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First Win Of The Year Might Be Costly

Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:41 AM
Filed Under: Florida Marlins | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals won their first game of the spring yesterday.  They hope they didn't lose much more.

Chris Carpenter and Mitchell Boggs both left the game with a trainer on their arm yesterday, Carp due to a hamstring strain and Boggs with a back issue.  Both of them indicated that they didn't think it was much of an issue, so we'll have to trust that they are right.

Remember, the theme for this year is "no margin for error," so this spring training is causing a lot of angst among optimists such as myself.  Having Carpenter go out for any length of time just might be a death knell for this team.  Losing Boggs wouldn't be a good thing either, though there are other bullpen arms that might be able to absorb his innings well.  I'm pretty sure, though, we wouldn't want to go into a season with Jaime Garcia, as great as he is, as the Opening Day starter.

If we are in a new era of openness as seen by the Adam Wainwright scenario last week, where the club was much more upfront about the injuries, then perhaps we can feel a little more at ease that both Carpenter and Boggs will be all right.  At least it was the beginning of spring and not the end.

Speaking of Wainwright, he plans to return next spring ready to go.  If it is any comfort, Joe Nathan was back on the mound yesterday just 51 weeks after his surgery, so it's completely possible.  Wainwright spoke to reporters via phone yesterday and said he plans to be back down in Jupiter in a couple of weeks to start his rehab.  Apparently it was a pretty bad tear, as he said there was only a 10% chance it would have healed up without surgery.  He did the research, talked to guys and, since Dr. Paletta had such a good reputation among his peers (and that he was just across the street rather than a plane ride away), he went with him.  A lot of us got worried when he went with Dr. Paletta, but it really seems those fears were unfounded.

The injury bug is still active in came, as Lance Berkman has an elbow has him DHing and staying away from throwing for a while.  Again, this is a precautionary measure, but all of these adding up gives a pretty ominous feel to the camp.  You hate to see someone like Berkman, whom we are all on pins and needles about anyway, start pulling up this early.  It's not like he's going to play the outfield all year and not throw.  I know they tried that with Pujols for a while a few years back, but that was a temporary measure, not a strategy for the year.

Anyway, to the good points of the game.  We got to see Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Allen Craig,and Mark Hamilton go yard, accounting for all the scoring.  You take any power numbers in spring with a shaker of salt, but I like seeing Craig getting into the action early.  He played two positions in the game and is up to three for the spring, so I think that he's got a great shot to be a bench player this year and hopefully can produce up to expectations.  Which may be huge, since David Freese has now been pushed back to Monday before his first spring start.

With the injury to Wainwright, the Cardinal have shuffled the deck, as it were, and shown that they are favoring Kyle McClellan for the last spot in the rotation.  Doesn't mean that he's locked it down, by any means, and if Boggs's back issue doesn't subside or someone else goes down he'll likely be back in the bullpen.  However, right now, you'd have to think that he'll be in the rotation to start the year, probably making his first start April 6 against the Pirates.

Couple of things for you to visit this afternoon.  First off, the ladies at Cardinal Diamond Diaries are trying to come up with the official 2011 Cardinal Crush that they can adore from afar.  If you'd like to help them, they've got a poll up for voting.

Also, you might want to check out this Cardinal preview.  Fair warning, it's from Cubs Billy Goat Blog, but it's always good to see how the other side sees us.  Besides, Mark will be part of the Cubs Playing Pepper, which will be out this afternoon.

Cards and Mets will be getting underway here in just a bit.  No radio or TV, so you'll have to use Twitter and Gameday to stay informed.


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1 Comment | Leave a comment

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WilliaminMaine | March 2, 2011 5:25 PM | Reply

Reports today were that the Cards don't consider the new injuries serious. That's good news at least. But we'll see.

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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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