I wasn't able to catch yesterday's Cardinals-Mets game on ESPN, but after looking at the box score I'm interested to see the angles this morning's SportsCenter recap will take when they roll the highlights. My time is limited today, so there will, if all things go according to plan, an afternoon post, but I've sketched out some possible national media talking points in the meantime. Starting with:
Andrew Brown started at first base yesterday afternoon. The Chicago Cubs have an opening at first base after 2011. Could the Cardinals have pulled Pujols from yesterday's Mets game because he's about to be traded? Brown hit .291 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI last year in AA, but sources say he makes considerably more productive outs per plate appearance than Pujols.
Jake Westbrook only went 5.1 innings, despite allowing no earned runs. Could it be that the St. Louis Cardinals are already souring on their big-ticket free agent acquisition? Westbrook, a former Yankee, went just 4-4 in his first season with the Cardinals—and proceeded to receive a three-year, $13 million contract.
Jon Jay: I don't know who that is. You can tell the Cardinals are underestimating the Mets when they start a guy named Jon Jay in the outfield. Does anybody have any idea where this kid comes from?
I've never felt happier than in the moment Amaury Cazana went out to pinch run for Matt Holliday. It was like, there was a light everywhere, but I could hear it. As his perfectly formed body circled the bases to score in the Cardinals' decisive rally everything began to make sense to me and I experienced a profound inner calm, as though I'd won the rat race by not playing it. As though—but then he returned to the dugout and I felt worse than ever. Like, this light, it sounded like singing, but the singing, I could smell it, and it smelled so great.
No Cardinals implicated in the Bernie Madoff scandal. ESPN is reporting that no members of the St. Louis Cardinals were caught in the web of financial misdeeds that led to billions in lost wealth and is currently rocking the New York Mets. Neither Albert Pujols, nor Matt Holliday, nor Tony La Russa, nor Adam Wainwright, nor Chris Carpenter, nor Jim Jay, nor Jake Westbrook, Barry Bonds, or Tim Tebow invested millions of dollars into a complex trading scheme that collapsed in December of 2008.