Little things for little itches?

read the whole thing here

“My expectation as manager of this club is based on the history of this franchise. The people in charge will believe they have a shot to win next year,” La Russa says. "The opposite would be, ‘Well, we don’t think we can win so we’re going to make a bunch of changes so we can win three years from now.’ Maybe they’ll decide that. But I think whoever the manager is, my guess is they’re going to look at it and say, ‘We want to take a shot to win.’
When pressed, La Russa adds, “If they decide they want to go young and try to win three years from now and looked around and said, ‘Who is the best manager to go through that process?’ I’d consider it.”

who has he been talking to about going young? and what does he think that means? does he think it means no more dumpster diving mid season & he will have to stick with the players from Memphis if someone gets hurt or under performs? because if so i really wonder if he can stick with the Craig’s of the world when the Winn’s in the world are flapping in the DFA breeze.

i mean its not like the Cards can or will blow everything up UNLESS talks with Albert go south in a hurry. and i think that’s what he’s talking about. i think he’s been told if the Cards can’t lock up Albert he’s going to be traded for as many young players as they can get. it has to be what he’s talking about because if Albert stays they’ve still got a hell of a core that’s not too old with Albert, Adam, Lego, Colby & Yadda. so his “going young” comment makes less sense, at least to me it does.

there are still many good things about being a Cards fan. It’s special. For instance, I am a 49er fan. The Cardinals are family.

More players have to perform below their abilities in a very balanced offense for things to go really badly. In a top heavy offense, if your best hitter has a bad stretch, you might not be able to get anything going. They are more susceptible to injury too, since only a couple guys have to get hurt to really derail the entire unit, whereas in a balanced offense there isn’t as much dependence on one or two guys to stay healthy.
I just like the idea of a balanced lineup more. There are fewer holes so you don’t have as many “give away” innings. I assume that WAR-type analysis says the whole is the most important thing and that there shouldn’t be a difference over the course of a season, but to me the more balanced offense seems better.

and I only had four hitters (and six pretty much automatic outs.) I found the only way I could score enough to have a chance to win was to stack the four together, so I hit them 1-2-3-4.
We would usually score in the first, fourth, and sometimes the sixth, but that was it.
I had a few rabbits that I would like to have hit 1-2, but even with their speed they were not a sure thing to get on.
Not sure what my point is, except to say that it wasn’t fun.
And, a few years before that I didn’t have any mashers but I only had a few auto outs and it was a lot more interesting and fun.

we;ve either got him for a year or eight years

and in you can only say the core quit because the riffraff aren’t good enough to know if they quit or not. and since the core is still putting up good numbers, except for Yadda who’s wore out, i still don’t think they have thrown in the towel.

jmo and bdw have to look at this year and realize that tlr, as he says, manages a certain way. his strategy is, if he is on the team he plays. details of this aside, this means that years like this, where every move to fill a roster spot has been at the absolute minimum cost and minimum talent/performance, must be changed. deciding whether they get better more experienced (more expensive) players or just put memphians on the roster and hope for the best, will be a big test for management (and tlr).

Maybe I’m wrong about it. But sure doesn’t look that way to me.

I’d hate for the Cards to drop a chunk of change on an OF and let 2B, 3B, and the rotation go begging.

• Uggla
• Figgins
• K. Johnson
• Brian Roberts
  ???

 		1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	 	 
Naturals 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	2 	0 	2 	0 		 
S-Cards 	1 	1 	1 	0 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0 		 

R 	H 	E
6 	8 	0
5 	14 	0 

NW Arkansas Top of the 8th

    * Defensive switch from right field to left field for Aaron Luna.
    * Defensive Substitution: Antonio DeJesus replaces left fielder Chris Swauger, batting 6th, playing right field.
    * Derrick Robinson grounds out to first baseman Andrew Brown.
    * Johnny Giavotella singles on a line drive to left fielder Aaron Luna.
    * Pitcher Change: Scott Gorgen replaces Ramon Delgado.
    * Eric Hosmer homers (5) on a fly ball to left field. Johnny Giavotella scores.
    * Clint Robinson grounds out, first baseman Andrew Brown to pitcher Scott Gorgen.
    * Nick Van Stratten singles on a ground ball to shortstop Pete Kozma.
    * With Paulo Orlando batting, Nick Van Stratten caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Nick Derba to second baseman Jermaine Curtis.