One Last Game With Dad?

Man...I hate even thinking about that. Dad and I have gone to so many baseball games together over the years. We have created vacation itineraries around teams being "home" so that we could see new ballparks. And here I am now. On the eve of going to a Cardinals game with my Dad and I can't help but think this might be the last game we ever get to see together, live.

It chokes me up.

I was thinking back to all of the different stadiums we have visited together just yesterday. I came up with 14. That's a lot of summer vacations planned around ballgames!

My Dad is the one who gave me my love for both baseball and baseball stadiums. There was nothing I loved more than to be by his side at a ballpark as he kept score (and taught me how) watching the game slowly roll by. For years, we would take a road trip to Chicago to see a Cardinals v. Cubs series at Wrigley Field. Each trip we would stay on Diversey, a long walk to the ballpark, at a hotel that he would always refer to as "The Mighty Comfort". We were there for the "Ryne Sandberg Game" in '84 when Sandberg hit 2 home runs off Bruce Sutter. I believe that is the game I was wearing a replica Tom Herr jersey and I was ruthlessly heckled on our walk back to the hotel. We also once sat next to the great Redd Foxx and his bodyguards a few rows above the first base dugout. Those trips were magical. I still love Wrigley because of my memories with my Dad there.

Today Dad is not doing so well. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about seven years ago and for the most part, he was very highly functioning and had plateaued for a few years. I took advantage of this plateau a few years back and took my Dad with me to Minneapolis to attend a game at the new Target Field. Dad was still able to travel at the time and I knew that it would be our last baseball road trip together. That trip also marked my completion of seeing a game at every active major league ballpark - a journey that my Dad started for me in the early 80's, I was now completing in 2014 just as I should...with my Dad by my side.

That Twins game was bittersweet. I so loved sharing the adventure with Dad and it meant the world to me that I was able to bring it full-circle with him helping me round out my ballpark tour. But, I also knew that he would not remember the game, the feelings, the love.

That brings me back to tomorrow night. Dad has been slipping fast the last eight months. He is no longer on that plateau. He easily gets lost and crowds can be a bit over-bearing for him (and rightly so). So tomorrow night, for the Giants v. Cardinals game we will be there in left field again. A seat very similar in perspective to the ones where he and I saw Bob Forsch throw a no-hitter against the Expos some 33 years ago, in a ballpark that is now long gone. I will insist that we buy a scorecard and a pencil again, just like we did so many times before. We have the scorecard still of Terry Pendleton's first MLB game (I believe he had four or five hits that night). Dad will not be able to keep score any more, that is my job now. I'll offer it up to him several times, but the cognitive ability is just not there anymore to do something that he could do in his sleep for so long.

I hope that I am overreacting. I hope that he is fine at the game tomorrow night and that we can continue to go to games periodically for years to come, but that optimism is fading.

So as we sit there in Busch Stadium tomorrow night, I'll be enjoying every conversation we have about baseball when he was growing up. I'll be reminiscing about our trips out west in 1989 when we saw both the Giants and the A's in one trip. Another trip we took to LA when we were able to see both the Dodgers and the Angels. I'll be thinking about our trip that took us to both Tiger Stadium and to Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. I'll be thinking about our upper deck seats in old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore where the seats were as steep as any I have every climbed to. I'll be thinking about the rich green colors that I always recall when thinking about old Comiskey. I'll think back to he and I squeezed into the tiny seats in Fenway Park, days after we went to Cooperstown in '99.

I'll try to hold back my tears. They are tears of both happiness that I have seen so much with him...and tears of sorrow that those days are behind us now...and way too soon.

Whether tomorrow night is our last game together or not, I'll have a scorecard to remember it by. I'll even be sure to get a photo of the two of us with the beautiful Busch Stadium field behind us. It will be another great memory for me...and another reminder of how cruel Alzheimer's is.

Go Cards!

506 Innings

In 2015, the average MLB needed 506 innings from their relievers. That equates to just over 3 innings of baseball EVERY GAME that needs to be covered outside of your starting rotation.

I think this is a critical number that needs to be looked at closely by teams that want to challenge for a championship...or at least a playoff berth.

We know that relievers can't go every night. In fact, those that rack up even half of the games (81) are often seen to be "over used".

Today, a typical, strong reliever can be counted on for 60-70 innings of work each season. If you are carrying a 7-man bullpen, there is already a gap of 16-86 innings based on 60 innings * 7 pitchers or 70*7. Then you factor in that many teams carry a LOOGY (basically a lefty who is called upon to just record one out of a menacing left handed hitter). So those guys only rack up 30-40 innings a year - causing an even greater gap in needed innings from the relievers.

As we look at the Cardinals for 2016, here's what has to happen to cover the innings needed for the Cardinals to compete:

• Rosenthal 70 innings
• Oh 70 innings
• Braxton 70 innings
• Walden 70 innings
• Maness 70 innings
• Siegrist 70 innings
• Lyons 70 innings

That requires a lot of managerial maneuvering and a solid plan to spread the guys out so they pitch only once every 2.3 games. It is also nice to not have the standard LOOGY - Randy Choate to add additional stress to the pen's needed innings.

It also means that no one gets hurt - or has a horrible season where you can't rely on them to pitch their 70 innings. So every bullpen actually needs to have 2+ guys waiting in the wings that could step into the role of eating these innings at the once every 2.3 games pace.

History tells us that injuries and fatigue will cause most of the 7 bull pen guys to fall short of the 70 innings mark. The Cardinals will likely need to make up a full 70 innings this year from AAA pitchers like Mitch Harris, Sam Tuivailala, Miguel Socolovich, Marco Gonzales and Tim Cooney. If the Cards can somehow get 420 innings from the primary 7 relievers, they continue to pitch above the league average with their starters and the AAA boys can fill in admirably for 10% of the total bullpen innings this team should be in a good position to compete - regardless of what the lineup is able to put on the board.