Who were those masked men last night?
What got into the Cardinal bats?
More importantly, will Tony actually stick with the lineup for a second day to try and keep the spark going? [Ed. note – A: No. Rasmus will sit today versus a left-handed starter, Andrew Miller. Lots of right-handed hitters in there today.]
The Cards put up lucky number 13 against the Florida Marlins last night at Land Shark Stadium, winning the game 13-4. Their exceptional record continues when scoring 5 or more and holding the opposition to 4 or less.
Star of the Game would have to be Rick Ankiel (I know right, I can’t believe it either!). Ank was three-for-five with a double, triple, and home run. Hopefully this can help break him out of his funk along with the rest of the offense.
Ankiel was closely followed by Brendan Ryan, who was four-for-five, and Colby Rasmus, who continued his hot hitting in June with a three-for-five effort including a three-run home run in the first inning to get the Cards off on the right foot.
Lost in the offensive outburst was another workman-like outing from Adam Wainwright. Waino struggled a bit allowing eleven hits and three walks for four runs worth across seven innings, but he also displayed the “bulldog”-like effort getting out of jams that he also showed early in the season when he was struggling with his arm slot. Striking out Hanley Ramirez with the bases loaded for the third out in the bottom of the sixth inning seemed like a big door slammed shut on the Marlins, as they never threatened again.
Today is the rubber-match of the series, morning baseball for those of us in the Midwest!
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Today is also the conclusion of the MLB Draft, rounds 31-50 are completed today.
To get your draft fix, I highly recommend going over to Future Redbirds. Erik has been live-blogging and posting away over there as the draft progresses, dropping all the knowledge about the youngsters.
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Speaking of Erik and the MLB Draft, if you didn’t listen to UCB Radio Hour (and a Half!) last night, you missed out on some great chatter about the Cards’ draft class through yesterday and specifically about first-round selection Shelby Miller.
Between the draft and last night’s offensive explosion, we ran over our typical allotted time and used up every bit of 90 minutes. About an hour on the draft and the last half-hour for the big league discussions.
Listen via the Blog Talk Radio player at the link above or by clicking on the huge United Cardinal Bloggers logo above right in the sidebar to listen and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.
Be sure to tune in at 1:30pm on Sundays for the weekend show hosted by Josh from Redbirds Row.
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Albert Pujols broke his 0-for-16 slump last night with a single, then proceeded to make outs in the remainder of his at-bats. He’s 1-19 during this downswing.
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Khalil Greene is 4-8 in a rehab assignment with the Memphis Redbirds. He’s also committed two errors. Where does Khalil fit into the big league club when/if he returns, based upon the emergence of Brendan Ryan’s bat lately?
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Buried in an “Et Cetera” blurb at the bottom of an article from Joe Strauss at STLToday.com, Strauss indicates that the Cards’ search for a trade partner to improve the offense has expanded to include the Astros’ Miguel Tejada. Tejada would represent a significant upgrade in the Cardinal lineup and perhaps improve the defense as well. He plays multiple positions adequately, something that Tony LaRussa would no doubt appreciate.
Is it possible for the ‘Stros and Cards to overcome in-division trading “embargoes” and make something happen?
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