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Recently in General Baseball CategoryBook Review: Summer Of '68Posted on February 6, 2012 at 11:14 PM
If Bryan Adams had decided to do a prequel to his big hit, he might have started it out something like this: The country had a lot of hate But man, there was some great pitching Was the summer of '68. Coming in April, Tim Wendel examines that time period in baseball and American history with his aptly-titled book, Summer of '68. A couple of years ago, I reviewed Wendel's book High Heat and found it a very enjoyable look at the flame throwers of the past and present. Wendel doesn't disappoint in Summer of '68, either, especially if you are a fan of the pitching side of the game. (Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of the book in the mail. While the best books are free books, that didn't have any bearing on my opinion of this work.) While baseball is obviously the focus of this book, the tumultuous time in American history is examined as well. Wendel shows how the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy impacted the game of baseball and how baseball was fairly incompetent when it came to dealing with those tragedies. He looks at what was going on with the Olympics, with the NFL and the riots in Chicago as well as what was going on in the diamond. Some of that seems a little out of place--most of those threads don't get wrapped up until the very last chapter, so you start to wonder why they were put in the book. When they resolve, though, you can see that it gives a lot of context to what was an amazing season. As a Cardinal fan, of course I was aware that St. Louis and Detroit met up in the '68 World Series, with the Tigers taking it over Bob Gibson in the seventh game. Unlike some of our historians in the group, though, I didn't really know all about that series. I'd heard about Curt Flood's slip and Lou Brock's non-slide, but I don't think I knew that the Cards had that 3-1 Series lead and a good chance to win it in 5. This year would have been #12 in '11 if that'd happened, so at least there's a silver lining somewhere. The book follows the Cardinals and the Tigers throughout their season, but also spends some time elsewhere. Don Drysdale's scoreless inning streak is recounted, as well as Luis Tiant's efforts over in the American League. Wendel also makes mention of perhaps one of the most amazing batting efforts in baseball history--how Frank Howard hit ten home runs in six games during The Year of the Pitcher. When they lowered the mound after that season due to the pitching prowess going on, you know that was a feat. All in all, this is going to be a book that you are going to want on your bookshelf if you are a fan of baseball history in general or Cardinal history in specific. It's a quick and entertaining read and one that you'll probably come back to time and time again.
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Keeping In PracticePosted on November 29, 2011 at 7:10 AM
They say that you should write often if you want to stay in the habit, even when there's nothing to write about. Right now (no pun intended), that seems to fit the news coming out of St. Louis.Before I get into the limited Cardinal news, I do want to say a couple of things about the recent CBA that baseball got into. The agreement and its related issues have been broken down many places and much better than I would be able to do, so I'm not going to get into everything. Basically, I just wanted to voice my displeasure at the whole idea of Houston moving to the American League and the daily incursion of interleague play into our lives, plus the whole idea of a second wildcard team. Bud Selig has been gradually chipping away at the foundation of the game, the idea that there are two leagues, ever since he came into office. So far, he's not made the connection between his disdain for history and the fact that he is one of the least-liked commissioners ever. His first move was to make umpires circle through both leagues during the season, rather than just one. This was a move I could support--any time you have umpires seeing teams less, you reduce the possibilities for personal conflicts influencing the game. In the past, it got so bad between Earl Weaver and Ron Luciano that they stopped assigning Luciano to Oriole games. That's not a good thing to have to deal with, plus it helped standardize strike zones to have umps in both leagues. So I'll give him that one. He couldn't be happy with just that, though, so he eliminated the positions of American League and National League Presidents. Granted, they were somewhat ceremonial, but they were able to be the first line on punishments and issues in their league. They were in the way of Bud's one-league vision, though, and they had to go. Now we have gotten to the point where every day is a mix of the two leagues, so that the lines blur even more. A traditional NL team has to swap leagues (instead of Bud's Brewers, who just were an AL team about a decade and a half ago, returning) and there was even talk about getting rid of divisions, though it didn't happen yet. The only thing saving us from one big pot is the NL's refusal to use the designated hitter, and even that may be doomed as well. And the ironic thing? Bud keeps saying how much he wants the All-Star Game to matter, how he wants players to buy into this league pride thing. Why should they? He has constantly attacked the leagues as a separate entity. Give the leagues some sort of delineation, some sort of character, some sort of meaning and maybe the players would care again, at least more than they do now. Then we get the wild card bit. I've not been a fan of the wild card ever since it came into being. If you want four teams per league into the playoffs, make four divisions. Adds another pennant race (which is apparently what they want, though they keep acting against it) and it means that you actually have to win something to get in. I know the Cards got in this year that way, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of it, just that they took advantage of the system in place. So that was bad enough, but to add another one? Really? I mean, you want to have the possibility of a third-place team making it into October and then running the table? We've seen in the past few years how a hot team can shake up everything. I know that the idea is that the two wild cards face each other for a one-game playoff, forcing them to go all out to stay alive. But what if it's a team like the Cards, who are really a talented team, but struggled through part of the year before getting hot. A one-game playoff isn't necessarily going to be an issue for them. It's flat out ridiculous is what it is. I mean, the whole drama of this year's last night would have been destroyed long ago, because both the Cards and Braves (and the Red Sox and Rays) would have known with a week or so left that they were going. The whole epic story of the Cards storming back to take the wild card would have been minimized because even at the beginning of their run, they'd have been in the lead for the second wild card. September would have been more about winning enough to hold of San Francisco and that's it. It used to be that the MLB season meant something. You had to win your division and only four of the 28 teams made it to October, so if you were in the postseason, you had a good year. Now, 10 of the 30 teams will be able to say they were a playoff team. When a third of your league is in the postseason, it's hardly exclusive. Plus, with this and some of the changes on compensation picks, the trading deadline will be basically dead. What team will be giving up on their season in July? With that many slots, probably 20 teams (if not more) will be where they can legitimately think that they are going to make it to October. OK, I didn't really mean to ramble on that long about the CBA, but there really isn't much happening in Cardinal Nation. It looks like Dan McLaughlin may get to keep his Fox Sports Midwest job, which is good. I didn't think that'd be the case when it first happened and I'm still not sure how awkward it is going to be for the viewers (though I can imagine that he'll have a moment to talk directly to them in the first broadcast) but I really liked Dan when I met him and this hopefully will help him keep his life in order. The Cards got their World Series bonus checks, or at least found out how much they are going to be. I'd take $323,000 as my yearly salary, much less a nice little bonus at the end of the year. (Can you imagine what the players like Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay, those around the MLB minimum of $414,000 are thinking? That's like a bonus year to them!) The players that weren't there at the end of the year got partial shares, which helps alleviate the fact that the team won without them, I expect. Other than that, it's pretty quiet. Albert Pujols is on vacation in Hawaii and there's a rumor that he will re-sign with the Cards when he returns. Then again, there was a rumor he'd sign before he left, so take that for what it is worth. It seems pretty obvious, though, that the market isn't huge for AP. Some execs say it's a 100% likelihood that he returns to St. Louis and being that the Cards aren't currently raising their offer to him, they probably feel like it's a pretty good chance as well. The Cubs look to be entering the fray, due to the changes in the CBA (told you it wasn't a good thing!) but I think they'd have to overwhelm Albert for him to risk that kind of backlash. Things will likely be sparse around here for a while. I don't expect to have any more Conversations With C70 until after Christmas, at least, since I have numerous real-life things to do in December. The UCB is still working on their postseason publication, so I'll be sure to let you know when we get it finished. Hopefully I'll be back talking about Albert's new contract soon and you'll hear me this Sunday on Gateway to Baseball Heaven and in two weeks on the UCB Radio Hour. So you won't have to go cold turkey, as much as you might want to!  All-Star ThinkingPosted on July 12, 2011 at 10:05 AM
No, the title of this post has nothing to do with the quality of thoughts that you'll find here. With the All-Star Game this evening, it seemed a good time to talk about my thoughts on the game. I probably have done that before, but it's always good to rehash and rethinking things. Below are my opinions on the game--your thoughts or disagreements are always welcome in the comments.First off, I've always been a fan of the All-Star Game. I still have a fairly complete set of the games from 1989 to roughly 2000 or so sitting around my house, though on VHS tapes that I no longer have a method of watching. Perhaps due to that focus, it's always been something I was fairly passionate about, at least when it comes to the general talking points. Let's lead off with the obvious: the game should not count. I watched the 2002 All-Star Game, held in Bud Selig's stadium. If that tie happens anywhere else, I'm not sure Selig has the passion to push "This Time It Counts", but being embarrassed in "his" game spurred him to do something, anything, to make it look less of a fiasco. And yet, the problem wasn't that the game didn't mean anything. The problem wasn't that the players didn't want to win, though I'm sure they didn't (and, honestly, still probably do) have that deep and abiding passion to win at any costs. The biggest problem was that the managers decided to run everyone in there, not worrying about the future. As I read somewhere--VEB, I believe--Matt Morris was in the NL dugout unused. He wasn't technically on the roster, but it's an exhibition. There probably was an AL pitcher in the park somewhere as a spectator. Be creative if you have to be. It really runs back to Cito Gaston and Mike Mussina, in my mind. Mussina was the hometown representative when Baltimore held the All-Star Game in 1993, but Gaston never got him into the game, creating unrest in the crowd who booed the manager. After that, it seemed that managers had to get everyone into the game. That, more than anything, has damaged the game. Besides, has it really mattered? Let's look at the World Series since this has been in place. We'll designate visiting team as the team that lost the ASG. 2003--Visiting team won in 6 2004--Home team won in 4 2005--Home team won in 4 2006--Visiting team won in 5 2007--Home team won in 4 2008--Visiting team won in 5 2009--Home team won in 6 2010--Home team won in 5 So we see that the home-field advantage, which is smaller in baseball than in any other sport, really hasn't played out. There hasn't been a Game 7 in the Series since 2001, and as quickly as a lot of these series were over, I doubt the fact that the AL team (save last year) got to start at home really made a difference. Cardinal fans might argue differently about 2004, but saying that the Series keyed completely on that first game is a tough sell. Secondly, the fans should always be allowed to vote for the starters. Are they going to get it "right" all the time? Of course not. Are they going to vote based on name recognition rather than advanced sabermetrics? Most definitely. However, this is the fan's game. The fan spends their money and their time all season long. Without them, there is no game. The least they should get is one game where they get to be "in charge", even if it is only a little bit. Allow the players and managers to make up the rest of the rosters--that's great. It helps rectify injustices and get deserving players on the roster. Just leave the starting selection with the fans. To tie both of those together, the starters should play a majority of the game. That's who the fans have explicitly stated they want to see. For example, tonight Prince Fielder should play five or six innings, with Joey Votto coming in around then (and Gaby Sanchez used as a pinch hitter, most likely). The fans didn't vote Fielder in to see him take one at-bat, maybe two, and sit the rest of the game. They voted to see him play and they should get to see him longer than a brief cameo. Both of those reasons reinforce the first, that the game should not count. If the fans do something like put Derek Jeter in the starting lineup, he should play according to my rules. But that's not giving the AL the best chance to win, is it? Don't put something on the line when you can't guarantee the best of lineups, whether due to voting or injuries. More after the jump....
Continue ReadingKeeping You Informed: Baseball Writer In AreaPosted on June 22, 2011 at 11:53 AM
I received this bit of information in the inbox just a while ago. I've not read the book Fifty-Nine in '84, but I've heard very good things about it. The author is going to be at the St. Louis County Library tomorrow, so if you are interested, head out there and see him. Should be a great opportunity for those of you in the area! Filed Under: General Baseball
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Guest book review: THE CAPTAIN: The Journey of Derek JeterPosted on June 17, 2011 at 3:01 PM
 by Ron Kaplan You wouldn't think Derek Jeter would be the cause of any headaches
for the New York Yankees. An 11-time All-Star, 1996 American League
Rookie of the Year, presumptive first-round Hall of Famer. A .313
lifetime batting average with 236 home runs and 1,146 runs batted in.
And, unless something goes drastically wrong, about to become the only
player to accrue 3,000 hits for the Bronx Bombers.
But the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2010 season presented a problem for the team: What to do with him? Should they give a 37-year-old shortstop with diminishing skills the long-term contract he wants to end his career in the sacred pinstripes, or do they risk the enmity of their fans for allowing him to sign with another team? A Hobson's choice, to be sure. Eventually, the Yankees compromised by giving him a shorter deal for beaucoup bucks. But when Jeter got off to a slow start, the haters couldn't wait to say "I told you so." There was even a recent front-page story about his decline in The New York Times. But a two-home run performance on Mothers' Day seemed to silence the critics --- for the time being. That's one of the things that's so intriguing about the timing of Ian O'Connor's THE CAPTAIN: The Journey of Derek Jeter. When he began the project a couple of years ago, did he perhaps expect Jeter would "relocate" or retire? Did he want to take advantage of what might be the popular figure's swan song? And when it didn't transpire that way, why did the publisher decide to push ahead, knowing there would be more to come? Just prior to its release, THE CAPTAIN made headlines in the local tabloids, focusing on the frosty relationships between Jeter and a few of his teammates, most notably former "BFF" Alex Rodriguez. Leave it to the likes of the Post and Daily News to focus on one aspect in an otherwise near-perfect career to inflame the situation (and boost newspaper sales). Whether or not that issue is out of proportion to the rest of the book is irrelevant. In fact, it is precisely Jeter's goody-two-shoes persona that probably cries out for reviewers and sportswriters to find that one nugget of controversy. The book is overwhelmingly complimentary, praising Jeter as a hard-working athlete, always trying to improve himself. He is respectful; he would call his manager "Mr. Torre," rather than more informal appellations; and he remains unfazed to a large extent by his celebrity status. (Of course, one can always fall on the "half full/half empty" school of interpretation. O'Connor would have the reader do a lot of reading between the lines.) Being a living legend isn't easy. Fans and employers expect nothing short of brilliance, and when they don't get it, the sniping begins, primarily in the form of shots that appear in the media. And who among us is ever thrilled by criticism? Jeter, too, is not a saint. He has his moments of pique, where he shows annoyance at teammates who do not live up to his standards. O'Connor credits (blames?) him for having an unpopular player traded, but offers no hard evidence. In fact, if there's a knock on the narrative, it's the writer's frequent employment of innuendo. In the section "Note on the Authors Interviews and Sources," O'Connor acknowledges "piecing together the narrative" by "lean[ing] on scores of interviews with Jeter that I either conducted or participated in over the course of his fifteen-year career" (Jeter is now in his 17th season). Some media and sports pundits and reviewers have questioned the accuracy/fairness of this method of reportage; Jeter himself has offered a few complaints. One almost wishes O'Connor had waited until Jeter retired for a more appreciative coda for one of the finest players of his generation. Despite its overall positive portrayal, as it stands, it comes across as obviously incomplete. (Ron Kaplan hosts Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf, a blog about baseball literature and other media. This review originally appeared on Bookreporter.com. Reprinted with permission of the writer.)  The Flagrant Fan - Game Picks - Friday: May 13, 2011Posted on May 13, 2011 at 7:54 AM
Pardon the intrusion. My home site currently resides in blogger. Blogger has been down now for hours upon hours. And thus I am an orphan. Thanks to C70 At The Bat, at least I have a place to lay my head for today. One of my daily features is what I call the Game Picks feature. It's a daily post with who this Fan thinks will win their games today based on one part knowledge and one part luck. I think last year I finished around 58 percent correct, which, considering the old adage that, "on any given night, any team can win," isn't bad. And the picks are indeed daily. I didn't miss a single day of the 2010 season and only two days the season before (the last time blogger failed this badly). Again, I know this isn't your normal entry here at this wonderful site. Hopefully, this will all be like a bad dream and we'll all wake up again in a normal world.With all due apologies accounted for, here are today's picks. Oh! Wait. Just to let you know, these picks are not scientific and not devoted to those who gamble. It's just something that interests me, and perhaps you. Okay. the picks!
And the Game of the Day (the game that seems to be the easiest to pick):
Yesterday: 3-4 Week: 30-29 Month: 79-76 Season: 291-260 Games of the Day: 21-22 Thanks again for letting this Fan house sit for a day. I hate you, blogger.
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Does Blogging Ruin Baseball?Posted on November 30, 2010 at 11:51 AM
With the cold wind blowing and baseball's hot stove still not heating up to a nice cozy temperature, there's not much to talk about. However, when three stars of the baseball firmament align in baseball heaven, well, it deserves a mention.Bob Costas, Bill James and Joe Posnanski were in St. Louis last night, talking about sports and sports coverage, most especially baseball. What seems to have been a major talking point was the downside to the saturation coverage that not only the 24/7 news channels bring to the game, but the numerous different blog sites that also cover things. As one of those numerous different blog sites that covers things as well as the head of two different groups filled with those kind of sites, I feel I should weigh in a little bit on that topic. It seems that the biggest drawback to this coverage, in the opinion of those there, was the lack of romance in the game now. That everything is pinned down, hammered out, and there is nothing left to enjoy. I think there is a point there, I do. I'm a traditional guy, a purist, however you want to phrase it. I tear up at Field of Dreams and have a healthy regard for the players in the past, many of which didn't have the media coverage exposing whatever warts and flaws they had. That said, I think the blogging portion of the coverage has led to a greater appreciation of the game and the outcomes. I don't mean those types that are negative about everything, that the sky is falling every time the home team doesn't win by ten. I don't mean those types that make it their mission to try to stir up trouble, antipathy, and anything else they can to get page views. I'm talking about your regular, run of the mill bloggers, the kind that make up the United Cardinal Bloggers, for example. When I think about how the UCB covers things, I think about all the different viewpoints that are brought to the table about a single game or a stretch of games. You can see things that other can't, and vice versa. The Diamond Dolls at Cardinal Diamond Diaries may find the silver lining in a bad loss. Pip will show why things aren't that bad (or are worse) with the stats. Mark at RetroSimba will give a historical perspective. All of these put together means that the sum is greater than the parts. Of course, I'm the kind of person who wants to read as much as they can about the last game and talk about it as much as possible as well. Perhaps it does get tiring to some, and I know that when you read the same headline on two or three blogs, it can start to sound like an echo chamber. However, I think that blogging is similar to fantasy baseball. Fantasy baseball is a great way to stir interest in the game. You might watch Pittsburgh vs. Washington if you've got Ryan Zimmerman or Andrew McCutchen on your team, and anything that gets eyeballs on baseball is a good thing. The same with blogging. With blogs, you sometimes watch games looking for different perspectives to write about. You might be looking for a subtext or a different layer to the game. Or, if you are like me, writing about it the next day gives you the chance to organize your thoughts and understand what happened and what it meant. Do some 10-2 games get over-analyzed and is it a bit harder to have an even keel with this kind of coverage? Perhaps. However, I'd rather live in a world with too much baseball talk than not enough or not at all. This time of the year really emphasizes that, as the football talk drones on while you pan the Twitter and the websites for some nugget of baseball discussion. Couple of links before I wrap up here. First off, it's Albert Week over at Cards Diaspora. I'm sure you thought you knew all the arguments for resigning Albert, but Hooks and the gang are always willing to prove that you haven't completely plumbed the depths of any topic. Speaking of the big first baseman, he's got his own article in USA Today. Hopefully he doesn't get a lot of feedback, because if he starts blogging no one will ever read here again. Though we'd be glad to have him in the UCB! The radio show will be hosted by yours truly tomorrow night. We are going to spend a little time talking with James from Astros County, getting a feel for what our divisional rivals are doing this offseason as well as whether or not Lance Berkman is a good signing for someone. Tune in and join us!
Miscellaneous TidbitsPosted on November 1, 2010 at 10:06 AM
There's nothing much going on in Cardinal Nation, so here are a few things that have shown up in my mailbox.Before we get to that, though, I realize that I've not weighed in here about the return of the coaching staff, most prominently Dave Duncan and Mark McGwire. (I did on last week's UCB Radio Hour--almost a full hour of me talking to myself not counting the cameo by PH8's Josh, so you are forgiven for not listening to that one.) I think Duncan's contract is pretty interesting. It's a two-year deal with an option for a third, which means Duncan got what he wanted in terms of length. It also seems to raise the odds that, at least one of these years, we are going to have a split in the Tony LaRussa-Dave Duncan teamup. I don't think TLR has three more years in him, possibly wrapping after this coming season. Duncan, though, seems like he'll serve out the term assuming he likes whomever the Cards tap as successor. Also, it was noteworthy that Duncan gets more influence and say in how the minor leagues are developing pitchers. How that will be reflected is still up for debate and how many toes are going to be stepped on is still up in the air, but by and large it's probably a good thing to have the whole organization on the same page, and Duncan obviously has the experience and results to say, "My way is the right way." However, we'll see how these new methods work with hard throwers like Shelby Miller and Carlos Martinez. As for McGwire, I'm glad to see him back as well. For the fact that he was still learning how to coach most of last year, his results were similar to what Hal McRae had put up after numerous years as a hitting coach. It takes a while for new methods and new ideas to take hold and I'm sure McGwire had some growing pains as well. If he'd left now, I don't think he'd have ever gotten back into baseball, so I'm glad to see him giving it another shot. Now, to the mailbox. *DISH Network and Fox Sports have resolved their dispute. The November 1 deadline for DISH to start losing local affiliates must have been a driving factor, as it got resolved over the weekend, which is good news for those that are on DISH. *Out of the Park Baseball, a wonderful simulation that I have mentioned in the past, is having a half-off World Series special through Wednesday of this week. You can save $20 on the 2010 season if you'll head over this way. It's quite a deal and might help you get over those lack-of-baseball blues that will be coming soon, especially the way the Giants are going at it. *Jay over at 85% Sports, a member not only of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance but also the United Cardinal Bloggers, has up a free agent tracker at his site. It's a very detailed listing, taking into account not only major league free agents, but minor league ones as well. Bookmark that if you want to see where people are going! That seems to be the bulk of it. The UCB roundtable is starting to wind down, with questions coming today and then my question proposed tomorrow and posted here Wednesday (hopefully). Still trying to decide just what that question will be. Also coming soon, perhaps by Friday, the ballot for the fourth annual Cardinal Bloggers Awards. This was the first project we ever did as a group and as such kicks off another year of UCB goodness. I'll be posting the ballot and then, in a couple of weeks, be doing the voting along with others of the UCB, then posting the results. Hope to get that all done before Thanksgiving!
LiveBaseballChat.comPosted on September 30, 2010 at 11:25 AM
With us discussing yesterday's game, well, yesterday and not much else going on in the world of the Cardinals right now, I wanted to catch up on a promise I'd made earlier in the year. Dean is with Live Chat Concepts, which is a company with the idea of setting up dedicated chat rooms so that, if you are watching the Cardinals and Pirates, for example, you can chat with others that are also watching the game. Their baseball offering, LiveBaseballChat.com, is a Friend of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.With only a few games left this season, there's still time to try this out for the weekend games, plus the postseason. Also, Live Chat Concepts has started this for football as well, for those of you that inexplicably follow that sport as well. After the jump, a Q&A with Dean about the company and how it all works. Filed Under: General Baseball
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With Two Months Remaining, Cardinals Fight For Playoff BidPosted on August 2, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Two months remain in the chase for the NL Central pennant. The Cardinals hold a slim half game advantage over the pursuing Reds. St. Louis was active during the trading season, while Cincinnati stood pat. Clearly Walt Jocketty believes that the Reds future is promising enough that he need not sacrifice the talent in a win now transaction. That hardly suggests that Cincinnati cannot improve and sustain the pressure they have put on the Cardinals all season. And St. Louis' trade cannot be truly considered a horizontal move. Dishing Ryan Ludwick to hand the job to a still raw Jon Jay to facilitate the acquisition of Jake Westbrook as a fourth starter is not a serious game changer. The race will remain tight as both clubs add players who return from injury or are summoned for their first taste of a big-league pennant chase. Let's take a quick look at what will make for an exciting August and September between the two clubs: The Game In HandFew things are more pertinent to a playoff push than the game in hand. If you're holding a lead or chasing, the game in hand gives a safety valve. Play to a standstill - the game in hand allows a team to control its own destiny and need not rely on anyone else. The Cardinals have an extra game in August, which happens to fall on August 26th, when they will be in Washington to play the Nationals. After that, the two teams play the same number of games the rest of the way. They have differing off days in September, but play the same number of games. Beating the Nats will force the Reds to play at least one game better than the Cardinals to secure the division. Beneficially for St. Louis, Washington has the worst record of the non-divisional foes that St. Louis will play. Unfortunately, St. Louis will play on the road, which has been a favorable experience for the Cardinals, having dropped 30 of their 52 contests away from Busch. ScheduleBoth teams will spend more time over the next two months on the road than at home. St. Louis has an almost 50-50 split with 28 home games against 29 road matches. There's the game in hand again. Their superior home record gives them a distinct advantage. But Cincinnati, who will spend 31 games away from the Great American Ballpark and Homer Haven is two games over five-hundred on the road. How much their better road performance impacts the race is balanced by the quality of opponents they face. Cincinnati will play both San Diego and San Francisco on the road on two separate swings out west. They also get the Dodgers and Rockies on separate trips west. All told, the Reds will make three visits west of the Mississippi between now and the end of the season. Those western swings take their toll. St. Louis has a slightly easier road, with no west coast trips and the advantage of facing San Francisco and San Diego at home. They play 18 of their 28 road games in division. The Reds have 15 of their 31 road contests against the NL Central. Which is quite appropriate. The race will largely be settled in division, with both clubs playing their intra-divisional foes frequently. St. Louis plays 29 times against Houston, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Chicago. Against those same teams, Cincinnati plays 27 games. Both teams should expect success against their mostly vanquished rivals. Even though the Brewers refused to surrender, selling off talent at the deadline like the Astros, Pirates and Cubs did, their poor record on the season is a reflection on their year to date performance. Milwaukee may play better, but they will not magically become a world beater, winning 65% of their games down the stretch. They are, to borrow a famous phrase, who we thought they were, a middle of the pack team without enough starting pitching to seriously contend. Head to HeadThe most important in division matchups are the six head to head battles. The clubs have a trio next week in Cincinnati and another three spot in St. Louis a month from now. Those six games hold more sway over the race than any other factor. If either club takes two of three twice, it grabs a two game swing over a split. A sweep in one series will stagger the other team. A sweep by one club in both series is as close to a knockout as is possible. We can look into our crystal ball and see who might be on the hill for each club in a week's time. Both club's have an off day on August fifth, which would allow St. Louis to skip Jeff Suppan, who pitched his best game of the season this weekend. However, it was against the Pirates. Take that with a grain of salt. Should St. Louis skip Suppan, they would need a fifth starter, either Suppan, or Kyle Lohse, if his rehab Thursday goes well. Pitching Thursday would allow him to go on Tuesday on regular rest. Lohse is eager to be done with rehab, but for the pivotal series, it may behoove the Cardinals to not skip Suppan after the off day and set up their rotation to give their three best arms the starts against Cincinnati. But instead of pitching Suppan on the sixth, bump him to the seventh and let Adam Wainwright go on regular rest on the sixth. Wainwright would be in line for the Reds series finale on the eleventh when he would likely face Bronson Arroyo. Jaime Garcia would open the series against Mike Leake in a good battle of rookie hurlers. The middle game would be Chris Carpenter against Johnny Cueto. Those matchups decidedly favor that Cardinals, and when every game counts, every advantage must be pressed. Returning or Recently Promoted TalentAs mentioned above, the Cardinals are expecting Lohse back imminently. In addition, Allen Craig will be recalled as soon as he can be. More importantly, starting third baseman, David Freese is expected to go on a rehab assignment and may be ready to resume play on the ninth, just in time to face the Reds. The minors don't offer all that much else to the Cards. And with no timetable for Brad Penny's return (likely the motivating factor in the deal for Westbrook) those three are about all the reinforcements available. For Cincinnati, they have a pair of injured pitchers who are showing signs of being ready to return. Both Homer Bailey (currently on a rehab assignment) and Aaron Harang (about to go out on one) are soon to come back. But due to the return of Edinson Volquez and the solid pitching of Travis Wood, neither are guaranteed spots in the rotation. The big Reds advantage is starting pitching depth. Beyond those two, Sam LeCure, Matt Maloney and Aroldis Chapman await the call in AAA. Though Chapman has been converted to relief work in anticipation of getting his first big league experience out of the pen in September, the Reds can stretch him out if an unthinkable slew of injuries cripples their staff. For hitters Todd Frazier and Yonder Alonso have very little left to prove in the minors. Frazier's fielding likely limits his usefulness at short, where Orlando Cabrera is already an offensive liability to the team. Juan Francisco could also see time in the case of injury to Scott Rolen. St. Louis' role players are typically called upon to fill in when injuries limit a started, such as Felipe Lopez' time at third in Freese's absence. The lack of accessible depth in AAA may prove costly, especially with a valuable former piece of the team's depth in the outfield playing in San Diego. The TradeThe decision to hand rightfield to Jon Jay and ship Ryan Ludwick to San Diego is in part explained by the relative cost of Ludwick in 2011. Arbitration eligible for the third time, and hitting well, Ludwick would have merited a raise of another two to three million dollars. Westbrook is more expensive than Ludwick, but the Cardinals also received cash from the Indians to cover part of his salary and Westbrook also agreed to a decrease in his $2 million assignment bonus if traded. The additional salary is hardly troubling in 2010. It's 2011 that worries John Mozeliak. He'll easily exercise Albert Pujols' option for the season, but not before working tirelessly this offseason to secure Pujols' services for the remainder of his career. That will take some serious money. After the seven-year, $120 million deal that Matt Holliday got, and the ridiculous contract Ruben Amaro Jr. signed Ryan Howard to this season (five-year $125 million), Pujols could ask for six years and $168 million without much fuss or outrage. If Howard is worth $25 million a year, how could anyone think of paying Pujols less? Paying that freight is a serious commitment, considering the last two seasons are the only two in the history of the franchise where their payroll has exceeded $100 million. Committing $45 million or almost a third to two players means the rest of the team needs to be lean, hungry and willing to work for scale. Ludwick was priced out, the same way Jayson Werth has been priced out of Philadelphia. Getting Westbrook may work out well. He's proven durable this season after nearly two years of arm woes. Handing a capable back of the rotation innings eater to Dave Duncan has proven effective in the past at elevating his value. But Westbrook is largely a rental and his conversion from average four to super three will need to happen quickly. The success of the move will be judged exclusively on the success of the team in 2010. That's largely because the Cardinals are approaching a plateau and the Reds are a team on the rise. St. Louis has the benefit of better established talent, but the Reds have more near ready talent, and can easily shed their larger contracts like Arroyo and Harang, allowing less expensive and quite possibly more effective players to take over those roles. The salary reduction would give Cincinnati greater flexibility to secure rising talent in the future. Which is what makes this stretch drive so wonderful. In fact, it's baseball at its finest. An established veteran club facing a game upstart for a division title. This battle will play out many more times over the next few years. The premiere performance begins later tonight and I'm sure we'll all be watching, transfixed at the beauty of meaningful baseball fought between two of the finest franchises in the game. Joe Tetreault covers the confluence of business and baseball as Managing Editor of The Biz of Baseball and covers baseball foremost among other topics at TetreaultVision. You can also follow him on Twitter. Browse past entries in the General Baseball category by date
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 HeroesLance Berkman (24) Albert Pujols (19) Matt Holliday (15) Chris Carpenter (10) Kyle Lohse (9) Yadier Molina (9) Ryan Theriot (8) David Freese (7) Jaime Garcia (7) Jon Jay (7) Jake Westbrook (6) Allen Craig (5) Kyle McClellan (5) Colby Rasmus (5) Edwin Jackson (4) Skip Schumaker (4) Daniel Descalso (3) Rafael Furcal (2) Gerald Laird (2) Nick Punto (2) Marc Rzepczynski (2) Fernando Salas (2) Mitchell Boggs (1) Daniel Descalso (1) Lance Lynn (1) 2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24) 2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28) 2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25) GoatsRyan Theriot (12) Albert Pujols (11) Jake Westbrook (10) David Freese (8) Ryan Franklin (7) Jaime Garcia (7) Fernando Salas (7) Kyle Lohse (6) Kyle McClellan (6) Colby Rasmus (6) Skip Schumaker (6) Miguel Batista (5) Chris Carpenter (5) Daniel Descalso (5) Matt Holliday (5) Jon Jay (5) Jason Motte (5) Allen Craig (4) Rafael Furcal (4) Tyler Greene (4) Yadier Molina (4) Lance Berkman (3) Mitchell Boggs (3) Gerald Laird (3) Edwin Jackson (2) Trever Miller (2) Corey Patterson (2) Marc Rzepczynski (2) Matt Carpenter (1) Maikel Cleto (1) Tony Cruz (1) Octavio Dotel (1) Mark Hamilton (1) Lance Lynn (1) Nick Punto (1) Arthur Rhodes (1) Eduardo Sanchez (1) Raul Valdes (1) PJ Walters (1) 2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14) 2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13) 2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13) Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2011)Adam Wainwright 94.7% (down 0.9%) Matt Holliday 91.1% (up 6.6%) Albert Pujols 90.4% (down 8.3%) Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%) Derrick Goold 87.8% Chris Carpenter 86.9% (down 6.7%) Matthew Leach 85.5% Mike Shannon 84.9% (down 4.6%) John Rooney 84.3% (up 8.1%) Yadier Molina 83.7% (down 8.3%) Colby Rasmus 81.8% (up 5.0%) Pop Warner 76.7% Jim Hayes 76.1% John Mozeliak 74.1% (down 12.0%) Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%) Bill Dewitt 71.0% (down 12.0%) Tony La Russa 70.8% (down 10.2%) BJ Rains 70.4% Ricky Horton 69.1% John Vuch 68.9% Jeff Luhnow 66.4% Skip Schumaker 64.1% (down 17.0%) Al Hrabosky 63.2% (up 19.0%) Mark McGwire 62.5% (down 10.7%) Dan Lozano 58.7% Joe Strauss 57.5% Kyle Lohse 55.1% (down 11.7%) 2009 Rick Ankiel 83.9% Chris Duncan 69.1% Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets? TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets. Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets. Referrals |
