Hunt and Peck [WATCH]: Matt Carpenter gives the Cardinals a 2-1 lead over Cleveland

As an old cowboy approached a duel, he sauntered to the batter's box. His eyes peered in against the afternoon sun at the pitcher brought in to face him. Brought in to face him. If someone had told him five years ago that pitchers would be brought in specifically to face him, he would have called that person a liar or crazy or a crazy liar. But there he was, standing in the batter's box on a brisk May afternoon tasked with getting on base against the man whose only job was to prevent him from doing so. He rocked back on his heels and awaited the first pitch.

A strike, middle-in.

He stepped out of the box and took a few practices swings. He gripped tighter around the bat, covering his bare hands with a fresh layer of pine tar. He adjusted his helmet and stepped back into the box, shrugged his shoulders, and leaned back again, waiting for the second pitch.

A ball, just a few inches below the final destination of the previous pitch.

He made a quick note of that location in his head and kicked the dirt around home plate as he stepped out of the box again, deliberately slowing down the game. He rocked back a third time, calmly awaiting the next pitch.

Another ball, higher than the previous pitch, but further inside.

He had now seen three pitches, all on the inner-half of the plate, all sinkers. This confirmed his theory that the pitcher was trying to get him to roll over on that sinker and pull the ball on the ground into the slight shift they had on for him, maybe get him to hit into a double play. He kicked the dirt again and looked out towards the dugout in thought. The pitcher had to come to him now, his only option was to put the ball a little further over the plate. If he put that pitch in the same spot as the first, he would be ready for it. He inhaled deeply and rocked back again.

And people say baseball is boring.

what else is going on in baseball...

• Sooo do clutch hitters exist? - Beyond the Box Score
• The birth of the American League. - The Hardball Times
• Pedro Martinez talks about his memoir, Pedro. - NPR

• This doesn't not look like Hunter Pence. https://t.co/NNT2reoazy

  — Grant Brisbee (@mccoveychron) May 12, 2015

• Happy birthday, Yogi! 
  

  See how Yankees?src=hash">#Yankees icon Yogi Berra celebrated his 90th birthday: http://t.co/tNTWR6ySgP #PinstripePride pic.twitter.com/TPZ5nMELMR

  — New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 13, 2015

• Pete Rose played high school football. - CBS
• Mike Trout had one real weakness, and he fixed so... yeah. - Fangraphs
• The Orioles will compensate all hourly workers for hours lost due to the game postponements. - Hardball Talk
• Barry Bonds will file a grievance against Major League Baseball. - SBNation
• You have, HAVE to listen to this Vin Scully story about Whitey Herzog and Satchel Page. - Cut4
• Here are some debatable baseball stats. - Sports on Earth
• Troy Tulowitzki denies asking for a trade. - MLB
• What do you think of these over/unders? - Sports on Earth
• Shelby Miller can command his cut-fastball now (thanks to flood for the link!). - Gammon Daily
• Brisbee writes about Corey Kluber's historic day. - SBNation

what the cardinals are up to...

• Kolten Wong used a special bat to hit his homer this past Mother's Day. - STLToday

• Minimum 100 PA, Matt Carpenter swinging at 3rd fewest balls outside the zone in NL (20.4%) behind Granderson & Votto. (Per @fangraphs)

  — Chris Hrabe (@chrabe) May 13, 2015

• How the Cardinals are winning without Adam Wainwright. - Grantland
• Lance Lynn is part of the reason. - Fangraphs

• 57 years ago, Stan the Man doubled for his 3,000th hit: http://t.co/MnE3C31lSu pic.twitter.com/9QDyjbz071

  — Cut4 (@Cut4) May 13, 2015

• Here is an old archived article about Musial's 3000th hit. - STLToday

KNOW THINE ENEMY...

the detroit tigers

Eephus! (Go ahead, say it in the comments.) - Hardball Talk

Check out more Tigers stuff at BYB. - Bless You Boys

the nl central

• Kris Bryant hit a dinger. - Hardball Talk
• Maddon gets his 800th win. - MLB
• Standings:
  

St. Louis Cardinals	24	10	.706
Chicago Cubs	19	15	.559
Cincinnati Reds	18	17	.514
Pittsburgh Pirates	17	18	.486
Milwaukee Brewers	12	23	.343

viva el stuff...

Matt Carpenter had some trouble with exhuastion. jdog55 tells him to go to sleep. - Viva el Birdos

Mooshkillz is looking for some players for a simulation-type game thing. You should just read the post! - Viva el Birdos

wait... Jason Heyward's middle name is "Alias"???? http://t.co/AhzdmnTlrp

— alex fritz (@boxcar_fritz) May 13, 2015

Joe was able to ask the new Cardinals scouting director some questions. Read his answers here. - Viva el Birdos

other things...

• Basketball. - SBNation
• Hockey. - SBNation

weekly scoreboard:

Tuesday, May 12	Cardinals	8	Indians	3	VEB Recap	LGT Recap
Wednesday, May 13	Cardinals	0	Indians	2	VEB Recap	LGT Recap
Thursday, May 14	Cardinals	2	Indians	1	VEB Recap	LGT Recap

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