Redbird Rundown VI

[johnny cash]

Furcal started this party right with a blast to left center. Cards get 3 in first.

[The Boar War]

7-0 Cards in the sixth.  Guess I was wrong about the pitcher's duel.

[pigture perfect]

9-6 going to the bottom of the 7th. Not much of a pitchers duel. What can you say about Lynn though. Left after 5 and hadn't given up a run and is still in line for the win. Is it too early to start campaigning for the CY.

[The Boar War]

Cards win 9-6.  Lynn looked good allowing 3 hits in his 6th win of the season.  Romero came in for the sixth inning and gave up 6 runs without recording an out.

Craig made an awkward movement after covering a ground ball at first.  He played the rest of the game but had a slight limp.  I don't expect to see him in the lineup tommorrow.

[jbell96]

Romero should've gotten the hook after two guys got on after the 2 run homer by Ransom. Salas was shaky as well, but at least he was able to strike out the side and hold the lead. Lynn had thrown 91 pitches through 5 so I had no problem with Matheny taking him out, especially with a 7-0 lead.

Just read the game wrap from the Post Dispatch and Craig said he'd be available tonight. I'm willing to bet he sits as a precaution.

[The Boar War]

Tonight's lineup:  Jay, Beltran, Holiday, Craig, Freese, Molina, Schumaker, Descalso, and Westbrook


Looks like there's no issue with Craig's knee.  That's a big sigh of relief.

[1dog]

Beltran having a helluva night. What a pick up

[johnny cash]

Beltran having a helluva night. What a pick up

yes he is, he has always impressed me. He seems to be back the way he was with the Astros. Glad he is on our team.

[hoghappy]

CB 4 MVP. Wow what a night for him.

[The Boar War]

Cardinals win 6-1.  Great night for Beltran.  The tandem of Descalso at ss and Schumaker at 2nd looked pretty reliable.

I'm not sure what's going on with Mitchell Boggs but he looked scared to death when he came out of the bull pen.  I'm glad he was able to dig himself out but he looked really shaky in the ninth inning.

Yadi was crossed up on a pitch and took one on the wrist.  He was pulled immediately.  Hope everything's allright with him.

[johnny cash]

Lets get our first sweep of the season tomorrow. Hope Yadi is ok.

[The Boar War]

Lets get our first sweep of the season tomorrow. Hope Yadi is ok.

Matheny says the wrist will be sore but the x rays show that the wrist is "pretty clean" (meaning no breaks or splintering). 

[pigture perfect]

If Yadira is hurt, I wonder if Matheny could be a player/manager. Magic # is 128.

[pigture perfect]

Let's sweep those D backs.

[clutch]

Beltran has been a surprise to me. Same as Berkman was last season. Seems the Cardinals have a good streak going of bringing in older players who look like they are on the downslide in their career and having them peak again. Even before Berk and Beltran I remember guys like Larry Walker coming in and Will Clark being pretty productive.

[pigture perfect]

You're exactly right clutch. They do a great job of getting that missing pie e every year.

[Oliver]

Beltran has been a surprise to me. Same as Berkman was last season. Seems the Cardinals have a good streak going of bringing in older players who look like they are on the downslide in their career and having them peak again. Even before Berk and Beltran I remember guys like Larry Walker coming in and Will Clark being pretty productive.

Seems like Beltran likes playing in the NL Central.  He certainly didn't seem to like the East or West coast very much. 

[The Boar War]

Tonight's lineup:

Furcal, Beltran, Holliday,Craig, Freese, Green, Robinson, Cruz, Lohse

As expected Yadi's being held out.

Edit

First sweep of the season.  Card's win 7-2 due to a 4 hit night for Furcal, a 2 run pinch hit double by Carpenter in the fifth, and a huge top of the ninth (with a two run double from Holliday and a 2 run homerun from Allen Craig) .


Marte looked good in a three up three down 7th inning.

I'm not sure what's going on with Mitchell Boggs.  He looks like his confidence is shattered.  This game was tailor made to boost his confidence (protecting a 5 run lead) but he had another poor outing in the ninth where he loaded the bases and failed to get an out (admittedly one of those hits was a mistake by the center fielder (Robinson).  Motte came in and didn't allow another hit.

[pigture perfect]

What I expected to be a weakness this year has turned out to be a strength. I thought our pitching would be way down from where it has been with Carp out and Waino still on the mend as well as Dave Duncan being gone.

Our starting pitching has been awesome. Lohse, Westbrook and Lynn have been fabulous. Garcia has been good and Waino is coming on. Carp coming back is likely to send us to #12 in 12.

[jbell96]

Carp is progressing well, but he probably won't be back until after the All Star break. He hasn't even started throwing yet. With the way we've been playing so far there is zero reason to rush him back right now.

[johnny cash]

Loshe, Lynn, and Westbrook have shocked me. Hope all can keep the momentum and take at least 2 of 3 from Atlanta this weekend.

[pigture perfect]

Rumor also has it that Roy Oswalt wants to sign mid season with us being one of three teams on his wish list. Our offense seems to be fine so far.

[clutch]

Rumor also has it that Roy Oswalt wants to sign mid season with us being one of three teams on his wish list. Our offense seems to be fine so far.

If so, I hope the Cardinal magic rubs off on him and he turns into the Roy Oswalt of old like Beltran, Berkman, etc.

[The Boar War]

Rumor also has it that Roy Oswalt wants to sign mid season with us being one of three teams on his wish list. Our offense seems to be fine so far.

I would love to have him but I wonder who would move.  Lohse and Westbrook have full no trade clauses in their contract.  I'm guessing Westbrook or Lynn or maybe both (with the addition of both Oswalt and Carpenter) would be moved to the Bullpen.

[pigture perfect]

I don't see this current staff staying healthy all year. I think Garcia is the one we can least afford to lose though. He's our only lefty starter.

[The Boar War]

Tonight's lineup:  Furcal, Jay, Holliday, Beltran, Craig, Molina, Carpenter, Greene, and Garcia.

Good to see Molina is ready to play.  Apparently Berkman is going to be in the lineup soon (maybe as early as tommorrow).  They've moved Beltran to the cleanup hitter.

[johnny cash]

Maybe Albert needs to call Beltran for Hr advice.

[FS Hog]

Maybe Albert needs to call Beltran for Hr advice.

I just hope Beltran, change that to, no Cardinal goes to the home run derby.

[clutch]

I would love to have him but I wonder who would move.  Lohse and Westbrook have full no trade clauses in their contract.  I'm guessing Westbrook or Lynn or maybe both (with the addition of both Oswalt and Carpenter) would be moved to the Bullpen.

I don't want to see Lynn moved back to the pen. I love what he has shown. I still get the feeling that Westbrook will turn into his old self at some point. Even though that may not be the case. He worked out extremely hard during the offseason and got himself into great shape.

[pigture perfect]

Yeah, I don't want Lynn back in the Pen. He has earned a starters spot in my mind.

[jbell96]

Ugh, getting swept by Atlanta is not fun. Probably should've won 2 of 3.

[johnny cash]

Yeah bad weekend, had base's loaded a bunch didn't get the big hits. Need to take it out on Cubbies tonight.

[pigture perfect]

We will do well against them as long as we don't have to face Zmaralphabet. He pretty much has been the most dominant pitcher we've seen all year.

[The Boar War]

Tonight's lineup: 
CARDINALS LINEUP:
Furcal, Jay, Holliday, Craig, Berkman, Freese, Molina, Schumaker, and Westbrook.


Romero was released and we called up Eduardo Sanchez.  I didn't necessarily believe that Romero could get it done but we cut our number of lefty relievers in half.

[jbell96]

Glad Romero got cut, but only having one lefty reliever really hampers us in late game situations. Hopefully Sanchez has his mechanics figured out.

[johnny cash]

That's four straight loses. I hate losing to Cubs. We do need some bull pen help.

[FS Hog]

Any more bullpen help in the minors? If no, who gets traded to bring in some help?

[The Boar War]

Any more bullpen help in the minors? If no, who gets traded to bring in some help?

I've got a feeling Boggs won't be around much longer.  But he's not much for trade bait.

In the minor leagues 1 of our 2 lefties (Romero 10 ERA) was sent down to Memphis and Sanchez (a rhp)was brought back up.

[FS Hog]

Romero was released

[jbell96]

Good news is Cards win today 7-6 with Yadi getting a walkoff single.

Bad News is Jay is going on the DL & Berkman was a late scratch today. Hopefully it's nothing big.

[The Boar War]

Good news is Cards win today 7-6 with Yadi getting a walkoff single.

Bad News is Jay is going on the DL & Berkman was a late scratch today. Hopefully it's nothing big.

I thought Berkman was pushing it when he legged out a double last night (kind of like he pushed it when he legged out the triple against the Reds that started all this).  I like Berkman but I've been worried about his health since he became a Cardinal.  I think we got lucky last year.

[johnny cash]

Good win on to San Fran.

[johnny cash]

1 to 0 cards bottom of fifth. No Molina, no Beltran.

[The Boar War]

Really nice win last night.  Freese and Furcal ended hitting slumps and Garcia looked great for 7 1/3 innings and then Matheny pushed the buttons perfectly with Salas, Scrabble, and Motte to finish the game.

I'm a little concerned about Beltran's knee but I'm hoping he was held out because it was a colder night in San Francisco.

[pigture perfect]

Man, we needed these last two wins bad.

[jbell96]

Good win last night. Freese broke out of his slump & Furcal again had a multi hit game. Skip's 2 run double in the 8th was huge in getting a cushion for our pitchers.

I'm concerned with Beltran's knee, but we have depth in the OF to let him get rest when he needs it.

Big series with the Dodgers this weekend. I'm only 3 hours from LA, but family commitments keep me from being able to go.

[johnny cash]

Yes we need to improve in a bad way in that dept.

[jbell96]

Craig & McClellan go on the DL. Craig is one of the most unlucky human beings on the planet. He's been a beast since coming back and gets hurt on a fluke play.

[DeltaBoy]

Cards are getting the injury bug again.

[clutch]

Craig & McClellan go on the DL. Craig is one of the most unlucky human beings on the planet. He's been a beast since coming back and gets hurt on a fluke play.

I hate that Craig is one of my favorite Cardinals. I was pumped about how well he had been playing since his return.