The Greatest Headline in the History of the Internets.

’grats, Dan.

Celebrate Cow Appreciation Day! by going to Chic-fil-A dressed as a Cow and receive free chicken!

I’m glad for him the good guys scored 5 in the 8th or he might have gone postal picking up his 10th loss.

Our pitchers must cringe when they realize their next start will be against a lefty.

I assume if he has found some magic formula then he can keep doing it. Is the logic that batters will adjust or that this type of line is simply not achievable in the long run like Dimaggio’s hit streak? On the BABIP issue, if he is getting people to bang the ball into the dirt on every at-bat shouldn’t his BABIP be lower generally. I would think that at this extreme of sinkerballing that BABIP would be lower.

He would need to do it for a few more months before I think this is the new Piniero, but unless he gets hurt, then I don’t see why he can’t keep this up.

Man, he’s somethin’ else. A lot of the time, he’s had great games and the offense hasn’t been able to back him up, or he and the offense both struggle. I’m not sure what to think on if Pineiro will be back after this season or not, but I’d rather have Joel than Welly.

He should never start at 2B against a lefty. But he was/is a better option than either Duncan or Ankiel so therefore he should have been starting in LF against LHP over either of the auto-outs. With the reoccurring Infection we do now have a better option…but while the Infection was quarantined in MEM, Skip was our best LF option. Unfortunately, TLR kept running Ank and Dunc or both (oh! the horror!) out there against LHP because “Skip is a 2B now, damnit!”

so the batters swing would be cooling on their mustaches.

I’ve been thinking about putting up a FanPost asking which of us are going to the various ASG events, plans for getting into and out of downtown, and generally reveling in the first StL ASG in 40-something years.

I’m not sure if this is FanPost worthy, or if the mods/editors/cat wranglers have something planned for the front page already.

Interest?

So I put up a fanpost today for a VEB T-Shirt contest. I figured we are due for a new one. I hope you guys even put up a half assed effort for a design. I would like to have too many choices than just a few.

Is going to get paid this offseason. Lohse’s contract will be the matching point for him. Honestly their is no good Free Agent pitchers this year, The ones that are good have serious health concerns. Pineiro is about the only good and healthy pitcher with a sub 4.0 FIP this year that is going to be a free agent. Worst part is he might not even be a Type B Free Agent cause of all these loses.

It seems to me that 19 ground balls is a whole lot. How did our infield do…especially Mr. Brendan Ryan? I feel like he is developing into a real nice SS option for a couple more years.

Isn’t the idea of a decent farm system (which we seem to have now) that, at least, the #4 and #5 starters are provided for free? (Free = league minimum). Then you can pay for better guys on the top half, if you can’t get lucky enough/draft high enough/be skilled enough to produce them?

If I am Mo, I offer Pinero arbitration (if he is a Type A or B), and then pretend he doesn’t exist. If we were not willing to trade for Peavy because that gives us too many long-term pitching contracts, how can we even think about Joel?

Yes, he has performed like a good pitcher for half a year, and it may be somewhat sustainable…

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/is-pinerios-newfound-groundball-success-sustainable/

But, with the team budget that we have, it makes a lot more sense to let the pitchers in Memphis take Wellemeyer and PInero’s places, and try to get some infielders besides Pujols that are above replacement level.

not sure I’ve posted all year – but wow – DanUp with a F-ing home run every time out. Just solid.

I’ve been thinking recently about Wallace and the possibility of trading him IF his defense really is AWFUL. Is there a possibility we could trade him for another young 3B prospect with defence capabilities? I don’t know that one exists, but I was thinking someone like Mat Gamel…however he is a) in the same division and b) not on an AL team where Wallace really fits. I also thought of Alex Gordon, but he has already wasted a couple of cost controlled years. Any thoughts?

Just want to commend the site Manager and Editors for some amazing posts recently—this one was the latest in a line of several in which the quality of writing/thoughtfulness was matched only by the quality of Joel Piniero’s sinking fast-ish ball. Anytime you can work Pud Galvin into a post, and include time travel and mustaches, well, things are looking awfully good.

If so, and a lengthy delay or even a postponement is possible, the team might be better served to have Thompson start today and push Carpenter back to tomorrow, when there is sure to be an uninterrupted game. I would think that a wasted Carpenter start would want to be avoided at all costs in this series.

It’s one thing to say skip plays a poor 2nd base, it’s another to say his glove is “made of solid iron.” Skip makes most plays that he gets a glove on. He’ll even make the occasional spectacular play (Nothing Brendan Ryan like, but still good nonetheless).

His range is where he becomes a defensive liability. I still don’t think it’s as bad as his UZR says. Remember this is a somewhat flawed statistic that doesn’t calculate shifts, how hard the ball is hit, what kind of hop it takes, etc.

Skip also makes the occasional errant throw.. thank God for that Gold Glove we have over at 1st.

8ip, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7K’s

He also hit a solo homerun!

Despite this, his ERA still sits over 5 for the season. Hopefully this is the start that turns it around for him down in Memphis. If he puts a string of good starts together he could find himself back in St. Louis.

Jess Todd got the save giving up 1 run on a solo HR. He struck out one.

per stldtoday.com:

ST. LOUIS
2B – Skip Schumaker
CF – Colby Rasmus
1B – Albert Pujols
RF – Ryan Ludwick
LF – Rick Ankiel
C – Yadier Molina
3B – Joe Thurston
SP – Chris Carpenter
SS – Brendan Ryan

CHICAGO CUBS
CF – Reed Johnson
SS – Ryan Theriot
RF – Kosuke Fukudome
1B – Derrek Lee
3B – Aramis Ramirez
LF – Alfonso Soriano
2B – Mike Fontenot
C – Koyie Hill
SP – Rich Harden

and there’s a string of posts about what Brad Thompson’s name would be if he were a girl. (They thought he was starting today instead of Carp, and Thompson’s photo makes him look like…well, this is well covered territory for VEB, innit?)

Pat and Chris are just two of many androgynnyms put forth.

i was wanting to check it out since i don’t have tickets to the futures game, Home Run Derby, or ASG…. but people on the PD forums were saying that it was not worth $85.

I checked out the MLB website and it said that tickets were only $30 a piece… where are they getting $85? Or are they just a bunch of yahoos as usual?

tarp just went on the field

Saying that because no one from the AL wants to do it, maybe Ichiro will… I’ve always read that he sacrificed the power for average, but I would actually love to see him in it

by Dan and Al. It makes no mention of the tarp being on the field.

Than to delay it in-game and lose Carpenter.

It’s an actual former Cub! The homerism should be even more intolerable than usual!

however, it could ride the fence in regards to the decorum of this website… it has to do with Urinal Etiquette in a guys bathroom…

Or is that delayed also?

They didn’t so much as win the pennant. Ahhh…low expectations.

…of a REC for a main-page post, I’ll give you one anyway, Dan. This was hilarious. My personal favorite was this quote:

Up to now Albert Pujols has stood on the bases after driving in runs more or less because of societal pressure to conform

Nice.

I find it interesting that RB compared Pineiro to a Jazz Age pitcher…now he’s a Gilded Age pitcher! Now all he has to do is curl up that mustache a little bit for a handle bar type look and grow out some of these:

For the non-history buffs out there, this handsome dude was named Ambrose Burnside. Yes, side-burns comes from his name. He was a horrible general during the Civil War, but in terms of facial hair there has never been anyone this innovative or historically important.

Here

Leading off the 2nd inning of the April 27th contest against the Atlanta Braves, Joe Thurston drew a walk. At that point, in 77 plate appearances taken by Cardinals third basemen, they had amassed a WPA of +.544. Both of our major options were hitting very well, even leading to Barden winning the NL Rookie of the Month award.

From that point forward, our 3rd sackers have compiled a putrid -2.605 WPA over 265 PA’s. For comparison sake, our pitchers (a group normally associated with really shitty hitting compared to normal position players) have a combined WPA of -2.141 for the entire year (204 PA’s).

Without access to numbers broken down accurately, the actual position seems to be a productivity suck all by itself. Barden had a few excellent games at 2nd & SS, but was horrid at 3rd after the tipping point. Tyler Greene has a WPA of -1.00, but shortstop has been nearly league average despite him; I’m guessing he’s been stinking much more while playing the hot corner. (B. Ryan has been slightly above average on his own, but not enough to buoy both of the Greenes.)

I know that everyone is aware of the lack of hitting by Thurston, et al. It still is shocking to have the full weight of their ineptitude hit you in one shot.