Wait, how many outs are there? 2 already? Damn....

The cardinals are the best two out hitters in baseball. That is the only reason they are currently in first place because it seems like they always have two out.

The cardinals offense has been rolling this year at a rate that not too many had anticipated. As I have mentioned in previous articles, the bats are hot and continue to be hot. It isn't even certain players, it is everyone on the team! Even when Laird (who is on the DL) is in the lineup, he contributes with at least a hit or two. This is the first year in several years where I examine the nightly lineup and don't immediately think "Boy I hope Albert does something tonight." It is nice to look up and down the lineup like Tony did during the bash brother days and think "I'm sure someone will come through for us tonight."

There is no explanation for what Daniel Descalso is doing right now. It is like he stole the go ahead in the 9th inning gene from the Reds this year and is keeping it all to himself. I can't imagine a situation where St. Louis will have to send him back down to Memphis, his glove is just as good as Freese's and his bat is made of clutch.

However the purpose of this blog was to discuss the plethora of double play ball the cardinals have hit into this year. As of the 24th of May the Cardinals have hit in 61 double plays!! At this rate, the Cardinals are on pace to not just set new records for double plays, but to shatter the old marks. The all-time National League record for team GIDP is 166 times, a mark set by the 1958 St. Louis Cardinals. (Interesting side note: the Cardinals also hold the record for fewest in a season, with just 75 in 1945.)

Something is going to have to change if the cards are going to be known for going deep in the playoffs this year instead of being drowned in futility from getting on top of too many balls with a guy on first. That is one record that St. Louis wants NO part of.

Speaking of Rivalries...

So the Reds announcers call the Cardinals a bunch of "whiners" and that they are the most hated team in all of baseball. I heard quite a bit of talk about this on the radio today while driving around and here is what I have assessed from it all.

Reds fans really really want Cards Reds to be a rivalry, and Cardinals fans are not ready to think of these pesky Ohioans as anything but a year or two flash in the pan. And because of this indifference by Cards fans the Reds have decided to do anything in their power to make us pay attention to them. They are acting like a bratty two year old who you are ignoring because something much cooler (like a ball game) is on TV. "Daddy look at me! Daddy look at me! Daddy look at me!"

Sorry Reds fans, but you are just wrong on this one. The Cardinals may complain during games about calls, sure everyone does. And heck, they might do it more than most teams do. I would not know because they are doing it in the confines of the game and no one would know about it unless someone in the media has to bring it to everyones attention or there is an ejection. I rarely see objections, so while they may argue about calls they are obviously not doing it in a way that shows up the umpires or they would take action.

The Reds have decided to continue to complain about the Cardinals in the media as a way to try and force a rivalry between two teams who's overall records over the last six years are: Cards 524-447, Reds 468-504. Now look, I would love to have a rivalry between the two clubs. But why not let it actually play out on the field. Sweeping the first place team to overtake them in the standings is a really good place to start. You really do not need to sink to the media name calling level.

PS: Tony, just shut up and get that eye healed. Go kick their asses next time out.

Cubs-Cards

Hopefully we can get to Westbrook early and often tonight! Hopefully there will be a game, Thunderstorms are suppose to move through the Chicago area today/tonight

As soon as the Cubs do something worth blogging about I will blog. Maybe we can take 2 out of 3 from the Cards this week, although I highly doubt it! Its another long season on the north side of Chicago! Big Z has looked better this year than the last few, but Dempster has just gone into the tank! A-Ram has forgotten how to hit homeruns and drive people in! Starlin Castro is our only stolen base threat! For a team that has the money and the loyal fans you would think you could build a half way decent team! Freakin WGN only shows about one damn game a week, which with the way the Cubs play is probably all I can stomach!

Defensive Post

I am waiting on Noel to make some posts that have nothing to do with the Cardinals, but I figure Joe and I can take over the blog for a while until those cubbies decide to make some noise. Well, besides Soriano and Zambrano that is. So get to work Noel! Or at least fill us in on some Husker news.

So the Cardinals offense is clicking on cylinders we have not seen in many many years as was pointed out in the previous post. I would like to think it is the best offense since Ray Lankford was roaming the outfield, but he was my second favorite Cardinal of all time and I know that I glorify him in my head. Anyway, the offense is leading the Birds on Bat to a nice 1.5 game lead on the Mr. Reds early in this young season, a pretty solid feat especially after the polar opposite starts the two teams had ten games into the year.

Now I am going to leave a discussion of the pitching staff to another day (not that we have not touched on it already), today is all about defense. And we just flat out stink. I will not go into super deep statistics tonight since I have a final to give in about 8 hours, but lets look at some very interesting stats that cannot be ignored:

Cardinals record when they commit an error 3-12
Cardinals record when not committing an error 15-2

Talk about an error that cost the team. 

Those stats are amazing to me. The Cards have the most errors in the league at 28. Ryan Theriot has had a league leading 8 errors on the season and has a .938 fielding percentage. Imagine how many he would have if he would have played in the 3 games he sat out!(statistics class tells me he would have 9, but you get my point) I realize that he is hitting the ball well, but I have no clue how he has a WAR of +0.4 at this point. I will grant you that I have no clue how WAR is calculated, but when you have a team that is 3-12 when committing a error and you personally have 8 errors, the eye test says that your WAR is way worse than +0.4.

Off to bed since I have to give a final at 8am. Oh, and I had two students OVERSLEEP the final I gave today... at 1pm! Could someone please explain to me how you oversleep a 1pm final? I have had several beers and a couple cinco de mayo margaritas and I will not oversleep the 8am final tomorrow, let alone a 1pm final. Oh well, I will see those kids in the spring!

offensive post

With the injury to Freese just getting under way there are no real signs of the cards offense slowing down. Freese's numbers on the year are .356/2 HR/14 RBI with four doubles and an .865 ops. Decent numbers for playing on ankles at half strength. Even with him sitting for 8-12 weeks (depending on who's report you heed) the cards still have a dynamic explosive offense that hasn't been seen since the MV3 era. And this offense may be better than that still.

With three former contending MVP's in the middle, all three benefit from one another. During the MV3 era it was assumed that Albert was the kingpin, Rolen and Edmonds were simply following along. This year, especially with the way Albert has hit so far average wise, Holliday and Berkman are surpassing what Scotty and Jimmy did in aiding number 5. Not only are the St. Louis's version of the big 3 stepping up, a variety of role players are filling in nicely. Rasmus (hitting .302 with 3 Homers and 11 Rbi) Theriot (.306 with 4 stolen bases) Allen Craig and Danny Descalso have all contributed.

Overall it seems regardless of the dead spots in the cards rotation and the lumps in the bullpen, the cards offense has a chance to carry both of them through the season, barring more injuries of course. Either way, I am enjoying watching the redbirds finally put together an offense around Pujols that will entice him to stick around a little longer.

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

-Joan m Richardson