Tag: Nolan Arenado

USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner wowed fans with 4 home runs at St. Louis Cardinals batting practice

Even the Cardinals seemed shocked.

After every USMNT exit in the World Cup, non-soccer fans love to make the flawed argument about the U.S. dominating if the nation’s best athletes from other sports all played soccer. Well, U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper Matt Turner undercut that argument in his own way on Tuesday.

And he had the St. Louis Cardinals impressed in the process.

Turner was invited to Busch Stadium to take some batting practice ahead of the USMNT’s Gold Cup match at CITYPARK, and the Arsenal goalkeeper put on an absolute show. Stepping into the box right after star third baseman Nolan Arenado, Turner proceeded to hit four home runs with a sweet lefty swing.

The best part had to be seeing the reactions from Arenado, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol and GM John Mozeliak. They genuinely had to pause and think, “Maybe we should sign this guy?”

Now, Turner had the most unconventional rise to the Premier League and USMNT. He didn’t start playing soccer until he was 14, played college soccer at Fairfield and even spent time in the fourth tier of American soccer (yes, it goes down that far). But before that, he did play baseball, and professional athletes have regularly shown to be gifted at other sports.

Still, four home runs at a big-league ballpark with a future Hall of Famer watching? That was truly impressive.

Fans also enjoyed seeing that hitting display from Turner.

Nolan Arenado brilliantly reverse jinxed himself after Triston Casas asked for a jersey swap

“You can take it. I can’t hit in this thing.”

While ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball certainly has room for improvement, the broadcast’s use of in-game interviews and live microphones offers some great moments for fans watching at home.

That was definitely the case in Sunday’s Cardinals-Red Sox game when ESPN had first baseman Triston Casas mic’d up in the third inning. We got to hear exactly how a (kind of) slumping Nolan Arenado interacted with the opposing first baseman.

In late April and early May, Arenado went through a slump that saw his average drop all the way down to .232. He’s shown signs of breaking out of the rough spell as of late, particularly in the Red Sox series. But the struggles at the plate did lead to a great exchange once Casas asked Arenado for a jersey swap.

Arenado seemingly reserve jinxed himself out of a slump in the process.

When Cases asked to swap jerseys, Arenado responded, “You can take it. I can’t hit in this thing.”

Baseball works in mysterious ways, though. In the sixth inning, Arenado stepped to the plate and drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single to center.

He followed up that hit with a two-run home run in the eighth inning. It was his third home run of the series at Fenway Park.

I think the jersey worked just fine. MLB fans also enjoyed that mic’d-up conversation.

MLB fans crushed this ump for smiling after ejecting Nolan Arenado following an awful call

This ump sure seemed pleased with himself.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before but MLB umps have are having a very bad year.

We’ve seen so many missed calls, so many embarrassing calls, and even an ump acting like a child while throwing a pitcher out of a game.

And now we have another ump who seemed to be a little too unprofessional after ejecting a star player from a game.

This latest instance happened Wednesday night at Wrigley Field when home plate ump John Libka was seen smiling after tossing Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado from the game for arguing over a check swing.

Here was the moment:

Libka sure seemed to enjoy that.

Also, that wasn’t a swing:

Fans were not happy with that ump.

MLB fans were rightfully in awe of this remarkable play by Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt

The play doesn’t even seem possible.

Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt have made some unbelievable defensive plays over the course of their careers. It’s why they have 13 Gold Glove Awards between the two of them. So, when both players can’t hold back their smiles after a play, you know something ridiculous just occurred.

That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night.

During the St. Louis Cardinals’ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Alek Thomas hit a grounder that took a crazy hop off the plate towards the middle of the infield. It was the kind of hop that should have resulted in an infield hit every time. But Arenado is on another level.

Arenado fielded the high bounce with his barehand, and in a fluid motion, fired off a hard throw in the dirt to Goldschmidt. As impressive as Arenado’s effort was, you really can’t overlook that scoop from Goldschmidt. He had almost no time to react to such a hard throw from short range, and yet, Goldschmidt managed to get his glove in the perfect spot for the scoop.

After the game, Goldschmidt tried to play off his part in the Web Gem as luck, but there aren’t many other first basemen who make that play.

MLB fans, of course, were also impressed.

Fúrico, Nolan Arenado empujó al cátcher para hacerlo a un lado y se armó la campal contra los Mets

Ya tenemos nuestra primera (casi) BEISBRONCA de la temporada, amigos. Durante gran parte de esta serie de tres juegos entre los St. Louis Cardinals y los New York Mets, en medio de una oleada de golpes por parte de los pitchers, los ánimos se han …

Ya tenemos nuestra primera (casi) BEISBRONCA de la temporada, amigos.

Durante gran parte de esta serie de tres juegos entre los St. Louis Cardinals y los New York Mets, en medio de una oleada de golpes por parte de los pitchers, los ánimos se han ido caldeando y se ha acumulado mucha tensión. El miércoles, la tensión finalmente encontró una salida.

Los Mets se habían quejado sobre su tasa de golpes por lanzamiento (HBP) esta temporada, que es la más alta de la liga: 19 golpes a sus bateadores, casi el doble del equipo que le sigue en la lista. El martes en la noche, por segunda ocasión esta temporada, Pete Alonso un lanzamiento lo golpeó en el casco e hizo que el pitcher Chris Bassitt hiciera un llamado a la MLB por las pelotas.

Así que para la final del miércoles, los Cardinales muy probablemente estaban esperando las represalias por parte de los Mets. En general, el juego estuvo tranquilo… hasta que J.D. Davis recibió un golpe en el pie por un lanzamiento y tuvo que abandonar el juego en la octava entrada.

Traducción: Un lanzamiento le pega a J.D. Davis en el pie.
Ronnie: “¿Cómo puedes fallar así de mal en un lanzamiento de 3-2?

 

Aunque es difícil imaginarse que alguien golpearía de forma intencional a un bateador en un lanzamiento 3-2, esa bola rápida a 96 mph de Genesis Cabrera tuvo que haber dolido. Así que los Cardinals llegaron nerviosos a la segunda mitad de la entrada por las posibles represalias (porque las reglas no escritas tontas del beisbol y esas cosas). Nolan Arenado comenzó la entrada, y como jugador All-Star de la MLB, era un candidato obvio para recibir un golpe.

Solo que había un problema: el pitcher de los Mets, Yoan Lopez, realmente no le lanzó la pelota a Arenado con la intención de pegarle.

Traducción: Aquí está la secuencia completa que vació las bancas. También pueden ver a Stubby Clapp, entrenador de los Cardinals, tirando a Pete Alonso al suelo, alrededor de los 0:24 segundos.

 

El primer lanzamiento de la entrada quedó ligeramente arriba y adentro, pero no le iba a pegar a Arenado, ni siquiera si no se hubiera quitado.

A Arenado no le importó, empezó a gritarle a Lopez y la situación escaló cuando hizo a un lado bruscamente al cátcher Tomas Nido, quien intentaba tranquilizar a Arenado. Durante esta batalla campal también pudimos ver que Pete Alonso fue tacleado y derribado al suelo.

Vean esto:

Traducción: Los que leen labios no deberían batallar con lo que Arenado está diciendo.

 

Pues no, Arenado no estaba nada contento. Tras el partido, los Cardinals dijeron que se molestaron por el lanzamiento… duh.

Traducción: El mánager de los Cardinals Oli Marmol dijo que “le molestó” cómo los Mets le lanzaron arriba y adentro a Nolan Arenado.
“Cuando lanzas tan arriba y pones en riesgo la carrera y la vida de alguien, sí, claro que me molesta”.

 

Los comentarios de Arenado fueron parecidos.

Traducción: “Simplemente no me gustó en dónde puso (el lanzamiento). Me imaginé que estaba por venir.”. – Nolan Arenado

 

El conflicto principal pareció ser entre Alonso y Stubby Clapp, el entrenador de los Cardinals. Sin embargo, en su mayoría fueron empujones, gritos y jaloneos para frenarse unos a otros.

Traducción: “Soy un tipo grande y fuerte. Si yo quisiera mandar a alguien al hospital, podría hacerlo fácilmente, pero solo estaba tratando de proteger a mis chicos”.
Pete Alonso sobre el entrenador de los Cardinals Stubby Clapp derribándolo durante el incidente:

 

Arenado fue expulsado por su papel en el altercado, y los Cardinals terminaron ganando 10-5.

Los fans del beisbol tuvieron muchas cosas que decir sobre esta escena tan acalorada en St. Louis.

Así reaccionó Twitter:

Traducción 1: Eso más bien fue “arriba”.
Traducción 2: Los Mets lanzan arriba y adentro para Nolan Arenado y se vaciaron las bancas.

 

Traducción: Aquí no hay nada que ver, solo unos cuantos tipos platicando.
Traducción 2: Los Mets lanzan arriba y adentro para Nolan Arenado y se vaciaron las bancas.

 

Traducción: ¿Esto quedó más cerca de ser un strike que de golpearlo?
Traducción 2: Los Mets lanzan arriba y adentro para Nolan Arenado y se vaciaron las bancas.

 

Por donde lo veamos, todo mal.

 

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A livid Nolan Arenado tossed the catcher aside to spark a bench-clearing scuffle with the Mets

BASEBRAWL … kinda.

We have our first (almost) BASEBRAWL of the season, folks.

Tensions had been brewing for much of this three-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets amid a flurry of hit by pitches. And on Wednesday, those tensions finally boiled over.

The Mets have complained about their hit by pitch rate this season, which leads the league with 19 hit batsmen — almost twice that of the next closest team. And on Tuesday night, Pete Alonso was hit on the helmet with a pitch for the second time this season, sparking pitcher Chris Bassitt to call out MLB over the baseballs.

Now, come Wednesday’s finale, the Cardinals were probably expecting retaliation from the Mets. But the game generally went smoothly until J.D. Davis was hit on the foot by a pitch and had to leave the game in the eighth inning.

While it’s hard to imagine anyone intentionally hitting a batter on a 3-2 pitch, that 96 mph fastball from Genesis Cabrera had to hurt. So, the Cardinals went into the bottom half of the inning on edge for that possible retribution (because, baseball’s lame unwritten rules and whatnot). Nolan Arenado led off the inning, and as an MLB All-Star, he was an obvious candidate to throw at.

There was just one problem: Mets pitcher Yoan Lopez didn’t really throw at Arenado.

The first pitch of the inning was slightly up and in, but it wasn’t going to hit Arenado even if he didn’t move out of the way.

Arenado didn’t care. He started shouting at Lopez and the entire situation escalated when catcher Tomas Nido — trying to calm Arenado down — got tossed aside. You can see that Pete Alonso was wrestled to the ground during the bench-clearing incident too.

MLB fans were in awe of Nolan Arenado’s beautiful over-the-shoulder catch

What. A. Catch.

Baseball fans have grown used to Nolan Arenado making beautiful plays with his glove during his nine years in the major leagues. He’s won a Gold Glove Award in each of his first eight seasons, after all, so he knows what he’s doing in the field.

But still, the catch he made during yesterday’s 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates was a total jaw-dropper.

Arenado, who is in his first year with the St. Louis Cardinals, chased a fly ball down the third base line and made a tremendous over-the-shoulder catch with his back to home plate.

Check this play out:

So good.

Twitter had reactions:

The biggest question facing every NL Central team in 2021

SportsPulse: Are the Cubs going to compete or clear house? Will Nolan Arenado lift Cards to new heights? Steve Gardner poses the biggest question facing every NL Central team in 2021.

SportsPulse: Are the Cubs going to compete or clear house? Will Nolan Arenado lift Cards to new heights? Steve Gardner poses the biggest question facing every NL Central team in 2021.

The reported Nolan Arenado trade to Cardinals is a huge bummer for the Rockies

Sorry, Rockies fans.

We all knew that it was only a matter of time until the Colorado Rockies traded star third baseman Nolan Arenado.

It’s been just over a year since the vet known for his bat and terrific defense had some pretty blunt things to say about the state of the team — lots of talk of “disrespect” that made it seem like he was unhappy. But the trade talk from last offseason died down and Arenado played the 2020 season in Colorado.

Now, per multiple reports, he’s off to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he’ll be the centerpiece of a pretty solid lineup on a team that could contend in the National League Central, although the deal isn’t 100 percent complete per USA TODAY Sports‘ Bob Nightengale:

All I can think of with this deal is: the Rockies are once again in a rough cycle of disappointment. Since making it to the World Series in 2007, they’ve made the playoffs three times and never got past the NLDS. Arenado paired with Trevor Story to form an awesome core with vet Charlie Blackmon, and now Colorado faces a reality in which it gave the third baseman so much money and have not much — not even top prospects, per the report above — to show for it, even needing to pay to have his contract off its books.

Now, if I’m Colorado’s front office, it’s time to deal Story next before he potentially leaves next offseason. It’s another rebuild, and that’s just a bummer (but it’s extremely good news for the Cardinals).

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