Spent some time in St Louis this weekend before I darted off to branson for a few days. The trip in STL was good for awhile as we saw the Cardinals and Chris Carpenter BEST Roy Oswalt and the Phillies and Friday.

Then the BlueJays came to town and they dominated the Cardinals. Things just don’t look good for the Cardinals as the bats and the pitching are both going on hiatus. I don’t believe it is the absence of Pujols entirely. It is a partial though as we weaken first base with Berkman there and then we weaken the lineup with out the big bat. Rasmus is not picking it up and I am getting a bit tired of waiting for him to “come of age”.

Now another Bird Fight is this weak as we go to the house of the Orioles. Let’s see who can win that one!

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	vs.
Lee 7-5 ERA 3.12		Lohse 7-3 ERA 2.88

• Cardinal Nation nursing another Bullpen Hangover today. Now 2-8 over last 10.
• Were in the drivers seat after 7 to get a Win in a Halladay start. Didn’t work out as hoped. Tonight we get Cliff Lee, tomorrow Oswalt.
• Lohse was Cy-like through 11 starts, but his ERA has climbed three-quarters of a run over his last three outings. Three HRs off Lohse at Washington on Thursday, he allowed four runs over six innings in a 7-4, 10-inning defeat.
• Since falling to 4-5 with a 3.94 ERA on May 31, Lee has yielded only one run over 24 innings in three June starts, including Thursday’s two-hitter against Florida in a 3-0 victory.
• Aside from firing a three-hitter in a win at Washington on April 14, Lee is 0-4 with a 7.07 ERA on the road – including a 3-1 loss May 16 at Busch Stadium in which he walked a career-high six.

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Philadelphia Phillies

@St. Louis Cardinals

	vs.
Halladay 9-3 ERA 2.56		McClellan 6-3 ERA 3.96

Tuesday, Jun 21, 2011    7:15PM Central

• Game One without Pujols. Going to be an interesting month. Can they compete without their best player?
• Cards have lost 7-of-9, yet somehow find themselves in First Place alone.
• They’ve used the disabled list 14 times for 12 players so far.
• KMac came off the DL on Wednesday and gave up five runs – three earned – in five innings of a 10-0 loss to Washington. McClellan has allowed 10 homers in 72 2-3 innings this season.
• Halladay can take over the major league lead in victories tonight, he’s gone 4-0 with a 3.14 ERA in his last six starts – all won by the Phillies.

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First off the Cardinals have Monday, June 20, 2011 as and off day. The begin a 3 game series with the Phillies  on Tuesday when they face Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt. The Cardinals are likely to take two out of three in this series.

Albert got hurt and my initial reaction was that he is out 3-6 weeks with a broken wrist. Now they calling it a sprained wrist until he gets more X-Rays and a MRI on Monday. His shoulder is also sore. We shall see.

With the walk-off homer by Skip Schumaker the Cardinals go back into first place as the Brewers lost and Gallardo gave up 6 runs in the first inning.

I watched the Post Game show and TLR was clearly agitated by all the first questions out of the reporters mouths were about the injury to Pujols. He got testy and wanted to talked about the game.

The Royals look like a decent team but clearly are not anywhere near the ability of the Cardinals. Love the arm of Francoeur.

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I will be attnedance on Thursday and Friday this week and will be hoping for a couple of wins.

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It’s bad.

It’s hoorendous.

How did we win as many games as we did?

The roster is FILLED with players that are inadequate on a MLB 25 man roster.

I could write more and more and more but it would say the same thing… The Cardinals are playing Poopie Baseball.

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Friday, June 17, 2011—Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals (7:15 p.m.)

· Teams Unite for Joplin: Fox Sports Midwest, KMOX and the Cardinals Radio Network will host special live call-in auctions during tonight’s broadcast that will open during the respective pregame shows and remain open through the broadcasts. Fans can bid on many unique, once-in-a-lifetime VIP Cardinals experiences that will be available only through these auctions. All proceeds from the auctions will benefit the Joplin relief effort.

· Teams Unite for Joplin: St. Louis City and St. Louis county workers, along with other local employers are showing the Cardinals pride today by wearing their favorite team’s colors in exchange for a donation to Cardinals Care to assist in the Joplin relief efforts.

· Teams Unite for Joplin: Several Cardinals players and executives will take part in a special pregame ceremony with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and two members of the Joplin High School softball team. The Joplin High Schooland the homes of Mikaila Craig and Danielle Campbell were destroyed in the May 22^nd tornado; tonight these two athletes will represent their community as they throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

· Ameren Missouri Whitey Herzog Throwback Jersey T-Shirt: Celebrate the rich history of the St. Louis Cardinals as 25,000 fans ages 16 and older, with paid admission, will receive a Whitey Herzog throwback jersey t-shirt sponsored by Ameren Missouri.

· Busch Bash in the Ford Plaza: Fans are able to participate in all the fun starting two hours before every Friday night home game. A great way to kick-start the weekend—there will be music, prizes and autographs by former or current Cardinals players. This week will feature Cardinals alumni John Tudor and Danny Cox from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The first 200 fans in line are guaranteed an autograph. Players and schedules are subject to change. The recommended gate entrances for autographs are Gates 4, 5 and 6.

· Heroes in the Classroom: The Cardinals teamed up with the Missouri Lottery to recognize one educator a month, who has demonstrated excellence in education, in a pre-game ceremony. This month’s outstanding educator is Eddie Moreno, the Athletic Director and Assistant Principal at Hillsboro High School.

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Last night the Cardinals just plain looked bad.

In the vernacular of the teen….. “they sucked.”

I am at a loss for words on the status of some of the players on the major league roster….

Batista according to Al Hrapolgy says Miguel is a good teammate and great influence in the clubhouse….. well then make him a dang coach but don’t put him out on the mound and let him get pounded.

Trever Miller- one pitch. One hits batsman. He gone….What is up with that? Are the Cardinals so cheap they can’t find another lefty that can function adequately out of the pen?

I want to like Ryan Theriot, I really do. But his fielding is way beyond the limits that is acceptable on a major league team. His hitting has been ok but they are usually singles that have very little meaning to the outcome of the game. The pendulum, when we gave away Brendan Ryan, has swung way too far on the other side that it is hard to get a balance.

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Let’s face it, being anonymous has its advantages. But in our society today people are flocking in record numbers to twitter, sports forums and in a lesser degree to Facebook and posted information about other people that is downright mean and vicious. Never before have we had the public so aware of the failings of people that are in the public eye…and everyone has an opinion.

More Sports Forums are becoming meaner and meaner. Someone screws up on your team and quickly the forum lights up with words of how much a bum the player is and all his dirty deeds are brought to light once again. People are enjoying watching richer and powerful people fail, it has become a disease. LeBron James has become crucified for his poor play and quickly everyone loves it. They want to see people who makes loads of money fail. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and others have been brought up on the allegations of drug  or performance enhancing and fans all over many parts of the country are loving it. Let’s watch the guys who were at the top crumble.

The first responders to this will be that they get paid well for what they do. True. That really has nothing to do with enjoying people fail. I cringe when people are calling for someone to be fired from their job. Fired? Do you really want someone to lose their job and be unemployed. I am not just referring to the people that get millions of dollars to play a game, I am talking about every day people, maybe an accountant or a ball boy that didn’t rib up the balls enough. Do we really want them to lose their job and become unemployed and not have the resources to supply their families needs?

Twitter is a flutter about everyones foibles. Sometimes it is in jest, I know I have done that a time or three. Instantly we record everyones mistakes and excessively fixate on their poor job performance. Do we feel that as a fan we have certain rights to expect and demand out of our athletes? It’s like, By Golly I paid $80 for my  jersey and they should do a better job than that! So we rip them for their mistakes.

Very few people work in an environment as public as athletes, I understand that. It comes with the territory I suppose. Why do people take it as a personal issue to take athletes to task for a mistake? I have never understood the human being for being so excited to see another person fail.

That’s my rant. Feel free to give your thoughts.

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The Milwaukee Brewers appear to have matured.

They don’t dance and flaunt their abilities after a win as they did a few years ago under Ned Yost.

No more shirt untucking and finger pointing…. just go about their business and play some good baseball.

They are a very good team and preseason picks had them first or second to end the season and those appear to be spot on for the moment.

The Cardinals have gotten a good butt whipping this weekend and now it is time to shape up or ship out.

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Other News:

Andrew Brown is being clled up from Memphis as an outfielder to replace Allen Craig.

Why does it take so long for the Cardinals to place an injured player on that list?

One Last Thought:

The Brewers have been replace on my list as the team to hate with the Cincinnati Reds and their attitudes.

Today’s game:

The Milwaukee Brewers are 23-9 at home this season and are heavy favorites to beat the St. Louis Cardinals who are 20-15 on the road this season.

Brewers’ starter Shaun Marcum is forecasted to have a better game than Cardinals’ starter Jake Westbrook. Shaun Marcum has a 61% chance of having a Quality Start (QS) while Jake Westbrook has a 36% chance of a QS. If Shaun Marcum has a quality start the Brewers has a 79% chance of winning. His simulated strikeout to walk ratio is 7.1 and he has a 56% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio. When he has a 5/1 ratio the Brewers win 72%. In Jake Westbrook quality starts the Cardinals win 49%. He has a 7% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio and if he does his team wins 49% of simulations.

The most productive batter for the Milwaukee Brewers is Prince Fielder who averaged 2.49 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 42% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Brewers have a 81% chance of winning. The most productive batter for the St. Louis Cardinals is Albert Pujols who averaged 1.83 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 28% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cardinals have a 51% chance of winning.

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The Houston Astros are 11-18 at home this season and the St. Louis Cardinals are 19-13 on the road this season. This is a close match-up with both teams having a 45 to 55 percent chance of winning.

Both starters have a relatively low chance of having a quality start. J.A. Happ has a 34% chance of a QS and Lance Lynn a 31% chance. If J.A. Happ has a quality start the Astros has a 68% chance of winning. His simulated strikeout to walk ratio is 1.1 and he has a 5% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio. When he has a 5/1 ratio the Astros win 64%.

If Lance Lynn has a quality start the Cardinals has a 68% chance of winning. His simulated strikeout to walk ratio is 2.3 and he has a 13% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio. When he has a 5/1 ratio the Cardinals win 54%.

In simulations we tracked the batter for each team that was most productive based his average hits, walks and RBI per simulation. The most productive batter for the Houston Astros is Hunter Pence who averaged 2.41 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 40% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Astros have a 57% chance of winning.

The most productive batter for the St. Louis Cardinals is Jon Jay who averaged 2.78 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 51% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cardinals have a 65% chance of winning.

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Happ

Narveson

Greinke

Marcum

Those are the next four starters the Cardinals face plus a red hot Prince Fielder this weekend.

Is first place in jeopardy?

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