Beating Cardinals with Cardinals

The first thought I had when I heard the Reds picked up Jim Edmonds from the Brewers was "I wonder why the White Sox didn't deal for Edmonds when the trade for Adam Dunn fell through.

But next of course I thought of the Cardinals of the 2000s. In the 2004 NLCS, Pujols may have been the Series MVP, but it was Edmonds and Rolen who supplied the dramatic homers.

Edmonds hit the walk off homer in the 12th inning of game 6 to tie the series and Rolen's 2 run homer off Roger Clemens in the 6th inning of Game 7 gave the Cardinals the lead that they wouldn't give up.

And in the 2006 World Series, Rolen batted .421 with an OPS of 1.213 and Jim Edmonds got a key go ahead double in the critical Game 3 of the World Series.

Now these huge Cardinals heroes have one duty... take down the Cardinals.

It is an ingenious strategy... get guys who are not intimidated by the Cardinals.

"Am I afraid of the Cardinals recent success? We ARE the Cardinals recent success."

It will be interesting to see the Cardinal fans reaction. The supposed nicest fans in the game will see some of their own trying to beat them.

If the Reds get Pujols, I'll be impressed.

I can't help but feel partially responsible for the brawl tonight

I thought it was fun that Brandon Phillips wants to get the Cardinals' goat.

Why not put a little electricity into a potential rivalry. I mean have the Cardinals and Reds, two of the oldest franchises in baseball, EVER been considered rivals?

Why not start now?

What I DIDN'T expect is to see an all out brawl in the first inning.

But I guess that's what a rivalry is like. It's bad blood. It's "I want to beat you because I don't like you."

I tell you something I found very interesting... not that Brandon Phillips got under the Cardinals skin or that LaRussa and Dusty Baker were at each other (there is no love lost between them.)

It was Scott Rolen going after Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter said something to Dusty that got an f--- you from Baker.

And then Rolen, who earlier was trying to be a peacemaker, went right after his former teammate and fellow 2006 World Series winner.

So Rolen, the former Cardinal and current Red, is smack dab in the middle of this rivalry. And to quote Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi... There is no conflict!

They play tomorrow, 9:30 AM Pacific time, and three more times in September.

This could be good folks.

GOOD FOR BRANDON PHILLIPS!

Seriously... there can sometimes be too much gentile friendliness among baseball players these days.

Look, I understand that most of the ballplayers are friends now and you aren't going to get any true bad blood between the teams. We hear how rivalries are media creations and teams don't really care who they beat.

Yeah, as if Aaron Boone's homer would have meant the same to the players if it beat the A's... or the 2004 ALCS comeback would have been as sweet for the Red Sox if it were against the Twins.

Well Cincinnati is in its first REAL pennant race in over a decade. (Sorry, I am not counting the end of the 2006 season when the Reds almost backed into the playoffs because the Cardinals imploded down the stretch... even though the Cardinals went on to win the whole shebang.)

Cincinnati fans are coming back. There is reason to be excited again.
And the Reds and Cardinals are starting a TRULY meaningful series. I'm not talking about the "Can the Sox struggle back into the race" series they had with the Yankees.

I'm talking a "Two teams tied in the loss column for first place in mid August playing each other" series.

Now the midwest is supposed to be above anger, hatred and meanness (or so I have read) but Brandon Phillips is having none of it.

He threw a Molotov Cocktail in the direction of St. Louis. According to Rob Neyer (and why would he lie to me?) Brandon not so diplomatically declared “I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”

I love the caveat that he needs to compare his hatred of the Cardinals with the relatively low hatred of the Cubs. As if we ALL knew how much he hates the Cubs and we'd think "Holy Cats! He hates them more than the CUBS! Thems is fighting words!"

How much of this was show? How much of this was playing for the fans?
Who knows and who cares?

Baseball needs to let loose every once in a while. There needs to be a few Kevin Millars and David Wells and Brandon Phillips out there willing to pop off and be fun.

It's fun, remember?

Now Millar and Wells also both came up big in games that led to a World Series title.

If Phillips comes up small down the stretch, he'll be all talk.

But hey, at least it is fun to see this energy out of Cincy.

Keep talking, Brandon. Tell us what you REALLY think.

It's ANYONE'S Division to win but Wainwright's Cy Young to lose

I am sure this is not how Brandon Phillips saw this series unfold... The Reds went from 2 up to 1 back... and Cincinnati has 47 games to get back on track.

If they don't they can look squarely at this weekend as a big time lost opportunity... when they showed they couldn't play with the big boys.

The Reds are part of my "Less Than Magnificent Seven"... the seven teams that went from 2000 to 2009 without making the post season once.

They can get off the schnide with a division title in a month and a half... and the lead in the NL Central hasn't been more than 2 games since May 9th with the exception of one day where the Reds opened up a 3 game lead.

In other words, a tradition filled midwestern team that has a lot of red in their uniform will be playing in October this year... your guess is as good as mine as which one.

But despite Ubaldo Jimene's solid performance last night in New York, Adam Wainwright at this point has to be the Cy Young winner.

He came up big in today's big game that put the Cardinals in first by themselves.

He's matched Jimenez's 17 wins... his ERA has joined Josh Johnson as sub 2.00. Wainwright's 1.99 ERA trailed Johnson's league leading ERA by 0.02 points.

His 0.97 WHIP is the lowest in the league.

His 176 1/3 innings pitched is second only to Roy Halladay. His batting average against is third in the league.

It's an amazing year for aces, and a strong August and September could put Jimenez, Johnson, Halladay and even Lincecum into the winner's circle.

But right now, it needs to be wrestled from Wainwright.

Albert Pujols doesn't have to look up to anyone

You can write it in ink... Albert Pujols is winning the 2010 National League MVP.

Oh right now it is close between Pujols and Joey Votto with about 30% of the season left. It also looked like Mechagodzilla was going to beat Godzilla with 30% left in THAT fight too.

At the 1/3 mark, I wrote that Pujols was the MVP until someone else proved otherwise.

Well, Joey Votto answered the bell and is having an outstanding season... and right now it would look like it would be a neck and neck vote.

Votto is #1 and Pujols #2 in on base percentage, slugging and, it would make sense, OPS.
Votto is second in hitting. Pujols fifth.
Pujols is second in home runs. Votto third.
Pujols is first in RBI. Votto third.
Votto is first in runs scored. Pujols fifth.
Pujols is first in total bases. Votto third.
Pujols is second in walks. Votto third.
Votto is first in runs created and offensive win percentage. Pujols second.

Votto is also first in situational wins added. Pujols second.

I have no clue what situational wins added means, but damn it sounds impressive.

Remember how this was supposedly a down year for Pujols?

With a race this tight, why am I writing Pujols' MVP in ink?

Have you SEEN how Pujols has been playing? He's batted .442 since July ended with 5 homers, 13 RBI, has an OPS of 1.327 and in 47 plate appearances has 1 strikeout.

And oh yeah the Cardinals leap frogged the Reds into first place during that stretch.

Yeah, I know... we aren't supposed to look at anything other than stats for MVP... but going on a tear as his team takes over the top spot SHOULD count for something!

It's safe to say that he is heating up and Votto has as much chance to stop his momentum as Tia Leoni and Maximillian Schell had to stop the tidal wave in Deep Impact.

It's Albert's award to lose and when the waves subside, he should have his 4th MVP and 3rd overall.

Man how great would it be to HIS agent!

Adam Wainwright just couldn't make this easy, could he?

Adam Wainwright went into tonight's game as the only starting pitcher with qualifying innings to have a sub 2.00 ERA. He was tied with the league lead in wins with 17 and had the lowest WHIP and the second lowest bating average against.

And he did all of that with the fourth highest innings count in the National League.

Well after tonight, he has the second highest win total and still leads the league in all the above categories. And he pitched well... well enough to win 9 out of 10 games.

But his ERA crept above 2 and his win total is stagnant. And Halladay, Jimenez and yes Tim Hudson are still hanging around.

Oh yeah, Josh Johnson won again.

This isn't ending any time soon.

The Brett Wallace Merry Go Round Continues

Doesn't anyone want Brett Wallace?
Or does EVERYONE want Brett Wallace?

It's hard to figure out.

Brett Wallace could very well become a superstar hitter in the big leagues one of these days... Where he will play is anyone's guess.

Since being picked by the Cardinals in the first round in 2008, he was touted as one of the best power prospects in the bigs.

Since July 24, 2009, he has been part of 4 different organizations... all at the AAA level.

He has yet to play a single game in the bigs (still trailing Jon Ratliff in that category) and has been declared the future for 4 different teams.

He's the future power slugger for the Cardinals... no wait he's going to be the new basher in Oakland... did I say Oakland I meant Toronto... or maybe Houston!

After the Astros flipped one of their Phillies prospects in the Oswalt trade, Wallace can now claim he has been involved directly or indirectly with trades for Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Matt Holliday and Roy Oswalt.

Pretty elite company.

But does he have the "Crazy Single Hot Girl" aura around him?

You know when you meet a really hot girl who is single and think "Man, how lucky am I? I can't believe she is available!" Then you start dating and you realize "Wow, now I know why she's single. I got to get out of this!"

Kind of like the careers of Kyle Farnsworth, Terrell Owens and Stephon Marbury.

Do the Cardinals, A's and Blue Jays all know something that the Astros are going to find out?
Or is he really that good a prospect?

If he is traded again, I am declaring because he is too fat.

Don't believe me?
Check out my post about Wallace I made last year.

Hey Cardinals bullpen... nice job

You would think that after hanging a 9 spot on you in the bottom of the 9th inning last night, you'd button down a little more.

Maybe show a little bit of moxie and say "Hey, let's not see that happen again" especially when you know the Reds won tonight and you don't want to fall 3 back in the NL Central race.

You would think that.

But a 3 run 8th inning homer by Dexter Fowler and a walk off shot by Chris Ianetta later and the Cardinals pen coughed it up again.

Granted, blowing a 3 run 8th inning lead isn't as bad as blowing a 6 run 9th inning lead... but that's not the kind of comparison you brag about winning.

Ubaldo Jimenez is going tomorrow against Chris Carpenter... could be a great game.
Let me recommend to Tony LaRussa that Carpenter goes 9.

I guess Big Mac is smarter than the Rocket

Remember how we all made fun of Big Mac's "I'm not here to talk about the past" line that he kept saying over and over to Congress?

He looked like a big dumb jock who was trying to weasel his way out of trouble, didn't he? And he looked even worse with his cringe worthy pathetic and half baked apology interview he gave last January that I couldn't even finish.

Well McGwire is no Mensa candidate, but man he was smarter than Roger Clemens.
Here's something Clemens should have written on his hand as a reminder:

You are better off looking stupid than lying.

And another thing:

Your drug dealer has nothing to lose by telling the truth.

You should have taken my advice and learn the two words "No Comment."

This story makes me sad... I think more sad than most Red Sox fans. Clemens was always my favorite Red Sox when he was on the team, and I wore a Blue Jays cap the days he pitched.

Yeah I rooted against him as a Yankee, but I would have rooted against Jesus Christ if he played for the Yankees.

Clemens, like Bonds, was a Hall of Famer before he mysteriously got bigger and stronger in his late 30s. McGwire wasn't. McGwire was a Dave Kingman, slugger with a low batting average whose career would have been over around 1993 or 1994. Then he got healthy and BOOM! Became the Charles Van Doren of baseball.

Clemens being indicted doesn't mean he is convicted. But it gives the vote AGAINST him more weight.

Roger... Roger... Roger... Why couldn't you have been content with fame, fortune and immortality?