April 15th – 17th vs Milwaukee Brewers (Cards win series 2 Games to 1)

Series Preview: A better test rolls into Busch Stadium starting tonight in the form of the Milwaukee Brewers. The good news: The Cardinals miss both Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan. The bad news: The Brewers bring in their big time offense. Milwaukee can mash, there is no question with that. Hart, Braun, Fielder, Hall all can go long, and if Rickie Weeks is getting on consistently, look out.

A plus for the Cardinals is that none of their current starters are lefthanded, as the Brewers have a special affinity for bashing lefties. But Looper, Wainwright and Lohse will still need to keep the ball in the yard and be spot on with their location.

The Cardinal bats will need to continue to get on base and look to improve its batting line with RISP. Based upon who the Cardinals are throwing, and who they are facing (Bush, Villanueva, Parra), the Cards might just sneak a series victory at 2 games to 1.

April 15 – Milwaukee 1 St. Louis 6

A nice series opening victory for the Cardinals, pushing their record to 10 – 4. Braden Looper was not sharp, but made it through an effective 5 innings with only one run allowed. His walks were up, a testament to his inability to consistently locate his pitches.

Adam Kennedy made up for some erratic play in the field with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Ankiel and Schumaker both had two hits, and Schumaker had two RBIs.

The Cardinals needed this game and came out and played like it, putting themselves in position for a series win or possibly a series sweep. With Wainwright and Lohse going in the next two games, I would put a bet on it.

The Cardinals appear to have dodged a bullet when Kennedy made a poor throw on a double play that pulled Pujols off the bag and forced him to make a tag play at first on Bill Hall, and it appeared that Pujols either jammed a finger or got a wrist stinger. But he stayed in the game and did hit the ball hard in the bottom of the 5th. Something to keep an eye on.

And once again, the bully was solid. McClellan got out of a jam started by Looper with a double play, but once again struggled a bit with his location and was over-throwing his breaking ball. Franklin was solid and Anthony Reyes again lit up the gun, hitting 95 consistently. Reyes seems to be opening up some eyes with his outings. Next up on his to-do-list: Outings in consecutive games.

April 16 – Milwaukee 4 St. Louis 5

The Cardinals used a strong outing by Adam Wainwright and more offense from Skip Schumaker to take the first two of this series versus the Brew Crew.

It was not all pretty. Wainwright lost his feel for location in the middle innings and gutted it out through 7 2/3 innings pitched. He also felt the need to add to the offense, going 2 for 3 at the plate with a dinger. Pujols added a 2 run double to get the Cards on the board in the first inning and Skip added two more hits and his first home run of the year, and Adam Kennedy had his second straight multi-hit game in a row.

Just a little note about Pujols. I know, I know, what I am about to say seems strange, considering the guy is hitting .367, with an OBP of .500 and is slugging .653, but he still does not seem comfortable at the plate. He was lunging at some balls later in the game, especially an at bat that he pressed and did not take a walk and instead weakly flied out to right. Even his double in the first appeared to be a ball he normally takes out of the yard. Maybe the lefty Parra tomorrow will bring him out of his funk.

Jason Isringhausen made it interesting with a shaky 9th. He appeared to not have his best stuff, as his velocity was down and he struggled with his location. But gold glove winner AP bailed him out by snagging a line drive off the bat of Jason Kendall that surely would have tied the game and then Izzy induced Rickie Weeks to tap back to him to end the game.

The Birds on Bat have a reasonable shot at sweeping this series tomorrow, as they send Kyle Lohse to the hill against Manny Parra. The Cardinals are a snappy 4 – 1 vs. lefties to this point on the young season, so let’s hope that pattern continues tomorrow.

April 17 – Milwaukee 5 St. Louis 3

Did not get to see this one, so my comments will be based upon what I have seen written, both in articles by professional writers and snippets on message boards by non-professional scribes.

A missed opportunity. The early season achilles heel reared its ugly head again as the Cardinals could not pad their lead, especially in the 4th inning when they could not scratch across a run or two with the bags juiced and only one out and the top of the order up.

Kyle Lohse had another strong start, working into the 8th before leaving with a runner on 2nd and leading 3 – 1. The bully could not hold the lead, and the game headed to extras, where the Prince ended the dream of a series sweep with a 2 – run dinger off Brad Thompson.

This one had it all according to the pundits on the message boards:

LaRussa made unpopular moves with the bullpen

Miles not bunting in the bottom of the 10th

Glaus, the anti-christ, grounding into 2 double plays

Oh well. 11 – 5 still works for me.

April 10th – 13th @ San Francisco Giants (Cards Split 4 Game Series)

AT & T park (or whatever it is that they are calling it these days); the place they built for Barry Bonds and then unceremoniously kicked him to the curb and took down all the chickens and the like. It always seems as if the Cardinals have trouble here, but with the make-up of the Giants, 3 of 4 should be in order.

April 10 – St. Louis 1 San Francisco 5

Well, that 3 of 4 is in serious trouble now. You just figured that Wainwright vs. Correia was a mismatch that would favor the Cardinals. However, they certainly played like a team that just got into San Francisco at 4 am the night before. Sluggish and without life is an apt description for what I saw on the field last night. Correia pitched well, no doubt, but the Cardinals did not work counts, made too many easy outs, and just did a whole bunch of sleep walking in general.

Wainwright did not help his cause by coming out missing location in the first and third innings, but, as he has done in the past, settled in until the 7th when he ran out of gas.

Not much offense to discuss, with Skippy and CIzzy leading the way with 2 hits each, and they scratched across a late run in the 9th, but, all in all, a lackluster performance for sure.

April 11 – St. Louis 8 San Francisco 2

Kyle Lohse actually gave up runs in this game, ending his season opening run of scoreless innings, but pitched well enough to come away the winner in this game after 5 1/3. The bullpen then closed the door. The defense also stepped up with two OF assists by Schumaker and Barton.

The offense was lead by some guy named Pujols, who put up a double and a dinger and four big RBIs. Schumaker continued a hot road trip with 3 base hits and on base all 5 trips to the dish. Ludwick added a dinger and two hits and the infamous Brian Barton contributed two hits and two RBIs.

Barry Zito, while better than he has been, still looked very hittable, much more hittable than a guy you just inked for 7 years @ $126 mil.

April 12 – St. Louis 8 San Francisco 7

Wow. What a wacky game this one was. Matt Cain was on, baby, and took a no hitter into the 7th inning, and maybe his rhythm was upset by his hitting a home run in the bottom of the 6th inning and having to sit while his mates tacked on 4 more runs for a 5 run lead.

But AP took Cain off the wall in the 7th, and Duncan, Ankiel and Ludwick added on dingers as the Cardinals came back to stun the Giants in extras. The Cardinals needed the added the frame due to the first meltdown of the year by Izzy that was helped by an error by AP. Now, it will not be an error in the box score due to the fact that the San Francisco official scorer is off in his own little world.

April 13 – St. Louis 4 San Francisco 7

The first start of the year did not go well for Joel Pinerio as he was roughed up for 6 runs in less than 4 innings pitched. The defense was shaky, but, in their defense, it was a get away day line-up.

Those things above did not help the fact that they were going up against baby faced Tim Lincecum. Lincecum K’d 11 in 6 innings pitched, allowing only 2 runs.

Duncan, Ludwick and Ankiel all had 2 hits, and Ludwick banged another home run.

A disappointing finish to nice road trip. I thought that they could squeeze a 5 and 2 record on the trip, but that loss Thursday night with Wainwright on the mound screwed that notion all up. But any road trip that ends up on the plus side of the ledger is a good trip in my book.

April 7th – 9th @ Houston Astros (Cards Win Series 2 Games to 1)

A solid start to the seven game road trip through Houston and San Francisco with a nice series win in Houston. Let’s recap, shall we?

April 7 – St. Louis 3 Houston 5

A strong seven inning effort by Todd Wellemeyer [7 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks and 2 solo HRs] went by the boards as Wandy Rodriguez out-pitched him, going 7 1/3 innings, allowing only 3 hits while striking out 6.

The story in this game was Tony’s line-up. A lot of grousing took place due to Brian Barton being on the bench and Chris Duncan returning to the line-up. With an outfield of Duncan, Ankiel and Ludwick, lead-off choices were limited, and Tony opted for Cesar Izturis to start things off. You would have thought that he selling weapons to Bin Laden with the reaction that ensued. The question is why? Tony has been a master at keeping his entire 25 man roster fresh, and as soon as Duncan was cleared to play, you knew he was going to work him into the line-up. Like it or not, Duncan right now is a key component to this club, both as an OF and, just as importantly, when Tony can get AP out of the line-up, Duncan is the logical fill in for him.

Kelvin Jimenez came in the 8th to relieve Wellemeyer and surrendered a lead-off bomb to JR Towles, but the Cardinals mounted a rally to tie things in the top of the 9th. Miles and Izturis started it off with a single and a walk, and Glaus and Ludwick finished it off with a RBI single and a 2-Run RBI double.

Alas, Kyle McClellan gave it up in the bottom of the ninth, allowing a walk-off dinger to Miggy Tejada.

April 8 – St. Louis 5 Houston 3

A seemingly innocent game came away with a number of interesting plot lines:

• Did Brad Thompson pitch himself out of the starting rotation? A theme for this year for Brad has been Tony and Dave wanting him to keep his anger under control, however, it was evident during this one that the anger issue cropped up again and led to him absolutely losing his stuff in the 3rd inning, allowing 3 runs scored and driving up his pitch count, which then led to his early departure after the 4th inning.
• A flash of the organization’s best pitching prospect bubbled up from the depths as Anthony Reyes pitched a strong 3 innings in relief of Thompson, allowing no runs on 1 hit and hitting 93 consistently on the gun. Dick Vitale says STOCK UP BABY!
• Albert Pujols slid THROUGH JR Towles in the Cardinals 2 run rally in the 8th inning. Slidegate ensued. It is clear from the replay that Towles had given Pujols some of the plate, but Albert took him out anyway. Nothing wrong with that in my book. Seems the Birds were a little upset about Towles blocking the plate the night before without the ball, and wanted to send a little message. Astros said “Message Received”

April 9 – St. Louis 6 Houston 4

Did I say that the message was received? Someone forgot to tell Brandon Backe that. Seems Backe had to run his mouth at one of the best players in the game, one of those guys that occasionally displays the Jordan touch in imposing his will when his dander is up.

AP went 3 – 5 with a walk, single, 2 solo HRs and 3 runs batted in. Looper went 5 2/3 for the victory, just missing another quality start by the rotation.

Skip Schumaker answered the doubters questions with 3 hits, but the trend continues that the Cardinals are not hitting well with RISP. We know that the starting rotation will not continue at this pace, so scoring will be a big ticket item for this team and not producing when it is there cannot happen if they are to continue to be successful.

The Cardinals now take their NL Central leading 7 – 2 record to San Francisco, where it would seem that at least 3 of 4 is in order.

April 4th – April 6th vs. Washington Nationals (Cardinals Sweep Series)

The Cardinals opened up a 3 game series against the Washington Nationals over the weekend at Busch Stadium.

Game 1 – Washington 4 St. Louis 5

Bradon Looper made his first start of 2008 a successful one against the Nationals, holding them to a single run over 6 innings pitched. He pitched around some trouble in the 2nd inning, and gave up the run in the 4th inning, but ended that uprising with back to back strikeouts. Overall a nice outing of 95 pitches, 62 for strikes, while allowing only 8 baserunners.

Russ Springer started the 7th and did not finish it, and eventually landed on the DL the next day with elbow soreness. He certainly looked as if he was not right, with his velocity down and his location being off. He allowed a lead off dinger to a resurgent Christian Guzman, and left with runners on 1st and 2nd and no one out.

Ron Villone came in and failed to get his assigned batter out, walking Nick Johnson to load the bases. In comes new fan hero Kyle McClellan, and he did a reasonable job with the bags juiced and no one out. He seemed to overthrow his breaking ball early in the inning, but righted the ship later in the inning. A base hit off Troy Glaus’s glove did not help matters, and makes one wonder how that was not an error, but a play like Izturis ranging on the 2nd base side of second base to attempt to field a slow roller in the opener is deemed an error.

Anyway, McClellan did enough to keep the lead at 5 – 4 heading into the 8th, and Franklin and Izzy finished it off.

Brian Barton started in LF and was in the lead off spot in the order and put up a nice 2 for 4 evening, flashing his speed with a leg double in the first inning that was followed by a Rick Ankiel bomb. Pujols and Glaus both hit rockets that looked like home runs but turned into doubles and Cesar Izturis had two hits and a run scored.

Cards now sit at 3 – 1.

Game 2 – Washington 4 St. Louis 5

The bullpen was looking a bit tired and run down, so Adam Wainwright completed an extremely solid run through the rotation with 8 strong innings pitched, giving up 2 earned runs on 8 hits and 1 walk. Anthony Reyes gave us a peek back at 2007, giving up a 2 run homer in his 2/3 of an inning in the ninth, and Randy Flores finished off the Cardinals 4th win of the young season with a one pitch outing for his first save of the season.

Wainwright was in pretty much control of the entire game, with a short misfire in the 4th that saw him allowing a run and needing to come back from a 3 – 1 count with the bags juiced and 2 outs to avoid any more damage. He allowed a solo homer to Nick Johnson, who paced the Nationals attack by going 3 for 4 on the day.

Yadi Molina paced the Cardinals fourth win in a row with 2 hits and 2 rbis on the day. Cesar Izturis had a hit and an rbi, as did Rick Ankiel, however, Ricky also showed the reason some do not want to have both feet on the bandwagon just yet with 3 big Ks. And Albert Pujols had his 4 game hitting streak snapped with an 0 for 3 with a walk.

Cardinals move to 4 and 1, their best start to a season since 2000.

Game 3 – Washington 0 St. Louis 3

The Cardinals swept the Nationals out of town with a splendid pitching performance from Kyle Lohse, more offensive from Rick Ankiel, and a solid team defensive effort. The Cardinals now sit atop the NL Central with Milwaukee at 5 – 1.

Lohse threw 7 strong innings, giving up only 4 hits and a lone walk. He threw 102 pitches, however, only 56 for strikes, but it seemed when he needed a strike, it was there.

Ankiel drove in Brian Barton [who had walked to lead off the 1st] with a ringing double to the opposite field, and then homered with two outs in the third, once again to the opposite field. Glaus added a double and Ludwick a triple, with Yadi adding the last rbi after Ludwick’s triple leading off the 8th inning, hitting a sac fly to center field.

Something to watch for moving forward is the team’s lack of timely hitting. It has been evident this entire early season and continued in this game as the box score reads 19 runners left on base. Certainly the starting rotation will not continue to baffle opposing clubs to less than a run per start, so the offensive needs to capitalize when handed these opportunities.

The Birds now hit the road for 3 in Houston and 4 in San Francisco. This road trip smells like 5 – 2 and it will be interesting to see the rotation a second time around, especially on the road. Stay tuned!

March 31st – April 3rd vs Colorado Rockies (Cards Win Series 2 Games to 1)

A nice early season challenge for the 2008 St. Louis Cardinals, matching up with the 2007 NL Pennant winners, the Colorado Rockies.

Game 1 – Colorado 2 St. Louis 1

After a wash out of Opening Night, Opening Day Part Deux was a heart breaking 2 – 1 loss. Kyle Lohse, in his Cardinals debut, put up a steady 5 innings of scoreless ball. Probably on a pitch count (remember, Lohse was to pitch a simulated game that day against minor leaguers and had only pitched in two live games in Spring Training) Lohse was pulled after only 74 pitches. Then came another Kyle, St. Louis native Kyle McClellen. He made his major league debut and put up a solid 1-2-3 6th inning.

Meanwhile, Kip Wells [Remember Him?] was matching Lohse until the 5th inning, when Yadier Molina broke through with his and the Cardinals first home run of the year, putting the Cardinals up 1 to 0. That score held until the 8th inning, when, after a scoreless 7th from Russ Springer, Ryan Franklin came in to start the 8th and was not sharp. Location was a big problem and Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton greeted him with a single and a double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Matt Holiday followed with a slow roller up the 3rd base line that Troy Glaus could not make the easy throw to Molina on and Tulo easily scored. That type of play will not endear Glaus to fans that still pine for Scotty Rolen. After a walk to Adkins, Franklin was lifted for Randy Flores.

Now, I have been pretty critical of Flores recently, but he almost worked out of a bases loaded no outs jam, finally walking Jason Nix to force in the winner.

All in all, not a bad performance by the Birds on Bat, with the exceptions of Franklin and Glaus.

Game 2 – Colorado 3 St. Louis 8

A big offensive effort and some solid pitching led to the Cardinals first victory of the year. Todd Wellemeyer started and went 5 innings for the win, giving up only a long home run to Brad Hawpe. The same old story developed with Wellemeyer. 6 Ks over his 5 innings pitched, giving the impression that he has really good stuff, however, 3 walks and 94 pitches kept him from reaching the 6th inning. If he cannot improve that scenario, he will be a candidate to move back to the pen when the likes of Piniero, Mulder and Carp make their return from the DL.

The offense was led by Ryan Ludwick [triple, double and 3 rbis] and Rick Ankiel [home run, rbi] with three hits each and The Mang, Albert Pujols, who reached base in each of his five plate appearances. And, big ups to Rico Washington, the 30 year old minor league veteran in his rookie season with a big pinch hit double off the bench.

Game 3 – Colorado 0 St. Louis 3

This game belonged to one Brad Thompson. In his first start of the season, he went 6 and 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up only 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out a career high of 6 Rockies. He had the Rockies confused all day long with a nice assortment, featuring a diving sinker that lead to a bushel basket of ground outs.

Miles, Pujols and Glaus paced an 8 hit attack with 2 hits each, with Glaus and Pujols just missing their first homers of the season. Ankiel pitched in with a hit and an rbi and Thompson helped his cause with a hit and rbi as well.

Finally, Anthony Reyes made his first appearance as a newly minted reliever and went through Ryan Spilbourgh, Troy Tulowitzki, and Todd Helton, striking out all of them. Flashing a fastball and curveball that were seldom seen last season at Busch, Reyes looked tougher than nails. Can he adapt to that new role?

Izzy finished up with his first save of the season.

Cardinals stand at 2 – 1 on the young season. Next up, a Washington Nationals club that stands at 3 – 1 and lead by a Gold Glove candidate at 3rd base, Ryan Zimmerman.

Random Thoughts – 2 That Continue to be Ugly

Barry Zito and Eric Gagne.  Wow.

Zito signed what was then the highest contract for a starting pitcher last season for the San Francisco Giants.  There were whispers before he signed it, but now those whispers are becoming full fledged conversations.  For the money, Zito was awful last year.  And he was pitiful in Spring Training (ERA near 15.00).  And what he was tossing yesterday looked like batting practice.  I am not sure he even hit 85 on the gun.  Will he turn it around?  Or will this go down as one of the stupidest free agent signings of all time?

Gagne was brutal with the Red Sox after they traded for him to strengthen their bully for the playoff run.  He was another guy that was just pitiful in Spring Training (ERA nearing 12.00) and what he was tossing from the mound yesterday at Wrigley could in no way bring any comfort to Ned Yost and the Brewers.  Handed a 3 – 0 in the 9th, Gagne gagged it away in 3 BATTERS!  This will be an interesting situation to monitor in Milwaukee to see if Gagne regains his form, or if Ned Yost will start searching for new relief if he does not.

Opening Day March 31, 2008!

The day when nothing happened.

Things did not look good from the outset.  Wainwright had a very shaky top of the 1st and was lucky to get out of the jam with a little help from his friends, specifically Skip Schumaker robbing the real 2007 Rookie of the year Troy Tulowitzki.  Wainwright did not have a good curve in the first and really struggled with his location, both with the curve and more importantly his fastball.

But then the home half of the 1st inning started and someone forgot to tell Jeff Francis.  Talk about not being able to locate.  Francis walked 3 in the first on 12 pitches and Rick Ankiel and Yadier Molina made him pay, 4 – 1 Cardinals after the first.

Mr. Pujols just missed ripping an extra base hit in the first, stinging the ball but also getting it towards the end of the bat.  He got all of one in the 2nd and put the Birds up 5 – 1.

Wainwright, after a 1, 2, 3 second inning, looked much stronger in the third inning, and left Matt Holliday hanging at the plate, wondering just how he might be able to handle that kind of bender in the future, as it mystified him for a big time K to end the visitors half of the third.

The rains came in the bottom of the third with Cesar Izturis  on base AGAIN!  After an hour and a half rain delay, the game was called and rescheduled for April 1, 2008.

And how about that pitching match-up for an April Fool’s Day Opener?  Kippy Wells vs. Kyle Loshe.

Getting Ready for 2008 – The NL Central, Part II

I did the pretenders, and, mark my words, those three teams will be pretenders.  Now, let’s take a look at the Division contenders:

In no particular order – THE DIVISION CONTENDERS

The Chicago Cubs [2007 Record 85 - 77, 2.0 Games Up, 1st Place]

The reigning Division Winners have undergone some changes that they believe will keep them at the top of the Division for 2008

In the field:

• Alfonso Soriano
• Felix Pie
• Kosuke Fukudome
• Aramis Ramirez
• Ryan Theriot
• Mark DeRosa
• Derrick Lee
• Geovany Soto

Starting Rotation:

• Carlos Zambrano
• Ted Lilly
• Ryan Dempster
• Rich Hill
• Jason Marquis

Bullpen:

• Kerry Wood
• Carlos Marmol
• Bob Howry
• Carmen Pignatiello
• Michael Wuertz
• John Lieber
• Kevin Hart

Why they will win:  A lot of talent exists on the club, and if they stay healthy and perform at expected levels, they will definitely be in the hunt.  Lee, Ramirez and Soriano are a formidable trio, as are Zambrano, Lilly and Hill in the rotation.  Their bully looks pretty damn good on paper.

Why they will not win: They are banking on some unproven players and a couple of shaky guys in the starting rotation, not to mention the first time around for Kerry Wood the closer.  If Wood fails, it is not that big a deal as Marmol and Howry can probably pick up the slack.  However, if Pie, Fukodome and Soto do not perform, and Lee repeats his subpar power output from 2007, AND Dempster and Marquis pitch like they are capable of, BAD, it could be another year of struggles in a Century of Futility on the North Side.

The Milwaukee Brewers [2007 Record 83 - 79, 2.0 Games Back, 2nd Place]

Can Ned Yost keep it together down the stretch this year?  This team had the division in a stranglehold but let it slip away down the stretch last season, and Yost kinda lost his mind a few teams in the dugout.  Another club in the Central that is long on talent, but can they turn that into the Division Championship?

In the field:

• Ryan Braun
• Mike Cameron (Suspended for the first 25 games) Tony Gwynn Jr
• Corey Hart
• Bill Hall
• JJ Hardy
• Rickie Weeks
• Prince Fielder
• Jason Kendall

Starting Rotation:

• Ben Sheets
• Jeff Suppan
• Carlos Villanueva
• Dave Bush
• Manny Parra

In the Bully:

• Eric Gagne
• Derrick Turnbow
• David Riske
• Salomon Torres
• Brian Shouse
• Seth McClung
• Guillermo Mota

Why they will win:  A lot of talent exists on the club, and if they stay healthy and perform at expected levels, they will definitely be in the hunt. Sound familiar?  Fielder, Braun, Hart and Hall could make for a very fine foursome, and if their rotation grows up fast (Gallardo, Parra, Villanueva) to pair with the veterans in Suppan and Sheets, and a veteran bully pulls together, they might make the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

Why they will not win: Defense.  Will Braun adapt to LF?  Hall moving to 3^rd base is almost the equivalent of the nightmare they went through last season with Braun patrolling the hot corner.  Their bully could be good, or might be really, really bad.  And, was Claudio Vargas really expendable given the rough spring training of Suppan, Sheets injury history and the expected up and down of the young arms?

The St. Louis Cardinals [2007 Record 78 - 84, 7.0 Games Back, 3rd Place]

The talent is there, but most is unproven.  The pitching is there, however, it happens to mostly be still in Florida.  The bully is set, and should be just as reliable as last season.

In the field:

• Chris Duncan
• Rick Ankiel
• Skip Schumaker
• Troy Glaus
• Ceasar Izturis
• Adam Kennedy
• Albert Pujols
• Yadier Molina

Starting Rotation:

• Adam Wainwright
• Kyle Lohse
• Bradon Looper
• Todd Wellemeyer
• Brad Thompson

In the Bully:

• Jason Isringhausen
• Ryan Franklin
• Russ Springer
• Ron Villone
• Randy Flores
• Kyle McClellen
• Anthony Reyes

Why they will win:  They will stay healthy, the young talent will perform at levels that they are capable of and, most importantly, they will GET healthy in the starting rotation with the returns of Pinerio, Mulder and Carpenter.  It could be the best rotation in the Division if those three returned healthy and close to their career forms.  Never,  ever count out a LaRussa team.

Why they will not win: Defense up the middle and at the hot corner harm a shaky rotation in the first part of the season, and the health of certain players does not hold up.  If they continue to get bit with the injury bug from the past two seasons, no way can they contend.

Getting Ready for 2008 – The NL Central

I guess I could review other Divisions. Heck, I could even pontification about the Junior Circuit, the one that does not even play real baseball. But as a die-hard Cardinals Fan, the only Division that holds my interest is the NL Central, or, as the National Media likes to call it, the Comedy Central.

The experts have had their say, and they certainly like the Cubs and the Brewers. As well they should. Both made great strides in 2007 to the top two spots in the Division. But the pundits are also talking the Reds and the Astros as potential first division residents, and that’s where you have to ask yourself “Just what the HELL are these guys smoking?”

So, with that said, let’s get to the review of the pretenders and contenders in the Division that challenge the beloved Birds on Bat:

Starting from the bottom up – THE DIVISION PRETENDERS

The Pittsburgh Pirates [2007 Record 68 - 94, 17.0 Games Back, 6th Place]

Well, the Pirates changed some faces in their front office {Guess that means no more talent pipeline to the Cubs – Jim Hendry cannot be pleased}; but, other than that, stood pat.

In the field:

• Jason Bay
• Nate McLouth
• Xavier Nady
• Jose Bautista
• Jack Wilson
• Freddy Sanchez [appears to be headed to the DL to start the season]
• Adam LaRoche
• Ronny Paulino

Starting Rotation:

• Ian Snell
• Tom Gorzelanny
• Paul Maholm
• Matt Morris
• Zack Duke

Bullpen:

• Matt Caps
• Damaso Marte
• John Grabow
• Who Knows
• Who Cares
• Meat
• Meat II

Listen, these Pirates are destined to be in the cellar again for 2008 and for the foreseeable future. Sure, they have some nice young players in the rotation, but the talent level just does not compare with the rest of the Division. Couple that with a middle of the order that does not scare anyone and Jason Bay coming off his worst year due to a balky knee, they will do well to stay under 100 losses.

The Cincinnati Reds [2007 Record 72 - 90, 13.0 Games Back, 5th Place]

In Dusty we Trusty! The new slogan for the Reds for 2008 somehow, someway, has the media “experts” salivating for good things to come in Cincy. I ask how. In my opinion, they have downgraded the team that they will put in the field, and their rotation will be a huge question mark once you get past Harang and Arroyo. It will be young and unproven, with a Fogg in the middle of it. Yes they have upgraded at closer with Cordero, but what really have they done with the rest of that awful collection? And they had better hope that Cordero finds Great American Ballpark to his liking, because his home and away splits last year were scary.

In the field:

• Adam Dunn
• Corey Patterson [tough name to type while laughing so hard]
• Ken Griffey Jr
• Edwin Encarnacion
• Alex Gonzalez/Jeff Keppinger
• Brandon Phillips
• Joey Votto/Scott Hatteberg
• David Ross/Javier Valentin

Starting Rotation:

• Aaron Harang
• Bronson Arroyo
• Josh Fogg
• Edinson Volquez
• Johnny Cueto

In the Bully:

• Francisco Cordero
• David Weathers
• Matt Belisle
• Jared Burton
• Bill Bray
• Mike Stanton
• Jeremy Affledt

3rd place? Contenders? Come on people. Does anyone think that a 38 year old Ken Griffey Jr will play anywhere near 140+ games with the type of production he had last year? Corey Patterson? How in the world do you trade Josh Hamilton and then insert that guy in his place? They are a downgraded offensive club from last year, so will the pitching pick that up?

Hard to say. Volquez and Cueto are said to have excellent stuff, however, neither one has done it for 30 starts in an MLB season. So they are a complete unknown at this time. Josh Fogg coming to Great American Ballpark? Could get ugly. Harang is a stud, a true #1, but he needs help and a lot of it if this team is even going to sniff 4th place in the division. But 4th is attainable for them this year because the Astros are heading down.

The Houston Astros [2007 Record 73 - 89, 12.0 Games Back, 4th Place]

Ed Wade is now on the scene in Houston. And the scene is playing out like a train wreck. And we will all be gawkers as we watch the Astros continue to sink in this division. Sure, they added Miguel Tejada. So? The staff in Houston will need all the defensive help they can get and Tejada is a huge defensive downgrade from Adam Everett, and his offensive will not completely offset the difference.

In the field:

• Carlos Lee
• Michael Bourn
• Hunter Pence
• Ty Wiggington
• Miguel Tejada
• Kaz Matsui/Mark Loretta
• Lance Berkman
• JR Towles/Brad Ausmus

Starting Rotation:

• Roy Oswalt
• Brandon Backe
• Wandy Rodriguez
• Shawn Chacon
• Woody Williams/Chris Sampson

In the Bully:

• Jose Valverde
• Doug Brocail
• Dave Borkowski
• Geoff Geary
• Wesley Wright
• Oscar Villarreal
• Chad Pronto

Roy Oswalt is a stud, a true #1. Here is the rub. 4 straight years of over 210 IP. He will need to stay healthy for them to be competitive. After him, the rotation could be absolutely horrid. Backe would need to recapture his form from 2004. Williams does not have much left in the tank, Rodriguez has never been consistent and Chacon is back to starting after doing creditable work out of the Pirate pen last year. Chacon’s last season of starting (2006) ended with a 6+ ERA. Ugh.

And will this lineup really produce runs? Bourn is an unknown in CF, Pence fell off in the 2nd half last year after being an absolute monster before the All-Star Break, so which one will he be in 2008? Will Matsui continue to play at the level he did for Colorado in 2007, or will he backslide? What does Tejada bring to the table? Will Towles stick, or will Ausmus end up catching the majority of games, and, if that is so, another offensive downgrade. Sorry, but I do not see this team finishing above anyone other than the Pirates in this division. And, with one of the worst farm systems going after Fast Eddie trading away a bunch this off season, not much help is on the horizon. Look for John Patterson and his Blue Cross Blue Shield card to land in Houston before the season starts.

Coming soon: A look at THE DIVISION CONTENDERS.

Time to Play Catch Up

Wow, it has been awhile. I know that because the stockpile of tequila in the liquor has been drained, re-stocked, and drained again. It started with the September to forget and has continued through a brutal winter here in Cubbieland.

And things just keep getting more and more weird out there in the game of baseball. The release of the Mitchell Report. Roger Clemens auditioning in the public eye for the next starring role in The Emperor’s New Clothes, and, sorry Roger, but I would rather see your modern medicine modified wife naked than you.

Sammy Zell is threatening to bring a bit of the 21st Century to the North Side. I have been saying for awhile that they need to leave the field and the outfield walls standing and demolish everything else around it and rebuild the damn thing. Zell seems just the guy to do it.

Good luck with life Scott Spiezio. Like the line from the Blues Brothers, “You don’t have to go home, but you cannot stay here”; Scott, you cannot stay in the Cardinals clubhouse. The man was given a second chance by the Birds and he could not make it work. Tough to really comment on the situation without walking the proverbial mile in his shoes, but you would have to think it is hard to have those types of addictions hanging over your head, have plenty of time and disposable income in your pocket, and a rolodex full of names that can help you with both.