The Silver Lining Weekend

Jun 20, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher

(4) and St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher

(46) celebrate their victory over the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Cubs 6-1. Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals have Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright on the hill tonight with hopes of avoiding their first sweep of the season.  The Texas Rangers, who came out of a slump versus Oakland before travelling to Busch, have won two close games in two nights.

The first game on Friday proved to Mike Matheny that Tyler Lyons was in fact not who he thought(or dreamed) he was.  Lyons was then demoted to Memphis.  It is vital that that was settled in June and not July.

With towering lefty rookie Kevin Siegrist mystifying and overpowering batters from the bullpen, the Cards decided they needed another righty and promoted Michael Blazek, again.  It is nice to see previous 2013 failures like Scrabble and Boggs remain in AAA.

Last night the Birdinals lost 4-2, but there were a few really encouraging appearences.

Mike Matheny continued being aggressive with the bullpen.  After pulling Lyons early the day before, and by bailing Shelby Miller out last night, the sophomore manager is looking better.  Mike Matheny is making the right calls by trusting the bullpen and not keeping young starters in dicey situations with runners aboard.  Way to be MM!

Fox’s ‘Baseball Night in America’ only featured one pitching staff(I think) that used all rookies yesterday, and that was of course, St. Louis.  Mustang Miller had a rough 5 2/3 innings, which was bound to happen.  But then came the brilliance.

Helping him out of the jam in the sixth was Seth Maness, aka ‘Outamatic’, who surrendered only one hit in the following frame.  Then “Big” Kevin Siegrist  continued his sheer dominance by striking out one and shutting down the Rangers.  This giant southpaw is something special so far with a 0.00 ERA in 8.2 innings.  Opponents are hitting an invisible 0.71 against Siegrist.

The topping on the Ted Drewes was the major league debut of Michale Blazek who wasn’t used when he was called up in the spring.  ‘Blazing’ Blazek was throwing 96 mph last night and making Texas batsmen look silly as they swung feet in front of his breaking balls.  Two strikeouts and no hits in the inning.

Three rookies from the bullpen allowed nothing.

While tonight could be a first for St. Louis in 2013 (being swept), there will certainly be more bright shiny plays by first year players that will make this weekend something to remember.  Perhaps it will be Wainwright’s chance to show why he was so dearly missed in 2011 by mowing down the visitors, and preparing to hit the road and the AL West.