Cardinals news and notes: Breaking balls, Tewksbury, and Tsunami

I'm not from St. Louis and while I love the city, likely 75% of my trips there have been to see the Cardinals.  I grew up two hours away in Central Illinois and root for the Chicago teams in all of the other sports.  This is completely normal where I'm from, but has always made me feel like a bit of an interloper when talking to a Cardinals fan who's actually from St. Louis or a Bulls fan who grew up in Chicago.  Nevertheless, I felt a strong kinship with my fellow Cardinals fans who had their football team ripped away from them earlier this week in a ridiculous charade that should have left everyone involved feeling completely embarrassed.  Emphasis on should have.  And while it's no consolation, I thought this moment from last night's Blues game was great:

We are #TeamSTL. Our town. Our teams. https://t.co/whOJ5id2OW

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 15, 2016

Here's what you missed at VEB on Thursday:

Repertoires in review: Breaking balls

• Joe Schwarz asked the VEB community to opine on who throws the best breaking ball for the Cardinals between Adam Wainwright (curve), Jaime Garcia (curve), Carlos Martinez (slider), and Mike Leake (slider).  The results of the poll at the end will not surprise you, but if you're so inclined scroll down deep into the weeds of the comments section for a vigorous debate on the Oxford comma.

Bullpens, Madduxes, and Bob Tewskbury

• For anyone who was hoping to read over 1,000 words mostly about a guy who hasn't pitched for the Cardinals in over 20 years I have you covered.

Carlos Martinez

I personally have a second mission, and that is to give back to underprivileged kids. As you already may know, I was that kid with no glove and no spikes, but I had dreams of one day playing in the big leagues. Now that I'm capable of giving back, I'm totally involved in this cause.

With my foundation, Tsunami Waves, I donate equipment on a yearly basis to underprivileged kids in my home town Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. In efforts to collect as many gloves as possible, I'm starting a glove drive in the St. Louis area that will benefit these kids who are in need.

Way to go, Carlos.

• Craig Edwards analyzed what might have been my favorite game from 2015 when Carlos stood tall against Kris Bryant and the Cubs on a Sunday afternoon in late September.  Craig makes an interesting point that it was possibly during this game when the Cardinals' season reached its peak, as it was mintues before Yadi got hurt, and the depths of Lance Lynn and Michael Wacha's wayward slides were still unknown.  Let's not forget that Jason Heyward threw the ball to home plate which resulted in Yadi's injury.  Granted, it was perfect throw...but is it totally ridiculous for me to wonder if Heyward knew Yadi would somehow get hurt if he placed the ball in just that spot and this was part of some long con before defecting to the Cubs?  (Yes, it probably is.)