Brad Thomas

Hey all!  My apologies for the absence, it’s been a bad month. But anyway with that being said let’s talk some baseball!

Currently the Cards are 7.5 games out of the NL Central Lead, and 4.5 games back of the NL wildcard leading Milwaukee Brewers. At the beginning of the year, the Cardinals were predicted to finish in the basement of their division, yet today due to some surprising performances (see Ryan Ludwick, Todd Wellemeyer, Braden Looper) they are very much still in it coming into a very important stretch. With series coming up against the Pirates and Reds, it’s very possible that the Cards will be able to make up some serious ground on Chicago and Milwaukee. 

The Cardinals were the only of the three NL Central contenders to not make a blockbuster trade to bring in an extra arm. The Cubs got Rich Harden and the Brewers got CC Sabathia. The Cardinals have traditionally not overpaid at the deadline. I believe they did so because they did not want to hurt their chances for 2009 by dealing Colby Rasmus of any other prospects. They are not a World Series team this year, it is more realistic that this team will compete next year and make some sort of splash in the free agent market over the summer. With the Mark Mulder experiment all but over, expect the Cards to go after left handed pitching and bullpen help.

 On another note, Adam Wainwright is set to make his last rehab appearance, but whether he will start or relieve when he comes back to the Cardinals has yet to be seen. The bullpen has been nothing short of lousy recently, so I would say the best place for him right now is the bullpen for a few reasons. The first is that he can return faster. The second is that he is a clutch performer and has been lights out in the past out of the bullpen and has shown this on the biggest stage. The third is that he can take pressure off rookie Chris Perez by either taking over the closers role, or setting the table for him.

The Cards play tonight at 7:10pm against the Reds. These are the pitching matchups for the weekend:

Tonight: Brad Thompson vs Bronson Arroyo

Tomorrow: Joel Pineiro vs. Aaron Harang

Sunday: Kyle Lohse vs. Edinson Volquez

Brad Thomas

Two of the Cardinal’s top prospects have been chosen to represent Team USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Outfielder Colby Rasmus and infielder Brian Barden where named to the 23 man roster today.

   Rasmus is by far the Cardinals’ best prospect and will most likely be the starting center fielder for Team USA. He is at this point the Cardinals’ future in center field as Rick Ankiel can be very useful in right given his powerful arm. Last fall Rasmus played in the IBAF World Cup and had a hit in every game and hit an impressive .382, out hitting All-Star Evan Longoria.

   Barden is being considered somewhat of a surprising selection given that he’s a relative unknown. Having watched the guy, he’s a defensive stud, and in university won the equivalent of the Gold Glove. If his bat continues to develop, don’t be surprised to see him as the Cardinals’ second baseman within the next two years.

 Tomorrow I will have my thoughts on the All Star game as well as a review of the first half and what is to come in the second half!

BT

Brad Thomas

At 42-30 the Cardinals are currently one of the best teams in baseball. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan called them ‘the little team that could’ and I tend to second that sentiment. With a cut and paste lineup and patchwork rotation, the success of this year’s Cardinals team under Tony La Russa has been nothing short of extraordinary.  The Cardinals aren’t the prettiest team, they aren’t the fastest, the strongest or the most talented, but what they do bring is hustle, and a lot of it. So far this season the Cards have done nothing but win despite countless injuries to key players (Carpenter, Pujols, Wainwright, and recently Wellemeyer and Molina).

I’ll be the first person to admit the Cardinals have been somewhat lucky.  Don’t get me wrong Tony La Russa is good, but is he THAT good? To be honest, no one, not even I, could have predicted that Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick, Brian Barton and Rick Ankiel would have a coming out party. Not to mention that Braden Looper and Todd Wellemeyer would be pitching as consistently and dominantly as they have been. The bullpen has been suspect at times, and had it not been for it, or more specifically Randy Flores, the Cardinals would be leading the NL Central and probably have the best record in baseball. Although La Russa can’t be faulted for that, Tyler Johnson would have been used in the situations Flores was being used in had he not been injured along with 8 other Cardinals pitchers. St. Louis is playing loose without any pressure on them as they were predicted to finish in the basement of their division.

Can the success continue?  With Pujols out for a small, but important portion of time, some others have got to step up and step up big until he can return (that’s YOU Chris Duncan, you were given a second chance, make something of it!).  If the Cardinals can continue this streak of effort, decent pitching and defense (and get a bit more help from the bullpen) they will most likely be the NL wildcard.  Personally I think the Cards need to take a run at a serviceable bat in order to bring some power that’s been lacking, and another starter wouldn’t hurt either.

Good news! Chris Carpenter will begin rehab soon since he was given the green light earlier this week. This could mean we could see him in August and if the Cards are still in contention at that time, that would be just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks For Reading!

BT