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Heading To Houston

Posted on June 7, 2011 at 8:44 AM
Filed Under: Houston Astros | St. Louis Cardinals
Yesterday was a day off for the Cardinals, which meant the storyline of this weekend got another day of play.  In other words, there was a lot of talk about Albert Pujols.

For starters, he was named player of the week, joining Jaime Garcia and Lance Berkman as Cardinals so honored this year.  (Berkman got it twice, if you recall.)  Part of this year's team is the fact that different pieces are running at different times.  If Matt Holliday comes back healthy and Berkman picks up while Pujols is running, this could be a very fun summer.

The most common thought about the big guy seems to be that he's back.  Bernie Miklasz thinks that the fact that he's showing some positive emotion is a big sign that things are going to be more Albert-like now.  It was great to see him smiling and having so much fun at the end of the two games this weekend.  I know a lot of people think that the high-stepping bit was showboating, and maybe if I was a fan of another team I'd think that as well, but when you saw the smiles and the general exuberance, it seemed to me to be excitement, relief, and just plain joy all rolled into one.  Remember, the quote says you've got to have a lot of little boy in you to play this game, and I think that little boy spilled out after the home run.

Cards did draft last night, selecting second baseman Kolten Wong from Hawaii.  Reaction to the pick seemed to be mixed among different portions of the fanbase.  Of course, there are lots of details about Wong over at the best place for minor league coverage, Future Redbirds.  They also have Twitter reactions about the pick from some experts.  If only for what he does for a living, Cardinal humorist Matt Sebek liked it, especially after last year's pick of Zack Cox.

With the off day, it seems the best time to lay out what's coming up next here on the blog.  As per my usual tradition, I'm taking off and spending a week with my wife's family in Ohio, where her dad and I will talk about the Reds and the Cards and I'll generally be without a lot of internet access.  (Even cell signals in that area are pretty spotty.)

As I did last year, though, I've lined up a stellar cast of guest posters for you, so you won't be completely out of things to read (or won't get out of the habit of coming to this site!)  Here's the schedule.

Friday morning, Bill Ivie of I70 Baseball will kick things off.  You all know Bill from his work at his site, of course, as well as Gateway To Baseball Heaven and the UCB Radio Hour.  After spending last year writing columns for him, it's nice to have the shoe on the other foot!

Friday afternoon, we'll have Jaymes from Brewers Bar come in and give us a preview of the Cardinals/Brewers series.  That should be a big series between the Cards and the team that looks to be the one most likely to stick around.  I know Jaymes will prepare us well for it.

Monday, Jonathan from MLB Dirt will sit in, kicking your week off right with some timely thoughts.  There's a lot of great stuff over at his website and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with for his slot!

Tuesday is another double-dose.  That morning, William from The Flagrant Fan (and who comments here regularly as WilliaminMaine) will bring us some good stuff.  William's a great writer who has a lot of fans on Twitter, for good reason.

That afternoon, Dave from Nationals News Network will sit in, previewing the series between the Cards and the Nats that will start that evening.  No one knows the Washington team better than Dave and I look forward to him sharing some of that knowledge.

Wednesday will be fantasy day as Daniel from Colorado Springs Fantasy Baseball Addict will be here.  He'll take a look at the Cards from a fantasy perspective as well as passing along some other tips.

Thursday, we add a little class to the place by stealing Angela from Cardinal Diamond Diaries for a day.  You likely know Angela from her work there or at I70 Baseball or perhaps recognize her as CardsChic from Twitter and the chat room for UCB Radio Hour.  It'll be the first post here by a female blogger and I'm looking forward to it!

Friday, Ron from Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf will stop by.  I believe Ron is going to review the Derek Jeter book that came out earlier in the year, which should be a treat.

I'm still trying to round up a Kansas City blogger that might be interested in writing up a preview for that series on Friday afternoon, so if that comes to pass I'll try to edit this post and reflect it.  Even without that, though, there's a lot of talent that's going to come through this site in the next week.  Please don't get used to it--I don't want you disappointed.

St. Louis visits Houston starting this evening.  Probably won't be quite as much talk about Berkman returning home this time and we can focus on what's happening on the field.  Let's take a look at the starters.

Jake Westbrook goes for the Cardinals.  Westbrook's been very effective the last month and if he can keep the ball out of the air in the bandbox that is Minute Maid Park, he should do well.  Here's what Houston has done against him:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Carlos Lee 37 34 14 4 0 1 5 3 2 .412 .459 .618 1.077 0 0 3
Michael Bourn 6 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .167 .167 .167 .333 0 0 0
Hunter Pence 6 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0
Brett Wallace 6 5 4 1 0 0 2 0 1 .800 .833 1.000 1.833 0 1 0
Chris Johnson 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .200 .200 .200 .400 0 0 0
J.A. Happ 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jeff Keppinger 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 1
Angel Sanchez 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 1
Brett Myers 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 71 67 23 5 0 1 8 3 9 .343 .380 .463 .843 0 1 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/7/2011.

Carlos Lee is the only one with much experience and Westbrook will need to be careful with him.  Also, he's not had much success in limited exposure to Brett Wallace.  On the whole, though, it looks like something Westbrook can manage.

On the other side, Brett Myers will oppose the Redbirds.
 
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS IBB HBP GDP
Albert Pujols 43 41 15 1 1 3 6 2 4 .366 .395 .659 1.054 0 0 2
Yadier Molina 26 25 5 0 0 1 4 1 4 .200 .231 .320 .551 0 0 2
Lance Berkman 25 18 3 0 0 1 3 7 5 .167 .400 .333 .733 1 0 0
Skip Schumaker 25 23 7 1 0 2 2 2 4 .304 .360 .609 .969 0 0 1
Ryan Theriot 15 15 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .267 .267 .267 .533 0 0 0
Colby Rasmus 12 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .091 .167 .091 .258 0 1 0
Tyler Greene 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 .333 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0
Jon Jay 6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .333 .333 .333 .667 0 0 0
Chris Carpenter 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Jake Westbrook 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
Total 162 149 39 3 1 7 15 12 27 .262 .321 .436 .757 1 1 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/7/2011.

Albert's done well in the past, and with his resurgence Myers may be extremely careful with him, but a lot of others haven't.  You'll see Skip Schumaker in the lineup tonight.  Normally I'd say you wouldn't see Colby--and you still might not--but with him being off Sunday and the off day, that's plenty of rest for him.  Hopefully he can improve on that .091 average!


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1 Comments

1 Comment | Leave a comment

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WilliaminMaine | June 7, 2011 10:46 AM | Reply

Nice to be among a great crew of writers filling in for the godfather!

Hey, did you folks know that Allen Craig and Fernando Salas are among the WAR leaders for rookies? Cool, eh?

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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (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)
Jason Motte (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (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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