Strangers in an unholy land?

My wife's family is from Fall River Mass - which makes her a Red Sox fan. To drive this point home, we only bought tickets for 2 baseball games this season; May 11 against the Cardinals (when the athlete masquerading as a ML pitcher named Kip Wells lost 6-0) and today against the Red Sox. So we take you live to PETCO Park in Downtown San Diego!

Yep that's the AL's best warming up. Note, again, the outstanding seat location - Section 114. Eat THAT, Withleather.com!

It's 'Padres Trading Cards and Storage Cubes for Kids (presented by Upper Deck)' day at the ballpark. My wife asks if she can have one. Dude tells her they're for kids. She points to her belly (6 months pregnant). Dude smiles and hands it over. Moral: If you don't ask, you never know.

Game synopsis:

- SD Lineup: Against the AL's best, Padre manager Bud Black decides to sit the Giles brothers and Josh Bard, his first stringers in RF, 2B, and C. In hindsight, not a good move.
- BOS Lineup: Francona, not messing around, plays all his regulars, except Dustin Pedroia, thereby saving me an 0-4 on my fantasy team. Thanks Terry!

- First Inning: Jake Peavy hits Alex Cora, a harbinger (as it turned out) of his afternoon. Beckett looks sharp, retiring the side in order.

- Second Inning: Peavy gets JD Drew to ground meekly to 1B Adrian Gonzalez, who underhands to Peavy for the out. Peavy falls down as he gets to first, probably because Drew yelled "I suck!" as he got to the bag. Check that - Drew would have to give a shit first.
- Jason Varitek bloops a ball down the third base line. Khalil Greene gives a half-ass effort until he realizes LF Russell "Frankenstein" Branyan has no play, then kicks it into gear. Result: Ball falls harmlessly fair, Branyan and Greene collide. Varitek ends up at third, as Peavy hits the deck again (trying to tag him out). Padre 3B Kouzmanoff, apparently, decided to get a beer as the play started, making no effort to catch the ball and then making no effort to cover third. The hit is charitably scored a Triple. This will also be a recurring theme. Peavy strands the BoSox Captain at third. Beckett gives up a two-out single to Frankenstein but works around it.

- Third Inning: Peavy is betrayed by his defense (and some good hitting by Boston), giving up 3 runs. Boston goes with the pitch, hitting to the opposite field to get 5 hits in the inning. Could have been a lot less, if the following things hadn't happened. (a) If CF Mike Cameron hadn't been playing Coco Crisp like he was the second coming of Babe Ruth. (b) If RF Jose Cruz JR had attempted to throw out Alex Cora at home. He's playing Right - best arm in the OF, right? Instead, he caught Ramirez's fly ball.... crow hop.....crow hop....throws to second. What the hell was that? (c) If 2B Geoff Blum hadn't kicked JD Drew's slow roller to second. There were 2 out at the time, would have ended the inning. CHARITABLY scored an infield single (pretty sure the official scorer is a Boston Ex-Pat. Or was taking booooooong hits between pitches). (d) Cruz had tried to get to Lowell's soft liner RBI single. A little effort (perhaps a slide/dive?) and he can catch that ball. Wow. Varitek hits the hardest ball in the inning and lines out to Frankenstein (who made a nice running catch). Beckett gives up a leadoff single to Blum, who advances to third with 2 out and is left.

- Fourth Inning: Beckett singles and Cora walks, but Big Papi flies to RF to end the threat. Greene doubles to left with two out, but is stranded.
- Why is it that the 'MAKE NOISE' sign comes on everytime Peavy gets 2 strikes on a hitter? Are Padres fans that slow they can't think for themselves?
- Marine Corps hymn is played in the middle of the 4th. This pisses off the guy next to me. Why? He's a Marine (quote: "those guys are recruits! Not real Marines!") High comedy.

- Fifth Inning: Peavy gives up 2 singles to start the inning, but gets out of it. Beckett, still with a 3-0 lead, has his 'I'm Keith Hernandez!' moment for this game, giving up a 2-run double to Termel Sledge. Sledge eventually gets to third with one out, but is left.
- My wife gets drilled with a novelty ball, courtesy of the Pad Squad.

- Sixth through eighth inning: Peavy's gone after 5. Beckett sets down 9 of 10 after Sledge's double. In the top of eight, Linebrink comes in and grooves a 3-0 fastball to Varitek, who launches it 422 feet into the sandbox. 4-2 Red Sox. PETCO erupts. Beckett pitches the eighth even though Hideki Okajima is ready. Gets a Standing Ovation from the Red Sox faithful at the end of the inning.
- Conservatively, there were 25,000 Sox fans in the park out of 44,449 paid customers. And they were loud at the right times.

- Ninth Inning: Trevor Hoffman comes in to pitch. No one at PETCO notices (except your correspondent, of course) until he's announced. Then there's a cheer. I officially think all Padres fans are dead from the neck up. Hoffman introduces himself to David Ortiz: 87 MPH fastball (strike 1), 72 MPH change (strike 2), 72 MPH change (sit down). Ortiz never took the bat off his shoulder. Beautiful.

That's Papi with the 'what the hell just happened' look?

- Paplebon runs in from the pen. PETCO again erupts. Grudging respect for Boston fans: they pay attention, and know the game. This will be the last complement paid during this post. Frankenstein works the count 3-2 before striking out. Kouzmanoff is overmatched. Blum grounds weakly to second.

4-2 is the final.

We adjourn to Ghiradelli's chocolate store so the wife can celebrate her win, and then TGIF's for copious amounts of beer to mourn another NL team losing to an AL team. Crap.

Cards trade for Mike Maroth

Hey Look! A timely post! WOW!

Just saw the story on ESPN. Viva El Birdos has also commented on it, as well as supplied a link to the SB nation Tigers page.

Maroth was a member of my fantasy team this year. I took him immediately after we completed our draft mostly because I did a crappy job of drafting pitching, but he actually was a solid guy for me. He had 3 wins when my other 8 pitchers combined had 3 wins. I eventually released him because his ERA was over 5.00 and I had obtained some better pitching (CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona) to replace him.

Maroth is a gamer. He pitched in a Sunday night game on ESPN against Carmona and went 8, giving up 5 ER. This was after he gave up 4 of those runs in the first before he got the second out. Maroth righted himself and pitched very well against the potent Indian lineup. This start was especially noteworthy because the Tiger bullpen had been mauled over the previous 2 games and Leyland really needed his starter to get deep into the game. Maroth did. I like that kind of toughness in my pitchers.

Mike's a stop gap for a rotation in disarray. He's a lefty coming off arm surgery, his fastball tops out at 81 MPH, and he nibbles now (which is why his walks per 9 inn is up this year). That said, he's CERTAINLY a better option in the rotation than F-in Wells. Or Tomo Ohka. And I'd expect he'll get a shot to stick in the rotation as Mulder and (hopefully) Carpenter come back off the DL.

So, Welcome Mike Maroth. Good luck, and keep the ball down.

Start collecting those cans

Tomo Ohka? We signed Tomo Ohka?

I'll bet Walt Jocketty feels like a buyer at Kobey's swap meet. Or like he's pushing a shopping cart around the streets of St Louis ransacking trash bins for aluminum cans and bottles.

We signed Tomo Ohka?

Remember, he was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays. Toronto is only slightly more dysfunctional than the Rangers, if you've been following along on line. Toronto is the group of Canadian knuckleheads who tried to get B.J Ryan to pitch when he needed Tommy John surgery earlier this year - and then lied about his actual injury status for 2 months.

We signed Tomo Ohka?

Granted - our rotation isn't very pretty (Wainwright, Reyes, Wellmeyer, Thompson, F-in Wells). And I whole-heartedly agree with Larry Borowsky's analysis on Monday. Who should we have signed? Marquis? He had worn out his welcome and no longer gave a shit in St Louis. Suppan? Too pricey at $10 mil per (which we wouldn't pay Carpenter) Weaver? - seen his ERA this year (north of 10.00) Tejeda? Only a member of the worst starting staff in the Majors (all 5 Ranger starters are available in my fantasy league, and you'd have to be REALLY desperate for wins/innings to pick one of them up). Padilla? See above. Eaton? One good year does not a $8 million dollar pitcher make. and so on.

Fact is, Carpenter going down and F-in Wells being much, MUCH worse than advertised has really hurt this club. Signing Ohka really emphasizes how desperate the starting pitching situation is. At least (a) they're not paying the majority of his contract, and (b) he has 2 weeks to get himself squared away or the club releases him.

Anyone else think Ryan Franklin should get a shot? The club is 6 under .500 and currently dead in the water. Why save Franklin for the end of the game when you so rarely get to the end with a lead to protect?

Rotisserie Update

For 4 consecutive weeks, I've posted the best numbers in my league. I attribute this to many work hours spent combing the Sportsline.com web page instead of doing real work, shrewd management of the team, and pure dumb luck. My 3 most crucial moves so far:

a. Picking Richie Sexson up off waivers. His last 3 healthy season he's averaged 30+ HR and 100+ RBI. He may hit .200 this season, but he'll hit 20 HR and knock in 80. And I'll take it. Replaced: Shea Hillenbrand.
b. Trading Jorge Posada, Milton Bradley, and Akinori Otsuka for C.C. Sabathia. I got Aki back via waivers, and the dude I traded Bradley to subsequently dropped him. Yes, Posada is leading the league in hitting, but my other catcher is Victor Martinez (who led the league in RBI until today); I had 6 wins through 4 weeks. Sabathia has 6 wins by himself for the club. I moved from last in wins to second in 3 weeks. Replaced: John Danks.
c. Adding Reggie Willits. He's only hit .325 and stolen 13 bases since Garret Anderson went on the DL. His SB prowess vaulted me into a dogfight for second in steals. I now also have a 20 steal margin on the 4th place team. Replaced: Garret Anderson.

There've been a couple of other events, like having Fausto Carmona on the roster (he's 5-0 for my team), sticking with Dustin Pedroia (hottest hitter in either league since 12 May), Mike Lowell's resurrection (who would have thought he'd be leading the Red Sox in HR and RBI on 1 June?), picking up Okajima to cover the saves Paplebon doesn't get, and so on. Actually Paplebon has been a bit of a disappointment - he only has 13 saves so far. Hell Al Reyes has 10.

I have two decisions upcoming: what to do with Jon Lester if he returns to the bigs (trade him? Drop Paul Byrd?), and what to do with Garret Anderson (which OF do I drop?). Anderson's the bigger question mark since I don't have a big bat in the OF HR and RBI-wise. All my outfielders are fast guys who hit for average (Casey Blake is eligible in the OF which is why he's positioned there). But right now I enjoy an 11 point lead. I'm hoping that, with the season a quarter gone, the rankings won't be as volatile as they were the first month, and I'll stay there for a while.

Now if only Papleboner can get some more saves.....

If it looks like s*%t and smells likes s*%t, then...

Kip Wells. The Jason Marquis of 2007.

Initially I thought his troubles were simply due to the Cardinals not scoring any runs. I got to watch him lose to the Padres 7-0 in person, and although he didn't pitch particularly well, that fact was masked by Jake Peavy throttling the Cardinals as he allowed 3 hits through 7 innings of work.

However during Saturday's rain delayed 'Game of the Week' (how can the game of the week include a team that's 7 games under .500? Wouldn't Indians/Tigers have been a better choice?), I got to watch Kip dissolve in Houston. Here's the abridged play-by-play for the bottom of the 5th, in case you missed it:

- Has Brunson 1-2, hangs a slider. Brunson's first hit of the year.
- Hangs a slider to Everett. Single in the left-center gap. First and Third.
- Over-runs Sampson's sacrifice bunt for an error. Bases loaded.
- Hangs slider to Biggio, who hits it right at Spiezio at third. Brunson forced at home. Bases remain loaded, one out.
- Pence lines high fastball off wall in right for double. Two runs in, second and third.
- Infield back, Berkman grounds to second. Sampson scores, two out, runner at third.
- Lee walked (unintentional intentional walk).
- Loretta grounds to second.

See the trend? Give Wells a mulligan on the muffed sac bunt. That could happen to anybody, although a major leaguer should make that play 100 times out of 100. But his problem is execution. Way too much of the plate 1-2 to start the inning. Hanging breaking stuff gets hammered at this level. Wells' problem is execution, plain and simple. He's gotta execute, or he's going to be the first 20-game loser in a long time for St. Louis.

Or perhaps La Russa will send him down.

And perhaps giving him #21 wasn't the greatest equipment managing decision of all time.

On another note, I thoroughly enjoyed McCarver blasting A-Fraud for bungling a play in New York's nightmare of a seventh inning Saturday. With runners at first and second, and the ball hit to the outfield, A Rod should have stayed at the bag. Pitcher backs up home, and the first baseman becomes the cut off man in the center of the diamond. This is so basic even I know it.
No wonder the Yankees suck this year - fundamentally, they're not very sound.

Rotisserie update later this week. Suffice to say I have a sizeable lead in the league, and don't want to jinx it.

Reyes to AAA and other randomness

I find it mildly surprising that Anthony Reyes was optioned to AAA on Sunday. Actually I find it very surprising.

The Cardinals have scored, on average, 2.11 runs per start in support of Reyes. Now unless your name contains a Gibson, Koufax, or Drysdale in it, that's not enough run support to be successful. Additionally, he's gotten LESS support than good ol' Kip Wells (who, to be fair, has only earned 2.76 runs on average per start) but his ERA is better (6.08 to 6.20). Why not option Wells?

(strange interlude - I realize that comparing these two is like trying to decide whether to call it poop or BM. Either way you're talking about shit.)

Do the Cardinals really think that sending Reyes down AGAIN will help straighten him out? He's been on the yo-yo string for the past 2 years, and from where I sit he hasn't gotten any better. He's young; this is a bad team; what's the harm in letting him learn from the school of hard knocks? Jeremy Bonderman lost 19 back in 2003; most folks consider him a pretty good pitcher now (I consider him the ace of that staff, but my opinion is colored by the fact that he pitches for my rotisserie team). Maybe he'd be a little more comfortable if he wasn't constantly checking his locker to see if there's a plane ticket for Memphis stuck in there.

Or perhaps he's constantly racking up frequent flyer miles because he frustrates the hell out of LaRussa and Duncan, and they're trying to teach him a lesson. I don't know.

Other random thoughts:
- I'm tired of playing hot teams. I want to be the hot team for a while.
- Thanks to the Nationals for returning Cardinal Nation to reality following the sweep of the Pirates.
- Did you notice the Pirates are currently in second in the division? Of course, they're 5 under...
- Rolen, Edmonds, and AP start to show signs of life, and Molina breaks his wrist. Out 4-6 weeks. Wow. Brian Esposito was called up to take his place.

That's it for today.

Fantasy update - Week 9

Well, it's decision time.

I've posted my fantasy roster in the margin to the right, because I KNOW my reader(s) were dying to see it. At any rate, after mucho tinkering (and many dirty looks from the wife) I left my roster alone for almost 2 weeks - and amazingly zoomed into first place in the league! Lassiez-faire works!

But not learning from my success, I've begun to tinker again. Mostly because I need more saves (I'm currently 7th in the league with 14). I have arguably the best closer in the AL right now, Jonathan Paplebon, on my roster; trouble is, Boston blows everybody out, so he doesn't get to pitch much in a save situation. Last night he threw a scoreless inning... in a 10-6 game....because HE NEEDED THE WORK.

So I picked up ex-Padre Aki Otsuka off waivers. He's the Rangers set-up man (closer: Eric Gagne). This is the second time that Aki has appeared on my roster. The first time, I used him as trade leverage to pry CC Sabathia from a competitor (as well as Jorge Posada and Milton Bradley - of course, at the time I didn't anticipate Posada leading the league in hitting). I really needed the wins (I had 6 through 5 weeks). Worked out great for me.

Aki will be a closer option for me and should get save opportunities - I don't trust Gagne's health, and expect he'll break down at least one more time this year.

I now have a glut of pitching - including Duchscherer (DL), Phil Hughes (DL), Jon Lester (DL), and Dice K - someone has to go. Actually some 3 will have to go eventually. For now, there's one roster spot for 2 guys.

If you're reading this, you're either family, I paid you to leave a comment (so I don't appear to be toiling in anonymity), or you follow the Cardinals. Remember Izzy's hip issues last year? 10 blown saves, never could get the extension he needed to throw the curveball or keep the fastball down, was shut down in Sept? Duchscherer has an arthritic hip. He's not the same pitcher he was last year (All-Star). He'll be dropped because I don't believe his 6+ ERA is worth the couple of saves I could get from him. Aki will replace him on the roster.

Since it appears Dice K won't miss a start due to the stomach flu, and because he leads the league in wins (7), I'll move him back into the active roster. Most likely casualty? Mike Maroth. He's been a stud (3-0) in wins, although not in ERA; but someone needs to get cut, Byrd and Carmona are hot, Sabathia, Bonderman, and Garland are keepers, so Maroth loses out. I feel bad about this, but that's the business.

The last decision concerns Howie Kendrick. He's 2 for 10 so far after coming back off the DL, and I have until 6 Jun to get him back into the lineup or the computer will drop him automatically. Here's the conundrum: I was going to drop Pedroia, but he's hot and hitting .275 for the year. I thought about dropping Gordon, but he appears to have turned the corner. So now what? Either Hill or Pedroia will get cut, but I can't figure out who. Too bad Kendrick isn't eligible for the OF; that would be a no-brainer (cut Adam Lind).

Have an opinion? Feel free to voice it below. I'd be interested.

Can't keep my mouth shut

I've got work - real work - to do today, as I returned from a week of leave on Thursday morning, and I should be doing that instead of this.

However, this decision by the Hancock family really bothers me.

Brian Burwell, who I have had occasion to disagree with (especially when he defends Barry Bonds and lampoons Mark McGwire), actually posted a good opinion article on this subject.

Allow me to pile on.

I was a bar regular once. I hope your life never devolves to the point that you find solace on a bar stool. However, there is a fraternity-like atmosphere that exists amongst the regulars. You look forward to seeing them; they become your extended family. The bar tenders are part of that family; they know your name and what you're having. I will admit to enjoying walking into my bar, having the gent (or lady) tending that night nod hello, then going and pouring my drink for me (if you care, mine was MGD in a bottle).

Which brings me to my point - bartenders TAKE CARE OF THEIR REGULARS. If Josh Hancock was a regular at Shannon's restaurant, as we are now led to believe, they would DEFINITELY have tried to pursuade him to take a cab home. I guarantee it. The folks working the bar at my place did it for me on more than one occasion. My fellow regulars would tell me to take a cab when I had too much - again, they're your family.

At my bar, one of the regulars hosted a Christmas Eve party for some friends/family (read: other bar regulars). As I was dating his roommate at the time, I went. He, predictably, got drunk, continued drinking after the party broke up, passed out on a couch in the garage (they had turned the garage into a party den) in the wee hours while smoking a cigarette, and set the house on fire - starting with himself and the couch he was laying on. The emergency workers don't know how he survived - but he did. During his recovery, the bar held at least one (and I think more) 'pass the hat' events to help defray the cost of his medical bills.

THAT's how far some places will go for one of their regular paying customers - you know, the guys who support their tip jars and help pay for the lights and the booze.

Attempting to hold Shannon's employees or the restaurant itself culpable for what Josh did that night is ridiculous. Josh decided to drink that night. Josh decided to drive against the judgement of others who cared for him. Josh was distracted while driving by his cell phone call. Josh chose to not wear his seat belt.

Josh killed himself due to his recklessness. Thank God he didn't take the tow truck driver or the stalled motorist with him.

I won't comment on including them in the lawsuit, for I'm trying to give up cursing as a part of my daily speech.

Does Dean Hancock want to sue those responsible for his son's death? Then I have a suggestion for him: Start with yourself. I'm quite sure you KNEW he was self-destructive; you KNEW he had an alcohol and possibly a drug problem; you KNEW he had a lot of free time to get into trouble. He was your son. Parental responsibility doesn't end once a child is out of college; it's a lifetime committment. YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING.

But you didn't. And you will have to live with that for the rest of your life.

Don't blame the innocent for your failings as a father.

Cards at Padres - Game 2

This post is late - oh my, is it late - this seems to be the trend this year for the ol' blogger here.

No excuses - we're all busy.

Cardinals lost this series 2-1, losing 3-0 on Sunday, and have since smacked Brett Tomko around to win against LA 8-3. Some belated impressions of last Saturday's game (a much more pleasant experience than the 7-0 whitewash the previous night):

Five in the third was fantastic. However, it should have been 1. I thought AP had hit it out when the 3-2 pitch left his bat; I don't know if the damp SD air knocked that ball down or if he just barely missed it, but it definitely died on the track. The most inexplicable part of that ball is how Sledge missed it. He appeared (from my excellent vantage point in the Toyota Terrace down the LF line) to be there in time to make the play; next thing you know, the ball is rolling towards Mike Cameron. Wow.

The scary thing is, if Sledge makes that play, Edmonds lineout to CF is the last out of the inning. One Run. Taguchi never gets to bat with the bases loaded. And the rest of the game is significantly different. For one, LaRussa plays the 6th different after Looper was hit by a pitch (which caused my heart to jump into my throat, by the way - our best pitcher so far gets plunked. yikes). I'm willing to bet either (a) he hits for Kennedy there, or (b) some sort of squeeze would have been called. Likewise, Bard's leadoff single to start the bottom of the 8th leads to a completely different strategy by the Padres, as they try to push across the tying run.

Of course, the StL relievers probably wouldn't have been Springer and Johnson, but you never know.

I had sarcastically proclaimed, after Friday's meek showing, that I would be happy if the Cardinals had an inning with more than 1 hit in it. So, like I said, the 5-spot was nice. But they didn't hit the ball with authority; they had only 3 hits after Taguchi's double (and one of those was a GIFT - how did Yadi get credit for a single on a ball that went THROUGH Branyan's glove? That was an error when I played the game); and we all saw them get mowed down the next day.

My loyal fan-ness to this team will not wane or diminish, but after the last 6 seasons of good baseball, this is tough to watch.

Cards at Padres - Game 1

Yep, it's time for the annual trek to the Litterbox and the Cardinals' lone series in San Diego. Since virtually everyone who cares about the Cardinals is aware of their 7-0 loss last night, and has probably digested all the info there is on the game, here's some tidbits for you from last night:

- Kip Wells is just as awful in person as his stats would suggest. Rarely tops out above 90 on the radar gun with his fastball. He followed a great job striking out Adrain Gonzalez in the 3rd by hanging a slider to Khalil Greene - who promptly belted it into the leftcenter field stands. Nice lapse of concentration, Kip.

- Russell Branyan must star in Wells' nightmares. I can't believe the HR he hit in the second inning had enough juice to get out. Off the end of the bat down the LF line. When you're going bad, even luck laughs at you.

- Padres fans started the wave in the top of the third inning with the score 2-0, cementing their place among baseball fans as the most ridiculous. Wave started in the upper deck.

- I sat in the upper deck.

- It was 70s retro night - and the best part of it was the dance off before the start of the 6th inning. Winner - the girl with the Beyonce' glasses and hair from 'GOLDMEMBER', boobs flapping in the wind (not exposed, which was probably a good thing), and the Oh-so-classy spider tattoo between the breasts. There's a nice girl to take home to Mama.

- To his credit, Tony LaRussa is trying to jump start this offense. Two stolen bases last night (Duncan, Rolen). Hit and Run on a 2-0 count with AP at the plate and Kennedy on first. And so on. But there's not much you can do when:
(a) the ball hardest hit by a Cardinal was Kip Wells' double;
(b) the other hard hit ball landed in Brian Giles' glove (Duncan's liner in the 6th);
(c) the Cardinals only got one guy to third all night (Wells);
(d) Jake Peavy is pitching. Usually the Cards look feeble against Jake, as do most all NL teams. But I always had that feeling in years past that the Cardinal offense was capable of hitting Jake in any inning or situation. Not last night.

So on to game 2. Chris Young hasn't lost at home since last 22 Sept, and the Cardinals have now gone 24 innings on the road without scoring a run. Looper, our best starter (!), faces Young tonight, so the offense won't have to do much. Which is good, because they probably won't.

Weekend round up

I had no inside data. I was just guessing. But, it came as no small surprise to me that Josh Hancock was legally drunk (0.157, as reported by the Post-Dispatch) at the time of the accident that killed him. However, the fact that he was drunk when he died led to some nasty comment threads being left at Viva El Birdos (one of my favorite Cardinal blogsites) in the game thread for that day.

I'm sorry Hancock is dead, because of the hole he has left in the lives of those who loved him. I lost my father little over a year ago; that left a gaping hole in my family, although we knew the end was coming. I can't imagine the pain Hancock's family and friends are dealing with right now.

That said, he should have known better than to step behind the wheel and drive after knocking a few back.

I highly doubt last Sunday morning's drive down the highway was the first time he'd driven drunk.

I also highly doubt that no one in the organization knew he was a partier and didn't have the maturity a 29-year old should. Where's the leadership? No wonder the team is drifting along right now.

Banning alcohol in the locker room - whatever. That's not going to deter someone from going out for a drink after the game. Great PR move, no appreciable effect in real life.

So that saga starts the week. Carpenter going on the DL for 3 months to have surgery and repair his elbow ended it. Yikes. Of all the starters the Cardinals used last year (Carp, Mulder, Suppan, Marquis, Ponson, Reyes, Weaver), only Reyes remains in the rotation. I don't think that was the plan coming out of spring training.

Why is the club 12-17? Edmonds' struggles aside, here's why: Wainwright hasn't pitched as well as he did during he spring. The reclamation project (Wells) has been god-awful (just like his career to-date indicated). Reyes increasingly looks like a 'never-was' - all hype, not good enough at the Major League level. Looper - well, Looper has pitched his ass off. And the band-aid squad has done the best they can (Kiesler, et al).

I don't forsee much improvement on the horizon. Is 29 games in too early to start 'playing out the string'?

Wow. Like. Long Time

I'm far, FAR too busy for my own good.

But you don't care. That's irrelevant. That's not why you stopped by.

So, as I watch the Cardinals trail Jeff (Crespi Hi) Suppan 3-1 in the third, some thoughts:

(1) I hope to God they don't find alcohol or drugs in Josh Hancock's system. That would make a sad event much worse. What happened Sunday morning was horrific. Deadspin wrote a nice article, I thought, of a fan's perspective on the tragedy. This, coupled with LaRussa's DUI and Carpenter's elbow, make me very glad to see the end of April 2007.

In other news, I'm in an AL-only fantasy league for this year. This is my first experience with the Rotisserie Fantasy League dementia. So far, it's been somewhat all-consuming; my wife would call it 'Obsessive'. Had I been keeping up with my mandate to post twice a week, you'd know many if not all of my trials and tribulations in April; allow me to summarize some of the humorous ones (at least, in my mind):

1. My best three starting pitchers are Matsuzaka, Bonderman, and Garland. They've had 15 starts. Going into tonight, how many wins? 3. All Dice-K.
2. Garland lost a win when Bobby Jenks couldn't protect a 1-0 lead in Oakland. 2 weeks later, Garland lost a win when Aardsma lost a 5-3 lead at home against Detroit. Bonderman lost a win when Jones blew a 3-1 lead against KANSAS Freakin' CITY. Suffice it to say I'm dead last in my league in wins.
3. If it wasn't for Mike Maroth, I'd have 4 wins. Maroth, who I picked up as a free agend following the draft (because I was stupid and didn't draft enough pitchers), has 2 wins - and should have 3, but he couldn't get out of the 5th against Anaheim with a 5 run lead. Nice.
4. My best hitters so far: Victor Martinez (who got hurt because Cleveland was dumb enough to play their opener in a snowstorm), who has subsequently cooled off while trying to work through a quad injury; Posada (who I've traded away for pitching - C. C. Sabathia, to be exact); and Howie Kendrick (who's on the DL after being hit in the hand by a pitch).
5. Despite that, and the fact that Michael Young can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag right now, I'm 4th in the league in hitting. Thank you, Aaron Hill and Adam Lind. Also I'd like to congratulate Kenny Lofton for playing like a 26-year old (even though he's 39).
6. Johnathan Papel-boner is my closer. I laugh in the face of adversity.

I will keep updating this site with tidbits from my fantasy league, because I've found this (so far) much more compelling than the Cardinals.

Redbirds lost 8-1 in the end to Suppan, who went the route. Beaten Saturday by Marquis. Beaten today by Suppan. Why do I get the feeling that Jeff Weaver could string together 6 quality innings against this lineup?

Anyone else see the graphic where the OPS for Cardinal RF and CF is last and 27th in MLB, respectively? Kinda sums up their futility at the plate, doesn't it?

Different day, same result.

Mets 4, Cards 1.

Good news: Rolen Homered. Duncan threw out Valentin at the play (great play by Molina to get back and tag Valentin after Eckstein's relay tailed up the first base line).

Er, that's about it.

More errors. More non-clutch hitting with RISP. More outfield gaffes (this time Shumaker). And to add insult to injury, Chris Carpenter complained of elbow pain yesterday and will miss his next start. It's a good thing the team has a number of off-days this week; I'm not sure who would be tapped as the emergency starter by LaRussa.

Our hopes ride with Braden Looper to avoid the sweep tomorrow.

I know they're not going to go 0-162, but I'd like to get a win sooner rather than later.

Oh, and a note to the Cardinal management: concur with raising the world champs banner on opening day. I think, in hindsight, the ring ceremony could have waited until after the Mets left town. They really felt they were the better team last season; I'm SURE they were even more motivated to play well in this series after watching the Redbirds celebrate their championship on successive nights. Just an opinion.

Yikes

U-gly. U-gly. Nah-nah-nah-NAH, nah U-gly.

What a way to start the year on national TV.

Observations from the 6-1 loss to New York:

- I like So Taguchi, but he didn't have a clue out there last night. Let 140-year old Moises Alou go first to third on a SINGLE to left-center. Did the best Reggie Sanders impression I've seen on Delgado's double off the wall. Gave up on a short fly ball to left that Eckstein had to flag down. Chris Duncan could not possibly have done any worse.

- Did anyone else get the sudden sick feeling Carp might be tipping his pitches - especially in the 2-5th innings?

- why, why, WHY did they decide to throw NOTORIOUS first-ball fastball hitter Alou a fastball on the first pitch in all 3 at bats Carp faced him? Results: single, screaming line drive that Edmonds flagged down, foul ball off the foot (at least that pitch rode in on him).

- They didn't hit this spring, and they aren't hitting (yet) now. 1-7 with RISP shouldn't surprise anyone.

- Can we just concede games that Glavine pitches to our opponent and move on?

On the bright side, Johnson and Flores pitched well, and Eckstein continues to chug along.

Thank God today's a day off.

Cardinals Preview

I have been remiss in my blogging duties. A lot has happened in the sportsworld over the past 2 weeks, and I won't bore you with trying to recap it here. However, a few points of order:

- Never bet on Kansas to win the NCAA tourney as long as Bill Self is the coach.

- The only thing better than Villanova making the tournament was watching North Carolina collapse at the end against Georgetown. I've not enjoyed a college basketball game as thoroughly as I enjoyed that one in a loong time. Although you can safely put me in the 'not a fan of Georgetown' camp, there are few teams in college basketball I despise as much as Duke and North Carolina (or the entire ACC for that matter).

- Yesterday's final 4 was singularly disappointing. The Final Four team I like least will play Ohio State for the national championship. As far as Florida's last opponent, UCLA: Howland is a pretty good coach, but how he could get schooled two years in a row is beyond me. In both games Afflalo was taken out of the game by Brewer (in yesterday's contest, the officiating didn't help much either). By midway through the second half, it appeared no one on UCLA wanted to take a shot.

- Joakim Noah wears his hair like Aurora at Pure Platinum. Also, he pushes off under the rim (and gets away with it) more than any big man in recent memory. If the refs from the OSU/G'Town game work FLA/UCLA instead, it may have been a very different outcome.

- I've entered a fantasy baseball league this season. I hope to do well, but since I (a) passed up Manny Ramirez to draft Ichiro, and (b) drafted Kiko Calero, I may end up in the cellar. This is why I picked the Browns as my team name: "First in booze, first in shoes, and LAST in the American League." Seemed appropriate.

2007 Cardinals predictions:
I feel like Bill Simmons - making predictions without doing any research. Will Leitch published a cute preview last week, but it was too much 'I'm so happy we won last year, this year doesn't matter' that it left me wanting. I am second to none in my glee at last season's result. But I think everyone is missing something about this season's team:

83 wins.

I really, really, REALLY believe that deep down in the psyche of this club, they will/are carrying this gigantic chip on their shoulder; all because the smart boys said they didn't deserve to be the champs because of their regular season record.

For crying out loud, Pujols still holds a grudge against the SCOUT that SIGNED HIM because his report allegedly said AP couldn't hit at the major league level.

Add to that, the consumate competitor in Chris Carpenter, a Scott Rolen eager to prove LaRussa wrong for benching him twice in September/October (and to regain his 2004 form), what I expect to be a monster year from Adam Wainwright, the resurrection of Ken Bottenfield (as Kip Wells this time).....the list goes on and on.

Competition in the division will be tougher this year, and the race will be much tighter. StL can't afford three 8 game losing streaks this year, or they'll finish out of the money. But this team will win more than 83 games. Write it down. Anything less than 90 would be a surprise to me.

Yes, this is a Cardinals website, first and foremost. Yes, I'm an unabashed fan for the birds on the bat. But these guys are competitors, and competitors don't just reach the Promised Land once and call it good.

Can't wait. Carp against Glavine in just under 3 hours. The first title defense in 24 years.

Go Cardinals.

Baseball? You Don't Need Any Stinking Baseball...

I hate Time Warner Cable.

Yes, I'm using the word 'hate' here. Why? Well, without turning into a raving lunatic, let me just say this: ordered Extra Innings in 2005. They didn't turn it on. I called the next day to inquire why. They turned it on and CHARGED ME AGAIN. Four phone calls and four months later, they turned off my cable TV (during Game 2 of the 2005 NLCS, by the way) because it was delinquent. Seems when they assured me they had corrected the problem, the operator entered the wrong code and charged me a third time, making my account $200 in arrears. They turned on my cable and fixed the billing problem that night. I won't go into detail as to how I accomplished that.

So when AT&T came around this past December offering phone/cable TV/internet connectivity for a low price, I jumped at the chance to leave Time Warner once and for all. Since then the following things have become apparent:

a) Channel 4 Padres is a cable subscriber service only. So I won't have Padres games on TV this season.
b) Roadrunner is a faster internet connection than DSL. This may be obvious to you the reader, but it wasn't to me.
c) MLB has decided to renew the MLB Extra Innings package only on DirectTV.

Today the cable subscribers reportedly agreed to match DirectTV's offer to carry out-of-market games for MLB. MLB, being the savvy public relations people that they are, quickly released a statement that the offer did not come close to matching DirectTV's offer.

Let's look at this from two perspectives:

1. If DirectTV had exclusive rights to carry out of market games, I would have been screwed becasue I don't have DirectTV.
2. If DirectTV and the cable companies decide to carry the out of market game package, I will be screwed because the AT&T bundled cable provider is DISH NETWORK. And they haven't indicated any interest in matching DirectTV's offer.

Do you see the irony?

I can't believe my hopes for seeing any Cardinals games on TV (not involving the Padres, of course) rest with John friggin' Kerry.

Those that forgot the past...probably lost money on this game

Kentucky 67, Villanova 58.

The AP summary of the game can be found here.

I'd like to thank CBS for forcing me to suffer through USC/Arkansas (which hasn't been closer than 10 since EARLY in the second half) instead of switching to this game, or even the Saluki/Holy Cross game, which was also competitive until Southern Illinois pulled away late. Thanks again, asshats.

I'm not a smart man, but I'd like to point out the following things that I predicted happening:

- Nova started fast, leading 18-13.

- Nova then didn't score for 6 minutes, turning a 5 point lead into a 3 point deficit.

- Additional scoring droughts pushed UK's lead to 10.

- Furious comeback saw the Wildcats close to within 5 late.

- Nardi misses a wide OPEN 3 that would have cut the lead to 2.

- Nova loses by 9.

Two other truths bore themselves out tonight: Kentucky hasn't lost a first-round game in 16 years; Villanova nas never advanced to the Sweet 16 in 3 consecutive years (People who didn't know the history of these programs, or did and chose to ignore it, lost money tonight).

Yet I still picked my alma mater to win this game in my pool. Sentiment will kill you every time. I did have tonight's winner going out to Kansas on Sunday, though. Reality had to set in somewhere.

For the first two days of the tournament, my record is 25-7. Pretty good. What's more amazing is all my Sweet 16 selections are still alive after the first round. That's never happened.

So now I'm reduced to rooting vicariously for the Xavier Musketeers. My brother has a passing interest in them (class of 2004). They only play one of the heavy favorites to win the whole thing: Ohio State. I might lose interest in this tournament entirely after tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow: Let me close with an old Irish Blessing:

May the road rise to meet you;

May the wind always be at your back;

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

May you stop doing Car Bombs when the horizon starts to blur;

May your Corned Beef and Cabbage hit the spot;

May the Uberhot redhead at the bar actually talk to you.

And some appropriately themed Irish attire:

Well, it's up

My Villanova NCAA tourney preview is posted over at Deadspin. You can read it here. Enjoy.

Well, the brackets are out....

...and the Wildcats made the tournament! Hell yes! Final Four here we come!!!

Better look over the brackets first...

uh, we open with Kentucky. Wildcats haven't lost a first round game since 1991. Actually they didn't lose that year, either; they were banned from the tournament due to recruiting violations. And Tubby Smith may be coaching to keep his job (no small motivation). Oh, boy.

If they win: Kansas. Probably the best team in the country right now (outside of Georgetown). Were getting clobbered by Texas recently in the first half, then poured it on in the second to win (of course, Durant turning his ankle didn't hurt). Yikes.

AND Villanova has never made the sweet 16 in three consecutive seasons (they made the Sweet 16 two years ago and the Regional Finals last year).

Well, perhaps the Final Four is a little ambitious. I'll be happy with a first round win.

On a high note, Deadspin is running previews of each game on their website. Yours truly penned the Villanova preview - so look for it. I'll post the two items I cut from my submission here after it runs over there.

I'm still a little surprised Syracuse and West Virginia didn't make the NCAA field. After Nova lost to Georgetown at home and Marquette in Milwaukee, I felt they had to win their remaining 3 regular season games and 1 Big East tournament game to get in. I also had a sneaking suspicion that, because there are upsets in conference tournaments and the team that is supposed to win doesn't always, Syracuse at Villanova was an NCAA elimination game. It really helped Nova's cause that they, the Orangemen, and the Mountaineers all went out in the same round of the Big East tourney. If WVU wins against Louisville, they're probably the 9 seed playing Kentucky instead of Nova. If Syracuse completes the 7-point play against the Wildcats, they might be in the tourney instead of Villanova.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Big East Tourney - Finals preview

Ten games. 9-1 record. Correctly called the Catholic confrontation nailbiter. I've ordered a wheelbarrow to haul my balls around in for the rest of the weekend.

Before we preview G'Town/Pitt, Cardinal relief specialist Josh Kinney will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. Kinney had thrown 2 ineffective innings this spring, giving up 6 runs total. It seemed odd that a guy who was virtually unhittable during last Sept/Oct would regress so badly in such a short time. I'm actually relieved that the root cause was something he had no control over, and had been (apparently) tearing for quite some time.

This makes it even more important that Jason Isringhausen is able to go for the season opener. Losing him would shift Wainwright back in to the bullpen, throwing a spot in the starting rotation open, meaning one of the long/middle relievers would shift into the rotation, meaning 2 spots would open up in the bullpen - just a mismash of issues. So here's hoping Izzy's first appearance this coming Thursday goes well.

On to the tourney.

Game 11: Pittsburgh vs. Georgetown. G'Town won the only meeting between these two schools in the regular season. Pitt was one of the top 5-10 teams until late in the year; G'Town has been on a roll of late. Win for the Hoyas may mean a #1 seed in the NCAAs; Either way, these two teams will be #2's when the brackets come out tomorrow. I dislike both these teams, so I probably won't watch the game (because they both can't lose); but I'm going to ride the hot hand here, and go with the Hoyas.