NLDS GM 3: The Bulldog You Didn’t Know You Wanted

July 31st.

The Cardinals were stagnant. The juggernaut that St. Louis expected to see had failed to launch. And in its place was a shell of the NL Championship team that looked poised for a sustained run 10 months prior.

Injuries (Wacha, Garcia), dead arms (Wainwright) and inconsistency (Miller) were starting to take a toll on the Cardinals rotation… as if propping up the offense languishing at the bottom of the NL wasn’t stress enough.

So GM John Mozeliak decided to make a trade. Allen Craig and Joe Kelly to Boston for John Lackey. The same John Lackey that secured Boston’s 2nd World Series win against the Cardinals in a single decade span.

https://twitter.com/honest_AVEs/status/494887663896260609

https://twitter.com/allidoistwin/status/494887617142345729

It wasn’t a popular move.

Two homegrown prospects who had become, if not the face the Cardinals, beloved by #BFIB. And now they were shipped to Boston for a guy that, if we’re being honest, wasn’t exactly a David Price or Jon Lester type jolt for a playoff run.

This? This was what was going to save the season?

—–

We saw John Lackey at his best Monday night. Relentless. Unyielding. Believing that he was the best player on the field and eager to prove to a national audience that he might not be as crazy for thinking that as we did.

I know why Cardinals fans haven’t warmed up to him. He’s not the humble worker like Craig or the fun BFF like Kelly. He’s kind of a meanie. He came from the enemy.

Still.

If the Cardinals get past the Dodgers, we’ll see John Lackey in GM 3 of the NLCS. And there’s a good chance that will be a pivotal game in the series. He’s the new Gibby. The new Carp. Mad as hell that he’s not getting the respect he deserves for doing what is VERY rare in the post-season… dominating.

And if you think it’s easy for the greats, just ask Clayton Kershaw how that’s going.

The Best? The Worst?

+ Matt Carpenter is on absolute FIRE. 6 for 12 with 3 HRs, 7 RBIs and 18 total bases! The Skinny Ortiz! If you’re at home tonight, just do a Twitter search for ‘Matt Carpenter Hate’ when he comes up to bat and have a good laugh at the Dodgers fans. It’s only fair after what Big Papi did to us last October.

– Randal Grichuk and that right field wall. Yeesh. Got to know that Puig is going to get a double no matter what on that hit down the line and do everything you can to prevent a triple. Lackey bailed him out. Puig is the firestarter for the Dodgers and that could have been a huge mistake.

+ Pat Neshek bounced back nicely from surrendering the game losing HR to Matt Kemp Saturday night. His 8th inning was 1-2-3 and made the decision to take Lackey out of the game when he was dominating all the more palatable.

– Oh, Trevor. I mean, at least Matheny is having Carlos Martinez warm up now? Can we call that progress? No lead is too big when Rosey gets on the mound – he’s going to make it interesting no matter what. He’s having the single best worst closing year of all time.

+ Kolten Wong. As Bernie wrote this AM… gave the Dodgers a little “Hawaiian Punch”. (Side: also enjoyed his new nickname for MARP – MC Hammer). Dude has been through some postseason adventures. This particular one was much more enjoyable.

Highlight Of The Night:

Photo: NY Daily News