rick ankiel Stories - Viva El Birdos
friday hash
to quote one of my favorite writers, the great jim anchower: hola amigos. i know it’s been awhile since i rapped at ya. . . . hope 2009 is off to a good start for ev’yone. danup is on the road today, so i’m filling in for him. i’ll do my best not to rehash too much old...
mr clutch
stroke of good luck for st louis: they don’t have to face peavy tonight. instead they’ll face a journeyman left-handed pitcher, wil ledezma, with a 5.09 career era. the cardinals always tee off on guys like this . . . . i’m well aware that clutch hitting comes and goes;...
fuzzy math
if the cards had gotten competent bullpenning, some of you are saying, they’d be 5-2 on the current road trip and playing for a series win tonight, instead of 3-4 and needing a win to break even on the trip. that’s true as far as it goes --- but it’s also true that the cards very...
making it last
let’s start with ankiel’s 17-pitch at-bat. it was nearly as long as the brewers’ entire 9th-inning rally (19 pitches); that’s what type of an at-bat it was. the pitch-per-AB data at Baseball-Reference’s playfinder index stretch back 20 years, to 1988. in that entire...
Letter from Springfield II
Letters from Springfield is a biweekly report from the Cardinals’ AA affiliate in Springfield. The writer, Matt Lemmon (itsalemmon1019), is the editor of GO Magazine and the web editor for 417 Magazine in Springfield. If you have suggestions for AA post topics or interview subjects, leave...
the beauty of low expectations
by far my favorite part of the weekend was watching brian barton leg out that triple on saturday. a veritable whiteyballer --- dude’s feet don’t even touch the ground when he runs. barton looks relaxed at the plate, seems to recognize pitches and make adjustments. he doubled on a 1-2...






