DISASTER: Helsley’s Third Straight BLOWN SAVE Dooms St. Louis Cardinals | Will Oli Make a CHANGE?

DISASTER: Helsley’s Third Straight BLOWN SAVE Dooms St. Louis Cardinals | Will Oli Make a CHANGE?

ryan Hley blows yet another save but don’t expect for his role to change anytime soon You are Locked on Cardinals your daily St Louis Cardinals podcast part of the Locked On Network your team every day Hey there Cardinal fans I’m JD Hafford and I am your host for Lock on Cardinals part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day Follow me on Ax JD Sports Radio the podcast at L_Cardinals on YouTube as well Make sure you like subscribe and comment Hit that notification button so you don’t miss out on things Also available on Tik Tok and Instagram at locked on Cardinals This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on the bat Today’s episode brought to you by Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money Use code lock on MLO at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat felt a little bit of both on Monday night as the Cardinals almost steal one away from the Toronto Blue Jays only to see their closer give up the lead again which eventually led to a 5 to4 loss in 10 innings at Bush Stadium in a game that was about as boring as it can get for seven innings if you’re a Cardinals fan I’m sure Blue Jays fans were having a good time but not much going on for the Cardinals Almost nothing happened for them offensively for seven innings It was uh quite a ride over the final three frames though that’s for sure Trailing three to nothing the Cardinal would mount a two-out comeback that saw them take the lead on a three-run home run by Ivon Herrera And um basically after taking a trip down Borafil Lane for most of the night the Cardinals miraculously had a 4 to3 lead with just three outs to go Hell’s bells rings out and the reigning NL closer of the year comes out of the gate to close things out against the bottom of the Toronto order But in an all too familiar scene this season especially recently this didn’t happen Ryan Hley was able to get the first out although it was a bit of a struggle Had had him 02 Count ends up going full before getting the pop out to Mason W You’re two outs away from a phenomenal comeback victory Insteps the mighty nine-hole hitter for the Blue Jays Jonathan Class 23-year-old who in six seasons of professional baseball has 51 total home runs So not exactly a major power threat stepping into the box He’s the number nine hitter for a reason How’sley falls behind in the count two to one and then lays an absolute cookie right down the middle and Class slams it 107 mph off the bat 415 ft solo home run to tie the game Unbelievable Unbelievable The Hell’s reaction to it said it all if you were watching the oh no crouch and then stare as the ball sails deep into the stands in center field into the bleachers I I think we probably all said the same thing It might have been what Helley said while he was crouched on the mound area there when it happened You’ve got to be kidding me All the momentum that Bush Stadium had was immediately sucked out like megaade from the Space Balls the movie Toronto would end up winning the game five to four in 10 innings The Hell’s experience has been it’s been a whole lot different than what we saw last year That’s for sure when he set a Cardinal franchise record with saves uh 49 of those That’s now three straight blown saves all in the last five days Five blown saves on the season Mind you Helley blew four saves all of last year and he’s already passed that He’s got five already this season Also the third home run he’s given up tying the amount that he gave up all of last season After the game he spoke with the media uh about what’s going on with him and uh said “I’m just trying to see the positives and everything Learn from it and take it one day at a time That’s all I can do.” Uh the obvious suggestion that I have is uh don’t throw the ball right down the middle 100 miles per hour although in theory sounds awesome not quite as special as it used to be but it’s still freaking awesome Is certainly more hitable when it’s as straight as Helsley throws it and it’s right down the middle if he’s living on the edges with that he’s probably getting that guy out Not what happened here And as frustrating as it is with the way things are going with the blown saves they haven’t all been like this You know it hasn’t been him giving up you know a longfly tater to to blow the game and ruin everything Um Ali pointed out after the game that you know there’s been some randomness to not only Monday’s game in general but to Helley’s recent blown saves I mean Hley even brought it up saying you know against Kansas City I got the double play ball and it just happened to be right up the middle And then against the Dodgers the ball hits the second base bag Talking about Show Otani’s uh base hit in the in the ninth there And he’s like I strike out the side and somehow I still give up a run You know it’s um the closer role is a very volatile role You know you get all the accolades and everything when you when you do your job but it is magnified a million times when you don’t because it feels like you’re the one who screwed everything up for for the team And uh it’s tough place to be It’s not an easy job by any means And um you know we talked about that saying that tonight I was just challenging the number nine hole guy Class A and trusting my stuff He put a good swing on it and I have to tip my hat Yeah I mean that that is what happened I mean these guys are major league hitters for a reason Uh it’s just just such a crushing defeat after being able to come back from where you were for seven innings where this team looked like they were asleep at the wheel Like I was like nodding off watching it I was like “Oh my gosh can is there anything happening here?” when I started uh you know putting together my notes for the for the game I’m like I got nothing to talk about Nothing has happened and then you get just wildness over the last three frames and unfortunately uh it doesn’t fall the Cardinals way So I got more on Hley We’re going to talk about the offensive as well Headscratching moment in the 10th inning that I’m I’m curious about but uh we’re going to get to all of it coming up next on Locked on Cardinals Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trade Supply house Whether it’s plumbing whether it’s HVAC electrical work supply house is the reliable way to order products online Their easytouse website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product information to help you get the job done right which is what we all aspire to do right uh plus with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands you’re going to find exactly what you need delivered fast coast to coast And if you happen to need some help with an order Supply House offers expert support and industryleading service so that you’re always going to be able to talk to a real person It’s not AI It’s not you punching buttons on your phone It is a real human being on the other side helping you through whatever it is you need And for trade pros if you’re looking for an extra edge their free tradem program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order Thousands of skilled professionals are already taking advantage And now it’s your turn So join the tradem program today at supplyhouse.com/tm and start ordering your plumbing your HVAC and electrical supplies with just a few clicks Plus you can use the promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order That’s promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order That’s supplyhouse.com Thank you again for making Lock on Cardinals your first listen every day Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Axe anytime you want We got a whole lot of feedback after last night’s game People just enraged about what’s going on with Ryan Hley Um and you know there are a lot of people who are like trade him get him off my team And that’s not going to happen You know maybe something towards the trade deadline maybe but it’s not going to happen They’re not just shipping this dude out on a Tuesday Stop it It’s not going to happen But as I pointed out yesterday if you listen to yesterday’s show it’s been a it’s been a journey Just about every time Helmsley takes the mound this year lot of traffic on the base paths uh whether it’s walks whether it’s hits you know opponents uh batting average against him it’s climbed significant climbed significantly each year since 2022 128 is what the batting average against was in 2022 which is insane 176 in 2023 which is still incredible 210 last year still awesome And so far this season though Chip Car’s going to like this one 269 batting average against for Ryan Hley That’s not good That’s not good whatsoever And I was kind of looking at things and he’s become a two- pitch guy Really almost going almost exclusively with the fast ball and slider That nasty 126 curveball that that we’ve seen from him in the past has been has all but vanished really Uh he’s only thrown that thing 22 times this year He has thrown a a cutter in there a few times as well but it is fast ball slider That’s what he’s coming at you with And while opponents are betting just 95 against his slider That’s right 95 They’re betting under a 100 they are hitting a whopping 426 against his four seam fast So that tells me that his pitch placement sucks that he is catching way too much of the plate when he’s throwing that four seam fast ball because when you’re throwing four seams at 100 miles per hour it shouldn’t be that easy to hit Guys should not be hitting 426 against you when you’ve got heat like that And they are And when you see games and people wonder why he’s not throwing the fast ball more which is something that I I have questioned as well like why he just he does he doesn’t trust it It’s because it’s getting clobbered you have a reason not to trust it because it seems like every time he throws it it gets smoked His fastball has a minus5 run value on baseball so while the slider is a plus six But the two go hand in hand You can’t have one without the out the out the other You’re not just throwing slider slider slider slider slider That’s not going to work because a slider isn’t normally meant to be thrown as a strike One sets up the other So he’s just got to be better with the fast ball That’s what this boils down to He’s got to have better pitch placement He’s got to live on the edges He’s got to move it up and down in the zone He’s got to pitch with the fast ball It’s not He’s not throwing it by anybody anymore Nobody’s surprised at 100 miles per hour these days If you throw 100 good for you Looks cool on the radar gun but a lot of people throw 100 now It’s not as special as it used to be So you can’t just throw it past people It’s not gonna work because the VO is still there There’s nothing wrong with how hard he’s throwing 98th percentile Chase percentage in large part due to that slider 85th percentile But the bottom line is this is their guy for the Cardinals Like it’s don’t expect any changes here That’s not going to happen They’re not they’re not going to punt on the reigning NL closer of the year because of one bad week You know like watching the postgame press conference with Ali last night he’s you there’s no like like he his faith in Ryan Hley hasn’t gone anywhere You know they give credit to the to the hitter who put a good swing on it Still drives me nuts It’s the number nine hitter Like if there was like Bashette or Vladimir Guerrero Jr I’d be like “Oh man that sucks.” You know those guys are awesome But Class A I mean most people never even heard of this guy uh before the game So that that that’s what stings the most about this But you just got to hope that he can improve That’s really all there is to it and become the guy you saw last year once again He’s not going anywhere in the immediate future So buckle in cuz he’s just got to be better Uh John Denton wrote an interesting piece about some of the issues that I was actually unaware of that that Helsley had in spring training Uh irritation in his toe led to trainers inserting a plate into his shoe something he thought kept him from properly pushing off the mountain which caused a drop in fast ball velocity and regularly remain in triple digit ranges last year This is part of the write up from from Denton Um Helsley said that the chain of events led to some bad habits as he tried to regain his velocity and started overthrowing instead of driving off the the rubber with his legs You know mechanics are a big deal Look what happened to Matthew Liberator in his last game all of a sudden his mechanics got out of whack and he’s throwing like 89 Like things were just not right And same thing goes with these guys in the bullpen You know when his uh when He’s mechanics get out of whack things are going to be different He’s not going to be as good Um he said he fell in a bad habit at the end of spring and early in the season like in the first week and then it showed up for like a month He said “I’ve felt really good these last few weeks but I haven’t had great results.” She goes “Sometimes baseball just happens.” And I know you guys don’t like to hear that as an excuse but it does These guys are all good ball players in their own right Uh he says he’s just trying to keep working stay out there and stay after it So good stuff from Denton Check it out at nlb.com Uh and it’s the you know the mentality that a closer has to have You know if he was so weak-minded that this one week would crush him and just debilitate him for the rest of the the season that would bug you He wouldn’t be a closer would he he he’d be something else uh if he started doubting himself and his stuff that’s when things would get really really ugly And the Cardinals don’t have a backup plan if Ellie weren’t around So um I suppose you could go to a closer by committee if that’s something that you wanted to try but I no team is really interested in doing that You know the the the want to have just guys with their particular roles and just do their jobs that way everybody knows what they’re getting into each and every game You don’t want where everybody’s like I don’t am I up this guy I don’t know You don’t want that You don’t want that So Helley is the guy period They’re not trading him away right now Maybe the deadline That’s something we’ll discuss We got a month and a half until then We brought it up a little bit yesterday Uh but it’s it’s not something that you’re looking to do right now He’s not going to get replaced Nobody else is coming in to be your new closer Phil M is not going to be your closer Stop it Ryan Hley just has to be better He has to be better and I’m sure he’ll work towards doing that So let’s uh let’s root him off Uh we’re going to talk about this offense next I want to talk about that 10th inning as well plus an update on uh Jordan Walker Ivon Herrera’s big hit Obviously that was fun So we’ll get into all of that next coming up on Locked on Cardinals Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out whether it’s fast food or real restaurants all of it’s expensive these days Online shopping you got to go grab simple things like detergent or uh toilet paper stuff like that the basic essentials Like all of a sudden you’re starting to just turning out money And what about entertainment fun things like going to the ball game Uh it’s easy to lose track of where your money’s going And that’s where Monarch Money comes in to be your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances And Monarch Money it’s not just a budgeting app It’s a complete financial command center where you can track all of your accounts your investments and your spending You get to do it all in one place too There’s no bouncing around to different areas Like it’s one app Monarch Money 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beginning the offense had little to no success against Blue Jay starter Jose Barios uh who went six and two/3 innings no runs four hits and he’s not even a big strikeout guy Uh just kind of had the guys off balance A lot of popups last night Um things just didn’t turn until he was out of the game right you know like they had him in there and uh he had the Cardinals just like we did didn’t know what was coming at us And um the Cardinals though is as soon as he got out of the game you saw the momentum shift and you saw them strike in that eighth inning and they got to do it with two outs which was pretty impressive Uh credit to Victor Scott II I mean we know how much he’s been struggling at the plate Doesn’t have a hit yet in June Is betting 136 over his last 78 plate appearances but they’re riding with him You know how we we talk about runway for guys like Gorman although you know he hasn’t had nearly as much as we thought he was going to get but Jordan Walker Victor Scott as well Like they’re not benching this guy They’re not they’re not going to call Michael Ciani in to save the day and all of a sudden start him in center field Like Victor Scott is the guy They’re rolling with him and they just you know they’re going to get try to get him out of this funk that he’s in at the plate But he works that lead off walk which was uh outstanding you know cuz he got remember the one strike call was way outside the ump was like oh I did call that didn’t I so on the last pitch which could have been called a strike way closer than the pitch that was previously called a strike they call it a ball he gets on you saw the uh pitch for the for the Blue Jays he was like what the but Victor gets on um you know and I felt good for him there because despite all the struggles at play despite the unfortunate home run that went off his glove in center field to make it three to nothing You know it’s like when things go bad they really go bad Uh but he works that walk in the eighth Mason W gets a single and then with two outs you get the RBI single by Wilson Contrarus which set up the moment for Ivon Herrera who delivers with a bang yet again I mean how much do you love this guy how much do you love Ivon Herrera three-run rocket into the camera well in left field corner giving the Cardinals a four to three lead just pandemonium at Bush Stadium The place was alive The offense has this never quit attitude and they’ve played with it for most of this year and it just about got them a win in a game that honestly seemed dead and gone long ago Like nobody figured that they would that all of a sudden they would just come back and and swipe the lead but they were able to do it Unfortunately uh you know Hley wasn’t able to close the door but five of Herrera’s seven home runs this season have either tied the game or put the Cardinals into the lead Like he’s just been as clutch as anyone can ask him to be And it sucks that it got wasted You know he did it against the Royals on Thursday but kind of eerily similar to what happened here Helley unable to shut the door Royals stole the win in that one Blue Jays steal a win in this one Uh so that was unfortunate but you know it is awesome seeing Avon Herrera you know blossoming the way he has so far this year You wonder where his numbers would be if he hadn’t missed that month with the bone the bone bruise in in his leg So um I do want to talk about the 10th inning real quick So after the Cardinals go down in the ninth Victor Scott made the last out So you’re like “All right we got our speedster starting the starting the extra innings at second base Fastest guy on the roster You’re down one run after the Blue Jays scored in the top of the tenth and you’ve got the struggling Lars newbar coming to the plate and I think myself and the rest of the world expected a bunt attempt of some sort there and it didn’t happen I I was shocked why no bunt attempt and I haven’t seen Ali talk about this yet Uh my thing is though that Lars has looked just terrible recently like he looks terrible at the plate Taking some of the most unnoot at bats we’ve ever seen Just wild swings at pitches that are really not even all that close to being strikes And for a guy that’s got that eagle eye that we’re used to seeing it’s been weird Uh Brennan Donovan looked weird last night too Swinging at a bunch of bad pitches just flailing away Uh but Nude had two more strikeouts on Monday giving him 32 in his last uh 105 plate appearances with just eight walks That’s not normal His career strikeout percentage is 20.1% and over the last month he’s at 30% So a significant increase in the strikeouts right now for Lars Newar He he’s really fighting it Uh also batting just 215 in that same time span The OBP has dipped to 286 over that time span as well You know when things were were really cooking for this offense it was N that was setting the tone with his long and exhausting at bats getting a lot of walks If he wasn’t walking he he was punching a hit or two in there Obviously he was hitting the long ball as well And that is just not happening at the moment And I I’m sure he’s working really hard to get it back on track but it’s certainly a reason why this offense has looked a little more sluggish in recent weeks I don’t want to say they’re they’re overall struggling I mean they’ve faced some pretty good pitching so it’s not like you know they’re they’re getting beat by a bunch of scrubs but uh both him and Victor Scott struggling at the same time and then hitting back to back at you know in the nine hole and the number one hole has shortened this lineup a little bit So uh that’s a big reason why the the sluggishness is showing up in this Cardinal offense from time to time Um but again with N struggling the way he is I was just a little surprised that they didn’t even try to bunt to move Victor over to third base that way with his speed You’ve got a number of different ways to get him home and tie the game Whether it’s a wild pitch pass ball ground ball Mason Win hits a ground ball up the middle that moves him over to third eventually But that ground ball probably scores him you know uh barring some miraculous play on the infield and a phenomenal throw home that’s got to be perfectly accurate to get somebody as fast as Victor Scott You know I just I just found it a little bit odd It was strange uh if N was going strong I then I can understand swinging away a little more but it just kind of felt like that was an opportune time for somebody who’s struggling to to do something positive by getting a bunt down and instead he strikes out again and the Cardinals don’t end up scoring Uh shout out to Andre Palante who was shaky early on I even made the joke on on X I was like is is Palante the new Michael because it just seemed like the Blue Jays were just finding empty spots all over the infield and the outfield just hole after hole And if there wasn’t somebody if there was one little patch of grass that a Cardinal wasn’t standing in that is where the ball landed Like it just was happening that way early on But he settles in nicely makes some adjustments ends up getting a quality start six innings allows just two runs And I know some fans are are wishing Michael McGrevy was the guy getting these starts instead of Andre Palante but um you know you got to give Palante credit overcame that rough start to give the Cardinals exactly what they needed last night to stay in the game and it worked because the Cardinals come back and take the lead in the eighth inning So he did his job kept it right there Uh just didn’t weren’t able to finish it off U some injury updates Jordan Walker has uh shown significant progress IC batting practice painfree for a second straight day Uh per manager Ali Marmal expected to start a minor league rehab assignment on Thursday Thank God As frustrating as it has been to watch Jordan Walker go through the struggles this year although he was hit much better before he got hurt I can’t watch Ryan Valade hit anymore It is driving me bonkers He is now one for 13 with five strikeouts since getting called up I I can’t watch it anymore I don’t want to see it anymore which hopefully means he’s going to get a couple hits tonight But I can’t I can’t He does It’s It’s not working It don’t look good And I’m over it I’m over it Uh Matthew Liberator appears good to go on Wednesday uh after leaving his start with the fatigue Uh has had a couple rough starts his last two times out It’s been a big piece of the turnaround this season for the Cardinals So hoping for a nice bounceback game from him on Wednesday It’s a day game And then uh tonight Tuesday it’s Miles Michaels against Chris Basset Nichlas 4-2 with a 3.96 RA against Bassid 6 and3 3.56 ERA really good in his last outing uh against the Phillies but he did get lit up in his two previous starts against the Rays and the Athletics So hopefully we get that version of Chris Basset tonight not the one that took on Philadelphia Thanks for making Lockton Cardinals your first listen every day If you haven’t already give us a follow on X at L_Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio Tik Tok Instagram at Lockton Cardinals Please like and subscribe on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow Every you know you hear this about YouTube videos all the time that you know only like 4% of the actual viewers are subscribed Help us out man Help me out We’re we’re trying to push to 13,000 subscribers on the channel We’re uh we’re kind of hitting around 12.2 at the moment could use as many subscribers as possible to help uh once again our love for the Cardinals grow Have it reached some other people some Cardinals fans who may not know about us yet So uh do me a solid if you don’t mind and uh please subscribe You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason We’ll see you next time on Locked On Cardinals

Ryan Helsley’s struggles deepen as St. Louis falls to Blue Jays. Can the Cards overcome their bullpen woes?

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