Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick were your stars last night, in the Cards 8-3 victory over the visiting Rockies. Rick finished the evening 3-5 with a solo home run and a great diving catch in center field. Ludwick finished a home run short of the cycle, and produced 3 RBI for the Redbirds. Albert Pujols reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 2-2 with two singles and three walks.
On the pitching front, Wellemeyer gave up only a single run in five innings of work. Judging solely from the Fox Sports radar, his velocity appeared a bit down from last season, but his movement and control were better. Kyle McClellan came in to pitch a 1-2-3 sixth inning, but a Scott Podsednik stolen base in the seventh led to his first earned run in the majors. Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer were also a bit shaky, but got the job done.
By the way, check out this article by Nate Latsch at Milb.com regarding Kyle McClellan's journey to Busch Stadium and his role in the 'pen.
Another highlight of last night's game was Rico Washington's first major league hit, a solid double off the wall in right center.
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Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports on the first non-sellout at new Busch. And he's not very nice. Says Passan:
St. Louis Cardinals fans love to tell anyone who will listen how they’re the smartest in baseball, and on Wednesday night they may have proven it.
They knew better than to show up and watch this team.
Oh, the Cardinals won, an 8-3 romp over the National League champion Colorado Rockies, and that was well and good if not for the huge pockets of empty seats at the new Busch Stadium. For the first time in 165 games, and since the stadium opened in 2006, the Cardinals didn’t sell out. They were nearly 8,000 heads shy of capacity, a rather damning indictment seeing as the season is two days old.
Alright Mr. Pissy, er..Passan, what gives? Are you a Cubs fan relishing in a minor Cardinal disappointment? More from Passan:The Cardinals are a mess. Last week, they lost 10-3 to their Double-A affiliate, Springfield, in an exhibition.
Is this guy freakin' serious? The Cards only played their regulars for a few innings in that game, and used several minor leaguers (as opposed to major league reserves) to fill the vacated spots. Further, the Cards would not be the first major league team, by a longshot, to lose a spring tune-up game to their minor league affiliate. Also, convenient how Passan doesn't mention that the Cards went 17-10-2 against major league teams in spring training this year, third best among NL teams.
Even more Passan (I know he's loving this attention):
And Rico Washington...got his first hit, a shot over Willy Taveras in center field and sponged in the chants: “Ri-co, Ri-co, Ri-co!”
“We’ve got great fans here in St. Louis,” Washington said.
Didn’t take long to brainwash him, either. Cardinals fans think highly of themselves because they clap for a strong throw or a well-executed sacrifice or hustle to prevent a double play. In reality, it’s their blind loyalty that’s most admirable, their willingness to pack stadiums even when the Cardinals stink.
Jealous much? Apparently Passan used to be a baseball writer for the Kansas City Star before he defected to Yahoo! A couple of years ago, Passan was awarded BaseballEvolution.com's monthly award for "Boneheaded Sportswriter." I liked this quote best:Jeff Passan is more like the kid from high school who copies everyone else’s homework and then fails the essay test because he doesn’t understand the material.
Amen, brother.
Update @ 2:30 pm MST: Now that the Cards have taken 2 of 3 from the NL Champion Rockies, and allowed only five runs in the three game series, does the Cardinals' loss to AA Springfield that Passan mentions seem even more meaningless? Just wondering.
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SLU Basketball fans can breathe a bit easier today, hopefully. Rick Majerus states he has no intent to leave SLU for the head coaching vacancy at Marquette, his alma mater.
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AAA Memphis opens their season tonight in Oklahoma City. Mike Parisi gets the start for the Memphis Redbirds, while Colby Rasmus will start in center field. As reported by Kyle Parkinson, 9 of the top 30 prospects in the Cardinals organization are starting the season at Memphis. The first time in this blogger's memory that so much of the organization's top talent was knocking on the doorstep of Busch.
One of my personal faves, P.J. Walters, gets the start for AA Springfield in their opener vs. Frisco.
Future Redbirds has the Cards' minor league rundown here.
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