25 April Morning Thread

by Valatan on Apr 25, 2007 12:39 PM EDT in St. Louis Cardinals News

Now Wells is getting shelled, too? I watched the first couple innings of that, and am glad that there was a school emergency that kept me from finishing.

One thing, however, is not happening--this team isn't, to me, feeling like the spate of losing streaks that we had last year. During those streaks, the team just seemed to be finding new and interesting ways to lose. Every loss seemed to come completely out of left field in a new and "interesting" way, from Reyes being one hit away from a perfect game, but still getting a loss, to the multiple super-painful blowouts that we suffered. It was inexplicable how the team that performed so well for the first half of the season, despite the injury to Pujols, managed to collapse so horribly and so suddenly. It made no sense.

This team's struggles make significantly more sense--we have the backups playing the outfield, and we have multiple players playing through some sort of injury. If this team doesn't hold up, it kind of wasn't meant to. It wasn't constructed to weather an injury to Carpenter and ineffectiveness from the m3p. We'll see when Carp comes back, and if this rebound from Pujols and Rolen is for real, and then we might still be off to the races in this division.

See you guys with a game thread this afternoon.

Tweet Comment 48 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Will there even be a game?

Weather Channel says a 50% chance of rain from 4 until 6pm, a 40% chance at 7pm and then 30% the rest of the night.

Tomorrow's game is even more doubtful with an 80% chance of precip all day.

The game is at 12:10 and the precip expected is:
12pm - 60%
1pm - 70%
2pm - 60%
3pm - 50%
4pm - 40%

With Pujols' knee 'barking' this is GREAT weather to play baseball in. sheesh.

Walk your dog, not Pujols.

by Hardcore Legend on Apr 25, 2007 12:46 PM EDT reply actions

someone

call Joe Buck for an update.

by madding on Apr 25, 2007 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah--

After last year's rollercoaster, I'm not willing to give up the ship just yet. As long as they stay within 1 through 5 games down, they can still keep treading water. If they get to 7 through 10, well, that's probably it. Harang always seems to baffle them, even when they are hitting well, so I think we'll get a better picture tonight. If they can take at least 5 of 9 from Reds, Cubs, Brewers I think they'll be fine. If not, well, the picture does start looking bleak...

by rockin redbird on Apr 25, 2007 12:52 PM EDT reply actions

I was not on here last night, but...

I wanted to make a remark to a post last night...

"anybody remember that game a couple of years ago when we came back from 6 runs down against the reds to win? man that was a good time"

by cyko42 on Tue Apr 24, 2007 at 11:33:23 PM EDT
[ Reply to This ]

I was at that game w/ my bother, sisNlaw to be, and a buddy who is a big reds fan.
http://www.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20050502&content_id=1036186&vkey=recap&fex t=.jsp&c_id=stl
It was great to be a red-bird fan in Cincy the next day. The fair weather fans of this city were going crazy. Hopefully the next couple of days are not similar to today for me w/ my colleagues.

by toris34 on Apr 25, 2007 1:45 PM EDT reply actions

Picture already looking bleak.....

I'm not giving up on them, but lets face it, this is not a team that breeds confidence and encouraging thoughts to the future. Our pitching is pretty thin, Albert is now limping on that knee and I'm guessing it's just a matter of time till he is going to need to rest it, Edmonds...is just not anywhere near the player he was two years ago and the Kennedy pick up is looking iffy at best. I'll always root for them...win or lose, but this team has a bevy of holes to fill...and I'm not of the opinion that the administration will make any major moves this season to try and fill them in.

by Timbo02 on Apr 25, 2007 1:47 PM EDT reply actions

MLB.TV General Suckitude

Well, I tried MLB.TV for a month, and decided to cancel it. From now on I'm just going to follow the Cards on ESPN's Gametracker.

The 2 main reasons for canceling:

Microsoft Media Player is a thoroughly craptastic experience, at least on a Mac. The video would often stutter or just stop, and sometimes I would get the audio with no video. And Microsoft's definition of "Full Screen" is a title bar with a small video window surrounded by black, (again, at least on a Mac)
MLB's website. The pages take forever to load, and the layout is a confusing, sprawling mess. Just to get to the point where the video starts playing requires far too much effort. It should be a 2 step process:

go to a bookmarked webpage
click a link

Also, just in case anyone else was thinking about canceling, there is no way to do it yourself. You must either call them or send them an email. This is from their faq:

You may cancel your subscription at any time by contacting MLB.com Customer Service toll free in the U.S. at (866) 800-1275 or at customerservice@website.mlb.com, and receive a full refund for next term's renewal fee, but only if that term has not yet begun or if you are less than 10 days into the term and have not yet used your subscription. When canceling a subscription, please include the email address you use to login to your MLB.com subscription.

Go Cards!

by Okasa on Apr 25, 2007 2:31 PM EDT reply actions

or,

you could just be lucky like me. I tried logging in a week or so ago to watch and it wouldn't let me, so I checked my e-mail only to realize that they finally picked up on the fact that my debit card was cancelled almost a year ago.

by longhornscardinals on Apr 25, 2007 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions

MLB.tv on a Mac

You can change your default viewer to RealPlayer, and with RealPlayer you can resize the picture as large as you want (obviously, the picture quality suffers the larger the picture gets, but at least if you make it, say, 2/3 your monitor size you can watch it from a few feet away and it looks pretty good).

by salvomania on Apr 25, 2007 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions

before you cancel

-get mozilla www.mozilla.com
-install MPlayer www.mplayer.com
-install the "MediaPlayerConnectivity" extension for mozilla, and set the "automatically launch on detecting mms stream" option or something similar
-Set the mplayer cache to at least 4096K (that'll solve a lot of the stutter/dropped connection issues).

Then log in to mlb.tv, and bookmark the "today's games" page in mlb.com -> multimedia. When you click the bookmark, it'll automatically load the wrong day, but you won't have to go through the login process, and there will be a link to load "today's games" where you can then choose "400k" or "700k".

Souds awful, and I haven't tried it with OS X, but I have it working at home on both my debian linux desktop and windows XP laptop (hooked up via s-video to my TV and HT). Once you get it set up it's very quick and easy, 15 seconds max to turn a game on. And with the MPC extension you don't have to see the stupid deer commercial or any other commercials if you don't want to.

"God is back in the National League. Matter of fact, he is staying at my house." -Joaquin Andujar

by SleepyCA on Apr 25, 2007 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions

aghhh

not the deer commercial.

by stlcardinalsfang on Apr 25, 2007 5:38 PM EDT up reply actions

On the plus side...

...how bad were the 'stros for the first couple months before they flipped the switch and came back to win the WC? They were 19-32 to start 2005...and finished with 89 wins. They started 9-13...we are 8-11.

I'm just saying...I'm just sayin'.

by Harknights on Apr 25, 2007 2:48 PM EDT reply actions

pretty sure

they didn't win the world championship that year.

by madding on Apr 25, 2007 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Um

Wild card

by stl tyler on Apr 25, 2007 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah..um

I was saying WC as in Wild Card....but I can see why you would think World Series.

My point being that they started off poorly and still finished with 89 wins. As we have heard and will hear until we die. The Cards only had 83 wins and won it all. So 89 wouldn't suck.

by Harknights on Apr 25, 2007 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

UGh

We need to start winning.

Redbirds Fun
The Kentucky Democrat
2006 WS for JB and DK57

by cardsfan84 on Apr 25, 2007 3:15 PM EDT reply actions

Shoker: Prior out for the year

Pujols you alive??

by joker24 on Apr 25, 2007 3:18 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not sure what shoker is but I do know what

a shocker is. And despite the title, I do know Prior out for the year is not one.

Pujols you alive??

by joker24 on Apr 25, 2007 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

we

knew what you meant, jocker

by DCGreg on Apr 25, 2007 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't know why

But that gave me a good laugh.

by liam on Apr 25, 2007 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions

i know...

Records since 2004:
Kerry Wood:
2004 8-9
2005 3-4
2006 1-2

Mark Prior:
2004 6-4
2005 11-7
2006 1-6

Redbirds Fun
The Kentucky Democrat
2006 WS for JB and DK57

by cardsfan84 on Apr 25, 2007 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Man if i was a Cub fan i would want

the pair of them to just go the F away.

It happened on a Sunday afternoon, August 22, 1982.

by Glenn Brummer stole home on Apr 25, 2007 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions

prior out forever.

by stlcardinalsfang on Apr 25, 2007 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions

According to Strauss

Pujols is ok, per Pujols. He is battling minor pain in his right oblique, hamstring and knee but no sign that he won't be playing anytime soon.

Good chat at stltoday.com today with Strauss.

Walk your dog, not Pujols.

by Hardcore Legend on Apr 25, 2007 3:21 PM EDT reply actions

I've been thinking this for a while

Does anyone find it a little surprising that we haven't been no-hit yet?

by BigdJC on Apr 25, 2007 3:41 PM EDT reply actions

Well,

I've never gotten a hit in a major league game, so I have been no-hit.
The Cardinals, on the other hand; it's not like throwing a no-hitter is an everyday occurrence, so no, I'm not surprised.

by cardsrul on Apr 25, 2007 4:05 PM EDT reply actions

nice

I believe in the Sports Guy rule. Any "complaining" in this post is actually happy, cheerful "constructive criticism."

by nycbirdo on Apr 25, 2007 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Sheets

Ben Sheets out after 3 IP today with a groin injury.

It's not a gimme if you're still out.

by kennyzamboni on Apr 25, 2007 4:29 PM EDT reply actions

wow, who had april 25?

i think i took may 17 and the points.

I believe in the Sports Guy rule. Any "complaining" in this post is actually happy, cheerful "constructive criticism."

by nycbirdo on Apr 25, 2007 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions

and i parlayed it with

"prior out forever."

I believe in the Sports Guy rule. Any "complaining" in this post is actually happy, cheerful "constructive criticism."

by nycbirdo on Apr 25, 2007 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow! The Daily Double!

by chuckb on Apr 25, 2007 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Bad weather in Chicago today

The game was delayed an hour.

Hopefully it's more of a weather-related bark than a serious injury.

If he's DL'd, it'll be interesting to see if they give the kid Gallardo his shot or call up the Aussie.

Either way, they've got enough pitching depth to compete in this division.

by liam on Apr 25, 2007 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Outfield help

Can anyone come up with a valid reason why the Cards don't call up Ludwick from Memphis to play OF? I know his numbers are probably skewed due to AAA, but he cannot be worse than Wilson, Shumaker, Taguchi or Speizio in RF. I say give him a shot to play everyday and see what he does - until Juan E. returns.

Wilson should only play sparingly, Speizio is better coming off the bench and pinch hitting and Shumaker is a wasted roster spot.

by stlfaninpa on Apr 25, 2007 5:00 PM EDT reply actions

preston wilson started the year 1 for 12

that covers the first 4 games. in the 15 games since then, he is 11 for 37 with 3 walks, 3 doubles and a homer --- that's a line of .297 / .350 / .459. he single-handedly delivered a win with a 7th inning homer vs the cubs, and iced another win with a 9th-inning double vs the pirates.

i think he is this year's version of encarnacion --- despised for his weaknesses, but not given any credit for what he actually can do. he's not an all-star, but he's been one of the team's most productive hitters since the opening week of the year.

by lboros on Apr 25, 2007 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Ludwick

His career MLB numbers are .237/.299/.416 in 334 ABs. He's hot now, but odds are he'll cool off. It's hard to see him being significantly better over the long haul than Wilson or Spiez.

There are also a couple of roster issues. First, as I understand it, he's not on the 40-man. If he gets put on, someone has to be taken off. Second, if bringing Lud up, the obvious move to make now would be to send Schu down to AAA. But when Encarncacion comes back -- and it sounds like we may not be talking about much more than a week -- they'll have to make room for him. I don't think Wilson or So can be sent down, so you're basically talking about cutting one of those two, probably Taguchi. You may not have a problem with that, but it's a significant step -- more significant than just sending a guy down to AAA. And, of course, by dumping Schu and Taguchi, we've weakened the defense.

by DCGreg on Apr 25, 2007 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions

40-man roster

We've got room on the 40-man roster, that's not an issue. There are 37 players on there, including Josh Kinney, who could be moved to the 60-man DL.

A roster move I'd like to see is a swap of Brad Thompson, who looks out of whack, for Kelvin Jimenez, who's been piling up K's and GO's for Memphis.

by liam on Apr 25, 2007 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions

ludwick

Ludwick's 334 MLB at-bats were across 4 seasons and for 2 clubs, and he might have been playing injured for a lot of that time. He had hip surgery in 2002 and then two knee surgeries, one in oct 2003 and the second to fix scar tissue on 31 March 04, and then was hit by a pitch that broke his wrist to end his 2005 season.

Not sure what caused the hip injury, but according to scout.com (11 mar 04):

"A year ago, Ludwick was recovering from hip surgery as a member of the Texas Rangers. He continued his recovery at Class AAA Oklahoma City, where he batted .303 with 17 homers and 63 RBIs in 81 games.
...
Ludwick batted .265 with seven homers and 26 RBIs in only 136 at-bats for Cleveland, but was hurt in a collision with Detroit's Carlos Pena while sliding back to first base on Sept. 3."

So the knee, at least, was a scott rolen-type injury and not a JD Drew injury, if you get my drift. And there's not much you can do about havign your arm broken by a fastball. It could be that he is just now getting healthy again.

Yesterday's report on scout.com says:
"Ryan Ludwick has established himself as the premier hitter on this team (memphis) and with his terrific play in the field, a candidate to return to the Bigs. Ludwick has continually put together good at-bats, come through in RBI situations and shown power and great instincts. "

We could certainly use a bit of all those things right now, if nothing else just to shake things up a bit.

"God is back in the National League. Matter of fact, he is staying at my house." -Joaquin Andujar

by SleepyCA on Apr 25, 2007 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Juan E

should be back w/ the roster after this weekend at the latest, per baseball prospectus. What's the point?

by chuckb on Apr 25, 2007 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions

call ankiel up

7 HR

Redbirds Fun
The Kentucky Democrat
2006 WS for JB and DK57

by cardsfan84 on Apr 25, 2007 5:33 PM EDT reply actions

Anyone hear this tid bit?

Encarnacion has started his rehab in Springfield (AA) and so far he's 0-3 at the plate. Yep..he's the answer to all our problems.

I'm a Jenius!

by gibbons on Apr 25, 2007 6:01 PM EDT reply actions

i wouldnt look in to his rehab starts

hes just tryin to get his swing goin.

by stlcardinalsfang on Apr 25, 2007 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

weather update

Now I am no meterologist or anything but I have been analyzing the map on weather.com basically because I have tickets to alot of these games and last night I was pretty much right on, and we played. I truly think that both games will be getting played the next two days. I think there will be a long enough strecth between the two fronts for the game tonight, then I expect some rain tonight. As far as tommorow with the wind coming up from the south and the front being slow moving from the west it should cause the majority of the rain to funnel further north only hitting us for a short period. If nothing else I expect the starting time of the game to get pushed back until 4 or 5 when there is even a less precipitation chance......

GO Cards!

2/3rd's of the earth is covered by water, the other third is coverd by Jim Edmonds

by cardsphan04 on Apr 25, 2007 6:10 PM EDT reply actions

game thread?

Lineups posted

Redbirds Fun
The Kentucky Democrat
2006 WS for JB and DK57

by cardsfan84 on Apr 25, 2007 7:15 PM EDT reply actions

lineups

reds

hamilton cf
phillips 2b
dunn lf
jr. rf
encarnacion 2b
hatteberg 1b
gonzalez ss
ross c
arroyo p

cards

eck ss
dunc lf
AP 1b
rolen 3b
jed cf
p-dub rf
AK 2b
molina c
looper p

by stlcardinalsfang on Apr 25, 2007 7:20 PM EDT reply actions

replace k king with ankiel

and i'll be a happy camper

Redbirds Fun
The Kentucky Democrat
2006 WS for JB and DK57

by cardsfan84 on Apr 25, 2007 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions

ankiel,

yeah, when he gets hits he's killing the ball right now. but he's not major-league ready. his average has been slowly increasing, but i agree w. whoever said it earlier: he's establishing his swing right now before he starts working on patience, etc.

plus, it really is impossible to bring him up now. if he proves unready, he'd have to clear waivers in order to be sent back down.

by longhornscardinals on Apr 25, 2007 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions