Ponson sucks. Put La Russa’s personal tofu chef in the rotation and sit chubs down - or better yet DFA him so he can go and hang out with Jr. Spivey.

It’s tough to win games with only 3 of your 13 hits fall for extra bases. Once the Cardinal hitters muster a little more power the Cards can count on at least a few more wins. As for the pitching…

Taking a flyer on Jeff Weaver would be a start. He’s cheap and looking for a way to breath some life into his career. Even his agent, the esteemable Scott Boras, would encourage a chance at a fresh start. Stats suggest that Weaver hasn’t been as terrible as his ERA and W-L record suggest. The home run has been his Achilles Heel, but he’s not giving up a greater percentage of fly balls than his career norms. Tim from MLB Trade Rumors spelled this out the other day, and you can get a further explaination at his site. Could he really be worse than what we’ve got now behind Carp and Reyes? Oh, and if the front office is reading this - he’s CHEAP and might be had for a couple of our middlin’ outfielders in the system.

Josh Kinney, lately a fan favorite around the Cardinals blogging community, got tabbed for the PCL All-Star Game. Seriously, get this kid in the bullpen…now.

Reg-gie. Reg-gie. Two syllables. So easy to chant. It’s the return of one of the CD’s favorite hulked up outfielders to Busch Stadium tonight and I for one can’t help but wonder if both sides wouldn’t feel better if he hadn’t switched dugouts. Sure the Birds have had their fair share of meatheads patrolling Left or Right (Ron Gant, Tom Brunansky or Felix Jose to name a few), but nobody had the smile or acrobatic grace that Reggie had. Or at least the smile. I’m sure when he gets a heart-felt thank you from the nation during his first AB, it will touch a place in his heart. After all, he’s one of those guys that never really had a home for whatever reason, so St. Louis, by default, is where Reggie feels he’s home. But business is business and #16 had to get his, so now LF for the Cards is producing at a historically feeble pace. If and buts are like candy and nuts but if Walt had to do it all over again, I have to assume he’d pony up the extra dough for the aging slugger. Oh well.

Mark G. returns tonight as well, he had a nice 2006. That’s it. It takes multiple seasons for me to get sentimental. Sorry ladies.

So what has TLR put on the to-so list for the weekend? 3 things. All reasonable.

1. Win the series. The Cardinals have lost 3 in a row- very unusual for a team that goes into every 3 or 4 game set with the intention of winning more games than the opponent. Sure a sweep would be classy, but taking a series win is the most important thing for a team that, despite a win on Wed., still could use a little ego stroking.

2. Pitch better. Starters ERA is creeping towards 7 in June and that, sir, is not gonna cut it. Now it’s unrealistic to ask for 1-hitters every night, but let’s show some ability to get a needed double play, pitch out of a 1^st and 3^rd with 1 out or 1^st and 2^nd with no outs without giving up a homer or making a strikeout really count. Shutouts are hard to come by, but Cards pitchers have had the ability to let their defense make plays and keep damage to a minimum. They have done neither the past month. The bullpen also needs some solid efforts to retrieve some early season confidence- especially Izzy and Brad Thompson.

3. Get Pujols swinging. Not that KC is going to serve AP meatballs on a silver platter, but save a 5-hit game his second night back, AP has looked like, um, an actual human. At this point a few key hits in critical situations would have a two-prong effect: get his confidence back and scare the other teams pitcher into worrying about #5 so much he makes mistakes to the other batters in the lineup. I know Albert has been steaming about Ryan Howard and Jim Thome getting all the love from the media lately-including a huge article about Howard in the PD- so of all three of the to-do’s I worry about this one the least.

Personally, these seem like 3 realistic goals that can and should be accomplished by the end of the weekend. Now the only question that begs to be answered is if the Cards can win without the benefit of free ass-cushions being handed out before the game. One we leap that hurdle, the World Series should be in the crosshairs.

I confess to having a serious bit of writer’s block this morning. It’s been an long, exhuasting week for a lot of reasons, and I’m thankful for a nice long weekend to decompress. Anyway, I strung together a half-assed post with a whole bunch of bullet points under a quasi-regular feature called “Friday Fodder” and called it good. I’m going to go find some envelopes to stuff or something else that doesn’t requires thinking yet constitutes billable hours. The unstoppable ATHooks will have something meaty for all three of the CD’s readers in a bit and I’ll swing down a bunch of caffine for a late day rub down to kick off an exciting three game series against the Royals. Hey, don’t laugh, interleague play has been kind to them, so this isn’t the walk in the sun that we saw on Bud Selig’s marketing department’s exciting rivalry weekend in May.

• At least Mark Prior has an excuse, the yearly injury recovery ritual, for his 9.64 ERA. The Brewers took it to him for 5 earned runs yesterday, but Prior struck out 9 and walked 4 through 5+ innings of work. The inflated ERA aside, he looks like he might be rounding back into form…for now. Health permitting, he’ll face the Cards sometime in late July when the Redbirds land in Chiacgo for a four game series, the next time they face the Small Bears, July 27-30.
• Bo Hart’s back, and his story takes a turn for the farcical at this point. Watch out Junior Spivey! Seriously, shouldn’t these two guys probably try to find another career at this point?
• With Reyes on the big club now (finally), the Cardinal AAA team looks suspiciously devoid of any true prospects. Yes, there are some good relievers down there in Josh Kinney and Falkenborg, and as much as they deserve promotion to the big club, each hurler is a bit long in the tooth to be considered a true prospect. Andy Cavazos, the most interesting surname in the organization, represents the lone prospect there. In 20+ innings pitched since moving up to Memphis on May 20, the 25-year-old righty has a 1.77 ERA, 13 hits against, 4 earned runs, ZERO home runs, 2 walks, and 14 Ks…2 walks and 14 Ks! Memphis may be the last refuge of the Harts and Spiveys of the world, but the bullpen there far outshines the parent club’s pen. Remind me again why Hancock, Thompson, and Ponson are still on the major league roster?
• That’s a pic of Cavazos up there. The flat billed cap seems to be the new black.
• Other people outside of Redbird fandom are wondering why Wainwright isn’t in the rotation. David Gassko notes in yesterday’s Dartboard at the Hardball Times, “The K/BB ratios of St. Louis’ 3-5 starters: 27/20, 45/35, 45/39. Sidney Ponson, Jeff Suppan, and Jason Marquis are not really major league quality pitchers, which begs the question, “Why is Adam Wainwright (2.45 ERA as a reliever) still pitching out of the bullpen?” The time is now for the Cards to commit to their youth.”

I recognized something in the skid (which is I guess how we should start referring to it) that Cardinals fans should be all too familiar with.

The complete collapse of the team over these last eight games (nine really given the circumstances surrounding yesterday’s win) looked a lot like the complete collapse of the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series and the 2005 NLCS.

It was hard to recognize the complete collapse as the same complete collapse we saw in those two noted instances for two reasons. One, It’s June and these eight games haven’t had a significant impact on the division race. I say that, but we can still lose a playoff bid or the Divisional crown by a game or two come October 3. Second, fans, the ones without their fingers in their ears, know that this team just isn’t as good as the ’04 or ’05 squads, thusly lowering our expectations and the shock of an 8 game skid. Think about it, the shock and disbelief we would have felt if the 2004 Cardinals dropped 8 straight in June or July would make “the skid” seem like just another pimple on your face the week after your senior prom. 

Just like “the skid” those other two instances featured failure by one or more components of the team – when the pitching was okay the hitters couldn’t deliver; when the team scored runs the starter or the bullpen failed to keep the other team from scoring more runs.

Okay, so what, you ask, losses are losses? Well, besides the fact “the skid” wasn’t just a game here and there or even a three game series here and there, a single factor unites these three instances: pressure.

[pressure, just like the title of that gawd awful song they play in the MVP ’05 video game. By the way, the lame, overly commercial pop/garage revisited music ruins those games, in my opinion.]

In the 2004 WS and the 2005 NLCS the Cards faced teams of equal talent, in the most forgiving analysis, and serious questions were proposed everywhere about the Cardinals ability to compete. The same thing has happened this season, as questions and criticism of the team’s make up began appearing before the season even started. As the season went on, those questions and criticisms were legitimized even as the team managed to climb atop the NL Central standings.

For all of the analysis and criticism of the 2006 Cardinals that has taken place at the CD, the other Cardinals blogs, and in the big media outlets in the wake of “the skid,” none of it is new or unique. In fact, if you go back and compare what bloggers, reporters, and other pundits, were saying about the Cards when they lost consecutive two game series against the Astros and Reds are the same things being said today. And rightly so. The widespread questioning and criticism put a further onus on the team’s leadership, from the executive suites down to the dugout, to win games, proving their ability and commitment to winning.

Pujols went down and the team pulled together for the sake of a fallen, albeit temporarily, leader. While the team’s leader went through drills in preparation to return, the White Sox spanked them for 20 runs.

Then things really went to hell.

Pressure began to suffocate the team as criticism and questions about their ability to win reached a level unseen since the Astros and the Red Sox took a lead in the afore mentioned October battles. Not even a 4-4 night, a triple short of the cycle, by the Great Pujols could reverse the course of things.

The cosmos finally aligned just right, as the Cleveland fielders did anything but align themselves, and the Cards scratched out a desperation win in their final game of the series. But go back and take a look at the bottom of the eighth; it was ugly to say the least. Edmonds struck out swinging even after working the pitcher for a long at bat, and then, on two pitches each, Rolen and Encarnacion fail to drive in a run with one out and two men on base. It was déjà vu all over again, and, save for the names Rolen and Encarnacion, my mind thought it was watching the 2004 WS or the 2005 NLCS.

I realize there are no statistics able to fully quantify performance under pressure, but I don’t need any numerical data to know that there are three prime instances in the last three years where the Cards have collapsed when the klieg lights focused squarely on the team. After the playoffs ended for the Cards last year, there were lots of questions ‘round the internets about the impact of La Russa’s managerial role in these situations. And last night, when those players, some of the game’s best, had white knuckles and constipated looks on their faces as they stood at the plate, all those questions came rushing right back.

More than half the season remains, and we may yet find ourselves asking those questions again.

I’ve never had the pleasure of passing a gallstone, so it would be presumptuous of me to say that last night’s game was the closest I’ve come to re-creating the sensation.

Screw it; it’s been 8 crazy nights. Good thing I had a seat cushion to catch it. You know, for memories sake. When’s the last time a game in June hurt so good? Huh Cougar? I mean we had a veritable pooh-pooh platter of errors- both physical and mental- enough to make Chuck Knobloch blush, but finally had to wake up the fireworks guy past the 7^th. (Don’t get to excited- slap singles and errors, not home runs. Cardinals don’t hit home runs; it’s against clubhouse rules.)

From Gooch dropping a fly ball to Edmonds base-running blunder the Indians’ Eric Wedge raised the Cardinals a dropped fly ball, a throwing error and 3- untimely pitch hits by the only 3 players that can play 1^st base. I believe that FSN cameras caught Bozo officiating an unofficial game of ping-pong ball toss into Gatorade buckets out in the bullpen. Izzy made it to the third one before he had to cut out to blow another save. No Big Wheel for him!

Random aside: If any Cardinal player or staffer committed a brutal double homicide in Al Hrobosky’s Ballpark Saloon while Al witnessed the sacrilegious affair with his own eyes and it was clear that the player did it with reckless rage and not out of self-defense AND it caused over $10,000 dollars in damage to his memorabilia collection- would he still hold the company line, or talk to the cops. Big Al has taken his shilling to new levels this year with this past week. Color me impressed. I digress.

Wins all count the same, I suppose- even if the Birds played like guppies. More impressive was the seat cushion tossing from the upper deck. Hopefully Chad Blair is sending the replay of that affair to Scouts Inc. to see if we can get some bullpen relief. Faithful CD bastion of fashion John “Ramon” Bucher pointed out via cellular phone that the last time the Cardinals had seat cushion night was in 1987 when St Louis’ favorite hard-nosed mullet Tommy Herr hit a walk-off grand slam to trigger a similar display of ass-zubernece. Not quite the same, but all wins count the same, I suppose.

Now an off day. A day of rest. A time for reflection. Here’s to these boys enjoying a brief respite before coming back to sweep the Royals over the weekend and getting back on track. Now that interleauge play is wrapping up, maybe the Comedy Central can improve it’s 1-789 mark against the AL Central. Seriously, how crazy is it that the Twins can win like 15 of 16 games and only pick up ½ game on the Tigers and we can lose 8 in a row and not lose more than 2 games to the Reds/Houston? I can only come to one reasonable conclusion- Paris Hilton is dating Anderson Cooper.

Or maybe the seat cushions have more power than we think? By the way, have you seen my stone, I can’t seem to find it.

In today’s edition of “Fanned” comes from Marcella, a Southern Belle and a Cardinal fan living in Memphis. She recently had occasion to scout Josh Kinney, the 27-year-old right-handed reliever embarassing PCL hitters with the Redbirds, and sends us this report. [Note: this comes from a comment Marcella made in the CD’s post about Kinney from 6/13] Let me also note that I support the idea of bringing Kinney up and giving him a spot in the Big League club’s bullpen post haste, either in place of Brad Thompson heading back to Memphis to “find” his sinker or upon Sid being issued his walking papers.

Would you allow a Southern belle her two cents worth? I’m a lifelong Cardinals fan who grew up in Memphis. In my teens, I got to see the AA Little Rock club play in Memphis and was delighted when the AAA club came to town a few years back. I got to see Albert Pujols win the PCL championship in 2000 with that line shot down the right field line (fair by about 6 feet). Even more fun has been meeting the major leaguers of tomorrow.

I got to meet Josh Kinney on 6/21 at the Redbirds game in Memphis. The man is a hoot! I had surgery on my right hand the week before and am wearing a posterior splint held in place by an Ace bandage. I saw Josh standing on the dugout steps and asked him for his autograph. As he was signing my scorecard, he saw the splint and asked what I’d done. I told him about the surgery, and he just burst out laughing. He said, “You need to come up with a better story than that! At least tell people you were attacked by a bear in the Alaska wilderness!” We chatted for about 5 minutes and then went our separate ways. I was touched by his inquiry because the players are usually so focused on the game to come that they don’t notice such, and, if they do notice, they don’t usually inquire. And I was still laughing about the bear idea 2 hours later!

Josh pitched in relief and threw 2 pefect innings. He pitched again on 6/23, one perfect inning, allowing a hit and a walk (I think) in the other inning. Both games were tied at 2-2 going into the tenth, with heroics by Derek Wathan (walk-off home run) and John Gall (walk-off RBI single). Both wins went to closer Falkenborg, who pitched the 9th in both games, but Josh put a major league hold on some of the hottest bats and highest averages in the PCL, including a K on the PCL home run leader.

So. All of that to say that I have been impressed with Josh Kinney. He seems to be a decent man. He has good location and control of his pitches. I anticipate good things for him. And I’d love to see him called up in September in lieu of Chris Duncan.

On a personal note, eyes like Josh’s are simply wasted on a man. They would be deadly in the face of another Southern belle. And it REALLY ticks me off that I am old enough to be his mother.

But I still like the bear story.

Big thanks to Marcella for sharing her great story with us. If you have a tale to share, and we’re pretty darn open to whatever here at the CD, just send it to us at rv_vanbib [at] yahoo [dot] com or athooks [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Look! It’s a bird. No it’s a plane! Wait, its… another loss.

Boo. BOOO! Did Reyes sleep with Brett Hull’s wife? What in the name of Scott Bakula is going on with this team? When the pitchers pitch, the batters are limper than Rush Limbaugh, well, right now, actually. When the hitters hit, the pitchers are serving up more meatballs than Andy Reid’s family reunion.  Dear Diary: The Cardinals are one soiled diaper of a team on June 29, 2006.

One straight week of losses was enough. I had to get my mind off these Birds, so I took some free passes to see a sneak preview of Superman Returns, hitting theaters today. In other words, I finally got a life. Ok, maybe not. But since I have no idea what happened after Reyes got yanked last night, I feel more compelled to write a movie review than a deconstruction of loss #8 in a string of ? So if you are expecting a Ron Jaworski type breakdown of the Cardinals 3-1 loss to Cleveland yesterday, stop right here.

I knew you loved me. Well, I love you too. Sometimes.

Ok, Superman. The new Bryan Singer version. Saw it last night. Me likey.

The Good: The scenes with Superman flying around and doing Superman stuff are fucking awesome. Excuse my French, but it is even cooler than you can imagine. The scene with the airplane and the baseball stadium are worth the 8 bucks alone. I literally felt pissed that I couldn’t fly after I left the theater and actually tried…just in case. Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth do a good job as Superman and Lois Lane. Brandon could work on making Clark Kent a little dorkier, but as Superman, I thought he was kick ass. Kate needs to put on 15 pounds, but other than that, she was great. Kevin Spacey is OK as Lex Lugar, but Hackman was pretty much 10 times better. They use the same score as the original and it gets you fired up. Also, a major plot twist emerges half way through that is sure to keep the franchise going for years.

The Bad: To be honest with you, I never really did figure out what Lex was trying to pull. I mean, I get it; it’s just kind of a stupid ploy. Who is supposed to live on this new landmass he’s creating? Doesn’t it get cold that near to the Artic for the average Joe? The love story and the action are great, but I think this plot could have been a little stronger.

The Ugly: Do me a favor and watch all the things that happen to the Daily Planet, yet the work soldiers on. Incredible! If I went through 1/30^th of what these people are going through, I’d be out of there so quick Anderson Cooper wouldn’t even have time to regal me with his nightly badminton tale. Just watch for this, it’s funny. Of course some people won’t suspend reality and nit pick at some things, but if you are this person, just stay home. We don’t want to hear it. We know that the man of Steel shouldn’t be able to deflect a bullet with his eye, but get stabbed later by a rock. We know. It makes the movie a little less fun.

Overall: B+ with the whole Lex Lugar fiasco, I can’t give it an A; still worth it for all the cool Superman moments we’ve missed. Welcome back big guy.

By the way, does this Cardinal team qualify for some help yet?

The losing streak ain’t no fun, but it is damn exciting to watch Reyes pitch. Outside of Carpenter, there hasn’t been a Cardinal pitcher for a few years now as exciting to watch, especially after watching the the four number five starters that back up Carp. He’s not even pitching that great tonight, but compared to what we’ve seen this month he looks like an ace.
In the record books, this season might reek of 2003; however, Reyes and Carpenter make a promising 1-2 for the rotation next year and add a little excitment in the midst of the frustration this year.

The hitters, most of them, just looked overmatched by Sabatnia. Edmonds and Encarnacion hacked away - I thought they were going to start a little dust devil in the batter’s box.

I see in the list of referrals to this site a number of folks getting here via Google searches for information about “Cardinals trade rumors” or some similar subject. We love getting new readers here at the CD and happy to have ‘em no matter how they stumbled across our little rag – that includes the person who got here searching for “shirtless Chris Carpenter” – you sicko. However, for those of you searching for Cardinal trade rumors let me offer you a bit of sage advice sure to salvage some of your sanity.

Stop it.

Stop looking around the web, posting ridiculous trade rumors in the online chat forums, and trying to read between the lines of every word in the major media outlets. What you do find, if anything, will only prove to be a rumor, frustrating your hopes for the team even more. Countless hours that you could have devoted to your fantasy baseball team or your work or, God forbid, your family.

Furthermore no trade that the Cardinals can make will address the significant needs the team has this season. So they get Bobby Abreu, great, can he pitch? Suppose Dontrelle Willis, fabulous, can he play left field? Maybe they get a right handed relief pitcher, swell, can he carry a slugging percentage over .400? My point is, why consume yourself with all the trade talk when anything short of a swap for Mike Ditka or Hey Zeus Christo is still going to leave the team with some major flaws – flaws that have been easily exploited by the teams of the AL Central this last week.

I’m not saying abandon hope all ye who enter. No, as fans it’s our job to be irrationally faithful to a bunch of multimillionaire entertainers that probably could care less about how you or I fare as human beings, much less our opinions on the game. Nevertheless, we remain loyal fans, writing blogs for no significant compensation and clutching tightly to our faith that the Cardinals will win the World Series.

Some sort of trade will happen, count on it. Given the collective disappointment in this team, from the mainstream media to the average fans in the nose bleed seats, Jocketty has to make a move to pacify the masses. He’ll also have a mandate from the owners to make a move, a face saving measure for team that got beat up by fans and pundits alike in the months between this season and last.

Keep an eye on the headlines for when a swap does come, but save yourself the heartache of trolling around for clues that Carl Crawford or whoever will find their name on the 25-man active roster come August 1.