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Hope you enjoy this feature:

• The Cardinals have started seven different third basemen, yet leads the NL in OPS at the position by a healthy margin.
• Major league teams have combined to produce 8.43 runs per game. According to STATS LLC, that is the lowest figure in more than 20 years.
• Braves farm hands have collected Player or Pitcher of the Week awards for 7 straight weeks.
• In 4 fewer games, Travis Wood has given up 9 more 1st inning runs than all of last year.
• Joey Votto has batted .328/.458/.493 over his last 18 games. The #Reds are just 5-13.
• Athletics also have third-worst OBP in AL.
• Danks first WhiteSox pitcher to lose first 8 decisions in one season since Eddie Smith opened 0-10 in ’42.
• Matt Garza has given up 2 four-pitch walks this year. Both to Joey Votto.
• Ethier and Kemp remain fourth and fifth, respectively, among NL outfielders in All-Star balloting.
• Troy Tulowitzki leads SS voting for All-Star game 1,409,806 votes to Jimmy Rollins’ 785,703.
• The Reds have made an out to end the game with the tying or go-ahead run at the plate 13 times this year.
• Pujols becomes third Cardinal player to win NL Player of the Week honors, Berkman did it twice.

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The St. Louis Cardinals are 17-12 at home this season and are heavy favorites to beat the Chicago Cubs who are 11-14 on the road this season. Chris Carpenter has a 62% chance of having a Quality Start (QS). If Chris Carpenter has a quality start the Cardinals has a 79% chance of winning. His simulated strikeout to walk ratio is 7.9 and he has a 58% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio. When he has a 5/1 ratio the Cardinals win 70%

The most productive batter for the St. Louis Cardinals is Albert Pujols who averaged 2.3 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 39% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cardinals have a 79% chance of winning.

The most productive batter for the Chicago Cubs is Starlin Castro who averaged 2.04 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 32% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cubs have a 46% chance of winning.

The Cardinals have a better than 60% chance of winning based on 10,000 game simulations generated one play at a time by the askthebookie Simulation Supercomputer.

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This morning my newest grandson arrived at 6:57 AM. Which happens to be my daughter-in-laws birthday.

Jonah Paul came in at 7 lbs 8.5 oz and 20 inches. We are pleased and we love you!

So his dad (my son) has already whispered to him that they will watch the Cardinals vs. Cubs game on TV today as they have no where else to go. I am quite sure that Jonah will be a passionate Cardinals fan like his dad and mom.

With that being said I am using my status as grandpa to give him some of my thoughts:

To Jonah Paul Knuppel

I know you will be kind, funny, wise, sensitive, interesting, and a ball of fire!

Your parents are all of these things.

I wish you happy, happy, days! You will have some bad days, yes.

They are important so you can appreciate the good ones.

There will be disappointments; I know you will be able to handle them.

“Life is 10% of what happens and 90% how you handle it.

I pray you learn about humility.

Please always let an outsider feel inside, and always, always, be kind.

I hope you learn that honesty is the best policy, and that doing hard days

work will always make you feel better.

Be a loyal friend, one people can count on and trust.

I hope you put all of these wonderful things you possess to make yourself and the world around you a better place to live in.

Please learn about the “God Stuff”, it really works, trust me.

I love you already.

Grandpa

 

Being a grandparent is a lot of fun. This is our fourth grandchild as we now are blessed with 3 grandsons and one granddaughter.

Welcome to the world, Jonah and I look forward to watching a Cardinals game with you!!!

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Cardinals win Game 1 of the series with home runs from Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols and dominating pitching from Jaime Garcia.

June 4, 2011- The St. Louis Cardinals are 15-12 at home this season and are heavy favorites to beat the Chicago Cubs who are 11-12 on the road this season. The Cardinals have a better than 60% chance of winning based on 10,000 game simulations generated one play at a time by the askthebookie Simulation Supercomputer.

Cardinals’ starter Kyle Lohse is forecasted to have a better game than Cubs’ starter Randy Wells. Kyle Lohse has a 66% chance of having a Quality Start (QS) while Randy Wells has a 44% chance of a QS. If Kyle Lohse has a quality start the Cardinals has a 83% chance of winning. His simulated strikeout to walk ratio is 5.1 and he has a 36% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio. When he has a 5/1 ratio the Cardinals win 75%.

In Randy Wells quality starts the Cubs win 42%. He has a 22% chance of having a 5 to 1 K/BB ratio and if he does his team wins 42% of simulations. 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 St. Louis Cardinals is Jon Jay who averaged 2.37 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 41% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cardinals have a 80% chance of winning. The most productive batter for the Chicago Cubs is Starlin Castro who averaged 1.92 hits+walks+RBI. He has a 30% chance of having a big game with 3+ Hits, Walks, RBI and if he has a big game the Cubs have a 43% chance of winning.

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I am not going to go on and on for paragraphs. I think I can sum this up in a few words.

Last nights loss to the Giants is directly correlated to Tony LaRussa. Here is some of the ways:

We put our worst defensive line-up on tie field of the season. When Theriot booted that groundball double play, it was time for TLR or Duncan to talk to his young rookie and calm him down and let him know not groove a pitch. EPIC FAIL.

Lance Lynn did bnot really look ready for the major leagues and what is up with calling him on three days rest? EPIC FAIL.

We had to have 13 pitchers on our roster and we allow Cleto to get lit up for as long as he did was EPIC FAIL.

Westbrook pinch hitting is because Tony/Dave wanted 13 pitchers and that leaves 3 bench players. EPIC FAIL.

LaRussa continues to manage against the grain just waiting for the time it succeeds and he is a “genius”.

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For the most part I am not against Tony LaRussa but last night I have no words to describe his managing except for EPIC FAIL.

What’s your thoughts?

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Lance Lynn called up from Memphis to take the spot of Kyle McClellan in the rotation. He will start tonight against the Giants. What I find odd is that the betting sites have the Cardinals are strong favorite to win this game over Jonathan Sanchez.

EDIT: The  odds at 8 AM were the Cardinals -163 and the Giants +173…now it is Cardinals -123 and SF +116.. THAT IS MORE LIKE IT.

Matt Holliday to the DL but no announcement at this time who will replace him. I like Andrew Brown for that.

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From the Cardinals:

Thursday, June 2, 2011—Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants (7:15 p.m.)

MLBPAA Auctions: The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association will conduct a baseball-themed silent auction inside Gate 3 from the time gates open (4:05 p.m.) thurough the seventh inning. All proceeds will benefit the Players Alumni Association, a non-profit group that strives to preserve the game of baseball and support a variety of charities and the association has also committed a portion of this season’s sales to Cardinals Care.

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