My What A Happy Day

If you have kids, or are older than, oh, say 30, you've probably seen the Disney movie "Mickey and the Beanstalk". The singing harp (pictured above, as if you needed clarification there) sings a song titled "My What a Happy Day", which helps the valley Mickey lives in flourish.

And after the systematic destruction of Pittsburgh engineered by the Cardinals yesterday, that's exactly how today feels. Even if it is raining here in God's Country.

Overall a lovely night of baseball. Lohse pitched the way we hope he pitches all season, 7 innings, 3 runs. Albert homered. Duncan homered. Yadi tripled - tripled! - his first since June 5, 2005 off Roger Clemens (of all people). Yadi also homered. Joe Thurston knocks in 2. Khalil knocks in two. And Colby Rasmus - welcome to the Major Leagues, kid. An OBP of .600 will get you all kinds of fans and playing time.

Schu made an error in the field, but it was on a rushed throw vice a range issue. I'm thinking that's less of an issue than him kicking a ball. The error didn't hurt, as he started a double play on the next hitter to erase the miscue. So even that came up roses.

It was good to see the club bounce back after the way Monday's game ended. One always wonders how a loss like that will affect a team. Looks like they put it behind them right away. LaRussa's teams have always been mentally tough. It also helps that the loss occured at home in April. If it had happened in August in Pittsburgh, and cost the team a game in a tight pennant race, it would have been harder to recover from I'm sure.

Tonight Todd Wellemeyer gets the ball against Zach Duke. Duke is another lefty, so we may see the same lineup as for Monday against Maholm. Hopefully they'll plate more than 2 runs tonight. Todd tries to shake off a bad spring training with a good effort vs Pittsburgh. This is a good team for him to face to do that. Todd's 4-1 with a 1.18 WHIP in 17 career games against Pittsburgh (most of that in relief, granted, but still).

Finally the UCB radio hour returns tonight - with the hope I will be able to dial in. It's from 1930-2030 WEST COAST TIME (emphasis added because I screwed that up on Sunday). Feel free to call in, or chat, or just listen. Should be scintillating.