At game time 11 years ago, it was just another night. Just another game.

We didn’t know then what Tuesday, June 18, 2002, would come to signify in St. Louis Cardinals history.

Not long after the Cardinals beat the then-Anaheim Angels came the first shock: Jack Buck, beloved broadcaster, had died.

His son Joe was on Fox Sports Midwest that night, calling the game, the 7-2 win that put the Cardinals into first place, a position they would hold for the rest of the 2002 season.

Remember, through your sadness through the next couple of games, thinking how appropriate it was that the Cardinals were playing the Angels at the time we lost and mourned Jack? It just seemed fitting.

Pitching that Tuesday night, earning his fifth win of the season, was Darryl Kile.

What we didn’t know, what we couldn’t possibly have even comprehended at the time, was that it was for the final time ever.

Four days later, the mourning we still felt over Jack the day after he was laid to rest turned into unbelievable shock and incomprehensible grief as we learned Darryl died in a Chicago hotel room.

Even now, 11 years later, thinking back to that day brings all the memories back. Listening to the Cardinals radio broadcast in my car as I drove to my parents’ house following a cousin’s graduation party, knowing from the on-air descriptions something terrible had happened but — inexplicably — piecing together in my head from what was being said an umpire must have died and that was the reason the game hadn’t started. Arriving at my parents’ house, seeing a Yankees game on FOX instead of the Cardinals and going to their computer room to investigate further. A short while later looking at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s website and learning the awful truth, sharing the moment with my Cardinals fan uncle who was in town for the graduation party too.

» Continue reading “11 Years Ago Tonight For The Cardinals …”

Anyone tired of watching Yadier Molina do his thing?

Yeah, didn’t think so.

Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Yadi had two hits, two RBI and a very interesting run scored to help the St. Louis Cardinals win 5-2 over the Chicago Cubs. Oh, those hits also raised his National League-leading batting average to .355. And he is (thankfully) gaining ground on Buster Posey in the NL All-Star voting.

It was another good night for Yadi — actually, a good night for all of the Cardinals once the rain ended and the game actually began.

Shelby Miller was terrific yet again, although his start was cut short by cramping in his right leg. He left after 5 scoreless innings in which he gave up 2 hits, struck out 5 and walked 2. He also lowered his ERA to 2.08, which is third-best in the NL.

And Shelby joins Adam Wainwright with 10 wins and Lance Lynn with 9 to make this the first time since 2005 the Cards have had three pitchers with 8 or more wins in their first 70 games, according to Tom Orf.

Kevin Siegrist took over in the 6th inning and continued what he’s done since his debut: held the opponent scoreless. He retired four Cubs, including Anthony Rizzo on a great called third strike, and walked one. Siegrist has pitched 6 2/3 big league innings now and allowed just 1 hit while walking 2 and striking out 10.

» Continue reading “Yadi, Yadi, Yadi Leads The Cardinals Yet Again”

Frustrating weekend of St. Louis Cardinals baseball? Absolutely.

Most disappointing series thus far in 2013? Yep.

Discouraging that the consecutive-series-wins streak came at the hands of the — gasp — Miami Marlins? Of course.

The end of the baseball world? Nope.

Here are the facts.

The Cardinals, even after losing 2 of 3, still have the best record in MLB at 44-25. They are still atop the National League Central standings and have 2 1/2 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and 3 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even with the starting pitching struggles over the weekend, the Cardinals still maintain the best starter ERA in the majors at 2.97. And, while it’s cutesy and all to refer to the Marlins as a minor league team, truth is they have a winning record in June at 7-6.

(Just as a frame of reference, the other “minor league” team so many love to mock also — the Houston Astros — are 8-7 this month and have won 4 straight.)

And, while not a fact but instead just a trite expression, a baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint.

Sure, that consecutive series win streak was terrific. But, to once again be trite, nothing lasts forever. There are going to be bumps in the road. It’s not how you start, or how long a streak goes, but you finish. You’ve got to play them one day at a time … Sorry, getting a little carried away with the cliches. But it is the 25th anniversary of the release of “Bull Durham,” after all.

» Continue reading “Frustrating Cardinals Weekend Is Just That: A Bad Weekend”

Welcome back, Jake Westbrook. Welcome to the 10-win club, Adam Wainwright, and congratulations on strikeout number 1,000 (and numbers 1,001 through 1,005).

And the performances by Westbrook and Wainwright — and Friday night’s and Thursday afternoon’s games — proved that great pitching and pitchers’ duels are a lot more fun, and a lot less frustrating, to watch.

Yet both games are just part of baseball. It’s trite but true — can’t win ‘em all. Sometimes the worst team in baseball beats the best team.

Which is exactly what happened Friday as the Marlins beat the Cardinals 5-4. Westbrook allowed all 5 runs, though only 3 were earned, and 8 hits in his return from the disabled list while the Cardinals struck out 13 times on their way to scoring those 4 runs. Ouch.

And sometimes expected pitchers’ duels — like Wainwright vs. the Mets only good pitcher this season, Matt Harvey — actually live up to expectations. The Cardinals prevailed 2-1, Waino won his major league leading 10th game and Edward Mujica earned a shaky-yet-successful 19th save.

Ah, well, both of those games are now baseball past. Today is a new game — and today is also the 30th anniversary of a trade that Chris Jaffe describes at The Hardball Times as “one of the most incredible and obviously one-sided trades of the 1980s occurred” — the Cardinals trade of Keith Hernandez to the Mets for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.

» Continue reading “Catching Up With The Cardinals: Saturday Edition”

Was there a more satisfying win yet this season than this one?

And could there be a more stereotypical 2013 St. Louis Cardinals way to win than scoring 7 runs in the 10th inning and holding the Cincinnati Reds scoreless from the 5th inning on?

Mostly rhetorical questions, as the answers to both are likely no.

The Cardinals 11-4 win in 10 innings over the Reds — their first extra-inning win of the season — gave them a 4-game lead in the National League Central, continued their streak of winning series that stretches back to the end of April and was their 41st win of the season. Speaking of streaks, three of the four hitting streaks continued as well. (Sorry, Allen Craig.)

Yet much of the game was tight and tense, the proverbial playoff atmosphere-type game in June made all the more frustrating by the ESPN crew’s love of the Reds. Brandon Phillips is so amazing, you guys! And Bronson Arroyo — hey, look at this video from when he was a kid! Isn’t he just adorable? And Brandon Phillips — seriously, he is just awesome on Twitter! We’ll let him tell you himself how much! Isn’t the the best?

Ugh. And, for the second straight game, hello mute button.

It was not necessarily a stellar night for Lance Lynn, especially in the 1st inning. A double, walk, single and sac fly gave the Reds a 2-0 lead. Then, after the Cards tied it in the 4th, he gave up the final two runs in the 5th. He went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits, struck out 6 and walked 3.

» Continue reading “Yes, Of Course The Cardinals Get 7 Runs In The 10th”

Yes, the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks got ugly. Very ugly.

No, I don’t want to talk about Randy Choate or Maikel Cleto or a depleted bullpen that meant of course they were going to lose or two losses in a row (for the first time since the end of April, by the way).

No talk about Ty Wigginton either, just because.

Instead, here are five positives from last night’s game. Grab the red pom poms …

1. Joe Kelly

Though some of the ever-overreacting Twitter crowd were calling for Joe to be sent back to the minors in the second inning when he gave up two consecutive hits and a run, the truth is Joe did a good job in his first start of the year. He threw 80 pitches, lasted 5 2/3 innings, gave up two runs although the second was unearned thanks to Matt Holliday making a cringe-worthy error, and retired 12 consecutive batters between the second and the sixth.

After all his ups and downs out of the bullpen, an outing like this was terrific to see — and gave the team what it needed last night: innings on the mound.

And while all that is nice, Joe should be a positive based on this alone. Right?

» Continue reading “5 Positives From The Cardinals Loss”

With Social Media Night just one week away, the Cardinals announced details for the event. Even if you can’t physically make it to the game, you won’t want to miss the creative ways the Cardinals staff is incorporating you — yes, you! — into the festivities.

Here’s the plan:

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (May 28, 2013) – The St. Louis Cardinals announced that Social Media Night in the Budweiser Bowtie Bar at Busch Stadium June 4^th will focus on fan engagement, including giving fans the opportunity to take over the team’s twitter account (@Cardinals) for the game.

“Like radio in the early days of baseball, social media enables fans to follow the team, but with a modern twist that allows them to also be the voice of the Cardinals,” said Ron Watermon, Director of Public Relations. “We thought it would be fun to let fans in our ‘Twitter booth’ to help us call the game.”

The Cardinals will allow fans to tweet the play-by-play and story of the game during Social Media Night by selectively re-tweeting fans that include the hashtag #STLFanTakeover in their tweets.

Fans who buy a special ticket to the Social Media Night event at Busch Stadium will receive access to a pre-game Q&A program featuring Cardinal players who are active on social media. All fans may submit their questions for the players prior to the event via the Cardinals Facebook page (facebook.com/cardinals) and Twitter (@Cardinals, #CardsSocial).

Social Media Night is a great chance for fans of all ages to interact with their favorite “tweeting Birds” face to face, as well as engage with other fans and team officials. In keeping with the fan engagement theme, the team ran a social media contest on Tumblr to have fans design and select the t-shirt that will be given out as part of Social Media Night. For $25, fans receive a Left Field Porch Ticket for the 7:15 p.m. game between the Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks, access to the pre-game program featuring Cardinal players, the fan designed t-shirt, the chance to win autographed prizes and more. Tickets are still available at cardinals.com/socialmedianight. Social Media Night is presented by Budweiser.

Now, that sounds like one hot ticket! Time to start thinking up questions and comments …

You know it’s a good night when you begin your major league pitching career by getting an at-bat before you even take the mound.

And it definitely was a good night — actually, a great night — for Tyler Lyons in his debut last night as the Cardinals beat the Padres 5-3.

Thanks to a lead-off walk to Matt Carpenter, an RBI triple to right for Matt Holliday, an RBI single by Allen Craig and an RBI double by Daniel Descalso, the Cardinals were leading 3-0 when Lyons strode to the plate in the top of the first inning. There were two outs, the bases were loaded and it would have been a true fairy-tale moment if that 2-1 fly ball to left had dropped in for a hit instead of into Jesus Guzman’s glove.

It didn’t … then.

In the sixth inning, again up with two outs but the bases empty, the liner to left was a base hit — take a look.

Also a hit, in a different sense of the word? Lyons pitching. Seven innings, four hits, one run on a homer to Jedd Gyorko in the seventh, one walk, four strikeouts.

» Continue reading “Tyler Lyons: Another Rookie Starter, Another Successful Debut”

West Coast games are brutal. I find myself hoping the games are over before midnight my time, but more often than not falling asleep no matter how invested I am in the game.

Last night was similar, except for the fact that I did stay awake. And, I much prefer listening to a game like that than the one the night before (… of which I only heard about six innings!).

Still, the hour the game finished and the hour I needed to be up this morning didn’t agree much with one another, so we’re going to make this a very visual recap. Here, in .gif-form, is how I made my way through last night’s game.

This is me, trying to watch West Coast games. So … sleepy … must … cheer … on … Cards …

» Continue reading “Cards Bounce Back In Late-Night Winner Over Padres”

NOTE: Have you subscribed to The Cardinals Bird’s Eye View, the series preview email newsletter produced by the United Cardinal Bloggers? Here’s the latest edition, previewing the Padres series that begins tonight — coincidentally, I wrote it. Receive your own Bird’s Eye View before each series by clicking here.

The Series
St. Louis Cardinals (28-15) at San Diego Padres (20-23)
May 20-22
Petco Park, San Diego

How We Got Here
This is the first series of 2013 between these two teams, who split their six games last year. Each team swept their home series: the Cardinals did the honors in St. Louis last May 21-23, while San Diego returned the favor Sept. 10-12 (which caused just a little bit of angst at the time, which I remembered when looking to see what I blogged about then).

As for this season, the Cardinals travel back to the West Coast after going 7-3 on a productive home stand — they lost just one game in each series to the Rockies, Mets and Brewers. They are 13-4 in May, have the best record in the National League, keep jockeying with the Texas Rangers for the best record in the majors (they are 29-15 today) and currently lead the NL Central by 2 1/2 games over both the Pirates and Reds. All of this, of course, with the injuries that have occurred and, though now settled down, the bullpen blowups of a few weeks ago. Oh, and the roller coaster hitting.

After a 10-16 April, the Padres are 10-7 in May and inching toward .500 for the first time in 2013. They just split a four-game series with the Washington Nationals in San Diego, including a 13-4 win yesterday in which they scored seven earned runs off Dan Haren. The Padres are currently in fourth place in the NL West, 4 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in first and 3 1/2 behind the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants, who are tied for second.

» Continue reading “The Cardinals Bird’s Eye View: Hello, San Diego”