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General: July 2010

Good News For My Readers (Both Of You!)

Posted on July 26, 2010 at 1:28 PM
A regular post looking at the weekend will be up later on, but I wanted to go ahead and make a scheduling announcement.

Every year, my vacation consists of a trip to Ohio, where my wife grew up, to see her family and nowadays let the grandparents see the grandkids.  The first year of this blog (and I can't believe that I let the three year anniversary of this place get past me), Mike from Stan Musial's Stance was nice enough to write both here and his blog during that time.  Last year, I just let the blog sit quiet while I was gone.

This year, I've tapped into some of my connections in the United Cardinal Bloggers and the Baseball Bloggers Alliance to bring you what I think will be quality coverage during my time away.  Honestly, I'm pretty excited to read all the posts myself!

This Friday, July 30, Bill from i70baseball will kick it all off.  Bill's a member of the UCB as well as the BBA and you've probably heard him in his role as part of the UCB Radio Hour.  i70baseball is now starting its third week and is going strong, with the website and its own podcast.

Friday afternoon, we'll have the first of our series previews.  Brian from Raise the Jolly Roger! will be looking at the weekend tilt between the Cardinals and the Pirates.  RTJR is a quality Pirates site and Brian should be able to give us an unique perspective on that three-game matchup.

A week from today is actually my 35th birthday, so it's another day of double posting here at CATB.  First off, Joe Teterault from the BBA blog Teterault Vision will be taking the outsider's view of the NL Central race after the trading deadline has passed.  I look forward to seeing what Joe's opinion is on one of the tightest races in baseball.

Monday afternoon, our friend James from Astros County will stop by and give us the preview of the Houston/St. Louis series.  I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion about Roy Oswalt, whether a trade is made or not.

Tuesday, we'll continue with the NL Central theme as Shawn, another friend of this blog that writes regularly at Cincinnati Reds Blog, will venture into enemy territory to give his perspective on the pennant race.  I'm sure he'll discuss what has to go right for the Reds to stay alive, what worries him about the Cardinals, various things of that nature.

Wednesday, Mike Lynch from the incredibly well-respected blog Seamheads will be in charge.  Mike plans to talk about Austin McHenry, a outfielder on the Cardinal teams back in the early twenties who died during his playing career.  Always good to get a dose of Cardinal history, as rich as it is.

Thursday, Bill will get a second dose of guest blogging, most likely talking about whatever has happened that week and hopefully about a good long winning streak that the Redbirds are on.

The last day of the guest bloggers is another great one.  Friday morning will have Erik Manning, well-known throughout the Cardinal internet universe for his founding of Future Redbirds and his work at many places, including Play A Hard 9.  Whatever Erik will be discussing, it'll be good and backed up with quality stat work.

Our guests wrap up with the last of our previews.  Michael from Marlin Maniac will be breaking down the in-season matchup of the Feathers and Fins spring training rivalry.  There might even be some Josh Johnson vs. Adam Wainwright for Cy Young discussion....the pitching matchups don't go out that far, but if those two match up, it better be on Saturday or Sunday when I am home to see it.

I hope that you will enjoy the talented writers that will be filling this space during my absence.  I also hope you'll come back to this talentless hack when I return with a minimum of complaining!

Reflections On Our Military

Posted on July 2, 2010 at 3:22 AM
I have to admit, most of the time I don't give a lot of thought to the military. I don't come from a military family. My father was in ROTC in college, but that was the extent of it. I'm an accountant, which doesn't often come up in the same sentence as Armed Services. (Though I remember a part in an old Family Ties episode where the recruiter tried to get Alex into the Airborne Accountants, who were to drop behind enemy lines and foul up the enemy's books.)

While I have friends that have served, both in the active military and in the National Guard, it's not something that is part of my every day life. So when Fox Sports Midwest started advertising their "This One's For You" game, coming up tonight when the Cardinals take on the Brewers, it gave me an opportunity to really reflect on what that service really means.

Don't expect anything too deep, of course. Still, thinking through the cliches is something that needs to be done at times. 

The sacrifice that these men and women make is mind-boggling, when you think about the return. Even at the least, they spend so much time away from their family and friends, going to foreign lands, both relatively safe and highly dangerous. Even when they are in the United States, training can keep them away from the ones they love as well. I know how much looking forward to going home to see my wife and kids at the end of the day means, so to be away from them for so long would be devastating. 

Which, of course, doesn't even begin to factor in the deadly peril that they go through so often. How do they make the rounds in Iraq, knowing that just driving down the road could be the last thing that they do? Just the regular, everyday routine carries the undertone of finality to it. 

And why? Why do they do this? For people that they love, but also for people that they never will meet. 

When you think about what we do, what we complain about, why can we do that? Because so many someones are willing to sacrifice all that they have to make sure we have that freedom. I spend time on this website talking about the Cardinals, getting worked up about who bats second and what aged veteran gets picked up. And yet, when you really look at it, what does it matter? We have the freedom to get worked up on the minor details of life because we've got these men and women taking care of the big stuff. 

So, to all of those that have served and to all of those that serve now, to those at home and those abroad, we send you our respect and gratitude. Enjoy the game tonight and thank you for all that you do.




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Heroes
Matt Carpenter (4)
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Rafael Furcal (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Yadier Molina (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
David Freese (2)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 10
Happy Flight %: 70%

Through 5/15

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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