The first two games of the season are what the St. Louis Cardinals look like when everyone is healthy and the core of the lineup is producing. Basically, they look like a pretty bad-ass offensive team even though there's been a change in the cast. The question is, and we'll be asking this all season long: How long can everyone stay healthy? I've heard hazel term it as 'Impending Old Baseball Player' syndrome and while you can never treat the causes, the Cardinals trainers and medical staff will spend the better part of their year treating he symptoms.
Today though, we get our first look at Lance Lynn as a starter in 2012. I'm very excited about this because Lynn suddenly seems important not just to the Cardinals 2013 outlook but to the more immediate concerns of 2012 as well. Two things I'll be looking for in today's start: (1) groundballs from his fastball and (2) fastball velocity. While Lynn has grown as a pitcher over the past two seasons in unexpected ways, the former item is still the core of who he is. The latter is the thrust of who he'll be moving forward.
