In case you missed it

After its temporary hiatus, In Case You Missed It is back. If, as Ryan VB says, links posts are an easy out, then that makes me the Juan Encarnacion of Cardinals bloggers.

• Lboros chats with Mark Worrell (no relation to Tim). (Viva El Birdos)
• ATHooks sends Izzy to the principal’s office. (Cardinals Diaspora)
• The Uniform Numbers series returns! (CardNilly)
• Chris looks into what is ailing Scott Rolen. (In Walt We Trust)
• The Rev is on the move. Again. (Reverend Redbird)

In Case You Missed It, Springfield edition

• Marie has a nice watch. (Disarranging Mine)
• Secretaries Day just another Hallmark Holiday? (AbeLog)
• A Springfield (er, Jerome) landmark comes down. (JeromeProphet)
• Russ visits one of my favorite stretches of downtown. (Springfield Rewind)

Muy positivo

I enjoyed Tuesday’s game a great deal, not just because it was a win, and not just for the witty repartee in VEB’s Game 20 thread. I also found it fun in that a few players made more or less important strides in this young season. I’m talking about:

Jeff Suppan: Soup has had a couple of rocky starts this season, and his last one was particularly bad. I thought that Tuesday’s third inning was more of the same. Those three runs, however, all were unearned, the result of an apparently questionable interference call on Gary “Paquette” Bennett. Suppan did a nice job minimizing the damage, with the runs scoring on a pair of singles.

Hector Luna: Hector’s two-hit night Monday bought him another start at 2B, this time against a right-hander, against whom Hector has a somewhat unfavorable split. Against that right-hander, though, Hector rapped three singles. He also stole a base and would have had another one had he not slid into the path of the off-target throw from the catcher. He obviously has a ways to go before he’s a complete player, but I think he’s wrested the starting 2B job away from Aaron Miles and the other guy.

Juan Encarnacion: Whoa, daddy! Did Instant Breakfast ever bust out in a big way. After totaling 15 bases and 1 RBI in his first 19 games, Juan erupts for 9 total bases and 4 RBI in Tuesday’s tilt. He also made a stellar tumbling catch in right and a nice running catch in foul ground. He played as if he were a man possessed, determined to get off his schneid and to get the boo-buzzards off his back. It was nice that the fans gave him the curtain call; I’m sure he appreciated it. Maybe this is all he’ll need to finally relax and start producing a little bit more consistently.

The ‘pen is mightier than the jinx

Hopefully.

For the time being, we in Cardinal Nation have one fewer thing over which to soil our collective drawers.

Did you know that during the past week (April 17 to April 24), the Cards bullpen has allowed nary a run, save for that Suppan-induced attrition-fest last Tuesday in Pittsburgh? On the real! Check it out, yo:

• 4/24: 3 IP, 2 H, 4 K
• 4/23: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 K
• 4/22: 4 IP, 3 K
• 4/21: 1 IP, 2 H
• 4/19: 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
• 4/18: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
• 4/17: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
• Totals: 19 IP, 14 H, 5 BB, 4 ER, 14 K

It’s hard to argue with those results, which are fairly outstanding. Especially during the past three games. The bullpen’s last walk was 11 innings ago.

With all the talk lately about booing fans, it’s nice that they have one fewer arrow in the quiver. Of course, this all could come crashing down during Tuesday’s game, but still… roles seemed to have congealed as of late, and guys seem to be performing better for it. Word.

Keith Hernandez, Neanderthal

So I guess former Cardinal and noted pretty boy Keith Hernandez is a broadcaster for the Mets.

Well, they were in San Diego this past weekend, and apparently ol’ Keith took umbrage with someone on the Padres’ training staff:

“Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair? What’s going on here? You have got to be kidding me.”

Now, ordinarily, I might be inclined to let something as stupid as that slide, given that he’s Keith Hernandez and sports one smooooooth mustache. But he hanged himself with his next comment:

“I won’t say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don’t belong in the dugout.”

Dude, making women-kitchen jokes is only slightly less stupid than Marge Schott discussing pre-war Nazi Germany. Welcome to the 1990s, Keith. Chicks these days are allowed to do all sorts of things besides make you a turkey pot pie.

Vote for Pedro

Good gravy, do I really have two consecutive posts about my fantasy geekitude? My mission seems to be to drive everyone away, I guess. In my defense, though, I haven’t had much blogging time available. This weekend I took the family to The Magic House and the City Museum (to which I had never been. That place totally rules, plus it’s along that fantastic stretch of downtown known as Washington Avenue).

Anyway, this week in fantasy was a banner one for me… except that I lost again. Normally, scoring 347 points allows for an easy win, but my opponent was just a little bit better, scoring 364 points, 60 of which came via Pedro F. Martinez.

My team had three two-start pitchers in Roy Oswalt, Kelvim Escobar and Justin Verlander, all of whom pitched more or less exceptionally. My cause was hindered by Carlos Beltran’s ongoing hammy woes, which netted me all of one lousy point. Playing Austin Kearns (27) in place of Jim Edmonds (22) turned out to be the right play. The closer spots continue to be a black hole for me; Corderos Chad and Francisco turned in 13 points between them. A perfect, one-inning save is worth 13 points, even with no strikeouts, gentlemen. You should try it sometime. This week’s gnarly dudes:

• Brian Roberts: 11-23, 6 R, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 6 SB(!), 16 TB (42 points)
• Escobar: 2-0, 13.2 IP, 12 H, 4 BB, 14 K (49)
• Honorable mention: Jason Giambi (29), Roy Oswalt (46)
• Team hitting: .276/.361/.448
• Team pitching: 52.2 IP, 6-3-2/3.93/1.06, 8.54 K/9

Running up and down the court

It’s been an uncreative past couple of days ’round The 26th Man way, so I thought I’d pass along some personal news that no one cares about but me.

I won my fantasy NBA league! Yay, me! It’s not so much that I know enough about basketball to make informed decisions or even, like, who plays which position on which team, or whether Fort Wayne still has a team. My win is more a function of being just geeky enough to maximize the number of starts my dudes make on a nightly basis. In head-to-head leagues, there’s no “max games played” rule such as in roto leagues. I just made sure I had every possible player starting every night. I ended up in fourth place during the regular season. I guess my team stayed hot enough through the playoffs for me to win. The coolest thing about winning is that this thing gets spiffed up a little bit.

As I said, basketball isn’t really my cup of tea. I don’t really understand the game beyond the fact that you have to put the ball in the ring 10 feet off the ground. In fact, if it’s not kids in college playing in March, I find basketball eye-gougingly boring to watch. I’d much rather watch golf or bowling on TV than basketball. And perhaps part of my indifference toward basketball stems from the fact that what limited athletic ability I have does not translate well to the game; I can’t shoot, I have no handle, and I get winded after approximately 1.5 times up and down the court. True story: A couple of years ago, my dear friend Chris invited me to join his church league team. I easily (yup, bold and italic) was the worst player in the league. My biggest basketball contribution was having tattoos.

I do, however, enjoy playing the fantasy version of the game. I have a fascination with sports stats (ones that can easily be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided, anyway), and fantasy NBA offers plenty of stats to pore over. In addition to the NBA league, I was in three NHL leagues this past season and am in three MLB leagues this season, one of which I use for blog fodder. What can I say? Once a total effing tool, always a total effing tool.

Huzzahs for Hector

Hector Luna got his fourth start Monday and produced his third multi-hit game of the young season, this time going 2-for-4. He also had a nice play in the field (tho the runner might have beaten the throw) and stole third base by a mile.

A few posters on VEB’s Game 13 thread had their heads turned by Luna’s play Monday:

• Effin Fisk: “Nice arm, Hector.”
• Erik: “He can hit, field, throw and run.”
• My bad self: “Why isn’t he our starting 2B again?”
• Valatan: “Me thinks Miles gets sent down for Spivey … and Luna gets the starting job.”

Matty Fred also notes that Baseball Prospectus predicts a 35% breakout rate for Luna. I have no idea what that means, but I think it’s supposed to be pretty good.

I know he’s had all of 16 at-bats this season, but he seems to be making the most of the morsels of playing time he’s being given. And with lefty Oliver Perez scheduled to start Tuesday, it’s fairly certain that Luna will get another start.

Longtime readers (those, of course, being my dad and brother) know that I’ve been on the Luna bandwagon since December. The team thinks enough of his potential that they’ve let him hang around the big kids since he was Rule Fived back in 2003. However, he can be frustratingly inconsistent, but then so can his playing time.

I really think that he can make some of that special TLR “damage” if he’s just allowed to grow into an everyday role. I know it’s hard to make that sacrifice on a playoff-caliber team, but given the lack of other options, the future might as well be now for Luna. One of the other options, Junior Spivey, likely is due for a callup before too long. I can’t help but think that Luna has 2002 vintage Spivey potential (maybe with less power but more speed) in a body that’s five years younger.

Back to Earth

As good-lucky as I was in Week 1, I was equally bad-lucky in Week 2, this time getting shelled 388-255. I had nobody on my team scheduled to make two starts, so I had to go fishing in the free agent pool to find one. I gambled on Sergio Mitre, one that did not pay off. Meechie got me a net total of 7 points over his two Week 2 starts. Justin Verlander embodied the duality of man, getting shelled (to the tune of -20 points) in Week 2 after dominating the Rangers in Week 1. And not even a four-out win from Francisco Cordero on Sunday could put him on the positive side of the week’s ledger (-2).

It seems that this week was all about the poor pitching. The hitting was fairly steady, save for a badly slumping Jim Edmonds (13) and an almost-as-badly slumping Ryan Zimmerman (14). The top hitters and pitchers are:

• Jason Giambi: 8-14, 6 R, 10 RBI, 5 BB, 22 TB (44 points)
• Roy Oswalt: 1-0, 8.1 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 K (26)
• Honorable mention: Lance Berkman (35), Chad Cordero (24)
• Team hitting: .285/.373/.539
• Team pitching: 34.1 IP, 2-4-2/5.09/1.53, 4.58 K/9

Week 1

Smells like team spirit

My first impression of baseball Nirvana?

Beautiful. Wonderful. Bitchin’. Effing kick-@$$.

Or something along those lines. That new stadium is absolutely gorgeous. Outside, inside, up, down and all over the place. I took some pictures, but you can’t possibly imagine how fantastic it is there from blog posts and telecasts. You have to be there to truly drink its beauty. As well as its $8.25 cups of industrial beer.

Who has tickets (slight return)?

Um, I do.

That’s right. After all my incessant whining last month about not being able to buy tickets when they went on sale, on a lark I tried again… and success!

I managed to snag what I think were the last two tickets in the place (I’m sure they weren’t; it makes for a better story to say that, though) for Friday’s tilt against the Reds. If you are in the area, drop by Section 360 and say hello.

From this picture “borrowed” from John at The Birdwatch, I think Section 360 is that little sliver in the upper deck adjacent to the unfinished section.

The last time I saw the Reds was a few years back, and the Cardinals were cruising until the ninth, when Izzy promptly coughed up the lead and we ended up losing. Gosh, that sounds familiar… coincidence? Uh, yeah, probably. Anyway, I was with my friend Jeff, and we were sitting about three rows from the top of The Stadium on an incredibly hot, comically humid day.

There were some idiot Reds fans a few rows down, and if I wasn’t The Best Fan In Baseball, I would have pelted them with ice cubes from one of the 17 Cokes I had that day. I told you it was hot.

Forget the past. I can’t wait to get down there. I’m sure Mrs. 26th Man isn’t too thrilled, but she’s getting beer out of it, so she can’t complain too much. We’ll have to stop by the Build-A-Bear place to get a couple of Fredbirds for The 26th Girl and Boy. I’ll pick one up for you, too, Dan.