by Bob Priddy
Missourinet Contributing Editor
(Cardinals)—Why did the Cardinals walk to their next series in Phoenix? Because the wheels fell off in Chicago.
The Redbirds swept into Chicago with a five-game post-All Star Game winning streak, made it six, and then a series of questionable calls in the second game of the series sent them to Arizona on a three-game losing streak and asking a 41-year old ‘bird with a questionable wing to rescue them.
If Jordan Montgomery us trade bait, as (increasingly-tiresome) speculators, uh, speculate, he didn’t show much to excite potential partners as the Cardinals wrapped up a week-gone-to-pot in Chicago. The Cubs pounced on Montgomery, who had gone 4-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his previous seven starts, for seven runs (five earned) on six hits in six innings. The Baby Bears wound up winning 7-2.
He dug his own hole in the first inning when he muffed a two-out comebacker by Ian Happ for an error and then gave up Cody Bellinger’s home—and then gave up five more runs in the third.
The Cardinals flew to Phoenix (we were only joking about walking) afterwards to start a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. Adam Wainwright says he’s ready after some time off and a series of shots in his pitching shoulder.
They’re in a virtual tie for last place (with the Pirates) in the National League.
And the Cardinals go into the week with a lot of speculators expecting to have some new faces in the dugout by this time next week.
(ROLEN)—There was a reason for Cardinals fans to do some celebrating during the weekend—when third-baseman Scott Rolen was enshrined at Cooperstown. Baseball writers voted him in during his sixth year eligibility. In his first year, he got just over ten percent of the vote and he becomes the Hall of Famer who got the least support for membership in his first year of eligibility.
You can watch his speech at (1) Scott Rolen delivers emotional Baseball Hall of Fame Induction speech – YouTube
He started his career with a 1996 doubleheader against the Cardinals. He played for the Phillies 1996-2002, the Cardinals 2002-2007, Toronto 2008-2009, and Cincinnati 2009-2012. His Hall of Fame Plaque shows him in a Cardinals cap
Rolen also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cincinnati Reds in a 17-year career from 1996-2012. Rolen went in as a Cardinal.
Only Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson (16), Mike Schmidt (10), plus current Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (10) have more gold gloves at third base than Rolen. He was a key player in the 2006 World Series Cardinals victory. When he retired, only three other third basement (Mike Schmidt, George Brett, and Chipper Jones) had 2,000 hits, 500 doubles, 300 home runs, and 1,200 RBIs.
(ROYALS)—The Royals have had another ten-game streak going 2-8. They have lost one fewer game than the Athletics, so they don’t have the worst record in baseball.
Jordan Lyles has lost as many games this year as he won last year. He’s 1-12 after pitching the last game of a four-game Yankee sweep on Sunday.
The Yankees won 8-5, scoring four times in the first inning in wining their first series in July and getting their first sweep since taking three straight at Cincinnati in mid-May. The Royals had four home runs in the game—by Salvador Perez, Michael Massey, Freddy Fermin, and Kyle Isbel but couldn’t get enough runners on base ahead of the blasts to take the game.
The Royals have three games in Cleveland to start the week before returning home Friday for a series against the Twins.
(CHIEFS)—The Kanss City Chiefs are in St. Joseph for the start of their preseason workouts. But they’re missing a key lmember of their defensive line, tackle Chris Jones, who wants a new contract. This the last year of his contract. He’ll get a base salary of $19.5 million. It’s reported he wants at least $30 millon.
Now, let’s go fast.
(INDYCAR)—Josef Newgarden is Der Iowameister after his sweep of the IndyCar doubleheader at the Iowa Speedway.
Newgarden won the race on Saturday but said later he felt the job was incomplete until he won the Sunday race, too. He now has won six IndyCar races at the track, 50 overall in his career. He has won four times this year, all on ovals—including the Indianapolis 500. He will have a chance to sweep the oval races this year at Worldwide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on August 27. He now has won five oval races in a row, joining A. J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr., as the only drivers in all of IndyCar history to do that.
He outran teammate Will Power, the defending series champion, in Sunday’s race, by seven-tenths of a second in a three-lap run to the checkers after a late caution. Championship points leader Alex Palou got the last podium position Sunday.
Newgarden outran another Penske teammate Saturday when Scott McLaughlin came up 3.4 seconds short. Palou was eighth.
Newgarden’s two dominant wins—he led 341 of the 500 laps in the two races on the .894-mile oval—has cut Palou’s points lead from 10 to 80 points.
IndyCar heads to Newgarden’s home town of Nashville for a race through the streets on August 6.
(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin has done IndyCar’s Josef Newgarden one better when it comes to wins at a single track. But his seventh victory at Pocono—and his 50th overall in NASCAR Cup competition—brought a lot of boos from the crowd at the end.
The crowd was upset because Hamlin, on a restart with seven laps left, got inside leader Kyle Larson and appeared to force him into the wall.
Hamlin claimed after the race that he gave Larson enough room for a lane and said he wasn’t sure there was any contact between the two cars. Larson, although a good friend of Hamlin’s, had no doubt it was a dirty move. He said Hamlin “knew it was going to be his only opportunity to beat me…I got used up.” Larson wound up the race 20th.
The race ended under caution because of a Ryan Preece spin so close to the end that NASCAR decided not to stop the race for cleanup. Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick joined Hamlin in the top five. Truex retains his lead for the regular-season points championship, up by 30 over William Byron and 55 ahead of Hamlin.
NASCAR heads to Richmond next weekend. Only five races remain before the 16-car playoff field is set.
(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen again, but the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix is special. It is his seventh straight dominating win and the 12th win on a row for his Red Bull team, breaking McLaren’s 35-year old record for consecutive victories.
Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton won his first pole position in two years but was out-muscled by Verstappen going into the first turn and won comfortably. His win puts him 110 points ahead of the field after just eleven races this year.