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Not Quite "Lonborg and Champagne", but We'll Take It

This blog's title is a reference to the famous Boston Globe headline before Game 7 of the 1967 World Series.  Jim Lonborg had already beaten the Cardinals twice in that series, throwing 2 complete games, allowing a total of 4 hits and a run.  Of course, allowing his opponent, Bob Gibson, to see that headline before the game was probably the worst thing the Red Sox could have done; Gibby dominated, and the Cardinals tasted the bubbly.

I was reminded of that when Mickey Lolich trotted out to throw out the first pitch, especially considering the Cardinals had one only once at Comerica since 2000 (but what a once - Game 1 of the '06 World Series).

The result?  The boys won their third game of the road trip, 8-4 over them Tigers.  The game had chills (Cabrera's home run that wasn't), thrills (Schumaker's pinch hit 2-RBI single in the sixth) and head scratchers (how did Barton get caught off third in the first?).  But what matters is the Redbirds FINALLY picked up a game on the Cubs.  It's been 3 weeks (since June 7, specifically) since they gained ground on Chicago.  Let's hope they don't have to wait another 3 weeks to pick up another game.

Heroes and Goats:  it's tough today.  Since LaRussa pegged Brendan Ryan "the star of the game" I won't disagree with him.  Brendan had a nice multi-hit game, and his two-RBI double in the seventh iced the game.  Goat:  We'll go with Brian Barton (tough call) and Rick Ankiel (not so tough) for getting caught off/picked off, respectively, on the basepaths.

Other news/notes:  Albert Pujols' rehab is going well, and he may return as DH in this series.  Otherwise we'll see him in the KC series this weekend.  LaRussa thinks any infielder can play first, an interesting opinion I don't agree with (there's a lot of footwork required around the bag that most people don't think about), although you can't argue with the results (Kennedy played well last night).  Mark Mulder's next rehab step is uncertain. 

One final thing:  Get out and VOTE for our all-stars.  25 votes per email address and as many as you can fill out at the ballpark.  Ryan Ludwick, Albert, and Yadier should be all-stars this season; don't leave it up to Clint Hurdle to have them added to the roster.

The World Series Reprise Continues

Before we get to the upcoming series with Detroit, lets pause for a moment and remember Sunday's game.  From all accounts, it was a doozy.  Piniero pitched great; Lester was slightly better.  Paplebon was proven human.  There were clutch hits (Kennedy in the ninth off the Sox closer), timely pitching (see McClellan in the 10th and Izzy in the eleventh), and off your seat drama (Duncan cut down at home).  I only wish I could have seen it.

Congrats to Nick Stavinoha, who got his first ML hit on Sunday in the sixth.

I'll award the Hero for this game to 2 folks:  Joel Piniero, who shook off my dire predictions of doom to throw 7+ innings and allow only 2 runs, and Aaron Miles, for his 5-hit effort.  Anytime your name is linked to Don Mattingly's (the last visiting player to have 5 hits in a game at Fenway) that's good.  Goat?  Mike Parisi.  Sorry, Mike.

Although the sting of losing that 2004 world series will always remain (granted, the sting will eventually fade to almost nothing as time passes), the Cardinals have won both regular season series from Boston since (in 2005 and this past weekend).  We haven't been so lucky with the Tigers, getting swept in Detroit last year.  Looper, Reyes, and Thompson were the victims during that May Series at Comerica.  Looper gets another crack at them today, facing Kenny Rogers.  The best pitching matchup of the series, however, is tomorrow, as Kyle Lohse meets rookie wunderkind Armando (don't call me Andres) Galarraga.  Wellemeyer's balky elbow will face hit or miss Nate Robertson in the finale Thursday.

The Cardinals, a team that has not shown much plate discipline lately, would be well served to be deliberate at the plate and run up the pitch counts early.  That would get the starter out and get us to their bullpen; other than Zumaya (who's just back off the DL), it is one of the worst in the AL.

One other item worth discussing today:  Mark Mulder's name has been bandied about for a possible start in Kansas City this weekend.  He was scratched from his rehab tune-up last night.  Despite two surgeries and countless hours rehabbing his shoulder, Mark's never gotten his arm back to the form he displayed as one of the Oakland A's anchors in the first part of this decade; whether it's a loss of velocity due to diminished strength in the arm following the surgeries, or his elusive arm slot issues, he isn't the same pitcher he was in 2004.  Also, as he progresses higher in the minors he's gotten slapped around pretty good by AA/AAA hitters.  I don't see how he's even an option at this point for a spot start with the big club.  Mark deserves all the credit in the world for his determination to get back on the field and resurrect his career.  I just don't think it's going to happen.

Frankly if Mulder's name appears as a better option for a spot start than Anthony Reyes from here on out (once Reyes returns from the DL), there's something seriously wrong with the thinking in the front office.

(PS - There was no Mitchell Boggs on the 1970s A's teams; the guy I was thinking of is Mitchell Page.)

Sometimes, Being Wrong Is OK

Man it's hot.  It's like Africa hot.  Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot.  Little bit of a heat wave on the west coast.  So naturally I spent my Friday playing in a work softball tournament; 4 games in 6 hours, during the hottest part of the day.  The good news:  We won.  The bad news:  I've spent the last 24 hours re-hydrating (beer is not an adequate hydrant, by the way) and taking 600 mg of Advil every 6 hours.

That, coupled with my belief (reinforced by my wife, a life-long Red Sox fan) that the Cardinals' offensive outage would make for a long weekend, meant I've paid very little attention to the last 2 games.

So what do my wondering eyes discover tonight?  They've won the first two in Fenway. 5-4 Friday, 9-3 today.  Not a bad recovery from that lead balloon they left over Busch after the KC series, eh?  I was wrong, and I'm glad to have been.

Heroes and Goats from these 2 games:

Friday, the hero will be a 2 for 1 special:  Kyle Lohse for winning his ninth game, and Skip Schumaker for his 2 run HR that provided the lead St Louis wouldn't surrender.  Goat:  Randy Flores.  You really don't want to load the bases by walking 2 of the first 3 hitters in this lineup.  No seriously.

Saturday, I'm giving the hero nod to Aaron Miles.  Yes, Troy Glaus and Mitchell Boggs (and wasn't there an Oakland A in the 70s with the same name?) are both deserving, but anytime you hit a completely unexpected 2-R HR to quiet the Fenway Faithful, you get hero status from me.  Goat?  Hard to find one; I'll have to reach and award it to Schumaker for being the only starter without a hit today.  It also means Skip becomes a winner of the highly sought 'Hero today, Goat tomorrow' award; it's like a Golden Sombrero, only cooler.

Tomorrow they will try for the sweep.  John Lester (6-3) has been tough this year, especially at home; he's already no-hit the Royals at Fenway.  Joel Piniero (2-3) has pitched well, better than his record indicates.  He's been especially good since returning from the DL (12 innings pitched, 10K, 2.25 ERA).  Either we'll have a good one, or Piniero's due for a clunker.  Hopefully the former.

You Can't Win If You Don't Score - Cardinal70 Version

Well hello everyone.  Perhaps some of you have perused my blog at one time or another; if not, I'm Mike, and I'll be minding the store while Dan takes some much deserved vacation time over the next week.

Continuing a running thought from over at the Stance, the Cardinals again managed one measly run and got swept out of Busch by the Royals, 4-1.  KC scored as many runs in this game as they allowed St Louis in the series, and that's just not going to get the job done.  Heroes and Goats for this game are pretty simple.  For driving in the lone Cardinal Run, Rick Ankiel gets the nod as Hero; and the Anemic Offense is the Goat.  I suppose I could saddle Brad Thompson or Chris Perez with the goat label, but since Brad came up on short notice and worked 5 solid innings, and since the Cardinals would still have lost 2-1 if Perez hadn't served up that gopher ball to Mark Teahen, it just didn't seem fair.

We all knew the offense would struggle without AP in the #3 slot.  There's no way you can adequately fill the shoes of a future HOF.  But to hit .154 against KC with RISP?  To not get anyone to second today?  Albert would have raised those figures a little bit, but it still points to some major problems surfacing offensively.  The same Post-Dispatch article I linked to above points out the Cardinals aren't taking walks like they were at the beginning of the season. Viva El Birdos took it a step further, showing the Cardinals are a lot less disciplined at the plate since the calendar flipped over into May, a trend that has become worse recently (see lboros post from Thursday; that site is down as I write this at 11:18 PDT, so I don't have a link to it).  You would think that plate discipline and patience would be things they really need to focus on now that the NL's second leading hitter is out of the lineup, as opposed to trying to do too much, which appears to be what they're doing.

One other thing:  Bernie Miklasz suggests the Cardinals should utilize the speed they have on the roster while they struggle to score runs, as a way to generate some offense.  It's a good suggestion.  Brendan Ryan and Brian Barton are two guys worth plugging into the lineup to see what they can create; it's not as if second base has been a font of offensive prowess this season, and the OF has really cooled off recently (witness Ankiel's 2 RBI on the homestand as an example).

Because I'm obligated to disagree with at least one thing in every article/post Bernie writes, sitting Chris Duncan really isn't an option, as he's the first baseman.  The two guys he suggests bringing up to help the offense wouldn't displace Chris at first.

We limp into Boston next.  They have the best home record in the majors (28-7), and will send Wakefield, Dice-K, and Lester to the hill to face our boys.  Might be a loooong weekend; keep your fingers crossed.

Sand, Surf and Slugging

Hey, isn't Petco supposed to be a pitcher's park?

I have to admit, I was a little concerned about last night's game.  All the pieces seemed to be in place for a Cardinal win, but those are the kind of games that tend to come up and bite this team.  From the get-go last night, though, it was apparent that neither the travel or the team was going to hold the Cardinals back.

Honestly, I wanted to give the Hero award to Cesar Izturis.  There was plenty of shock when I saw Gameday record his first home run of the year.  I personally savaged this deal in the spring, when Izturis was flubbing a ball a day and recording more errors than hits.  Even now, he can be a whipping boy for some fans.  But he's posting a .263 average right now, which is well more than most of us expected on the year.  He was hitting .186 on April 27.  Since then, he's gone 18-54 (.333) and now with a surprising home run.  You figure he'll slow down soon, but he's already proven that John Mozeliak might have a little idea what he's doing.

Still, when a guy slugs two home runs, both moon shots and one of which may not have landed yet, you gotta go with him.  Albert Pujols continues to show that he isn't to be challenged, though Ryan Ludwick is making it difficult for teams to bypass him.  Any surprise, then, that Pujols has three home runs in three games?

A little tough to find a Goat in yesterday's battle.  Wellemeyer pitched another stellar game and the bullpen kept everything in line.  Most everyone contributed something to the game.  (Gotta love--well, he might not--Yadi's bases-loaded HBP.  Takin' one for the team!)  So, for his 0-4 (even though he did draw a walk), the Goat goes to Adam Kennedy.

Not only is the press starting to rip on the Padres, the GM is getting into the act as well.  Which may mean a fired up squad comes out to play tonight.  The Cardinals will do well to not take them for granted, especially with the future Hall of Famer on the mound.

Greg Maddux has faced the Cardinals, as a team, numerous times.  Compared to the recent starters the Redbirds have faced, they are old friends with Maddux, but even then there are a number of players that haven't faced him or have faced him less than 10 times.  Pujols has been able to hit him well and surprisingly both Jason LaRue and Izturis have good averages against him as well.  It's always good to see Maddux play--he's been one of my favorites for years--but hopefully the Cards can get to him early.

Going for St. Louis is Joel Pineiro.  Pineiro has a solid body of work against the current Friars, but nothing dramatic.  Josh Bard will probably get the start as he's hit Pineiro well in the past.   Pineiro hasn't be quite on top of his game the last couple of outings, but hopefully the big park will help him keep the score down.

Some general notes:  I was half-watching highlights last night when I saw a Cubs outfielder make a great play with his back to the infield on Tal's Hill there in Houston.  I thought, "Hey, that's kinda like a play that Edmonds made for the Cardinals."  It didn't register with me until they showed him jogging off that it actually was Edmonds.  Having him in Cub blue is just so terribly wrong.

Did you see this part of the PD article about Stan the Man?  Personally, I think it's pretty neat:

Asked if Pujols, an avowed fan of Musial's career, could break his records, Musial said, "He has a chance to. He loves baseball, he's a good first baseman. ... You know the first time I saw Albert Pujols? He gave me a big hug and kissed me on the forehead."

Congrats to Jon Lester on his no-hitter.  Very impressive, especially considering where he was just a couple of years ago.   The only downside: more Boston talk.  I mean, c'mon, let's spread the no-hitters around, can we?

Note that Mark Mulder is having his rehab delayed.  At least it looks like it was something instead of just the Cardinals playing around with technicalities. Don over at The Redbird Blog talked about the injury situation with the Cardinals and how it is such an unnecessary mess.  It appears that Rick Ankiel might be ready to go tomorrow, but if not, it seems like the Cardinals are doing one of their trademark moves, playing short for a long length of time when it'd be better for the player to go on the DL.  He's missed three games so far, so it's not a big deal.  If he's not back in the lineup by Friday, though, it might have been better to bring up Joe Mather.

If you are enjoy the blog and want to add it to your personal site, use this widget and, boom, C70 headlines will be there.  And if anyone out there has an extra Stan Musial statue from this Sunday and would like to part with it, e-mail me and let me know if we can work something out!

Home Stretch

A while back, the United Cardinal Bloggers (some of who did the roundtable that you can find below) put out their predictions for the way the different standings around the league would pan out.  Daniel at Redbirds Fun told me at the time he typically waited until closer to the regular season, and you can now find his selections at his blog.

Not your traditional Opening Day, but the Red Sox and Athletics have kicked the season off in Japan.  Looks like Boston's in good shape to win this one in extra innings.  Our network friends at Who Made You Mirabelli? and Beantown West will likely be all over this, albeit from the Boston perspective.

Cards won another one yesterday, 8-4 over the Twins.  13 hits for the Redbirds, so most everyone had a good day.  Even Cesar Izturis drove in two with a single in his only AB.  You know it's a good day when something like that happens!  (He did get caught stealing, however.)  Colby Rasmus again made the trip and drew a walk.  Being that the Cards don't have another road trip, that may be his last appearance with the big squad in the spring.

Brad Thompson threw a pretty decent outing, two runs in five innings.  He even struck out four, which usually isn't a big part of his game.  The only pitcher with a rough day was Chris Perez, who allowed two runs in the ninth and was yanked before he could finish it.  That probably seals his demotion to Memphis, but he will see St. Louis sometime this summer, barring injury.

It really is the home stretch for the Cardinals.  They have home games today and tomorrow against the Nationals and Orioles, respectively.  Then, on Thursday, they are the "road team" for the last Fins and Feathers game against ST roommates Florida.  Friday and Saturday has them playing in Springfield, MO against their AA team before heading to St. Louis to start off the season on Monday.

Joel Pineiro pitched against AAA batters yesterday and did pretty well.   According to the article by Matthew Leach, if all goes well Pineiro could be back with the major league club by mid-April.  I don't know what the odds are of that happening.  I'm sure they go up dramatically if he doesn't report pain today.

There's an article up today about the pitching of Thompson and Todd Wellemeyer.  I don't know that they should bear the brunt of the outrage of Anthony Reyes not being in the rotation.  I still don't think Wellemeyer can keep up his numbers if he had to stay in the rotation for a whole year.  Thompson would probably have a better chance, but I do think of him as a reliever as well.  The biggest problem is that we've got these guys plus Braden Looper when our top prospect of a couple of years ago languishes.  It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Rick Ankiel is hitting .369 for the spring, coupling the average with power.  If anyone had said 8 years ago that Ankiel would be our cleanup hitter, it would have been a joke about a weak offense.  He's definitely developed into a reasonable alternative in that slot.  Of course, the jury is out on whether he can continue to be effective until the regular season gets started, but I think he'll be fine.

This offense really has me excited about the 2008 season.  There should be a lot less of "oh, we aren't going to score" this year.  Last year, if Pujols or Molina weren't coming up, a lot of times scoring opportunities were wasted.  There will be a lot more firepower in the lineup this year, it appears.

Mr. Goold is on the ball again today, bringing us the lineup.  Anthony Reyes is on the mound and hopefully will have another great start.

1. Skip Schumaker, RF
2. Brian Barton, LF
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Troy Glaus, 3B
5. Rick Ankiel, CF
6. Jason LaRue, C
   
7. Aaron Miles, 2B
8. Anthony Reyes, RHP
9. Cesar Izturis, SS

The bullpen is stocked with LHP Ron Villone, LHP Randy Flores, RHP Ryan Franklin, RHP Jason Isringhausen, RHP Kelvin Jimenez, RHP  Hugo Castellanos.

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone is having a great 2008 so far.  We are creeping closer and closer to spring training, which means that the Cardinals should start picking up the pace on transactions pretty soon.

Here are some predictions for 2008.  Some are serious, some aren't.  (The ones that don't happen are the non-serious ones, in case you can't tell.)

*The Cardinals will win between 73-76 games.  The only chance for a contending season, in my mind, is a fast start somehow, then hanging on until Carpenter gets back.  The Cardinals would need Mulder to start strong from the get-go for this to happen, I think.  Still, even with another sub-.500 season, we'll have a lot to talk about and enjoy.

*Albert Pujols will hit .300 with 30 HR and 100 RBI.  In other news, the sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west.

*Scott Rolen will not be traded.  After he starts off the season closer to his normal form, his attitude improves and he's much more able to tolerate LaRussa.  With his increased performance coupled with the lack of an immediate successor, Mozeliak decides to keep him on, though rumors will fly close to the trading deadline.

*Jim Edmonds gets at least two standing ovations in his first game back in Busch Stadium.

*Even with the rag-tag nature of the starting rotation, the team will post a better team ERA than they did in 2007.

*Colby Rasmus will be on the major league roster by the middle of June.  He'll struggle at first, but will show the form that has everyone excited by mid-August.

*The Reds will surprise people, coming in a strong second to the Brewers in the division.

*The Red Sox will not win another World Series title.  Boston has to return to losing sometime.  (Doesn't it?)

*Brian Barton will play all season in the majors and become a fan favorite off the bench.  He will get some starts, but TLR will not overexpose him.

*Chris Carpenter will not pitch in the major leagues until August.

*The Cardinals make a big splash in the 2008 free agent pool, signing an ace for the rotation and temporarily shutting up those that question ownership.

*I'll keep blogging away on a regular basis.

Got your own predictions?  Let's see them in the comments.

A Blog Rundown

There's not much to say today that other people aren't saying better, so let's see what they are saying.  Of course, all of these topics can be discussed further at your local Cardinal message board.  I know the Clubhouse has threads on just about all of them.

*Molina loses out on a Gold Glove.  Bird Land really lays out the unjustice, and I have to agree.  Any catcher that stops the running game like Yadier does, that makes the first base pickoff a legitimate option, has to be the Gold Glover.  I don't think I'd ever seen a 1-3 pickoff until Molina, and now it's almost a regular occurrence.  Others talking about this: Bernie's Extra Points, Deaner at Cardinal Nation Globe, and a diary at VEB.  Pujols was denied a glove as well, which was in and of itself an injustice, but nothing compares to Molina not getting one.  Hopefully next year they'll both be able to take home the hardware.  The tough 2007 Cardinal season continues, it appears.

*Tom over at CardinalsGM gets you ready for next year's fantasy season (because, in my mind, you never start that early enough) with a look at the top players.

*The Cardinals have declined the option on outfielder So Taguchi.  Pip at Fungoes has a mixed take on this one.   I've appreciated what So has done here in St. Louis, but it probably is time to move on, especially since outfield is a place the team is deep at.  Stan Musial's Stance has a fitting tribute to the outfielder.

*Along with the daily prospect report, Erik at Future Redbirds is already looking forward to next year's first-year draft with his projection of who the Cards will take.

*Dan at Get Up, Baby! looks back at Scott Rolen's lost season and discusses why not to trade him right now.  I'm a Rolen fan and I'm of the opinion that he'll be an asset for the team next year.  As Dan says, though, even if you aren't sold on that, you can't trade him now because his value is so low.

*Readin' Redbird has the news that Curt Schilling is going back to Boston.  That's not a huge surprise--a one year deal for a guy that's legendary in the organization and wants to retire a Red Sox?  Even the traditionally unsentimental Theo Epstein had to go for that one.  And, as I've said, it doesn't bother me that he's not coming to St. Louis.

*And Whiteyball is doing a link post.  What kinda cop-out is that?

That Was Quick

And, again, an American League team celebrates on foreign soil.  You'd think they'd start losing the All-Star Game so they could party at home, don't you?

As for this whole "AL is dominant" stuff the major media keeps spewing....unfortunately, there may be something to that.  Since the strike year of '94, the AL is 43-26 in the World Series, including five sweeps.  The closest the NL has gotten to a sweep was the Cardinals' win in 5 games last year.  Right now, when coupled with their streak of winning All-Star games, it's pretty apparent the AL is the top league, even though it's painful to admit it.  These things are pretty cyclical, though.  A lot of the good young talent is in the NL, so they should be making some strides in the next few years.

Somewhere out there, a seven year old has seen two Red Sox championships and no Yankee titles.  Who'd have thought that'd ever happen?

A-Rod has already opted out of his deal.  However, I'm wondering if that might not come back to bite him.  The Yanks have been adamant that they aren't going to deal with him.  The Cubs are in ownership flux, so they probably can't go out and put together a record-setting package.  The Red Sox just won the title and they've said that they want to resign Lowell, so I'd be surprised if they made a major run at Rodriguez.  The Mets have been floated about, but they have Reyes at short and Wright at third.  Where would they put him?  It may just boil down to the Angels, and if they think they are the only ones in the race, there's no way they'll go $30 million per.  We'll see how it pans out, but I think with the Yankees uninvolved, Rodriguez doesn't get as much as he thinks he will.

Should be a busy week in baseball.  The Cardinals should announce their GM soon and the Yankees their manager.  The free agent market opens in two weeks.  While the season is great, the off-season has become a lot of fun in its own right!

Short Series?

The Rockies gave it a valiant effort last night, but they came up short again, which puts them in a large hole, as I mentioned yesterday.

It did give me something to think about, though.  Ever since the whole "this game counts"/All-Star Game determining home field fiasco (don't get me started on it, I'll go all day), the American League has won home field advantage.  The downside to that is that no AL team has clinched the Series on their home field since 1999 (pre-ASG change) when the Yankees swept the Braves.

In 2003, the first year of the changes, the Marlins won in Yankee Stadium.  2004, the Red Sox swept the Cardinals and celebrated, movie stars and all, in Busch Stadium.  2005, the White Sox did the same to the Astros.  And, of course, in 2006, the Cardinals got to involve the home fans by clinching at home.

Can the Rockies force the Series back to Boston?  Sure, they can.  But will they?  I don't know.  Baseball has a way of evening things out.  You'll see long winning streaks followed up by a few losing streaks during the season.  21-1 wasn't sustainable, obviously, but the pendulum may be swinging the other way.

I hope that if the Rockies are going to lose it, they lose it in Colorado.  Red Sox Nation can be obnoxious enough without them tearing up Fenway in celebration.

Also on the Network: √ Yanks Beat A Lefty? [Depressed Fan] √ Yanks Start Second Half With "W" [Green Pinstripes] √ All-Star Breather: The Giants Catchers [El Lefty Malo] √ Rock Is Dead; Shea Stadium July 18, 2008 [Loge 13] √ Citi Field Revealed (FYI: No Loge Here) [Loge 13] √ My Rifle, My Pony and Me [Beantown West] √ Quick Chicago roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Giants Reveal New Stadium Ticket Plans [Loge 13]