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Recently in Approval Ratings Category

Catching Up On The Cardinals

Posted on March 19, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Work has been pretty busy the last few days, so I've been unable to find the time to jot down any thoughts about how the last few games have gone.  Before I get to that, though, some housekeeping items:

1) The Playing Pepper series has finished.  I hope you enjoyed reading all of them, but if you missed any or want to revisit a particular team, you can find links to them all on this post.

2) You hear me on the UCB Radio Hour and Gateway to Baseball Heaven on a regular basis, but in case you aren't tired of my droning monotone just yet, there are a couple of other opportunities.  First off, I did an interview for the podcast of Ivy Envy, a Cubs blog, as they tried to get a feel for some of the other teams in the division.  It was a fun discussion and I hope to do it again sometime.  Then, this Sunday at 4 Central, you can catch me on Mets Public Record, talking about the Baseball Bloggers Alliance as well as some about the Cardinals as well.

3) I've not forgotten about the Approval Ratings; you'll find the remainder of them at the end of this post.  However, Jon over at Redbird Dugout is going to take them a step farther this season, doing them for a sample of players over the course of the season.  Check it out and help him with his project!

4) Coming up next week is the latest United Cardinal Bloggers monthly project.  As we do every March, we are going to take a week to do our predictions, how each division is going to shake out, who will win the postseason awards, etc.  Be sure to keep an eye on the official site to see links to everyone's posts.

5) As you may have heard on this week's UCB Radio Hour, the Cardinals have invited a number of bloggers (pretty much anyone they could contact, I think!) to an event before the Padres/Cardinals game on April 3, followed by tickets to a party suite for the game.  Thankfully, they didn't overlook this little portion of cyberspace and I am really looking forward to not only that, but the first ever UCB dinner the night before.  There will be plenty of pictures and descriptions, and the Cardinals are encouraging us to blog from the game, so that's a possibility as well.  Stay tuned!

OK, enough of the shameless self-promotion.  I've not changed my name to Bill yet.  Let's talk about the team, then get into the rest of the approval ratings.
  Continue Reading

Time For Concern?

Posted on March 14, 2011 at 7:39 AM
William commented on a post last week that the hardest thing about spring training is remembering that the performances mean nothing.  While in general, that's probably true, there have been some spring performances that have raised some eyebrows, both in positive and negative ways.

On the down side, after yesterday's game Jaime Garcia has a 10.00 ERA this spring.  While both he and Tony La Russa say things were better in the game against the Mets, when do we get concerned?  Sure, the command was starting to come around in his last outing, much more so than in previous ones, but if that command gets hit around the yard, is that a good thing?

The optimism comes from the fact that Garcia got a good number of ground balls, just his BABIP was ridiculous for that game, something like 10 hits on 17 ground balls.  Add in a big outfield error and things could go south quickly.  Even so, Garcia threw two scoreless innings before the onslaught, so perhaps there is something to hold on to.

That said, I think most of us would feel a little better if this was a veteran scuffling through spring.  With a vet, you have a better idea of what you are going to get, no matter what the spring looks like.  With Garcia only having one year under his belt, though, the "one-hit-wonder" idea keeps popping up with every weak outing.

Is it fair?  Probably not.  Is it accurate?  Again, probably not.  A couple of bad outings in a row could happen at any time.  With the fine line this team is walking, though, Garcia is a very important piece and if he does struggle, things could go off the tracks in a hurry.

On the upside, David Freese is looking like the real deal.  He had a solid game yesterday, smashing two doubles and even running the bases well.  He's six for 14 this spring and is showing that he can be durable.  In fact, he should start back to back games for the first time this year when he runs out there against the Braves today.

I will say I was a bit concerned about what Freese was going to bring to the table this year.  Not from a health point of view, thought that's always worrisome.  More the fact that, while he had a great batting average last year, he only hit four home runs in his limited healthy time, three of which came within a week of each other.  Everyone's expecting a big bat over at the hot corner, but will he have it?  So far in spring it sure looks like he can fit that bill, which is great news for the Cardinals.

I grieve for my good friends Nick, Josh and Dennis.  Turns out TLR is planning to keep the pitcher hitting ninth this year.  What Tony has against them, deliberately poking and reducing how relevant the title (but never the blog) is, I don't know.  It's also interesting because, in theory, this team is really set up for that, with Ryan Theriot able to lead off and Skip Schumaker able to slide into the nine hole.

It's been pretty proven that La Russa's idea of moving the pitcher up does increase run scoring.  Seems like it should be a practice, not a tactic to, in theory, jump start a lagging offense.  If that's the way TLR is going to use it, though, you have to hope it never gets used, because if so that means the offense is clicking the way we expect it to.

One of the peripheral stories of the spring is that Nick Stavinoha is really working on catching.  Now, I don't think there are too many that want to see Stavinoha back in St. Louis, but it will help his career if he can become a legitimate backup/emergency catcher.  That would fit in well with TLR's ideas on the most flexible bench, but I don't think we'd see him much this season.  Sounds like he's going to get a chance to get some innings at Memphis, which means Bryan Anderson must be thrilled.  If your playing time gets cut by a fringe outfielder trying to make the conversion, it's about time to throw your hands up and just keep hoping the phone rings with a trade.

Adam Wainwright should be in Jupiter in the next day or so to start rehab.  While it will be bittersweet to see him in a uniform and doing his work, I'm sure the clubhouse will get a lift from having him around.  Wonder how much he'll be with the team this year--I'm sure he won't travel, but will we see the Fox Sports Midwest cameras on him hanging out with Chris Carpenter and the gang on a regular basis?

Mitchell Boggs pitched an inning with no problems on Friday.  That's good to know for the bullpen, though I'm sure they'll keep an eye on him throughout the spring.  Another couple of non-injury outings will lessen that scrutiny, though.

Kyle McClellan hasn't won the fifth slot in the rotation.  If you believe that, I've got some prime real estate in Florida to sell you.  Look, after the Wainwright surgery every indication was that McClellan was the front runner but would be challenged.  The fact is that he's been strong every time out while those in competition with him have faltered some.  Unless the club is worried about what the bullpen will look like with out him or La Russa is doing that motivational managing he likes to do, McClellan would really have to tank to not make his first major league start in April.

Matt Carpenter could go north with the team.  If you'd made that statement this time last week, I'd have scoffed at you, and I'm not an expert scoffer by any means.  (Never comes out just right, for some reason.)  Now, though, the coaching staff is talking him up and it's possible he could win the last slot on the bench.  The comment was made that he's not just getting these at-bats for down the road, he's getting them for right now as well.  If there still is a slot on the bench as Matthew Leach indicates in that article, it's possible he will get it.

Of course, the bigger question is how much good it does him to sit on the bench and play sporadically, even with them resting Freese, versus playing every day in Memphis.  Zack Cox isn't going to be there--he's starting in A ball and isn't likely to jump that many classifications this year.  Carpenter would get regular work at the AAA level.

Still, though, he seems to have impressed TLR, which if you go by Tony's reputation of disliking young players, is saying something.  I'd probably still say it's only a 30% chance he makes it, but that level is increasing daily.

Lance Berkman can throw without pain, which is a great sign for his work in the outfield.  Looks like they'll keep him in the DH role for a bit longer, because there's no reason to risk a problem before they have to, but it sounds like he'll be ready for playing real baseball sooner rather than later.  Just hope that the elbow doesn't flare up again when he starts playing outfield and that his bat comes around as well.  Something to keep an eye on in the next couple of weeks.

Sad news this weekend as former Cardinal hitting coach Mitchell Page passed away.  Most know that Page had issues with alcohol, which lead to his mid-season dismissal from the hitting coach position, but the Cards brought him back in a minor league capacity a couple of years ago before he moved on again.  There's no telling exactly what caused his death, but our prayers and sympathies go out to his family and those that were close to him.

Time for the approval ratings, and today's got a couple of big hitters in the mix.

Albert Pujols has been a beloved Cardinal icon for a long time.  Pujols has been a rock in these ratings, scoring at right around 98% both years.

That said, I expected some drop off this year, with the contract negotiations and how people perceive his side of the story.  I still gave him a 98, not only because of his on-field exploits but for his devotion to his faith.  That said, there were some that ranked him lower, as his score was "only" a 90.4% mark this year.  One commenter noted that he knocked AP down from a 100% because of the feeling this was his last year as a Cardinal, while another noted that "Pujols' ego is larger than his body."

Before Albert came along, the biggest hitter in recent Cardinal history was Mark McGwire.  Now in his second year as hitting coach, many of the steroid-related issues have faded and the focus is on how he does as a coach.  Last year he was at 73.2%, reflecting his recent admission.

I've always been a McGwire fan, being one of the last holdouts on the steroid denial thing.  This year, I marked him at an 88, because I thought for a rookie coach to have similar results as a long-time hitting coach the year before meant that there was something there.  That opinion wasn't shared by many, though, as he dropped to a 62.5% mark.  Some thought that whatever impact he had on the game was not promising, while others wondered if it was all a publicity stunt.

B.J. Rains is the media member under the microscope today.  Son of longtime Cardinal reporter Rob Rains, B.J. wrote for a bit at the short-lived Globe Democrat revival before landing a job with Fox Sports Midwest, writing for their web site.  He's an active member on Twitter, though tends to get beat around a bit by the established reporters.  I gave him a 90, but that's more because I didn't have any real negative opinion about him rather than any personal liking.

Apparently a lot of voters felt the same way, because there were only 39 votes for him, the lowest of any person we've covered so far.  Those that did give him a score gave him an average of a relatively solid 70.4%.  One comment was that he "tries too hard."

Kyle Lohse pitches today against the Braves.  You can listen to it at MLB.com and through the MLB At Bat app, since it is on the Braves Radio Network.  Which means that, when the subs start coming in, we can have more references to Daniel Delkalko.  If you've not listened to the Braves announcers yet, do so.  You'll see what I mean.

Oh, and in a personal note, for the first time ever I can actually be called "Coach Shoptaw," having agreed to be the assistant for my son's 5-6 year old T-ball team.  It's Benjamin's third year to play and I've helped out informally before, but yesterday was my first team draft, etc.  The fun thing about the league here is that all the teams are named after real minor league organizations and the players get hats with that logo.  Ours is the Diamond Jaxx, a Seattle farm club in Jackson, TN.  They've changed their name and logo in the offseason, so we've got the old hats, but that won't matter at all.  First practice this Thursday, so it's time to play ball!

Cards Lose A Close One

Posted on March 11, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Maybe it's a sign that spring training is hitting its serious stage, but yesterday's game could have easily been mistaken for a regular season affair.  Sure, the pitchers didn't last as long and there were still substitutions, but there aren't too many 2-1 affairs in Florida (and, looking at the scores, seems like that's impossible in Arizona!).

Kyle McClellan did nothing to challenge the assumption that he is the fifth starter, going four innings and allowing only three hits and a run.  What was even more encouraging is that he did that on a day when a couple of his pitches weren't working.  He made do with what he had and was still able to get major league hitters out, which is a strong data point in his favor.

My main hangup with McClellan moving into the rotation is that I don't know what he's going to be able to do the second and third times around the lineup.  My next hangup is if he's going to be able to go 6-7 innings on a regular basis.  Coming in after that, though, would be how he does with just one pitch. There are days like that, and McClellan proved that, as long as he has the sinker, he'll do pretty well.  Hopefully there won't be too many days like that.

There was a discussion at the Post-Dispatch about what McClellan has to do to be successful.  I tend to agree that, if we see him get 20-25 starts and around 175 innings, he's obviously had a good season.  I'd just like to see him keep the team in the game and be able to bounce back after rough outings.  Again, I'm not completely sold to the idea, but I'm definitely warming to it.

Just when we thought the injury bug had eased up a bit, Francisco Samuel left yesterday's game with a shoulder strain.  I don't know where Samuel ranked on the depth chart and they won't know how severe it is until he is examined today, but that's a tough break for him.  With McClellan moving to the rotation, there was a spot that Samuel might have been able to take with a strong spring, but if he's out of any length of time, he can write that off.

Also, Allen Craig scratched with a tight hamstring, though that sounds like it was more a precaution, especially with the wet field yesterday.  Reportedly he'll be ready to go for the game against the Tigers today.  Like to think that's the case, because the last thing the Cardinals need are more injury issues, and he is in the lineup for today's game.

Matt Carpenter is having a big spring and is definitely making an impression on the coaching staff.  We've talked about Carpenter before, but what I found the most interesting in this article is that Tony La Russa is trying to get him to lighten up a little bit. When the most infamous stern guy in baseball is trying to get you to crack a smile, you are intense!

Lance Lynn starts today against Detroit.  He'll need a pretty solid outing to stay in the #5 race, if there is still a race.  Looking forward to listening to that one, as KMOX has the broadcast today.

We are getting to where there's a little less news, a little less excitement on a daily basis.  But while the camp may be calming down, there are still some questions to answer, which will make for an interesting last three weeks.

I don't think I mentioned part one of this, but the second part of my interview over at Popblerd is up.  There's a link to the first part as well, so you can see how I did and how much of a fool I made of myself.

While I'm linking, go on over and check out MLB Hall of Fame March Madness over at 85% Sports.  Who will be the last HOFer standing?  I'm interested to see how this pans out.

Let's quickly hit the approval ratings for today.

Yadier Molina has always been one of the more popular Cardinals.  If nothing else, he should be able to live off of that Game 7 NLCS home run for a long, long time.  His approval rating has reflected that, as he's been in the 92-93 range the past few years.

Last year's offensive struggles, especially in the first half, must have gotten into his approval though.  This year, Molina only manages a 83.7% mark.  One commenter docked him for "being lazy on the basepaths," which is fairly interesting given Molina's steal numbers the last couple of years.  I'm fairly sure that is more about going up the line on a grounder, but it was still interesting.  I note that I gave Yadi an 86, which is surprising because I'm a big fan.  Don't know why I didn't go a little higher.

Jeff Luhnow has kinda been the face of the new guard in the Cardinal organization.  He has been in charge of scouting and development, pushing the organization from a sabermetric point of view.  All that to say that, for a front office type, he's been able to do enough to get the general fanbase to have an impression of him.

For whatever reason, that impression was fairly neutral, as Luhnow racked up a 66.4% mark. However, save the person that noted I had spelled his name wrong on the form (thanks, Nick!), no one had a strong enough opinion to leave a comment.  I marked him at 92, because I think the minor league system has begun a major turnaround under his watch and he should get at least some of the credit for it.

That brings us to today's media member, Matthew Leach.  Matthew writes for the official MLB site as well as keeping his own blog.  I'll say up front that I think the world of him.  He's been spectacularly great with the UCB, being the most common guest on the UCB Radio Hour and always seeming to enjoy his time there.  He's even done a UCB project or two.  Couple that with his interactions on Twitter and email and he rated 100 with me.

For the most part, my opinion of Leach was reflected in his mark, as he garnered a 85.5% tally.  Someone felt he had to "dumb down his commentary for the MLB.com audience" while another said that he and Derrick Goold are "some of the most knowledgeable and fair reporters out there."

Note: A couple of modifications to prior marks as I caught a mistake.  Kyle Lohse drops from 56.1% to 55.1%, Dan Lozano drops from 59.8% to 58.7%, Ricky Horton from 72.2% to 69.1%, and Al Hrabrosky from 65.8% to 63.2%.

Playing Peppers for the Mets and Athletics are scheduled for today, but it'll likely be this evening before they go up.  Give you something to look forward to for the weekend!

A Game of Inches

Posted on March 10, 2011 at 11:25 AM
Often it's said that baseball is a game of inches.  Sometimes, life is as well.

Yesterday, in the Braves/Cardinals game, Brian McCann hit a rocket of a foul ball into the Braves dugout.  We see that often--everyone scurries, then jokes about how close it game.  Not this time.

Luis Salazar, a former player and now coach in the Braves organization, didn't have time to react.  The ball hit him square and he dropped to the ground.  For a while, everyone feared the worst.  Later, Chipper Jones would admit that he thought Salazar was dead and that he "wishes he hadn't looked".  Thankfully, that wasn't the case, though Salazar did wind up with multiple facial fractures and was airlifted unconscious to a hospital.

The Cardinals, of course, had seen this before.  Juan Encarnacion was hit by a foul ball a couple of years ago, ending his career.  The images of that night will never leave those that were there or that saw it on TV.  Of course, the Cardinals have also dealt with their share of tragedy in the last decade, with the deaths of Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock.  They haven't had them put together, though, and thankfully they weren't associated with that this time as well.

It seemed to me listening to that part of the game that it was a tossup on whether it would continue or not.  Chipper Jones said they probably shouldn't, as everyone's mind was on Salazar.  They did, though, and Kyle Lohse had a good one, allowing only one run in four innings.  He struck out three and walked none, but how much you temper that with a distracted team (McCann struck out on the next pitch after the foul ball, not caring what happened.  He left the game immediately afterwards.)  However, I think what was more telling was that Lohse's velocity is up.  He was throwing at speeds he hasn't thrown at since before his injury-plagued '09 year.

I think that is a sign, coupled with a solid spring so far, that Lohse might be turning a corner.  He isn't going to be an ace, he probably isn't even going to be '08 Lohse, but he could be an above-average third starter.  Being that he'll likely be the fourth starter for the Cardinals, that deepens the rotation and helps take some of the blow of losing Adam Wainwright.

On the offensive side of things, David Freese had his second straight strong start, going two for three with a home run.  The home run was more telling when you factor in that the wind was blowing in, and the Braves announcers were very impressed with it.  Normal caveats apply, but it's hard not to get excited about a team with an actual third baseman, rather than the hole that was there last year after he went down.

Chris Carpenter will throw live BP Friday and plans to start again next week.  Sounds like everything is going well there, and Mitchell Boggs will be back in a game Friday or Saturday, so perhaps the injury bug has packed up and moved on.  We can hope, at least!

Today's approval ratings are a mix of fairly unpopular people.  But just how unpopular, you may be wondering?  Well, our media member ranks the highest, and that's really saying something.

Kyle Lohse hasn't been extremely well-liked in Cardinal Nation since signing that long-term, no-trade deal.  He's had his problems with injuries as well, but that's not given him a pass in the hearts and minds of Cardinal fans.  Lohse had a high of just under 78% two years ago, but dropped last year to 67%.  This year, he drops significantly again, posting a 56.1% mark.

Some of the comments on Lohse: He has "disappointed me more than any," "been disappointing," "has a shot of upping his stock this year"  As I have said, I'm a fairly lenient grader, so factoring in all the injury stuff he got a 75 from me.  I still have hope that he'll be something this year.

Our management representative isn't actually management; far from it.  However, there just wasn't any where to put Dan Lozano otherwise and, being that he is in the midst of the highest profile negotiations in Cardinal history, I thought it was appropriate to add him to the list.

Lozano's in a difficult position.  He's an agent, which is already a strike against him.  Then, if he's successful, it's possible the best player since Stan Musial goes somewhere else.  That's not going to win you many friends either.  Over all, Lozano wound up with a 59.8%.  Some gave him credit for just doing his job, while others gave him very low marks for not getting the negotiations done.  Comments ranged from "he certainly recognizes his gravy train is here with AP" to "I think they [Lozano and Bill DeWitt] handled the situation well."  I gave him a 92, because he did keep things out of the press and I believe he'll keep Albert Pujols in St. Louis when it is all said and done.

Finally, we get to that media member.  After reading the above, I think you can probably guess that today is Al Hrabosky's turn in the tank.  Al gets a lot of abuse across the internets as the newer and more informed fan sometimes gets frustrated or aggravated with his style of color commentary.  That said, I found him to be engaging when we met with him in person and that has led me to revising my opinion of him upward.  (For the record, my score was a 87).

For whatever reason, it seems like I wasn't the only one.  Al's score this year is 65.8%, which is easily his highest mark in the last three years.  His score actually increased over 20%.  Whether that was because people are more forgiving these days, he looks better when compared to Ricky Horton, or people were just excited that he was going to be doing less games this year, I don't know.  Comments still tended toward the negative, with "give him something else to do; he's repetitive" and "annoying" being fairly representative.

Cards and Braves are going at it again today.  Here's the lineup, which has the dreaded Skip Schumaker/Ryan Theriot 1-2 punch.  I sincerely hope that's just because of the personnel available and not something TLR will take into the season.

Spring Love

Posted on March 9, 2011 at 7:40 AM
The old baseball saying is, never fall in love too early in spring.  A day after a rough outing for Lance Lynn, Brandon Dickson had one of his own.

Dickson worked through a couple of innings just fine, but that third inning was a disaster and enough to cost the Cardinals the game.  As with Lynn, there was an error behind him, but still, allowing five runs overall and four in the eighth isn't going to help him unseat Kyle McClellan.  The second time out for both major challengers to McClellan was a shaky one, so if he comes out with another strong performance this time around, it could be he all but slams the door on the opportunity.

That old saying has to be recalled with another Cardinal prospect as well, since Matt Carpenter is just tearing up the Grapefruit League.  Another great day at the plate, as he went three for three and drove in a run with a walk, plus he played some very solid defense.  Obviously, Carpenter is going to start in Memphis, but if I were Nick Punto, I'd be rehabbing about as hard as I could.  If Freese goes down, right now it looks like Carpenter could step in and get the team through.

Mixed day for Nick Stavinoha, who is trying to make a longshot bid to make the team.  Two hits off the bench does you right, but missing home plate on a headfirst slide when you are the tying run late in the game....that doesn't.  There's not much room for Stavinoha anyway, as noted by the fact he's learning how to catch to up his value.

Jaime Garcia wasn't great either yesterday, continuing what's been a bit of a rough spring by going three innings, but allowing three walks and three runs in that time period and throwing 63 pitches.  Garcia has been able to work out of some jams--just allowing three runs with as many baserunners as he had yesterday is something--but he's got to more efficient with his pitches.  The bullpen can't be going 3-4 innings for him and 3-4 for McClellan on a regular basis.

There's a story in the Post-Dispatch talking about the Cardinals' outfield defense, Honestly, the outfield defense hasn't even been a consideration for me.  Matt Holliday did very well out there last year, Colby Rasmus is still learning but is above-average out there, and while I don't expect much out of Lance Berkman save catching the balls he can get to, Jon Jay and Allen Craig should fill in fine in the late innings.  With this groundball staff, I'm much more concerned about the lack of range for Ryan Theriot and Skip Schumaker than I am about Lance Berkman.

Let's get to today's Approval Ratings, shall we?

Going into, the fanbase didn't quite know what to make of Matt Holliday.  He'd only been a Cardinal for the last half of the season and one of the last memories they had of him was dropping the fly ball in the NLDS.  He had resigned with the Cards, which helped him, and he tallied a 84.5%, which was pretty solid.

Holliday had a slow start last year, but came along and became a great addition to the lineup.  That was reflected in this year's scoring, as he moved all the way up to 91.1%, getting a mention from all 62 voters.  I personally rang up a 97 for him, because he's done just about everything you can expect out of a major signing like that.  Some other comments were that he was one of the only ones that displayed putting their personal best into every game and that he's given all we could ask for.  One voter even expects him to be the face of the franchise in 2012.

Tony La Russa always draws his share of criticism and controversy, and it's no surprise that all 62 voted on TLR as well.  Last year, La Russa had ticked upwards and moved over the 80% level, but whether it was because of a different mix of voters, a missed October in 2010, or his comments about the Pujols situation, he freefalled (freefell?) this year to 70.8%.  I've always been more on the Tony bandwagon, rating him at a 90 this year.  Others were not so generous, with some mentioning that he's worn out his welcome.  Even those that were pro-La Russa, that believed he always wanted to win, said he drove them nuts at times.

Finally, our media member is Rick Horton.  Normally, I wouldn't have put Horton in this list, but with the news that he will be basically a third equal member of the Fox Sports Midwest broadcasting team, doing play by play with Al Hrabosky and color with Dan McLaughlin, it seemed a good idea to get a feel for what Cardinal Nation thought about him.

While it could have been much worse, it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement.  Horton wound up with a 72.2% mark.  The strongest comment in favor of him was that he "wasn't as bad as people make him out to be."  I personally gave him an 84, because I'm a generous grader and he could be much worse, but I will say I was not enthused when I heard for the FSMW announcement.

Cards and Braves are playing two today, with a B game this morning and the regular game at the regular time.  It's on Braves radio, so fire up your MLB At Bat app or head over to MLB.com to listen to it.

I'm on the UCB Radio Hour tonight, regular time, regular place.  Join me and let's talk Cardinal baseball!

Freese-ing Them Out

Posted on March 8, 2011 at 11:45 AM
We've been waiting for David Freese to get into the ballgame.  Apparently, so has he.

On a day where everyone was hitting, perhaps the loudest noise of all for Cardinal fans was the sound of Freese's bat as he stroked two hits and collected three RBI, all without injuring himself.
He also handled his only chance in the field without incident as well, bolstering optimism that the third base conundrum will be less of an issue than we expected.  (Side note: you can see Derrick Goold discussing Freese in this video.)

Even with his strong start, though, the Cardinals aren't going to deviate from the plan.  Freese will sit today when they take on the Boston Red Sox and still alternate days playing and not playing.  Cardinal fans are breathing a little easier today, though, with him finally getting on the field.

Freese wasn't the only one that had a strong day yesterday.  When you win 10-4 over the Twins, I guess that's not too surprising.  Looking at the pitching first, Jake Westbrook went three scoreless innings before stumbling a bit in the fourth.  Still, 3 2/3 innings with just one run allowed is much better than the 50-pitch two inning outing he had in his first shot.  Every pitcher is key this year, of course, but having Westbrook eat innings will be very valuable to a pen that may get used a lot every fifth day.

Lance Lynn didn't have quite the same type of outing this time as he did in his first appearance.  He allowed two earned runs in his two innings, with two walks and a strikeout.  He wasn't helped at all by Colby Rasmus's error in center, dropping a fly ball that might have changed the complexion of the inning.  The Twins announcers were talking about him trying to get people to chase the off-speed stuff and it just wasn't working, as he'd get ahead of batters but not be able to put them away.  I'm sure there was a discussion between him and the pitching coach on that after the game.

Jon Jay, Allen Craig, and Matt Carpenter all wound up with two hits, with both of Jay's being doubles.  Carpenter and Jay also tallied two RBI.  I had no idea that Carpenter was five for eight this spring.  I realize that Dennis makes a strong point urging caution with the results from the spring, with good reason, but it is nice to see the kid having an impact.  If Freese does go down, it could be Carpenter getting the call, especially if Nick Punto isn't going to be available.  (Are you like me?  Have you quickly forgotten Punto is part of this team?)  He'll at least have some confidence that he can compete at the big league level and probably will start out in Memphis, being just a phone call away.

Most fans are more focused on the other Carpenter, however.  Chris Carpenter may have to miss Friday's start, as he felt a twinge in his hamstring going less than full bore during Sunday's session.  However, he went again today and reported no problems, so it may be that he gets back on the mound Friday.  We'll see how the evaluation Wednesday goes.  You know they aren't going to rush him, but he does need a couple of starts to help build up to going deep into games.

The other injury from last week, Mitchell Boggs,  threw at full speed yesterday and reported no problems.  Sounds like that back issue is...wait for it....behind him, though I worry that might be something that flares up during the season.  There will likely be suitable fill-ins at Memphis, though, if it does.

Time for today's approval ratings.  We start off with the closer of the Redbirds, Ryan Franklin.  Franklin has never been the strongest of statistical candidates and he has his detractors as well.  That said, he's gotten the job more times than not, which will bring some warm and fuzzy feelings to a fan base.  Last year, he polled at a 69.7% clip, with his late season 2009 collapse still fresh in people's minds.

After another year of pitching the ninth, this year Franklin moves up to 72.8%.  Some people thought that he "doesn't have what it takes anymore" while others rated him much more highly.  For the record, I gave him an 86, because he has been fairly reliable, plus I gave him bonus points for his Twitter presence.

Dave Duncan is our management person of the day.  While his good friend Tony La Russa could be considered the lightening rod for this organization, Duncan tends to miss out on a lot of stuff thrown Tony's way.  Last year, he was marked at 87%, making him one of the highest non-players surveyed.

Duncan makes it three years in a row with rising stock as he gets a 87.9% from this year's polled Cardinal fans.  Duncan was considered "as good as it gets" but one did note he always looked like he was at a funeral in the dugout.  To complete the record, he got a 94 from me.

Our media member for the day is the Cat, Jim Hayes, from Fox Sports MW.  Jim typically does pieces for the pregame show, as well as interviews of the players before the game.  He will also join the guys in the booth during the third inning to talk about different aspects.  Fair disclosure: I met Jim as part of the FSMW tour last year and, while I liked him before, that time spent probably helped push to his 95% rating from me.

Hayes seems to be a love-him-or-hate-him kind of figure, as he wound up with a respectable 76.1%, but there was a lot of deviation in the scores, as there were a few 100s and a few in the 50-60 range.  He was termed "a clown" by one while another one loved his inside jokes with the players and announcers.  I've had this discussion on Twitter before, so I know he doesn't suit everyone's taste, but I think he enlivens the broadcast notably.

Cards are on KMOX again today, taking on the Red Sox.  Jaime Garcia will be on the mound looking to continue where he left off last time out.

The Name of the Game Is Pitching

Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Three different games, three interesting pitching lines.  Granted, one of them was interesting in the car-wreck sort of way, but it may have a lot of bearing on the 2011 Cardinals.

First up was Kyle Lohse on Friday.  Lohse has the potential to make or break this rotation, at least to some degree.  If he's strong, he's an overqualified fourth starter.  If he's off, a rotation missing Adam Wainwright gets a whole lot weaker.  Strength prevailed on Friday, as he only gave up one run in three innings of play.  More importantly, his command was strong. Thirty strikes to only 11 balls in his outing and he struck out Brett Wallace with a changeup to end his outing.  He seems to be getting his full array of pitches back and if he can regularly control them, he should be closer to the 2008 version of Lohse than the subsequent ones, though to be fair he started 2009 off strong as well until the injuries started coming into play. 

Some aren't going to believe it until they see it, though, and it's tough to argue with that mindset.  The team's been burned on Lohse a couple of times and they've overpaid him during that stretch.  A team that has to watch their expenses like the Cardinals really needs to get their money's worth out of Lohse this year.

Then it was Kyle McClellan's turn on Saturday.  I lauded Lance Lynn for coming out when the pressure was on and throwing a wonderful outing.  McClellan didn't rest on his projected laurels, though.  He also went three innings, allowing no runs and just a couple of hits.  McClellan seems to really want to start and is making sure no one takes that slot away from him.  If Lynn, McClellan and Brandon Dickson continue to pitch like this, it could be a very fun spring.

The Cardinals only managed one run off of Houston after scoring 10 on them the day before.  It took Colby Rasmus reaching on a Wallace error and coming around on singles by Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday to win this one.  Also interesting to note that all the starters went at least eight innings in this game (save McClellan, of course).  Seems a bit early in spring for that to be happening--would think there were still enough player that the team needed to evaluate for Pujols to get his third or fourth at-bat.  Still over three weeks left in the spring.

Sunday's results weren't nearly as good for the Cards, as they fell 7-2.  The biggest reason why was that Jason Motte allowed five runs in his inning of work.  Dathan, who came out of the bullpen to relieve a sick Bill Ivie last night on Gateway To Baseball Heaven, and I speculated that Motte was just working on some of his offspeed pitches, trying to get something else consistently working.  That doesn't seem to be the case, as he was out there "just chucking."

That's really not what you want to hear about the guy that may take over the closing role at some point this year if Ryan Franklin struggles at all.  Motte's had enough times in the past where he's been lit up that he's got to know he can't just rely on smoking things past batters. I remember a quote I read a long time back, "These are major league hitters.  Eventually, they'd time bullets."

Like to think this kind of outing was a wake-up call for Motte.  If nothing else, he's gotten a value lesson on throwing rather than pitching.

The Cardinals only put up two against the Marlins a one run game the night before.  Very hard to get a feel for anything this early in the spring, of course, but you'd hate to think that the stop and start, feast and famine offensive threat was returning again this year.  That was one of the things Lance Berkman was supposed to help stop, keeping the lineup turning over.

Of course, he actually has to be in the ballgame.  He did play DH the last couple of days, which means he should have impacted the offense still, but he continues to be nursing different aches and pains.  Will these things work out as he gets back into actual playing shape?  I know he worked out a lot this offseason and got his weight down and everything, but there's a difference between working out and actually playing.  Hopefully he'll be back out in the outfield very soon.

If he's not, maybe Tyler Greene will be.  Greene started in center yesterday against Florida and that has to only add to his chances of making the team.  This is a day after he made a nice play in the hole at short against Houston.  If he's not the main utility guy come March 31, it'd be a huge shock.  Once he gets acclimated to the majors, he could be a pretty potent threat off the bench.

There was a public declaration early in the weekend that David Freese would start Sunday. It may not be surprising to you to know that he actually didn't, because Saturday he fouled a ball off his foot in batting practice.  This would be a warning sign that things were descending into parody, into the "you-can't-make-this-stuff-up" realm, but thankfully he's in the lineup for today's game against Minnesota.  Unless a bat slips out of someone's hands and conks him in the back after he drinks JoBu's rum.

Ryan Franklin turned 38 this weekend and, despite his earlier thoughts about retiring at the end of this year, he's not slowing down.  I don't think Franklin's a Cardinal next year--a successful season probably puts him out of the budget-conscious team's range, a less than successful one and they won't want him back--but he's been much more effective in the closer role than I ever thought.  I expected a big letdown last year and it really never game.  Plus, if you aren't following him on Twitter, you really should.  He's good about at least responding to just about any Tweet directed at him.

Chris Carpenter threw off a mound this weekend, missing his start on Sunday due to that hamstring injury.  He is still feeling it right now and couldn't go full bore in his bullpen session, but it apparently is getting better.  I don't know if he'll miss another start or not, but if so that might be more of an opportunity for the staff to see Lynn or Dickson.  

Interesting story about Allen Craig working on getting the inside pitch.  He worked with Mark McGwire this offseason and so far, the spring results are positive.  I think Craig is one of the more intriguing possibilities for this team this year, what with being able to move around some or be a pinch hitter with pop.  We'll see if he can keep this going through the spring and then into the season.

The first cuts of the spring were made, and Zack Cox and Shelby Miller were sent out.  This isn't a big surprise, being that neither of them were going to make the team, but I thought it was interesting in Miller's case because he stuck around so long in spring last year, getting 3-4 outings.  This year, he threw two scoreless innings, while Cox had a very good game in Berkman's stead last week.  We could see them again--it's not that far from major league camp if they need someone to fill in on a split-squad game or so--but a little bit of the luster leaves camp with them.

Before I get into today's Cardinal Approval Ratings, a quick link.  Chris Jaffe has written another interesting article with a Cardinal tie-in.  This time, it's about managerial milestones that are coming up in 2011.  Obviously, when those words are bandied about, Tony La Russa tends to make the list.

OK, approval ratings.  As those that voted (this year, 62 different entries, though not all voted for every person) know, this year they are broken up into three groups: Players, Management, and Media.  Every day between now and when I get them done (sometime next week), I'll reveal the voting on one of each of the groups.  I want to note that a couple of the voters used descriptions instead of numbers for their vote.  I have translated those into numeric values using my best judgement.

Today's player is Chris Carpenter.  Last year, Carp rated the third highest among polled players, coming in at 93.6%.  He then went out and had a slightly-less-than-standard Carpenter year, but stayed healthy for the whole season.

This year, Carpenter scores a 86.9% from all 62 voters.  I personally ranked him pretty high (94), but I would expect that there was a little recognition that he wasn't the Cy Young guy he was in the past.  At least one commenter was not impressed with his personality, saying that Carpenter "comes across arrogant, whiny, hot-headed and entitled."  One man's arrogant is another man's focused, so your mileage may vary.

The first management subject is the principal owner, Bill DeWitt Jr.  The man that signs the checks always stands out in the fanbase's mind, and yet five people did not rate him in the poll.  Last year, he received an 83% mark, but after a year where the team didn't make the playoffs and then were embroiled in Pujols negotiations that were unfulfilled, that marked slid to 71%, a three-year low.  (Fair disclosure: I put him down at 91.  You'll find I'm a fairly easy grader.)  Comments included that he's "consistently failed to field a competitive team" (which I strongly disagree with) and he "will score higher when he signs Pujols."

Our media member for the day is Post-Dispatch writer Derrick Goold.  Derrick's never been rated in these polls before, but he's regularly posting on his Bird Land blog as well as writing stories and interacting on Twitter.  I'm guessing media members are a little more interesting to us bloggers than some other fans, since there were only 47 ratings on him.  Those that did rate him, though, had a generally positive impression, as he tallied a 87.8% mark.  Interesting how people are perceived, though.  One commenter said that he "willing to tell Cards fans what they don't want to hear," while another indicated he was unwilling to step on any toes.  (BTW, my score for him: 90.)

A couple of Playing Peppers in the hopper for today, so be sure to check back on those!

Preseason Rituals: Playing Pepper and Cardinal Approval Ratings

Posted on February 27, 2011 at 3:43 PM
I'm a routine kinda guy.  One of the great things about baseball is its rhythm, the fact that it's on almost every day at almost the same time.  I like having a pattern to fall back on, something that drives what I do.

With the coming of the baseball season, there are a lot of things that start marking the time.  The fantasy drafts over at CardsClubhouse.  The increase in baseball Tweets.  Players showing up to spring training in "the best shape of their lives."

Two years ago, I started up two other preseason items that have carried on to the current day.  First off is my series that I call Playing Pepper.  It's a way to keep up with the other teams around baseball by checking in with the bloggers that write about those teams.  This was one of the things that inspired me to start up the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, which is still going strong today.

I like to post a National League team preview and an American League team preview each day, so here's the projected schedule.  As the posts go up, I will update this listing with links in case you want to bookmark it and return on a regular basis.




I've tapped into the membership of the BBA for answers to five questions, three consistent and two team-specific, and the response has been great.  I look forward to bringing you these answers by some of the best bloggers out there.

My other preseason ritual relates to the Cardinal Approval Ratings.  If you look on the right-hand side of the blog, down below the Heroes and Goats scoreboard (yes, it's just about time for those again!) you'll see what everyone received last year on their ratings as well as those that I asked about in 2009 but that weren't on the team in 2010.

This year, I'm bringing all of those back (interestingly, all of those I polled last year are back for 2011) plus I'm adding a few more.  So much so that the voting form has been broken up into three parts.

The first section relates to nine players, ranging from Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter to Kyle Lohse and Skip Schumaker.  The second section also has nine on it, but these deal with management types.  Lastly, there's a section of nine that lists some of the media types that cover the Cardinals.

You can find the form here and more instructions are listed at the top of that sheet.  I expect that I'll keep the voting open until Friday or Saturday, though it's possible that it will extend into next week depending on the demand.  After the vote closes, I'll release the average rating for one of each of the group every day until they are completed.

With these two things, plus spring training games starting, you can really feel baseball in the air!

Cardinals Continue To Battle Injuries

Posted on March 25, 2010 at 9:56 AM
Things were rolling along.  Matt Holliday was back from his rib cage injury and starting to find his groove.  Albert Pujols was back from his back, relieving a lot of worries in Cardinal Nation.  Everything was great, until yesterday's game, when Yadier Molina pulled up lame, left the game, and was diagnosed with a strained oblique.

Strained obliques aren't anything new in the Cardinal clubhouse.  Woody Williams had one a few years back, and more recently Pujols and Chris Carpenter have had to deal with them.  The problem with obliques is they take a while to heal (unless you are Pujols, who does everything better than a normal human).

The hope is that it's a mild one, he takes a few days off, and is ready to go for the beginning of the season.  However, I'm a little doubtful it'll happen that way.  A catcher has to be able to throw out baserunners, get into the crouch, and move in different ways than anyone else on the field.  I can't imagine that if the oblique isn't completely healed, Yadi will be able to be back catching anytime soon.

Which poses quite a dilemma for the club.  It was noted at the Post-Dispatch that Yadi might be the second-most indispensable Cardinal, because his backups aren't nearly to his caliber (sorry, Jason LaRue and Matt Pagnozzi).  While LaRue especially can hold down the fort for a limited period of time, you don't want to see him out there on a regular basis.  If Bryan Anderson had developed the way that he looked like he was going to, this would have been a great opportunity to see what he could do.  However, being that Anderson only got one at-bat in camp this year, I think we can safely assume he's not in the picture, at least right now.

The Cardinals will have to wait and see with Yadi, but hopefully, no matter how much they need him, they don't rush him back.  Those obliques can flare up again at the slightest provocation.

Switching gears to those that throw to Molina, it looks like the honking worked.  Jaime Garcia is expected to be named the fifth starter by the club for the regular season.  Garcia has had a dominant spring and it would be hard to overlook his work.

This is in no way to short Kyle McClellan, though.  I know I was a little concerned about the switch from reliever for McClellan, but he's handled it like a champ, putting up numbers that, in any other camp, would have solidified his standing as the last starter.  However, with the bullpen still in a bit of flux, having the established hand like McClellan in there wouldn't hurt any.

You have to figure McClellan will get a lot of two-inning, three-inning looks this year.  If Garcia falters, is he the first in line to take over?  With a promotion of a Mitchell Boggs or an Adam Ottovino, whichever doesn't make the club, as the fill in for him?  If Rich Hill starts getting it together in Memphis, where does he fit in?  Still a lot of questions to be answered this season, though if Garcia keeps going like he has this spring, most of them aren't even going to come up.

After our interview with McClellan earlier in the spring, I'm not surprised to hear him saying things about whatever the team needs and it's just nice to be wanted and valued.  It's got to be tough when you want to be a starter, you pitched lights out, and it still wasn't enough.  I don't think he'll carry that into the season and he'll be just as effective a reliever as he's been a starter this spring.

If you've not seen it yet, Pujols is going to have his own "Got Milk?" ad.  We discussed on last night's UCB Radio Hour about Pujols's increased profile and whether he's becoming a household name in households that don't even follow baseball.  I'm not sure he's there yet, but he is working on it.

Time to finish up the Cardinal Approval Ratings with the last three on the ballot.  Last year, we were wondering exactly what Tony La Russa was thinking, moving outfielder Skip Schumaker to the infield.  Skip wasn't on last year's voting ballot, but after a year of solid work at second, it was time to get a feel for what Cardinal Nation thought about him.  On 66 ballots, Skip wound up with a respectable 81.1% mark.  The Schu man topped out at 99 and bottomed out at 50.

Mike Shannon was on last year's questions, racking up a 91.6% rating.  The long-time broadcaster was more of the same in 2009, but his approval rating dropped dramatically.  Shannon only got a 80.3% tally this year, with numerous zeros on the 64 ballots that named him.  It's possible that some put in zero instead of leaving it blank for no rating, but it could be that Shannon is more polarizing than I thought.

Adam Wainwright came into his own last year, challenging for the NL Cy Young.  That obviously helped him in the eyes of the respondents, as he wound up with a 95.6% mark, the second-highest on the club.  Over 15 different 100 ratings and the lowest on the 66 ballots was a 77.

Hope y'all enjoyed the approval ratings.  It was interesting to see the differences between this year and last.  No post tomorrow, as I'll be in getting carpal tunnel surgery.  They say I'll be able to type soon afterwards, so hopefully it won't be too long before we are talking Cardinals again!

A Pain In The Back

Posted on March 23, 2010 at 8:08 AM
The Cardinals split up the squad yesterday and wound up with two wins, including a huge eighth inning that brought them from behind against the Red Sox.  So what's the major story today?

Albert Pujols's back, of course.  The man gets a hangnail, Cardinal Nation hyperventilates.  With good reason.

This is starting to trouble me just a bit.  I know that the front office is saying they aren't concerned, and obviously they would know much more than I do on the subject, but to have this happen again this spring just seems disconcerting.  While it sounds like if this was the regular season he'd probably play, it worries me that this will be something that carries into the season. As most of you probably do, I get the twinges in my back and wouldn't want to try to be swinging a bat with that kind of discomfort.

Everything will be fine, right?  It's only spring, it's only spring.....

However, with AP not being able to go yesterday, we weren't able to see Pujols and Holliday back-to-back.  Matt Holliday was back in the lineup, which helped alleviate some concerns, because if both of them hobble to the starting line, there's going to be a lot of concerned Redbird faithful.  Holliday seems to be completely healed up from the rib cage strain, swinging at full speed and getting a double against the Red Sox.

The biggest on-the-field news came on the pitching mound, though.  Jaime Garcia threw against the Astros and was very solid, allowing only one run over four innings.  As a pitcher, if you get Yadier Molina testifying for you, that has to go a long way.  Garcia has done all he can this spring to get a roster slot and it does sound like Tony La Russa is watching.  If Kyle McClellan or Rich Hill gives them a reason to send him down, they might, but right now Garcia might have edged in front of both of them.

Adam Ottovino got his relief appearance in and did fairly well.  He struck out two, though he did allow a run.  I don't think he pitched himself out of contention for a slot at all.  As we examined yesterday, it's possible that he and Garcia would go north, though it'd take some other work to make that happen.  I still think he's a bit of a longshot, but it could happen.

There are 31 left in camp after the Cards sent out some players yesterday.  That leaves six more to remove, mainly in the pitching staff with Ruben Gotay getting sent down.  Just two more weeks until the bell rings!

Two more Cardinal Approval Ratings to get to.  Last year, Colby Rasmus was an unknown quantity, which was reflected in his low 66.0% score.  After a full rookie season, Cardinal Nation has warmed somewhat to the quiet outfielder, bumping him up over ten points to 76.8%.  Colby topped out at 95 and bottomed out at 49 over the 66 ballots.

John Rooney also was ranked last year, pulling in a 80.9% score.  A number of voters didn't express an opinion this year, as he only showed up on 60 ballots but he stayed fairly steady, slipping down to 76.2%.  Rooney hit both extremes, with one 100 and one 0.

Off-day for the Cardinals today, so hopefully Pujols will be back to work tomorrow!


Browse past entries in the Approval Ratings category by date




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Heroes
Lance Berkman (24)
Albert Pujols (19)
Matt Holliday (15)
Chris Carpenter (10)
Kyle Lohse (9)
Yadier Molina (9)
Ryan Theriot (8)
David Freese (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Jon Jay (7)
Jake Westbrook (6)
Allen Craig (5)
Kyle McClellan (5)
Colby Rasmus (5)
Edwin Jackson (4)
Skip Schumaker (4)
Daniel Descalso (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Gerald Laird (2)
Nick Punto (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Lance Lynn (1)

2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Ryan Theriot (12)
Albert Pujols (11)
Jake Westbrook (10)
David Freese (8)
Ryan Franklin (7)
Jaime Garcia (7)
Fernando Salas (7)
Kyle Lohse (6)
Kyle McClellan (6)
Colby Rasmus (6)
Skip Schumaker (6)
Miguel Batista (5)
Chris Carpenter (5)
Daniel Descalso (5)
Matt Holliday (5)
Jon Jay (5)
Jason Motte (5)
Allen Craig (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Tyler Greene (4)
Yadier Molina (4)
Lance Berkman (3)
Mitchell Boggs (3)
Gerald Laird (3)
Edwin Jackson (2)
Trever Miller (2)
Corey Patterson (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Maikel Cleto (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Octavio Dotel (1)
Mark Hamilton (1)
Lance Lynn (1)
Nick Punto (1)
Arthur Rhodes (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Raul Valdes (1)
PJ Walters (1)

2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2011)
    Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%)
    Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%)
    Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%)
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Derrick Goold 87.8%
    Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%)
    John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%)
    Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%)
    Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%)
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Jim Hayes 76.1%
    John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%)
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%)
    Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%)
    BJ Rains 70.4%
    Ricky Horton 69.1%
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%)
    Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%)
    Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%)
    Dan Lozano 58.7%
    Joe Strauss 57.5%
    Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%)

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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