THE MINORS

The Jimmy Journell Saga is getting ugly. He got shelled again last night, his ERA is over 5 and I wonder what the hell's going on. He hasn't had this kind of rough stretch at any other time in his pro career. Opponents are batting over .300 against him after six starts. It is only six starts, so it's too early to get too worried, but let's hope Journell gets it going. And let's hope he's not hurt again, although in a way it might be comforting if the reason he's getting shelled is because of some sort of nagging injury. The Memphis team is a ghastly 8-20, and they just have no offense. Jon Nunnally continues to tear it up. Other than that the only guy doing anything is Jason Bowers at shortstop, and he ain't exactly tearin' it up with his .324 OBA. Nerio Rodriguez continues to have good starts and provides a good insurance policy for the Cards. As I said, Mike Crudale is back. He's pitched in three games since retruning, pitching three separate one-inning stints and allowing one run. He has five K's and is yet to walk a man. A couple more good outings and he could be with the big club. Steve Stemle, who had gotten shelled in the Arizona Fall League, has pitched much better this year so far. He is 0-4 but has a 3.18 ERA and a K/BB rate of better than 3/1. He was one out away from a no-hitter a couple weeks ago.

The Tennessee Smokies are 17-9, having managed to avoid getting hit by any Rick Ankiel pitches. Ankiel is at it again, throwing wild pitches and walking lots of batters. He has 11 walks in 8.1 innings. The Cards have simply messed with this kid too much. I say let him start again. Nothing seems to work. The reason the Smokies are winning so much is because their pitching is superb. Dan Haren has been nothing but nastiness. He's 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA. Sound familiar. Yep, he has the exact same number of innings pitched and runs allowed as Woody Williams. He's showing Woody-like control too, as he has walked only three batters all season while striking out 26. The resurgence of Nick Stocks is very encouraging too. Stocks is finally showing what that arm can do. He has a 2.32 ERA through 31 innings with 27 K's and 6 BB. The Cards are also getting great bullpen work from Juan Figueroa and lefties Jason Pearson and Kevin Sprague. Rhett Parrott is pitching well as a starter after a slow beginning. He has a 32/5 K/BB ratio in 29 innings with a 3.10 ERA. Those are three hurlers showing some damn good stuff and GASP! they're doign it above A ball. Let's hope this keeps up, it could bode very well for the future. Offensively, Yadi Molina is batting .324. You're talking about the Cards starting catcher in 2005. John Nelson is finally getting it going a little bit, he had a couple hits last night, and Caonabo Cosme may be opening some eyes in the organization as he is batting .341 and slugging .495. However, 4 walks in 91 AB's is the opposite of good. Of course, when youre hitting .341......

JACKIN' JIMMY EDMONDS

Mmm-Kay, let's review, Jim Edmonds is a stud. I sung his praises before the season started and he was officially the best hitter in the National League for the month of April. He started off May right too, with a game-winning homer in the 10th to give the Cards a 6-5 victory and three-game sweep over the Mutts. The win and good feeling surrounding it obscured the fact that the bullpen is still walking on thin ice every time out. Steve Kline has turned into public enemy #1. He put out the fire in the seventh yeserday in releif of Brett Tomko, but he imploded in the eighth, giving up three runs, including a near-grand slam to Joe McEwing. Yep, that Joe McEwing. The result was that the Cards lost a 5-2 lead. Dustin Hermanson and Cal Eldred continued to pitch well, showing that the bullpen is not all shambles as many try to make it out to be. Eldred in particular, hasn't had a bad outing since his second appearance of the year, and Hermanson is starting to thrive in clutch situations, last Saturday excepted.

The worst part is Kline's comments to the media. "I'm done, I don't want to see a baseball for five months." or "Every time I go out there I think something bad's goign to happen." How can a reliever think like that? Relievers have to have the shortest memories of anyone. Kline's pitching and moping are getting tiresome. Part of it is Tony's insistence on throwing him against a bunch of righties. After Kline gets Vaughn to fly out in the eighth, he should be out. We have plenty of righties who can get shelled just as easily Tony, so if nothing else, at least look like you're playing the matchups. This is odd because TLR is usually a lefty-righty matchup guy to a fault. This bullpen saga is far from over and it remains to be seen what lies ahead. It should be interesting. The last bunch of games should've proven that three lefties simply isn't necessary at this time, and Kevin Ohme has been bombed since going back to Memphis, so I'm guessing that a call to Memphis for either Gabe Molina or Mike Crudale will come before the series starts with the Reds next Monday. Crudale is back from his injury and has made a couple of appearances in Memphis. I'm sure the Cards would love for him to show he's ready to go and the come up and dominate like he did last season. Tonight starts a three-game set with the Expos, who are pretty hot right now. They've been getting great starting pitching from household names like Zach Day and Claudio Vargas. Tomo Ohka, who busted out last year, goes tonight against Simo. I really will try to do a minor-league report later today, as well as talk about a couple other things.

Cards Keep Laying It On The Mets

Another night, another blowout for the men in red and white. This time it was 13-4 Cards behind four homers and another wonderful pitching performance by Woody Williams. The Cards crept back above .500, finishing the season's first month with a 13-12 mark, just one game behind the Cubs. Williams went to 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA this season. Renteria had three more RBI, Eli Marrero hit a three-run homer and Albert Pujols, playing first base for the second straight game while Tino Martinez serves his three-game suspension for punching Miguel Batista, hit two homers and had 3 RBI as this was one was over early.

Some other observations from last nights game:

--Fernando Vina shaved his goatee off!!! He looked strange without it, but better I think. I don't know if it was supposed to be a way to break out of his slump, but he did last night, going deep for the other Cardinal homer and doubling. Vina's homer broke the longest streak among active players without a homerun (501 AB's), the second time that has happened to a Cardinal player this year (Orlando Palmeiro was the first) Vina hadn't homered since he hit a grand slam at PNC Park last season. He looked mighty happy after he homered, maybe this'll get him going. I was going to write yesterday again about how he should not be batting leadoff, and I still think that, but I hope his bat gets hot.

--The Cards have now won games by margins of 13,10,and 9 runs, not to mention two seven-run victories. That's outscoring your opponent by 46 runs in a four game span. The Birds have to have one of the largest average margins of victory of any team in baseball yet still sit only one game over .500. Sigh. Oh, why worry about it now, we're winning aren't we?

--J.D. Drew muffed a fly ball in right and misplayed another, perhaps in a tryout for the Mets. But he did get two hits and his first RBI of the year. In one of those small smple size oddities, Drew has not walked or struck out yet in his first 20 AB's with the big club this season, two things he does pretty regularly. I'd like to say that because 20 AB's is a lot to go with out fanning especially for Drew, that perhaps he's changed his approach at the plate. But he struck out at least three or four times while at Palm Beach (he also walked a ton while there), so who knows. Drew is 5 for his first 20, with a double and a triple. He has also been hit by a pitch.

--Woody has now allowed three earned runs or less in 28 of his last 29 starts, the only exception being a start against the Reds last August. He is working with Greg Maddux-like efficiency, putting the ball exactly where he wants to and posting good K and BB rates. He has allowed 32 baserunners and 4 earned runs in 33 innings so far this year.

--Jimmy Edmonds got his night ended early last night after hitting two doubles. This is one portion of the game that Tony is very good at, and other manager's don't seem to follow his lead. It pays dividends when the Cards start cutting through their August and September schedule like butter.

--Jeff Fassero has appeared in 16 of the Cards first 25 games, tying him for the league lead. However, his ERA doesn't look like the guys he's tied with, as most managers tend to put good relievers in more than others. But Tony has never liked doing things the conventional way, that is why we love him so.

--Of course, part of the reason that Fassero has to be put into games is because of guys like Russ Springer. Springer has appeared 11 times and had a scoreless outing in six of those appearances. In the other five he has been torched for six homers, accounting for all nine earned runs he has given up in 12.1 innings. Yes, this is not a joke. Russ Springer has given up six homers in 12.1 innings. That's more homers than Roy Halladay gave up all last year, in nearly 250 innings!! Jason Isringhausen hasn't given up a homerun in a major league game since 2001, a streak of around 150 innings. Russ "The Hanger" could pitch twenty-five, hell thirty-five innings without allowing a homer and he would still have a poor homer rate. It's not like this is a new problem. In 531 career innings coming into 2003, he had allowed 77 homers. Anything above one per nine innings is starting to be on the downside of good and that's WAY over that. Springer allowed two last including one to Mo Vaughn, who cannot do anything any more EXCEPT hit hanging curves about 500 feet, which is what he did last night.

Pond Scum Gives Cards Just What They Need

The Birdos made it back to .500 with a 13-3 thrashing of the Mets that featured a seven-run eighth inning, the Cards most crooked number they've hung in a frame this season. They also got four in the first off of Al Leiter, who's usually quite successful against the Cards and who had pitched very well this season before last night. Rolen and Renteria both drove in four runs to bring their seasonal totals up to 20 and 21, respectively. Edgar is on pace to smash his team record for ribbies in a season by a shortstop at the moment and he could have a shot at driving in 100 runs, something few NL shortstops have done. Matty Mo pitched six innings, giving just two runs despite not having his best stuff, and Russ Springer pitched a scoreless seventh, followed by Fassero and new closer candidate Kiko Calero finishing it out. Calero came into the game in the eighth with one out and a man on first and the Cards up 6-2. He gave up a double to Mike Piazza, who bangs the Cards around even when he's struggling, to make it second and third, and it looked like the game could get a lot closer. But Calero got back-to-back strikeouts of Tony Clark and Ty Wigginton to end the threat and then, much to Cardinal Nation's delight, got a bases-loaded single in the 8th to really put the game on ice, in his first career major-league at-bat.

This at-bat was one of the more humorous things I have seen all year. It was obvious when Calero went up there that he had been instructed not to swing by LaRussa. Jose Oquendo then reminded Kiko of this fact again. But with the count 1-1, Calero swung the stick towards a ball that was bearing in on him a good foot off the plate. He punched a single to right, scoring a run. The best part of it all was the replay by Fox Sports Midwest of TLR's face on the play. He actually looked calm in the dugout as Calero was up there, then his eyes lit up as they always do when a ball is hit, and he followed it, then just stood and gazed with his mouth open as it fell in for a hit. Fox Midwest has been showing lots of TLR moments in the dugout early this season and they have been quite entertaining. I can't understand how people can be so critical of a man who wants to win so very badly. He lives and dies with every pitch. He is a true baseball man. His decisions aren't always perfect, but I can't argue with his hunger for playing winning baseball. Speaking of Fox Midwest, I love the early season games when we get treated to Joe Buck in the broadcast booth. Listening to him and Al Hrabosky call the game is about as good as it gets. We'll talk minor-leaguers and other things later.

BACK AT BUSCH

Sorry, I know I've been tardy with updating my blog. I do have some comments about the weekend that was, now that it's nearing the end of the workday on Tuesday. The Cards won 2 of 3 in case you were in a cave or something.

--The Cards finally beat A.J Burnett, who had totally dominated them before Friday night. And though he was bad in the first and sixth, he was once again nearly untouchable in between, but it didn't matter as Brett Tomko pitched a complete game for his second win of the season and the Cards won 9-2. It's also likely the last game that Burnett will pitch in this year, as he is likely going to have Tommy John surgery. To me, it was only a matter of time before the Marlins ran him into the ground. They've done it, and Will Carroll discusses it over at Baseball Prospectus.

--I didn't watch much of the game on Friday but I watched Tomko pitch the fourth inning and he was absolutely electric. He was throwing 93-94 mph and his ball had an incredible amount of movement. This has been the Brett Tomko pattern throughout his career. He alternates eye-catching nastiness (including 2 no-hitters in AAA) with head-scratching mediocrity. That's two very good starts in a row and other than in first innings, Tomko has been great this year. It's up to Dave Duncan to keep his head on straight and get a lot more good starts than mediocre ones.

--TLR, usually Mr. Bullpen, is clearly showing less confidence in this bullpen than in any other pen I've ever seen. It's obvious. He allowed Tomko to pitch a complete game and 115 pitches, in a game that he almost ALWAYS would take out the starter after the eighth. But even more telling was after the crap performance by the pen on Saturday, he allowed Garrett Stephenson to throw 119 pitches over eight innings. I can't confirm this, but I would bet that's the most pitches thrown by Stephenson in a game since mid-2000. Had Garrett not walked four batters and gone after hitters more in the first couple innings, Tony likely would've left him in there in the ninth. No one can blame TLR for pulling him with a 5-run lead after he threw that many pitches, it just that usually Stephenson doesn't pitch the eighth either. Expect to see Woody and Matty Mo get the same treatment. We're likely going to see less bullpen innings than we have in many years.

The game on Sunday was amazing. 20 innings How does a team hit three homers in one inning and score five runs and then go scoreless for the next eleven innings. The goats: Jeff Fassero and Russ Springer. Fassero has basically looked bad any time he's been required to get more than one hitter out. He's old and Walt goofed big time when he signed him for another year. Here's hoping that Lance Painter assumes his role when he comes back. Springer has alternated pitching well with giving up dinger after dinger. To his defense, the game should have been over as he induced a double-play ball where the call was blown and the game should have ended right there. But he's has got to cut this hanging curve crap out. I think my mom could've hit the pitch he served to Lowell out of the park. He is iffy right now. The heroes: Kiko Calero, Cal Eldred, Dustin Hermanson, and Steve Kline. Maybe Tony has finally figured out that Fassero doesn't always need to be the first guy he brings into the games. And Kline doesn't need to pitch the ninth inning all the time. Give Calero a shot at an important situation. He's the one guy with a strikeout pitch. Eldred continues to gain confidence and he looks like he could stick in the pen. Hermanson redeemed himself after a horrible outing on Saturday. Jury's still out on him, though he showed his mettle on Sunday by making some huge pitches. I still say he gets better in the role as the season goes on. Kline was in the doghouse after stiking it up for the last several games and beign quoted in the paper sayign something stupid, like "I'm a specialist, I don't like pitching in the ninth inning." Steve, you're a pitcher, go out and pitch, who cares what inning it is. Ray Mileur from the Birdhouse got on Kline for this and rightfully so. Kline went out and pitched like he should, setting down all nine Marlins he faced and getting the win.

In good news, Chris Carpenter is apparently progressing ahead of schedule and could see pre-All-Star Break action. Izzy is stil out indefinitely and it could be another month. To tell the truth, nobody really knows. What is known is that the Cardinals need him worse than Mel Kiper Jr. needs a second job.

Okay, I'm done for now, Cards-Mets, 7:10 PM. Matt Morris vs Al Leiter. Even though we play the Mets six games a year, I think we face Leiter on average about eight times a year. Maybe it just seems that way :)

IS IT OVER YET????

Redbirds in 20, surely what we all had in mind. After nearly committing suicide and swearing off baseball for the rest of the season following Bullpen Meltdown V: The Pitching Staff that refused to Win, I turned off my MLB Gameday and decided to watch a pay-per-view movie. After an hour I couldn't take it any more and decided to turn the computer back on to see how we had lost it, only to see that it was now in the 15th and still tied. I finished watching my movie, City by the Sea, and pondered what a life of drugs might do for me and my ability to not be obsessed with meaningless baseball games. But the game would not end. It simply wouldn't end. Finally, Fernando Vina, who had just finished off a entire series worth of outs in one afternoon, got that "big" hit and Steve Kline, fresh off two of his more disastrous outings as a Redbird, pitched his third scoreless innings to lift the Cards to a 20-inning win that is big only because of how incredibly deflating a loss could have been after the bullpen blew a five-run lead in the ninth. I'll be around today and the rest of the week with more on the game, the series, and the world of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball in general. Remember, somehow, some way, the Birds are only two games out of first.