Last night against the Cubs the Cardinals appointed Joe Pettini to fill in for the ailing Tony LaRussa. We wish TLR a speedy recovery but thought people might want to know a bit more about his replacement as I gleaned information from his wikipedia entry.

Joseph Paul “Joe” Pettini (born January 26, 1955, in Wheeling, West Virginia) is a former Major League Baseball player and a current major league bench coach with the St. Louis Cardinals. Joe and his family now reside in Bethany, West Virginia.

Pettini attended Brooke High School in Wellsburg, West Virginia and Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He played for the Mercer baseball team, starting 196 consecutive games, but was not selected in the MLB draft. Pettini signed as an undrafted free agent with the Montreal Expos in 1977 after graduating from Mercer. On March 15, 1980, Pettini was sent to the San Francisco Giants as the player to be named later in a 1979 trade where the Giants sent Montreal backup catcher John Tamargo. Pettini made his major-league debut for the Giants on July 10, 1980. He would go on to be a part-time player for the Giants for four seasons, 1980-1983, amassing a total of 344 big-league at-bats and hitting for a .203 average. He hit one major league home run at that took place at Wrigley Field in Chicago. One of the highlights of Pettini’s playing career was his participation in a triple play that the Giants executed against the San Diego Padres on Oct. 3, 1980.

Pettini was an infielder, playing second base, third base and shortstop for the Giants. His final game as a big-league player was October 2, 1983. In 1984, Pettini would sign with the minor-league Louisville Redbirds, then an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning his long association with the organization. Pettini played for Louisville for three seasons.

Pettini stayed with the Cardinals as a coach after his playing career ended in 1988. He started out as a manager with the rookie-level Hamilton franchise in 1989, then moved up the system, managing the Class A St. Petersburg franchise in 1990, the Class AA Little Rock affiliate from 1991 to 1993, and Class AAA Louisville from 1994 to 1996, where he managed the Redbirds to the 1995 American Association championship. Pettini compiled an overall minor-league won-loss record fo 475-569.

In 1997 Pettini was promoted to minor league field coordinator for the St. Louis Cardinals organization, where he remained until 2002. As coordinator, he was responsible for organizing the spring training schedules for up to 200 Cardinal farmhands every spring, as well as making decisions on what levels Cardinal prospects were sent to, and coaching those prospects during the minor league season.

In 2002 St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa picked Pettini to be his bench coach, a position that he still holds. As a bench coach, Pettini helps organize pregame warmups and batting practice. He also sets up infield positioning, reviewing with each infielder how he should position himself for each opposition batter. Pettini checks infield positioning during gameplay, and keeps a stopwatch to measure the pitchers’ release time to the plate. Pettini earned his first championship ring when the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers four games to one.

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Joe got a win last night so let’s go for his first series win.

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Seriously?  This is how MLB handles random drug testing?

Jaime Garcia pitched a masterpiece. Almost a perfect game and near a no-hitter.

People were saying he was dealing his stuff to the batters.

He gets the complete game shutout and everyone is happy. Media talks to him, players congratulate and he then meets up with a representative from Major League Baseball and he has a cup for Garcia to pee in.

Seriously? They don’t have a better procedure than that? They can’t get players before a game or well after the game? They have to slink into the dugout and take the life out of a young pitcher and his dominant game and wonder if he is doing drugs?

I am for testing. But minutes after the game? Bud Selig needs to get a better hold on this issue than that.

Oh wait, it was against the Milwaukee Brewers…. didn’t he once own that team?

Enough said. Now it all makes sense.

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The Cardinals schedule moves to some of the other National League Central teams. The Brewers come into St Louis for 3 games beginning May 6, 2100.

7:00 pm Friday- Wolf vs. Garcia

3:00 pm Saturday- Gallardo vs Lohse

1:00 pm Sunday- Narveson vs. McClellan

Then on Tuesday, May 10th the Cardinals travel to Wrigley Field for 3 games.

7:00 pm Tuesday- Carpenter vs. Zambrano

7:00 pm Wednesday- Westbrook vs. Garza

1:00 pm Thursday- Garcia vs. Dempster

Cardinals then travel to Cincinnati to face the Reds for three games.

6:00 pm Friday Lohse vs. TBA

3:00 pm Saturday McClellan vs. TBA

12:00 noon Sunday Carpenter vs. TBA

As you can see this is a very important week for the Cardinals as they can put some space between them and some of their top rivals in the National League Central. I predict 5 wins and 4 losses.

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I sat there will several other bloggers on Opening Day weekend and listened to Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak talk to us. It was insightful to say the least. One of the things I remember most (and I am paraphrasing) that he said was..

we know we sacrificed defense for some offense in the moves that we made in the off-season.

Fine. The Cardinals added Berkman to give some punch to the line-up and he has certainly done that to this point. Ryan Theriot was added to give more hits to the order. For the most part he has done that. Gerald Laird has been able to spell Molina in the lineup quite admirably. Nick Punto still has the jury out but first impressions are good. That is the offensive side of the game.

Defense. Let’s look at the numbers.

Theriot is tied for league lead in errors with an eye-popping nine for the season. He dropped a flyball to essentially lose the game and a sweep of the Braves. Can we find the numbers to tell us how many groundballs up the middle a former shortstop may have gotten that our present one didn’t? Does the .317 average and 8 RBI’s with 3 stolen bases offset that?

The Cardinals are 29th in the Major Leagues in ERRORS. That is next-to-last for those that need the help. Off the top of my head game losing errors have resulted in a minimum of 5 losses so far this year. Pujols and Rasmus have been culprits already this year.

The defense has let the bullpen down several times already this year. People love to watch an offensive team. An explosion of runs is a thrill for many people. Back to the question at hand. Will the Cardinals be Successful for an entire season by sacrificing defense for offense?

Let’s remember at this point the Cardinals are on pace to win over 90 games. Can they sustain that kind of hitting?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

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Let’s check out what twitter is saying that is not Osama Bin Laden related today.

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The Marlins are 7-1 in today’s starter Chris Volstad’s last eight starts. -CardinalsGM

Orioles top prospect Manny Machado was named SAL player of the wk. Has a seven-game hitting streak and 5 HRS in his last 25 ABs. – Britt Ghiroli

Must-have MLB.TV features new lower prices http://atmlb.com/kRnluQ – MLB Updates

One month into season, #Nats have pitched great, hit terribly, fielded not-so-great and are on pace for 78 wins: http://bit.ly/lRhV00 – Mark Zuckerman

Ibanez’s 0 for 34 is actually sixth-longest in modern Phillies history. Sorry for omitting you, Desi Relaford and Denny Doyle. – magelb

New Post: Big Weekend For Cardinals: While the national news of Sunday night overshadowed the diversion that is … http://bit.ly/lI3igv – C70

Tim Wakefield: Pitching Coach? http://bit.ly/kQzc6O – brphair

My Soapbox is Bigger Than Yours Is http://goo.gl/fb/7GGa4 – PitchersHit8th

Pirates discussing extension with Andrew McCutchen: There’s some good news for Pirate fans that broke last night… http://bit.ly/kKVdKF – whygavs

X-rays on Cano’s bruised hand are negative http://dlvr.it/QN0FL – Rotoworld_BB

Twins? Or White Sox? Who’s going to eventually challenge the surprising Indians? http://sbn.to/jkD89R – RobNeyer

Golden Sombrero: Derrek Lee http://dlvr.it/QMsjx Golden Sombrero

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