So if you haven't guessed it already, I'm a pretty big fan of Rick Ankiel. His story alone is one of the best I've heard in recent memory, and I'd be pretty shocked if there's no movie made about the guy. With that said, I was wondering if we could have some intelligent conversation about his statistics, and how he might trend and has been trending.

To do that, I'll probably need some help, since basically all I'm using here is baseball-reference.com and going out on a wing. Ideally, I'd hope that someone a little better at this will step in and illustrate if he's been improving at the major league level (or not) using what little we know about his playing the outfield and hitting from 2007, and his play so far in '08.

As of yesterday, he was 3rd on the team in OPS+ and runs scored, and first in home runs. Not too shabby, all considered. The guy can look like he's clueless when he strikes out, but that doesn't mean much to the team when he's putting up those kind of benefits to the team. That said, he is duking it out with Ryan Ludwick for the lead in strikeouts (Ryan is currently winning that race).

Now what little we know historically, we can see that his batting average is down over 20 points from last year, but that's probably because pitchers are adapting to his weaknesses (he already has over 140 more plate appearances this season). That said, his on base percentage is a little higher this year, which is kind of weird to me. Is OPS is nearly identical to last season.

OK, so how's his fielding? I really still don't know much about RZR or UZR (and his baseball reference page is not showing those stats), so if someone can help me out there, that would be much appreciated. Ankiel's fielding percentage is the same so far this year as last year's (.978 this year, .981 career), so he seems to be holding his own there. He has 4 assists and 4 errors, and helped out in one double play. I suspect his range is above average, and expect him to do a little better, so he's a very solid defensive center fielder imo.

So there ya go. If the guy can get his strikeouts down (unless he's throwing to third base) and learn some more discipline at the plate, I think he might even be able to get into mid-40's home run territory. And we have all seen him make some amazing plays in the outfield. I'm glad we made the leap this year and let Rick take over where ol' Jimmy baseball left off. Now what the heck do we do about Rasmus?

Anyone have ideas for the July 4th game? I could have people over for the game (nice sized living room space for an apartment). I also have a back yard area to watch random fireworks set off in Logan Square, although if you are a big fireworks fan, you should probably skip the game. j/k

Another possibility would be to meet up at Sedgwicks and represent for VEB. Let's hear your comments, and maybe agree on somewhere to watch if you don't already have specific plans. Go Cardinals!!

Since the game this weekend looks like it will be on Fox (*crosses fingers*), we should meet somewhere to watch the game. Whether it's at my house, somewhere else, etc. let's figure something out, and chip in on a case of beer (or two?).

The game starts at 3pm, and afterwards there's the Cubs vs. White Sox, which is always pretty interesting. Let me know if you're interested: georgebowles@yahoo.com or just post here and we'll mull it over.

Until The Great One is healthy and agile again, destroying high velocity spherical objects over walls, post your ideal Pujols-less lineup (was that a run-on sentence?). It makes things a lot more complicated in my opinion. But I guess TLR is pretty good at that type of stuff. Also, might as well do picks for a new starting rotation while we're at it. Here goes...

I'd like to see:

1. Schumaker/Ryan (LF, 2B)

2. Duncan/Mather (1B, LF)

3. Ludwick (RF)

4. Ankiel (CF)

5. Molina

6. Glaus

7. Barton/Ryan (CF, 2B)

8. P

9. Izturis/Miles

I'd like to see Miles be the new Spiezio (except we sure as hell don't need another outfielder) and fill in on rest days, with Brendan Ryan starting at second base. I kind of stole H.C. Legend's idea of putting Barton in center at times. Good idea! I too would like to see good to great speed in center field.

For starters, I'd hope to see Wellemeyer be our interim ace, with either Pineiro, Lohse, or Boggs (now that would be awesome) stepping up to be the Colonel's lieutenant. Looper seems to be picking up the slack after seeing a complete game tonight. That's a pro performance right there.

Well, get better Albert. And take care of that amazing middle finger AW. We need both of you guys. How crazy would it be to have you all come back with Carpenter around the same time? At this point, entirely a possibility. Should be a wild ride folks.