Arkansas, Tulsa, Arkansas, Tulsa, Arkansas – Round 2

The second leg of the playing the same teams every game has begun.

The Sod Poodles and the Hooks have left town for good and we do not play them again until the playoffs if given the chance. If the way this stretch of games against the two teams ahead of us has been any indication, our season is winding down.

I wanted to get back to Arkansas after the Corpus series where we had that awful eighth inning. It was my worst appearance of the year up to this point.

I have been a good pitcher against Arkansas this season and I continued to pitch well against them at their ballpark. I came into a game with runners on base and two outs. I did t have the best feel right away but I made it work and got out the inning with no damage done. I then went on to fire two more scoreless innings and was bailed out myself because I left runners on base. If all my runners scored this year I would be having a terrible season. That is what is nice about baseball though is that we pick each other up as bullpen guys.

The Arkansas series came and went and the next series I was lined up for was Tulsa. I dominated Tulsa the first time I pitched against them back in June. This time around they have crushed me. You hate to see it. The first time I pitched against them I came into the game in the first inning. You know you have to cover innings when you come into the game in the first and I did my best. I gave us three and even got to have an at bat. I struck out. I fouled off the bunts and then whiffed at the last bunt which was a bummer letting the guys down but I don’t think they expected much from me. When it was all said and done my three innings were up and beside a solo home run I did fine. My season was still intact.

After the Tulsa series we came home to play Arkansas for four games. I was looking forward to pitching against Arkansas because like I mentioned I have had success against them all season. The long appearance the day before made it so I was the odd man out of the Arkansas series which had the added influence of Yadier Molina rehabbing in Springfield. All the pitchers were pumped up to pitch to him but myself and a few others did not get a chance.

There is something surreal about seeing a Hall of Fame player hanging out in the same locker room. Dancing around after a victory. He broke the bank when it came to food options and we ate extremely well. I thank him for that. The only bad thing is he stole my number four and now I have changed to 15. Number 4 was crushing this league. Number 15 has sucked.

The next stop after the home stand was to Tulsa. I knew I’d throw against them because I skipped all of Arkansas and both times I didn’t make it out of the inning. I didn’t finish an inning against them in the first or third game of the series and all in all have 5 more runs tacked onto my stats. I was tasked with the save and blew it. Two home runs, four runs, and the walkoff homer are not what you want when the season has three weeks left. I struck out 5 the time before and now I can’t buy a strikeout. The walk off home run was a bad pitch on my end, last time he struck out on it because it was executed. This time I threw it down the middle and they get paid to hit mistakes. Up until this point I really thought I had a chance to be the odd man out. The shining beacon of pitching in our bullpen that bucked the trend and had respectable numbers for my first season in Springfield. Now that is out the window, and I’m hanging with a 5.00 just like everyone else. The strangest part of the appearance was the game radio being played throughout the stadium. When I would come set I would hear the announcer say and Osnowitz comes set. It was a live narration of what was happening during the game. It was strange but then when I went to pitch I couldn’t hear it. It is the in between moments that get you. The umpires claimed they couldn’t hear it which is strange but hopefully that doesn’t happen anymore going forward.

It’s disappointing but at the same time we have 18 games to go. That means I have 6-7 appearances left to make the impression that hey I don’t suck and I’m worthy of coming back next season. My eyes have been opened to the AA life and I see what other teams have, I see what I have, I see what the Cardinals have and I think I belong if I finish up well. If I keep doing what I’m doing now then hey at least I can say I shared a locker room with Molina.

If all goes to plan I’ll never have to pitch against Tulsa again until either next season or I’ll see all these guys in AAA next season. The mood of the team is interesting to me. Like I said we have a little over three weeks left and a lot of guys are doing what I’m doing. Trying to salvage a long season where we have underperformed. Anyone who has performed isn’t here anymore. They are in AAA or the big leagues. Junior Fernández who started in Palm Beach made his debut the other day and we were all there to watch. He certainly earned it. No home runs this entire season, throwing 102, making every league he pitches in his play thing. I like to think that I’m here until the end of the season but I have seen it before where in mid August there is a change made. If that’s me then so be it. I’ve returned from surgery and done my best. Nobody feels sorry for me or anyone else in the bullpen when we suck. If anything other guys are hoping their competition gets released so they get more opportunity. That’s how the game works. The majority of us are here so the prospects have someone to play against and if some of us pan out then the organizations are happy.

I will do my best the last 18 games. I’m in a bad mood right now, fresh of the walk off and season ruining home run. The good news is nobody cares that we lost besides me, nobody cares in the grand scheme of baseball that we lost, and this will all be a footnote in the Springfield Cardinal season. What is frustrating is knowing I can do it, not do it, and have all the tools to do it. I’m not a young pup by any means, and I’m a declining asset by the Cardinals standards. Im not living up to my own expectations.

I don’t know what the Cardinals expected from me this season. For all I know they want me to be pain free and get some time in AA before a full season next year. They probably don’t have a plan for me at all and they could also be counting down the 18 games. After this upcoming Arkansas series at home we have one more road trip. Then an eight game homestand to finish the season. We don’t play our division anymore which is great because there will be new hitters that hopefully don’t know every single thing about our pitching staff. The Cardinals are a tad behind on the analytical data they give their players but we do our best to scout guys from the bullpen.

Anyways, this has been a bit of a rant but that’s why I blog it out. I try to get my real feelings captured so when I look back and reminisce I have an accurate description of what was going on. Right now I suck. I plan on doing well the next 18. Whatever role they throw me out there I’ll do my best. I have no guarantee I’ll be here for those 18, but everyday I put the jersey on I’ll do my best. I’m looking forward to updating on how things go in my first year off of surgery.

Corpus, Amarillo, Corpus

Throughout the season the Northern Division teams make trips into Texas to go against the Southern Division. My original call up to Springfield featured a trip to Midland and Corpus Christi. I was lucky and unlucky that trip because I was sent down to Florida but did not have to endure the bus rides around Texas and back to Missouri.

This time I was with the team the whole way to Amarillo and Corpus. After the Amarillo series where I was bailed out by the bullpen it was time to face off against Corpus. Their ballpark is like every other ballpark in Texas. Hot and wind blowing out to left field. Their ballpark has a water park behind the right field fence and right behind the bullpen. On Saturday’s people rent out the pool next to the bullpen and you can hear the DJ mixing it up while you warm up.

Whataburger Field

The starting pitching has been on fire lately and this time was no different. I only made one appearance against Corpus in the four games that we played but it was a new first for my career. My one appearance was my first save as a member of Springfield bringing my total saves to two on the season. The two saves this year between Palm Beach and Springfield match my career high of two in the GCL in 2014.

The situation was this. The Cardinals are trailing 2-1 going into the 9th inning and Ronnie Williams is pitching. He came in a bases loaded jam like last time and escaped it, and held the game at 1-1 until the bottom of the 8th. They score in the bottom of the 8th to make it 2-1 and the walkie talkie buzzed as the 9th started. If we tie it, Ronnie is staying in the game, if we take the lead, Osnowitz is in the game. Alright cool we will need someone or two to get on base before I start throwing but I had been stretching before this.

The next thing I know we home run to start the inning. Okay tie game with nobody out, now if someone gets in scoring position I will start throwing to make sure I am ready. Two quick outs. I’ve thrown a couple light tosses at this point. Patterson looks over at me on the mound and asks if we hit a home run with two outs will I be ready to pitch. He spoke that into existence because the next pitch was a home run. We are up 3-2 with 2 outs and I go rapid fire.

Home of the Hooks

I come into the game with a few warmups, my eight warmups on the mound and we are ready to rock. I didn’t have my best stuff or command by any means. I was 0/4 on first pitch strikes, zero offspeed for a strike, but at the end of the appearance we won because I threw a scoreless inning. The days you don’t have it on the mound and still succeed are the fun days. The days where you are throwing fire and they score are the not so fun days.

My one inning completed what everyone else started and I was happy that I didn’t mess that up. I thought the next day I would be ready for another appearance because they are always looking for opportunity to get guys in back to back to see how they respond but my Texas journey was over. The post game bus ride back to Springfield was interesting because it was the longest bus ride I have been apart of since my Iowa-Arizona trip in junior college. I was excited to see how my body responded and thankfully we had an off day to recover.

When in Corpus

As is tradition in this league, when you head to play someone at their place they usually follow you back to your place. We went down to Amarillo and Corpus and now they came up to Northwest Arkansas and Springfield.

Our homestand started with Amarillo who we took 2/3 from last time. They took 2/3 from us this time. I threw a scoreless inning in a loss which was fun for me since last time Amarillo gave me a good scare and I had trouble with them. Matt Carpenter was in town for all four games against Corpus and anytime a big leaguer is in town it is always fun seeing how they go about their daily business. I made sure to slip him a baseball card of mine for good luck to take back to St. Louis when he is done rehabbing.

Christmas in July

The next two appearances didn’t go as well as I or the team was hoping but now I don’t have to pitch against Corpus again. It is funny that they aren’t part of our division and I think we play them a total of 16 times, but I have pitched against them more than any other team in the league. My first two appearances went well against them. The third was also good, but the fourth has been my worst appearance of the season this year.

My first game of the series against them I came in a close game with a man on first and two outs. I got a groundball to second base that ended the inning and had me inline for the win since I finished the fifth inning. My sixth inning was also good besides one pitch that was a home run. They get paid to hit just as much as I get paid to pitch, and besides that one pitch they didn’t score. We ended up losing the lead later in the game, but walking off for the win.

The last game of the series was a tough one for the bullpen. The eighth inning of a 4-1 game ended up being 11-4 after it was all said and done. There were a few close plays that ended up going against us and overall a tough one for the Cards. I think it went something like this:

Single, out, out, single, single, triple, walk, walk, walk, double, home run, home run, out.

That was the line for myself and the two pitchers who came after me. Good riddance to those guys and next time I see them will be Spring Training 2020. I went from thinking I could have a potential scoreless July for the first time in my life and string together a lot of good outings. The Hooks reminded me that the hitters are good in this league and you need to be focused every pitch.

Meeting of the minds

July is behind us and now we are in the final full month of the season. The trade deadline is done and nobody from the Springfield group was traded away. The guy from the Hooks who hit three home runs in the series against us was traded to Arizona, and our pitching staff would have appreciated that trade going through sooner. When scrolling through the Minor League Baseball feature article about the trade, you can forever watch the video of me giving up a home run. You hate to see it.

The final month of the season. A season where I started the first game of extended spring, had a bumpy start in Jupiter, and now starting to feel like a regular bullpen guy in Springfield. My arm feels good for what I’ve put it through so far in my post rehab life. I don’t know when it will feel normal, or what the team has planned for me. I like to think they have a plan for everyone but I know that isn’t the case. Im not sure what most guys are doing at 14 months post op, but I’m sure Cardinal fans are hoping Jordan Hicks is having success at 14 months. I’ve felt better with my breaking pitches and the only way I will get them back to pre surgery breaking pitches is to continue to trust myself with them. It isn’t fun sometimes going into an outing without my best weapon.

Solving the worlds problems

The next five series of the season go like this:

At Arkansas, At Tulsa, Arkansas, At Tulsa, Arkansas.

The next 18 games are against familiar opponents. We have a good report on their hitters and they have a good report on our pitchers. Execution of the pitches is the name of the game. We are on the bus to Arkansas right now and I’m ready to report on the month of August for the Springfield Cardinals.