ESPN to air 2 Cardinals games during Spring Training

ESPN has released their spring training schedule for the month of March and the Cardinals will be playing in two of those. Neither appearance by the Cardinals will be home games in Jupiter, Florida.
Aug 24, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal (15) turns a double play during the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Image Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
ESPN will kick off their MLB Spring Training telecasts, beginning with the two winningest franchises of all-time as the St. Louis Cardinals take on the New York Yankees on Monday, March 11, at 1 p.m. ET. Jon Sciambi and Doug Glanville will be on the call for this game while Jayson Stark provides sideline commentary.

The second game will be televised on Tuesday, March 26th at 1 p.m. when the St. Louis Cardinals take on the New York Mets. During this game, Karl Ravech, Aaron Boone, and Rick Sutcliffe will be in the booth while Tim Kurkjian reports from the sideline.

These provide a great opportunity to see the Cardinals in action on television if you live outside of the Fox Sports Midwest viewing area.

There was a baseball rule change that was quitely made this week.

"Under a rule change imposed by Major League Baseball, pitchers will no longer be allowed to fake a pickoff to third base and throw to first as a way to dupe a runner on first base into breaking for second. Next season, that move would be a balk. Pitchers can still step off the rubber and fake to third."

The Post-Dispatch sports roundtable wonders if the Ronny Cedeno signing was a good move for the Cardinals. They seem to offer the general consensus of what’s been making the rounds in social media. The Cedeno signing is seen as more of one for infield depth over anything else. His bat really does not seem to be a factor. If anything, Cedeno will be seen as a one year rent-a-player.

Rick Hummel notes that general manager John Mozeliak says he could see both Cedeno and Pete Kozma being kept as infield backups to Rafael Furcal.