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Another Heartbreaker

For the second day in a row the bullpen couldn't protect a lead.  Albert Pujols capped a superior effort in his first game off the DL with an RBI single in the ninth to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead; but Ryan Franklin allowed a game-tying HR to Gary Sheffield in the home half of the inning, and Mike Parisi walked in the winning run in the tenth.  3-2 Tigers.

Lots of things to be frustrated about.  Can't hold a late lead.  2-11 with runners in scoring position.  Our #4 and #5 hitters, Glaus and Ludwick, went 0 for 6 and stranded 13 runners (I recognize that's a little misleading; some of those runners are double-counted).  Not to mention that they led the last 2 games in the eighth or later and lost them both.  So, instead of potentially being 5-1 on the road trip headed to KC, they're 3-3.  At least Chicago got blown off the field by Baltimore; the Cardinals remain 4.5 games out of first in the Central.

Heroes and Goats?  Pretty simple for this game.  Hero is Albert Pujols.  Welcome back, AP, we missed you.  4-4 with a walk; did he really sit for 2 weeks?  I couldn't tell based on how he hit the ball.   He missed a HR in his third at bat by about 15 feet, lining the ball off the wall in left.  Goats are Ron Villone and Mike Parisi, for each walking in a run.  Dishonorable mention goes to the Cardinal offense other than AP, for that 2 for 11 RISP stinker.

So on to KC.  Cardinals announced yesterday that Mitchell Boggs will start Saturday, not Mark Mulder.  This is a good thing, as I mentioned earlier in the week.  Your complete match-ups:  Piniero vs Gil Meche tonight.  Boggs vs Kyle Davies tomorrow.  Looper vs Brian Bannister Sunday, in a rematch of the 18 June game in St Louis; Braden outpitched Bannister, but the Royals won 3-2.  The good news is we miss the Royals best pitcher, in Zach Greinke; however Meche won 15 games last year, and Davies is unbeaten in 3 starts this, so the series won't be a picnic.  Not to mention the Royals are tied with Minnesota for the best interleague record in the Majors (12-3).  Should be fun.

Two closing notes:  Cardinals put Randy Flores on the 15-day DL when they activated AP.  Tendinitis in the right ankle was cited as the reason.  Finally, Dan should be back posting starting on Monday.  I may have one more post this weekend, but that will be it for me.  It's been fun; hopefully you've enjoyed reading what I've written, and will consider stopping by the old homestead in the future.

Cheers, God Bless, and Go Cardinals.

Another Series Opener, Another Loss

Cards lost to the Royals 2-1 last night.  No big deal.  They'll just win the next two.  They've only done that eight times this year.  Why not nine?

With Davies being so unfamiliar to the Cards (and with no Pujols or Molina) it's not terribly surprising the offense struggled.  Great pitching performance, though, by Hero Joel Pineiro.  Too bad the Goat Ron Villone lost it for him.  Granted, the Cards should have put up more runs, but giving up a HR in a situation like that is unacceptable.

VEB runs down the problems with the left side of the bullpen today.  There's no doubt that something that was such a strength for the Cards just a couple of years ago is now there most glaring weakness.  I mean, does anyone want to see Villone or Randy Flores in a game anytime soon, especially a close one?  I don't think so.  Not sure what the team will do about it, but with an offense that's likely to sputter, the Cards can't afford to give away games with a weak bullpen.

Good to see Jason Isringhausen back, though.  The sooner he is healthy and ready to go mentally and can take the closer slot away from Ryan Franklin, the better in my book. 

Todd Wellemeyer is going to miss his next start, meaning Anthony Reyes will take the mound.  First, does anyone not think Wellemeyer is going to wind up on the DL?  A missed start, a terrible outing, and then another missed start.  Second, I'm excited to see what Reyes can do.  I'd like to see him make the decisions coming up tough.  Third, it is very interesting that Mulder is pitching on the same day at AAA Memphis.  If Reyes flops, Wellemeyer is still hurt and Mulder dominates, I'd expect Mulder to be pitching in Detroit when that rotation spot next comes up.

Chris Carpenter's pain problem isn't really a problem, which is great news.  They may take it a little easier on him for a while, but it's one of the few times where this situation comes out positive instead of more surgery being required.  I personally feel much better about it when Dr. Andrews says it's fine.  Not that we don't trust the Cardinal staff, it's that we don't trust the Cardinal staff.

Mulder on Thursday and Clement on Friday.  Memphis is the place to be at the end of this week!  Plus Carpenter, rematches of the last two Cardinal World Series and another skirmish with the Royals.  I'm sure Mike will have plenty to talk about when he fills in.  (Though you are stuck with me for another day!)

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.

Off the Wagon

If Wednesday's win was a step toward recovery, St. Louis fell off the wagon on Thursday and landed with a thud that might be felt for days to come.  The same problems reared up on Thursday afternoon--a lack of the big hit, the inability to continue to pile on, and the shakiness of the bullpen.

This game was very similar to the one Ian Snell started against the Cardinals earlier.  They got out to the big lead, couldn't add to it, and lost it late.  It's possible the game turned in the first inning.  If Adam Kennedy's bases-loaded, two-out hit gets down, there's a couple more runs right there and the game could have gone quite differently.

From what it sounds like, this could be the last time for a while that Jason Isringhausen gets the goat.  Some sort of decision apparently will be made today, and it has to be.  Odds are there will be a DL move, especially since you'll note in that story people are now saying he's still getting treatment for his hip, something that hadn't been mentioned before now.  But Izzy did make that a little harder on them with his blunt honesty:

"I don't know what we're going to do," Isringhausen said. "I wish I could say I was hurt, my arm was falling off, or I couldn't land. I can't do that. People (hitters) standing at home plate tell you what the end result should be. I'm not getting any swings and misses, so that says something about my stuff. I feel healthy. But maybe my 'healthy' just isn't good enough."

While Izzy gets most of the brunt, most of the bullpen can come under the same indictment.  I ran the numbers since the middle of the Colorado series, when Izzy blew the win late.  Here's what the bullpen has done since then (again, apologies for formatting):

Randy Flores: 2.2 innings, two hits, one ER, three walks, two strikeouts, 3.37 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (1-2)
Ryan Franklin: 3 innings, two hits, 0 ER, two walks, one strikeout, 0.00 ERA, no inherited runners
Jason Isringhausen: 3.1 innings, 8 hits, 6 ER, four walks, one strikeout, 16.22 ERA, 100% inherited runners scored (2-2)
Kyle McClellan: 3.1 innings, four hits, 2 ER, three walks, three strikeouts, 5.41 ERA, 67% inherited runners scored (3-2)
Mike Parisi: 5 innings, seven hits, three ER, two walks, three strikeouts, 5.40 ERA, no inherited runners
Russ Springer: 3.1 innings, one hit, 0 ER, two walks, 1 K, 0.00 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (2-0)
Ron Villone: 2.2 innings, nine hits, eight ER, two walks, one strikeout, 26.97 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (1-0)
Total Bullpen: 23.1 innings, 33 hits, 20 ER, 18 BB, 12 K, 7.72 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (10-5)

Save for Franklin and Springer (and, to a lesser extent, Flores), everyone is struggling out there.  It doesn't seem to be overwork--that's an average of just over 2.1 innings per game over the nine game stretch--but something does need to be done.

I'd expect that the first thing that is going to happen is the promotion of Chris Perez when they do whatever they do with Izzy.  That should give the bullpen another look and a good power arm to help in some situations.  As you can see above, the relievers are only striking out one every two innings during that stretch.  That many balls in play is going to lead to some problems.

Villone obviously needs some time off as well.  He had a 0.90 ERA in April, but in half as many innings in May his ERA is close to 9.  The decision needs to be made soon whether he's going through a rough patch and needs to tinker or he's run out of gas and needs to be released.  There are a few other relievers in Memphis that might be worth taking a look at in St. Louis.

As for the offense, I don't know what you can do about that.  It's not that people aren't hitting--the team racked up 14 hits yesterday and they hit .313 for the Pittsburgh series--but the team can't seem to get them when they are needed.  37 men were stranded in three games in this series.  A couple of hits in the right spot and it's a sweep by the Cardinals, possibly rendering some of this bullpen angst moot.

We still need a Hero out of yesterday's game.  It's a tough call, really.  The pitching's out, either because of ineffectiveness or they didn't have a chance for a big moment play.  Numerous batters had multiple hits yesterday, which makes it a bit hard to narrow down, but I think I'll continue to honor the resurgence of our third baseman and select Troy Glaus for his 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB day. His bounceback is one of the reasons the offense is at least getting runners on.  Though we may have to use John's excellent Photoshop more often than we'd like!

It promises to be an interesting day whenever the decision on Izzy comes down.  But until then, there's also a ballgame to focus on for tonight.

The Cardinals and Rays were the last two of the current teams to meet, facing each other for the first time down in Tropicana in 2005.  The Cards swept that series 3-0 and haven't seen the Rays since.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this version of the Tampa Bay squad is much better than the previous incarnation.

Braden Looper is going for the Cards tonight.  Not surprisingly, there's not much history between him and the current Rays batters, being that most of them are homegrown ALers.  Looper's pitched fairly well since his shelling by the Giants and hopefully can continue that.  He's pitching a little better in Busch than on the road, so that may help out some as well.

Andy Sonnanstine goes for the Rays.  You have to figure the team is going to lean on Troy Glaus a lot this weekend, since he's the only player that's faced Sonnanstine and likely any of the hurlers that will be going for Tampa Bay.  Sonnanstine hasn't had the best of seasons, but being that he's a fresh face to these guys, it could be a long night.

With the Rays coming to town, Troy Percival gets to return to St. Louis.  We'll see what kind of reaction he gets when he comes into a game.  The Rays have some young hitters that should be fun to watch as well.

Just as long as they don't go beating around the bullpen like everyone else.

Around the Blogs: Cracks Are Showing

The Cards are in a slump at the moment, having lost six of seven.  That has affected the tone in some quarters of the blogosphere (Mike on the Cards says they're in a funk and Redbird Ramblings would prefer not to discuss it), but that's not what everyone's talking about.

A point of discussion about last night's game is the usage of Ron Villone.  Stan Musial's Stance really can't figure out why he was out there instead of McClellan.  I'm not sure what LaRussa's thought process was, but it's better than the silly idea that he hates rookies, a meme I'm quite tired of.

The Red Baron, in his weekly Wednesday fill-in for lboros at VEB, hands out some first quarter grades.  There's not much to disagree with here.  I might bump the starting pitching down to a B and the relief corp up to a C-, but that's a judgment call.  Suffice it to say, though, that the bullpen has been the disappointment of the first portion of the season.  I know he grades down the middle infield, but really, we are getting what we expected out of these guys and maybe a little more.

Speaking of, the back of the Cardinal bullpen has been under scrutiny recently.  Fungoes shows that Jason Isringhausen really hasn't been quite as bad as we thought, just unlucky.  It'll be interesting to see if Izzy gets back into the closer role and if that luck will start to even out.

The Cardinal Virtue has his take on the rumored Jim Edmonds to the Cubs bit.  I wrote about that in today's main post and I agree with what John says here for the most part.  I'd like to think Edmonds would have enough of the love for the 'Lou to turn down a Chicago invite, but if that's the only place that's offering and you still want to play, it's hard to fault the guy.  Get Up, Baby! has the reaction many Cardinal and Cub fans are having over the news.

CardinalsGM ponders trading Chris Duncan.  I've honestly got no problem with trading him off, even though I think he gets a little more of the blame than he should at times.  That last name can be a double edged sword.  But if someone would give us good value for a Duncan/Reyes package, I'd do it.

As always, when you want to know something about the Cardinal minor league system, you head to Future Redbirds.  It was the first place I went this morning when I read that Stuart Pomeranz had been released, though Eric hasn't touched much on that.  (Redbirds Fun does have part of the article over there, though.) But the three up/three down feature is back and you always need to read the Daily Farm Report.

Don at The Redbird Blog goes the miscellaneous route as well, pointing out some stories you might not have seen other places.

A couple of good posts over at Rockin' the Red.  First off, some ideas for shaking up the lineup, as well as what some trade targets are doing.  Kujo would like to see Chris Perez and Joe Mather come north and help out the big squad, especially if that meant Duncan was moved.  However, in Mozeliak's chat today at the PD, he indicated that no moves with Duncan are planned at this time.  Not that he'd say if there were, but it comes across as not something they want to do.

Also, Kujo looks at the cost/benefit of signing Rasmus long-term.  With the price of young talent the way it is, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to do a deal similar to what Tampa Bay did with Longoria, but I'm still of the camp that he should play at least a year before you start thinking about long-term extensions.

The professionals are weighing in as well.  Derrick Goold looks at some of the advanced metrics in relation to Pujols's baserunning (something that had been discussed anecdotally at CCH) while Matthew Leach tossed out some tidbits yesterday, including the information about Mark Mulder's last workout.

To pull it back full circle, check out THEblindhomer Sees for his Pittsburgh preview/recap.

If I didn't get your blog in here, I'm sorry.  If I don't have your link, add it to the comments (and add mine to your rolls!)  I've been tinkering with the blog links recently.  If you scroll all the way down, I've even added some non-baseball links.  If there's something I'm missing, let me know!

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.

A Giant Fall

You know, if someone had told me that the Cardinals were going to beat up on Matt Cain, I'd have felt pretty good about the rest of the series.  Saturday was not unexpected, because Lincecum can dominate with the best of them, but I didn't expect the shellacking the Cards had on Sunday.  Let's go through the games one at a time so we can establish the Heroes and the Goats, then we'll take a look at tonight's Brewers game.

I didn't get to hear much of the game Friday night, only a little portion as I was traveling between parts of my personal doubleheader (softball and a poker game).  The part I did here, though, was a lot of fun, as it was just after Albert Pujols's three-run home run and in the midst of that 12-batter fourth.  Looking through the box score, it's tough to pick out just one Hero since everyone had their hitting shoes on and both pitchers did very well, but I think I'll give it to Chris Duncan.  A tie-breaking two-run home run plus a double is a pretty good night.  As for the Goat, tough to say, but we'll do a bit of a make-up call and give it to Troy Glaus.  He did get one hit in three trips, but he left three on the bases.  Again, just the worst of a very good night for the Cardinals.

Saturday, again I didn't see much, but what I did was pretty expected.  Tim Lincecum is a tough pitcher to crack.  To some degree you'd want to stay close, hope his pitch count starts climbing and get into that bullpen.  There were some opportunities, though--he walked three and gave up six hits in his seven innings--but was able to negotiate out of them.  The key at-bat may have been in the fourth against Pujols, with two on and none out.  Pujols got up 3-0, but Linecum was able to work it back to 3-2 and then got Pujols's anxiousness working against him by getting him to chase ball 4.  That really took some life out of the team.

I'd still say, though, that the Goat for that game has to be Rick Ankiel, who went 0-3 and left four on base, including striking out after the Pujols at-bat described above. Rick's been in a little slump lately, hitting only .222 in his last seven games.  With him still learning the strike zone, he probably will go through good streaks and bad streaks.

Hero for Saturday would probably have to be Skip Schumaker, who continued to do his leadoff job well, going 2 for 4.  Joel Pineiro pitched much better in this one than he did in his first outing, though was still a little shaky allowing eight hits in just over six innings.

Sunday, well, there's no much good to say about Sunday.  I think it's fairly obvious the Goat should be Braden Looper, who had nothing, allowing 10 hits and 7 runs in three innings.  Anthony Reyes had some trouble in the first inning he came in, allowing runs to score, but settled down after that.  Hero-wise, I think we can give it to Troy Glaus, who went two for three, scored one of the runs and drove in the other.  Some kudos to Ron Villone as well, who pitched three scoreless innings.  I'm sure he wasn't expecting to get that kind of work when he signed on.

The Cardinals are the midst of their first slump of the season, losing three of their last four.  They need to get back on the winning track and tonight they get a chance to do that against the Brewers in a rematch of last Wednesday's game.

Adam Wainwright goes against Carlos Villaneuva tonight up in Milwaukee.  Last time these two got together, Villaneuva didn't make it through the fifth while Wainwright went 7.2 innings and hit a home run to boot.  The Cardinals have to be favored tonight, but it'd be great if some of the bats made it a less-than-stressful evening.  The preview for this series is up at CardsClubhouse, as well as the YNOT.

On the United Cardinal Blogger front, we are just two blogs short of our goal for our new project, so I'm going to detail it here and hope that it will intrigue a couple more blogs to contact me with their willingness to participate.

What we are going to do is a "progressive-dinner" type of game discussion for the Cards/Cub game on May 2nd.  Each blog will take an inning and discuss the game and any tangents that may come out of that inning.  For example, one blog may take a sabermetric approach to TLR's pitching change, one may have their opinions on Duncan playing for Brian Barton if he strikes out with runners on, various things like that.  It should be a way for you to see the whole game, but through nine different prisms, as it were.  The posts will not be live blogs, but will likely be posted on Saturday evening or Sunday.

Signed up so far (with innings requested if they have done so) are Stan Musial's Stance (first), CardinalNationGlobe (fifth), The Redbird Blog (eighth), Redbird Ramblings (ninth), Rockin' the Red and Mike on the Cards, along with myself, of course.  If you want in, e-mail me or drop me a note in the comments.

A Couple With The Nats

They haven't been easy, but the Cards have another series win after taking the first two from the Nationals.  Ironically, it's been the aspect that people thought was a strength before the season--the bullpen--that's been causing all the heartburn.

Let's look at Friday night first.  I've never been shy in noting that I'm not a big fan of Braden Looper in the rotation.  I think his season last year was overrated somewhat, with his numbers skewed by a strong April.  While he could be serviceable, he'd be someone I'd look at first to move either to the bullpen or to another team when the injured pitchers return.

That said, he did a pretty darn good job on Friday, limiting the damage against the Nationals to one run and five hits in his six innings.  He left with a 5-1 lead (this is about where I turned it on) and most fans, I expect, thought that another one was in the books.

You had to know there was trouble when Cristian Guzman, who hardly ever gets hits, much less muscles up, sent one over the wall against Russ Springer.  The next two batters reach via hit and that's Springer's night.  For that performance, he received not only a DL stint but Friday night's Goat award.

Other potential goats were Ron Villone, for walking the bases loaded, and Troy Glaus, whose error on a ball that hit him in the glove plated the fourth Nationals run.  Kyle McClellan did a heck of a job with what he was given.  It's obvious that he's going to be in bigger and bigger situations as the season goes on.  LaRussa really trusts the kid--which would surprise some--and he's so far producing.

If he'd come in and had a one-two-three inning, Jason Isringhausen would probably have gotten the Hero award.  But even striking out the side doesn't seem so great when you put the tying and winning runs on.  Still, he was in consideration.  Cesar Izturis got a couple of hits (side note: unlike errors, the Goat award is never reviewed after the fact).  You have to like McClellan's work.  But I think, due to the home run giving the Cards an early lead, the Hero again goes to Rick Ankiel.

On to Saturday.  The Hero is pretty obvious on this one.  Adam Wainwright was, well, what'd you expect out of a staff ace.  Eight innings, two earned runs, four strikeouts, and even chipped in an RBI single. You also could consider Izturis (again!) for reaching base three times.  Yadier Molina probably would have gotten the nod if Wainwright didn't after a 2-4 day with 2 RBI.

He didn't blow the game, but for getting it as close as he did, the Goat has to go to Anthony Reyes.  About as opposite from his last outing as you can get.   I was watching the game while playing with the kids and, from what I could tell, the first hit that Reyes gave up was on a pretty decent pitch.  However, giving up a home run after that, putting the game in jeopardy, wasn't what you'd want to see.  And then he had to watch Randy Flores get the easiest save ever--throw one pitch, get a fly ball, game over.

Both games were similar--good starting pitching, fairly solid offense, and heart attacks induced by the bullpen.  Even when they were successful, they were scary.  The box score shows Ryan Franklin with a hold on Friday, with one unblemished inning.  However, two of those batters hit long fly balls, the last had Ankiel up against the wall to catch it.

I've been reading the Baseball Prospectus annual and I just got to the Cardinal section today.  One of the points that continually popped up in the player writeups was just how much went right for the Cardinal bullpen last year, such as low BABIP numbers, things that would be expected to revert to form--or worse--this year.  Hopefully having players like McClellan, maybe Perez later on, whatever happens with the rotation when players start returning, things like that will negate those like Springer and Franklin that may slide from last year's results.

Speaking of returning, it looks like Joel Pineiro will be in St. Louis pretty soon.  We may see him before Tax Day, which means that decision time will be coming for the Cardinals.  I'd guess one of Thompson or Wellemeyer would move to the rotation and Kelvim Jimenez, who came up with Springer's injury, going back to the minors.  What will happen when Springer gets healthy could be interesting.  Also, Mark Mulder threw in extended spring training, so we may see him in the middle of May.

Something tells me John Mozeliak is keeping the trade lines open, in case this surplus holds.

Dashing Reyesd Hopes

First off, a happy Easter weekend to all of you.  I've said before this year that Lent is the spring training for Christians, which makes Easter our Opening Day.

Secondly, the UCB roundtable continues.  Here's Thursday's, brought to you by Rockin' the Red, and Mike on the Cards should have yesterday's transcript up soon.  I'll be posting my questions soon (if I can come up with something we haven't covered yet!) and should have the transcript up Monday or Tuesday.

The biggest story today seems to be that Brad Thompson will be the fifth starter, supplanting Anthony Reyes.  This just seems like another blow to Reyes, who seems to have twerked off someone in the organization.  (That someone likely wears sunglasses and sits in the dugout, but that's just a guess.)  Yes, Thompson has had a pretty good spring.  A 2.38 ERA and less than a hit an inning does look pretty good compared to Reyes's 4.85 with 17 hits in 13 innings.

Reyes has had four starts this spring.  Two of those he didn't allow a run, including his last outing.  He has 11/2 K/BB ration, which seems pretty good to me.  Almost a strikeout an inning.  (Thompson is 10/3, which is good as well, of course.)  When you look past the ERA, the numbers for the two are pretty similar, especially since Thompson has only started one game this spring.

I guess what bugs me, besides the fact that I think Thompson is a great relief pitcher when he's on, but he's not necessarily a starter, is this quote from Duncan:

"For that role, you aren't sitting on the edge of your chair not knowing what's going to happen every time he goes out there."

Yet, for all of that, the Cardinals continue to throw Braden Looper into the starting rotation.  He of the 7.98 spring ERA, 7 walks to 6 strikeouts, and 20 hits in 14.2 innings.  And he's a better option that Anthony Reyes?  Looper was almost the definition of "edge of your chair" last year after his strong start.  Either he was going to pitch well or he was going to blow up.  You never quite knew.

Someone, I think it was at VEB, mentioned that they thought the comments earlier in the week by LaRussa saying that they wanted to make the "least disruptive" decision meant that they'd probably start Thompson and move him to the bullpen when Clement, Pineiro etc. were ready to go, because that'd be less disruptive than sending out Reyes then.  Seems like something this group would do.

I thought over the winter that Reyes might need a new organization, though I was glad when he wasn't traded, figuring they'd make a commitment to him.  The first thought might still be the correct one.

In other news, apparently Brendan Ryan has gone and gotten himself hurt, which means that D'Angelo Jimenez might actually make the Opening Day roster.  Hopefully this injury won't give LaRussa an opportunity to send Ryan down to the minors to "catch up" while carrying another weak but veteran infielder on the major league squad.

I see Ron Villone has his ERA in the 1 range.  He could be in the Percival/Springer mold as a veteran who revives his career in the Cardinal bullpen.  Which will be good, since apparently Tyler Johnson won't be around anytime soon.  (Anyone want to lay odds on when they announce he needs surgery?)

Today's game has a lot of interest on the mound.  First off, Kyle Lohse makes his Cardinal debut, which is enough to get bloggers ready to go.  Then, apparently, Mark Mulder may face hitters.  That could give us some information on how long he's going to be out.  If a good Mark Mulder joins this club in May, the people who are selling on the Cardinals might get a surprise.  (EDIT: They were minor league hitters, but the results looked pretty nice.)

The game is on the Cardinal Radio Network and apparently FSN as well.  Looking forward to seeing the results!

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]