Jason Motte to Sign With Cubs

Jason Motte, who has played his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, has agreed to a 1 year deal with the Chicago Cubs for a reported 4.5 million dollars.

Motte missed the entire 2013 season after undergoing "tommy john" surgery.

In 2012, Motte had 42 saves and an ERA of 2.75

Giants Win 6-4 Take 3 Games to 1 Lead in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants took a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS with a 6-4 win last night at AT&T Park on the west coast. Yusmeiro Petit got the win, in relief of starter Ryan Vogelsong, with 3 innings of effective relief work. Santiago Casilla picked up the save. Marco Gonzalez took the loss for St. Louis.

St. Louis broke on top with a run in the top of the 1st. Matt Carpenter doubled and Jon Jay walked. With one out, Matt Adams singled to left to drive in Carpenter. The Cards had the 1-0 lead.

The Giants answered in the bottom of the 1st. Gregor Blanco doubled to right to lead off. Joe Panik followed with a single that got Blanco to third. Buster Posey, who had 3 RBIs on the night, got Blanco home with a sacrifice fly to center. The score was tied 1-1.

The Redbirds would score another run in their half of the 2nd. Kolten Wong doubled to lead off the inning. AJ Pierzynski singled to drive in Wong and the Cards were back on top 2-1.

The Cardinals scored two more times in the 3rd. Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams singled with Holliday stopping at third. Jhonny Peralta hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Holliday. Kolten Wong hit a 3-2 pitch from Ryan Vogelsong over the right field fence to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. Kolten Wong his 7 hits this postseason...all for extra bases.

Joaquin Arias, pinch hitting for Vogelsong in the third, singled. Gregor Blanco grounded out to first as Arias moved to second. Joe Panik flied out to center and Arias took third. Buster Posey singled to left and Arias scored. Pablo Sandoval walked and Hunter Pence singled to drive in Posey. The Giants had cut the lead to 4-3.

Marco Gonzalez took the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 6th. Juan Perez walked to lead off the inning for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to right and Perez stopped at second. Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Yusmeiro Petit, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Perez to third and Crawford to second. Gregor Blanco grounded to first and Matt Adams decided to throw home to get Perez but Adam's throw short hopped the catcher and Perez scored. The next batter, Joe Panik grounded to first. Adams stepped on the bag to get Panik but threw wildly to second trying to get Blanco. Crawford scored and the Giants had their first lead, 5-4. With Blanco on second, Buster Posey singled to left off of Cardinal reliever, Seth Maness, and Blanco scored giving the Giants the 6-4 lead.

With the 6-4 win and a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, the Giants face the Cardinals tonight in game 5 at AT&T Park. If the Giants win game 5 they will face the Kansas City Royals in game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday the 21st of October. If the Cardinals win game 5, the NLCS heads back to St. Louis for game 6 and, if necessary, game 7.

dr. howl of SBNation has a great article on this game, and the series from a Cardinal point of view here.

Giants Up 2-1 In NLCS On Throwing Error

A throwing error by Cardinal pitcher Randy Choate allowed Brandon Crawford to score the winning run in the Giants 5-4 victory in Game 3 of the NLCS.

The Giants scored four times in the bottom of the 1st. After two outs, Buster Posey singled to right. Pablo Sandoval followed with a single to center and San Francisco had runners at 1st and 2nd. Hunter Pence doubled to right scoring Posey and moving Sandoval to third. Brandon Belt was intentionally walked to load the bases.Travis Ishikawa doubled to deep right field to clear the bases and the Giants were up 4-0.

The Cardinals got two runs back in the 4th. Jon Jay singled as did Matt Holliday. After Tim Hudson got two outs, he gave up a triple to Kolten Wong that scored Jay and Holliday.

In the top of the 6th, The Redbird's Jon Jay singled. He went to second on a ground out by Matt Holliday and to third on a ground out to first by Matt Adams. Jay scored on a Jhonny Peralta single to left and the Cardinals had cut the Giants lead to 4-3.

Randel Gruchik, rookie right fielder for the Cardinals, tied the game at 4 all in the top of the 7th with a solo home run off of the first pitch he saw from Tim Hudson.

That was all the scoring until the bottom of the 10th. Randy Choate was on in relief of Seth Maness. Brandon Crawford worked an 8 pitch walk to lead off the inning. Juan Perez, after fouling off two bunt attempts, singled to left with Crawford stopping at second. Gregor Blanco bunted down the third base line attempting to move the runners along but Choate threw the ball away at first and Crawford scored.

The Giants won on a walk off error and lead the NLCS 2 games to 1.

Molina May Miss Playoffs With Pulled Left Oblique

The Cardinals added catcher AJ Pierzyski to their NLDS roster and left off a pitcher. The move seems precient now as Yadier Molina suffered a pulled left oblique muscle in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Giants and may not be available to play.

Read the full Yahoo Sports article here.

Cards Beat Giants 5-4 on Kolten Wong Walkoff Home Run

The St. Louis Cardinals have tied the NLDS at one game apiece thanks to some good pitching, poor hitting by the Giants and a power surge of home runs.

The Redbirds hit 4 home runs last night. They were all solo shots. Matt Carpenter connected in the 3rd, Rookie Oscar Taveras, pinch hitting for pitcher Carlos Martinez, in the 7th, Matt Adams in the 8th and Wong's walkoff in the 9th. Randal Grichuk drove in the second run for the Cards on a single in the 4th.

The Giants had tied the score at 4 in the top of the 9th on a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal with the Bases loaded.

Sergio Romo took the loss for the Giants while Seth Maness picked up the win.

These two teams now head to San Francisco for games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLDS. If necessary games 6 and 7 would be played in St. Louis.

Read the ESPN story here.

Giants Take Opener in St. Louis 3-0

The San Francisco Giants won their 7th consecutive road game in the playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals last night in Busch Stadium. Timely hitting and several miscues by the Redbirds contributed to the win.

Madison Bumgarner won his fourth postseaseon start of 7+ innings with 0 runs allowed. This tied him with Christy Mathewson for the most in Giants history. Bumgarner is 4-0 with a .059 ERA over that span.

Adam Wainwright, 20-9 during the regular season, on the other hand is 0-4 over his last 5 postseason starts with a 5.19 ERA.

Read the ESPN article here.

Tim Kurkjian's 5 Questions for the NLCS

National League Championship Series Preview

The Baseball Tonight crew previews the NLCS between the Cardinals and the Giants.

Tags: MLB, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals

NEXT VIDEO 

• How To Pitch To Matt Carpenter

NLCS: Giants vs. Cardinals

Complete coverage of the Giants-Cardinals matchup. More »

Four of the past eight World Series champions have come from the teams in this 2014 National League Championship Series, which might suggest that the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals have spectacular talent. Instead, they are more great organizations that teach the game properly, that every at-bat is a fistfight, and every pitch is the biggest one of the game. Each had less talent than their opponents in the division series, but the Giants were more tough-minded and October-tested than the Washington Nationals, and the Cardinals were focused on winning while the Los Angeles Dodgers were thinking too much about tipping pitches and the strike zone. Now these two will meet in the playoffs for the fourth time. The Cardinals are the first team since the 1998-2001 New York Yankees to go to four straight league championship series. And the Giants will be going for the third time in five years. It should really be great.


Here are five questions.

Bumgarner

In what sort of shape is the Giants' rotation?

Very good. Ace Madison Bumgarner has thrown very well in this postseason -- and every postseason -- save for one wild throw to third base on a bunt in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Nationals. He has pitched much better on the road than at home this year, and will start Game 1 in St. Louis. The Giants support him well, scoring 5.03 runs per start during the regular season; only Clayton Kershaw and Jorge De La Rosa received better run support among NL starters. Jake Peavybattled through 5⅔ innings to win Game 1 of the NLDS, and Tim Hudson was terrific in Game 2. Ryan Vogelsong lifted the Giants in Game 4 with 5⅔ innings of solid work, this coming off a September in which he went 0-4 with a 5.53 ERA. What happens to him in October is amazing. He has made five straight October starts (his only five), allowing one run or less; only Curt Schilling, with six, has a longer streak in postseason history. Vogelsong's 1.19 ERA is the third-best in postseason history among those with at least five starts, trailing only Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson.

Wainwright

In what short of shape is the Cardinals' rotation?

A little unsettled. Ace Adam Wainwright got hammered in Game 1 against the Dodgers, but didn't get the loss because Kershaw got hit harder. Kershaw came back on short rest while the Cardinals weren't even committing to Wainwright for Game 5. He had some arm issues in August, pitched through them in September, but says he is ready to go in Game 1. The rest of the Cardinals' rotation -- John Lackey, Lance Lynn and Shelby Miller -- did very well in the NLDS. Lackey, who has thrown more postseason innings than any active pitcher, is past his tired-arm stage down the stretch, and his good, biting slider is back. The Giants were just 30-30 against left-handed starters this year; the Indians and A's were the only other teams to be .500 or below against lefties, but above .500 against right-handers. And the only starting pitchers the Giants are going to see in this series are righties.

Belt

How do the Giants score runs?

It's hard to tell sometimes. In the clinching Game 4 against the Nationals, they scored their three runs on a bases-loaded walk, a ground ball to the first baseman and a wild pitch. They were terrible with runners in scoring position against the Nationals, but somehow got enough big hits to win three times. In Game 2 of the NLDS, for instance, Brandon Belt became the first player ever to hit a game-deciding home run at the time that he was 0-for-6 in a game. The Giants beat the Nationals despite a 2-for-18, no-runs-scored performance from their leadoff man, Gregor Blanco, and while platooning in left field with Travis Ishikawa and Juan Perez. In the NLDS, when they faced a right-handed starter they had no left-handed hitter coming off the bench. Their hope is that left fielder Michael Morse, who missed most of September with an oblique strain, will be active for this series. But even if that's the case, the Giants' lineup is not imposing. Yet they seem to find a way to score just enough to win.

Carpenter

From where did the Cardinals' power come?

They finished last in the league (and 29th overall) in home runs with 105, then hit seven in four games against the Dodgers. Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenterbecame the first player in postseason history to hit a home run and a double in three straight games. And first baseman Matt Adams became the first player since Miguel Olivo in 2012 to hit a home run with at least two men on base against Kershaw. They took Kershaw deep three times, beating him twice, and pounding the Dodgers' bullpen. The Cardinals did not enter the seventh inning with a lead in any of the four games, but won three of them by outscoring the Dodgers 15-4 in the seventh through ninth innings. And they did it with power, left-handed power: Cardinals left-handed hitters hit five homers against left-handed pitching, second most in a postseason. The Giants' best pitcher is lefty Madison Bumgarner.

Does either team have an edge in the bullpen?

It's close. The Giants' bullpen saved the series with 10⅔ scoreless innings in the pivotal 18-inning win in Game 2 of the NLDS. Yusmeiro Petit threw six shutout innings, 80 pitches and had more strikeouts in extra innings (seven) than any pitcher has ever had in one postseason game. Set-up man Sergio Romo had his good slider back against the Nationals, and Santiago Casilla has done very well since becoming the closer in July. The Giants have won all of the past nine one-run games that they have played in the postseason, a tribute in part to their deep, versatile bullpen. The Cardinals' bullpen was very good against the Dodgers, specifically closer Trevor Rosenthal. He and the rest of that bullpen got some very big outs: They became the first team in postseason history to win each game of a series despite having the tying run on base when the last out was made in each victory.

The pick: Cardinals in seven.

• 
  

Cards Advance to the NLCS with a 3-2 Win Over the Dodgers

The LA Dodgers did all they could to even the NLDS series in St. Louis on Tuesday afternoon. They started arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Clayton Kershaw. They staked Kershaw to a 2 run lead in the 6th while Kershaw was holding the Cards on a 1 hit shutout.

In 2014, while posting a 21-3 record with a 1.77 ERA, Kershaw gave up only 1 home run to a left handed hitter. In this series he gave up 2 home runs in 2 games to lefties. Matt Carpenter connected in the first game and Matt Adams jacked a 3 run blast to right field in game 3.

Kershaw is now 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in his 11 postseason appearances.

"The season ended and I was a big part of the reason why," Kershaw said. "I can't really put it into words, Just bad deja vu all over again."

Enough about the Dodgers. The Cardinals won this NLDS series 3-1. This wasn't a fluke. The Cards will be in the NLCS for the 4th consecutive year. Their 9th NLCS in 15 years. They beat Kershaw twice while holding the Dodgers to 15 runs in 4 games. 

The Cardinals hit 7 home runs in this series, the most postseason home runs by a team that hit the fewest HRs in their league that year.

Box scores usually do not tell the complete story of the game but this one tells of the clutch hitting in the bottom of the 7th. The Cards had 4 hits all night. Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta singled to lead off the 7th for two of those.

Matt Adams hit an 0-1 curve ball into the Cardinals bullpen for the 3 run homer, Kershaw's first 3 run home run allowed since June of 2012, a span of 86 starts.

"I don't think I touched the ground the whole way around the bases," Adams said. "Definitely the highlight of my career. ... I will never, ever forget this."

Timely hitting by the Cards is evident when one sees that the Redbirds outscored the Dodgers 15-4 in the 7th through the 9th innings.

The Cardinals will face the Giants in St. Louis beginning on Saturday the 11th of October after the Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 3 games to 2 in the other NLDS Series.

Cards Take 2-1 in NLDS Series Over Dodgers

John Lackey pitched masterfully and home runs by Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong powered the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory in game three of the NLDS.

Matt Carpenter became the first player in MLB Playoff history to have a home run and a double in three consecutive playoff games.

Carpenter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd to give Lackey the lead.

In the top of the 6th, Yasiel Puig tripled. Puig had struck out in his previous 7 at bats. Nanley Rameriz then doubled to score Puig with the tying run.

Kolten Wong stepped to the plate with Ydier Molina on second and drove a ball over the right center field wall off of reliever Scott Elbert to push the lead to 3-1.

Read the ESPN story here

Mattingly to Start Kershaw in Game 4 of NLDS on Three Days Rest

The LA Dodgers are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals at one game apiece in the NLDS series between the two teams.

Don Mattingly has said before Game 3 that Clayton Kershaw would start game 4 of the series on a short three days rest.

When asked why, Mattingly replied,   "He's our best guy," 

You can't argue with locic that simple But I would have waited to see the outcome of tonight's game before i made that decision. Maybe it's because I'm not the manager that I can be so sure of myself. And, if the Dodgers lose tonight then the decision won't warrant a second guess, but, how does this affect the rotation if the Dodgers need 5 games to put away the Cards?

Mark Saxon has a real good story here 


 

Dodgers Even Series With Cardinals After 3-2 Win on Saturday

Zack Greinke, for the Dodgers, and Lance Lynn, for the Cards, pitched extremely well in the second game of the NLDS series between the two teams. Greinke gave up 2 hits, both doubles, in his 7 inning stint. Lynn, although giving up 7 hits, held the Dodgers to just 2 runs and kept the Cardinals in the game for 6 innings.

J.P. Howell relieved Greinke to start the top of the 8th. Dodger manager, Don Mattingly, had the game set up the way he wanted it. Howell, a lefty, would face three left handed batters in pinch hitter Oscar Taveras, Matt Carpenter and Jon Jay.

Taveras singled singled on an 0-2 count. Matt Carpenter jumped on the first pitch he saw from Howell and drove it 400' over the right center field wall for a 2 run home run. Zack Greinke had thrown 105 pitches in his 7 inning shutout performance and the Cardinals tied the game on 4 pitches from Howell.

The Dodgers scored their two runs in the bottom of the third. AJ Ellis led off the inning with a double to right center. Greinke followed with a single to right and LA had runners at the corners with no outs.

Dee Gordon hit a slow roller to second. Greinke hesitated just long enough that the Cardinal 2nd baseman, Kolten Wong, in his haste to get the speedy Gordon at first, tagged Greinke with the glove only and threw to first to complete what appeared to be a double play. Ellis would score on the play.

Don Mattingly challenged the play noting that Wong did not have the ball in the glove when he applied the tag. Mattingly won the challenge and Greinke was awarded 2nd base and the double play was just a 4-3 ground out.

Two batters later, Adrian Gonzalez singled to right to score Greinke for the 2-0 Dodger lead.

Carpenter's home run in the top of the 8th, silenced the 54,000+ Dodger fans who had been very loud throughout the game. The crowd wasn't silent too long as Matt Kemp, leading off the bottom of the 8th, sent a 2-1 slider from reliever Pat Neshek into the bleachers in left to regain the lead for the Dodgers.

Kenley Jensen set the Cardinals down in order in the top of the 9th to preserve the win for Brandon League while Neshek took the loss for the Redbirds.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the teams head to St. Louis to continue the NLDS on Monday the 6th of October.

Cards Score 8 in the 8th Beat Dodgers 10-9

The St. Louis Cardinals took a page from the Baltimore Oriole playbook and scored 8 runs against Clayton Kershaw and the LA Dodgers to win game 1 of the best of five NLDS in LA.

"I'm sure everybody in baseball was expecting a one-run game," Carpenter said. "We ended up getting one, but we didn't think it would be 10-9."

Read the ESPN story here

Read theYahoo Sports story here

Read the Sporting News story here

Playoff Baseball Returns to Kansas City

Playoff baseball returns to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City tonight for the first time since the fall of 1985 when the Royals bested the St. Louis Cardinals in an exciting 7 game World Series.
That series will always be remembered for the Dan Denkinger missed call at first, in the top of the 9th of the 6th game with the Cards leading 1-0, that allowed Jorge Orta to reach first. Some people forget that Orta was thrown out on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by the next batter. The Royals would go on to win the game 2-1. What people also forget is that the Cards started their ace, Joaquin Andujar, in game seven and got crushed 11-0.                                                                                      

Let's take a trip back in time to see what was going on in the US in 1985. Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States. Michael Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts and Bill Clinton was in his third term as Governor of Arkansas.

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in the 1985 Super Bowl. Mike Tyson made his professional boxing debut.

The eighth seeded Villanova Wildcats win the first ever 64 team NCAA Basketball Tournament with a 66-64 victory over the Georgetown Hoyas. In August, Rod Carew became the 16th MLB player to record 3,000 hits.

"We Are the World" was recorded by USA for Africa. A 21 year old Whitney Houston released her first album. (Notice I didn't write CD) VH-1 began broadcasting music videos in January of 1985. Route 66 was officially decommissioned as a US Highway. Ford Motor Company introduced the Ford Taurus in '85.

In June of 1985 the Royals drafted both Brian McRae, in the 1st round, and Deion Sanders, in the 6th round, of the MLB amateur draft. Only McRae would sign with the Royals. Brian's dad, Hal McRae was a member of the 1985 KC Royals.

Bud Black, current manager of the San Diego Padres, was on that '85 team and was 10-15 as a starter, with a 4.33 ERA, 122 Ks and 59 walks. John Wathan would play his last professional game on October 6th and come back to manage the Royals from 87-91, albeit with less success than the '85 team had. Dane Iorg drove in the winning run in that controversial 9th inning of game 6.

Current Fox Sports color commentater for the LA Angels, Mark Gubicza, was on that team but didn't get a World Series start because manager Dick Howser decided to go with a four man rotation that left Gubicza on the outside looking in.

You may remember some of the players from that team. How about George Brett, he of the pine tar bat incident in July of 1983 vs the Yankees, had 30 HRs/112 RBIs/.335 AVG. Willie Wilson 4/43/.278/43 SBs, Lonnie Smith 6/41/.257/41, Steve Balboni 36/88/.243 and DH Hal Mcrae 14/70/.259 were the backbone of the offense.

A 21 year old Bret Saberhagen anchored the pitching staff with a 20-6 record and a 2.87 ERA. Charlie Leibrandt was 17-9 to go along with a team leading 2.69 ERA. Danny Jackson, Bud Black and Mark Gubicza rounded out the starters and Dan Quisenberry saved 37 games with a 2.87 ERA for the team.

That was quite a year in KC. The 2014 Royals have their own team. Their own players. It's a new time, a new playoff system and a new baseball world. There is no dynasty to uphold, no long traditions to live up to. Their only concern today is playing a team, in the Oakland Athletics, that backed into a wild card berth on the last day of the season. If the Royals win this one game playoff, they must face arguably the best team in baseball, the LA Angels in LA. Win that series and it's off to play the Orioles or the Tigers in Baltimore or Detroit. Get through all of that and we could have a repeat of the Royals/Cardinals 1985 World Series with KC as the home team again!