Spring Training News

Hope everybody had a fun and safe St. Pat's Day.

Here's the top news from spring training this week:

• On Monday, The Mets scored 2 in the 9th inning off of Pete Parise to walk off 6-5. Ludwick drove in 2 runs, Albert Pujols drove in 1, and Felipe Lopez collected 2 hits. Brad Penny was unable to continue rolling from the momentum of his last strong start and was roughed up to the tune of 3 runs in 3.2 innings. 
• The Cards lost to the Nationals on Tuesday 4-2. Ryan Ludwick and Nick Stavinoha both collected hits apiece, but the Cards collectively went 2-11 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Kyle Lohse got pretty beat up and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings. Jaime Garcia was impressive in relief, throwing 3 scoreless innings, while allowing only 1 hit and striking out 7.
• After a day off on Wednesday, the Cards lost again on Thursday to the Braves by a score of 5-3. That drops the Cards to a record of 5-8 this spring. To keep consistent, Rich Hill was beaten up his start as well. He gave up 3 runs in 3 innings on only 2 hits, but he walked 5 batters.
• The Cards' 2009 Rule 5 draft pick, Ben Jukich, was returned to the Reds. By rule, the Birds would have had to keep him on the 25 man active roster for a full year in order to keep him. The when  the Cards realized that was not going to happen, Jukich was returned. La Russa was hoping to work out some sort of trade with Cincinnati to keep him, but no deal was reached.
• In injury news: Julio Lugo should be back in the lineup by Monday, Brendan Ryan should be back full time in a week or so and is available to pinch run or play defense right now, and Matt Holliday is also making slow but steady progress.

Howard For Pujols? Keep Dreamin' Philly

I feel like I need to comment on the whole "Albert Pujols for Ryan Howard" trade.

The only problem is that I don't even know where to begin with how ridiculous this story is. And I am even more surprised that an ESPN guy, Buster Olney, would bring up something as heinous as this.

It would not make any sense at all for the Cardinals. Financially, Ryan Howard is making more than Pujols this year. Not to mention, he will command a contract near the amount of Pujols. It's not like it will save the Cards a ton of money in the short-term or the long-run.

I wonder if Buster Olney is spreading rumors about me right now.

The main reason, however, that this trade would never take place is purely talent related. Not to discredit Howard at all. He is an amazing player. But he's no Pujols. Howard has power and run scoring abilities. Pujols has those same skills, along with a much better glove, and about 12,000 fewer strikeouts...per season.

I can't remember where I read it, but I read a tip for Buster Olney last night. He just needs to stay away from the Cardinals and do what ESPN pays him to do and cover the Yankees and Red Sox.

Cardinals Weekend News

Here is a quick run down of all the Cardinals news from this past weekend:

• The Cards beat the Astros on Saturday, 8-5. The Cards had 7 doubles and 2 homers in the game. The HRs were from Julio Lugo and Ryan Ludwick. Chris Carpenter pitched solidly for the most part, but was still a little shaky at times. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in his 3 innings of work, but also struck out 5 batters. And the 2 runs were scored on one mistake when he left a fat pitch over the plate to Astros rookie Chris Shelton.
• Albert Pujols was back in the line up Saturday and looked to be in good shape. He ripped the first pitch he saw in the 1st inning on a line to center for a single. He doubled down the line in his second AB and walked in his final plate appearance before giving way to a pinch runner.
• The Cards won again on Sunday beating Washington 7-3. The pitching match up was a doozie as Wainwright was set to duel against Nats phenom Stephen Strasburg. Adam Wainwright worked 4 innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits. Pujols, who is taking it easy, took Sunday off and Allen Craig filled in for him at first base. Craig went 2-5 and drove in a run.
• I know Colby Rasmus has been off to a hot start this spring (.364, 2 HR, 7 RBI), and he was in the clean up spot in the order today, but Washington was overly careful with the cheese man on Sunday. Colby walked in all 4 of his plate appearances.
• There is a stupid rumor going around from 'inside sources' that the Phillies offered the Cardinals a trade - Howard for Pujols. This is ridiculous. Both the Cards and Phillies deny the report...obviously.

Finally, it appears that one of the possible candidates for the Birds' 5th starer has been passed on. Mitchell Boggs pitched in the 9th inning on Sunday, and that may have been for a reason.

"I like him as a reliever, we're not really looking at him as a starting pitcher," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "We think he can be an impact reliever for us. He has a power sinker, and he's got the making of a real good slider. If he's had any problems, its a little inconsistency, but based on the latter part of the season last year, where he really came around and was throwing good, we got real excited with the potential of him being a real impact reliever."

Who's still up for the job? Hill?...Garcia?

Cardinals All-Decade Team Named

MLB.com out together a 3 man committee to pick the last decade's best Redbirds. We already made our picks for the best team from the 2000s here at Cards Cove. [link to CardsCove's All Decade Team] But it would be nice to see how Cards Cove's choices stack up against those of the professionals.

The committee consisted of Fox Sports TV and radio announcer Dan McLaughlin, Post Dispatch writer Rick Hummel, and Cardinals media relation officer Chris Tunno.

Here is what they came up with:

table from mlb.com

I don't see any positions where I disagree with the selection. The committee did a great job in my opinion.

I wonder how many of these players will repeat and make the All-Decade Team for 2010-2019...Pujols? Molina? Carpenter? Wainwright? Ludwick? La Russa?? Let me know who you think might be a 2 time All-Decade Team member.

In Jupiter news, it is still the 5th planet away from the sun and the largest in out solar system...*insert eye roll* I crack myself up...not really.

And in Cardinal spring training news, their game on Friday against the Red Sox was washed out and will be made up March 22.

Lohse's are Red, Cardinals Are Too

Lohse's are red, Cardinals are too,

they might wait til the ninth, 

but they'll do what they do.

See what I did there? Lohse's sounds like Roses...kind of. See? Pretty witty, eh?

Kyle Lohse followed the example set by Brad Penny yesterday and pitched 4 shut out innings of his own as the Cards beat the Marlins on Thursday 5-3. Lohse was carving up more Marlin than a Joe's Crab Shack. In his 4 innings, he allowed only 2 hits and struck out 2 while walking nobody.

The Cards' offense did not come to life until the 9th inning, when they scored all 5 of their runs. Joe Mather plated 1 to tie the game and Shane Robinson drove 2 runs across in the rally. Let's not get into that habit already, Cardinals. Seemed like last season, the offense didn't even try until at least the 7th. My heart can't take another year of that.

In injury news...

• Brendan Ryan should be back in action by March 20. I don't know how set in stone that date is, but I'm sure he's trying to get back as soon as he can.
• There's this guy, Albert Pujols. Ever heard of him? He's still out with discomfort in his back. He does plan however to be back in action on Friday.
• There's this other guy, Matt Holliday. I think the Cards spent a few bucks on him in the offseason. There is still no timetable on his return from his rib cage injury, though he still categorizes the problem as a small one and not a large one.