First things first...

05/08/2012

Cardinals 6 Diamondbacks 1

Dear Cardinals,

Should I keep the broom in the closet tonight or are you guys actually going to get 'er done?

How awesome is Carlos Beltran? So awesome that he hit a  two-run home run and a grand slam in back-to-back innings, making my night considerably less stressful.

'Til Later!

Pixie dust? Lance Lynn is 1st NL starter to 5 wins.

"Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again.  That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is."-- Bob Feller

05/02/2012

Pirates 3 Cardinals 12

Dear Carlos Beltran,

It's funny how on the day your slump reached the magnitude (3 for 32) that inspired a worried press to interview you before the game about whether you were actually in a slump, you proceeded to go 4 for 5 with two 3- run home runs, finishing the game with a career-best seven RBIs. You told the beat reporters that you aren't hitting because you've lost that hitting feel and that it has nothing to do with batting clean up.  (Although you did mention that you are being pitched differently in the fourth spot than you were in the second.)  I'm just impressed that a reporter at least questioned whether you were in a slump because of your new lineup position.  I mean, your slump started when you went to the clean up spot. I'm glad someone noticed and asked whether that was a problem instead of just saying you were just in a slump that happens to correlate with a new spot in the lineup.  But I digress.

I'm guessing that you have that "feel" back.  I think you got that feel back when you sent the Aj Burnett's sixth pitch of the game over the right field fence with a nice, easy swing.

Yes, I wrote AJ Burnett's SIXTH pitch.  The man threw only six pitches to the first four Cardinals batters and found himself down 4-0.  And there were no outs. What do you even do as a pitcher when that happens?  I guess you shouldn't wave the white flag,accepting that it isn't your night; you should buckle down, weather through it and refuse to give up any more runs.  AJ did a good job of weathering through the start-- his problem came because he still gave up runs.  Twelve runs in 3 innings look very good added to your ERA. No, it doesn't actually.

'Til Later

P.S. Congratulations to Lance Lynn on winning his first 5 games!

The first W

05/01/2012

Pirates 7 Cardinals 10

Dear Cards,

Congratulations for scoring your first runs while Wainwright's on the mound!  It only took a whole month!

Allen Craig-- welcome back.  You're like a shot in the arm.

David Freese-- you strike out a lot, but somehow you always come through at the best times.

Yadi Molina-- I really think you have some invisible shield you put on when on the bases. Two stolen bases last night and you're second on the team in stolen bases. 

Matty-- great game yesterday.  I hope this is the start of your average trending upward. Oh, and can you take your friend Carlos Beltran along, too?  He is starting to tailspin (of course, I think it's because he hits best in the two-hole, but no one else thinks this argument has any weight.)

Adam Wainwright-- congratulations on your first "W" since 2010!

Fernando Salas-- please get your stuff together because it is getting ugly.  Last night you came into a 10-4 game and proceeded to make it a proper ball game instead of keeping it a laugher.  I like laughers (clarification: when the Cardinals are winning).  I do not like two hits and two walks in a one inning relief appearance. Confounding.  It was even more confounding how Matheny left you in after it was obvious you weren't going to get any more than two outs.

'Til Later!

Tossed into the 'ssippi:  Fernando Salas

What, what!

04/06/2012

Cardinals 11 Brewers 5

Dear Cardinals,

Way to lay the hurt on the Brewers today! Too bad those three Brewers runs scored in the ninth and made the score somewhat respectable.

It's fun spoiling teams home openers.

I'm falling in love with ya'll-- speed and stolen bases, timely hits and home runs, and sexy, gutsy pitching. There's so much swag these first two games.

You all are striving for the extra base.  No one seems afraid of making a mistake, and it shows in the freedom you all give yourselves on the field.  In order to accomplish a goal or the seemingly impossible, you can't be afraid to fail.  If you don't try at all-- if Furcal didn't try to stretch his single into a double because of the fear of being tagged out-- you never know what could occur. You could find yourself in scoring position. Sure, you could play it safe and stay on first, but I like that the team is running the bases aggressively. 

I do hope, however, that you guys will run a small bit more conservatively on such hits if losing.  

I hope Matheny finds the proper balance of resting the old guys and playing the young bench players.  The young guys need to stay sharp and the old guys need to rest their surgically-repaired knees (I am looking at you-- Berkman, Beltran, and Furcal).

The team already look unstoppable.  (Winning makes me write fanciful  nonsense.)

I hope the first loss never happens. But it will, and when it does, I hope this is the sort of team that always come back and wins the next day.

It looks like it may be.

 

Please win tomorrow in Wainwright's first game post- surgery.

'Til Later