By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(CARDINALS)—There’s no shortage of questions in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse these days. One of the big ones is who will finish the year in a different uniform and the second one is a follow-up: will possible changes be made soon enough to salvage the season and eke into the playoffs.
The Cardinals finished the calendar week 4-6 after taking the last two from the Mets and claiming a series for the first time in almost a month. Nolan Arenado refused to let the Cardinals give away the last game of the series in New York with homers at the start of the game and the winning home run in the ninth inning Sunday.
Some good news appeared to be coming with the start of a new week. Lars Nootbar is back with the team after a one-fame rehab in which he went four for five with a pair of homers and four RBI. He’s been out since May 29 with a back injury, running his total games missed this year to thirty.
His return, along with that of center fielder Dylan Carlson, re-complicates the team’s outfield situation, particularly with Jordan Walker’s impressive return from the minors.
The Cardinals began the new week with a game against the Washington Nationals at 29-43 and picked up their 30th win Monday night, their third straight win. Jack Flaherty pitched an out into the 7th inning, gave up all six of the Nationals runs and was down 5-0 at one time. But Brendan Donovan and Paul Goldschmidt hit home runs back-to-back in the fifth inning to give the Cardinals a lead in a game they eventually won 8-6.
(NO THANKS)—Cardinals fans seem to be taking David Freese’s rejection of his election to the team’s Hall of Fame well and the team says he’s always welcome at the stadium anyway. Freese, who always will be a hero to Cardinals fans for his solid career in St. Louis and his heroics in the 2011 World Series says he has thought long and hard about the selection before deciding his off-the-field character more than offset his on-field accomplishments and therefore leaves him unworthy of the honor.
(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals ended a 10-game losing streak during the weekend and now stand only one win away from 20 victories for the season.
The victory Saturday had its historic moment when the Royals stunned the Angels by coming from six runs back to win the game on a walk-off hit by rookie Samad Taylor. Taylor became only the second player in team history to have a walk-off hit in his first major league game. Kevin Seitzer was the first, in 1986.
The 10-9 win on Saturday ended a 178-game streak in which the Royals lost when they were trailing by at least six runs in the 7th inning or later.
It was business as usual on Sunday, however, when the Angels got back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches from Shoehei Ohtani and Mike Trout in the fifth inning leading to a 5-2 Angels win.
“Third time through the order got me,” said Royals starter Zack Greinke, who stated the obvious after the game: “I’ve got to figure out how to go deeper and get guys out the last time through.”
The Royals and the A’s tie as the worst teams in Major League Baseball with 19 wins. The Philadelphia-Kansas City-Oakland-soon-to-be Las Vegas Athletics are THE worst, though, because they’ve lost three more games than the Royals.
The Royals had a 4-1 lead on the Tigers going into the 7th, but the Tigers ripped them for five runs and won the game 6-3, dropping the Royals to 19-52.
Now, to get away from stick-and-ball stuff:
(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou is threatening to run away with the INDYCAR championship this year.
His victory at Road America during the weekend is second in a row and his third in the last four races. His only non-win in that string was the Indianapolis 500 where he started from the poll but finished fourth. His average finish in the last seven races is 2.85 and his 74-point lead is the biggest margin for a points leader in the series since Scott Dixon was 74 up on Josef Newgarden after ten races in 2020.
The Road America race marked the halfway point in the INDYCAR season. Eight more races are left.
Palou won his first championship two years ago, in the final race. But his run this year threatens to end a 17-year streak in which the INDYCAR championship has been decided in the final race of the season.
Palou isn’t interested in racing to protect his points lead. “We’re going to focus on scoring wins because that’s the way we can score more points. That’s the best way.” But the last eight races of the year are races in which he has done well in the past including Mid-Ohio, INDYCAR’s next venue. He’s finished on the podium there in the last two races.
Palou seized the lead late in the race at Road America (which is in Wisconsin) as Colton Herta had to ration his fuel to make it to the end of what was a furious race that featured 444 on-track passes, 386 of them for position. INDYCAR says 110 of the passes were among drivers in the top ten and 32 happened within the top five.
(FORMULA 1)—The Formula 1 race in Montreal was, by contrast to the INDYCAR event, a snoozer. Max Verstappen led every lap to give Red Bull its 100th F1 victory. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton contended themselves with getting on the podium.
How about the only American team running in Formula 1?
Haas Racing has never threatened to be a top-tier team and this year is no different. Haas drivers have only eight points this year and the team ranks eighth out of ten teams competing. Driver Niko Hulkenberg has six of those points, good for 13th in the driver standings (Verstappen has 195 and a 69-point lead on his closest competitor). Kevin Magnusson has the other two points and sits 18th out of 20 drivers.
(Photo Credits: Rick Gevers, Bob Priddy)
Welcome back Bob. I missed your blogs and actually we at the Y were worried since you hadn’t showed up in a couple of weeks.
If a candle had three ends instead of two, Jerry, I would have been burning all three ends. This is the first day I haven’t had a commitment, or been in Colorado or New Mexico since the legislature quit. I was at the yesterday between doctors appointments and saw Joe. I plan to be in Wednesday and we can solve the Cardinals problems.
b