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A Little Early On the Fireworks

Stop me if you've heard this before.  The Cards jump out to an early lead, posting a crooked number in the first.  However, they don't score again and the other team comes back to take the lead.

Last night's game matched that script again, but it was the later innings that deviated from the norm and made for an exciting win for the Cardinals.

I know Troy Glaus had two home runs, including the walkoff winner.  You have to like how he's heated up in the last month or so.  I checked the stats back in May and he and Rolen were almost in a statistical dead heat.  Not so much any more.

But the Hero isn't always about the best player in the game.  Chris Duncan pinch-hits the two-run, game-tying home run off of a lefty.  For everything that Duncan's been through, this Hero's for you.

If I didn't have a firm rule about keeping the Goat tag on a player, Tony LaRussa would probably get the tag for last night's game.  What was he thinking bringing Mark Mulder into that situation?  I know Mulder had thrown a good inning last time out.  But it was just one inning.  Let's not just dump him straight into a high-leverage situation, OK?  Especially when the guys coming up had good career numbers against him.

Kyle McClellan was looking sharp.  He'd faced five batters and retired four of them.  Granted, his splits show that righties have done pretty well against him this year, but he owns lefties.  Church (L), Delgado (L) and Easley (R) are coming up.  Is it really worth playing the percentages and bringing in a untested lefty in that situation?

Mulder actually didn't look quite as bad as you'd think.  It seemed to be watching that he had little control of his pitches.  The movement was great, but he didn't know exactly where he was going with it.  The first pitch to Church was a nasty one and Mulder got burned on that AB with a bloop single.  The hit by Delgado, though, was as solid as they come.  A sac fly and then, representative of his control problem, a HBP and he was done.  It's not a huge setback, but it's not exactly what you want to see out of the bullpen either.

Albert Pujols almost got the Goat tag, not only for his 0-5, but his anxiousness in the ninth.  Everyone hitting in that inning seemed to want to end the ballgame with one swing.  I'm sure AP thought the first pitch would be his best chance of doing that, but I'd have rather seen him draw the walk and have something going than popping out like that.

Tonight the Cards could get the series win.  A couple of young pitchers head to the mound as Mitchell Boggs, who of course hasn't ever faced the Mets, goes up against former top prospect Mike Pelfrey.  The only Cardinal Pelfrey has faced is Jason LaRue (twice).  He's got a 4.47 ERA but has been pitching pretty well of late.  Could be a low-scoring affair, or it could be a wild one.  As the philosopher said, "Youneverknow."

Always Good To Be Back

Before I do anything, I've got to give major thanks/props/kudos/whatever the kids are saying these days to Mike for filling in for me.  I really appreciate him filling in and keeping things running while I was up in Reds country.  It was great yesterday to get into Arkansas and be able to easily find Mike and John on the radio.  I listened to the last couple of innings and knew I was home again.

I'll catch up the Hero/Goat leaderboard soon with Mike's selections, but let's take a look at the last two wins by the Cardinals, insuring a winning homestand.

Saturday, looks like the hero was Rick Ankiel with a two-run homer.  Mitchell Boggs was in the discussion, though four walks was a little on the high side.  Good to see him get a solid game in, though, especially with the state of the pitching staff.  Goatishly, you'd probably look at Brendon Ryan, who went 0-4 and left four on base.

Sunday, it's a surprise hero in Jason LaRue.  A home run, a triple, and four RBI, plus getting the best of a collision at the plate?  Gotta give him the award (wind-aided), even with an AP two-for-five, HR day.  (Sounds like he would have had two homers on a different day, with the wind holding one up at the track.)  In my mind, the goat has to go to Braden Looper, because when you know the bullpen needs some rest, to go out there and not get through the fourth is a terrible thing.

Last year it was a little busy during my Ohio trip.  Sorting through, it looks like there were a few things that happened the last 10 days as well:

• Jason Isringhausen looks like he's going on the DL, then doesn't.  Pretty decent outing yesterday against the Royals, save the back-to-back doubles.
• Yadier Molina returned from his concussion.
  
• Cesar Izturis goes on the DL, exposing the weakness of the middle infield.
  
• Mark Mulder gets activated and put in the bullpen, but doesn't pitch.  And, apparently, there's not a lot of confidence in him since apparently Brad Thompson is returning because "we need innings."
  
• To make room for Thompson, Nick Stavinoha goes back down after being promoted during the week.  Wish I could have seen him play.
• And, last but not least, El Hombre returns, with Randy Flores going on the DL.  And obviously Pujols didn't forget how to hit in his time off.

The Cards return to Busch today (their road trip just perfectly coincided with mine) and take on the so-far disappointing New York Mets for the first time this year.  The Mets sit a game under .500 and in third place in the NL East, though that's only 3 games out of the top spot.  The Cards continue their run of missing ace pitchers as they won't see Santana in this four game series. 

Kyle Lohse goes for the Redbirds, looking for his tenth win of the season.  There are a couple of Mets that are excited about renewing acquaintances.  Walk Beltran every time up, Kyle.  And as hot as Delgado has been, think about it with him as well.

John Maine goes for the Metropolitians.  The Cards haven't seen a lot of him, though Pujols has liked what he has seen.  (Both of those home runs were in a game in 2006, though.)  Maine's most famous game against St. Louis was probably Game 6 of the 2006 NLCS, where he kept the Mets alive and set the stage for a classic.

This is a big series for the Cards.  Winning this one against a quality (if scuffling) opponent would give them a lot of momentum for the weekend series against the Cubs. 

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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Sand, Surf and Slugging

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continuing to Falter

Last night's game was one the Cardinals really needed to win, in my opinion.  Fresh start, home game, opponent the Cards usually beat, everything was in their favor.  And when Albert Pujols ties it up with a long ball, you have to feel the tide has turned.

Instead, they leave the bases loaded in the ninth and the bullpen implodes in the tenth.  The latter is not that surprising, given the way the relievers have gone about their business this year.  A lot of the good fortune from last year is evening out this year.  Ron Villone had been pretty good most of this year, but he got the Goat label from last night.  When you face 8 batters, six of them reach base and four score, that's a rough night.

I thought Pujols would probably get the Hero tag, but after reading more about the game (I didn't get to see it), it's pretty obvious that Troy Glaus should get it.  Hitting one of those rare three-run home runs and going 2-5 is a good sign out of him.  Hopefully he'll have a few more home runs by this time next month.

The Cards have to shake that off and get back at it tonight.  If Joel Pineiro is on like he was last time, there's a solid chance they'll make a game of it.  Pineiro pitched six strong innings against the Brewers before faltering in the seventh.  Still, it was more the bullpen's fault he didn't get a win than his own.  Unfortunately, a number of Pirate hitters have had good success off of him in the past.  However, he did defeat the Bucs back on April 24, when he threw seven innings of one-run ball.

Paul Maholm goes for the Cardinals, meaning the Redbirds face yet another lefty.  Albert Pujols and Jason LaRue have had the most success against him, which may mean Tony sits Yadier Molina tonight and has him ready for the afternoon game tomorrow.  Maholm hasn't gone against the Cardinals this year.

Just taking a guess at the lineup.........

Barton
Miles
Pujols
Ludwick
Glaus
Ankiel
LaRue
Pineiro
Izturis

Check with Bernie's forum or the CardsClubhouse game thread later to see if I come at all close.

A few things to hit around the horn:

*John Mozeliak apparently is willing to be accessible.  He recently had a chat on MLB.com and today he'll go for his second chat at the PD website.  Somebody ask him when he's getting a blog.  He can join us in the United Cardinal Bloggers!

*It's a chat doubleheader at the PD, with Cardinal writer Joe Strauss taking his weekly turn in the tank after Mozeliak's done.

*Apparently the Cubs may sign Jim Edmonds.  I think Will Leitch summed it up quite well:  "It is rare to find anything that Cubs fans and Cardinals fans agree on. The horror of Jim Edmonds in a Cubs uniform is one of them."  Along with the Cub blogs in that Deadspin story, you can also see what fellow Blogs by Fans member Cobra Brigade thinks about it by following this link.  It does beg the question, though: Will Jim still get a standing O when he comes to St. Louis in a Cub uniform?  I think probably so.  John Mabry always was welcomed warmly, even when in Cub blue.

*I don't think anyone's really shocked that Tyler Johnson needs surgery.  I definitely wasn't.

If I get a chance, I'll do another version of Around the Blogs this afternoon, see what people are saying much better than me.

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.

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.

The Quiet Man

As I was thinking about the first series of the year, I realized something.  Where is Albert Pujols?

Don't get me wrong, it's not like Pujols hasn't done anything.  I mean, the man is hitting .500 at the moment.  That's obviously helping out the team.  But, since the first game was wiped out, he has only one extra-base hit and one RBI.

This is not a criticism of Pujols at all.  Small sample size and all that.  In fact, his relative quietness may easily come to an end tonight, when one of his favorite foils, Odalis Perez, takes the hill for the Nationals.

It's more that the Cardinals were supposed to be Pujols and the also-rans.  Oh, maybe Adam Wainwright would win some games, but that's it.  If the Cardinals were going to win any games, it'd be on the back of their big first baseman.

Yet through the first three games, while he's been a productive member of the lineup, he's not been the be-all and end-all.  His name has yet to show up on my Heroes list.  He's not dramatically brought the team from behind or smacked a go-ahead double.  These things are coming, of course, but they haven't been here yet.  And this team of also-rans just took two of three from the defending NL champions.  There could be some life in these Birds yet.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the cut he received on his finger yesterday didn't get Cardinal Nation a bit on the worried side.  Good to hear that the scheduled X-ray was canceled due to lack of need.

Let's take a look at tonight's pitching matchup.  There's a good chance that the offenses are going to break out the fireworks.

First off, Odalis Perez vs. the Cardinals.  Perez has probably been dreading this all week long, because look at that Pujols line.


Oh, my.  I remember watching Pujols crush a game-winning home run off of Perez a couple years back, and the announcers at the time noted how he owned the pitcher.  Of course, now AP will probably have a 0-0 line as they walk him four times.

Jason LaRue has had some success against Perez, so he could take Molina's slot in the lineup tonight.  I'm sure Tony will weigh that history vs. what Looper may need defensively out of Molina.

That leads us to the other pitcher of the night, Braden Looper.  Here's his numbers against Nationals hitters.  There aren't too many plate appearances there, which is not surprising given Looper's reliever history.  Only Rob Mackowiak has gone yard against him, but the batting averages are on the high side.

Looks like a cool but rain-free night at the ballpark tonight.  If the Cardinals can get a win tonight, they look good for a series win since Adam Wainwright goes tomorrow.

One Series Down, 51 To Go

Being that not only was I working yesterday during the game, but working out of the office, I was able to catch about 10 minutes on the radio and that was it.  All of my observations will have to come from reading game stories and various other discussions.

From what I see, though, there's little doubt that the Hero for Thursday was starting pitcher Brad Thompson.  Six and 2/3 scoreless, plus an RBI single?  Without looking it up, I'd say that has to be the best game Thompson has ever pitched in the majors.  Doing it against the Rockies is pretty impressive as well.

Other positive notes included the first appearance of Anthony Reyes this season.  Three up, three down, all on strikeouts.  And even Tony gave him his due, saying, "You kept saying, 'Wow.' Three times."  It will be interesting to see when he pitches again, whether he'll get a longer stint, whether he'll be ready to go tonight.  The pitching has looked very good so far this season, but Braden Looper goes tonight against a team that's been hitting the ball pretty well.  Long relief may be something the Cards are needing today.

Also, apparently Troy Glaus reads the blog (Hey, Troy!) because after saying yesterday that a bit of offense wouldn't go amiss from him, he has two hits and drove in a run.  Maybe that will relax him and get his bat going.

It also sounds like Skip Schumaker and Jason LaRue combined on a nifty play throwing out Todd Helton at the plate.  This series had hitting, pitching and defense--keep that up and there are going to be some disappointed people writing for Yahoo.

Examining the box score, it's a little difficult to come up with a Goat.  Most of those that didn't get a hit made a play in the field.  Almost by default, today's Goat goes to Cesar Izturis.   0-3 plus an error will get you that on a lot of days.  Though I will say Izturis has played better so far this season than I expected.

Cards start a series with the Nationals tonight.  You can participate in the CardsClubhouse YNOT for the series if you get your picks in by first pitch.

What Others Are Thankful For

Hey, I've got some time tonight. Let's see what everyone else is giving thanks for this year!

John Mozeliak: That Chris Antonetti didn't want to leave Cleveland.

Mark Mulder:  That he's left-handed.

Billy Beane:  That Mark Mulder's left-handed.

Scott Rolen:  That Larry Bowa isn't TLR's bench coach.

Albert Pujols:  That this year's ninth-place finish in the MVP award gives him more motivation.

Brad Thompson:  That there are no puppies around to kick.

Jason LaRue:  That he can now play on the good side of Missouri.

Tony LaRussa:  That they make tofu turkeys.

Walt Jocketty:  That he no longer has to put up with Jeff Luhnow.

The St. Louis Cardinals:  That they play in the NL Central.

Hope you all have a great day!

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]