Royalties & Cardinalate

It has been an odd past couple of days in Redbird Nation. Consecutive mid-week day games full of intrigue while rain continuously falls here. But the three-game series vs. MIL somehow managed to conclude on Thursday. Two things that fired me up these past 2 days: The fact that M-Grud needed a triple for a cycle on Wednesday and - with Pujols urging him to do it - he hit a triple in the sixth inning. He had hit two triples in his previous three combined seasons, about 1,300 plate appearances. The odds are crazy ... but it happened. Then, on Thursday gritty young fireballer Jimmy Journell turns in his best pro game to give STL a great shot to win. Totally clutch. Actually, MIL's Derrick Turnbrow was the primary fireballer, tossing 98 mph heat in the 9th. I watched his delivery in slo-mo and the powerful motion he gets behind his pitches is impressive. It is amazing how agonizing a loss can be, no matter where your team stands - especially when Phat flies out rather than hit a walk-offer.

Grudzielanek's bicycle ride was just the 16th in franchise history. The last Cardinals cycle at home was Ray Lankford's against the Mets on Sept. 15, 1991! The only other Redbird to accomplish the feat at Busch is Lou Brock, against the Padres on May 27, 1975! Wild stuff ... Chris Carpenter's 30th birthday worked out nicely, with 12 Ks and 0 walks. I interviewed Carp on one occasion and he seemed very mellow and real, likeable ... If Thursday was the 'bad 'Jason Marquis for 2005, this is good.

Izzy: "It isn't gonna slow me down all year. I’ll tell you that now." We hope so, dude.

Rick Ankiel played on Thursday night as an outfielder for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. I just cannot believe it.

The phrase “abdominal strain” is hindering my enjoyment from Tuesday’s victory. Jason Isringhausen had a pretty severe grimace on his face when he injured himself in the ninth. No word yet, but one would have to assume he will miss at least 1-2 weeks (and I fear much longer.) Looking at the current pitchers (including what we have in the minors) it is a sure bet that La Russa will not go with a designated closer and just play situations while (if) Izzy is out. But, given a scenario where the Redbirds need to cling to a one-run lead heading into the ninth, I would be most happy with Ray King (1.08 WHIP in 2004, 1.79 GO/AO lifetime). He attacks hitters, throws strikes and he has gotten better every season of his career. He would be cool with the pressure. No other options are better . . . I keep passing on free baseball tickets. I feel bad, but suddenly realizing you will be home 5 hours later than planned is quite unappealing to me right now. I’ve still seen every game this season (several 1-hour TiVO versions) and look forward to accepting lots of freebies once “my” summer begins in 4 weeks . . . When a batter’s OPS equals a plausible batting average, that’s not good. Still, I love Molina. I’m hearing rumblings from other fans and hope this slump does not continue to snowball. He might set a mark of some sort for runners left on base if it does . . . Pujols has now reached base in 26 straight games. His rolling throw to Jeff Suppan to record an out at first on Tuesday might be the defensive highlight of this season. Overbay’s first-inning snag in the stands was also very impressive, thought he suffered a 12-stitch gash and a one-inning night as a result. Gritty . . . Edmonds is extremely frustrated. He has been close to ejection in his past two games. His slugging has dropped from .818 to .566 in 9 days.