Royalties & Cardinalate

Road masters keep rockin’

With Chris Carpenter facing Ryan Drese, the Cardinals’ odds are solid to clinch a series victory vs. Texas on Saturday night. CC is 6-0 (in eight starts) on the road and he is 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA in his past six starts. Combined with Jeff Suppan’s road mastery (5-0, 2.04 ERA in away games), it is clear why the Redbirds are a MLB-best 22-11 on the road. Suppan also leads the NL in night ERA at 1.98.

Mabry up, Lankford down: These are not the kindest of times for Ray Lankford. Every Cards starter had a hit last night except Lanky, who struck out four times and was ejected after a called third strike in the seventh inning. In Ray’s defense, he took about five pitches in those four at-bats that were balls but called strikes. That is more than most players can take. Lankford is 3-for-18 (with 9 Ks) since going 2-for-4 on June 1. He has 39 Ks in 140 ABs in 2004. He is clearly frustrated and with John Mabry tearing it up, Lankford’s starts will (should) begin to dwindle. Mabry, in 15 games, is 18-for-51 with 12 RBI and a .973 OPS. Very impressive. He went 3-for-4 with 5 RBI on Friday night to lead the bottom four’s attack on the Rangers. Mabry, Renteria, Sanders and Cody McKay (who is up to .200!) went a combined 10-for-17 with 8 runs and 9 RBI.

Road show moves to Texas

Draft breakdown: Aaron Gleeman, a very devoted baseball fan and Twins expert, has a draft analysis over at The Hardball Times. I mention this because he ranks all MLB teams based on the percentage of college players they drafted as opposed to high school players. Basically known now as the Moneyball method of acquiring talent, the Cardinals topped the list at 91.5 percent. For contrast, there were eight teams below 60 percent on this list. The Cardinals used all of their first 26 picks on college players and took only four high schoolers with their 47 picks - likely because they have long-time Saberhead Ron Shandler on staff. Hopefully, by 2006 the Cards’ farm system will rank in MLB’s top 15 or better.

Haren horrific; Zambrano abused: Well, I got the split I hoped for and losing a 12-3 game is much less painful than a close loss, though a quality loss certainly has more merit than today’s debacle. But the Redbirds (MLB-best 21-11 on the road) are only 0.5 games behind the Reds, who currently have the best mark in the NL. So after 60 games STL is battling for the NL’s best record. I love it. I’d feel even better if Albert Pujols is able to DH at Texas. As I mentioned last week, I cannot picture a game featuring the Cardinals at Rangers, so I am eager just to see what that looks like. One of the high points of interleague play are these peculiar matchups, though it still seems odd to travel only once to the other NL cities outside the Central.

Given that the small bears tied the modern record with 11 hits in the fourth inning, Danny Haren’s first 2004 start was bound to produce some ugly numbers. But besides the 10 runs and 10 hits (including nine straight) in 3 2/3, he failed to K any of the 23 batters he faced. And he is supposed to be a K guy; Haren struck out 90 in 78 innings at Memphis prior to today. Haren threw 43 balls. The Cubs also had 11 hits in an inning on Aug. 25, 1922 (against Philadelphia) - also in the fourth. Zambrano's victory was his first over the Cards in eight games.

Speaking of Carlos, why in the hell would Dusty Baker leave him in on a cold, rainy afternoon with his team leading 12-2? Zambrano threw 121 pitches. He is only 23, but I’m sure I do not need to make a case for why this seems stupid. Baker is consistent, I suppose, with his systematic ruin of young arms. Is there a worse team for him to be managing?

Props to Womack: Personally, I am beginning to like Tony Womack. I’ve maintained all season that if he hovers near the .340 on-base mark that he would solidify himself as, at least, a league-average leadoff hitter and second baseman. For this to occur, he has to significantly better his career marks, and he has. Currently, Womack is hitting .296/.338/.411. A .749 OPS is a major leap from his career OPS of .679. Depending on how many games he sits, he is on pace to surpass 150 hits.

Just talkin’ baseball

I have to wait a couple more hours before I can watch today’s Cards-Cubs tilt, but I am guessing that the game will move at a brisk pace with Mark Prior and Matt Morris pitching. Each works very swiftly, with Morris being arguably the fastest pitcher in MLB. I also am eager to see Jimmy Edmonds play first base. Now that is odd, though it certainly is a good place for a lefty to play. But he likely will not conjure images of Keith Hernandez.

26 Ks in one game! Last night, the Brewers struck out 26 times in 17 innings but beat the Angels 1-0. Besides Ben Sheets coming within one Vlad golf shot single of a perfect game, the other most notable fact from this game is that Geoff Jenkins, Keith Ginter and Lyle Overbay combined to go 1-for-21 with 14 strikeouts. Jenkins went 0-for-7 with 6 Ks.

Reggie Doll: I am not exactly sure why, but I always have felt that Reggie Sanders looks like a Ken Doll (an African-American version, at least). He has the good ol’ boy looks, the sculpted body, charming smile and he is a proven good guy. The fact that he plays for a different team each year (seven teams in seven years) makes it seem more like he is a robotic doll that comes with jerseys for every team and his uniform can simply be switched at any time. Reggie and his wife, Wyndee, certainly have a Barbie-style home in Arizona.

Dropping foul balls: One more thing. It seems like more foul balls should be intentionally dropped. If a runner is on third with less than two out, why would a fielder catch a deep foul, or, worse, an infielder runs the ball down with his back to the infield, resulting in an easy sac fly and a run. Granted, this scenario does not occur often, but I have seen it a few times already in 2004. For example, earlier this season J.D. Drew ran down a fly ball deep in the corner in foul territory, allowing the eventual winning run to score with no chance at throwing him out. With no Infield Fly Rule or similar rule outlawing an intentional drop of a foul, it seems logical to keep the man at third unless that one out is valuable (maybe bases loaded, 0 out would be one scenario where the out is more valuable than the run). Thoughts?

Pitch 100 brings relief

With Matt Clement, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano looming, beating Glendon Rusch on Monday was enormous. Realizing this beforehand, I grew increasingly paranoid as ‘my’ gametime neared. Though a 7:10 CDT game, I was busy dining and having a nice evening out with my wife at the Central West End. Since I had the night off (and have TiVO) I wanted to extract as much enjoyment from the evening as possible until darkness fell, knowing I had the game safely secured at my basement sports lair. Avoiding sports bars and KMOX is pretty easy in these situations, but I am developing a habit of mining clues about the game from what are typically completely innocuous situations. Last night, about 9:30 as we are heading back to our car, I see a girl wearing a Cubs shirt. She is smiling. Thus, I assume the Cubs are way ahead – or have won a short game given the time. Kind of ridiculous of me, but my mind was beginning to focus on baseball - and eventually I will hear a final score before watching the game. Inevitable.

So later as I watch Chris Carpenter breeze through the Cubs’ lineup, I am both thrilled and worried at what awaits. Though I became aware at my outlandish thoughts from earlier, I also was aware that the game was unusually brief and, perhaps, that girl left a sports bar immediately after the Cubs had won in the bottom of the ninth. The timing fit since it was a short 2:22 game. Thankfully, it would be my smile that prevailed as Izzy took care of some dude named Jason Dubois on the 100th and final pitch from STL hurlers. 100 pitches. That is damn efficient and Carpenter was a model of efficiency, walking no one and throwing just 25 balls in 8.1 innings in what is quickly becoming an All-Star season for him. CC also mowed down the Cubbies 1-2-3 in the first, the first time a Redbirds starter has done this since May 19. With every other NL Central team losing on Monday, it was a beautiful baseball night. I’d be happy with a 2-2 split and Pujols being ready to go on Friday.

On deck: Four at Wrigley

At one point this afternoon, I had visions of another Cards win and another loss by the Reds, Cubs and Astros. But all three close games went against this hope (thanks to the awful Rocky Biddle, who could not hold a two-run lead vs. the Reds in the 9th), so STL enters its four-game series at Wrigley two games behind the Reds and in second place (and hoping Albert’s hamstring is OK). With Chris Carpenter facing Glendon Rusch in game one, we have some good odds for a series-opening W. Only the Yankees have won as many (8) games in their past 10 as the Redbirds, who have MLB’s best road mark (19-9) by far. New York, at 17-12, is the only team near that level of road success. The Cardinals do not play at home again until June 15 against Oakland.

Lanky’s woes: Ray Lankford is slumping badly. First, he loafed in the outfield after catching a deep drive to center, allowing Jason Kendall to score from second base on a sac fly last week. Totally inexcusable, though Kendall is one of only a few players who would’ve been hustling enough to do that. Second, Lankford is slipping at the plate and the hole in his bat has returned. He K’ed in all four of his ABs on Sunday and is 3 for his past 14 with six Ks. But it’s not really his recent numbers that are problematic. He looks uncomfortable at the plate and even his foul balls are weak of late. He is not driving the ball. One must assume he is feeling the pressure with John Mabry, a lefty who plays the OF, hitting .333 (in 36 ABs). I’ve been impressed with Mabry. He is an aggressive hitter who likes first pitch fastballs, but his batting eye has been great and he has not made any significant defensive mistakes.

Edgar stuck in neutral: I noticed that Edgar Renteria has one exactly hit in seven straight games. That, of course, is not bad news but it does mean that he still is not in a groove and is producing like most .260 hitters would. But he is a career .290 hitter, so we can only wait – and expect - for him to get going.

Random note: Houston’s Minute Maid Park has statues of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio in front of their ballpark. When I saw this on Fox awhile back, it really drove home just how much Lou Whitaker-Alan Trammel these guys have in them; they are synonymous with their team and have a shot of setting the mark for most games played as teammates. The really cool thing though is that the statues are strategically placed to show a scene of the statued duo turning a double play. That’s cool.

Brad: My pick is Lakers in 4. I hope it goes seven though. Maybe Darko will play just so he can foul Shaq six times.