Layin' em down

Screw the Cubbies, screw them in their stupid asses. That's the Cards plans at least.
The Cards could have beaten the Astros easily, they had just won five in a row, Rolen came back and we are gettting ready for playoff mode. But why should they do that and help the cubs out when they can just as easily relax with 103 wins and create a little more tension. At the very least it will force the wild card race teams to use all of their top starters down the stretch so that the team that does make it will have to use a worse starter and a tired line up in the first round. If that team is the Giants, the Cards will be looking at someone like Brett Tomko day one instead of Jason Schmidt.

Ok does anyone know what is going on with Chris Carpenter? I'm stuck here in Cubby Land and all they can do is bitch about their own team, I need to know this stuff.

Cubs Fans

**** Caution this post is irrational crap it is intended purely to get Wee Man (my Cub loving buddy with a short fuse) to throw something at me*****

Cubs fans suck, they are horrible at being fans, and they need to take some of the responsiblity of the century long losing streak their team has undergone. The primary reason is they expect way too much, and boo when the cubs don't meet those expectations. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this is the first time they've had a promising team in 20 years, but it seems to me Cubs fans expect a hit on every at bat. If a player puts up an O for 4 two days in a row, they get booed until they hit a home run. That puts unfair pressure on the players. If St. Louis fans booed Jim Edmonds every time he had a bad week, we would boo him so much he might never turn it around to have a good week. Supporting him even when he struggles, encourages him to have an MVP type season. Psychologically, he doesn't have to dwell on each strikeout (which would be a lot of dwelling), instead he can just shake it off and hit a dinger next time. Cubs fans, just because Peter Gammons said in April that you would win the division doesn't mean you should have a tantrum every time Patterson pops up the first pitch.

Second, the fans here love Wrigley field more than the Cubs. You have a stadium that requires the team to play 60 or 70 day games a year. That is a significant disadvantage. Consider this, several times this year the Cubs have had night games on the road and a day game at home the next day. Now don't you think if the Cubs had a stadium with out the ridiculous limit on night games they might win maybe one or two more games each year. The Cubs probably would have built a new stadium 20 years ago if the fans would have let them. They could build a 50,000 seat stadium that would bring in more money and thus the ability to resign Clement and Nomar. Plus the current stadium is falling apart, the Cubs nearly had to forfeit or play a game with no fans this year twice this year.

A third reason cubs fans suck is that they won't just give up and start rooting for the redbirds.

As I write this the cubs just went 1, 2, 3 in the first, which is obviously due to their fans.

I'm Back

I haven't had the internet for the last week, but I am getting it back soon and the posts will resume.

Meanwhile the Cards have continued their descent play. However, like the 2000 Rams, they have lost their swagger. I know they are resting players, and Rolen is hurt, but it seems like they just don't have that win-every-game confidance that they had for 3 months. There are still 12 games left, and half are against the Brew Crew, so they should be confidance builders. Tony needs to take the risk of playing guys for the last 5 or 6 games, to try to get Albert and Jimmy swinging the bat like they were before.

It seems like the wildcard has become a three team race, with the Giants barely holding on to the edge, although the Diamondbacks could still make a late run at it.

Here is the list of thing the Cards need to do before the playoffs:
Tell Rolen and Kline to get healthy (and maybe Walker).
Tell Pujols that dingers kill disease.
Tell Edmonds that dingers make you cool, even if you're old.
Tell Carpenter that he is not hurt.
Tell everyone that it is still July.
Tell La Russa that Dogs like trophies.
Tell Renteria to get hits for Columbia.
Tell the Cubs that they Suck.

Hiccup

A Hiccup, that is all the last few games have been, tonight the Cards will turn it around. Morris usually bounces back after he has one of his let downs. It is also a night game at home, which is how Matty Mo has done his best work this year. We lucked out in that we don't have to face Oswalt in this series, so we should be able to take the last two.

The Magic Number stayed at 5 against the Cubs and 4 against the Astros. The Cubs made another second rate pitcher look amazing yesterday before they came back with some late heroics against the Pirates bullpen. It seems to me that if an NL central team has to win I would actually prefer the Cubs the the red hot Astros.

Suppan didn't have his A game yesterday and the very tough play that Pujols blew didn't help. But I am not blaming Pujols at all. Beltran is ridiculously fast and may be the best base runner in the league, if Albert had gotten that ball it still would have been a hard flick to Suppan and a close race to the bag. My biggest problem yesterday was with La Russa, who seemed to give up really early. I understand that the last thing he wants is an injury to Edmonds in a blow out game, but he could have waited until the seventh or eighth before he took out the top guys. This series is important, it is against a good, hot team and a win against Clemens would have shown that the Cards are still dominating.

Ok this post wasn't funny so here is a clip http://www.ebaumsworld.com/cubsfaninterview.html

I am the Key

I just realized something amazing but horrible. The Cards were a mediocre baseball team in the middle of the division until I came back to St. Louis in early June. Since I have been in St. Louis, they have been amazing while playing about 750 baseball. I left for a week and they went two and four. The bad part is that I leave for good on Thursday, and it appears I will be taking the cardinals super powers with me. I hate to do it, but I got to go to school.

Seriously, not much good news while I was gone. The only game I watched was Morris's explosion against the Padres. But from reading about the LA series it seems to me we easily could have won that series. A few of the pitchers have had bad outings, that they will hopefully bounce back from. Morris let me down big time after having what people said was his best game ever.

On the good side, Walker is on a tear and the left arm of god has had a couple successful relief appearances. Also with a win yesterday and a cubs embarrassment the magic number dropped to five against the Cubs and three agains the Astros. So sometime next weekend there should be a pretty X next to St. Louis in the standings. The home field advantage magic number is eleven against the Braves and ten against the Dodgers.

Coming up we have a chance to knock the astros down a notch in the wildcard race. Right now I am rooting for the Giants to win the wild card race. They have a one game lead and I would rather have the Cards face them than the Dodgers, who we may face if the Cubs or Astros win.

Nine in a row

Three sweeps, wow! That's awesome. All of the starters are pitching great, Morris had his best start ever, and the best start any Cardinal has had yet this year. Marquis followed with 7 scoreless and Woody went 7 surrendering only two runs. I sort of feel sorry for the Dodgers, we didn't give them much of a chance. If that is the best the NL has to offer, I think the Cards should be just fine in the playoffs.

The playoff picture hasn't cleared up at all yet, everyday it manages to get more confusing. The Cubs haven't had the opportunity to lose the wildcard yet with the hurricane. They might get an extra home game out of the deal which is nice for them. But it also could turn one of their off days into a double header. The magic number against them is 10 now. Of course if anyone besides the Cubs or Astros wins the wild card we would play them. As it stands right the further west a team is the more I want to play them. San Fran, San Diego, Houston, Chicago, Florida. The more we beat LA the more likely it is we will play them in the first round if a Central team wins the wild card. And right now that sounds good, because we own them.

Anyway, I'm of of town for a few days, I won't even be able to watch the games so I won't be commenting on them.

Ode to Cardinals Fans

Ode to Cardinals Fans
a poem by Bob Sandheinrich

Cardinal Joe picks up his 32 ouncer,
Steps to the plate and hits a double play bouncer.
He's now 0 for 22,
but the fans do not Boo,
They even think Shannon's a good announcer.

Bonds is MVP

As much as I want to say that there should be a three way split in the MVP between the the Cardinals three headed offense monster, I have to admit that this year, just like the last few, Mr. Barry Bonds is the clear cut winner.

The top reason the classic most valuable argument. If you take any of the Cards off of the team they would still be a playoff team. Replace Rolen with Polanco, or Pujols with Tino Martinez and the Cards would probably be right with the Cubs. On the other hand replace Bonds with, say, Reggie Sanders and the Giants are tied with Arizona in the basement.

Next is the stats. Pick any stat that ends with average or percentage and Bonds is leading the league by a solid 150. The new stats that they make up everyday like Run Shares or Win Shares favor Bonds even more. And although those stats would come down if teams pitched to him more he would almost certainly be leading the league in Dingers and RBIs with more at bats.

There are only two arguments against Bonds, the playoff argument and the defense argument. Obviously if the Giants win the wildcard, then the first one goes out the window. But even if they barely miss, A-Rod won the MVP last year on a last place team. The defense argument is a good one, since Rolen is the best at playing third maybe ever and Edmonds is in line for another gold glove this year. But Bonds is far from a liability in left, he still has a good arm. So we will give a couple of points to to the rest of the MVP field for their glove work.

The last reason, is the X-factor, which is that extra thing that Bonds has. Just to prove it to the hard headed Cardinals fans like myself put yourself in this scenario. You are sitting at home watching TV flipping through the channels, after you go past the World Series of Poker on ESPN you see baseball on ESPN2. You realize right away that Bonds is batting in Coors field against some rag arm relief pitcher. Do you stop and watch? If they walk Bonds do you watch anyway? If they pitch to him do you get excited and on the edge of your seat? Do you secretly expect that he will hit a home run on every pitch? And finally, after he does his thing do you even considering watching Edgardo Alfonso or JT Snow bat? Any baseball fan in the country will get excited about Bonds, and watch him even thought they don't care about the game. That is what makes him special and part of the reason he deserves the MVP. Noone else captures attention that way, Pujols is probably second best but he still doesn't have the magic that Barry Does.

The Glorious Return

The left arm of god has returned. Very soon the prophecy will come full. The being whom we all call Ankiel is back! But Rick, no pressure just relax.

Like all St. Louis fans I hope that he will come back and be the dominant pitcher we all know he can be. A left handed starter with a 95 mile per hour fastball that moves along with a wicked curveball is a tool most pro teams would spend a lot for down the stretch. The cards will use him to make a start or two during the final 20 game stretch of the season, which will both rest the starters and set up the rotation going into the playoffs. He will also pitch out of the bullpen a few times. Crazy people are talking about him making the playoff roster, which I think is a bad idea. Unless Steve Kline is still hurt and this Flores fellow is ineffective, Ankiel should just wait for next year. The Cardinals need to make up their minds. On one hand they are limiting his media access, they want to have him pitch on the road where there won't be as much excitement and pitch in a non-pressure situation. On the other hand they say he has a chance to be a on the playoff roster. For those of you with 2 year memories, a playoff mentality is not one of Rick's strength.

Finally, the cardinals are good, and have now won twice as many game as they have lost. Since the start of June they've won nearly three times as many. Why change something that is going so good? The team that got us to the playoffs is the best team for getting us through the playoffs. Next year we may not have either Morris or Woody, opening the door for Ankiel and Danny Haren.