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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.

End of the Line

That's the last time we'll see Mark Mulder in a Cardinals uniform.  It's probably the last time we'll see him on a baseball field at all.

I don't say that with any malice or glee.  I really was hoping that Mulder's new arm slot would be the key to getting him, not to his Oakland level, but at least to a serviceable starter.  Instead, he faces three batters, walking two and leaving the mound again in pain.

If that was the end of the line for Mulder, it's too bad St. Louis never got to see the really good version.  (If Billy Beane knew about Mulder's health issues--and I wouldn't put it past him--I'm not sure how he sleeps at night.)  The only really positive memory I have of Mulder is that epic 10-inning shutout against Roger Clemens.  Other than that, there's not much.

Of course, there will be more revisiting of the most rehashed trade in Cardinal history.  I'm still firmly convinced that if Dan Haren had been a lefty, the trade never would have been made.  It was all about getting an lefthander into the rotation.  And, at the time, the trade was reviled because of the inclusion of catcher Daric Barton.  That's not the problem.  Barton had to move to first (which means he couldn't play in St. Louis anyway) and isn't just lighting it up yet, three and a half seasons after the deal.  It's the fact that Haren developed into so much more than the Cardinals (and the fans) ever thought he would that has made the deal so lopsided.

The hero from last night's game probably has to be Brad Thompson.  I really liked Troy Glaus's AB that tied the game, but Thompson coming in with two on and one out in the first and getting out of it, then pitching effectively from there really stands out.  I've got trouble giving out the Goat, though.  I can't give it to Mulder--just can't tag a guy like that after possibly his career ended.  Kyle McClellan gave up the go-ahead home run to Howard, but he pitched well the inning before that and it was Ryan Howard.  I guess I'd probably give it to Chris Perez, because the Feliz home run made it just that much less likely the Cards were going to rally off of Brad Lidge.

One last comment on the game.  Does anyone else think it was cheap that they gave Skip Schumaker just a double on that ball that "stuck" under the wall?  Victorino looked like he was going to get it, then realized he could just keep it there and get an advantage.  I think there should have had to be an attempt at the ball before he could throw up his hands.  That was pretty lame in my book, though must be part of the ground rules at Citizens Bank.

The team is already moving on the Mulder front, likely disabling him and bringing up Jamie Garcia, which will please Erik at Future Redbirds immensely. Garcia will work out of the pen at least until the break.  If nothing else changes, I'd expect him to move into Mulder's slot after the All-Star Game.

Changes, though, are what Tony LaRussa wants to see.  This will be the first real test of the Mozeliak/LaRussa dynamic.  Up until now, it's pretty much been "hey, this is great, more than we thought, but let's wait and see."  Now, Mo's still there but LaRussa's competitive nature has taken hold and he wants to see something.  This is where Jocketty would go out and make some move that, in recent years, was little more than combing the waiver wire.  Will Mozeliak do that?  Will he start looking for a bigger trade?  Will he take Tony's dogs hostage until he quiets down?

Couple of vets going this afternoon.  Braden Looper looks to keep the bullpen off the field when he takes the mound, but the Phillies may have other ideas.  Pat Burrell has two homers off of him and probably will be excited to take his cuts today.  On the other side, Jamie Moyer is one of those you'd expect the Cardinals to struggle with, a soft-tossing lefty.  Really, though, for a guy that's been around as long as he has, the Cards (save Glaus and Kennedy, guys that saw him in the AL) haven't gotten a lot of ABs against him.  Glaus does have five home runs off of Moyer, so maybe he'll break out the big bat today.

The UCB is working on their next project.  If you weren't e-mailed and want to join it, let me know.  It should be a good discussion.

Big Win in Philly

The Cardinals showed last night that the road doesn't intimidate them this year.  They've struggled away from Busch the last couple of years, but this year they can beat people anywhere.  In fact, they have the best road record in the National League, one of only two NL teams (Philadelphia is the other) with a winning record on the road.

You can't say enough about the job Joel Pineiro did last night.  He had a tough draw, going up against Cole Hamels in a launching pad, but he kept the powerful Phils off the board.  The Cards really needed a win after the weekend and all the trading activity in the division and he provided.

Tough to give anyone a Goat tag when they go up against someone like Hamels, but Troy Glaus gets it not only for his 0-4 but his double play he hit into in the ninth against Lidge.  An insurance run there would have made me feel a lot better about Ryan Franklin facing Utley, Howard and Burrell in the ninth, though it turns out it wasn't necessary.

The Cubs called the Brewers' raise in the pitching department, getting Rich Harden to add to their stable.  We all know the caveats on Harden, but if he is healthy, that gives the Cubs the 1-2 punch they've been lacking.  I've always thought that Zambrano was basically the only pitcher on that staff and they were getting by with the rest of them.  Adding Harden makes me a lot more concerned about their postseason life--they may have enough to go deeper in October, if they get there.

So what do the Cardinals do now?  Both of the top competitors have added aces.  I know Mozeliak is going to say things like "no need to do anything," "nothing on the burners", "the calvery will be like a trade," but is that really true?  I know that Wainwright will be back sometime in August, which does give a boost, but that's just getting the team back to health.  If Carpenter does make it back this year, he's not going to be able to provide significant innings, so as nice as it'll be to see him on the mound, will he really be the difference maker if he's going two times a week out of the pen?

I'd like to see the Cards make a run at Erik Bedard, if they can get him at a reasonable price.  These last couple of trades may make that unlikely, since both the Brewers and the Cubs gave up some good talent and, more notably, a good number of bodies, but the flip side of that is that two of the teams most likely to be in any Bedard derby are now out.  I'm not sure any AL team will be that excited to get him after his Seattle showing, which may mean the Cards just need to compete with Philadelphia, the Mets, or teams like that to get him if Seattle puts him on the market (and they'd probably be crazy not to.)

If a package that didn't really damage the farm system (i.e., no Colby Rasmus, Jamie Garcia, Jess Todd) was put together, I'd be in favor of it.  A couple of days ago Larry at VEB mentioned moving Mitchell Boggs or Clayton Mortenson would not be a bad thing if they could get value.  If Anthony Reyes or Chris Duncan had value, I'd suggest some sort of modification on the Santana deal I proposed last winter, but that's wishful thinking.  If the price is dropped because of the reduction of teams, I'd think the Cardinals might be able to be in contention for someone like Bedard.  If it hasn't, though, then they should go ahead and pass.  Anything that happens this year is gravy, since this team is really designed for 2009 and beyond.

Of course, tonight's game might go a long way toward showing whether any kind of deal is really necessary.  Mark Mulder takes the mound against rookie J.A. Happ.  If Mulder can be somewhat effective, it might lead to hope that he can be a part of a second half surge.  I don't expect he'll get past the fifth, just because he's not thrown that much lately, but if he could give five innings and just a couple of runs, there'd be a lot more optimism in Cardinal Nation.  Whether that'll happen or not is a different story.

And, before I forget, it's XM Radio ad time!  XM will be all over the All-Star stuff.  Shows will be hosted from New York, the Futures Game (featuring four Cardinals, don't forget!) will be on XM 175 on Sunday, then the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game itself will be on XM 176 on their respective days.  If you want to stay up on what's going on with the All-Stars, tune in to your XM!

Speaking of the All-Stars, I see where AP is saying he'll do the Home Run Derby if asked.  Last time it didn't affect his swing (I think he hit more homers after the break!) so I'm all for that.  I love seeing Cardinals do anything during the All-Star festivities.  Seeing all the different jerseys (well, that's only in the game now, so they can make more money on All-Star sales) on the same field is really neat.

Just keep an eye on Philadelphia tonight.  A big part of the rest of the season could be riding on it.

It's All About Pitching

Let's see, what's on the PD site this morning?

Well, the biggest news probably is the status of Adam Wainwright.  According to Derrick Goold, he can start throwing anytime now, but it's going to be after the All-Star Break before they even start talking about a return date.  I'd expect he'll probably get one rehab start, so if he's back by my birthday (August 2, mark your calendars) I'd be a little surprised.  Still, it doesn't sound like he's having any setbacks, which is good news.

Chris Carpenter is working his way back as well, but it doesn't look like he'll be in the majors before August either.  In fact, it may be with expanded rosters before we see him in St. Louis.  I've said all along that if he was back before mid-August that it'd be pretty surprising, even when the team was talking about him being back at the All-Star Break.  Tommy John just doesn't heal that quickly.

And, even in times of pitching need, Matt Clement cleared waivers and is going to work as a reliever in Memphis.  Talk about a move that backfired.  Granted, it was a low-risk move, but Clement seemed pretty well in spring training and I really thought that part of the improved pitching this year would be because of him.  Now, he may be an August or September callup as well and in the bullpen (which needs the help).  I guess it's still possible the Cards would pick up his option for next year, just to see if they can get something out of him, but this is not what Mozeliak thought he was getting.

General tangent: I'm going to do my All-Star rant in a little bit, but in other baseball news, I wanted to say how nice it was to see Milwaukee get CC Sabathia.  Not in the competition aspect--it makes Milwaukee the favorite in the NL Central in my book now--but in the fact that here's a small market team being able to make a play for the biggest name on the trade market.  Sabathia didn't wind up in New York or Boston or Chicago.  That's a good thing for baseball, in my book.

The matchup tonight is not exactly one that screams "win" for the Cardinals.  Joel Pineiro will go into Philadelphia and take on Cole Hamels.  The good news is that the Phillies don't have much of a book on Pineiro, at least not from personal experience.  The bad news is that some of the Phillies that have seen him have done pretty well.  As for Hamels, well, both of those statements pretty much apply to him as well.  Albert Pujols has done a good job against him and hopefully will continue that now that he's gotten #300 out of the way.  As long as they realize that some things you hear about Hamels may be exaggerated, the Cards could be OK.

Housekeeping:  You'll notice a few new links over on the blog roll.  St. Louis Sports Magazine has been nice enough to link over here a couple of times and I appreciate that.  Player to be Named Later is back from hiatus.  And a couple of the more, well, colorful Cardinal blogs, Cardinal Diaspora and Bert Flex, are on the list as well.  Bert Flex was nice enough to include me in their Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month, which I appreciate.

Catching Up (Again)

Our office just went to doing 40 hours in four days, so as to have Friday off, which meant I've been away from the computer for most of the weekend.  Let's recap, then discuss:

Thursday (vs. Cincy)
Hero: Troy Glaus.  1-4, but drove in both runs with a homer.
Goat: Randy Flores.  Both he and Mark Worrell were credited with two runs in the box score, but Flores let them all score.  A bases-loaded walk and then a bases-clearing triple?  Ouch.

Friday
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  As much as anyone can be in a 20-2 game.  Three hits, including a home run.
Goat: Pick a pitcher.  I guess I'd have to go with Todd Wellemeyer, since his eight runs in three and 1/3 innings really put the game out of reach.  Ron Villone's six in an inning and two thirds was pretty ghastly as well, and Worrell, Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin didn't cover themselves with glory either.  When the best pitcher of the night is Aaron Miles, that's a bad night.

Saturday
Hero: Kyle Lohse.  To come out the afternoon after that shelling and to shut down the same offense is pretty impressive. Runner up to Ryan Ludwick for his acting job.
Goat: Rick Ankiel.  0-4 with two left on.

Sunday
Hero: Can we say Tom Gordon?  No, the rules say just Cardinal players.  So it comes down to Schumaker and Glaus again, both with two hits and a home run.  We'll go with Skip this time, since he left one fewer man on base and his home run came in a tighter game.  (Granted, Glaus's was just a couple of batters later, but you have to drawn the line somewhere.)
Goat: Randy Flores.  You come in with two on and two out. Then you walk two guys, forcing in a run?  Springer wasn't much better, walking in another one, but at least he got an out.

Wonderful thing about baseball.  The Cards scored less in the series than the Phillies did in the first game, yet they won two of three.  It really proved that momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher.  The Cards still couldn't gain any game on the Cubs, but it could have been much worse.  Sitting 3.5 out at this time of year is pretty much beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

And best wishes to Yadier Molina.  That was a nasty collision in the ninth inning.  All reports seem to indicate that it wasn't as severe as it appeared on the field (I thought it was great to hear "Yadi! Yadi! Yadi!" as he was being taken off) and it should "just" be a concussion.  Hopefully he'll rejoin the team quickly--with Pujols and Wainwright already being down,  you'd hate to see Molina be out as well.

Lot of activity this weekend, with Joe Mather and Mark Worrell going back to Memphis in exchange for Jason Isringhausen and Anthony Reyes.  Izzy's definitely saying all the right things, so hopefully he's got his mindset right and he'll be able to restore order to the ninth inning soon.  Reyes already got a win in his first game back and apparently will be used out of the pen as a long relief guy, though he could start for Wellemeyer Thursday if there are medical questions.  In other words, we may not see him again for a week.

Speaking of medical questions, Chris Carpenter is getting a second opinion after being shut down last week.  I don't think a lot of people are surprised.  Carpenter was being talked about as being back in the next couple of weeks, but that seemed like a stretch for the surgery he had.  Besides, it's the Cardinals and pitching.  Everyone has at least one setback that extends the return timetable.  It'd be nice to hear that it's not needing more surgery or that it isn't anything serious, but that may be too much to ask.

The rehab calvary might actually be close to arriving, though.  Mark Mulder had a very impressive outing in Springfield Saturday, getting up into the 90s on the gun and throwing five shutout innings.  Granted, he's been good before in the minors, but he never was throwing that hard.  Matt Clement was a little less impressive, but he had a decent outing.  We'll see if the innings continue to take a toll on him, however.  Personally, I'm a little more excited about Mulder now.  I don't know if it'll hold up, but as excited as people that should know are about this new arm slot and seeing the first results, it's very encouraging.

Day off today for the Redbirds (Yadi needs it, for sure) before the Royals series starts Tuesday.  I'll take a look at the pitching matchup, etc. then.

The Void

I once read a quote, which I can't find right now, that went something like this:

"There are only two seasons, baseball season and the void."

The void is now upon us, after Isringhausen made it interesting, as he usually does, but got the final out and preserved the victory, like he usually does. And with that final out, the 2007 season came to an end.

It's not going to be a season fondly remembered by fans years from now, but it was baseball. One thing I'd forgotten until it was mentioned this weekend was just how good the pitching looked in spring training. The team ERA was around 3 or so, just amazing for the spring. Which proves that spring training stats aren't worth the web page they are published on.

A season with so much promise ended on opening night, for all intents and purposes. When Carpenter had a rough outing and came up lame soon after, we should have realized what we were in for. Injuries with the Cardinals are never simple things, where the player is back soon and all is forgotten. Injuries with the Cardinals drag out, start to look better, then get worse. I personally don't buy into the "Carpenter on the mound by late July" talk going around. If he's there by September, like Mulder this year, I'll call it a surprise.

Then the pitching fell apart, Hancock died, everyone that wore Cardinal red came down with some sort of injury, and through all of that, they hung in there.

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Down, But Never Out

We've discussed the TLR "hard 9" principle before, but last night might have been one of the greatest examples of that philosophy. If LaRussa does decide to hang it up or leave St. Louis after this year, I hope either the next manager (whether it be Oquendo, who seems to be groomed for it, or not) or the players (like Pujols) remember this philosophy and keep it around. Because it sure makes for exciting baseball.

I wasn't able to watch much of the game, being away from home, but turned on the static-filled radio on my way home, trying to piece together what the score was and what was happening. When I finally heard that Philly had been up 12-0 and it was now 12-10, it got me more excited about a game than I've been in a while. (Losing streaks will do that to you.) Then it was 12-11 with Pujols at the plate. You knew he wasn't going to get anything to hit, though they did challenge him more than I expected in that situation.

I got home in time to see Ludwick's drive to the outfield. Watching it, I really thought it was going to be down and the game was going to be at least tied. Rowand made a nice catch, and you figured that was the end of that. Momentum gone, big bats gone, etc.

When Izzy gave up one in the ninth, you really didn't think there'd be much more than three outs in the bottom, but again, credit the team. One out (those were some pretty tough pitches to Ankiel) and you get the go-ahead run to the plate before a pop out and a strike out. Still, that was a more "satisfying" loss than you'd expect down 12-0 in the sixth. You expect to come to the message boards and read a lot of doom and gloom, but after one like that, at least you respect the team and I think, if there was anything to be fired up about, a game like that could turn around a team.

In the rest of the NL Central, Chicago rallied--again--and beat the Reds, keeping their one-game edge on Milwaukee. I don't know about you, but when I see a team continually winning late to keep their lead, it makes me think that it's meant to be. I hate seeing the Cubs in the playoffs, but I'm afraid that's what's going to happen.

Cardinals and Phillies tangle again today. Wainwright goes for the Cards, Hamels for the Phillies so there shouldn't be any replay of last night's high scoring game. You'd expect a 2-1 type game tonight, so it could be fun to watch.

EDIT: OK, that's what the P-D's site said this morning, but apparently it's Hamels vs. Wellemeyer.  That doesn't bode as well for a pitching duel, at least on the Cardinal end of things.  Stranger things have happened, of course, and with Hamels just coming off the DL, the Cards should get into the Philly bullpen fairly early, which is where you can do some damage, apparently.

All’s Wells Now?

Tough loss for the Cardinals last night, which, as my father has told me in the past, is why they play the games. On paper, the Cubs should have dominated, especially the pitching matchup. Carlos Zambrano came in with 12 wins, Kip Wells with 12 losses. The ERA spread between the two was over two runs. Yet Wells did all he could to win that game and just about pulled it off.

The Kipster seems to be a different pitcher since his temporary reassignment to the bullpen. I know I said I wouldn't be doing this terribly often (or very well), but let's crunch some numbers:

Before the bullpen: 14 games, 76.2 innings pitched, 84 hits, 59 earned runs, 12 home runs, 42 walks, 57 strikeouts, 6.93 ERA, 1.64 WHIP

Bullpen and after: 7 games, 25 innings pitched, 22 hits, 6 earned runs, 0 home runs, 8 walks, 19 strikeouts, 2.16 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

If you take out that disastrous Philadelphia start right after the All-Star Break, it's even more stunning, as Kip has a 0.75 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. So that bullpen session apparently clicked for Wells. But what's been the difference?

Before doing this stat compilation, my guess was that he wasn't dilly-dallying around, but going right after the hitters, trusting his stuff to move enough to create problems for the hitters. That's not borne out by the pitches per batter data, though. Before the switch, Wells was at 3.71 pitchers per batter faced. Afterwards, it's 3.91.

What is the reasoning behind that? You'd think that as P/BF went up, the results would get worse. My guess is that his stuff is creating problems for the hitters, so they are taking more pitches instead of hacking at the first strike they see and putting it into play with not-so-pleasant results.

What else is different between the two stat lines? He's not walking people, which again makes that increase in P/BF counterintuitive. Bad Kip was walking about a batter every two innings (.55/IP) and his K/BB ratio was only 1.36. Good Kip is walking one batter every three+ innings (.32/IP) and the K ratio is up to 2.38. (BTW, it's .29/IP and 2.57 without that 4 runs,1 inning Phillies game.)

He has also improved his GB/FB ratio, which is big with this regime, as we all know. Before it was 1.64 GB/FB, which is still a good number, but since then it's 1.95, so he's really killing some worms.

All in all, it appears that Wells has really turned a corner. If this keeps up, the Cardinals should approach him about an extension soon. Next year's rotation has few answers. Adam Wainwright will be in it, of course, and Mark Mulder should be back to take a slot. Mike Maroth could return, but that's really going to depend on how he does down the stretch. Anthony Reyes has to be in the majors, but if LaRussa is returning, it very well may mean that Reyes has a different uniform on next year. Brad Thompson is earning a look for next year as well. The innings appear to be getting to Looper, and I'm not sure I'd want to see him starting games again next year.

No matter how you slice it, though, Carpenter's loss leaves a hole in the rotation. This new-look Wells could be the guy to fill it.

Looking Ahead

At least the last couple of nights have been pretty good for the Cardinals. That power show in Philadelphia Sunday night was great to see! Even Adam Kennedy got into the act, then homered again last night down in Florida. If he can actually get his bat going, that'd almost be like a trade. However, a couple of good games after the All-Star Break does not a revitalization make, so we'll have to keep an eye on him.

VEB yesterday and today has been taking a look at next year, as lboros has joined the "it's not happening this year" crowd. Doesn't mean we aren't rooting for the team or hoping for the improbable, but it's being rational and reasonable--a couple of things that don't always fit into fandom.

Anyway, I didn't realize just how tied up next year is. You look at the money already allocated to next year and the players that'll be under contract, and it's going to be difficult for the '08 version of the Birds to have a much different look than the '07 version. That doesn't mean that '08 will be as disappointing, of course. You should have Carpenter back all year and healthy (depending on what this latest setback is), as well as Mulder. If they can pitch at close to their top level, that's a huge boost right there. Wainwright is going to continue to improve, most likely, and the experience of this year will help. The pitching staff, in general, should be better than it has been in 2007.

The offense is going to be interesting. I think we can determine that Chris Duncan really isn't a fluke. He should be a solid producer for a few years to come. Albert had a terrible start to the year--you wouldn't expect that to happen again. The real turning point is going to come from Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. Both are getting up there in baseball years. Both have had injury problems in the past couple of years. Will they be able to get closer to their career norms in 2008? Or are they inexorably on the downhill slide? Rolen only has 4 home runs so far this year--a far cry from his normal 25 or so. Can he get back to a 15-20 HR pace next year? If so, that boost to the offense will help a lot.

It doesn't look like there is going to be much change in the personnel, so we can only hope that there will be changes in the performance. There aren't a lot of trading chips in the system. There's some talent in the lower levels of the minors (AA and below), but they probably won't be much help until 2009. It's not likely teams will give up much to take on the expensive veterans that we have (Jason Isringhausen being the exception, and there's a legitimate debate on whether the Cards should move him or not) , so it's not going to be easy to get younger.

A lot of this is tied into whether Tony LaRussa and Walt Jocketty are back next year. The team makeup is going to be a lot different if Tony is in charge (a more veteran team) or someone who has a youth focus is in charge. It may be that a new GM and manager give away some vets to try to freshen up the place. I personally think both of them will likely be back next year. TLR might retire--this year has taken a lot out of him--but I think he'd want to take one more shot at making the team a contender. If there aren't any issues with the players--and while there have been rumors of some, it does seem possible those rumors are overblown--I think he returns.

It's been a long time (1999) since a team wearing the Cardinal colors has been effectively out of it this early in the season. And, I know, the Cards still have 20 games with Chicago and Milwaukee and can make hay with some solid wins. But this team can't seem to put together a winning streak of more than 3 games. I can't see them winning consistently enough against those teams to really get back into the race.

Stop the Insanity

So another day in Philadelphia, another big rout. Like they said on the telecast, combining a flyball contact pitcher with home run tendencies in that park against that offense, well, likelihood of you coming out unscathed is pretty low. At least Albert got another longball and Chris Duncan put up another highlight-worthy catch. He's definitely made good strides toward being an average outfielder, something LaRussa said he'd be able to do with practice.

What really raised my hackels (whatever they may be), however, were the comments by Mark Grace from the Fox studio about the Cardinals. Grace said that the Cardinals "deserved" their fate this year after not doing anything in the offseason coming off their championship.

This has to be the oldest and most tired argument for the year. We have people at the Clubhouse taking this position a lot as well. But in my book, it just doesn't hold water.

Let's look at who left. Jason Marquis. A pitcher so reviled in Cardinal Nation that they'd have stormed the stadium if they'd kept him. A pitcher that was left off most of the postseason rosters and didn't throw a pitch in October. Marquis had shown he wasn't going to listen to Dave Duncan and the Cards were better off letting him go. He's starting to revert to form for the Cubs after a strong start, so we'll see if he steadies himself or continues to self-distruct. But either way, it was time for him to go.

Jeff Suppan. I liked Suppan in St. Louis. He was a good #3 type pitcher who did have a tendency to come up big in pressure situations. He did a lot of good things for the Cardinals, and if they'd been outbid on him for a one or two year deal, that's one thing. But Milwaukee gave him a lot of money for four years. By the end of that contract, he's much more likely to be dragging them down than pushing them toward the top. It was a great move for this year on the Brewers part, though he has also struggled lately, but it was just too much for too long.

Jeff Weaver. Everyone remembers his post-season heroics, but remember that he struggled so much that the Angels gave him away and he really didn't turn it on until the last month or so for the Cardinals either. I thought that he would do well to stay with Duncan here another year, and the Cardinals did offer him a more stable two-year deal. But he went to where the money was, and it looked like a big mistake early in the year when he had a 13+ ERA. He's had some good outings lately, which is nice to see, but basically the Cards weren't going to overpay for the chance that he'd keep his October form and he wanted to be paid, no matter his comments about "being wanted" in Seattle. If the stories of LaRussa and others calling him in the offseason were true, there was plenty of love being thrown his way from the Cardinal side of things.

Then let's look at what the Cards tried to do. They really put all their chips in on Jason Schmidt. A mid-size market can't afford to do too much, so they prioritized and went hard after Schmidt. They apparently came in second, mainly because he didn't want to leave the West Coast. If they had landed him, and he'd been on the DL like he has this year, would we be giving management credit for doing something, even though the record likely would be even worse than it is now?

They did some scrap-heap searching, this is true. The Cardinals are on a budget, which teams in their financial situation have to be. Ownership has shown in the past that they will step up--witness the extensions for Pujols, the contracts for Rolen and Edmonds, heck, even the extension for Carpenter in the offseason, two years before they had to worry about it--but they aren't just going to spend to spend.

In two years, if they have saved the money and make a run at someone like Johan Santana, we might be very glad that 2007 was the year that it was. But let's end this "they didn't do anything" rhetoric--it just doesn't hold water.

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]