Signs Of Cardinal Life

Sunday ( 6-5 win in 10 )
Hero: David Freese.  Three hits, two RBI, one run scored.  Are we sure he’s just a rookie?
Goat: Ryan Ludwick.  0-5, 4 K is not a good afternoon.
Notes: Really thought about giving Ryan Franklin the Hero tag, with his two scoreless innings in a spot where he had to hold the Angels if only for morale’s sake.  Chris Carpenter could have had the Goat–I know he said afterwards he felt like that was one of his best days command wise, but five runs (four earned) is not a good day at the office.

The biggest news out of this weekend, of course, was the DLing of Penny and the potential loss of Lohse.  While it’s good to see PJ Walters get the callup (especially after his strong work in Memphis) and it’d be interesting to see Adam Ottovino make his debut, it’s still in the best interest of the club to have a healthy and effective Penny and Lohse.  (Whether or not that’s a state of nature that’s actually possible is completely debatable.)

At least Walters and Ottovino were doing well in Memphis and were legitimate callups (assuming they add Ottovino, but I really can’t imagine they won’t, especially if the specialists in LA can’t quite figure out what the problem with Lohse is).  If they hadn’t been, this would be a bigger problem.  As it is, Carpenter is going to have to get back to Carpenter levels and the offense is going to have to start clicking, because the pitching staff may not be able to do all the work anymore.

You can’t expect the new recruits, as it were, to live up to the level of Jaime Garcia.  Even with his success this year, the team is carefully monitoring him .  I don’t think we’ll see a complete game or anything from Garcia and Tony LaRussa probably silently cheers every time Jaime gives up his first hit, so he doesn’t have to ponder that “leave him in with a no hitter” question.

The other news of the weekend involved the first ever public dispute between TLR and Pujols.  Pujols’s level of frustration is growing immensely and it is showing in actions that we haven’t seen out of him in his decade in St. Louis.  An 0-10 series?  No RBI in 10 games?  One home run this month?  We saw him struggle a few years back, but once he got going, he tore it up.  We’ve never seen him go strong, then go this cold.

No matter what he’s doing on the field, though, TLR was completely in the right to tell him to knock it off and fire back at any criticism.  It’s easy to let ego get the best of you and frustration can build into how that is reflected, but getting put in place, as it were, should be a good thing for him.  Not that it’s a big deal, but everyone needs correction at some point or another.

On a more light-hearted note, there was a nice article about the Cardinals and their walk-up songs today in the Globe-Democrat .  I think it’s pretty funny to see Wainwright taking such a personal interest in both changing Schumaker’s song and trying to come up with one for Franklin.  Occasionally, you have to think that starting pitchers have too much time on their hands, but it makes for a fun clubhouse, I’d think.

Also, the Cardinals have announced a push for everyone to Stand For Stan .  If there’s anyone that deserves some recognition, it’s Stan Musial.  He’s been a great symbol for St. Louis for a long time and has never gotten the attention he deserves.  He had to be added to the All-Century Team by the commissioner’s office after being left out of the fan voting.  He’s never even discussed in the “Greatest Living Ballplayer” discussion.  Even last year, on his own turf, he was relegated to the back burner during the All-Star Game due to the president’s decision to attend.

President Obama owes Stan for that slight, at least.  He needs to award the Medal of Freedom to Stan the Man while there is still time.  Be sure to print out your Stan and sign the petition at the link above.

Cards get to head into San Diego today for a series against the surprising Padres.  San Diego holds a one game lead in the NL West at a time when most people thought they’d be weighing offers for Adrian Gonzalez.  Going into Petco, you know that the offense is going to be struggling on both sides, so hopefully the Cardinal pitching can hold out.  At least the Wagonmaker takes the hill first.  Here’s what he’s done against the Padres:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com : View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/25/2010.

Not a lot of exposure here. Interesting that old friend and former Cardinal David Eckstein has had the most at-bats against him.  He’s kept them in the yard, even though some of the Friars have a pretty tolerable BAA vs. him.  Still, if he can scatter singles, he’ll be OK.