Welcome to a new feature here at STL Sports Central: Breakfast with Bernie, which I’ll write early in the morning on most weekdays. I’ll serve up observations, snark, facts, notes, opinions, randomness, weirdness, praise, cheap shots, assorted Bernie Bytes and stuff on my mind as I have my first cuppa or two or three of the day. This isn’t a full breakfast. It’s Continental style. And this gives you a chance to graze before I write a different and fuller column that I’ll post much later in the day.
The Continental, May 22
— Happy 24th birthday, Jordan Walker. A year ago, on his 23rd birthday, Walker was batting .194 with a .257 on-base rate, .281 slug, and an unfortunate .537 OPS. And Walker had batted only .145 in his previous 24 games leading up to his birthday. I don’t know how Walker feels, but think we like the 24th birthday better.
— The Cardinals are in Cincinnati for the weekend before moving on over to Wisconsin for a three-game series against the Brewers that begins on Memorial Day. That leads into a renewal of Cubs-Cards rivalry discord at Busch Stadium.
— In the coming fan-and-media overreaction, this could go one of two ways: (1) If the Cardinals lose six of the next nine games, their season is over, it’s time to fire Oli Marmol, it’s time to call up Jimmy Crooks, Joshua Baez, Blaze Jordan and perhaps three or four other players from the Triple A Memphis roster. (2) If the Cardinals win all three series and go 6-3, then it is time for Chaim Bloom to extend Marmol’s contract (again) and start making trades to help these hard-working young Redbird contend for a championship. The POBO must go out and acquire two starting pitchers, three relievers, and a center fielder. (3) In the event the Cardinals go 5-4 or 4-5, it’s up to each individual to determine if the snifter is half empty or half full.
— I’m exaggerating of course. So lighten up. It’s Friday, the start of a long Memorial Day Weekend, so it’s OK to make stupid jokes and have a little fun. But yeah, these next nine games will likely generate a strong and emotional reaction, especially after the Cardinals lost a series at home to the Pirates and ruined their homestand by dropping three of the final four games. I’m looking forward to this stretch of ball.
— Cards at Reds, and which bullpen will burn first? I know that the STL bullpen firemen make us nervous these days because of Riley O’Brien’s severe vulnerability and a shortage of trustworthy relievers. But my dear peoples, we ain’t got nothing on Reds fans in agonizing over bullpens. This month, after losing closer Emilio Pagan, Cincinnati’s relief personnel have an MLB-worst 7.17 ERA in May. The inCINerated bullpen has been vaporized for 17 homers, 32 total extra-base hits and a .512 slugging percentage in 71 and ⅓ innings. Their Red-reliever walk rate for the month is an astonishing 15 percent. And y’all are picking on poor Matt Svanson? Y’all think Ryne Stanek is an arsonist? Please.
– When it comes to pizza, I’m absolutely in favor of supporting local businesses, whether it be restaurant pizza, delivery pizza or frozen pizza to keep around for untimely hunger emergencies. That said: next time you head over to your go-to Target store, pick up a frozen Pizza Antica Pepperoni ‘za. And then get back to supporting the locals.
— The Cardinals are finally giving outfielder/2B Bryan Torres a shot in the majors. It took an injury to Nathan Church to make it happen, but Torres was promoted to fill the open spot on STL’s 26-man roster. The 5-7, 165-pound Torres is having an excellent season for Triple A Memphis batting .336 with a .454 on-base percentage and .477 slug. He bats from the left side and has crushed right-handed pitching this season for a .360 average, .478 OBP and .535 slug. Torres turns 29 on July 2 and is a native of Puerto Rico.
— Torres deserves a full opportunity to show the Cardinals what he’s capable of doing in the show. He’s respectable vs. lefty pitching and a good base stealer.
— Or the Cardinals can continue to stick Thomas Saggese in left field and pretend that no one can see his .159 batting average, horrendous 19 OPS+, or the way he got picked off third base by the Pirates the other night. I know the official scorer ruled it a “caught stealing,” but Saggese wandered from third and got nabbed. He was picked off.
— Is major-league baseball broken? The NL Central is the best division in baseball, but four of the five teams are on the low end of the pay scale in the active-cash 26-man payroll rankings: Pirates 19, Brewers 21, Reds 25 and Cardinals 29. The Cubs (6th) are the exception. In fact, eight of the top 14 records in MLB right now belong to teams that rank between 20th and 29th in the active-cash 26-man payroll size.
--- As of Friday morning the Cardinals had a 27.4 percent shot at making the postseason. Nine other NL teams had a higher postseason probability than St. Louis. That, according to FanGraphs. But as we say, these teams play the game on the field. But i do like a good baseball-strategy board game, or even a computerized baseball-strategy game.
--- Random and hopelessly insufferable esoteria: If you love the jangle-pop sound, as I do, here are the best jangle-pop bands at this moment in time: The Beths, Alvvays, Beach Fossils, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Reds, Pinks and Purples … and of course, my personal favorite, Real Estate.
— In his new Top 50 Prospects list, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel moved future Cardinal starting catcher Rainiel Rodriguez up four spots to No. 15 from 19th. “The development path for catchers can be quite circuitous so there's some demographic risk here, but Rodriguez is a polished power hitter with the tools to stick behind the plate,” McDaniel wrote. “He doesn't have much physical projection and will need to prove his approach works in the upper minors,” … McDaniel placed Cards pitching prospect Liam Doye at No. 28, and included high-velo right-handed pitcher Tanner Franklin on the “just missed” list.
— If you like a good baseball book, even if it isn’t about the Cardinals, my friend Mike Vaccaro is out with a New York Times bestseller: “The Bosses of the Bronx,” a highly entertaining history of the House of Steinbrenner era. Yankee fans – and Yankee haters – love this book, which has been described as “a drama of Shakespearian proportions, combining tragedy and great comedy.” Vaccaro is an excellent sports columnist for the New York Post.
— Kyrou Bye-rou? From NHL Trade Rumor dot com: “If there is one undeniable truth in the NHL, it’s that elite speed paired with Connor McDavid breaks the game. According to Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek, the Edmonton Oilers might be zeroing in on a blockbuster target to do exactly that: St. Louis Blues lightning-fast winger Jordan Kyrou.”
— You’ll have to excuse me as I take a break to watch another episode of “One Tree Hill” from 2004. That bastid Dan Scott is in the hospital after suffering a heart attack, and supposedly fighting for his life … but we know this can’t be true because the scoundrel ain’t got a heart.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the state of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.