SHaynes23 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 [align=center] Dan McLaughlin And welcome back to this season preview edition of Cardinals Live! 2007 was a tough year for the Cardinals. A lot of teams would be happy to take the Cardinals finish last season, but with the recent success of the Cardinals, especially their World Series victory in 2006, the fans of St. Louis were not happy with not making the playoffs, and neither was Cardinals management. In the off-season Walt Jocketty was ousted as Cardinals General Manager, and his place was taken by first time GM, John Mozeliak. Mozeliak wasted no time in making significant changes that will be covered later in the show. Tony LaRussa was given a new contract, ensuring that he will be leading the Cardinals for at least one more season. But that’s enough from the front office, now it’s time to meet the men who will be making memories in the 2008 season, the St. Louis Cardinals. With Spring Training in the books, Tony LaRussa has announced his active roster for the 2008 season, and we will be profiling all twenty five players in his episode of Cardinals Live. There are some new names in the Cardinals uniform like Troy Glaus and Cesar Izturis, but there are some familiar names returning as well, like everybody’s favorite first baseman, Albert Pujols. We hand things off now to the host of Cardinals Live throughout the season, Pat Parris, and he will introduce us to the St. Louis Cardinals position-by-position. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Catcher The Cardinals pitching staff will be directed by one of the emerging great catchers in the Major Leagues, Yadier Molina. Molina is known for his great defense and rocket arm, but he has been working hard in the off-season to improve his offensive abilities. Molina is already one of the hardest players to strike out in the majors, but he has added some pop in the winter that should boost his offensive numbers, but defense still stays as priority number one. He will be backed up by catching veteran Jason LaRue. LaRue is accustomed to being a starter, and he adds a viable option should something happen where Molina would be out for a prolonged period of time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- First Base If you ask people who the most talented hitter in the game is, many will tell you Albert Pujols, who will be returning as the first baseman and number three hitter for the Cardinals. As usual you can count on Pujols to hit well above .300, and you can count on him for over thirty homers and one hundred runs batted in. In addition, in recent years Pujols has developed from a quiet player who did nothing but put up numbers to a very vocal leader who can lead the team with not only his offense, but his words of wisdom. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Base Tony LaRussa has decided to go to a two man committee at second base this season. Last year the Cardinals thought they solved their second base situation by signing Adam Kennedy, but he failed to produce, and Aaron Miles emerged as a solid second basemen. The way it looks now Kennedy will get the majority of the starts, but Miles will make almost all the starts against lefties and will make a spot start against righties. In LaRussa’s words, “We’ll probably just stick with who’s swinging the hot bat.†--------------------------------------------------------------------- Shortstop One of the new faces to the Cardinals is former Gold Glove winner Cesar Izturis. Izturis is a switch hitter who is known much more for his defense than his offense. When he does get on base though he possesses decent speed and is a smart baserunner. Many feel he is an improvement in defense to former starter David Eckstein, but it is doubtful that he can have the same spark plug effect that Eckstein had. Backing up Izturis at shortstop will be young Brendan Ryan. Ryan has been a solid role player for the Cardinals over the last couple of seasons, and will likely get the majority of starts against lefties as he swings the bat very well against them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Third Base Another new face will be starting at third base for the Cardinals. Before the season they traded long time third baseman Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus. Glaus is a large power hitter who has lead the league in home runs before. He figures to be a step down from Rolen in the defensive department, but the Cardinals had no choice but to deal their disgruntled third baseman to Toronto. Glaus is looking to show the fans that the deal was a good one, and if he can provide protection for Pujols in the lineup, then the Cardinals should be successful. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Left Field The major question concerning the Cardinals coming into the season is what they are going to do in the outfield. They kept five outfielders on their opening day roster, and all five figure to get their share of starts. The main left fielder for the Cardinals this season will be Chris Duncan, who is known for his great home run ability. Duncan’s defense is very sub-par, but word is that he worked hard on it in the offseason. The other left fielder will be another new face to the Cardinals, speedster Brian Barton. He gives the Cardinals an element of speed they haven’t seen in several years and should get his share of at-bats against lefties. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Center Field The Cardinals outfield will be lead by their breakout player from last season, Rick Ankiel. Ankiel was the feel good story of baseball last season as he made his way back to the majors after a long odyssey in the minor leagues after his bout with control problems as a pitcher. Ankiel came back and put on a great show for the St. Louis fans, and with a full season to showcase his skills this year, he should be instrumental in the Cardinals success. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Right Field Another position that will be hotly contested throughout the season will be right field. The man who will get the majority of the playing time will be Ryan Ludwick, who provides more pop than backup Skip Schumaker. Schumaker is the fastest option and could fill the lead off spot, but at the beginning of the year he will primarily be used off their bench and be given spot starts. This will likely be a case of whoever is playing better will get more playing time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting Rotation The Cardinals pitching rotation will get a huge boost as their ace will return after missing all but one game of last year. Chris Carpenter will see his first action since having Tommy John Surgery last season, and he looks to return to his Cy Young form of the past where he was the most dominant pitcher in the National League. He will be followed in the rotation by the man that filled his shoes last season, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is starting his second year as a starter, and he has a lot more experience this year that should help him. Third in the rotation will be Kyle Lohse, who the Cardinals picked up in Spring Training. He is looking to show all the teams that passed him up in the off-season that they were wrong and that he can be a good pitcher. Fourth will be former reliever, Braden Looper, who proved last year that he can be effective as a starter. He had a good first year in the rotation, and is looking to improve in year two. And rounding out the rotation is Joel Pineiro, who is beginning his first whole season with the Cardinals, and he looked very good for them at the end of last season. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Long Relief Todd Wellemeyer will begin the season as the Cardinals long reliever and emergency starter. He was in the rotation at times last season, and has proven that he can be effective. If any of the starters struggle he could be the first person the Cardinals look at to fill a hole. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Middle Relief Last year the bullpen was very strong for the Cardinals, and their middle relievers try to keep the Cardinals good reputation intact. One of their stronger members looks to be Kyle McClellan, who is beginning his first year in the major leagues. He came out of nowhere in Spring Training to put up some amazing stats and make the team. The other right hander will be Russ Springer, who was dominant last season with an ERA in the low two’s to go along with eight wins to only one loss. Ron Villone provides veteran leadership for the Cardinals. The lefty has played for several teams, and is very hard for left handers to hit, so he is invaluable to the Cardinals. The other lefty is the USC grad, Randy Flores. Flores has shown signs of brilliance, but he has looked bad at other times. If he gets his devastating slider in order, he is almost impossible to hit. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup Man Ryan Franklin returns to his role as the setup man. He had a very successful year, and for stretches of time he couldn’t be scored upon. His stats dipped at the end of the season, but he still put up very good numbers and did his job of getting the lead to the ninth so that Jason Isringhausen could close out the games. He would figure to be the emergency closer if something were to happen to Isringhausen. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Closer Jason Isringhausen had one of his most successful seasons as a closer last year. He used his effective cutter and curveball to go with his fastball to shut hitters down, and prove why he is still one of the premier closers in the National League. He looks to nail down games once again for the Cardinals as he climbs the all-time saves list. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitting Prospects The top three Cardinals hitting prospects all play for their Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds. The first, center fielder Colby Rasmus was in serious contention to start in center field for the Cardinals this year, but he is still very young. Many feel after a few more months in the minors he could be brought up to the big leagues if the outfield is stuggling. Another outfielder that the Cardinals are grooming for a future callup is Joe Mather. Mather is an impressive athlete that has both speed and power, and he can play the corner outfield positions well. The final of the prospects is Memphis catcher Bryan Anderson. The Cardinals already have an impressive young catcher in Yadier Molina, but they are also impressed by Anderson, and his future is yet to be seen. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitching Prospects Two of the three Cardinals top pitching prospects aren't really young prospects, but they are starting the year in AAA, so they are eligible for this list. Mark Mulder will be in the starting rotation for Memphis as he tries to get his stuff together. He was given a big contract by St. Louis, and if he regains his good skills in the minors, he could be brought up to the team very quickly. Another person in a similar situation is Matt Clement. Clement was very successful a few years ago, but after a few injuries he fell off the map. The Cardinals are hoping their great minor league system can turn him around and he can become a productive member of the big team. The third prospect is a true prospect. Chris Perez will begin the year as the closer for Memphis, and he possesses absolute gas. His fastball isn’t his only pitch though, he also has a potentially nasty slider, and once he gets more experience he should be called up and really boost the bullpen. [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 [align=center]Colorado Rockies (0-0) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (0-0) Scoring Summary Top 2nd COL: Omar Quintanilla RBI Single (1-0) Top 4th COL: Omar Quntanilla RBI Triple (2-0) COL: Willy Taveras RBI Single (3-0) Player of the Game Jeff Francis 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 SO [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysFTW Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Dynasty looks pretty swell so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrigleyville33 Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 yawn boring. It might just be me, but I'm not going to read paragraph after paragraph. Everyone says it's looks good after one post. Find a way to make this more interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 yawn boring. It might just be me, but I'm not going to read paragraph after paragraph. Everyone says it's looks good after one post. Find a way to make this more interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I was already planning on doing some things, like Al Hrabosky's weekly Hungo Award and weekly updates on the happenings of the league. Writing is my strong point by far, and that's likely something that I won't eliminate from my posts, but I will try to add some more graphics for those who aren't fans of reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 [align=center]Colorado Rockies (1-0) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (0-1) Scoring Summary Top 2nd COL: Brad Hawpe Solo Home Run (1-0) Bottom 4th STL: Cesar Izturis Run Scoring Fielder’s Choice (1-1) Bottom 10th STL: Chris Duncan RBI Single (1-2) Player of the Game Chris Duncan 4-5, 1 RBI Walk-Off Single in the 10th [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 [align=center]Colorado Rockies (1-1) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (1-1) Scoring Summary Bottom 1st STL: Ryan Ludwick 2-RBI Double (0-2) Top 4th COL: Chris Iannetta RBI Single (1-2) COL: Omar Quintanilla RBI Single (2-2) Bottom 4th STL: Ryan Ludwick RBI Single (2-3) STL: Cesar Izturis RBI Double (2-4) Bottom 6th STL: Yadier Molina RBI Single (2-5) Top 8th COL: Brad Hawpe 2-RBI Single (4-5) Bottom 8th STL: Cesar Izturis RBI Single (4-6) Player of the Game Ryan Ludwick 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthefon Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Hmm, I like the clean presentation here very much. I'd definitely like to see screenshots and maybe recaps once in a while for the exciting games. Apart from that, nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleMan Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 good work sHaynes23 :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Hmm, I like the clean presentation here very much. I'd definitely like to see screenshots and maybe recaps once in a while for the exciting games. Apart from that, nice work. Thanks, I was thinking about adding something more to the game reports anyway, and recap of the action would be very nice. I do series previews as well that sum up the action for the teams so far, but I figured doing one before the first series would just repeat what I said in my opening post for the most part, so look for those starting with my second series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 [align=center]Series Preview Washington Nationals (2-2) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (2-1) The Washington Nationals will be coming into St. Louis for a three game stand. They got off to a 2-1 start while the Cardinals took two of three from the defending National League Champion Colorado Rockies. The Nationals are in a rebuilding year and don’t have a realistic chance of surviving in the very powerful National League East. Many say the same thing about the St. Louis Cardinals. National sports outlets say that the Cardinals will be trampled by the Cubs and Brewers. But with Albert Pujols in the lineup St. Louis fans find it hard to believe that they will struggle this season. In their first three game set the Cardinals looked pretty good against the Rockies. Their two top offensive players, Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel both struggled as they each hit under .200, but the slack was picked up by the trio of Ryan Ludwick, Chris Duncan and Cesar Izturis. Ludwick was the top hitter in the series as he hit .583 with 3 RBI’s. The pitching was also strong and kept them in every game. In this series they are expected to pitch Braden Looper, Joel Pineiro and staff ace Chris Carpenter, who took a loss in a close game in game one of the season. The 2-2 Nationals will be sending out Jason Bergmann, Odalis Perez and Shawn Hill to pitch against the Cardinals in this three game set. Perez and Hill have both pitched, and they both took no decisions. One thing that the Nationals excelled at in their four game set was offense. Their star, Ryan Zimmerman had a home run and eight RBI’s in the four game stretch. He was backed up by Austin Kearns and Cristian Guzman, who each had four RBI’s. [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 [align=center]BREAKING NEWS MLB.com is reporting that the Detroit Tigers have signed Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens. Clemens is widely considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and he adds to an already stacked Detroit pitching staff. Clemens went though some tough times in the off-season, but he looks to put those things behind him as he gets a fresh start for the now American League favorites, Detroit Tigers. [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaynes23 Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 [align=center]Washington Nationals (2-2) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (2-1) Scoring Summary Top 1st WAS: Nick Johnson RBI Single (1-0) Bottom 1st STL: Troy Glaus RBI Single (1-1) Bottom 10th STL: Albert Pujols RBI Double (1-2) Player of the Game Albert Pujols 3-5, 2 2B, RBI Walk-Off Double in the 10th Game Recap This game saw two pitchers throw unlikely gems. Jason Bergmann is the Nationals last starter, and they just wanted to get some solid innings out of him, but instead he went out and threw seven innings and only gave up one run. Braden Looper answered Bergmann’s great pitching in the game by also giving up only a run over seven innings. It was then a contest of bullpens. The Cardinals bullpen was perfect in their three innings as Russ Springer got three quick outs, then Todd Wellemeyer pitched two more perfect innings. Luis Ayala came in and pitched two great innings for the Nationals, but for some reason he was brought in for a third inning. He gave up three quick singles to the Cardinals, and then he had to face Albert Pujols with the bases loaded and the game on the line. Albert got a 2-1 fastball, and he ripped it off the left field wall, giving the Cardinals their second extra inning win of the year. [/align] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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