A GAME OUT

I meant post-game commentary. Here 'tis....

Bo knows baseball. I didn't realize Bo Hart would even be present for this game. Not only was he there, he was awesome! In his first major league game, Hart doubled (1st major-league AB), tripled, and walked. J.D. Drew also doubled and tripled, Pujols went long again, and the Cards won 8-4.

A good day to get a win, because Edmonds, Rolen, Martinez, and Matheny all took the day off. Way to go scrubs! The first three of that quartet are all nursing injuries but I would expect them all to be in the lineup tomorrow night against KC, whose pitching staff is taking a serious beating from the Twins right now.

Brett Tomko pitched six and gave up two ernies to get his first win in nearly two months. Good for him, and hopefully it builds some confidence. Anybody's guess as to whether Calero gets another start, but if not, the pen could still surely use him.

Esteban Yan is trying everything he can to show LaRussa that he's only usable for one inning at a time (and that's when he's on) The Brewers got the tying run to the on-deck circle in the ninth off Yanni.

Fortunately, Kline came in and got Geoff Jenkins, and then Izzy came in AND NOTCHED HIS FIRST SAVE OF THE YEAR!! WAY TO GO IZZY!!! Lance Painter came in and got Jenkins to hit into a DP in the seventh with one pitch, Lance's only of the day.

The Cubbies lost, so the Cards have moved within a game of first as they head to Busch. Hey, it was a 5-5 road trip and if you would have ofered me that when we set out, I would've taken it in a heartbeat.

Cairo to the DL

Miguel Cairo became a victim of the beanball fest going on between the Brewers and Cards last night. He was hit with a pitch and broke a bone in his hand and will be sidelined for 3-5 weeks. With Fernando Vina out at least that long and probably longer, the Cards are running thin on options. Today, Wilson Delgado will surely get the start there and Bo Hart is going to be called up from AAA Memphis. Hart is having a decent year, hitting .298 with 7 homers and 31 knocked in, but doesn't show much plate discipline and strikes out a lot. He is a decent fielder. I would want to say that the Cards are going to pursue some kind of temporary option at second but again, I guess the money just really isn't there to do that. A good question will be whether Delgado or Hart will start, and also, who will bat leadoff? My vote would be for Renteria, so that way Drew can continue to get a few more RBI opportunities. On days he is playing vote is for Orlando Palmeiro. Losing Cairo honestly doesn't hurt that much. He does get hot with the bat every now and then (witness the last two games) but he's not a good hitter or fielder over the course of much time. Of course, the replacements aren't going to be much either. But the Cards could certainly use some more depth. Bill Selby is still killing the ball at AAA but third is his natural position. He has played two games at second and will perhaps get more work there now. Meanwhile Jon Nunnally continues to be twice the offensive force that K-Rob is and continues to languish. Sigh.....

I'll have some game commentary today., in case you're into that sort of thing. First pitch in one hour.....

Hermy Goes Bye-Bye

Well, even in my pessimistic mood that I am currently fighting through the events of tonight had to make me a smile. First, the front office must have read their Daily Redbird today because they designated Dustin Hermanson for assignment before activating Lance Painter from the DL. The organization's hope is that Hermanson will clear waivers and go to Memphis to work on starting again. Secondly, the not-watching the game worked again, as the Cards whooped the Brew-Dogs for the second night in a row. Rolen got back in the lineup and Edmonds took the night off after his Bump Bailey impersonation in the ninth last night. Glendon Rusch is a shoo-in for Baseball Prospectus' Hacking MASS pitcher of the year. He gave up eight in one-plus tonight. He is now at 1-11 with an ERA near 9. (Hacking MASS is a measure of how bad a player can be and still play regularly). Third, Jason Simontacchi pitched well. That's three good starts in a row by Cardinal pitchers, and even though it's the Brewers, this staff needed them. Billy Wagner showed his human side and blew a save putting the Cards a half game back of the Astros while staying two behind the Cubs. Simo needed this start to keep his place in the rotation most likely. Now it's up to Brett Tomko to keep it going. A bad start by him and the team would have to seriously consider putting him in the pen or skipping a start to get his out of his butt. We shall see.....

Lance Painter and Izzy both got into action tonight. It was a great game for Painter to make his return to the big club in with the wide margin. He pitched to two lefties and got them both out. Izzy is still feeling his way back but he did throw another scoreless frame. He allowed two walks and no hits and the Cards won 9-1. One of the nice things about tonight's game is that we got lots of contributions from the secondary guys. Ed Perez, Cairo, and Palmeiro all had good games. And Albert is still just the Big Nasty. He was 4 for 5 with a walk, and is hitting .385 in addition to regularly drawing comparisons to Ted Williams on Baseball Tonight.

Tomko goes tomorrow against Ruben Quevedo. A great chance for the good guys to take three of four while giving their aces an extra day of rest.

??????????????

I read in the Post-Dispatch today that it could be Kiko Calero who gets optioned to Memphis when Lance Painter returns from the DL tonight. This would be akin to those in charge not wanting to win. Maybe Calero doesn't belong in the bullpen. But he certainly proved that as of this moment he is one of our five best starting options. That's what Tony always says right? We're going to go wih the best five we've got? Well, kicking Calero off the big club in favor of keeping Hermanson or Yan on the team is patently ridiculous. I don't care if we have to eat a contract or not. Hermanson certainly is going to be nothing more than limited help for this team. Yan has been pretty bad and giving him up only involves admitting that he was a failed low-risk acquisition. If Calero goes down, my only hope is that he comes back up if/when the starting pitching continues to be miserable. Yes, I am going thru a pessimistic phase, sue me.

Sickness

I got sick Sunday night and was starting to feel better until last night, when the Bullpen reached perhaps the very nadir of the valley of suckiness. Cal Eldred is starting to become Eldred for the wrong people again. Between the Thursday night thriller and last night's game, Eldred's sequence of batters has gone: Walk, homer, out, single, triple, out, homer, single, single, walk (on four pitchers to a batter who was trying to sacrifice bunt). That's six hits and 2 walks, including a triple and two homers in 2/3 of an inning. I guess it's safe to say Cal ain't the closer anymore. Fassero gave up a homer to Geoff Jenkins, the first one Jenkins has hit all year against a lefty. Kline came in and wasn't very good, though to be fair Miguel Cairo gave the Brewers three extra outs. Cairo had one of the worst all-around games I've ever seen. He left runners on all game long with medium-range can of corn fly balls and he made two bad plays in the infield in the seventh. TLR finally woke up and got him out of the leadoff slot tonight and he responded with a three-run homer.

I was angry enough last night that I took up another vow to stop watching games. It worked kind of, as I watched little of tonights 12-3 victory. Pujols had another great game and Garrett Stephenson turned in his second consecutive good start. Edmonds went crashing into the wall with two outs in the ninth of a nine-run game. I'm sure that'll get the Tony haters worked up, but how bout Jimmy maybe just don't lay out for that one hmm? Rolen sat out his second straight game with a neck injury. Yes, we're banged up, and yes our pitching is still more than shaky than a speed addict at 7 am. We're still only two games out though. I just keep telling myself that.

Matty Mo and Woody are getting their next starts pushed back to Friday and Saturday, against the Royals at home. The extra day of rest is needed. The public outcry over the abuse of those two has been goig on for awhile, but now their performances have slipped. It also gets them in line to both face the Cuns the next time we lock up with them. Simo gets a chance to keep the two-game streak of good starting pitching goign tomorrow against Glendon Rusch. He didn't look too bad against the Yankees but was left in too long (of course) because Tony still hates the pen. Lance Painter is coming back, who will be exiled? An open question, as Yan and Hermanson have been better of late, and Tony still seems to have more faith in Fassero than either of them. If Simo bombs tomorrow I am favor of moving Calero into the rotation and putting Painter in the pen. The Cards still need to be looking outside the organization but I don't know if that's happening. The arrogance this offseason was at an all-time high. The team ran itself to the limit financially thinking it wouldn't need to make any upgrades. Guess again: When part of that equation is putting a bunch of retread arms in the pen and then making trades for guys like Esteban Yan because that's all you can afford, it can blow up in your face. And it still can this year, even in the weak NL Central.

Bitching' Bout Pitching

I once again had another nice, long post erased by Blogger. Of course, right now there is little discussion needed as to the status of our team. The Cardinals need more pitching. With the health of Matt Morris coming into question and the continued mediocrity of everyone else on the staff not named Woody Williams (who has been victimized by his manager and the umpires in his last two starts, respectively) the Cards have no chance of competing with the team as it stands right now.

The good news is that the Astros and Cubs didn't fare well this weekend either. The Astros got swept by the Red Sox and the Cubs lost 2 of 3 to the Jays. So despite the pitching catastrophe, the team remains right in the thick of it, and yes, believe it or not, has won 8 of its last 13 despite giving up an enormous amount of runs over that stretch. Lance Painter is on the way back, Chris Carpenter soon will be too. Kiko Calero makes his first start tonight. Will Cal Eldred be soon to follow? Will the Cards make a trade? How about for Steve Trachsel, who is having a good year and could be had cheaply from the Mets in their soon-to-come salary purge? Who will be the pitchers currently on the roster that get the axe?? The fate of Redbird Nation lies in the hands of Walt, Tony, and Dunc as they try to patch together a winning set of arms.

No good news to report this weekend. The Birdos got swept by the Yankees in a series that I saw coming. The hitting was actually really bad this weekend, but that happens sometimes when you face Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Mike Mussina back-to-back-to-back. I'm looking forward to some games against the Brewers. Stay tuned..........