Recently in Colby Rasmus Category

The Second Half Begins

Before we get to tonight's game, let's take a look at a few of the stories floating around about the Cards.

First off, there's the rumor that the Cardinals might part with Colby Rasmus.  Here's the relevant part of that link (took me a minute to actually find it):

Overheard at the pre-All-Star Game bash out on Randall's Island. The contending Cardinals might even consider parting with top outfield prospect Colby Rasmus, a major surprise. If so, it may put them in line to land Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady, or even Jason Bay.

OK, one, I don't believe the Cards would move Rasmus, that this is more of someone's either wishful or uninformed thinking.  Second, if they did move Rasmus, they darn well better do it for someone better than Nady and probably for someone better than Bay as well.

Speaking of rumors, apparently there was one on XM that had Rasmus, Bryan Anderson and Mitchell Boggs going to Colorado for Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes.  I'm not fond of this one either.  With Holliday not completely proving he's not a Coors Field creation and the fact that Rasmus should be able to do what he does soon and for much cheaper, it just doesn't make sense to trade two top prospects for that package.

I really don't think Mozeliak will trade off Rasmus.  It just doesn't make any sense from the Cardinal perspective.

In fact, that was emphaised in an interview with Bill DeWitt on the Post-Dispatch site.  To quote:

P-D: Back to the club. Much speculation has sprouted about how far the organization will go to acquire help for this year's team if it remains in contention. What does that say about the availability of premium prospects such as Colby Rasmus?

BDJ: They're must-haves for any organization. I don't think you can trade potential premium prospects unless you get premium players back. I think what a lot of clubs have done historically is trade premium prospects for less-than-premium return. I don't agree with a short-term fix. A lot of quick fixes don't work. Time goes on, you're down the road, and your former prospect is out there putting up All-Star numbers for someone else.

P-D: Is there a chance that Rasmus could play his first major-league game in another uniform?

BDJ: I don't anticipate that. No.

The rest of the interview is pretty good as well.  I think DeWitt has taken a lot of unnecessary criticism over the years, so it is good to see him out in the press taking on some of the questions.

Closer to the field, it looks like the injured pitchers are getting better.  Adam Wainwright is looking to return in the next three weeks or so, it appears, and Chris Carpenter really liked how his simulated game went.  I would expect a solid return from Wainwright, maybe in time for the Cubs series August 8-10, but I still don't think we'll see Carpenter on the mound until the end of August and even then, I'm not sure how effective he will be.  But it's good to know things are getting better.

The Cards are the wild-card leader at the moment and they try to stay that way when they take on the Padres in Busch tonight.  It's a matchup of current aces, as Kyle Lohse and Jake Peavy take to the hill.  Not many of the Padres have seen a lot of Lohse, though outfielder Jody Gerut seems to have his number. The Cardinals have actually been able to put up some good numbers on Peavy, which really surprised me knowing the kind of pitcher he is.  Both Albert Pujols and Troy Glaus have two home runs against him.

Even so, I'd expect this to be a low-scoring game.  It's a good thing the Padres offense has been so weak--the Cards may not have to score much to win.

Series preview is up at the Clubhouse and the YNOT is active as well.  Ready to get it started!

It Came From The Backyard

In the old days, before the draft, Ryan Howard probably would have wound up in the Cardinal organization.  Local guy, good talent, the bird dog would have gotten the scout and he'd have signed a deal with the Redbirds.

Nowadays, of course, it doesn't work that way, but Howard apparently thinks it should have.  He holds some sort of grudge against the Cardinals, at least.  With two more home runs yesterday, he has 11 against his old hometown team.  With his low batting average and propensity for striking out, pitchers are tempted to pitch to him.  From now on, though, it may be wise to consider walking him.

As noted in the PD game story, July has been a terrible month for the Cardinals.  They are averaging 2.7 runs a game and sporting a 3-6 record that could have easily been worse.  (It's sad that the Cardinals have scored 25 runs in nine games when the Phillies earlier in the year just needed one game to get to 20 against the Redbird staff.)

The UCB roundtable is going on via e-mail and one of the questions is what is the biggest need, the bullpen or the offense.  I said the bullpen when I made my answers, but with these kind of numbers, I very well may have been wrong.  You have to figure that things will turn around somewhat--Glaus will get hot again, Ludwick will make some adjustments--so maybe that offense is there hidden.  But it may need a boost from an outside source.

Anyway, let's lay out the labels.  Hero would probably go to Albert Pujols, who was 2 for 4.  If anyone had been on in front of him, maybe he could have done some damage.  Which leads us to our Goat, Adam Kennedy.  0-4 in the leadoff spot is not what the team needed.

So the Cards fall into third, a half-game behind Milwaukee and 4.5 behind the Cubs.  It'll take a good series against the Pirates to get second back, I believe.

The series starts with Kyle Lohse going against Zach Duke.  Lohse has done pretty well against the Pirate hitters, which may be a very good thing if the offense doesn't start clicking.  Keeping the score down would be a very good thing.  Duke has quietly started to pitch pretty well.  The Cardinals hung a loss on him May 30, but after that he had a 3.13 ERA in June and continued to drop his ERA until his last outing against the Brewers.  St. Louis has had success against him, especially Pujols.

In other news, the Cardinals put Rasmus on the DL.  It doesn't seem to be a torn groin, but they are going to do an MRI on it.  That doesn't really sound good.  Hopefully it's something that a couple of weeks of rest will take care of, because I want Mozeliak to have that option of Rasmus coming up when he's talking trade for the rest of the month.  Putting Rasmus in the lineup could be the spark the offense needs.

Brian Burwell writes a good column on the end of Mark Mulder's career.   It really is a sad thing when someone can't do what they love anymore.

That's probably it for the weekend for me.  I'll be back on Monday to catch up.

Good Start, Lousy Finish

Another one of those "get a lead, but don't add to it" games for the Cards, as they get ahead 3-1 but lose 7-4.  Not really the way to start off a month.

You have to wonder what that stellar, Pitcher of the Month May did to Todd Wellemeyer.  Since the end of May, Wellemeyer has a 6.60 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP.  His strikeout rate has stayed fairly strong--his K/9 rate is 6.12--but last night his inability to finish off batters killed him.

Heroishly, even though Rick Ankiel had a nice two-run HR, for his work saving the bullpen (and doing it very effectively), I'll award it to Brad Thompson.  Four innings and only two hits, though one was a David Wright long ball.  Thompson may be increasing his trade value as well.

Speaking of trade, I got to hear some of the FSN interview with John Mozeliak last night.  Mozeliak is probably playing cards close to the vest, but it doesn't sound to me like he feels there's much reason to do any dealing, which is understandable.  Hopefully he keeps that mentality and doesn't overpay to make a run this year.  Of course, he also says he's not been in touch with the Rockies, reports about the Cards asking about Brian Fuentes and Matt Holliday to the contrary.  If he's going to bring someone in, a guy like Holliday (who won't be a free agent until the end of '09) wouldn't be a bad choice.

For a farm system that's lately been considered fallow, the Cardinals look to have a stranglehold on the Futures game this year.  Colby Rasmus has been added to the roster, which already includes Jamie Garcia, Bryan Anderson and Jess Todd.  Cardinal fans may have more reason to watch that game than the All-Star Game this year!  For more, of course, head to Future Redbirds.

Joel Pineiro goes for the Cardinals tonight and they could use a strong start out of him to get the taste of last night's game out of their collective mouths.  The Mets haven't seen him all that often, though Delgado has done a pretty good job against him in the past, something St. Louis doesn't want to see after not being able to retire him last night.

Pineiro goes against Pedro.  Not surprisingly, the Redbirds haven't done much against him.  Even Pujols is just 2 for 10.  Still, Martinez isn't the Pedro of old, sporting a 7.12 ERA this season in just over 30 innings.  He's only had one really decent outing (1 ER in 6 IP against Texas) and in his last two starts he's allowed a total of 12 earned runs.

Still, knowing the Cardinal luck, he'll find his old form tonight.  Hopefully Pineiro can match him.

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.

Duncan Down, Mather Up

Per Bernie, who should know, it appears that Chris Duncan is heading down to Memphis and Joe Mather will be replacing him on the Cardinal roster for a time.  (EDIT: It's up on the PD main site as well.)

Mather's had a fairly successful season at Memphis and we all probably remember how well he looked in spring training.  It was definitely time for him to get a shot at the bigs, and it probably would have come sooner if the Cardinal outfield had performed as many thought it would.  With the relative success of most all the outfielders, though, it was going to take some kind of break for him to get up to St. Louis.

It's interesting that there didn't seem to be this drumbeat to send Duncan down until the last couple of days, then all of the sudden it happened.  Maybe it was because I was out of the loop last week.

As Bernie shows in his post, getting Duncan on track could provide huge benefits for the Cardinals.  When we looked at this season, I think most of us expected the production that Ryan Ludwick is having coming from Duncan instead, that he'd be the extra power source behind Pujols and Troy Glaus.  That hasn't happened, for whatever reason.  If it's because he needs reps after the injury last year, then sending him to AAA to get into the lineup basically every day could be of great use.

But what if it's not?  VEB has shown that everyone tends to pitch Duncan inside more this year.  If he can't make that adjustment, the Cardinals may regret not actively trying to move him last offseason.

I expect that the Cards were hoping he'd have a positive game like last night's to ease the sting of being sent down.  So they could legitimately tell him, "Look, we know you can do it.  See what you did against Oswalt?  You just need more playing time, and we don't have that here right now.  Go down, get straightened out, you'll be back up here before you know it."

It's interesting that the first outfielder called up this year is Mather and not Colby Rasmus, but there are obvious reasons for that.  Besides the fact that Rasmus is only hitting .202 (though coming on--reading the daily reports at Future Redbirds made me see that was happening and now I see he's hitting .303 over his last ten games), the idea is that this is a stop-gap, fill-in measure.  The Cards have said they don't want to bring Rasmus up until he can play every day.  Right now, that's not happening.  Mather is going to be more of a bench guy than they want Rasmus to be.

I wonder if Mather will get the start tonight.  Lefty on the mound, a home game, and the fact that LaRussa has thrown the pitchers called up into their first game to get their feet wet makes me think that he might be.  It could be a lineup like:

Barton
Mather
Pujols
Ludwick
Glaus
Molina
Izturis
Wellemeyer
Ryan

I was way off the last time I tried to guess a lineup, so I probably will be again, but that could be an interesting one to throw out there.

It's been fun seeing young players come up to contribute so far this year, hasn't it?  Much better than bringing up retreads or signing DFAs to fill gaps.

Oh, and in case you wanted to know, the CCH Pittsburgh series preview is up.

Reading the T-Shirts

I have a lot of Cardinal red in my closet.  In fact, it's pretty rare not to see me in some sort of St. Louis regalia.  And, in the last few years, I've started accumulating a number of the T-shirt jerseys.  You know what I'm talking about, the shirts with the Cardinal logo on the front and the player name and number on the back.

A few days ago, while trying to decide which one to wear, I started thinking about what the player on the back says about the person wearing it.  I'm not much good at this, but I'll give it a try.  (Oh, and the starred ones?  Those are the ones I have hanging in my closet right now!  I wouldn't necessarily lay claim that the descriptions fit me, though.)

Albert Pujols #5*: Having Pujols on your back could say a number of things.  It could say that you appreciate greatness.  It could say you know that he is this generation's Stan Musial.  Or it could say you are a front-runner who only knows Pujols on the current roster.  If you see this guy talking on the phone at the ballpark during the sixth with runners on and the game in the balance, count it as front-runner.

Rick Ankiel #24*: You are big on redemption.  You love the Hollywood movies.  You know, the one where the hero is knocked down but eventually makes a dramatic return and earns the standing ovation.  You teared up when he hit his home run in his first game back.  It's OK, you can admit it.

Rick Ankiel #66: You still pine for what could have been.  You remember the devastating curveball and the blazing fastball.  You get a little sick when you think of the 2000 playoffs.  Make that a lot sick.  And, also, you need to update your wardrobe just a bit.

Jim Edmonds #15: You are a little flashy.  You appreciate diving catches and dramatics on the field.  You tend to rush into the bank at 4:59 just ahead of the closing doors, even though you probably could have been there five minutes earlier if you wanted to.

Jim Edmonds #15 (Cubs): You are either obsessed with Jimmy Radio or just mentally deranged.  Either way, please seek professional help.

J.D. Drew #7*: You always thought J.D. was the whipping boy in St. Louis, that he was more productive than most gave him credit for and not quite as injury-prone as everyone made him out to be.  You also have sprained your shoulder patting yourself on the back and must miss a couple of days of work.

Chris Carpenter #29*:  You love seeing gambles pay off.  You'll put down $5 to win $500.  You remember 2005 and figure if a guy can be mentioned with Bob Gibson, he's good enough for your back.

Scott Rolen #27*:  There are a couple of options here.  You either love defense, remembering the leather Rolen flashed fondly, or you are one of those who formerly took LaRussa to task about most everything (though less loudly since 2006) and you wear 27 as a silent protest.

Yadier Molina #4: Defense is your passion.  You love seeing runners thrown out or picked off.  You love testing your reflexes by having people toss you items, just to see if you can catch them. (Usually, you can't.)  Or, perhaps, you just like to say Yadier Molina (which, I believe, is why my three-year-old son is so fond of him.)

Adam Wainwright #50*: You believe that pitching wins pennants.  You remember the curveball to Beltran more fondly than your wedding day.  You think the trade with Atlanta was just as good as the trade with Oakland was bad.

Jason Isringhausen #44: You live life on the edge.  You drink milk two days past the expiration date.  You renew your car tags on the second of the next month.  Adventure, excitement, these are your companions.  Unfortunately, they often leave you at the ER waiting for the on-call doctor.

Brendan Ryan #13: You love the scrappy guy.  This is the latest in a long line of shirts for you, starting with Joe McEwing and then Bo Hart, which you still break out occasionally.  Whether they have talent or not, it doesn't matter.  You also don't feel like it's a good day until you've gotten your clothes dirty in some form of exertion, even if it's just diving off the couch for a loose chip.

Colby Rasmus #?: You are always looking ahead.  As Yoda said, "All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was."  The present is nice and all, but you continue to plan and hope for a better day.

Jamie Garcia #?: You are actually Erik Manning.

Mark Mulder #30: You believe in miracles and you think the best bandwagons are the ones with plenty of room.

Of course, these are in all the traditional team colors.  You hate to see people of the female persuasion decked out like this.

Any more suggestions?  Post them in the comments!

More UCB: Answering the YNOT

Quick background on the whole YNOT thing can be found here, under History, but the basic concept is this.  Generally, every series during the year is preceded by a YNOT game, in which 10 questions are asked (plus a tiebreaker) about the upcoming games.  Then they are graded after the series to see who won.  It's also been expanded to cover different periods of time, which is where we come in today.  The season-long YNOT is up at CardsClubhouse (get over there and fill it out if you haven't!) and the United Cardinal Bloggers are going to put up their answers, with explanations.  As typical, I'll post links here when they get them up.

So jump with me and let's see what we can see...........

  Continue Reading

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.

Weekend That Was

First off, hope you all had a great Easter weekend.

Mike on the Cards got his UCB transcript up since last we spoke.  We're sending around the final discussion now, and you should be able to read it here tomorrow.

So we get down to the last week of games.  Saturday, the Cardinals beat the Twins 6-3.  I didn't get to see or hear any of this game, spending the Saturday with family, but looking at the box score and write up, I see that Colby Rasmus got to make the trip and continued to show he's got the skills to play.  I can't wait until we get to see him in St. Louis on a regular basis and neither can Albert Pujols, apparently.  Pujols raised his spring average to .400.  Imagine if he made a run at that during the regular season.........  The newest Cardinal starter, Kyle Lohse, didn't look too bad.  Two runs, five innings, three K?  I think we can take that.  Whether he can do it on a regular basis will be the key.  Chris Perez blew the save by giving up a run in the eighth, but still struck out two in his inning of work.  He should make it to St. Louis sooner rather than later as well.

Sunday, the Cards just bombed the Mets 14-4. I got to see some of this game, including Rick Ankiel's blast after he double-clutched in the swing.  He definitely is going to be someone worth watching this season.  If he can be a little more selective, he will be a force.  I was gone before Colby Rasmus hit his home run.  Wish I'd been able to see that.  It's only fair to note that I saw Cesar Izturis--aka this blog's whipping boy--make a couple of very impressive fielding plays.  That's what the Cardinals thought they were getting out of him!

The Cardinals beat the Mets every time they faced them this spring.  Doubt that means much, but it is interesting.  They are also 8-1-2 in their last 11.

So that brings us to today.  What's in the paper?

Well, here's the lineup from Mr. Goold:

1. Skip Schumaker, LF
2. Chris Duncan, 1B
3. Brian Barton, DH
4. Rick Ankiel, CF
5. Ryan Ludwick, RF
6. Adam Kennedy, 2B
7. D’Angelo Jimenez, 3B
8. Jason LaRue, C
9. Cesar Izturis, SS

Starting pitcher: RHP Brad Thompson.

The players on the bench include: OF Colby Rasmus, C Nick Derba, OF Nick Stavinoha, 1B Mark Hamilton, C Matt Pagnozzi. The spare pitchers brought along for protection are RHP Josh Dew and RHP Bob Zimmerman.

As he notes, all five outfielders that probably will be in St. Louis on opening day are in the lineup.  And Mr. Rasmus is on the bench to fill in.

Pujols got the star treatment and wasn't asked to make the trip.  Troy Glaus was supposed to, but he was scratched from the trip with a sore back.  Apparently it wasn't serious, which of course raises the question of whether it was a little convenient to miss one of the longest bus trips of the spring with "back pain."  Also noticeable that it comes after a day when the man he was traded for breaks a finger.

In other news, it appears that Kyle McClellan has made the roster.  I got to see him pitch Sunday and he looked pretty sharp.  Whether that was due to the batters' unfamiliarity with him or what, I wouldn't lay claim to know.  But this does blow some minds.  On one hand, you have the whole Anthony Reyes situation, on the other a pitcher that hasn't thrown but a handful of innings at AA is getting the call.  This seems to refute the "LaRussa won't play young kids" theory and puts more weight on the "Anthony Reyes ran over one of TLR's cats" theory.
 
What appears to be really good news about Mark Mulder.   It sounds like the health issues are in the past and that he can focus on getting into game shape.  If that's the case, those early-May return dates that have been floated around for some time might have some accuracy and that could be a boost to the team.

When I started writing this entry, the Cards were down 2-0 and their five game winning streak was in jeopardy.  Now, they've gone up 3-2 after loading the bases with nobody out in the fourth then hitting into a non-scoring double play.  Some of the guys you wouldn't expect leading the charge.  Find the Gameday link on this page.

The Watch Is Over

Per Matthew Leach:

Colby Rasmus, Mark Johnson and Clayton Mortensen were re-assigned to Minor League camp.
Mike Parisi, Jason Motte and Joe Mather were optioned to Triple-A.

We knew it was coming sooner or later.  Rasmus has had a good spring, but there's really no need to get him started on his clock just yet.  Now, the Callup Watch begins.

Also, I was about to guess that Mather had earned a slot on the roster.  He probably will be the first hitter up in case of injury.  That must mean that they don't plan on starting Duncan on the DL.

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]