You know what?... when williams came to the cards last year nobody knew what to expect... we got rid of lankford... that's what mattered... and the games williams pitched.... the fans cheered for him.... he had their support and he didn't falter.... and that wasn't just like two games or so... he pitched well for quite a few games... maybe a change of venue was what he needed to show us the game he really has.... and maybe he can keep that momentum going...
also...for a guy to throw a no-hitter shows talent.... and whether he's able to continue the good pitching only the future knows.... he's had a lot of good quality starts and you can bet there isn't a heck of a lot out there that would convince the cards to give smith up... you dont just throw talent away
I AM THE BEST there is, was and ever will be!!!! Dont you wish that you were me??? no?.... i've got two words for ya!
Smith, even in his no-hitter, didn't blow me away the way that Kerry Wood did in '98 or Roy Oswalt did last season. He seemed like your average No. 3 starter that'll get 15 wins in a good year and 10-12 most other seasons.
His fastball was something like 86 most of that game, which won't cut it unless he has outstanding breaking stuff. He had one backdoor curve during the no-no that knocked my socks off, but outside of that, nothing really.
--------- Agreed. I saw Smith pitch this past year, and while a year isn't much to go on, he reminds me more of Greg Swindell (a decent starter when he came up) than Tom Glavine.
Oh, and Maddux is consistantly around 90-92 with his fastball. That's why he's the 2nd best pitcher in the league, he throws hard and has amazing movement and control.
But, yeah, the Cardinals have to not only be the favorites in their division with the Astros, those are gonna be the 2 top teams in the NL this year most likely.
"You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far." - Adam Duritz
If Williams stays healthy, you can predict something like this for his stats...
12 wins 12 losses 40 HR given up 4.75 era
He's a great guy in the clubhouse, with the fans, in the community, etc. I wish him no ill will at all.
On a team with lesser run production, he would be a 10-14 pitcher. On the Cards, he will make .500 and give you a lot of innings.
I love it when a plan comes together
He basically replaced the innings lost when they sent Hentgen away.
People should never forget how well soft-tossers perform for the Cardinals! John Tudor, Bob (cant dent butter) Tewksbury, and even the gawdawful Kent Bottenfield...
true... the cardinals made kent b. seem like a superstar... didn't the league wonder why the cardinals didn't hesitate in getting rid of him?.... smith seems to be a good pitcher and pitching for a good offensive team will make him that much better.... as for williams... maybe hes a 500 pitcher.... but if he continues to put up a huge number of innings then that will help the bullpen out a lot of ways... and the cards have shown they can outscore opponents too.... they do have an abundance of pitching this year
I AM THE BEST there is, was and ever will be!!!! Dont you wish that you were me??? no?.... i've got two words for ya!
the cardinals made kent b. seem like a superstar... didn't the league wonder why the cardinals didn't hesitate in getting rid of him?
The correct question would be "Why didn't the Angels wonder why the Cardinals didn't hesitated in getting rid of him?" I mean, Jim Edmonds for Bottenfield? Were they on crack?
My question for Guru is: Did you see Williams pitch after he got traded at all? He had a few bad starts at first, but after that he was damn near unhittable. I wasn't sure about him even then, but the playoff game where he outdueled Randy Johnson made a believer of me.
Well, he rarely served up the longball as a Card, and just as importantly, if he did, he didn't give up walks. Schilling had somewhere around 30-40 homers last season, and it rarely hurt him because so few people were on base. Same with Williams. I understand what you are saying, but I still give him a 50/50 chance of doing well next year.
Maybe my man Richie Sexson will get the nod at 1b for the NL then. Kickass. In all seriousness, usually one or two stadia have the ballotting before others. It'll even out, since every stadium gets an even number of ballots.