CARDINAL NATION: DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

From the picture above it looks as though Albert Pujols is preparing to attempt a headstand. That would make the man in the red polo his spotter...right?? I WISH!
The news came down from the Cardinals front office yesterday afternoon: our first baseman has a broken bone in his left wrist. He will likely miss 4-6 weeks due to the injury. That means that Albert has a reserved spot on the bench until sometime in August. I'm sure Adam Wainwright and David Freese can save him a seat....
As news spread about Albert's date with the DL, one could almost hear the cheers and clapping coming from the other cities in the NL Central race. I'm willing to bet that Brandon "Big Mouth" Phillips had to sit on his hands to keep from tweeting his joy. Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun & company probably threw a party. My take on the situation? Not so fast boys.

Albert joining an already crowded Disabled List is bad news for St. Louis. It figures that he would get injured right when he was heating up at the plate. His batting average was steadily climbing, but it will now sit dormant at .279 until his return.
There is some good news in all of this, I promise. Don't hit the panic button just yet. Hear me out Cardinal fans...
For starters, Albert was hitting .279! He had the worst offensive start of his career in 2011. Because of his dismal start at the plate, other guys had to step up and make things happen. Remember Daniel Descalso? How many late-inning heroics has he come up with so far? Pujols's injury clears the way for more Zeroes to become Heroes.

Another plus to the situation is that Lance Berkman will probably anchor first base in Albert's absence, which in turn gets John Jay's hot bat into the lineup. One thing that people tend to overlook is Albert's gold-glove winning defense on the corner. That will be missed just as much as his bat. It's obvious from the couple of chances he's had at first so far that Lance is a tad rusty: I think a few more reps in practice could work wonders.

As long as Berkman doesn't break a hip and Ryan Theriot remembers which hand his glove goes on, my Redbirds will be just fine. When Albert Pujols returns to the lineup in August, there will still be a lot of baseball to be played. As much as people might like to believe it, one guy does not define an entire team.

I hate to say it St Louis, but we might have to get used to winning without #5. It could be good practice for next year...

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you've heard about Albert Pujols' wrist injury by now. He was 3 for 3 with a home run so far in the game when he went down. Hard. I had a friend in attendance yesterday whose Facebook status read, "And that's the quitest I've ever heard Busch Stadium..." I think fans collectively held their breath as he writhed around in pain on the grass: I know I sure did.

The good news is that the injury may not be as bad as it looked. He has been diagnosed with a sprained left wrist and will undergo further testing today. If the results of said tests show anything significant, our All Star first baseman and face of the franchise may be headed to the Disabled List. So many of his teammates already occupy the DL that there might not be any room for him!

If Albert can't play for a couple of weeks then I think my Cardinals are in big trouble. Although the past 2 games at Busch have been exciting with several lead changes, our starting pitching has been anything but impressive. Westbrook, Garcia, and Fernando Salas were lucky that Matt Holliday and Skip Schumaker had some late-inning heroics up their sleeves (or should I say socks) to get their pitchers off the hook.

The key word here is lucky. If Matt Holliday was still injured then we probably wouldn't have won Saturday's game. Instead we would have ridden an 8-game losing streak into Sunday afternoon. Thank God Matt is back, and looking healthier than ever.

Now a congratulations to the man of the hour, Skip Schumaker. I read that the walk-off yesterday was his first Major League home run EVER off of a left-handed pitcher. It couldn't have come at a better time, that's for sure. This brings up a valid point however, and a question that I have to ask...

I read Buzz Bissinger's "3 Nights in August". The book is basically an in-depth look at what goes through Tony La Russa's mind before, during, and after a baseball game. It seems that the skipper is a numbers guy. He pays a lot of attention to match-ups, and pores over pages of statistics before game time every night. He even keeps index cards with his scribbles in his pockets as reminders.

Tony had to know that Schumaker had yet to hit a home run off of a left-handed pitcher. After Descalso was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double, I'm willing to bet that the thought crossed his mind. Lucky for us, Kozma had started the game. With Punto on the DL and Tyler Greene back in Memphis (thankfully!) Tony didn't have a choice but to let Skip hit. If he pinch-hit for him to no-avail, who would play second base in extra innings?

If Kozma hadn't started the game, or Berkman was still on the bench, or Pujols was still healthy, what would La Russa have done? Managing a professional baseball team has to be hard-work, which is why he makes the big bucks. It is also why he has managed over 5,000 games in his career from the dugout steps, while I sit at home on my couch with a beer in hand ready to second guess him!

Here's to hoping for good news this afternoon about Albert, and another congrats to Skip Schumaker. I hope it was a Father's Day to remember!

WHO HAS THE BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL? COME AGAIN? HOW DID THEY PULL THAT OFF?

The St. Louis Cardinals have the best record in all of baseball. They have also had 1/2 of their starters on the DL at different points throughout these first few months: Nick Punto missed all of spring training with a hernia. Shortly thereafter the club announced that staff ace Adam Wainwright would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss all of 2011. Ouch,

They started the season at home, and just like many had predicted, the Cardinals had a hard time figuring out how to get a "W". Matt Holliday blasted a homer on opening day and was diagnosed with appendicitis later that night. Closer Ryan Franklin couldn't save a game to save his life.

In Arizona, we lost 2 relief pitchers in the same game: lefty Brian Tallet broke his glove hand, and rhp Bryan Augenstein strained his groin. Skip Schumaker and Allen Craig hit the dirt too. David Freese and Gerald Laird were both hit by pitches and both broke bones in the process. Schumaker came back up before he was ready because Punto got hurt yet again.

Starting pitching surprise Kyle McClellan started the year 6-2 and ended up (where else?) on the DL with a strained hip. Then Matt Holliday messed up his quad, and Allen Craig ran into the wall last night in Houston and had to be helped off the field.

With all of the aforementioned injuries the Cardinals have suffered in the first 2 months of the season, you would think that 2011 would be a wash. Yet the question remains: how in the hell do the St. Louis Cardinals have the best record in baseball?? The answer my friends lies on the farm...

The Cardinals Triple A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, have to be hurting. Half of their roster is now with the big league team. Guys like Daniel Descalso, Tyler Greene, Mark Hamilton, Pete Kozma, Eduardo Sanchez, Fernando Salas, Matt Carpenter, Lance Lynn and Tony Cruz have all been given a chance to shine.
Sure, some have seized the opportunity while others haven't made much of a splash, but all have had Major League debuts to remember.
How many times has Daniel Descalso knocked in the go-ahead or game winning RBI? How many games has Fernando Salas entered with the bases juiced and shut the door on the opposition?

I'm not giving all of the credit to the minor leaguers. I do have to say though that there was one game last week where our lineup resembled what should have been the Triple A team's, save for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. Guess what? We won that game. And several before that. And hopefully a lot more after that.
Chris Carpenter is 1-5. Kyle Lohse is 7-2. If you said that you saw that one coming I wouldn't believe you. The Cardinals took a chance on Lance Berkman, who most said was way past his prime. Look how well that's paid off. Albert Pujols was choking early on, but is coming into his own with 5 home runs in the last 4 games. It's just weird seeing the starting defense out there with Carpenter, Greene, and Descalso sharing the infield with the King. Who the heck are those guys again? With their rag-tag group of misfits, St Louis has the best record in all of baseball. Cardinal fans wouldn't have it any other way.