« April 2008 | Main | June 2008 »
Count the Mets in the derby for Jason Bay, if the Pirates left fielder goes on the trading block.
According to the New York media, New York considers its biggest need to be a bat to replace fading slugger Carlos Delgado, and the best places to fit it into the lineup are first base or one of the outfield corners.
Also in consideration for the Mets are Xavier Nady and Kevin Millar.
The two runs the Cardinals were able to put up in the bottom of the seventh, sparked by Rick Ankiel's first triple of the season, were a lifesaver. Cesar Izturis was again able to drive in a run in the clutch to get the first tally, then Pittsburgh defensive miscues added another.
Otherwise, an otherwise excellent all-around performance by the Birds might have been a waste. Randy Flores put a pair on to start the Pittsburgh ninth, then makeshift closer Ryan Franklin loaded them up then cleaned them off by serving up a double that might have been a game trying grand slam if it got just a hair more of the bat.
View From the Cheap Seats Cardinals Star of the Game: Todd Wellemeyer, who got the win to improve to 6-1 with a 3.16 ERA. He scattered six hits in seven innings but only allowed a first inning solo homer to dent the plate. Honorable mention goes to Albert Pujols, who homered yet again and improved to 10 hits in his last 18 at bats.
Cardinals Lowlight: Ryan Franklin put the game up for grabs. When is recently called up Memphis closer Chris Perez going to get a chance to close?
A lot of controversy is brewing around the Chris Duncan demotion. But a major factor has to be that the Cardinals are facing a whole bunch of lefty pitching in the next week.
Usually tortured by lefties, the extremely rare sight on an all righty Cardinals lineup has produced three runs on three hits and a forced error through two innings.
Less than a day after he led the Cardinals to victory with a clutch two-out, bases loaded hit, Chris Duncan is on the shuttle to AAA Memphis.
The Cardinals announced this afternoon that Duncan will go down to work on his swing, which has been a mess all season after an injury forced him last year to alter the stroke that produced more than 20 homers and a batting average of about .290 in 2006 and 2007.
Duncan will be replaced with AAA outfielder Joe Mather, who earned the promotion over top prospect Colby Rasmus by hitting .315 with 12 homers. Rasmus, who has warmed up a little bit lately by getting six hits in his last 15 at bats, is currently hitting .202 with seven homers.
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak told mlb.com that the Redbirds are interested in bolstering themselves for a pennant push. But he said the team refuses to part with prospects for a rent-a-player who can become a free agent at the end of the season.
"The answer is fairly simple in terms of any decision we make," Mozeliak is quoted as saying. "We want to make sure it has a positive impact on us, not only this year, but also next year.
"If there was some short-term solution, of course we would look at that, given where we are in the standings. But we're not hearing or seeing anything that really touches on that at this point. We're not going to just do something that a short-term fix."
I can't say that I disagree with the philosophy. But it's hard to find teams that are motivated to give up players that they can control beyond the rest of this season. Especially when parity results in almost all of the teams in baseball being in the race at the 1/3 mark of the season.
The Cardinals are developing an uncanny knack for losing the first game of a series and then rallying to win the set by taking the next two. Their edging of the Astros Thursday night marks the seventh time they got the job done so far this season.
Although a lot of excuses can be made for the Cardinals success in the first third of the season (weak schedule, a lot of home games, missing other teams' aces) the fact that can't be denied is that they have consistently won series, no matter who was placed in front of them.
Houston had won four of five and climbed into a tie for second place in the National League Central upon arriving in St. Louis. But the Cardinals took two of three and were able to secure their grip on the position in the standings. The Dodgers had won four of five before the Cardinals came to town last weekend and took two of three. And the Rays had the best record in baseball when the Cardinals took the rubber game of the series between the two.
While most are suprised to see the Cardinals hanging around, swapping first place with the Cubs in late May, the next six weeks are going to make or break the team's season.
The Cardinals have had the luxury of a lot of home games and a lot of contests against weaker opponents in the first two months of the season.
Through the first two months of the season, when the schedule has been loaded with the Giants, Padres, Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and Reds, the Birds have benefitted from 32 games at home where they are currently 18-11. They've played 26 games away from Busch Stadium where they are 13-12.
In June they play nine games at home and 18 on the road. The schedule includes trips to Boston, Detroit (AGAIN) and Houston. Then as June turns the page to July, the Cardinals host the Mets and Cubs before heading back on the road with a trip to Philadelphia.
The Cubs have apparently grown weary of fans picking on their $136-million investment, so the team has hired extra security and issued an edict that anyone caught heckling or taunting left fielder Alfosno Soriano will be summarily ejected from games at Wrigley Field.
Nice. For what tickets cost these days, fans should be able to say what they want -- as long as they keep it clean. This isn't church. It's the ballpark. Don't expect people to sit on their hands and sip tea with their pinky up in the air.
I guess Chicago ownership only condones hurling insults -- as well as baseballs, batteries and other objects -- at members of opposing clubs.
The second through fifth slots in the Cardinals order were a combined 1-13 Wednesday night. But Adam Wainwright was brilliant, and the bottom of the order was able to push across enough runs to defeat the Astros.
Wainwright, who looked like he was out of gas a couple of weeks ago, threw eight innings and allowed only three hits and one run in the 6-1 victory. He struck out eight and walked one to put the Cardinals back in second place by themselves.
Wandy Rodriguez, who usually owns the Cardinals, was pounded for six runs in 4 2/3 innings after he was a little too generous handing out the walks.
Once again, Jimmy Ballgame didn't do anything to endear himself to Cubs fans last night. He was 0-4 at the plate and stranded five runners on base.
Edmonds is hitting .125 since going to Chicago with thoughts of sticking it to the Cardinals for suggesting that he might no longer have the ability to be a major league starter. And those numbers come in spite of the fact that the Wee Bears are shielding him from tough lefties.
As the fans have grown impatient, so has Cubs brass.
From the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan:
"Obviously defensive play is important," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I recognize that, but we need for Jim to hit, and every time we've face a right-handed starter, we've had him in there. We're giving him an opportunity and we'd like to see him do well."
Asked if he saw any signs of Edmonds coming out of it, Piniella replied: "Probably a little early."
After a long pause, he said: "I can't lend anything more to this. … Look, it would be beneficial to us for Jim to swing the bat well and he has had a heck of a career, and he has played in winning situations."
Piniella said there's no "time limit" for Edmonds to produce before the Cubs would decide to end the experiment.
"The only problem I have here as a manager is I have a young man named [Micah] Hoffpauir here," he said. "And I want to see what he can do also, so it creates a little bit of a situation for us, for me as a manager. Outside of that, there's no timetable on anything.
"But, this kid has had two good springs for us. He has hit the ball well and we have the luxury of having him here while Daryle Ward is on the [disabled list], so we'd like to have a little clarification there also."
Continue reading "Last stop on the Jim Edmonds humiliation tour?" »
Can we get a do-over on that one?
Cardinals fans who were eager to see their team in person after a week-long road trip didn't have much time to enjoy being reunited Tuesday night against the red hot Astros. Braden Looper was terrible from the opening bell and the defense didn't do much at all to help him. Much less the offense.
Before the seats at Busch Stadium were even warm, the Cardinals were down 4-0.
It looked like the Cardinals might try to make a run at Houston in the fourth, down 5-0. First, Albert his his dinger. Next up, Rick Ankiel hit a ball that bounced off the padding atop of the left centerfield wall and bounced back. Another inch and it was 5-2. Instead, Ankiel got stranded at second base and the Redbirds never threatened again.
Recent Comments