Game 58 Open Thread: June 7, 2005

soooops             clement
4-5, 4.41            6-0, 3.17

also a lot of chatter here last night on the game thread -- edgar, matty, marillion, black flag, japanese vocab, live look-ins at brewers-yankees -- even a hex on jeremy bonderman, applied live and transcoastally. and they say blogs are just self-indulgent noodlings  . . . .

lost in all that excitement was something that thrilled me and probably no other cardinal fan on the planet: david eckstein put the first pitch in play twice in one game. happened in the fifth, when he popped out to right, and the eighth, when he lashed a two-run triple into the left field corner -- his second triple of the season, both on the 0-0 pitch. eck'n also got an 0-0 hit (a bunt single) last week in colorado, giving him three first-pitch hacks in six games -- as opposed to just eight of same through the first 51 games. for the season eck is now 6 for 11 on the first pitch with an ops of 1.371; fully a third of his rbi this year have come in those 11 at-bats . . . . .

st louis has 7 picks in the first three rounds of today's amateur draft -- and needs to make them count. baseball america rated the stl organization dead last in minor-league talent, so in that respect the bushel of picks couldn't have come at a better time. but the timing is suboptimal in another respect: we have no idea how the new ballpark will play. just one more variable in a process that is already a crap shoot; i guess most good players can play most anywhere. john sickels ran a mock draft this weekend at SB Nation sister site Minor League Ball; here's who the cardinals got, and what sickels said:

• 
  
• 1---28----Tyler Greene, SS, Georgia Tech
  
• 1---30----Cesar Ramos, LHP, Long Beach State
  
• 1S---43---J. Brent Cox, RHP, University of Texas
  
• 1S---46---John Mayberry, 1B-OF, Stanford
  
• 2----70----Justin Maxwell, OF, University of Maryland
  
• 2---78----Matt Garza, RHP, Fresno State University
  
• 3---110----Daillo Fon, OF, Walnut Creek, California HS
  
• 4---140----Brett Gardner, OF, College of Charleston
  
• 5----170----Carlos Hereaud, SS, Missouri City Texas HS
  

will report the real picks when they're in, and try to cobble together some kinda player profiles for you . . .

Update [2005-6-7 15:39:55 by lboros]: wow. nice job, mock drafters. the cards did indeed draft GT shortstop tyler greene in the 1st round, along with a high school outfielder named colby rasmus.

Update [2005-6-7 15:49:14 by lboros]:
supplemental 1st rd picks:
#43 = mark mccormick, rhp, baylor univ
#46 = tyler herron, rhp, wellington fla hs
2d round picks:
#70 = josh wilson, rhp, whitehouse tx hs
#78 = nicholas webber, rhp, cent'l missouri st u
3d round pick:
#110 = daryl jones, of, spring tx hs

well . . . so much for drafting college players and position players. more asap