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Catching Up (Again)

Our office just went to doing 40 hours in four days, so as to have Friday off, which meant I've been away from the computer for most of the weekend.  Let's recap, then discuss:

Thursday (vs. Cincy)
Hero: Troy Glaus.  1-4, but drove in both runs with a homer.
Goat: Randy Flores.  Both he and Mark Worrell were credited with two runs in the box score, but Flores let them all score.  A bases-loaded walk and then a bases-clearing triple?  Ouch.

Friday
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  As much as anyone can be in a 20-2 game.  Three hits, including a home run.
Goat: Pick a pitcher.  I guess I'd have to go with Todd Wellemeyer, since his eight runs in three and 1/3 innings really put the game out of reach.  Ron Villone's six in an inning and two thirds was pretty ghastly as well, and Worrell, Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin didn't cover themselves with glory either.  When the best pitcher of the night is Aaron Miles, that's a bad night.

Saturday
Hero: Kyle Lohse.  To come out the afternoon after that shelling and to shut down the same offense is pretty impressive. Runner up to Ryan Ludwick for his acting job.
Goat: Rick Ankiel.  0-4 with two left on.

Sunday
Hero: Can we say Tom Gordon?  No, the rules say just Cardinal players.  So it comes down to Schumaker and Glaus again, both with two hits and a home run.  We'll go with Skip this time, since he left one fewer man on base and his home run came in a tighter game.  (Granted, Glaus's was just a couple of batters later, but you have to drawn the line somewhere.)
Goat: Randy Flores.  You come in with two on and two out. Then you walk two guys, forcing in a run?  Springer wasn't much better, walking in another one, but at least he got an out.

Wonderful thing about baseball.  The Cards scored less in the series than the Phillies did in the first game, yet they won two of three.  It really proved that momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher.  The Cards still couldn't gain any game on the Cubs, but it could have been much worse.  Sitting 3.5 out at this time of year is pretty much beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

And best wishes to Yadier Molina.  That was a nasty collision in the ninth inning.  All reports seem to indicate that it wasn't as severe as it appeared on the field (I thought it was great to hear "Yadi! Yadi! Yadi!" as he was being taken off) and it should "just" be a concussion.  Hopefully he'll rejoin the team quickly--with Pujols and Wainwright already being down,  you'd hate to see Molina be out as well.

Lot of activity this weekend, with Joe Mather and Mark Worrell going back to Memphis in exchange for Jason Isringhausen and Anthony Reyes.  Izzy's definitely saying all the right things, so hopefully he's got his mindset right and he'll be able to restore order to the ninth inning soon.  Reyes already got a win in his first game back and apparently will be used out of the pen as a long relief guy, though he could start for Wellemeyer Thursday if there are medical questions.  In other words, we may not see him again for a week.

Speaking of medical questions, Chris Carpenter is getting a second opinion after being shut down last week.  I don't think a lot of people are surprised.  Carpenter was being talked about as being back in the next couple of weeks, but that seemed like a stretch for the surgery he had.  Besides, it's the Cardinals and pitching.  Everyone has at least one setback that extends the return timetable.  It'd be nice to hear that it's not needing more surgery or that it isn't anything serious, but that may be too much to ask.

The rehab calvary might actually be close to arriving, though.  Mark Mulder had a very impressive outing in Springfield Saturday, getting up into the 90s on the gun and throwing five shutout innings.  Granted, he's been good before in the minors, but he never was throwing that hard.  Matt Clement was a little less impressive, but he had a decent outing.  We'll see if the innings continue to take a toll on him, however.  Personally, I'm a little more excited about Mulder now.  I don't know if it'll hold up, but as excited as people that should know are about this new arm slot and seeing the first results, it's very encouraging.

Day off today for the Redbirds (Yadi needs it, for sure) before the Royals series starts Tuesday.  I'll take a look at the pitching matchup, etc. then.

Good First Step

The Cards could have come out flat, wallowing in the one-two punch of their top players being taken from them for a time.  Instead, they decided the best way to work through the adversity was to make someone else pay for it.  A few more games like that and the loss of Wainwright and Pujols might not be quite as devastating.

Not much doubt that the Hero of the piece was Braden Looper.  A complete game shutout anywhere, especially for a converted reliever, would get you kudos, but to do it in the bandbox that is Great American Ballpark is even more impressive.  It's not like the wind was blowing in--the Cards did smash three home runs--but he "made it look easy" as my Reds fan father in law said when he called for his weekly chat.

A number of players could have challenged Looper for the title.  Ryan Ludwick hit another home run.  Jason LaRue--yes, that Jason LaRue--broke out of his power outage with a home run in a two-hit night.  Rick Ankiel went deep.  Even Chris Duncan contributed, getting a hit in four trips and making a sparkling defensive play at first.

As hard as it was to narrow down the Hero, it is equally tough to name a Goat.  It comes down to Aaron Miles and Troy Glaus, both of whom were 0-3.  Miles had two walks, but also a strikeout.  Glaus walked once and didn't K.  Both scored a run.  Miles left two on, while Glaus only left one, so he gets the tag.

The Cards have already won the series, but they go for the sweep tomorrow evening.  It could be a tough task, depending on what Joel Pineiro brings from the disabled list.  Pineiro hasn't thrown since May 20, when he allowed three runs in 5.2 innings to San Diego.  He faced the Reds earlier in the year, throwing seven scoreless innings.  Corey Patterson has had the most success against him in the past, so he'll probably get a start.

The Reds counter with Bronson Arroyo.  Arroyo has struggled some this year, posting a 5.74 ERA.  However, his ERA stood at 7.56 when he faced the Cardinals back in April and he was able to get a victory, allowing only three runs in six innings.  He's done a pretty good job against the Cardinals in the past, but Ludwick and Ankiel both have had success against him.

On paper, at least, the Cards should have the advantage.  It could turn into a high scoring affair, though, if Pineiro has some rust on the arm.

After the jump, a couple of housekeeping items:

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First the Ace, Then the King

The Cards won a game last night.  But they lost so much more.

This rag-tag group has been surprising people, sticking around in a race people said they had no business being in.  2.5 games made them better than preseason favorite Milwaukee and, if the Cubs weren't playing out of their mind at home, they could easily be on top of the NL Central.

That all got a lot more difficult last night when Number Five crashed to the ground, screaming in pain.  Knowing that he had to sit out a couple of days when he just tweaked it, it was immediately obvious this was going to be a DL trip.  How long, we don't know.  Dr. Paletta is seeing Pujols today, which of course brings trepidation to the hearts of many a Cardinal fan.  We know it'll be at least two weeks.  Hopefully it won't extend past that.

Chris Duncan has been recalled from Memphis, touching off a lot of the kind of angst only he can provide.  It's true he's not shown the Memphis trip was a success, hitting .160 in his time down there.  I'm not sure what he's shown to get the recall.  Maybe he's getting good swings down there, I don't know.  I would expect, however, that the fact he is on the 40-man roster played a large part in his selection.  Most of the other options, including Josh Phelps, would have to be added, which means someone would have to be taken off.  That's going to be a tough enough call once Colby Rasmus is ready to come up, something that is getting closer to being an option with his rebound from his slow start.  The only thing that troubles me about Duncan was the statement I read at CCH where Al Hrbrosky said Duncan would have come back up this week anyway.  I'd love to know the reasoning behind that.

If this is a short-term thing, the Cards should be able to weather the storm.  They are well ahead of the third place team in the division and have a three game lead in the wild-card standings over Florida.  Even without Pujols, they could probably tread water for the next couple of weeks if the pitching can stay strong.  They have two more with Cincy, a three game set with the Phillies, then series with KC, Boston, and Detroit.  Philly and Boston would be the toughest of the matchups.  At least Philadelphia would be at home.

If he's out until, say, the All-Star Break, things get a lot more uncertain.  The beginning of July sees the Cards host the Mets and Cubs, two series that they really need to be able to compete in.  There's only so long Ludwick and Ankiel can hold the offense together, especially since they'll be pitched to a lot differently now with the big thumper out of the lineup.

Losing Pujols and Wainwright on back to back days is a tough thing to deal with.  How the Cardinals respond will be interesting to watch.  Imagine taking Santana and Wright off the Mets or Ramirez and Beckett off the Red Sox.  Of course, those teams have a deeper supporting cast, but they'd still feel the impact.  What will happen when the supporting cast is a little less proven?

The only positives are that Joel Pineiro will be back, taking the hill on Thursday, and Todd Wellemeyer will be able to make his start against the Phillies.  Pitching will be even more important while Pujols is on the DL.

Speaking of, Braden Looper and Johnny Cueto tangle tonight.  Looper had a good start against the Reds in April, throwing six innings and allowing two runs.   He's got good career numbers against the Red hitters as well.  Cueto was bombed in the first series between these two teams, not making it out of the second.  He's struggled since then, the hype that surrounded him in the spring fairly dissipated by now.

Cards need to shake off having a different first baseman and continue this improbable run.  Of course, that's easier said than done.

Oh, and before I forget, let's give Ryan Ludwick the Hero title for his 4-5 outing, including a home run and four RBI.  I'd give Mitchell Boggs runner-up status, because that was a pretty solid first start, especially in that bandbox.  Goat would be Cesar Izturis, just because he was the only one with a hitless night.  It was a good game all around, save the injury to Pujols, which meant it was a terrible night.

Removing The Ace From the House of Cards

I was off the Net, as it were, yesterday, so I had to do a double take when I saw the thread title at CCH last night.

Wainwright to the DL?  Say it ain't so!

"Surgery is not looking like something that is going to be needed," Wainwright said. He added that the finger felt Monday as it did Saturday: "I can't bend it like I should be able to. It's like a bad jammed finger. The weird thing is there's no swelling. It needs time."

This does not inspire Cardinal fans with confidence.  How many times have we been told that a pitcher or player just "needs rest" and then, three months later, goes under season-ending surgery?  With the Cardinals recent track record with injuries, is there anyone that thinks this is just going to be a 15-day thing?

I recently jammed my finger playing softball, so I get some idea what he's talking about.  Not having swelling to go with it, though, seems concerning.  There's some talk about it being a ruptured tendon, which would mean the season would be over for the Wagonmaker.

So what does this mean for the Cardinal season?  Pitchers are dropping like flies, though it looks like Todd Wellemeyer isn't as bad off as we thought (again, if you believe what you read) and Joel Pineiro could be coming back soon.  Matt Clement's second minor league start wasn't as dazzling as the first, but he's still making progress and will pitch in Springfield again Friday.

Short-term, the Cardinals have to fill holes.  Mitchell Boggs will make his first major league start tonight and there is talk of moving Kyle McClellan into the starter role.  VEB lays out the problems with that and the only real solution out there.  Since Anthony Reyes is sporting a 3.14 ERA in Memphis, skewed by a bad outing two times ago (without that, it's a 2.38 mark) and is striking out a batter an inning, if he doesn't come up during this troubling time, I hope he's traded soon to an organization that will actually use him.

Long-term, catching up with the Cubs without Wainwright might be a tough task, especially if the little bears improve their pitching at the deadline.  I like what Bernie is saying about having the numbers to fill in for injured pitchers, but losing the one guy you could pretty much count on to give you a win is a chore to overcome.  The Cards have to do it, though.  They sit 2.5 back and right now may be the only serious challenger to the Cubs for the NL Central title.  For the good of mankind, they must keep Chicago out of the playoffs!

Cards and Reds square off today with a couple of young pitchers and fresh slates.  Obviously, Boggs hasn't faced the Reds before.  Homer Bailey, just recalled from AAA (the Reds' version of Anthony Reyes, basically) hasn't seen the Redbirds this year, but had a disastrous outing last year against St. Louis, allowing 7 runs in just 3.2 innings last July. Ryan Ludwick hit two home runs off of him, so he'll be ready to go for this evening.

Congrats to Ken Griffey Jr. on hitting #600.  I didn't realize that the Reds played last night until right before ESPN cut in to his AB.  I thought the Cards were going to get a chance to be on the end of both #500 and #600, which would have been neat.  The last game I saw in person was Griffey's #500th in Busch and it couldn't happen to a better player.

Record-Breaking

The Cardinals posted their highest-ever April win total by beating up on the Reds yesterday.  After Harang took a 2-0 lead, I was afraid that the game was starting to get out of hand, especially the way Harang can pitch.  But the Cardinals immediately stole a run back (almost literally, with Duncan scoring on a wild pitch) and were off and running.

Heroically, Rick Ankiel was 3-3, driving in two of the Cardinals' five runs.  Right behind him was Aaron Miles, with his 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI game.  And it's possible that Jason LaRue should get a little mention as well, depending on what he told his teammates about Harang.

On the flip side, Troy Glaus was 0-4 with a double play, which gets him another Goat award.  Days like that are going to happen, though, and at least it happened in a win.

If there's anything LaRussa can do, it's juggle lineups.  So far, the results are looking good.

Along with the game yesterday, there were a lot of eyes on the Memphis game, with Mark Mulder pitching.  Those eyes are now permanently scarred after witnessing a horrific outing.  3.2 innings, 7 earned runs?  At least we won't have to worry about the braintrust rushing him up to the bigs.

Mulder can have two more rehab starts and I expect, even if the first one is very good, they'll leave him down there for both.  There's not a pressing need for a starter right now anyway, plus you still can't quite tell what you have with him.

While the strong start puts the Cards in good company with prior Redbird teams, don't start printing the playoff tickets yet.  Larry at VEB did some great work showing the pitching splits, home and away, leading to the projection that May, with an even split of 14 home games and 14 road games, and June (18 away, 9 home) could be tough ones for the Cardinals.

That's for another day, however.  Today, the Cards are virtually tied for first place and are off getting ready for the series with the Cubs.  A day to reflect on April and appreciate what they've done and a day to root like crazy for the Brewers this afternoon.  Looks like a good matchup in Wrigley, with Zambrano and Gallardo going at each other.

Won't be around tomorrow, as real life has a heck of a day in store for me.  But I'll be back Saturday with the pre-game and post-game postings for the UCB game blogging project.  I'm quite excited to see how this is going to turn out!

And for those of you coming over from VEB or other places talking about the project, here's the link to the description.  Note that CardinalsGM is taking over for my inning, while I'm doing the pre and post game.

Rebounding

If there's one thing the Cards have figured out how to do this year, it's to come back from a loss and get a win.  There have been six three-game series this month (counting the current one with the Reds) and three times they've lost the first game, only to come back and win the series.  They are in position to do that for a fourth time with a win today after last night's big win.

When I first heard that Joel Pineiro through seven innings of one-hit ball, I didn't figure there was any way he wouldn't be the Hero of the Game.  I'm still going to go that way, but a 4/3 K ratio isn't necessarily great.  Then again, he wasn't looking for the strikeouts with a 7-0 lead.  There were numerous others that could have been considered as well, including Skip Schumaker for his 4-5 and Rick Ankiel for his 3-5, 2 RBI day.  Of course, you could also give a special Hero award to Cincinnati's base running and fielding, as well!

There are really only two considerations for Goat.  Anthony Reyes gave up the two-run homer in the ninth, ruining the shutout.  But, on a night when the team piled up 15 hits, only one starter went 0-4.  It's a rare one, but we'll give the Goat to Albert Pujols.  Glad to see he got his walk, though, and extended his on-base streak.

Reyes continues to be as frustrating as ever, though.  Just when you think he is turning a corner, he blows up again.  14 hits and 8 earned runs in 11.2 innings is not what the Cardinals want to see.  Then again, it's not like he's getting regular work.

The Cardinals get their work in early today with a 12:15 businessman's special.  On paper, the pitching matchup isi pretty heavily tilted toward the Reds, as Aaron Harang takes on Braden Looper.

Since Harang's been an NL Central pitcher for some time now, he's faced all the Cardinals and had pretty good success against them.  Pujols has done well against him, including a home run, but other than that, not much at all.  Cesar Izturis is a nice 0-17 against him, which would tend to indicate Brendan Ryan should be playing shortstop today, especially since he's got a 1-2 mark against the Reds hurler.

Thankfully, the Reds haven't done much better against Looper.  In fact, he's probably been harder on them than Harang has been on the Redbirds.  Adam Dunn's two hits off of him are home runs, but he sports a .154 average.  Not a lot of plate appearances against Looper by the Red hitters, but it's encouraging.

If Looper pitches like he did last time versus Houston, the Cards have a great chance.  If he pitches like he did the time before against the Giants, they are sunk.  Removing that Giants game, though, he has a 1.90 ERA, so it does look so far like that game was a hiccup.

Wasting Opportunities

The Cardinals seem to be unable to get into a winning groove like they did the first week of the season.  Every time they get a winning streak started, they seem to snap it quickly.

Mike on the Cards (note the new site, BTW) mentioned the Cardinals leaving runners on base.  Seemed like a reasonable symptom of a struggling offense, not able to get the big hit.  So I did some rough research and compared LOB for wins vs. LOB for losses.

What I found was a little surprising.  In the Cardinals' 16 wins so far this season, they've stranded 133 batters, which works out to 8.3 batters per win.  In their 11 losses, they've stranded 98, or 8.9 batters per loss.  That's a little skewed by the 16 they left in the 12 inning loss to Milwaukee, so removing that would put the two categories just about even.

More recently, they are 4-4 in their last 8 games.  In the wins, they strand 8.75.  In the losses, 11.25.  That counts that 16 LOB game as well, but the last few losses have been more frustrating in this regard than earlier ones.

Of course, not all LOB are created equal.  Walking the seventh guy to load the bases for the pitcher leaves 3 on base if he strikes out, but we don't expect much in that situation.  Runners on second and third, one out and no one scores, that's a different story.  But right now I don't have time to go through the play-by-play data and figure out a weighting method.

Suffice it to say, the Cards haven't been all that efficient in scoring their baserunners, whether it's been a win or a loss.  It might be interesting, though, to see if that's a product of most good offenses.  Because more hits, more chances to leave runners on.  For example, Houston only left 3 runners on in their 3-2 win over St. Louis on Friday, but that's because they went through a stretch where 16 batters were retired in a row.  Can't leave 'em on if they don't get on in the first place.

Anyway, to the game.  I wasn't able to see much of it.  Sounds like if Wellemeyer had been able to get loose early, the results might have been different.   That's the way it goes, of course.  Some nights it takes longer than others.

The Hero award looks like it should go to Rick Ankiel, who got off of his homerless slide, plus had a double and was responsible for two of the Cardinals three runs.  If he's going to be a streaky hitter, it looks like he might be going on another binge.

The Goat, in my mind, will go to Chris Duncan.  I know he went two for five, which is good.  But he cost the Cards what turned out to be the game-deciding run by losing a fly ball and then, with the tying run on first and two outs in the ninth, swung at the first pitch instead of having a little patience.  Maybe he was expecting Cordero to challenge him, being that is what closers do, but he'd have had to get an extra-base hit to get Pujols around to score.  Glaus was up behind him, so it's not like he was the last chance.  Maybe it wasn't a bad play, but in my mind it seemed he should have been a little more patient.

And apparently TLR's selection of Ludwick as the leadoff man wasn't that inspired, since he went 0-5 with 4 K.  Whether it was just a bad night or being in a different spot in the lineup, I don't know.  Theoretically, where you bat shouldn't have that much of an impact on you, but it apparently does for some players.

Today, the Cards take on the rookie Johnny Cueto and they counter with Joel Pineiro.  Obviously, the Cardinals have no history against Cueto, which can cause problems.  One of my pet theories is TLR prepares the team so well statistically that when they don't have a baseline against a pitcher, they have trouble adjusting.  Hopefully that'll be proven wrong tonight.

Cueto had an amazing debut, allowing one hit and striking out 10 in seven innings.  Since then, though, he's been a little more hittable.  In fact, twice in his last three outings he's allowed five runs and his road ERA is 5.11.  If LaRussa looks at the stats, he may not put all his lefties out there, as Cueto has been limiting them to a .184 average.

Being that he spent most of his career in the American League, the Reds haven't seen much of Pineiro.  What they have seen, though, they've liked.  A team .357 average against him, though the player with the most AB, Scott Hatteburg, is only hitting .241 and only Corey Patterson has a home run against him.

Could be a low scoring affair tonight if both pitchers live up to their potential.

Also note that it has been one year since the tragic death of Josh Hancock.  Derrick Goold takes a look at that and the changes that resulted from it.  It was interesting to note that the Cards have basically designated 32 as "temporarily retired" for a few years.

Site note: I've added a new blog, THEblindhomer Sees, to the blogroll. 

Lineup Creativity

I don't think very many people have accused Tony LaRussa of not being creative and open to new ideas.  I mean, we've got the pitcher batting eighth, redefining the way relief pitchers are used, stuff like that.  And now, he's showing that he's not bound by convention with his leadoff man.  Tonight's lineup, via Bernie:

Ludwick 9
Ankiel 8
Pujols 3
Duncan 9
Glaus 5
Molina 2
Kennedy 4
Wellemeyer 1
Izturis 6

Now, when I think of Ryan Ludwick, "leadoff" is not exactly what comes to mind.  Like I pointed out in my main post today, he's got good numbers against Arroyo so I figured he'd be in the lineup, but wow.  I'd almost have thought TLR would have sat Ankiel and let Skip lead off, but Rick has shown a little life lately with a hit on Saturday and two walks yesterday.

And apparently Glaus is going to wear some special glasses tonight.  Hopefully they'll work, but if not, don't be surprised if he comes out after an at-bat or two and Ryan replaces him.

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, surprises can still come your way.  Let's see if this revamped lineup can get some runs on the board early.

Bad Blood Weekend

I figured that both the Cardinals and the Astros hadn't forgotten about the Pujols/Towles-Backe issue but I wasn't expected a couple of bench clearings this weekend.  Playing Houston another 12 times or so could enliven the summer, especially if the team slides out of contention.

That's not the case right now, though, as the Cardinals take the series from Houston.  And, with regular results, would have swept their way into first place.

Friday night, the loss all comes down to Jason Isringhausen, the Goat of the Day.  Giving up three runs in the ninth, with only one coming on a home run, is unacceptable for a closer that's getting paid as much as Izzy is.  Of course, these things happen, but lately they've been happening with much more regularity with Izzy, bringing back memories of his disastrous 2006 campaign.  He doesn't seem to be hurt now, but that 6.55 ERA is going to have the phone in Memphis ringing for Chris Perez pretty soon if he doesn't straighten it out.

The Hero of Friday night had to be Braden Looper, who saw possibly his best ever start go up in smoke in the ninth.  But seven innings of two-hit ball is pretty impressive, even if you don't have the W beside your name afterwards.

After getting quite excited about the Oswalt/Wainwright matchup, my Saturday got eaten up and I wasn't able to see any of the game.  While it wasn't quite as great as the 1-0 Mulder/Clemens matchup of three years ago, it didn't disappoint by much, with the Cardinals pulling it out in the bottom of the ninth.

The big number that jumps out at that game is 126.  That's how many pitches Adam Wainwright threw.  I understand that, especially on the heels of Isringhausen's Friday, LaRussa may not trust the bullpen as much, but that's pushing it, I think.  The last thing this team needs is for the Wagonmaker to blow out his arm.  I'd hope that next game TLR thinks about removing Wainwright around the 90 pitch mark.  It probably also helps that there is a day off in this run through the rotation, which means that he'll get an extra day of rest before taking the mound again.  Still, for his effectiveness and durability, you've got to give him the Hero award, though Pujols with his two RBI would come close.

Saturday's Goat would probably be LaRussa for leaving Wainwright in so long, but I'm trying to limit it to the players.  Most everyone had a similar batting line, with nobody having more than one hit.  Even Troy Glaus, who went 0-3, drove in a run.  So, just because his season has been so bad and he didn't do anything to redeem in, the award goes to Jason LaRue for his 0-1, plus forcing TLR to pinch hit for him in the ninth.

Oh, and there's no doubt that Wainwright was trying to send a message to Ausmus without causing any damage.  After a couple of your players get thrown at, you want to make sure you stand up for them.  There wasn't any chance Ausmus would get hurt, at least it didn't look like it from the replays.  I've got no problem with that at all, as long as you aren't throwing at the head.  At least to some, that was the play of the game.

Sunday, you just knew something was going to happen with Brandon Backe on the mound.  He stymied the Cardinals for a while, but after Ludwick's double to break the scoring seal for the Cards and then Hero Troy Glaus going yard for the first time this year, he seemed to come a little unglued, as we saw in his confrontation with Molina.

And, boy, was Yadi steamed about the whole thing.  He was still talking after Backe was out of the game.  If you see a fastball in your face, I'm sure it does tend to rile you up.  Like I said early, I doubt this is completely over. Mark your calendars for May 27-29!

I gave Glaus the Hero because he finally got the home run, which put the game out of reach, but there were a number of players you could have chosen.  Kyle Lohse pitched a great game.  Kyle McClellan got his first save by going three strong innings.  Pujols hit a home run.

The Goat is a little harder because most everyone did play a solid game.  For one of the rare times he's not had a good game in the leadoff role, though, the Goat goes to Skip Schumaker for his 0-4 day.  You don't often see 0 in the hit column for Skip lately.

The Cards start this series with Cincinnati just a 1/2 game behind the Cubs, making that loss on Friday (after the Cubs had already lost as well) very costly.  Tonight, Brandon Arroyo and Todd Wellemeyer meet up as the other two contenders in the NL Central, the Cubs and Brewers, clash.  A win tonight could move the Cards back into the penthouse.

Some mixed results for the Cardinals against Arroyo.  For instance, Pujols has a .233 average against him, but does have two home runs.  Chris Duncan should be in the lineup tonight, since he's hitting .316 with a long ball against Arroyo.  Izturis and Ludwick both have good numbers in limited action against the pitcher, so expect Izturis to return from his injury tonight.

The Reds haven't done well against Wellemeyer, though only Adam Dunn has more than 10 plate appearances against him.  Scott Hatteburg and Edwin Encarnacion combine for five of the nine hits the Reds have managed against the Cardinal hurler.

Programming note: There's been a change in the lineup of the UCB Game Blogging Project.  CardinalsGM is going to take the fourth instead of this blog.  Instead, I'm going to have the pre-game and post-game post.  Tom's done a lot of the UCB activities in the past and it's great to have him on board for this one as well.

The CardsClubhouse preview will be up later today, and there's still time to get into the Reds YNOT.

Positively Thinking About 2008

Spring is the time for optimism, for somewhat escaping the realism of the game and thinking about what could be. So, in that vein, let's look at five reasons why it is conceivable that the 2008 season will be better than the rough 2007 season.

1) Starting Pitching

I took a look at the starters recently and the numbers they put up last year were ghastly. Just by the law of averages, you'd think that they'd improve in the coming season.
Kip Wells, though I defended him on this blog most of the summer, is gone to Colorado. Mike Maroth is gone as well, though he's unsigned as of now. So there is some improvement right there.
The Cardinals are encouraged by the rehab of Mark Mulder. Even if he's a league-average pitcher for the season, that's better than what he did last year and what he'd be replacing in the rotation.
Adam Wainwright has grown into an ace. While he could slip back in his second full season as a starter, it's as likely that he'll take a step forward. He did have a very rough start to the season last year.
Joel Pinerio had a good season in the NL. If that was an accurate representation of what he can do and not because the league wasn't familiar with him, that's a step forward.
And then there is Matt Clement. We've seen what he can do in the NL, especially the NL Central. The health factor is big, of course, but the talent is there.
So, there are a lot of ifs. But even if only half of them break the Cardinals way, they should improve pitching-wise over last year. And that could be enough to get the Cardinals over .500.

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