Cardinals v. Brewers (3 Games)

The Cardinals still have not lost a series so far this season and they had this one wrapped up before Game 3 against the Brewers in their first meeting of the season.

Game 1- Braden Looper pitched 5 innings and gave up only one run as the Cards welcomed the Brewers into St. Louis with a reminder that they’re not conceding the division without a fight despite the preseason predictions of baseball know it alls. Cardinals 6 Brewers 1

Game 2- Adam Wainwright pitched 7.2 innings as he continues to look like a real top of the rotation ace giving up only two runs. He also helped himself out by hitting the third homerun of his career. Skip Schumaker hit a homerun as well, and that’s a good thing for him because for about an hour he and Wainwright had the same amount of home runs in their careers at three a piece. Izzy got the save but looked shaky allowing two Brewer runs to score before shutting them down for the win. Cardinals 5 Brewers 4

Game 3- Kyle Loshe again pitched a stellar game leaving after seven innings after allowing only two runs. But the Cardinals offense couldn’t provide enough support and the bullpen collapsed to squander a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth. Brad Thompson allowed the game deciding home run to Prince Fielder in the top of the tenth.
Cardinals 3 Brewers 5

Thoughts
Well we couldn’t complete the sweep, but luckily we had the series wrapped up after game two against the vaunted Brew Crew. The Cards remain a game and a half up on the two teams that most people had competing for the division title this year- the Cubbies, who lost last night to the Reds, and the Crew.

Loshe has continued to look like a stud and pitched into the eighth inning last night before back to back doubles broke the shutout bid and chased him off the mound. Loshe left the game at 3-1 but was charged with another earned run after the man he left on base was allowed to score by Franklin. Loshe is 2-0 and has now given the Cardinals 4 quality starts, two of which have been lost in the late innings by the bullpen. He sports a ridiculously low ERA of 1.48 and if you took away the runs he left for the bullpen to clean up his ERA dips to somewhere around 1. WOW. And we’re only paying this guy 4.5 million? I couldn’t be more pleased with his play thus far. He gives us a chance to win every game and he has looked dominate. If he continues to pitch like this well into the season I think it would be best for the Cards to lock him up for a longer term contract rather than allow him to hit the free agent market. With Loshe the Cardinals can have a power rotation of Wainwright, Loshe, Piniero, Mulder, and Clement. Once ace and former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter comes back in mid season that would give the Cards a surplus of starting pitching and they would have their choice of the best five starters available. Is it possible for a team to have a starting rotation of six guys? That would give everyone an extra day off between starts, but I’m not sure how it would work into their routines. It would also take up a spot on the roster that would be better served with a reliever in the bullpen, but you gotta dream right?

I mentioned it in my last post but I’ll say it again. Ludwick is on a fucking tear right now. That gives him four consecutive games with a homerun (unfortunately, he doesn’t play every day so this means four consecutive games in which he’s played). He is now tied for the team lead with four dingers. This guy is hitting the shit out the ball right now, and he’s helping to make up for a few Cards batters who are slumping or haven’t quite found their stroke yet.

Speaking of homeruns: what the hell is going on with Glaus? He’s been non-existent and his batting only seems to be getting worse. His average is now .218 and his RBIs, which is why I gave him a pass on his low average earlier in the season, have also fallen off. Look at the current list of team homeruns and ask yourself why Molina, Skip Schumaker and a pitcher can hit homeruns, but Glaus can’t. Maybe those allegations of steroids are true?

Ryan Ludwick 4

Rick Ankiel 4

Albert Pujols 3

Chris Duncan 1

Yadier Molina 1

Skip Schumaker 1

Adam Wainwright 1

Honestly, I’m still optimistic Glaus will pull him self out of this shortly, but with an easy schedule and a division lead it would be nice to see him come alive and start helping us pile on a few more wins to help widen the gap before the schedule gets harder and while we’re still waiting on starting pitching to get back. I was, and still am, a huge fan of the Troy for Scotty trade earlier in the year mainly because I think he’s a better bat and the rift between Scotty and LaRussa had become a cancer in the locker room. Sure, I told myself, his glove isn’t the same as Scotty. He’s definitely a downgrade there, but at least he offers a right handed power bat behind Albert. Come on Glaus please pick it up and stop sucking!

The Cardinals get to take on the lowly Giants again and hopefully can extend their lead. They also need to take care of business at home as 12 of their next 16 are in the friendly confines of Busch. They are currently 4-0-1 in series play this season and the one split came in a four gamer in San Fran.

NL Central Division Standings

St. Louis 11-5

Milwaukee 9-6

Chicago 9-6

Pittsburgh 7-8

Cincinnati 7-9

Houston 6-10

Next Up: San Francisco Giants (3 Games)

146 games to go

Cardinals v. Giants (4 Games)

Still in first place and coming off a seven game road trip and 13 consecutive games without a break, the Cards get much needed rest today to gear up for a big home series against the Brew Crew in a Central Division showdown. Here’s how the series against the Giants played out:

Game 1- Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings and gave up four earned runs in his first loss of the season. The Cardinals couldn’t produce much on offense and scored only one run in the ninth inning. Cardinals 1 Giants 5

Game 2- Kyle Loshe saw his scoreless inning streak end at 15 but gave up only two runs in 5 1/3 innings as the Cards bats finally came to life. Pujols and Ryan Ludwick hit homeruns and the 1-2 combination of Schumaker and Barton at the top of the order gave Pujols opportunities to put men across as his homer in the fifth was a three run shot. Cardinals 8 Giants 2

Game 3- Giants pitcher Matt Cain pitched a no hitter into the seventh inning until Albert’s double broke it up. He left the game with a 5-0 lead, but the Giants bullpen fell apart as the Cards capitalized in extra innings. Duncan, Ankiel, and Ludwick all homered and Duncan also put across the deciding run with a double in the tenth inning to top off a miraculous come back victory. Cardinals 8 Giants 7

Game 4- Looking to give some of his starters some much needed rest, Tony LaRussa gave Albert Pujols and Troy Glaus the day off while moving his lineup around. Joel Piniero came off the DL but gave a rocky start pitching only 3 2/3 innings and allowing six earned runs. Ryan Ludwick provided the only bright spot as he connected for his third homer in as many games. Cardinals 4 Giants 7

Thoughts
The Cardinals were unable to win four consecutive series to open the season, but still remain on top of the Central Division. Joel Piniero is back but looked rusty in his first start, but hopefully he’ll get better and give us the quality pitching we’re going to need to continue our winning ways. The good news is that we still haven’t lost a series yet going 3-0-1 thus far. Another good thing to see is Chris Duncan finding his stroke and Troy Glaus continuing to put things together. Glaus still hasn’t hit a homerun yet, but he’s hit a few that have bounced off the wall and has been improving his batting average while pushing runners across.

With Ludwick coming to life over the past three games the Cardinals have seen a lot of power bats early on. Here’s a list of the current top three home run hitters on the team:

Rick Ankiel 4

Albert Pujols 3

Ryan Ludwick 3

The hope is that these three will continue to put up these kind of power numbers while Duncan and Glaus should be adding themselves on to this list shortly.

I can’t believe how well we’ve started off this year, admittedly against sub-par competition. The real test will begin tomorrow as the Cardinals start a three game home stand against the Milwaukee Brewers. Most people had the Brew Crew winning this division in a battle against the Cubbies, and no one expected the Cardinals to be much of a player in the division. This will be the first real test for the Redbirds against a quality team with good starting pitching and a mean power lineup. Honestly, this series has the potential to be real ugly unless the Cards can continue to improve on their hitting and the pitching can continue to hold steady. Currently the Cards rank first in team ERA, ninth in opposing batting average, eighth in OPS, first in saves, seventh in WHIP, and eighth in quality starts (all rankings are in the NL). The steadily improving offense is fifth in batting average, runs scored, and slugging percentage while ranking second and third in on base percentage and OPS respectively. Let’s hope these numbers hold up in against Milwaukee who are only a half game out of first place behind the Cards.

The good news is that no matter how this series with the Brewers turns out the Cardinals face a relatively easy schedule the rest the way through April. Of the remaining 16 games in April, the Cards face the Brewers five times (three at home and two on the road). Of the remaining eleven games the Cards face San Francisco at home for three, two away at Pittsburgh, and three home games apiece against Houston and Cincinnati. With Mulder hopefully coming back in the first-second week of may and Clement coming later that month this is good news for the Cards and a good chance for them to pad their Central Division record before the real competition starts.

NL Central Division Standings

St. Louis 9-4

Milwaukee 8-4

Chicago 7-5

Pittsburgh 6-6

Cincinnati 6-7

Houston 5-8

Next Up: Milwaukee Brewers (3 Games)

149 games to go

Cardinals v. Astros (3 Games)

As we awoke this morning we found our beloved Redbirds in an unfamiliar place. First place that is. Yes indeed with a win last night against the Houston Astros, the Cards have taken a ½ game lead in the Central Division for the first time since 2006 (you know.. the year we won the World Series). Here’s a quick recap of this series and then we’ll get right into my thoughts on our first place team.

Game 1- Todd Wellemeyer probably pitched the best game of his career, but still couldn’t get the win. He gave up back to back home runs to Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee in the seventh inning which wiped away his shut out chances. Kelvin Jimenez came in and gave up another run in the eighth to make it 3-0. But the Cardinals made a frantic comeback in the top of the ninth with Troy Glaus bringing Miles home and Ryan Ludwick doubled to bring Izturis and Glaus home right after to tie the game at three. But it wasn’t to be as rookie Kyle McClellan gave up a two run walk-off homer to Miguel Tejada in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
Cardinals 3 Astros 5

Game 2- Brad Thompson ended the impeccable start to the season for the starting rotation by giving up three runs in four innings before being replaced by Anthony Reyes. Reyes, on the other hand, gave the Cardinals a chance by pitching three scoreless innings, before Franklin took his place in the eighth and Izzy in the ninth. Down 3-2 in the sixth, Adam Kennedy singled to score Chris Duncan to tie the game, and in the eighth Troy Glaus doubled to bring in Duncan and Pujols for the deciding runs. Cardinals 5 Astros 3

Game 3- Braden Looper allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings and Flores allowed the other, but the Cardinals’ bats finally came to life to seal this win. Pujols hit his first two homers of the season in consecutive at bats in the seventh and ninth to decide the game.
Cardinals 6 Astros 4

Thoughts
Welcome back Albert! Apparently, during game two Pujols slid into Houston catcher J.R. Towles’ legs that some have called a cheap shot. Pujols did call Towles after the game to apologize for the hard slide and both said that the subject was dead after that. But was it? Oh no. During batting practice the next day Houston pitcher Brandon Backe got into a heated argument with Pujols about his slide into Towles, which ended with coaches and players having to step in between the two before anything physical happened. Oh Brandon… (shaking head) You poor little man… I’m embarrassed for you… When will you learn not to wake the sleeping giant? Albert decided the matter, and asserted his manliness, that night in Houston as he single handedly decided the game with two giant pecker-smacks in the seventh and ninth innings to seal the win. Good to see you back Albert. With those two homeruns that projects Albert’s full season total to 36. I hope Mr. Backe won’t forget what happens when you tangle with El Hombre again as it appears he forgot what happened to his former teammate and former Houston closer Brad Lidge a few years ago in the NLCS. If you’ve forgotten… Here's What Happened

Lesson: Don’t fuck with Albert.

In other news, the Cardinals have gained soul possession of first place in the NL central after opening 7-2 this season. Can’t remember the last time we started the season so well? Neither can I. So I did a little research and this is what I’ve come up with:

The last time we opened the season 7-2 was in 2000. Only the 1982 Cards team opened the first ten games of the season with an 8-2 record. With Adam Wainwright pitching tonight this Cardinals team could match that. Furthermore, in the past 40 years only five other Cardinals teams have opened the season with a record of 5-1 (as this 2008 team did before it lost the first game of the series to Houston). So that’s a pretty impressive start.

What makes it more impressive is that we’re doing it with a starting rotation that has literally been duck-taped together in the hopes that it’ll hold up until reinforcements come later and with almost no offensive production. The Cards are ranked 11^th out of 16 NL teams in runs scored and eighth out of 16 for RBI. These numbers don’t make a whole lot of sense when you consider that they’re sixth in the national league in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage, fourth in OPS, and first in on base percentage. Somehow they’re getting on, and hitting it decently, and yet they’re just not scoring the runs. Give the pitching the credit for the wins then. The Cards are number one in the NL with seven wins and a 2.48 ERA over 80 innings pitched allowing only 25 runs- 22 of which are earned. They are fourth in the NL in batting average allowing opposing teams a .233 average. Nice.

Common sense tells us we can’t expect the pitching to hold up this well all season, but also that our hitting and runs scored can’t continue to be held this low. It’s nice to see that lead off man Skip Schumaker has raised his .000 batting average to .167, which he’ll hopefully continue to improve. Troy Glaus is finally coming around raising his average to .250, and one of last years biggest disappointments, Adam Kennedy, is hitting around .250 as well. Albert Pujols, Rick Ankiel, and, yes, even Yadier Molina are hitting over .300 with BAs of .379, .314, and .308 respectively.

To reiterate an earlier post, the most important thing to do over a 162 game season is to win each series. Right now the Cards are a perfect 3-0 in series play and with a four game series in shitty shitty San Francisco coming up they are looking to expand it to 4-0 while expanding their NL central lead.

Another noteworthy piece of information: Starter Joel Piniero may be coming back into the starting rotation on Sunday against the Giants, which means the bullpen should be receiving a little more dept with Brad Thompson moving back into relief. But LaRussa hasn’t ruled out that Piniero might replace someone else (Looper or Wellemeyer) or could, depending on how happy the coaches are with the current starting rotation, give Piniero one more start in triple A to make sure he’s back to 100% before throwing him back out on the mound. However, I’m expecting Thompson to be sent to the pen and Piniero to start Sunday. With his start that would be one member of the cavalry back and three more to go with Mulder coming in early May, Clement in late to middle May, and Carpenter still penciled in to return sometime in July. Can’t wait to see what happens.

NL Central Division Standings

St. Louis 7-2

Milwaukee 6-2

Chicago 5-3

Cincinnati 5-4

Pittsburgh 3-5

Houston 3-7

Next Up: At San Francisco Giants (4 Games)

153 games to go

Cardinals v. Nationals (3 Games)

In an effort to save time and space I’m just going to be doing the key stats and highlights of each game of the series from now on.

Game 1- Looper pitched six innings giving up one run, five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts to earn his first win of the season. Springer gave up three runs on three hits while Villone, McClellan, Franklin, and Izzy did not allow a run. Nationals starter Odalis Perez gave up five runs on eight hits lasting only four innings. Rick Ankiel hit his second HR of the season with two RBI. Barton, Pujols, Izturis, and Ludwick all hit doubles. Cardinals 5 Nationals 4.

Game 2- Adam Wainwright collected his first win of the season with two runs allowed during eight innings of work giving up eight hits, one run, and four strikeouts. He also drove in a run of his own at the plate. Anthony Reyes gave up two runs and Flores earned his first save of the season after facing only one batter for the last out of the ninth. Matt Chico was the loser for the Nats as he allowed four runs off eight hits in six innings of work. Rick Ankiel doubled and Brian Barton hit a triple. Cardinals 5 Nationals 4.

Game 3- Kyle Loshe pitched seven innings of shut out ball to push his scoreless inning streak to twelve innings in a Cardinals Uni. Flores, Franklin, and Izzy combined to complete the shut out the rest of the way. Izzy earned his third save in three attempts. Rick Ankiel homered again for his third of the season while he, Molina, and Glaus all had doubles. Ludwick had a triple. Nats pitcher John Lannan pitched 62/3 innings giving up two runs, seven hits, three walks, and four strikeouts. Cardinals 3 Nationals 0.

Thoughts
After completing the sweep of the Nationals, the Cardinals have won five straight since losing their opener to the Rockies. The starting pitching staff has looked incredible posting a .96 ERA in 372/3 innings. That’s a huge accomplishment for a team waiting on four starters to return from injuries. The Kyle Lohse signing has looked like a genius move as the cards have lost only two games dating back to spring training since he’s joined the team. Rick Ankiel has three homeruns to lead the team in the first six games and is leading the team in RBI, OPS, and Runs Scored. Does anybody remember that Albert Pujols guy? Well he’s still here and he’s still Albert. Big Al has not homered since the one he got taken away from him on opening day but his batting average is still .353 while getting almost nothing to hit as pitchers are too damn scared to pitch to him, and he’s been walked eight times already, which I’m not sure but I think means that he’s going to have somewhere close to 3,000 walks on the season. Glaus is still hitting a troubling .190 as a Cardinal, but he’s driven in two runs and has made some key plays at third. I hope he doesn't continue to suck this much the rest of the way.

While the big story of these opening games is the Cardinals surprising 5-1 record and the second coming of Rick Ankiel, there are still many other good things to keep in mind. Molina is contributing. Izturis is stealing bases and not committing errors, and Adam Kennedy seems to have finally figured out that he’s wearing a uniform and playing major league baseball as his defense and his bat have improved. Even Brian Barton is getting in on the action and actually started a few games in the place of skip Schumaker who is still nil for 14 at the plate as a lead off man. So the Cards are 5-1 and my secret jig is picking up in intensity. The only problem right now is the fact that the Card's April schedule is riddled with terrible teams, so the record is probably inflated and we haven't played a road game yet. The true test will begin today, though, as the Cardinals will play the next seven on the road at Houston and then San Francisco, although both are terrible teams. The cardinals need to continue to take advantage of the schedule and get as many wins as possible while waiting for the starters to mend before the competition really starts to pick up. The good news is one of the injured starters looks to be returning sometime during that San Francisco trip. Joel Piniero will be knocking someone (most likely Thompson or Wellemeyer) out of the starting job and back into the bullpen, but who knows with the way these guys are pitching so far he might have to wait for one of them to stink up the joint before he finally gets in. Let’s hope the rotation can keep up its good work thus far.

NL Central Division Standings

Milwaukee 5 1

St. Louis 5 1

Cincinnati 4 2

Pittsburgh 3 3

Chicago 3 3

Houston 2 5

Next Up: At Houston (3 Games)

156 games to go

F-1 Nazi Sex Orgy… Wait… What!?

About a year ago a friend of mine got me into F-1 racing. Even though I grew up in Indianapolis, home of the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400, I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of racing. I don’t know. There’s just something un-sexy about a redneck turning left. Even Danica Patrick is a huge fucking un-sexy joke to me. Well, because I love my friend, and he loves the holy shit out of Formula One, I figured I’d give it a chance. The small field of cars, the high speeds, the world’s best drivers (I’m for Lewis Hamilton because he was a rookie in my rookie year as a fan… it just made sense… and you got to go with a winner), technology pushed to the limits, and, yes, turning both left and right made the sport much more attractive to me. Well now the sport just got a whole lot sexier… er, wait… I mean there’s more sex, but it just got a whole lot fucking weirder.

It was announced the other day that the president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), the governing body of Formula One racing, has been caught in a video with five hookers. I know what you’re saying: So what? What’s new about the rich and powerful paying to get there cock whacked? Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Well apparently, in a youtube video no less, you can see FIA President Max Mosley wearing Nazi garb, shouting orders in German, and whipping five whores dressed as death camp members.

WAIT… WHAT?

Yep that’s right. I said it. Go ahead and reread it again if you don’t believe me. WOW.

So now get this: Mosely’s dad was the founder of the British Union of Fascists. Hitler was the guest of honor at his dad’s wedding, which they had where? Oh yeah, Joseph Goebbels’ house… possibly the second most evil man in the Nazi regime. Really Max? Really?

Old Mad Max now is threatening legal action for an invasion of his privacy, and has called an emergency FIA meeting in Paris to hopefully save his Nazi-loving-Jewish-death-camp-prisoner-banging-ass. I don’t think it’s going to fly though. People are a little touchy still about that whole Holocaust business, and don’t look too fondly on Nazi sympathizers, especially the sex fantasy kind. Imagine if this had happened in the US to the commissioner of the MLB, NFL, or NBA? Hell, imagine if it happened to Billy Joe Nobody president of Middle of Nowhere University’s JV Curling Team? It would be a fucking scandal the likes of which would make Monica Lewinsky, OJ Simpson, and Enron seem like modest blurbs on the back pages of some unread blog… say like this one for example.

This might be the craziest news story of the year and ain’t nobody but maybe five people in this whole damn country going to hear about it because it happened outside of the US in a sport nobody cares about here. Sad.

Holy Shit, Wow!

Go Hamilton!

Cardinals v. Rockies (3 Games)

Three games in the books, and the Cards are 2-1! With that we can project our season record to be 108-54! YES! Hot digity damn!

Ok, maybe we’re jumping ahead of ourselves here, but there are a lot of good things that happened over this opening series, and although it’s too early to be jumping up and down and planning your budget around buying World Series tickets, there are positive signs from these first three games to be cautiously optimistic about (but I'll understand if you want to do a little jig at least... go ahead... no one's watching).

SERIES RECAP
Game 1- A Great Start Gets Drowned Out
Adam Wainwright looked pretty good on opening day against the mighty defending NL Champs. He wasn’t dominant, but showed decent stuff, and he got better as the game wore on. Too bad it wasn’t meant to be. With the Cards leading 5-1 in the third inning, the game was postponed due to rain. Because the game was called before the 4.5 inning mark, none of the stats can be counted, and the game will have to be replayed. Not only does Wainwright lose what could have been his first win of the season, but Albert Pujols was robbed of his first home run bomb of the year. Likewise, Rick Ankiel and Yadier Molina lost their 2-run hits, and Skip Schumaker won’t get credit for an incredible diving catch in left field. Oh well. Opening day would have to wait one more day as Cardinals exile Kip Wells was penciled in to face Kyle Lohse who was bumped up on short notice.

Game 1 Redux- This game did not go as well as the original opener. Wells came in to his old ballpark and allowed one run in 51/3 innings against his former team. Molina accounted for the Cards only run with a homer in the fifth that chased Wells. But the Cards were unable to put across any more and squandered Kyle Lohse’s Cards debut. Lohse, a late spring addition to the team, coming off a one day notice and not expecting to pitch until Saturday, came in and pitched 5 scoreless innings before Molina’s dinger aloud LaRussa to get him out of the game. McClellan and Springer came in a pitched shut out ball until the eighth when it was Ryan Franklin’s turn. Franklin gave up two hits, a walk and a run before Randy Flores was called in to bail him out. Flores, having inherited loaded bases from Franklin, was able to strike out the first two batters he faced but gave up a walk to allow the second and deciding run to score. Rockies 2 Cards 1.

Game 2- Todd Wellemeyer showed why he was chosen for a starting rotation spot as he pitched 5 innings and gave up only one run on a homer from Colorado’s Brad Hawpe in the Cards first win of the season. He gave up only four hits, walked three and struckout six. Rockies pitcher Aaron Cook, on the other hand, gave up four runs, one home run, three walks, and three strikeouts in six innings. The only other runs allowed by the Cards’ pitchers were by McClellan and Franklin who each gave up one run. Rick Ankiel got his first homer of the season as Ryan Ludwig added a double and a triple while gaining 3 RBIs. Adam Kennedy, Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus, and Albert Pujols each added one RBI. While career minor leaguer Rico Washington got his first major league hit and RBI on a double. Cards 8 Rockies 3.

Game 3- Brad Thompson pitched 62/3 innings of shutout ball to get the win for the Cards. Villone, Reyes, and Isringhausen continued the shutout the rest of the way. Surprising in all of this, much maligned pitcher Anthony Reyes faced the heart of the Rockies order and retired all three on consecutive strikeouts. Thompson even helped himself by scoring his first ever major league RBI while Pujols and Glaus added the others. Cards 3 Rockies 0.

THOUGHTS
So with a home stand in the opening series of the season things are suddenly not looking so bad. It’s hard to extrapolate what these first three games mean over a 162 game season, but it appears that maybe these Cards won’t be so bad after all… we hope. Pujols is as advertised, Glaus and Ankiel have contributed (although Glaus hasn’t really started hitting yet.. his average is a paltry .182 thus far), and the shaky starting rotation survived it’s first test against the best team in the NL last year. I highly doubt that we can expect such performances from this pitching staff day in and day out, but there’s really no telling what they might do. Duncan is out for a little while with a tweaked hammy, but he doesn’t play against lefty starting pitching much, which is what the Cards will be facing in at least the next two games, so it’s not a loss. It’s good to see Rico Washington living the dream by getting his first career hit and RBI in the majors after toiling for so long in the minors. Enjoy is while you can Rico.

Note: Rico reminds me of a guy who played for my hometown Indianapolis Indians; Razor Shines. Shines played for the Indians from 1984 to 1993, but had limited success (if any) at the major league level. In four Big League seasons for Montreal he played in 68 games, had 81 at bats, 15 hits, one double, five RBIs, one stolen base, five walks, a .185 batting average, .239 on-base percentage, .198 slugging percentage, 16 total bases and one sacrifice fly. He even pitched an inning in a blow-out loss vs. St. Louis in 1985. This information is according to Baseball-Reference.com. I will say this, however, he is beloved by the city of Indianapolis, and I still covet my autographed baseball card of him. Thanks Razor. So in honor of him from now on we're calling Rico Washington... Rico Shines or Razor Washington... I haven't really decided yet. Maybe even Razor Rico. What do you think?

Anyway,
Schumaker has not collected his first hit of the season yet, which is a little alarming considering he’s our lead off man, and Cesar played decently although he is currently hitless and has already made his first error of the season. We’ll have a better idea of this team’s capability as April wears on, but hey, I can’t complain about the start. You want to win every series, and right now we’re 1-0 in series play. Let’s see how this coming home stand against Washington goes and we’ll have more to digest. But for now, a nice start, especially when you consider that the Cards could have conceivably been 3-0 right now. We’ll take it.

159 more games to go.

Next up: The Washington Nationals at home.

Inaugural Post and Season Preview!

Ah, spring is here, and the smell of fresh grass, beer and hotdogs has filled the air. Time to break out the old leather from under the bed and start getting it oiled up for another baseball season. Frankly, it’s this time of year that is probably my most favorite. Why? Maybe it’s because the weather is changing from a bleak, stark, cold winter to a more optimistic, sunny, warm summer. Maybe it’s because Opening Day always reminds me of my childhood with my father watching the Cards at the old Busch Stadium with the artificial turf and Ozzie patrolling the patch of land known as shortstop (and I’m pretty sure he covered third and second AT THE SAME TIME… But that may just be how it felt). But at any rate a new season is upon us, and this season could be by far the most intriguing for my beloved Redbirds.

This season has many new faces for us to grow accustomed to, and many familiar friends wearing new uniforms. Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, So Taguchi, David Eckstein, and Scott Spiezio are gone (Note: Add Juan Encarnacion to that list due to a possible career ending eye injury from being hit by a foul ball last season. It would take a miracle to save his career at this point.). Troy Glaus, Cesar Izturis, Matt Clement, Ron Villone, Jason LaRue, and Kyle Lohse, along with a battery of young players from the minors, have been added.

Here’s a brief rundown of the stories to watch this year:

OUTFEILD
Gone are the days of Jimmy Edmonds’ breathtaking back-to-home-plate-over-the-shoulder-game-changing-diving grabs. He has been replaced by Rick Ankiel whose remarkable story of promising young pitcher, to tragic fallen star, to reinvented power hitting outfielder has made him one the most beloved Cardinals of all time and, in my opinion, the most intriguing aspect to this season. Not seeing Jimmy retire in a Cards uniform is pretty sad, but injuries over the years have limited his defensive range and his swing has been non-existent for longer than that. Ankiel, although still a rough talent, has translated his mid 90s fastball to a live arm in the outfield that’s going to contribute to many an exciting out this year and make runners think twice about trying to stretch out to the next bag. His bat has steadily been improving, and, as of now, he is projected in the cleanup spot behind Albert and before Glaus, or as the number five spot behind those two, which should tell you how the Cardinal brass feel about his batting potential.

He’ll be joined in the outfield by Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick, Chris Duncan, and Brian Barton. All of these guys will probably end up as a platoon in the outfield, but they all have shown live bats and even liver arms (with the exception of Barton whose arm is sub-par, but his speed helps compensate). If Duncan can improve his usually suspect defense enough to limit the damage then this could be one of the strongest outfields St. Louis has seen in a long time. Barton, a young Rule 5 draftee stolen away from Cleveland, offers some additional intrigue as he’s got tremendous speed, decent defensive abilities, and put together an impressive spring to force his way on to the big league roster. If Duncan can prove he’s not a huge defensive liability and Ankiel lives up to his massive potential, the middle of the lineup with Dunc, Pujols, Ankiel, and Glaus could be a pretty intimidating combination as each player has the ability to hit at least 30HRs and 100 RBIs each. Also, look for rising star and projected future center fielder Colby Rasmus to make an appearance in The Bigs sometime this season. He’s got huge potential and is expected to be the center fielder for years to come, but the brass think the 21 year old needs just a little more time in Triple A before he’s completely ready to make the jump.

INFIELD
A swap at the hot corner brought in Troy Glaus and shipped out disgruntled former employee Scotty Rolen to the Toronto Blue Jays. We’re going to miss Scotty’s defense (which most would rank up there as near the top in his position), but Troy brings a little more pop in his bat and hopefully can bring at least a serviceable glove to the corner. Not to mention the feud between Scotty and LaRussa that began during the 2006 World Series run and carried over into last season, which became a distraction and a cancer in the locker room. I think the fresh air will help everyone.

Cesar Izturis has been commissioned to replace the hometown favorite Eckstein this year. Eckstein, like Rolen and Edmonds, was a key player in the Cardinals success over the past few years, which earned him a World Series MVP in 2006. Fans loved his small size but massive heart/hustle and grit. His lead off bat will be sorely missed as well this season. He’ll be joining Rolen in exile in Toronto (Seriously, Canada?! Do they even know what Baseball is?). The Izturis signing didn’t make a whole lot of people very happy as his errors and lack of offensive production over the last few seasons have been well documented since being considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the game not too long ago. The Cards hope that his defense will be better with a more solidified role as well as being two years removed from leg troubles that may have contributed to his limited range and speed. LaRussa hopes to have him bat in the ninth spot behind the pitcher in an effort to make him a “double leadoff man” of sorts. Only time will tell if LaRussa’s mad scientist tinkering will be fruitful or a bust. Should the Izturis experiment fail, however, Brendan Ryan will be ready to fill the void as well as SS/2B backup Aaron Miles. Ryan will open the season on the 15 day disabled list with a strained rib cage but should be ready for action in a few weeks.

Adam Kennedy at second base is also hoping to improve over last year’s dismal performance in both the field and at the plate. The leash is short, however, and Ryan and Miles could see significant playing time at that position as well.

There's been a lot of talk about Albert's partially torn elbow ligament and how that might affect his season or if he may possibly need surgery that will take more than a year to heal from. Before you start freaking out and hyperventilating, however, Pujols does not expect to have surgery. He's had this injury for a few years now, and he's against getting surgery until when and if it completely blows. It does not affect his swing, so he should be his usual productive self at the plate this year and is looking to rebound from an "off year" last year where he still hit 32 HRs and had 99 RBIs- one short of 7 consecutive seasons of at least 30HRs and 100 RBIs. Seriously, if that's an off year, I think we're in good shape. Chill. He's still the best hitter of this era.

Last but not least Rico Washington, an 11 year veteran of the minors, has been placed on the big league roster. It’s a feel good story, but not one likely to end with Rico in The Bigs all season. He’s basically being used as a stop gap until Ryan returns.

PITCHING
The biggest question mark of the season lies in the starting rotation. Adding Kyle Lohse late in spring helps bolster a rotation that is missing starters Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Matt Clement, and Joel Piniero. Piniero experienced a tightening in his back/shoulder early in spring, but is expected to return in late April. Mulder and Clement, facing rehab from surgery, should return in early-mid May and mid-late May respectively while Chris Carpenter is expected sometime around the All-Star Break. Expected to hold down the fort while waiting for the cavalry to arrive are Adam Wainwright (a bona fide starter with potential to be an Ace one day), Lohse, and converted relievers Brad Thompson, Todd Wellemeyer, and Braden Looper. As the other guys come back look for the bottom three to be phased back into the bullpen.

If everything works out according to plan, the starting rotation after the All-Star Break could be Carpenter, Mulder, Wainwright, Clement, and Piniero/Loshe. If they are all true to past form that could be one of the most disgusting rotations in The Bigs and leaves the Cards Admin with plenty of trade bait to add an impact player in the second half of the season. Let’s just hope the current rotation can keep us in competition through April and May so adding an impact player will… well… have an impact.

The bullpen, however, is looking strong as ever with Randy Flores, Ryan Franklin, Jason Isringhausen, Josh Kinney, Kyle McClellan, Russ Springer, Ron Villone, and new addition, converted starter Anthony Reyes who didn’t show enough during spring training to erase the memories of a deplorable 2-14 season last year to earn a spot in the rotation. Once Tyler Johnson returns and the three current starters get displaced by the returning starters, the bullpen will be loaded with quality guys. Look for Reyes and possibly a few others to be used as trade bait later on in the season as well.

So that’s the briefest rundown of the 2008 St. Louis Cardinals that I can give you. There’s a lot riding on pure hope and speculation this year. If things work out as planned this team could surprise a lot of people, but, as is the case usually with so much relying on hopes and prayers, it just as easily be a disaster. Currently, I find that most “expert” projections place us at or near the bottom of the Central Division, which I find is a little harsh but not too far off. I think we can’t realistically expect this team to make the playoffs this year or contend for a division title with Milwaukee and Chicago, but I expect the combination of savvy veterans, young blood, and new talent to push us to about four games better than last year, and in the worst division in baseball that may be enough. Needless to say the rebuilding has gone better than planned so far, and this current team will be fun to watch, as well as the possible trades that might happen as people get healthier. Don’t drink the spring training cool-aid just yet, but this year, more than in years previous, anything could happen.

So that’s it. Let’s Play Ball!

A New Season and a New Begining

The 2008 baseball season is finally here, and with it comes a new blog created to be thrown into the already jam packed mass of confusion that is the interweb blogosphere! On this particular blog we'll discuss Cardinals baseball, Colts football, and everything Hoosiers as well as mix in general discussions on a broader scope of sports news as it strikes my fancy. I can't promise that any of the things you read here will be any good, but the good news is very few people will actually read this blog so the quality doesn't much matter. To start, I'll try and post my Cardinal musings as often as possible, but right now we're aiming for at least one per series. So now with the introductions out of the way... Let's get it on!