He was the only reason the Cubs were able to keep thier heads above water the first month of the season. The crap surely will (or should) hit the fan if several players don't begin to step up. Who is the leader of this team?

The Zoner said...

About the Cards, I said all the things you said to a Cards fan I know. But now look--they are already 11 over. They are 1st in the NL in runs scored and 3rd in ERA. They just keep on keeping on...