Keeping up with the Cardinals

One of the disappointments that comes with living outside of the FSN Midwest market is that it makes it harder to watch the games live on television. This past week has been exciting in that the St. Louis Cardinals took on the Cincinnati Reds so FSN Ohio is airing all 3 games on TV.

As such, I’ve been able to watch the Cardinals on television. Usually, I’ll be tuning in to Gameday to check out the box score and scoring recaps. That’s in addition to following my fellow bloggers and the Post-Dispatch writers on Twitter.

Living outside the market does make it harder to watch the games. There’s no question about it. When the initial ESPN schedules come out, my first piece of business is to check out how many St. Louis Cardinals games are picked up.

Whether it’s checking out the box scores or watching on FSN Ohio, there are some nice things that I’ve seen. Not just the utter collapse of the Reds and complaints by their fans but the play of Matt Carpenter.

Carpenter has had a breakout year in what is likely his first complete Major League season. In just 12 games alone, the rookie first baseman is batting .375 in 10 games. In 24 at bats, he has hit 1 home run and knocked in 11 RBIs. The most recent RBI coming in extra innings on Tuesday night against the Reds.

Carpenter will be starting his 13th game against the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon. Manager Mike Matheny has changed up his lineup, giving regulars like David Freese and Yadier Molina a day off.

The Cardinals are off to a 9-3 start this season behind the offensive production by the likes of Freese, Molina, Carpenter, and Carlos Beltran. In a season where Albert Pujols has yet to hit a home run, Carlos Beltran is tied for second place in all of Major League Baseball with 5 homers.

Please show some class
Following the Cardinals route last night, Reds fans opted against showing class. They delivered threats to the wife of Reds pitcher Mat Latos. That’s just unsportsmanlike conduct. But in thinking about this–just imagine a guy like Juan Encarnacion was on twitter back in early 2006. Or Jason Isringhausen, when he was blowing save after save. Just think about the kind of tweets that they would be seeing from fans in general.

It’s not right. But please, don’t go abusing the guy’s wife because of HIS pitching. I expected better from Reds fans.

What about Dusty?
As a Cardinal fan, I’ve seen the treatment he got from Chicago Cubs fans as he blew up the arms of both star pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Neither pitcher has been the same. But keeping Latos in for 5 innings after giving up 8 runs? That would be enough to turn me against him! I’m glad I’m not a Reds fan but as a Cardinal fan, I’ll take as many runs as possible!

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