Duncan the Opposition

Chris Duncan inflames a lot of Cardinal fans.  In fact, one of the recent UCB roundtables (that just went up) dealt with that very topic.  Yesterday, though, Duncan reminded us what he can possibly do when healthy.

A 4-4, 3 run, 5 RBI day (with a HR to boot) is obviously not the norm for Duncan, but the power that was behind that kind of performance is no fluke.  Duncan has the reputation as a bumbling misfit who has a spot because he's the son of Tony LaRussa's best friend, but in his healthy days, he's shown plenty of power.

Right now, the Cardinal squad doesn't have much of a whipping boy, something that's been a constant the past few years.  First Tino Martinez, then JD Drew, with Adam Kennedy and Mark Mulder getting cracks at it as well.  Nature abhors a vacumn and right now Duncan probably would be in that role, but if he continues to put balls over the wall, someone else might have to start getting measured for the job.

While it's always good to see a 15-4 score, even in spring training, the fact that the Mets had hardly any of their regulars--they are hit hard by the World Baseball Classic--has to temper some of the enthusiasm.  Fernando Tatis started at third for the Mets.  That should tell you all you need to know.

Joe Mather had a strong performance yesterday as well, cracking three hits.  Allen Craig chipped in two, including a long ball.  The rest of the damage was spread out among the hitters, with the Mets assisting with two errors.

Another tough day for Colby Rasmus, though.  Six at bats, one broken-bat single, plus a mixup in the outfield that wasn't called an error, but could have been.  Colby says he's pressing somewhat and a day like today probably won't help him relax.

Some good stuff on the mound as well, though of course tempered by the fact they faced the Mets "B" lineup from the start.  Kyle Lohse had a much better second outing, going 3.2 inning and giving up no runs.  There was a good outing from Jess Todd as well, though he was credited as giving up a run due to that mixup in the outfield.

In our continuing focus on the lefty battle, Royce Ring went an inning and a third scoreless, only allowing one hit.  Charlie Manning, my dark horse, had some struggles, giving up two runs (one earned) in an inning.  The left side of the bullpen was the focus of a Joe Strauss article in this morning's Post-Dispatch.  It doesn't sound like LaRussa and Dave Duncan are all that thrilled with the guys making a run at that second LOOGY slot, and it also appears that playing time, from now on, will be the best indicator of who is in the lead for the job.

Ring gets his own profile over at the official site. The article also points out that Ring is out of options, while Manning still has a couple.  If it comes down to a tiebreaker, that's a good one for Ring to have.

David Freese finally got into a game, striking out in the seventh.  He's got a little work to do to outpace Mather for that third base spot. He's not necessarily ready to get into game action, but it sounds like he's probably pretty close.  I'd guess (completely wildly) that he'd be starting at third by this weekend.

Various roundup links:

El Diablo, Joe Strauss, is having his regular chat today at noon.  Always interesting to see what Strauss has to say and I'm sure there will be a lot of discussions about the outfield and the lefties in the pen.

The most recent UCB question was posed by Bugs and Cranks dealing with our expectations for Ryan Ludwick this year. You can find all the responses here.

If you've gone around some of the Cardinal blogs, you might have seen the promotion for the Maple Creek Press Cardinals Annual.  Edited by Larry Borowsky, the founder of Viva El Birdos (who also has a couple of articles in it), the author list reads like a Who's Who of Cardinal bloggers.  I mean, Will Leitch of Deadspin fame?  Aaron Schafer of The Rundown?  Erik Manning of Future Redbirds?  Dan Moore, currently writing VEB?  No self-respecting Cardinal blogger could pass this up and I got my copy in the mail yesterday. So far, so very good.  I'd encourage all of you to pick it up if you can find it in the bookstore or order it if you can't.

No game today for the Cardinals, then they face the Dominican (who probably won't have Alex Rodriguez in the lineup) tomorrow. 


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