No game for the Redbirds today.  It’s the team’s first day off since the start of Spring Training, and they’ll only get one more, on March 30th, before hosting the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day.  Obviously, there’s not much news coming out of camp today, so I’ll point you toward some good reading elsewhere around Cardinal Country.
First, you’ll want to read a couple of stories from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.  Joe Strauss discusses the notion of Rick Ankiel batting cleanup, providing protection for slugger Albert Pujols.  Then, Derrick Goold has a nice story about Cardinal catching prospect Bryan Anderson, [...]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  It’s days like today that I miss living in a drinking town like St. Louis.  People here in Miami don’t even know it’s a holiday.

Anyway, the Cardinals played host to the Braves for the second straight day today.  The Cards wore the traditional green jerseys and caps, but didn’t need any luck to beat Atlanta 4-2.  Anthony Reyes got the start, and pitched four solid innings, allowing no runs on three hits, and striking out two.  On offense, Rick Ankiel drove in two with a double, and Aaron Miles and Joe Mather each had an [...]

The Gashouse Gang was the nickname for the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals of 1934.  The soon to be feature film is based on a short story by David Montfort. Here’s the trailer.  Enjoy!
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Flashback:  It’s 2006, and the Cardinals and Mets are tight in an NLCS game 7.  Winner goes to the World Series.  Cards’ rookie pitcher Adam Wainwright is in a jam, with the bases loaded and two out with the dangerous Carlos Beltran at the plate.  Beltran is known to be a Cardinal killer from his days with Houston.  I’m at the edge of my seat, my heart is racing, and I’m too nervous to even lift my beer to my face.  Even with Beltran down 0-2, I’m fearful of what might happen on the next pitch.  It’s a knee-buckling curve [...]

In the Cardinals’ final visit to legendary Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, the Redbirds rode Rick Ankiel’s two home runs and four RBIs to their second straight win. Ankiel improved his batting average to .368.  The final go-ahead runs were actually scored on a wild pitch, but without the damage done by the Cardinal outfielder, the Dodgers win.

The Cardinals’ new shortstop Cesar Izturis went 1 for 3, improving his average to a whopping .125.  Looking not so Gold Glove like, he also committed his fifth error of the spring.  He now has more errors than hits.  Somehow, however, he’s [...]

The news just keeps coming in, so here’s a second post for today.  Cardinals’ team president Mark Lamping is resigning after 13 years with the club to become the CEO of the New Meadowlands Stadium Company, a company that will develop the stadium project that will house New York’s two NFL teams.
Lamping was hired in 1994, and hired former GM Walt Jocketty in ‘95.  He was a large part of the team’s turnaround as well as getting the new stadium built, where the Cards won the World Series in the stadium’s inaugural season.

Bill Dewitt III, the son of the current [...]

Yesterday, I lobbied for the club to add starting pitcher Kyle Lohse, and several others agreed (see Bernie Miklasz, Viva El Birdos, and Rockin’ the Red).  Today, the Cardinals agreed to a one-year deal with the free agent, pending tomorrow’s physical.  The contract is worth a guaranteed $4.25 million, with $100,000 in incentives for each of 160, 170, 180, and 200 innings.  Joe Strauss has more on the story.

This is good news for the Redbirds.  They needed another starter that can take the ball every fifth day and eat innings.  Kyle Lohse is just that guy. The trick now [...]

The Cardinals starting rotation is in complete disarray, and the club may have finally decided to “look further” into adding help from the outside. The list of pitchers on the mend but “progressing nicely” is getting longer by the day.  Already Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, and Matt Clement won’t be ready for the start of the season, and now it seems that Joel Pineiro might not be either.

“I’m not assuming he won’t be there opening day,” said pitching coach Dave Duncan.  ”I’m assuming he won’t be there until he starts throwing again.”

Duncan goes on to say that [...]

My vacation is over and it’s back to business as usual.  Over the past week I saw the Cardinals and Marlins play in Jupiter, the Cardinals and Dodgers in Vero Beach, partied heavily in Key West, and spent a couple of days on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.  It was a great time.  I’ll have the pictures from the ball games up tomorrow, so be sure to check back.
Meanwhile, there’s been plenty of news from Spring Training, including a few more Birds on the mend.  C70 gives quick summary of the latest Cardinal buzz, as well as a wrap from [...]

Dan Ceasar of the St. Louis Post Dispatch writes:
For the first time since 1960, there won’t be a Buck in a Cardinals broadcast booth this year. Joe Buck, who had been doing the play-by-play for a few Redbirds games on FSN Midwest in recent seasons, has decided not to return in order to enjoy himself at the ballpark in a nonworking capacity.His departure ends a lengthy run of Bucks in the booth. His dad joined the club’s radio broadcast team in 1954 and was there every year except 1960 until falling ill after the 2001 season and dying the following year.
Read [...]