Page Not Found
include() [<a href='function.include'>function.include</a>]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration
 
|
Sponsor
Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule. Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines Slots Galore Casino Tournaments Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified. Subscribe RSS Feed
Archives
Players
Categories
Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets. With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials! |
Recently in Baltimore Orioles CategoryFreedom, Fireworks, and BaseballPosted on July 4, 2011 at 9:56 PM
As the noise of the fireworks reverberates around my neighborhood, it seems only appropriate to spend the last part of the holiday weekend catching up talking about the all-American sport. Little known fact: The Continental Congress used a home run derby to decide vital points. The Declaration would have started out "King George sucks and is a bully" instead "When in the course of human events" if Thomas Jefferson hadn't raked nine longballs to John Hancock's six.I've been meaning to catch up all weekend long, with the excitement of the Baltimore sweep then somewhat tempered by the collapses against the Rays. With Albert Pujols making noise and a number of injured guys looking like they'll make an impact soon, it's time to take stock of this team. Recap time! Thursday (9-6 win at Baltimore) Hero: Lance Berkman. Two home runs and three RBI. Goat: Jaime Garcia. A lot of nights, five runs in just over five innings is going to be a problem for this team. Thankfully, they'd built an 8-0 lead and were able to absorb it, but it still points to a strange issue with Garcia. For his career, Garcia has a 1.74 ERA at home vs. a 4.60 mark on the road. That's not the only indicator that he likes his home cooking, though. His K/BB ratio, his BAA, his home runs allowed, his WHIP all are worse, most of them significantly, when he's not pitching at Busch Stadium, even though the number of innings for home and road are fairly compatible. What does this mean? Besides the fact that Garcia would start any Game 7 pitched under the Arch but none away from it, I don't know. It's obvious that something is different, though. Perhaps he has trouble with distractions when he's out of his routine. Perhaps there's something about the lighting or the appearance of Busch that works wonders for him. I don't know what it is but it's pretty obvious there's something and Garcia is going to have to figure out what it is and how to change it before he becomes an elite pitcher in this league. Notes: Another strong night for Jon Jay, who had three hits, drove in three, and could be pressed for playing time soon. (More on that in a bit.) David Freese had two hits as he continues to show that he's not rusty at all, though he did make an error. Friday (5-3 win at Tampa Bay) Hero: Colby Rasmus. His three-run home run, besides being part of an inning that had just about all of the Rays tossed out of the game, was the key to the game after a troublesome bottom of the eighth for the Cards. Goat: Lance Lynn. Lynn's been doing pretty well out of the bullpen, but allowed three runs in an inning in this one. Notes: Nice to see Fernando Salas come out on back-to-back days and have uneventful ninth innings. Perhaps whatever glitch he had in June has been ironed out and the end of games will be a little cleaner. Jake Westbrook also pitched a very solid game, allowing no runs in seven and striking out twice as many as he walked. If he can be more of an innings-eater (and I mean that he pitches good innings), that'll help a lot going forward. Saturday (5-1 loss at Tampa Bay) Hero: Lance Berkman. Put the only run on the board with yet another long ball. Goat: Kyle McClellan. For a while there, McClellan looked pretty good. He put up five straight scoreless innings and went into the sixth leading 1-0. He never saw the end of it, allowing five runs in two-thirds of a frame before Jason Motte put out the uprising with a strikeout. What exactly does the team do with McClellan? Do they hope this is just a rough patch? Because the numbers aren't looking all that good for McClellan after his strong start. Save for his stellar one run, seven inning outing against the Phillies three starts ago, he's not gotten past the sixth since May 19 and hasn't completed the sixth since 5/24. From his start on the 24th at San Diego until now, he's posted a 5.73 ERA and opponents have an .807 OPS against him. Also, he's only gone 33 innings in those six starts, meaning that the bullpen is always going to be working more than three innings on his days. Could he bounce back? It's possible, I guess, but I'm not holding my breath. We saw Chris Carpenter have bad results this season, but his underlying numbers were good and it wasn't surprising that he started to return to form. (The fact that he's apparently decided never to give the ball to the bullpen if he doesn't have to is also working for him.) Carpenter also had a long history to point to and give some confidence to a doubtful fan base. McClellan doesn't have that, and the odds are he's not going to turn around now and start going seven or so innings into games on a regular basis. Notes: Brandon Dickson made his debut and did a fine job, getting Trever Miller out of yet another sticky situation. The Cardinals had plenty of chances here, piling up 10 hits and three walks, but two double plays really took the wind out of their sails. Sunday (8-3 loss at Tampa Bay) Hero: Lance Berkman. Folks, if you'd have said that Berkman would have 22 home runs this year, I think every Cardinal fan in the world would have taken it. To have him have that many home runs the week before the All-Star break? Most Cardinal fans would have sat you down and lectured you about the evils of drugs, because you were apparently on something. It's been the most effective $8 million the Cards have spent in a long, long time. Even if Berkman does nothing in the second half (which I don't expect will happen), you have to give major kudos to John Mozeliak for realizing how well Berkman would do in the right place and that he had a lot left to give. Goat: Really not sure who to give the Goat to. I'm guessing Kyle Lohse, because he did give up a lot of doubles, but he didn't have the strongest of defenses going behind him, plus Motte allowed one of his inherited runners to score as well. Lohse not getting through the sixth was a problem coming on the heels of McClellan's outing. While that was two games in a row that he left early, the one before was the Baltimore game where he left due to a rain delay. Lohse may be slowing down from his blistering early season pace, but he's still a very effective mid-rotation starter and I think likely to stay that way. Notes: Brian Tallet has struggled and did again in this game. The biggest thing that he has going for him right now is that there are no other dominant lefties in the organization and Trever Miller has been almost as bad. If Raul Valdes really gets on a roll, though, Tallet could be the next veteran to be an ex-Cardinal. Monday (1-0 win vs. Cincinnati) Hero: Chris Carpenter. Another stellar outing. It's obvious that Carp has dug down and said he's not relinquishing the ball. Since the beginning of June, look at his pitch counts. 118, 92, 124, 124, 132 and 119 tonight. He's thrown two complete games victory, one complete game loss, and left after eight tonight. Whatever has gotten into him, it seems to be working, which is a great thing for Cardinal Nation. Goat: David Freese. Tough night for Freese, as he ended at least two innings with a runner on base, once with a double play. In a game where runs were at such a premium, that hurt. Notes: Nice game by Jon Jay, even if he was tossed out trying to steal. That catch he made to rob a home run in the fourth could have been a difference maker, the way it turned out. Two hits by Colby Rasmus, which means he could be getting on the good side of his streaky reputation. Of course, many of these games have been overshadowed by the fact that it appears that Pujols will be returning not at the beginning of August as so many thought when he went down, but possibly tomorrow, the first day he is eligible to do so. While I really won't believe that one until Twitter lights up tomorrow when the lineup is posted, it definitely sounds like he'll be back before the All-Star Break. Obviously, this is good news for the Cardinals. I don't think that they are rushing him back, because the problem with the team lately hasn't been the offense. Sure, having Pujols back is a boon and you'd rather go into games with him than without him, but it's not like the Cards are being shut out every other game and they have to have that bat in the lineup. So I don't think it's a pressure situation here, but that he has healed up quickly. (Though, being the machine that he is, it could be that they just welded over the fracture and oiled him up.) If he thinks he's healthy and, more importantly, the medical community thinks he's healthy, I'm all for getting him back in the game. Not only does that help the team immensely, but it allows him more time to get to that .300/30/100 level that he probably doesn't think about but is nice to see from a fan's point of view. Also seen at Busch today were Eduardo Sanchez throwing and Gerald Laird catching. I wasn't able to hear what the prognosis on those two were, but it's just great to see the team coming together again. With Pujols back, you figure Jay goes to the bench, deepening that and giving Tony La Russa some options later in the game. Tony Cruz hasn't embarrassed himself at all in the bigs and, even though he'll probably go down when Laird is ready, you know that he'll get another call up when they need help. As for Sanchez, adding him to the eighth with some of the other arms out there should make for a more stable pen. Lots of excitement about the second half of the season! Cards are sending Berkman, Matt Holliday, and Yadier Molina to the All-Star Game. A little different (but understandable) not to see Pujols going and it seems like it's been a while since a Cardinal pitcher hasn't been on the All-Star staff. If Carpenter had gotten this run going a little earlier, he might have been considered. Cards are up one on Milwaukee, 1.5 on Pittsburgh (that's no typo, Pittsburgh is within two games of first with less than half a season to go) and three on Cincinnati. Tomorrow (or, more likely, today since it's late on Monday night when I'm writing this and you'll probably be reading it Tuesday morning) Garcia gets a home start (thumbs up!) against Edinson Volquez. Here's Garcia versus the Red hitters:
Volquez against the Cards:
 Filed Under: Baltimore Orioles
| Cincinnati Reds
| Heroes and Goats
| St. Louis Cardinals
| Tampa Bay Rays
Leave a Comment
A Changing Of The GuardPosted on June 30, 2011 at 6:48 AM
The Cardinals may have gone out of town, but that doesn't mean out of sight out of mind. There's been plenty to talk about out of this series in Baltimore, so let's quickly look at the last two games before getting into it all.I think the best thing that we've seen out of both games is great starting pitching. On Tuesday, Kyle Lohse was very strong, going five scoreless innings. If it wasn't for the rain delay that forced him out of the game, I'd give him the Hero tag. As it is, I think you give it to Matt Holliday due to his two hits and his home run. A strong night for David Freese in his return from the disabled list as well, with two hits and a run scored, though he did strike out once. On the downside, you probably give the Goat to Ryan Franklin. More about him in a bit, but he wrapped his Cardinal career by going 1/3 of an inning and giving up three hits and two runs, including a long ball. Yadier Molina had a rough night as well, going 0-4. Wednesday night, you can't do anything but give the Hero to Chris Carpenter. A complete game, resting a bullpen that was short members due to release, recent use, or nagging injury. One run over those nine, with five strikeouts and an impressive piece of pitching in the fifth, when he had bases loaded with nobody out and was able to emerge unscathed. 132 pitches, on top of the 250 pitches he threw in his last two outings, does give some pause, though. I feel like Carpenter can handle this, that he's the workhorse, the competitor that will go as far as you need with no ill effects. However, he has had numerous arm injuries in the past. Can that arm hold up? More relevantly (because I don't believe Carpenter is going to be hurt doing this), will he still have the stamina come late August? The Cards have talked in the past about saving bullets. Does Carp just have another clip he can put in? Just a small shoutout as well to Mark Hamilton. Even the DH has its uses, as Hamilton has gotten a chance to start the last couple of nights. Tuesday night he went 1-4 with an RBI and last night he was 1-3. Perhaps some regular play while the Cardinals are on the East Coast will help him get a bit of a groove. I still think the Cards would be well served to let him start some games at first and put Lance Berkman in the outfield (or even rest Berkman occasionally) to see what they have in Hamilton. The Goat would go to Yadier Molina for another 0-4 night. Yadi's only hitting .224 in June after his stellar start. The team has used Tony Cruz more than I thought they would once Gerald Laird went down, but either Molina needs a rest or he's averaging out to where you'd expect him to be. Hopefully he can do what he did last year, start the second half of the season fresh and have a strong end of the campaign. Last night's game was overshadowed somewhat by the news that came out a little before game time, when it was announced that Ryan Franklin had been released. The waiver-wire guy that quickly became an All-Star closer just as quickly hit the wall and the team had little choice but to part ways with him. They'd done everything they could to keep him around and try to help him out, but nothing was working. Franklin always did it with smoke and mirrors. If you look back, I was always wondering when the bubble would burst. He got three outs, but they might have been fly balls to the wall or he might do his Jason Isringhausen impression and make things interesting before he'd get the job done. When you walk that wire, eventually you are going to fall off and Franklin did with a vengeance. I think that in years to come Franklin's reputation in St. Louis will be much better than it was in the last few months. You could even see that yesterday, as many bloggers and Twitter types focused on the good that Franklin had done in St. Louis, which was considerable, instead of the disaster that 2011 has been for him. He most likely will spend his days in Oklahoma, but I could see him being one of those ex-Cards that pops up at various events around St. Louis. Who knows, might even do some TV or radio if he wants to. Whatever the case, he's apparently relieved at the change and hopefully things will be good for him in his post-baseball life. Interesting side note, at least for me. So far every year, the player or players that wind up as the top Goat on this site aren't back for next season. Troy Glaus was in 2008, didn't return. Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer in 2009, both were allowed to be free agents. Even last year, when it seemed the curse would be broken, Brendan Ryan then got traded to Seattle. With Franklin's Goat in Tuesday's game, he moved into a first place tie with three others. Apparently this year the jinx didn't wait until the offseason. It appears that Brandon Dickson is about the only option for the Cardinals, at least internally, to initially fill that roster slot. Bryan Augenstein and Makiel Cleto were both optioned to Memphis and Springfield, respectively, within the last 10 days and as such can't return unless there's an injury, which there's not. Be interesting to see what Dickson can do in the bullpen and if he takes to it like Lance Lynn apparently has. Have you voted yet? If you didn't see last night's post, click over here to see what you can do for Stan the Man. Cards finish up in Baltimore tonight. After flipping their rotation because apparently Camden Yards doesn't agree with Jake Westbrook, Jaime Garcia will go for the sweep against Brian Matusz. As you can imagine, there aren't many reference points for either pitcher against the opposing team. Here's Garcia vs. the Orioles:
 Another Cavalry Brigade?Posted on June 28, 2011 at 7:06 AM
The Cards are out on the East Coast, doing that whole interleague play thing and matching up with the former St. Louis Browns. Beginning tonight, there will be a couple of familiar faces in the lineup as well.David Freese and Nick Punto were activated yesterday, with Pete Kozma and Andrew Brown being sent back to Memphis. I believe that continues to keep the Cardinals at 13 pitchers, but extra bats probably aren't as necessary in American League games since you won't be using pinch-hitters for pitchers. Couple that with the way that the pitching has been going and you won't get an argument from me on that makeup. No word yet on whether both players will be in the lineup or, if so, where they'll be. You'd expect Freese will be in there, but will they let him DH to continue his recovery or throw him straight into playing third? Likewise, will Punto play second base or will they keep him on the bench? Should see the lineup on Twitter this afternoon and it'll be really interesting how they go about it. I'd like to see them put Freese at third and put Lance Berkman at DH, leaving a chance for Mark Hamilton to get a start. Hamilton's never going to hit unless you let him get a lot of at bats--I'm hearing echos of the argument I heard for Tyler Greene there--and the Cards should at least find out if they have a trade chip in him. Getting those guys back should help spark the team somewhat. I mean, it's not Adam Wainwright or Albert Pujols returning, but after taking so many hits to the team, it's good to have people coming off the DL instead of going on it. Right now, something is needed to spark this team and hopefully these guys can be it. Speaking of Wainwright, did you see that he hopes to be on the roster in September and pitch in the postseason? Even though he says it's a "modest goal", you know that it's not going to happen. They could activate him in September, perhaps, and not use him, but there's no way that he'd be on the postseason roster. They aren't going to risk his recovery for the few innings he could give them in October. Still, it's always good to see Wainwright news. Waino comes off as a great guy and I look forward to seeing him back on the mound in 2012. Not going to be a lot of data points with these two teams not facing each other much, but here's what Kyle Lohse has done against the Orioles:
Zach Britton is a young gun that the Orioles are high on. He's not faced anyone currently wearing Cardinal red, however.
We'll see if the Cardinals can snap out of this tailspin and stay in contention in the NL Central. It's hard to believe that there's a possibility they could be tied with Pittsburgh after today's action. Hopefully they can win and avoid that!  Playing Pepper 2011: Baltimore OriolesPosted on February 28, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Two years ago, I started a series I called Playing Pepper, where I asked questions of bloggers of each major league team about the season to come. Not only was that informative and entertaining, it led to the spawning of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. With spring training coming up, it's time to get back into shape by again playing a little pepper. Baltimore Orioles (66-96, 30 GB and fifth in the AL East) It's been a long time since the glory days of Cal Ripken in the Charm City. Ever since Jeffrey Meier interfered with Tony Tarasco in 1996, things have been on a downhill trajectory. Can the birds reclaim that glorious history of the early part of their existence or are they doomed to become like the team they originated from, the St. Louis Browns? A couple of Baltimore bloggers are going to try to answer that. First up, the man that goes by the name Detective Tom Ludlow over at the blog Eutaw Street Hooligans. The Hooligans have many writers and you can follow Tom on Twitter and the gang on Facebook. Dan Soderberg provides another point of view on the Orioles. Originally a writer for the blog Birds Watcher, he know can be found writing for the web site Splice Today. You can also follow him on Twitter as well. After the jump, find out if the Orioles can get out of the cellar and what exactly the deal with Matt Wieters is. Playing Pepper 2010: Baltimore OriolesPosted on February 22, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Last year before the season began, I posed five questions
to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball. I
focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me
by. That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason
edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist. Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set. Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA. We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order, but things may change depending on responses. Baltimore Orioles 2009 Finish: 64-98, fifth in the AL East The Orioles have a tough lot in life, living as they do in the AL East. It's been a long time since they've been able to say they were playing meaningful baseball down the stretch, much less October. Now, they risk being overshadowed in their own backyard by the arrival of phenom/franchise savior Stephen Strasburg in Washington. However, the Orioles are making strides, led by their own phenom, Matt Wieters. I contacted Daniel of Camden Crazies and posed to him the Playing Pepper Ten. Filed Under: Baltimore Orioles
Leave a Comment
A Lost Cardinal WeekendPosted on March 30, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three games that the Cardinals played against AL foes. Two of them with what portends to be close to the Opening Day lineup. And the Cardinals couldn't win any of them.None of them were blowouts and the Cards had a chance to win at least two of them, but still, running into this kind of streak after such a strong spring training is a little disappointing. You'd hope that it's just one of those things, some strong opposition more than a struggling team, but the team has lost a total of five in a row, which doesn't completely coincide with the World Baseball Classic wrapping up and players returning to camp, but enough that you have to start wondering whether some of that early spring success was inflated due to the fact the Cards didn't have much depletion of their roster. Let's take a quick look at the games. Friday, they lost on the road to the Red Sox 11-8 in extra innings. This one almost was a spectacular game, as the Cards scored four in the ninth to take the lead, only to cough it up in the bottom of the inning. There were good things from the game, of course. David Freese had a great game, going three for four with a home run and driving in two. Khalil Greene and Albert Pujols both had two hits. Chris Perez threw an inning and struck out two. The disturbing thing, though, was the outing of Kyle Lohse, who gave up 11 hits and six runs (five earned) in five innings. The Sox hit him hard, but Lohse did dance out of trouble until the sixth, where it really came crashing down on him. Dennys Reyes didn't really set the world on fire either, allowing three hits and a run in his inning of work. Of course, days like that happen and if it wasn't in the middle of a five-game losing streak, maybe it gets shaken off. But so often in spring we look for signs and portents in everything, so outings like that within a couple of weeks of the start of the season can raise some eyebrows. Continue Reading Doubling The FunPosted on March 14, 2009 at 9:07 AM
Cards took both split-squad games from the Orioles yesterday. Let's take a look at who had a hand in the victories.The first game, Cards won 6-5. It wouldn't have been quite that close but Chris Perez struggled in his outing, giving up two runs before recording the save. Otherwise, on the pitching front, things weren't too bad. Kyle McClellan gave up one in three innings, Brad Thompson allowed two in three, but the rest of the bullpen did their jobs well. Offensively, Joe Thurston continued his post-Schumaker-story tear, going three for five (and getting the call to play in the second game after Brendan Ryan couldn't go, but more on that later), Jon Jay had the same mark and scored two runs. Nice to see Khalil Greene get a mark in the HR category, tallying his first of the spring as part of a two-hit day. Don't figure he'll hit .353 over the course of the season, but I think we can safely say that shortstop will be an offensive upgrade this year. Keeping an eye on Colby, Rasmus went one for three. There's a bit about his offseason routine up at the Post-Dispatch today. Sounds like he went to a lot of effort to make sure he can last through the daily grind of the season. I still am waiting to see him catch fire like he did last spring training, however. In the second game, the Cards outscored the O's 3-1, with the only run for Baltimore coming off of Jason Motte in the ninth. So apparently the closer situation didn't get any clearer yesterday. Joel Pineiro started and kept his spring ERA at 0.00, allowing five hits in four innings but striking out four as well. I'm not sure exactly when the bubble is going to burst on Pineiro. The odds of him having made fundamental adjustments that have eluded him most of his career are long, but if something has changed, this pitching staff is going to be a lot of fun to watch. As mentioned above, Joe Thurston played in this game as well, filling in as Ryan was sick. However, playing in two games across two different towns might have been a bit much for him, as he went 0-3. Those that did hit included Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick and Chris Duncan, who all had two hits each. It was most satifying to see Ludwick finally get his bat going, as even after those two hits his spring average is still at .179. You have to wonder if Ludwick has heard a lot of the "fluke" talk and has put a little pressure on himself to make sure people realize it wasn't one. That and the nagging injuries from this spring can't have him feeling all that great at the moment. The talk of either game, though, was the fact that Skip Schumaker had a good day in the field in Game 1. He even finally got a shot at turning a double play, which went well. I don't think one day is going to make up for the misgivings that Tony La Russa and others were having this week, but it definitely helps, especially since almost everyone wants him to take the job to help free up the outfield situation. Mark McGwire made one of his rare press appearances, talking about his new life as a hitting instructor. I really never though of McGwire as a cerebral hitter that could teach--the large home run totals tend to lend to a stereotypical "grip it and rip it" idea--but it's pretty obvious that he can connect with some hitters, at least. Schumaker really raved about his time with Big Mac last year. To get you through the weekend, I'll wrap up with some links that I've stumbled across in various ways. A couple are on the newly updated blog roll as well. First, Riding the Pine is a new Cardinals blog that has requested membership in the United Cardinal Bloggers. Right now Eugene has up his top 10 Cardinal prospects, if you want to take a look. Another blog that is just getting started is Birds In The Busch. It's written by three friends and has a lot of different ways to interact, including the most involved use of Twitter I've seen. On the minor league side of things, we have Chirp Chatter, which is focused on the Memphis Redbirds, and Koppers' Kaos, written by Cardinal farmhand David Kopp. These will be good to keep close by as the minor league season gets underway. I got an e-mail about a free to play web-based baseball game called Baseball Boss. I took a quick look around and it looks pretty good. I hope to get back over there and really get into it sometime this weekend. Finally, I thought I'd mention that I will be writing a Cardinal highlight piece every month at Baseball Reflections, recapping the month that was, so to speak. My first piece about the offseason and how things look for 2009, should be up Wednesday morning. Playing Pepper 2009: Baltimore OriolesPosted on February 9, 2009 at 11:30 AM
As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same. I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posed them five questions. This is the result. You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.When I think of the Orioles, I often think of the line from George Will's masterpiece Men At Work. "The jalopy that left St. Louis turned into a Rolls Royce." There's no doubt that the Orioles have had much more success in Baltimore than they ever did being the Browns in St. Louis. That said, it was 1997 the last time they made the playoffs and, in the increasingly difficult AL East, there's not necessarily a break in the clouds coming. I posed some questions to Anthony from Oriole Post and this is what he had to say about the coming year and playing against the big boys. Continue Reading Thanksgiving, Cardinal StylePosted on November 26, 2008 at 9:44 AM
(First off, I want to acknowledge that Mike on the Cards got their CBA ballot up. While it didn't change many things, it did break the Best Individual Blog tie in Fungoes favor. I don't plan to edit the post save to change the chart because that one was starting to get wonky, but I wanted it noted for the record.)Last year, I outlined what Cardinal fans should be thankful for as well as what some of those inside the game were appreciative of at this time of year. Let's combine those two things this year. A number of those topics from the first post of last year are gone this year. Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Walt Jocketty are all in different organizations. It'd be pushing it quite a bit (especially after his resounding win as Disappointing Player of the Year in the Cardinal Blogger Awards) to put Jason Isringhausen on the list this year. I still believe that ownership, Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, John Mozeliak and the internet still stay on the thankful list. But what can we add this year? Kyle Lohse: I was one of those that really wasn't excited about the Lohse signing. It became necessary as pitchers dropped in spring training, but I figured he'd be servicable at best. Instead, he helped carry this team into contention. Without Lohse, there's a good chance the Cards are battling the Pirates most of the year instead of working their way to the top of the division. Whether he'll be good enough going forward to earn his contract is debatable, but from a fan point of view, it's nice to see a guy come in cheap, do well, and then stick around instead of going out for the highest bidder. Troy Glaus: This time last year, Glaus was a guy that wanted out of Toronto. This year, he's one of the heroes of St. Louis. Amazing what some natural grass can do, huh? I really hated the fact that Scott Rolen was shipped out and to some degree I still do. But Glaus eased that pain quite a bit this year, even turning in a defensive year that Rolen could be proud of. I'm still always going to be a Rolen fan, but I'm thankful that Mozeliak was able to get such a return for him. The rookie relief corps: How much fun was it to watch guys like Kyle McClellan, Chris Perez and Jason Motte this past season? Anytime young, fresh faces come into a team and contribute right away, it gives the fans a lot of joy. McClellan started out from the get-go, getting out of a tough situation in his first outing. I still have that image of Molina waiting for him to give him a hug after that initial appearance. Then later in the year we got to see the flamethrowers Perez and Motte make their impact. They all had their struggles, sure, but that's part of watching baseball, seeing when these guys improve and become key parts of the team. The blogosphere: You can easily say I'm biased, since I'm part of it, but I think Redbird fans should be grateful for the increase in Cardinal blogs floating around the internet now. You can get so many different views, different ideas, different stories now, plus it gives you plenty of Cardinal and baseball fodder for reading, especially during the winter when there's less and less baseball to be found. I hope that the ranks continue to swell in the coming years! Now, what are other people thankful for? Troy Glaus: That St. Louis doesn't have artificial turf. Kyle Lohse: That the deal with the Mets fell through. Albert Pujols: That enough voters ignored his 2006 comments. Yadier Molina: That Gold Glove voters believe in make-up awards. Adam Wainwright: That the finger is better and hopefully he's gotten his weird injury quota for his career filled. Kyle McClellan: That the season is over so he can rest his arm! John Mozeliak: That the agents appear to be returning his calls this year. Even if it takes forever to get a deal done. Aaron Miles: That LaRussa is still in St. Louis, so he can keep his job. Anthony Reyes: That LaRussa is still in St. Louis and he's not. Cesar Izturis: That Baltimore still is a little iffy in the management department. I know that, again this year, I'm thankful for the readers of this blog and those Cardinal bloggers who have worked with me on UCB projects this year. It gets boring talking to yourself, so it's nice to know people are listening. Have a great Thanksgiving and I'll return Monday! Stress Free OctoberPosted on October 8, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Thank you, Arizona! It was great to start the stress-free playoffs this weekend. With Arizona sweeping the Cubs out of the way (look at what all that off-season spending did for them--three more wins than the '06 Cardinals and a first round exit. Spending money isn't the panacea some Cardinal fans think it is.), I could enjoy the finale of the Colorado/Philadelphia series without wondering which team could beat the Cubs. That was a thrilling game, and the Rockies are on a serious roll. That roll has to come to an end sometime, but hopefully not terribly soon, as it is VEB's adopted team for the post-season. It was nice to watch the AL yesterday as well. I didn't see much of the Sox sweep, but their win really had my house rooting for the Indians last night. Of course, the wife would have been anyway, but we were both intrigued by the possibility of four sweeps in the first round, which would have been a record. Unfortunately, it didn't come to pass, but I did some digging on the number of playoff games. Continue ReadingFiled Under: Arizona Diamondbacks
| Atlanta Braves
| Baltimore Orioles
| Boston Red Sox
| Cleveland Indians
| Colorado Rockies
| Florida Marlins
| General Baseball
| Houston Astros
| St. Louis Cardinals
Leave a Comment
Browse past entries in the Baltimore Orioles category by date |
  Search
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book! • Pick up the limited print edition • Free Best Sports Blogs ebook United Cardinal Bloggers
Honorary member: Obviously, You're Not a Golfer Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Other Cardinal Blogs
Recommended Cardinal ForumOther Cardinal Sites
General Baseball Blogs/Sites
Find more sold out tickets
 HeroesLance 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) GoatsRyan 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% Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets? TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets. Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets. Referrals |
