Update 6-21-2024
In case you missed Hugo Bezdek, Father of Razorback Sports & The Cardinals are above .500! Welcome New Subscribers
We are approaching 400 readers of last week’s Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly, but if you missed Hugo Bezdek’s story from last week, here is your second chance.
Link to Backroads Ballplayers Weekly featuring Hugo Bezdek.
Who are these Cardinals?
To borrow from Ricky Ricardo, someone has, “Got some ‘splainin’ to do.” We started the year resigned to the inevitable. The Redbirds were no better than last year, and with Goldschmidt and Arenado off to poor starts the “Cardinal fans” were lighting up social media.
Now, we have to learn to spell Masyn Winn and try to appreciate Nolan Gorman. Gorman seems to be a student from the Joey Gallo school of hitting who subscribes to the axiom, if you swing really hard, 20% of the time something good will happen. He is batting .200 and leads the team in home runs and RBIs.
Winn, on the other hand, is hitting about 120 points above his last year’s batting average. He leads the team in BA at somewhere around .290.
Okay, the pitching is better. Sonny Gray has been more consistent than expected. Lance Lynn’s plan to come back heavier is sort of working, and 36-year-old Kyle Gibson has been surprising or perhaps amazing.
Ryan Helsley is simply the best closer in the league. Right?
And, of course, the social media reviewers have blamed Oli Marmol for almost every loss.
Anyway, regardless of the obscure reasons, we can find the Cards in the standings from the top down in the NL Central Division, instead of starting from the bottom. How cool is that?
I will turn the “splainin” over to my esteemed local Cardinals insider C70 Hacks.
Next week: Aggies or Vols, that is a hard one… and Losing Willie