Written by Mike on August 28, 2008 – 7:37 pm -
After losing big in the first game of the short series against Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Cardinals “played a hard nine” to take game two last night.
It was Adam Wainwrights second start since coming off the disabled list. He wasn’t dominant, but he definitely got the job done. He lasted 6 innings on 89 pitches, allowing 3 runs (2 earned), and got a pair of strikeouts. Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin each pitched a scoreless inning to bridge the gap to the ninth for Chris Perez.
After taking the lead with a four run eighth, the Cardinals looked once again to Perez to close it out. He was outstanding. Perez picked up his sixth save with three swinging strikeouts against the heart of the Milwaukee order. Derrick Goold has an excellent article on the rookie over at Bird Land.
The offense was quiet until the sixth, when Ryan Ludwick hit a solo homer off of Manny Parra. Ludwick still leads the team in home runs with 32. The Cards stranded the bases loaded in the seventh, and some words were exchanged between Albert Pujols and Carlos Villanueva. The rally came in the very next inning, with RBI going to Ludwick, Troy Glaus, Aaron Miles, and Felipe Lopez. More on the extracurriculars from Bernie Miklasz.
The final score was 5-3. Here’s the complete box score. The win bumped the Cardinals back up to 3.5 games behind the Brewers in the Wild Card race. The Phillies loom just a half-game behind the Cards, although they’ve just started a four game series against the Cubs in Chicago.
Following the day off today, the Cards will open a three game set in Houston tomorrow night. Kyle Lohse gets the ball for the Redbirds, while lefty Randy Wolf will start for the Astros. Milwaukee plays Pittsburgh, so anything less than a sweep of Houston would have to be considered unsuccessful. Go Cards!
Posted in Franklin, Glaus, Lohse, Lopez, Ludwick, McClellan, Miles, Perez, Pujols, Wainwright | 1 Comment »
Written by Mike on July 21, 2008 – 9:21 pm -
The Cardinals ended their five game winnings streak with a loss to Milwaukee Brewers tonight in the opener of a four game series with the Friars. Even though the loss brings the Brew Crew even with the Redbirds in the standings, the part that stings is the lack of effectiveness from the St. Louis bullpen.
After yesterday’s heroics from Aaron Miles, it’s easy to forget that the Cards wouldn’t have even been in that position if it wasn’t for another faltering relief performance. With the game on the line, former closer Jason Isringhausen blew yet another save opportunity, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth.
In game one of the Milwaukee series, the Cards found themselves in a similar situation. Following an impressive come from behind ninth inning, it was again the late inning relief that allowed the Brewers to take the lead, and ultimately, win the game.
The Cardinals bullpen ranks worst in the National League, but the team somehow still remains in contention, just two games behind the division leading Chicago Cubs. After looking more closely at the numbers, it’s easy to conclude that with a better pen, the Cards would easily be leading the pack.
I’ll try to crunch some numbers to back up my disgust, but in the meantime, look for the Cards to try to even the series tomorrow night when current ace Kyle Lohse takes on former Cardinal Jeff Suppan.
Posted in Isringhausen, Lohse, Miles | 3 Comments »
Written by Mike on June 30, 2008 – 8:56 pm -
In the first home game in eleven days, a series opener with the New York Mets, Kyle Lohse led the Cardinals to a decisive win. Recall Lohse’s last start, in Detroit, when he lasted only 4 innings, and allowed 5 runs on 11 hits. It was his only poor outing in five June starts. Tonight, against the potent Mets’ lineup, Lohse turned in a very impressive 7 innings in his sixth and final start of the month. He earned his team leading tenth win on the season. His only run allowed was unearned. He struck out four and gave up only five hits, and now sports a 3.67 ERA on the year.
The Cardinal offense was able to plate seven runs, two of which were unearned gifts. Aaron Miles continued to impress with another three hit night, and Chris Duncan hit his fifth home run of the season.
The other big story of the night was the long awaited return of Cardinal pitcher Mark Mulder. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning, despite giving up a pair of singles. To his credit, one of the hits, a blooper to left, should have been caught. I really want to point out Tony La Russa’s decision on when to give Mulder his ‘08 debut. He played his Card perfectly, putting Mulder in a position to succeed, and boost his confidence. I think pitching the ninth inning to close out a game, especially for a guy looking to gain some traction, is far more beneficial than pitching some other inning. Besides the normal ovation from the crowd at Busch, when a guy closes out a game, he gets to line up for high fives and pats on the ass from his teammates. Sounds trivial, but for a guy that hasn’t been successful for as long as Mulder, it’s important to get the support of your comrades. Bravo Tony.
The win put the Cardinals at 48-36, and closed the book on June. 7-1 was the final. Here’s the full recap and box score. As I speculated yesterday, the Cardinals did in fact make a roster move today, swapping Nick Stavinoha for Brad Thompson to add a fresh arm in the bullpen. Todd Wellemeyer will get the start for the Birds tomorrow. A win will ensure a series split, and a possible stride toward the division leading Chicago Cubs.
Posted in Duncan, La Russa, Lohse, Miles, Mulder, Stavinoha, Thompson, Wellemeyer | No Comments »
Written by Mike on May 11, 2008 – 9:07 am -
To all the moms in Cardinal Nation, Happy Mother’s Day! My mom loves the Cards just as much as I do. I gave her one of my extra tickets to Opening Day this year, and as usual, she was the first one downtown, dressed in Cardinal red with a beer in her hand. Cheers to you, Mom!
The pink bats will be out today. Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel, Cesar Izturis, Adam Kennedy, Jason Larue, Aaron Miles, and Skip Schumaker are all expected to use them in this afternoon’s game against Milwaukee. Braden Looper and Jeff Suppan are scheduled to pitch.
After the win yesterday, the Cardinals are 23-15, with a one game lead on second place Chicago. A win today would keep the them above .500 in road games. Looking ahead, after two more in Milwaukee, the Cards head back home to play three against Pittsburgh before hosting Tampa Bay in their first interleague series. While the Pirates are five games behind the Cardinals, the Rays are a surprising four games over .500, and in second place in the AL East.
Posted in Ankiel, Duncan, Izturis, Kennedy, Larue, Looper, Miles, Schumaker | No Comments »
Written by Mike on April 8, 2008 – 1:47 am -
The winning streak may have come to an end, but the streak of brilliant outings by the Cardinals’ starting staff remains intact. What started out as a pitchers’ duel between St. Louis starter Todd Wellemeyer and Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez, ended with some offensive fireworks.
Wellemeyer took a two-hit shutout into the seventh before surrendering back-to-back home runs to Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee. His night was through after seven, allowing the 2 runs on 5 hits, while striking out 7. I was very impressed with his performance, even without the bloody nose. Both starters were very good, but Rodriguez was slightly better. The Cards managed to string only 3 hits against him in 7 1/3 innings.
The game really changed gears in the ninth, when the Cards rallied to tie it at three, but ultimately lost it on a Miguel Tejada walk-off in the bottom half off of rookie Kyle McClellan. It’s certainly a blow to the young righty, but I feel worse for Wellemeyer. He pitched a terrific game, save the solo home runs from two of the league’s best. The Cards flashed the leather tonight too, with great plays from Aaron Miles, Troy Glaus, and Cesar Izturis. Here’s the full
box score.
So while we’re not raising our glasses to another Cardinal victory, we do have reason to lift ‘em up. From Anheuser Busch:
In case you didn’t know, today April 7, 2008 is a solemn and joyous anniversary in the annals of beer history. It’s the 75th Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition for beer in the United States.
During the summer of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned on the platform that he would repeal Prohibition (he called it the “stupendous blunder”), put American workers back on the job and help end the Depression.
So, of course it’s no surprise that he won the election by a landslide.
True to his word, with one stroke of the pen 20 days after taking office, he signed the Cullen-Harrison Act, making 3.2% beer once again legal in the U.S. This meant that Lager Beer which was predominantly
3.2% alcohol by weight would precede heavier beer styles and hard liquor by almost 8 full months.
So, at 12:01 a.m. on April 7, 1933, beer was back. 25,000 people celebrated here at our St. Louis Brewery that night and the rest of the country listened to a special live broadcast from August “Gussie” Busch, Jr. that was carried on radio stations coast to coast. Happy days were here again!
So today on the 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition, raise a glass to the wisdom and fortitude of great men like Gussie Busch and Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a Budweiser, the Great American Lager.
The Cardinals will try to even the series tomorrow, with Brad Thompson facing Shawn Chacon. The first series loss of the year is on the line.
Posted in Glaus, Izturis, McClellan, Miles, Thompson, Wellemeyer | 2 Comments »
Written by Mike on March 23, 2008 – 9:02 pm -
The Cardinals got off to a hot start against the Mets today in Port St. Lucie, scoring three runs in the first. The Cards kept up the hot hitting throughout the game, scoring in five different innings, including a six run ninth.
The Cards’ bats were booming, scoring 14 runs on 21 hits. Skip Schumaker, Brian Barton, Albert Pujols, Rick Ankiel, and Rico Washington all had multi-hit games. Ankiel and Colby Rasmus each hit home runs, and Chris Duncan contributed with a two RBI single in the first.
I was forced to watch the Mets’ telecast, but it turned out to be not as bad as I thought it would be. The best comment from the New York announcers: ”If you take the joy out of Reyes’ game, there’d be no Jose Reyes.” Isn’t that the truth.
A few other observations from today’s game:
- El Duque was not good at all.
- Aaron Miles isn’t a third baseman.
- Cesaer Izturis was very sharp with the leather today. Very sharp.
- Ankiel’s homerun was all torso, after he double clutched.
- Barton loves the first pitch.
- Bobby Knight was dressed in red, hanging out in the Mets’ dugout.
- Kyle McClellan is ready for the major leagues.
- Todd Wellemeyer looked good.
- Colby Rasmus will be in St. Louis sooner than you think.
14-4 was the final. For a full recap of today’s game, along with the box score, click here.
I may even have a third post for you today, so keep your pants on. Less than eight days now until the games count. The Redbirds may surprise some people.
Posted in Ankiel, Barton, Duncan, Izturis, McClellan, Miles, Pujols, Rasmus, Schumaker, Wellemeyer | 2 Comments »
Written by Mike on March 22, 2008 – 11:21 pm -
The United Cardinal Bloggers Group is winding down the roundtable discussions, with one more debate to be posted on Monday. Yesterday I posted three questions to the group for open discussion. In addition to me, we had four other Cardinal bloggers participate:
Here are the questions, and everyone’s thoughts:
1.) Yesterday, there was some talk about who you’ve been impressed with up to this point in Spring Training. What about the opposite? Which players are you surprised to see having a disappointing spring? Do you think they’ll turn it around?
Daniel: There haven’t been a lot of disappointments. There’s disappointment in the same old same old with injuries, as noted with Tyler Johnson still not throwing. Izturis, to me, has been the biggest on-field disappointment, though. I know he’s not much of a hitter, so the average wasn’t that disappointing, but the fielding? He’s making an error a game, it seems like, and I know TLR is big on him, but right now, it’s not looking so good.
Haedar: Gotta agree with Daniel and say Izturis. He was never known for his offense, but he is supposed to be a high caliber defensive player and at least put up an average of .250, but he’s made tons of errors this spring and is hitting around .150. Tony is being stubborn and stating that he is the starting shortstop to avoid the “Spivey 2008″ tag. If Cesar keeps this up, he will be relegated to the bench in no time.
Bryan: Cesar Izturis has definitely been the most disappointing player this spring. And to add to it, Tony La Russa has been equally as disappointing with his rigid position that Izturis is still doing well defensively and should still start. I’m not sure Cesar has anything left in the tank anymore. Molina’s slow start is disconcerting, but I think he’ll turn it around at some point. Blake Hawksworth really disappointed me this spring, as this was a chance to make a good impression on the big league club. I’m not too optimistic about him.
Michael: Duncan’s horrible spring at the plate was a surprise to me. Also to see Molina regress at the plate, after the progress he showed during last season, has been disappointing. The other disappointment was Clement’s physical readiness not being what we expected/hoped it would be at the start of spring training. I hadn’t been aware of Izturis’ struggles with the glove until I saw your guys’ comments.
Daniel: I’d like to see Molina hit better in the spring, but I wouldn’t say I was worried enough to call it a disappointment. If it continues well into April, then that might be a different story.
Me: Of course Izturis is the big one. I was okay with the signing when it happened, and was willing to watch a sacrifice in offense for a defensive upgrade at short. Turns out Izturis sucks with the glove too. Tyler Johnson disappoints me too. Last year, despite changing his jersey number and his hairstyle, he still got knocked around a bit. I read that he had a baby, and was maturing quickly. To hear that a little more work in the off season might have prevented his injury was very disappointing.
Daniel: The only thing I’ll add is that I’m not sure that more work would have prevented his injury. It might have helped, but this seriously sounds like a surgery thing coming pretty soon, in which case more work might have blown it out earlier or at best delayed the problem.
2.) Opening Day is just ten days away. There are a lot of new faces on this year’s team. How would you grade John Mozeliak in his first off season as GM? What were his best and worst moves?
Daniel: Still a little hard to judge Mozeliak since a few moves were made while he was interim GM and some still haven’t really panned out. All in all, though, I think he’s doing a pretty good job. If he’s one of the reasons so many young guys are still in camp or got long looks this spring, he jumps up another notch. His next big test will be the amateur draft. If they can get a quality draft in, he’ll move even farther up.
Haedar: Can’t really grade him accurately at this point but he’s made some good and some bad moves. The two worst moves of the offseason were signing both Izturis and Miles to guaranteed deals instead of minor league deals with invitations to spring training. The best move came a day or so ago locking up Wainwright long term.
Bryan: I would give Mozeliak a B so far. It was probably a B- before the Lohse signing, but the signing was such a good deal that he has to get a B. On the other hand, the Miles re-signing was a very questionable move (and still is, considering Miles’ terrible spring so far). Trading Rolen was good for the team, trading Edmonds was neutral (although it opened up a position in our already crowded outfield), and the Izturis signing was just plain bad. Overall, however, I’m very satisfied with the direction this team is going.
Michael: Mozeliak: average or slightly better than average so far, but it’s still too early to tell. I’m not a big fan of Lohse after watching him get torched in Cincinnati for the past few years, but with our starters in disarray again Mozeliak didn’t have much choice but to sign another pitcher. He at least got Lohse on the relative cheap. Hell, he can’t be any worse than Kip Wells, right? Managing to move Rolen for more than a used glove and a bucket of baseballs was a victory. The Miles signing, I agree with all, is a head scratcher unless viewed through the “Tony wanted him” prism. Signing Wainwright yesterday was a great move.
Daniel: The middle infield situation definitely is Mozeliak’s biggest drawback. Especially when he himself admits he’d have signed Adam Everett if he had thought he’d been nontendered. (Though that wouldn’t have helped with the offense, it’d done wonders defensively.) Adding Miles to the mix was really unnecessary save to appease La Russa, I’d guess.
Me: Overall: B+. With the exception of Miles and Gonzalez, I think the Cards made all the right moves. The Molina and Wainwright deals are by far the best. Payroll flexibility is much better than it has been in recent years. We’ll see what they do come draft time.
3.) How much better (or worse depending on your answer to question 2) is this team compared to last year’s squad? How many wins will the Cards have at the end of the season, and where do they finish?
Daniel: I think this squad might be a little better than last year. I think the pitching will be better, at least on the whole. The offense is pretty intriguing. If Kennedy hits like he has this spring and Molina hits like he did last year, there’s only Izturis as a “OK, nothing is happening here” spot in the lineup. I’m still holding out hope for a .500 season.
Haedar: I think the starters are a little better, the offense is better, or at least has more potential to put up better power numbers, but the bullpen will not be as good because people will be moving in and out and therefore some integral parts will not know their main role. I think most bullpens can be decent as long as the guys in it know what their main role is and in what situation they are called upon to pitch. With a lot of injured players coming back from the DL, there is going to be a lot of shifting around and some pitchers will not get comfortable in their temporary role.
Bryan: I think the team is better than last year, but a few injuries could really turn this season into a disaster. I think 80-85 wins is a very optimistic prediction, but I’ll go ahead and make it. I’m confident in our outfield and returning pitchers. Still don’t think that’ll be good enough for anything but third.
Michael: Even with all the moves the team has tread water overall since last season ended. The bullpen is still a plus but didn’t improve; the starters overall are still a minus and didn’t improve; the lineup is a wash; the bench is slightly better. It seems all our eggs for a good team are in the respective rehab baskets of Carpenter, Mulder, and Clement. I expect they’ll finish within +0, -10 games of .500 with the team they have now.
Haedar: I think the Cardinals’ record will get worse before it gets better. That’s to the tune of 75 wins this season.
Me: I think it depends on how you look at it. Before Opening Day ‘07, the Cards looked good. The pitchers all had good springs (even Wells), and no one thought they’d finish under .500. A ton of injuries changed the outlook dramatically. I’m optimistic about the offense. I think the potential to score a lot more runs is there. The starting pitching may be a wash, and I agree that the bullpen could be worse this year. I’m also wondering if the clubhouse will miss Edmonds, Rolen, and Eck.
That’s it. Lots of good points from everyone, and I’m sure they’ll be a lot more in the next installment. I love talking baseball!
Posted in Carpenter, Clement, Duncan, Eckstein, Edmonds, Gonzalez, Hawksworth, Izturis, Johnson, Kennedy, La Russa, Lohse, Miles, Molina, Mozeliak, Mulder, Rolen, UCB | 3 Comments »
Written by Mike on March 22, 2008 – 3:24 am -
I’ll apologize in advance for the short post today. Mix a busy day with some March hoops and there’s little time left to discuss our favorite sports team. No worries though. I’ll point you in the right direction.
The Orioles were visiting Roger Dean again today, with the Cardinals’ newest millionaire Adam Wainwright taking the mound. Wainwright struggled, but the Cards prevailed, winning 7-4. Aaron Miles, Troy Glaus, and Ryan Ludwick each had multiple hits for the Redbirds. For a full recap, and the complete box score, click
here.
The United Cardinal Bloggers continue their roundtable discussion, with today’s transcript over at
Rockin’ the Red. If you missed any of the earlier debates, review Monday’s exchange at
Redbird Ramblings, Tuesday’s at
The Redbird Blog, and Wednesday’s at
Stan Musial’s Stance. I posted the questions for today, and will have the answers here tomorrow.
Finally, I relayed the news of Wainwright’s new contract here yesterday. Jeff Gordon writes about what it means to the team financially, and emphasizes their flexibility
here.
Posted in Glaus, Ludwick, Miles, Wainwright | No Comments »
Written by Mike on March 17, 2008 – 11:05 pm -
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s days like today that I miss living in a drinking town like St. Louis. People here in Miami don’t even know it’s a holiday.
Anyway, the Cardinals played host to the Braves for the second straight day today. The Cards wore the traditional green jerseys and caps, but didn’t need any luck to beat Atlanta 4-2. Anthony Reyes got the start, and pitched four solid innings, allowing no runs on three hits, and striking out two. On offense, Rick Ankiel drove in two with a double, and Aaron Miles and Joe Mather each had an RBI as well. For those still keeping track, shortstop Cesar Izturis committed his sixth error today, and was 0 for 2 at the plate. Here’s the full
box score.
As predicted, with another round of cuts today, the Cards sent six players back to minor league camp, including top prospect Colby Rasmus. Joe Mather was also sent down, leaving Brendan Ryan to make the team out of camp. The final outfield spot is technically still open, but as discussed briefly on
Saturday, it will go to Rule 5 pick Brian Barton. Matthew Leach has more on
today’s cuts.
That’s it for today. Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day. I need to go find some green beer!
Posted in Ankiel, Barton, Izturis, Mather, Miles, Rasmus, Reyes | 2 Comments »
Written by Mike on February 22, 2008 – 3:14 am -
I spent some time at Cardinals camp yesterday, and as promised, I’ll use this post to share my experience.
There was more traffic than I anticipated, so I didn’t arrive at camp until 9:45. Although it was raining when I left my place, the weather was great in Jupiter (Today I can really feel the sunburn). I easily found a parking place in front of Roger Dean Stadium and made the short walk around to the back fields. If you’ve never been to the
complex, it’s a beautiful place to see. Behind the stadium, there are twelve full-size ball fields, and a couple of small ones, all shared by the Cardinals and Marlins. When I arrived, the team was just finishing their stretching and throwing.
I quickly found the workout schedule, made by Tony La Russa, posted on one of the backstops. Upon first glance, I thought I’d need Tony’s secret decoder ring to decipher the mess on the page, but after a little studying, I figured it out (at least in part). The schedule is complex and precise. Every player and coach is put into a group. The groups rotate between fields and stations at certain times. Everyone has a place to be, and everyone really hustles from field to field. It’s fun to watch.
I started by watching some fielding practice. All of the catchers, and Mike Matheny of course, gathered in the small field between fields 1 and 6. The catchers took turns blocking balls in the dirt fed from a pitching machine. Matheny painted a half-circle in the dirt, and the idea was to keep the ball within the arc. The machine was putting some serious spin on the balls, and bouncing them several feet in front of the catchers. It was funny to see the guys block the ball and then dive after the ricochet. Molina even threw his mask at a ball.
During this same time, the pitchers were also doing fielding drills. Most of the big leaguers were on field 1, while the younger guys were on 6. Both groups were fielding ground balls after a simulated delivery, and throwing them to either first or second. Then there were rounds of grounders to Pujols, with the pitchers covering first.
On the far fields, the outfielders and infielders were also doing drills, but I didn’t make my way over there. Since the interior paths are blocked off for the players to use, the only way to get to the far fields is to walk around the outfield fences, or take a trolley, which has a few stops along the way.
After a short meeting with La Russa on the small field, the pitchers broke off into more groups, and a catcher or two headed to each station. Some pitchers were throwing bullpen sessions, some were doing more fielding, this time in front of a big wall, and others were practicing bunting. They had to lay several bunts down each line, then had to show bunt and swing away. There was a lot of smack-talking between the pitchers during the swinging away part.
Next, I watched a little situational infielding practice with the “B” squad. Included in the group was Brian Barden, Rico Washington, David Freese, and surprisingly, Brendan Ryan. The drills were about reading the batter for bunt coverage with runners on. If you’re wondering, Jarrett Hoffpauir was in the group with Cesar Izturis, Adam Kennedy, and Aaron Miles.
I spent most of the rest of my time watching live batting practice. I watched four groups. The pitchers were Adam Ottavino, Chris Perez, Tyler Herron, and Todd Wellemeyer. I know that early on in camp the pitchers have the advantage, and that was certainly the case with Ottavino. He pitched to a group of Colby Rasmus, Brian Barton, Josh Phelps, Cody Hearther, and Jason LaRue. I think I only saw one ball get hit fair, and it was a soft liner to short. The first time through there were several swing and misses.
There wasn’t a lot of excitement from the “power” group, which included Albert Pujols, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, and Scott Spiezio. Pujols smashed one back up the middle off of Wellemeyer, but it was pretty quiet otherwise.
By far, the most impressive hitting group was the outfielders Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan, Ryan Ludwick, and Skip Schumaker. Maybe they’re ahead of the rest because they were in camp early. All hit the ball hard, and all over the field. Edit (02/23): I thought the pitcher during this group was Herron, but I guess I was mistaken.
I noticed a lot of other interesting things yesterday too. Here are some:
- Chris Perez throws hard.
- Brian Barton is very athletic, but doesn’t look it.
- Troy Glaus is a much bigger guy than I thought he was.
- Ryan Franklin needs a haircut.
- They sell beer and hotdogs. Big plus in my book!
- “Professional” autograph hounds piss me off. Let the kids get a ball signed.
- Mickey the munchkin from The Wizard of Oz was there signing autographs.
- Red was cruising around in his golf cart.
- Chris Carpenter was jogging the neighborhood and nearly ran me over as I was leaving.
- The team store was open and I wanted one of everything.
Overall, it was a great day. I think it’s neat to see major league ballplayers doing the same kind of drills that you do in high school and Legion ball. Although nothing profound, take a look at the some of my pictures. I had a lot of fun, and would recommend it to any baseball fan. If you haven’t been to camp, go. It’s free. Six more days until the first Spring Training game.
Posted in Carpenter, Duncan, Kennedy, La Russa, Ludwick, Matheny, Miles, Molina, Perez, Pujols, Rasmus, Ryan, Schumaker, Spring Training, Wellemeyer | 2 Comments »
The Cardinals got off to a hot start against the Mets today in Port St. Lucie, scoring three runs in the first. The Cards kept up the hot hitting throughout the game, scoring in five different innings, including a six run ninth.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s days like today that I miss living in a drinking town like St. Louis. People here in Miami don’t even know it’s a holiday.
I spent some time at Cardinals camp yesterday, and as promised, I’ll use this post to share my experience.
