Can I please get a sweep?
I had a dream last night that I was in the bleachers at Busch Stadium and was part of a frenzied standing ovation as Ricky Ankiel made his first appearance for the Redbirds in a very, very long time. He proceeded to blow hitters away with ridiculous stuff, the kind of pitches you can only dream about. Of course, Ankiel was on my mind not only because he’s on the team now and FSN showed him about a dozen times during Wednesday’s broadcast, but because I have tickets to tonight’s game. Though TLR has said that Ankiel is not available until Friday, the fact that lefty Steve Kline is out until October and lefty Ray King threw 19 pitches on Wednesday means there might be a good spot to use Ankiel. I can only hope because I have really good bleacher tickets (row 10) and would love to unload some love upon Ricky.
A crazy bunt: I enjoy dissing the logic behind most all attempted bunts, but Mike Matheny bunting on Wednesday night was crazy. There was one out in the second inning, Reggie Sanders was on second and Chris Carpenter was on-deck. CC is an awful hitter (.089). MM sacrificed Sanders to third so there would be two out after Carpenter struck out. They did not score. The odds of Matheny driving in a run, or, at least, getting on base without making an out is about three times as likely as CC getting that run home.
C’mon, no let down! Thursday’s game has all of the makings of a let-down game. First, I’ll be there so I am paranoid. This is likely my final regular season game – unless Ankiel gets a home start. SD starter Jake Peavy has been awesome. In fact, if he qualifies he will win the NL ERA title (currently 2.25). And Jeff Suppan is not the same when he pitches at Busch. He has allowed 96 hits in 83 home innings compared with just 56 hits in 71 road innings. He is 5-6 at Busch with a 4.77 ERA. The Pads have lost 18 of 20 at Busch and are, like, really due to win one. Incidentally, one of John Lennon’s best songs is ‘Don’t Let Me Down.’ Goose bumps.
Marlon is toast: Marlon Anderson should not be on the postseason roster. Granted, he’ll get some starts in September and could get hot. But he has batted .129 since the All-Star break in 62 ABs. The other options (Cedeno, Lankford) are better. Mabry is a no-doubter.
Albert Pujols is on pace for 99 extra base hits. This has been done twice in Cardinals history. Stan Musial had 103 in 1948 and Rogers Hornsby had 102 in 1922 . . . The Cardinals are currently six games ahead of the Yankees, who might end up in the AL Wild Card race if they don’t get some decent starts soon.