So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

The one year anniversary of this site is this Sunday, however, the odds of there being a gala celebration a la Kissing Suzy Kolber is pretty low.

One, I don't have the readership that most excellent blog has.

Two, I've been called up.

MVN.com offered me a writing position on their Cardinals blog, and I decided to take it. Why? Because what difference does it make if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it. I figured what the hell. I'm writing there under my real name, not this psyudomym; and I hope it becomes a springboard to bigger things.

I intend to keep the same posting schedule (Tues/Fri) for the rest of this season; after that, who knows.

I may still post periodically here (you can't forget where it is you come from), but for all the Cardinals content, surf on over to MVN.com.

It's been a blast writing here for the past year. Thanks to all who stopped by to read this and even left a comment or two. I would certainly still be toiling in the wilderness without you.

Read This

I came across this article while at ussmariner.com. Read it, and read it all the way through. I think you'll enjoy it.

It's HOT

We've had a heat wave here the likes of which I've not seen since I left my parents home in LA in search of fame and fortune. Wow. 104 degrees at the homestead; we fled to the beach, where it was a cooool 90.

Once again proving it's good to be a guy - my wife, who is mit kinder, didn't get to sleep until after 2 this morning - a combination of the heat, physical pain, and the fetus just beating the shit out of her because he's hot too. I don't know how she hasn't gone insane the last 4 days. I'm not sure how I haven't.

Anyway, back to the team of interest. First off, I spent most of the last 5 days in a media blackout, so I didn't realize Juan Encarnacion had been horribly injured until after I posted on Friday. Believe what you want about Juan E - he didn't hustle, he's a liability in the outfield, whatever. The fact of the matter is, he carried the club offensively throughout the month of July; his grousing when Rick Ankiel got called up is completely understandable (he hadn't really done anything to merit a benching); and he's played hard since that day when he's had an opportunity. To be injured so greviously on such a freak play is awful. No one deserves to get hurt as badly as he did, not even Barry Bonds. Baseball has a short list of players who've suffered eye trauma; for most, the prospects of getting back on the playing field isn't good. Hopefully Juan bucks the trend and is able to make a full recovery.

Scott Rolen is shut down for the year. I personally applaud that decision. Get better Scott and tear it up next season.

The club gets to a game over .500 for the first time since April...and KFW lays his traditional egg. 11-0 whitewash yesterday. Ouch. Based on reports in the Post-Dispatch today, Reyes is officially out of the rotation for the year. With that, and the expiration date having passed on KFW, what's the Cardinals rotation look like for the rest of the year? Apparently Wainwright, Looper, KFW, Piniero, Mulder, and Maroth. The six-man rotation is a novel concept, much like hitting the pitcher 8th; the Club is, I believe, 17-11 since La Russa moved his hurler up one spot in the order, so who's to say the six-man rotation won't work?

Despite the gagger yesterday, St Louis is 3-1 on this homestand. Taking the next 3 from Pittsburgh, in preparation for their road trip to AZ and CIN, will be important. Luckily the two clubs they're chasing also got shellacked yesterday, so we're still 2 games out. Anything can happen from here on out.

One shining moment amidst a bunch of clunkers

I had hoped that the team would take 2 of 3 in Houston, but thought they would lose 2 of 3. Woody had been hot; Oswalt usually hypnotizes Cardinal bats; and then we can beat up on the rook. Didn't quite work out that way.

Houston of late has been a house of horrors for the Cardinals - except for one indescribably exquisite HR in the 2005 NLCS - so losing 2 of 3 doesn't bother me. What's more important is they didn't lose much ground to the Cubs, and they made up the one game they lost by beating Cincinnati last night 8-5.

Some comments on happenings around Cardinal Nation.

- Looks like I was dead wrong about Joel Piniero. He's pitched quite well since being acquired. He certainly pitched well enough to win on Thursday, but for the fact the Cardinals haven't figured out Albers like the rest of the NL has.

- Lots of type has been spent concerning the physical condition of Scott Rolen. He is, and remains, one of my favorite players; if he asked out of his final AB on Wednesday because he was in too much pain, well, that's a warning shot to the organization. Shut him down and let him heal. Making the playoffs this season is a long shot, anyway; even if by some miracle the Cardinals do make it, it's unrealistic to believe they'll survive past the NLDS. I'm not saying we should mail in the rest of the season, not by a long shot - the team's fought hard these past 3 weeks to get back into contention, and will continue to do so - but the long term health of Rolen is much more important than keeping him active at 50% or less for the rest of this season.

- Should they make the post-season, what will their rotation be? You gotta go with your best 3 starters, of course. Wainwright being the ace of the rotation is a no-brainer. I would think Looper's earned a chance to be the #2 starter. So who do you choose for #3? KFW, no friggin' way. Too inconsistent, and it is true he seems to have reverted back to his first half form in recent starts (I can't believe a rainout in Chicago would have messed with his head/preparation so much he's lost the bubble). So it's Piniero or Reyes. Reyes, although he has pitched much better in this turn in the rotation, is still VERY prone to the big inning, whereas Piniero has been tough.

So I'd go with Wainwright, Looper, and Piniero. Note that I use no statistical analysis to back this up; call it a hunch.

Of course, this is all subject to change depending on how the month of September plays out.

At any rate, Wainwright attempts to pitch the club back to .500 tonight against the Reds, and we will be waiting anxiously to see how that works out. Our old friend Jason Marquis works today for Chicago against those Astros, and the Brewers send Dave Bush to the mound at home against Pittsburgh.