the next 2 series…. Or at least the first one. We must win 5 out of the next 6 and then 4 of the next 6 games to see if we even remotely have a chance to compete. If we don’t, then we trudge through the season with plenty of griping to do.
I hope Walt only has 2 days vacation left this winter, as he has lots of work to do.

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The team is self destructing before all of cardinal Nation. A rookie with a 1-4 record in Class A ball has imitated Cy Young with his left hand pitching against the Cardinals. Miller didn’t really dominate but he whipped us.

The offense lacks. The fire has burnt out. There is not a spark or an ember, just stone cold facts. We are not very good. Tony has lost his leadership ability.

Instead of my railing on everybody, let’s hear what you think the Cardinals need to do.

Patience or housecleaning?

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Late night games are tough. When you have to work for a living and staying for those games are called BRUTAL. Ok, now for the games.

Tony has shown a propensity lately for leaving his starters in too long and it has cost us 2 games in LA. Wells was out of gas. I will re-use the old line that Tony was “asleep at the wheel” again.
Encarnacion is not a major leaguer anymore. We are not going to go anywhere playing this way. Shake things up.
Tony, do the team a favor. Your ability to lead has diminished and possibly went bye-bye on that day in Jupiter when you got arrested. Resign. Check out the climate in the clubhouse. Check out the climate in the front office. Check out the climate in Cardinal Nation. Do the right thing.

RESIGN.

Let the team move on.

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It needed to be said. I post an excerpt from an article from the Post Dispatch with a link. I believe Jimmy is right on with this.

Edmonds issues wake-up call

SAN DIEGO — Irked by a lack of urgency, Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds
said Sunday that “things are sliding” within a club that absorbed its sixth
shutout in a passive loss to the San Diego Padres.

“There’s no reason why we can’t score a run here and there off any given guy at
any given time. If things aren’t working, we’ve got to change them. We need to
figure out why they’re not working and make an adjustment,” said Edmonds, who
is dealing with a slow start following two off-season operations and a
truncated spring training. “We just can’t keep coming up with lame excuses day
in and day out why we’re not winning.”

La Russa and numerous hitters were riled by an impotent attack against Padres
waiver claim Justin Germano.

“It’s sad that we send a young guy out there and not give him anything to work
with,” Edmonds said. “We’ve just got to somehow snap out of this. It’s getting
a little bit old, and we’re all to blame.”

The Cardinals did not accept a walk Sunday against a pitcher whose seven-inning
outing was the longest of his career.

Reminded that this team used to make relentlessness its trademark during 100-
and 105-win seasons in 2004 and 2005, Edmonds said flatly, “This is a different
team.”

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/cards

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This is what the Cardinals use to bat with.

Sorry for the no blog for a few days. We went to Chicago where our youngest son was honored at the Hilton as a State Board member for the Illinois Association of Student Councils.

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We have to play 20 games over .500 the rest of the way to be a serious contender for the postseason. Can we do it? Of course we can. But will we? Who knows. That is a lofty goal at this point. I see no real change in our “approach” to hitting the ball. The TV analysts say we have to win series. That is an understatement.
Let’s win the series vs Colorado, TODAY!

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Time to devote to your pet cause, Tony. What an odd call to walk Atkins when you have a 2-1 count to load the bases. The next batter, Hawpe, coaxes a walk to force in what is the winning run. I know, you have won over 2300 games. But that is in the past and right now your team is 9 games back. We need new blood.

Albert, Jimmy and Scottie- 2 for last 37- You gotta pick it up boys. We can’t score runs. We win Sunday but only scored 3 runs and then lose with 2 on Monday. 1-15 with less than 2 runs. Where, O Where, has the Offense gone?

If you want to know more of my feelings read my last post on “We are being fed horse slop”. I feel that way more and more as the season goes by. We are 31 games in to the season and have shown no progress.

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Now Carpenter is out for a minimum of 3 months. Did the medical staff lie to the fans? If they didn’t, then they are very poor in diagnosing anything in the last 2-3 years. Consistently (there is that word again) mis-diagnosing. I am afraid we may have seen the last of the really good Chris Carpenter. I know, I know, he had this done before and became a Cy Young winner later. But come on, how many times can you have chips taken and still be good? We shall see.

I am ready for a complete overhaul. Even with the management. They won the WS and now they are living high on the hog from it. The owners reaped big profits and continue to feed us horse slop for players. Look at the offseason acquisitions. Woopee. Adam Kennedy. Kip Wells. They will put us over. Then they use anyone that can throw the ball near the plate as a starting pitcher. Ryan Franklin has been a good 8th inning guy and Izzy has done decent in the pen.

Edmonds is playing old and let’s not forget the 2 yr deal we signed him to this winter. This is going to have some long term ramifications when it comes to signing future players. Preston Wilson, a bust. He gave us a few weeks last year but now we know why he was DFA’ed before. He can’t play well. So Taguchi was given a contract and now we watch his 9-hop a throw from center field to home (actually 9 got it to the pitchers mound). Eckstein, Mr MVP, is really in a funk for the year. Anyone tell David to stay out of the Wrestling ring this winter? No, of course not.

Tony. I really appreciate what he has done for the Cardinals to this point. But he has lost his leadership ability. Was it that fateful day in Jupiter when he was asleep at the wheel? I don’t know. But something has changed. The fire has gone out. There is not even embers glowing. Cold. Dark. No passion. any passion he had was sucked out with the death of Josh Hancock. Thanks Tony and welcome Joe Girardi.

Walt Jocketty. Thanks for your years of service. Most of them have been good. But the last 2 winters have shown that you are not willing to help us get the difference makers. Maybe ownership has held you back. If it has done that, then Walt should have said NO and moved on. He is comfortable and sitting in the “fat cat” seat.

Bill DeWitt. Ownership has made a bundle of money. They have torn down Busch Stadium and build a new one even if we didn’t really need it. I am not convinced the new one really is better for the fans but rest assured it has all kinds of potential for the owners to get richer. Cash in Bill.

Horse slop. We are fed it daily but those “spin doctors” in St. Louis. Change the karma. Change the anything. But we are known as the “Best fans in baseball.” Is that because we accept without challenge or is because we know good baseball and cheer for it?

Somebody forgot to clean up after the Clydesdale that were at the stadium on opening day. The remnants are still there.

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The Cardinals are reaching a crossroads very early in the season. Remember now, I am one to constantly remind people that baseball is a marathon and not a sprint. But even in a marathon, it doesn’t pay to get too far behind or get too many people in front of you. Sink or swim with the current players?

Edmonds has looked increasingly bad. Since that night he ran into the wall playing the White Sox, he has not returned to form. Aches and pains. What is not good about this is that he was given a 2 year contract in the offseason. Also, he has a no trade clause.

Wilson has played old. the occasional sharp basehit and a stolen base just keeps him around. He has played well since his 2004 season when he was da man. Time to cut ties and trade or release him.

Taguchi, Old and also playing that way. He has brought nothing to the diamond that a younger oldfielder couldn’t do. It is time to release, trade of DFA so Taguchi.

Let’s look at the lackluster April that I began before the tradegy hit the team. STATS.

Extra basehits by team:

1. Florida 106
2. Atlanta 98
3. Milwaukee 96
4. Chicago 96
5. Philadelphia 92
6. San Diego 92
7. New York Mets 88
8. Arizona 76
9. San Francisco 71
10. Cincinnati 74
11. Los Angeles 71
12. Colorado 71
13. Pittsburgh 68
14. Houston 69
15. Washington 67
16. St. Louis 56

Look at the Cardinals OPS by position in the batting order relative to the league:

OPS    Lg Ave    Rank

• 1 0.505 0.762 16
• 2 1. 004 0.776 1
• 3 0.838 0.831 5
• 4 0.577 0.794 15
• 5 0.658 0.772 15
• 6 0.597 0.785 16
• 7 0.678 0.710 9
• 8 0.553 0.663 14
• 9 0.064 0.464 2

STATS don’t lie. So which are we? Poor, very poor, bad or very bad?

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May is here. Turn the page. Baseball is stat driven. Let’s look at what they did or did not do in April.

In the middle of this, I changed my mind. There is still 5 months to go and I don’t want to talk about this until the Cardinals get a chance to bury their teammate. I won’t post another blog until the day after the funeral for Hancock.

Pray for the family of Josh Hancock.

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