Birds look to take series win on Blogger Day!
It’s Blogger Day at the ballpark and yours truly along with Scooter will be in attendance to take in the action, as well as, have our annual meeting with Mo. Look for a special episode of the Viva El Birdos Podcast tomorrow morning with the full audio of the conversation!
The St. Louis Cardinals shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 last night behind the spectacular performance of staff leader Sonny Gray, the power pact punches of Pedro Pages and Willson Contreras, and the timely hitting of Brendan Donovan. The Cardinals enter today’s game at 35-28 and gained a game on the first place Chicago Cubs after their loss to Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals are now 4 games back in the division and 1.5 games ahead of the surging Milwaukee Brewers. The Dodgers enter today’s game at 38-26 and still lead the NL West by 1 game as the San Diego Padres continue to keep things close.
The Cardinals will send Erick Fedde to the mound in game 2 and will be opposed by international sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto. For Fedde, command has been the name of the game, his strikeout rate is down 6% from last season and his walk rate is up 3% from a year ago. Nothing in his batted ball profile has changed all that much from last year to this year. More base runners to contend with and less swing and miss in his game will lead to a higher variability in his outcomes and will lead fans to have an experience reminiscent of one John Gant. For Yamamoto, he’s having an excellent season to date, striking out 28.8% of batters and generating a 58% groundball rate. Every 3 out 4 batters are either striking out or hitting the ball on the ground. That’s a more successful recipe than the one Fedde is trying to bake.
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Midwest
How to listen: 1120AM KMOX/104.1FM
First pitch: 1:15 PM CDT
Matchup:
STL: Erick Fedde (3-5 3.82 ERA 5.22 xERA 4.29 FIP 4.89 xFIP)
VS
LAD: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4 2.39 ERA 2.83 xERA 3.01 FIP 2.84 xFIP)
Player to watch:
STL: Alec Burleson – In his last 15 games, Burleson, is 18-50 .360/.407/.600 1.007 OPS with 3 HR and 7 RBI. Burly is back to bombing biscuits at the ballpark and has been part of why the offense has been so sustainably good. Alec has improved his plate discipline swinging at 3% less pitches out of the zone and 5% less in general and his wRC+ is up to 116 from 106 a year ago. After a few extra days off look for Burly to barrel up some baseballs!
LAD: Teoscar Hernandez – In 6 career AB’s against Fedde, Teoscar, has hit 2 HR’s and driven in 6 RBI. This might be a favorable matchup to help Hernandez break out of a slump he’s been mired in over his last 15 games. Going 12-61 .197/.234/.328 .562 OPS which is very unlike Teoscar. Perhaps this will be the one batter Fedde is able to hold down, as it seems every oppositional pick I make seems to perform poorly, maybe I should’ve picked the entire Dodgers lineup?!
Today’s starting lineup vs. the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/E02v4SBcKV
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 7, 2025