Izzy dumbfounded
STLtoday - Izzy: 'Dumbfounded'

Selby said Chris Perez was not in the Memphis bullpen tonight.
Is he headed to St. Louis?

MLB - Atlanta Braves/Philadelphia Phillies Box Score Thursday May 15, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Yep. 2 hits. So far.

Clint's gotten a big fat pass ever since that 21 Days in September thing.

Here's a couple persistent patterns that bother me:

1. Use of Jeff Baker. So you teach him second base, and you keep him on the roster. Everyone says he performed well at the position in spring. Then Nix is a flop and Tulo goes down. I guess this is the big opportunity we've been keepin him around for, right? Nope. Even Jonathan Herrera vaults above him on the 2B depth chart. Which makes me ask again: what on earth is he doing on this roster? He's the third-string second baseman, a grossly inadequate corner player (from an offensive perspective) and a really crappy pinch hitter. Greg Norton was floating around out there and floated his way to the Braves. I don't like him, but at least he's the classic "veteran bat off the bench." Given that Baker gives you nothing right now, Norton would be preferable.

2. Game situation a couple nights ago: 9th inning. One out. Helton walks. Pinch runner? Jonathan Herrera. Podsednik is on the bench. Even Drew and Frazier assume Hurdle will go to Pods. If Pods has value, it is in his baserunning -- and base stealing -- ability. And Pods is running well and seems healthy. He may have lost a step since his prime, but he's still a very, very good base stealer. He was an elite base stealer in his prime -- something Willy Taveras never was and never will be. He can still take the bag when the whole world knows he's going. You kept him on the roster for this situation, just like the Red Sox had Dave Roberts on their roster for this purpose in 2004, and you go to .... Jonathan Herrera?? No stolen base. Double play ball. Game over.

3. Bunt-Hungry Maniac Hurdle used to sacrifice leadoff doubles to third. And he'd do it with a pretty skilled hitter like Kaz Matsui. I hated it. Spilly leads off yesterday's game with a walk. Quintanilla up (why is he batting second?), so I assume the BHM is going to bunt. The way the offense is going (and the way Q cannot hit) I can't really complain. But no. Q is hitting away. Or rather, taking strike 3 away. Holliday doubles. Helton (you guessed it) walks. Atkins strikes out, Hawpe dribbles or pops out. Inning over. No runs in. Moral: don't have the little guy who can "handle the bat" batting second unless you're actually going to have him "handle the bat."

1. Pretty bad. Lose tonight and we're 11 games out by the middle of May. We're also on a pace for a 60-win season.

2. Not quite as bad as we look. The BP "adjusted standings" thing should be taken with a boulder of salt, but here it is:

Postseason Odds

On their "third-order wins" (taking into account pythagorean records, plus strength of schedule, plus strength of opposing pitchers, and maybe some other stuff that I really don't understand), we stand right at about .500. If this is to be believed, the standings cheat us out of 4.8 victories vs. our true level of performance.

3. What explains it? Mostly pathetic hitting. So there's cause for optimism, since the Rox certainly won't end the season at or near the bottom of the NL in HRs. They also won't end the season 29th in hitting with RISP. This is mostly attributable to ... good opposition pitching and lots of bad luck.

4. Who has been a true disappointment, and who is likely to get it turned around?

A. Disappointment and likely will never turn it around: Nix. Bad, but there was a chance he's be o.k. Baker: I give up; so should you. Torrealba: strikes me as inferior defensively to Iannetta right now, and that doesn't leave him with any value.

B. Lucky at the start and will get worse: Iannetta. But I still think he'll be a solid-to-better-than-average starter. He just won't keep this up. Cook. He'll be 'ol reliable Aaron Cook, but he won't win 24 games. Kip Wells. Herges. Barmes (but I do think he's reestablished some trade value once Tulo's back -- he is very good defensively at SS).

C. Will turn it around: Corpas. Hawpe. Helton. Francis. Taveras. Holliday. We pretty much know what to expect from them, and their numbers will look familiar come September. Tulo, too. He may not reach '07's heights, but most rational observers never expected that. He'll be fine.

D. What you see is what you get: Atkins. Podsednik. Spilborghs (but expect, finally, more playing time). Buchholz. Fuentes. Jimenez (for this season). Morales (no real improvement, at least for now). Grilli. De la Rosa (but he'll be better in the pen). Quintanilla.

So things will get better. Real hope for pulling back into contention would require a true breakout from more than one of Reynolds/Jimenez/Morales/Hirsh/Stewart (allowing Atkins to be moved). They are all capable of it, but individually each one is something of a longshot. Or a very significant trade. The primary impact would be, of course, where we're worst: 2B. But I don't see a lot of top-third second basemen on the trading block. Which leaves us with ideas like Ronny Cedeno, or maybe with a rebuilding project with talent like Josh Barfield (currently struggling even at AAA, but I'd say it's better to let a guy like him play and try to turn it around than playing a Quintanilla type full time at 2B; those Q types will always be readily available for little money.)

So it's bleak, and moving quickly toward almost hopeless as far as playoff chances go. Things could all fall in line like last year, but we'd need a collapse similar to that of the Mets last year to open up the wildcard chances. The D'backs look too deep to seriously falter this year.

In another month it'll be serious stock-taking time for O'Dowd and friends. Fuentes/Atkins/Hawpe (and certainly Vizcaino if he ever makes it back) should be on the block unless the Rox really make a move.

Cubs sign Edmonds.
























Sigh.

More...

Probables: Joel Pineiro vs Ian Snell @ noon.

Wellemeyer
The Official Site of The St. Louis Cardinals: News: St. Louis Cardinals News
Schumaker
The Official Site of The St. Louis Cardinals: News: Schumaker eyes return to starting lineup
Glaus
STLtoday - Glaus' production is on upswing

MSN schedule
FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Schedules

Yahoo schedule
MLB - Scores & Schedule Thursday May 15, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Standings.
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Standings: Regular Season Standings
Won 24 Lost 18

mattcrossman
SportingNews.com - Your expert source for MLB Baseball stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy news from MLB Baseball columnists
Cardinals don't have the talent to sustain hot start
There are few on it you would want for your team other than Albert Pujols.
Heck, there might be no one on it you could name other than Albert Pujols.

Additions and corrections are appreciated.

The Oklahoma RedHawks are at Memphis Redbirds @ 7PM.
Probable TBA ?
Memphis Redbirds: Home
Brian Anderson article
Redbirds : Commercial Appeal
AM 560 Sports 56 WHBQ - The Voice of the Fan!
AccuWeather.com - Memphis, TN - Weather Forecast - Local Weather Forecasts

The Springfield Cardinals are at Arkansas Travelers @ 7PM.
Probables: Tyler Herron vs Dan Denham.
Springfield Cardinals
JOCK 98.7 FM

The Vero Beach Devil Rays are at Palm Beach Cardinals @ 6PM.
Palm Beach Cardinals: Home

The Quad City River Bandits are at Peoria Chiefs @ 6:30PM.
Quad Cities River Bandits: Home

The VSL Cards are at Tigers @ 10:30AM
Minor League Baseball: Clubs: VSL Cardinals
New time zone
Current local time in Caracas - Venezuela

MiLB Standings
USATODAY.com
MiLB team schedules
Minor League Baseball: Schedule: Schedule
Minor League Baseball: Multimedia: Gameday Audio

Off topic:
The Big Guys host the Pirates @ noon.
Probables: Joel Pineiro vs Ian Snell.
Please read Ewt's great recap of yesterday's WIN!

Cards Website - Home link
The Official Site of The St. Louis Cardinals: Homepage

FSN schedule
FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Schedules

Additions and corrections are appreciated.

SPECIFICATIONS OF APPLE IPHONE 16GB

Dimensions: 61 x 115 x 11.6 millimetres

Mass: 135 grams (battery included)

Software Environment

Operating System: Apple Mac OS X v1.0 (ARM)

Browse all devices running this OS
Microprocessor
CPU: 32bit Samsung S5L8900 (Chipset)

Browse all devices based on this microprocessor
CPU Clock: 620 MHz
Memory, Storage capacity
ROM capacity: 16000 MB
RAM capacity: 128 MB
Hard Disk capacity: Not supported

Display
Display Type: color transflective TFT , 65536 scales
Display Resolution: 320 x 480
Display Diagonal: 3.5 "

Sound
Microphone: mono
Speaker: mono
Audio Output: 3.5mm plug
Cellular Phone
Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
Cellular Data Link: CSD, GPRS, EDGE
Call Alert: 64 -chord melody
Vibrating Alert: Supported

Control Peripherals
Positioning Device: Multi-touch screen
Primary Keyboard: Not supported
Directional Pad: Not supported
Scroll Wheel: Not supported

Interfaces
Expansion Slots: Not supported
USB: USB 2.0 client, Full-Speed (12Mbit/s)
USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Infrared Gate: Not supported
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Wireless LAN: 802.11b, 802.11g
Multimedia Telecommunication
Analog TV: Not supported
Analog Radio: Not supported

Built-in Digital Camera
Main Camera: CMOS sensor, 1.9MP
Optical Zoom: 1 x
Built-in Flash: Not supported

Power Supply
Battery: Lithium-ion , built-in




NOTE : MINIMUM ORDER 5UNITS AND GET 1 UNIT FREE PLUS ONE APPLE IPOD 30GB VIDEO
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Shipping company:fedEx,ups or Dhl
Delivery Time : 2/3 days
Payment:Bank to Bank Transfer(TT) or moneygram



For more information,contact nanielectsales@hotmail.com

Company number:

+447031857512

SPECIFICATIONS OF APPLE IPHONE 16GB

Dimensions: 61 x 115 x 11.6 millimetres

Mass: 135 grams (battery included)

Software Environment

Operating System: Apple Mac OS X v1.0 (ARM)

Browse all devices running this OS
Microprocessor
CPU: 32bit Samsung S5L8900 (Chipset)

Browse all devices based on this microprocessor
CPU Clock: 620 MHz
Memory, Storage capacity
ROM capacity: 16000 MB
RAM capacity: 128 MB
Hard Disk capacity: Not supported

Display
Display Type: color transflective TFT , 65536 scales
Display Resolution: 320 x 480
Display Diagonal: 3.5 "

Sound
Microphone: mono
Speaker: mono
Audio Output: 3.5mm plug
Cellular Phone
Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
Cellular Data Link: CSD, GPRS, EDGE
Call Alert: 64 -chord melody
Vibrating Alert: Supported

Control Peripherals
Positioning Device: Multi-touch screen
Primary Keyboard: Not supported
Directional Pad: Not supported
Scroll Wheel: Not supported

Interfaces
Expansion Slots: Not supported
USB: USB 2.0 client, Full-Speed (12Mbit/s)
USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Infrared Gate: Not supported
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Wireless LAN: 802.11b, 802.11g
Multimedia Telecommunication
Analog TV: Not supported
Analog Radio: Not supported

Built-in Digital Camera
Main Camera: CMOS sensor, 1.9MP
Optical Zoom: 1 x
Built-in Flash: Not supported

Power Supply
Battery: Lithium-ion , built-in




NOTE : MINIMUM ORDER 5UNITS AND GET 1 UNIT FREE PLUS ONE APPLE IPOD 30GB VIDEO
Shipping cost: free
Shipping company:fedEx,ups or Dhl
Delivery Time : 2/3 days
Payment:Bank to Bank Transfer(TT) or moneygram



For more information,contact nanielectsales@hotmail.com

Company number:

+447031857512

Per Bernie and the P.D.....

Somehow....I feel betrayed....:nono: