On December 8th, 2015, the Cardinals and Padres made a trade: Jon Jay for Jedd Gyorko (and everyone’s favorite… cash).
At the time, the trade wasn’t super popular.
I remember it not being super popular, at least. Nothing people were revolting against… just not something people were all that excited about. And when I took a look back on the stats, I can see why.
Jon Jay:
- Played in 787 games w/ Cardinals
- Had 220 postseason plate appearances w/ Cardinals (!)
- Had 44 hits and 19 walks in postseason w/ Cardinals
The dude grew up in the Cardinals system and was a bigger part of the Cardinals run of excellence from 2011-2015 than I thought.
Jedd Gyorko?
He was two years removed from a 6th place Rookie of the Year finish and looked to be more of a flash in the pan than a franchise building block.
Time flies.
20 months later, Gyorko is a leading candidate for Cardinals team MVP, while Jay left San Diego in free agency last off-season to sign with the Cubs.
Last night, Gyorko reminded the Padres that they might have gave up on him too soon.
Again.
That's seven home runs in Jedd Gyorko's eight games versus the #Padres, who traded him to St. Louis in December 2015. #STLCards
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) August 23, 2017
I think I heard on the TV broadcast of the game last night (I’m too lazy to verify what I heard is correct, or that I even heard it at all) that there are only two players left on the Padres MLB roster that played with Gyorko in San Diego.
Sounds about right, though.
A peek at their roster reveals a team bereft of household names. And beyond the staunchest of prospect observers, even quality baseball fans most likely have to Google at least a few Padres players when they roll into town for a series.
Yangervis Solarte?
Indeed he got the SERP spike last night:
Collecting 6 RBIs in a game will do that for your Google Trend.
Let’s go to the post-game presser:
https://twitter.com/anti_matheny/status/900198267551600641
The Cardinals are now 4-6 in their last 10.
They sit 4.5 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central.
They are in danger of moving back to .500 with a loss tonight.
And, in case you really weren’t paying attention, this particular stat will be the one that will be hammered home today on #STLCards Twitter:
#STLCards pitching is eroding. Club has allowed 5+ runs in 12 consecutive games, the third-longest such streak in franchise history.
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) August 23, 2017
(BTW, thanks for all the material today, Jenifer!)
Listen…
You know the deal. I know the deal.
As soon as we start to give up on this team, they somehow pick themselves up off the mat and make things interesting. And as soon as we get excited about them picking themselves off the mat, they get knocked down again.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The Cardinals got beat by 8 runs at home by a team who you (yes, you) would have trouble naming 3 players from. Fans are feeling beat.
So expect a no-hitter tonight. And then a close one that won’t tell us anything – either way – about the direction of this season on Thursday.
Photo: San Diego Union-Tribune
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