a curtain call for the new right fielder; hoorah. now we can all be friends. shows you what a little discretion at the plate can do. encarnacion laid off some enticing pitcher's pitches -- breaking stuff, fastballs just off the corners -- and got himself into favorable counts. all three hits came off fastballs that santos left up and over the plate; mistakes, but encarnacion pounced on 'em. he looked different at the plate last night -- like he was paying full attention. if he'd do that with any regularity, he might even put up some halfway decent numbers.
isringhausen appears to have regained the feel for his cutter and fastball; threw almost nothing but, and aside from two misses to randa he located well. he got burnitz and wilson on fastballs, and they're both fastball hitters. since allowing a leadoff double in the 9th inning last monday at pittsburgh, izzy has thrown four full innings without allowing a hit. three of those frames have been against the hapless pirates, but i think the remedy will remain in force against tougher competition.
suppan atoned for his disastrous outing of one week ago, and edmonds has resurfaced at .200 after a two-week submergence; at 5-17, pittsburgh cures many ailments. the cards should've recalled spivey and gotten him into the lineup today. they won't see this team again for nearly two months.
double a report: cody haerther went 3 for 4 as springfield beat tulsa at home, 5-4. michael parisi pitched 6 innings for the win; mark worrell closed it out for his 4th save. i had a chance last week to interview both parisi and worrell (thanks to springfield cardinals pr guy mike lindskog); i'm planning to post the transcripts tomorrow, so keep an eye out.
elsewhere in double a, cub farmhand juan mateo -- briefly a cardinal via the rule V draft -- dropped to 0-2 last night. his line: 4 inn, 7 hit, 2 earned, 1 w, 2 k. on the season he's 0-2 but has pitched rather well; totals of 20 inn, 17 h, 6 w, 14 k, with a 3.15 era.
