NEWS » The month of August has been great for rookie pitcher Jack Fla

ST. LOUIS (AP) —herty and the St. Louis Cardinals.Flaherty allowed just one run in seventh innings and Jose Martinez and Tyler O’Neill homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 Tuesday night in Mike Shildt’s first game since being promoted to full-time manager.Flaherty (8-6) retired his first 12 batters and gave up one run and four hits with no walks. He is 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in five August starts. Flaherty has allowed only 14 hits and three runs in 32 innings http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authentic-david-ross-jersey , walking nine and striking out 38 batters in those starts.The recipe for his success is simple, Flaherty said.“Get ahead and stay ahead. Try not to get into deep counts and try to stay from a 3-2 count,” Flaherty said. “Try to make things happen quick. Move the ball in and out. Trust in my stuff.”A meeting two weeks ago with Cardinals legend Bob Gibson inspired Flaherty.“I got the chance to talk to him,” Flaherty said. “I asked him what his mentality was every time he went out. I haven’t talked to him since then but it’s more on me to reach out to him and than the other way around.”Flaherty improved to 3-1 against the Pirates.“He’s gotten better the more we’ve faced him I think as this season has shown,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “His stuff has gotten better, the consistency of it, the execution of pitches.”The Cardinals have won six of seven and are 20-5 in August. Earlier in the day, St. Louis took off the interim tag on Shildt, who was put in charge after Mike Matheny was fired last month a day before the All-Star break.St. Louis is 27-12 under Shildt. He was rewarded with a contract through 2020 after guiding the Cards back into playoff contention.“He’s been doing his thing and he hasn’t tried to do too much,” Flaherty said about Shildt. “He hasn’t tried to change anything. It’s just been him. I think the biggest thing is for everybody to be themselves and he’s done the same thing. I’m just happy for him.”The Pirates have lost eight of 10.Bud Norris pitched the ninth for his 28th save in 32 opportunities.Martinez hit a two-run homer in the first off Ivan Nova (7-9). Martinez connected for his 16th homer after Matt Carpenter reached base on an infield single.“I was trying to drive a ball middle in and he threw it there and I hit it out,” Martinez said.O’Neill hit a 436-foot homer into the left field bleachers in the fourth inning for a 4-0 lead. Martinez singled ahead of O’Neil’s drive.“The command, it was not as sharp as it was last time,” Nova said. “I gave up two two-run homers. The first home run, I thought that was a really good pitch that the guy just jumped on. The other one was down the middle of the plate. It’s frustrating.”Josh Bell scored both runs for the Pirates. He doubled in the fifth and Colin Moran hit an RBI single.Bell drew a leadoff walk from reliever Jordan Hicks in the eighth, took third on a bloop single by Moran and scored on a double play.Paul DeJong was hit by a pitch to start the St. Louis eighth and an apparent two-run homer by Jedd Gyorko was overturned in a crew chief review. Gyorko was given a double and he was pulled because of discomfort in his left groin. Greg Garcia’s single made it 5-2.Gyorko said he hurt himself leaving the batter’s box. He said it’s “tightness” and he will be looked at Wednesday.“I thought it was a home run,” Gyorko said about his hit. “I ran around the bases. I haven’t looked at it yet.”TRAINER’S ROOMPirates: Josh Harrison didn’t start for the second consecutive game after tweaking his left hamstring Saturday running from first to third. He walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base.Cardinals: 2B Kolten Wong was put on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain Kyle Hendricks Jersey , retroactive to Aug. 26. Wong, who injured his hamstring while running out a ground ball in Saturday’s game in Colorado, was batting .244 with eight home runs and 32 RBI in 110 games.WACHA STARTStarter Michael Wacha (left oblique strain) left in the third inning with a trainer at Double-A Springfield after allowing five earned runs on six hits in 2 1-3 innings Tuesday against Arkansas. He threw 52 pitches and exited because of fatigue, the Cardinals said. Wacha, who will be evaluated Wednesday, went on the disabled list June 21 and has missed 60 games.ROSTER MOVEWith Wong going on the disabled list, the Cardinals recalled INF Patrick Wisdom from Triple-A Memphis. Wisdom, 27, is batting .288 with 15 home runs and 61 RBI in 107 games for Memphis. Wisdom was purchased from Memphis on Aug. 11 and played in nine games for the Cardinals, batting .333 (4 for 12) with a home run and three RBIs. He had played in 747 career minor league game before his major league debut.UP NEXTPirates: RHP Trevor Williams (10-9, 3.44) has allowed just four runs in his last seven starts covering 42 innings. He is 2-4 with a 6.93 ERA in 10 career appearances, including seven starts against St. Louis. He is 1-2 in four starts this year.Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (13-9, 2.94) allowed a season-high 12 hits and five runs in 4 2-3 innings in last Friday’s start at Colorado. He lost to the Pirates on June 1 at Busch Stadium. The winner of this year’s pre-season contest was apparently a time traveler who knew way more about how bad this team would be than the rest of us."Before the season began, denizens of Camden Chat embarked on their annual tradition: the pre-season contest. It happens during spring training, when everyone is at their most optimistic. Even in years when the Orioles will end up being terrible, the answers to the the contest skew positive. In March of 2018 Mike Montgomery Jersey , we were so innocent. Even those of us who thought the Orioles would be bad this year couldn’t fathom the depths to which they’d fall. Could anyone have predicted a 115-loss season? A trade deadline fire sale? Finishing 60 games out of first? Even the most ardent of pessimists wouldn’t make those predictions. Something has to be pretty awful to be described as a dumpster fire. A dumpster fire isn’t a typical losing season, it’s worse than that. A dumpster fire is exactly what the 2018 season turned out to be. I would have said that nobody could predict it, and yet one person did. The winner of the 2018 Camden Chat Pre-Season Contest is DumpsterFire2018, with 19 questions answered correctly! Congratulations to this mystery person. There is no member of Camden Chat with this user name, no way to know more about this prescient entry. How did DF2018 know? Did they have inside information? Are they a time traveler, back to warn the March versions of ourselves of our impending doom? I need to know more, and yet I probably never will. In second place, with 18 questions answered correctly, are Camden Chat regulars dfa and HIO’sFan. Congrats to you two, as well, for being sufficiently pessimistic. There was a six-way tie for third place, one of whom was blog dad Mark Brown (aka Eat More Esskay). In total we had 351 entrants into the contest. You can see the full results here.A big thanks to my friend fart_shoes (not his real name) for creating a well organized and low maintenance spreadsheet for me to work with. Now, let’s get down to the answers. Which will be higher? Walks by Adam Jones or home runs by Mark Trumbo? Winner - Jones (24-17). This was shaping up to be a good race until Trumbo got injured down the stretch. Also I love Adam Jones but only 24 walks? Wow. Even Tim Beckham had more than that and he only played in 96 games.76% of you chose correctly. Start by Hunter Harvey or stolen bases by Manny Machado? Winner - Machado (8-0). Poor Hunter Harvey, injured again. 71% of you chose correctly. Outfield starts by Austin Hays or Mark Trumbo? Winner - Trumbo (19-0). When this contest was written it seemed a no-brainer that Hays would be in Baltimore sooner rather than later. Just another thing to add to the dumpster fire. 33% of you chose correctly. Saves by Brad Brach or Zach Britton? Winner - Brach (11-4). The idea behind this one was to get an idea of how long people thought Britton would be out with his injury. Then they both got traded, though Brach still ended the year as the saves leader (Mychal Givens picked up nine). 66% of you chose correctly. Home Runs byColby Rasmus or starts by Mike Wright? Winner - Wright (2-1). If you would have told me that Wright would make two starts this season, I would agree that sounds about right. I guess what most of us didn’t see coming was that Rasmus would be a quitting quitter who quits http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authentic-david-ross-jersey , leaving the team after playing only 18 games. 16% of you chose correctly. HR hit by Trey Mancini or allowed by Kevin Gausman? Winner - Mancini (24-23). If Gausman had remained with the Orioles this season, he would have blown Mancini out of the water. Instead he was traded at the deadline, freezing his total at 23. At the time, Mancini had just 13, but finally topped Goose on September 26th with his final dinger of the season. 63% of you picked correctly. Chris Davis strikeouts or Chris Tillman walks+hits? Winner - Davis (192-59). Well, this one didn’t turn out as planned. 74% of you chose correctly. Dylan Bundy ERA+ or Jonathan Schoop RBI? Winner - Bundy (76-40). Both of those numbers are lower than we expected, I think. Also counting stats don’t really work out when the player is traded. I wouldn’t have ever guessed they’d trade Schoop though (Go Brewers!). 59% of you chose correctly. Questions right in this contest, Mark or Stacey? Winner - Mark (17-12). When posing this question I brazenly bragged about the fact that I always beat Mark in this contest. But in a land of pessimism, Mark is king. 29% of you chose correctly. Over/UnderAttendance: 2,000,000. Under - 1,564,192. This is the first time since 2011 that attendance has fallen below two million and the lowest attendance in Camden Yards history. 30% of you chose correctly. Longest winning streak: 6.5. Under. The longest winning streak of the year was four games, from May 9-12. Only three times in the season did they even win three games in a row. 31% of you chose correctly. Longest losing streak: 6.5. Over! The longest losing streak the team had was nine games from June 7-16. They had a eight separate losing streaks of at least six games. 52% of you chose correctly. Number of All Stars: 1.5. Under. Only Manny Machado attended the All Star Game for the Orioles, where he acted like a movie star who had just gotten his big break. Before play began in the second half he had been traded to the Dodgers. 20% of you chose correctly. Team ERA: 4.50. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Oops, I mean: Over. Of the 30 pitchers the Orioles used this year Jose Quintana Jersey , only nine of them individually had an ERA under 4.50. Three of them were traded at the deadline and one was Danny Valencia. 42% of you chose correctly Starting pitchers used: 9.5. Over - 14. Four of those 14 made only one start. Most of those 14 were terrible. 49% of you chose correctly. Who will be the first...Oriole to hit a home run? Adam Jones (3/29). Only 34 of you picked Adam! The most common answer was Machado (33%). Oriole to pitch a complete game? Dylan Bundy (5/24). Bundy was the second most common answer to Gausman. 24% of you chose correctly Team that sweeps the Orioles? Astros (4/2-4/4). They made it all the way to the second series of the year! 30% of you chose the Astros. Not a bad pick. Team the Orioles sweep? Mets (6/5-6/6). Frankly I’m surprised they swept anyone. Only three of you picked the Mets! Wow. Minor leaguer called up? Jimmy Yacabonis. He wasn’t a popular pick, just 11 of you correctly chose Yac. Austin Hays was the most common answer. Who will lead the team in...Home runs? Machado and Mancini (24). Machado left the team in late July but this section of the contest is pretty much the Manny show. At least Trey tied him in this one. 40% of you chose Manny to win this category. 9% chose Trey. OPS (min 350 PA)? Manny - .963. 58% of you chose correctly. Appearances out of the bullpen? Manny Mychal Givens (69). It was a close race for awhile between Givens and Miguel Castro, but Mike pulled away at the end. 55% of you chose Givens, the most common answer. ERA as a starter (min 10 starts)? Gausman (4.43). Cashner could have caught him, but a bad start at the end and an injury knocked him out. Go Braves! 28% of you chose correctly, Bundy was the most common answer. Walks (as a batter)? Manny - 45. I thought Mancini might catch him but then he only picked up four walks in the entire month of September. Really it’s a testament to how awful this season was that anyone led the team with just 45 walks, much less someone who didn’t even play here half the time. Yes/NoWill Manny Machado be traded before the deadline? Yes, traded to the Dodgers at the All Star Break. I personally voted no because I thought the Orioles wouldn’t be good, but would be just close enough to contention that they would be scared to get rid of him. Only 35% of us actually thought they’d trade him. Will the Orioles end the season at .500 or better? haha, no. Only 37% of people correctly guessed no (including, of course, DumpsterFire2018). And that’s it, folks! Check back in spring for the 2019 contest.