-Former Cardinals find new homes: Rick Ankiel is on his way to Kansas City; Joel Pineiro is ready to fly with the Angels; Khalil Greene is now on the Rangers roster. Both gave St. Louis great seasons, but it was time for both to move on. Ankiel captured baseball’s imagination with his transformation from wild pitcher to slugging outfielder, although it did lose some luster under allegations of PED use. Pineiro gave the Cards 15 wins and resurrected his career under Dave Duncan. Anxiety issues hurt Greene from fulfilling his potential. He showed flashes of his talent with the glove at short, but still hasn’t put it together. Perhaps a change of scenery and position, seeing as Elvis Andrus is locked in at shortstop for years to come, will serve the 30-year-old well in trying to find a permanent home.

-On a lighter note, Don Denkinger (Yes, that Don Denkinger) was recently in St. Louis as a guest at the St. Louis Baseball Writers dinner. He will always be remembered for the blown call in the 1985 World Series against Kansas City (Back when Kansas City truly were the Kings of the American League). It was a nice gesture, but that will change little in history for Cards fans.

-Perhaps the quote of the night at the dinner belonged to Whitey Herzog. The great Cardinals manager that will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer shared some more thoughts on the McGwire and steroid situation:

“Every year, we tried to break Maris’ record… as a team.”

It may be the funniest burn on McGwire thus far. Most, including Herzog’s various quotes and Jack Clark’s, express anger and disgust with the situation. It continues to get news, but I guess you’ve had enough of the Mac man and steroids by now.

-One last McGwire/cheating/lying thought: The fans booed Jack Clark in his public appearances since his strong words. I have a major problem with this. The fans act hurt and deceived when their heroes are found out, but quickly forget. As a fan, I am appalled with this behavior. Mark McGwire deserves no sympathy or support in this matter. A true baseball fan that wants to see a clean game again would not support this cheat, yet he got a hero’s welcome at the Cards Warm-Up. Jack Clark was vilified. Did I miss something? I thought McGwire was the admitted steroid user, not Clark. Fans need to wake up and stop pushing this stuff out. If they can’t forgive Denkinger (25 years ago), then they certainly shouldn’t forgive McGwire, who has only come clean for a few weeks now after 25 years or so of lying.

-Check out Robert Turek’s profile of Albert Pujols’ hometown over at his St. Louis Redbirds website (STLRedbirds.com). It takes a look at the city that Albert started playing ball as a small child, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Be sure to watch the short video taking you through the streets of Santo Domingo.

Game one was a nail biter that ended badly with a walk off homer from Jeremy Hermida off of Jason Motte in the ninth.  The Fish won 4-3.  The loss was the fifth straight for St. Louis.  When would it end?

One of the first things I noticed in game two was a kid in a Marlins jersey a few rows in front of me with a sign that read, “Rockies swept the Cardinals.  We Cantu.”  It was obviously a play on Florida infielder Jorge Cantu’s name, but I couldn’t help but think getting swept again could quite possibly be in the Cards.

Thirteen Cardinal runs later, and my worries were over.  A three run blast from rookie Colby Rasmus in the first got the scoring started.  The visiting team scored in six different innings, putting up “crooked numbers” in three frames.

I don’t know if fish have asses, but 13-4, come on.  Florida got theirs beat.  Here’s the box score.

Game three was a day game, and anybody who knows me knows there’s nothing I enjoy more than daytime drinking, especially when there’s a ball game to watch.  Believe me, I had my fill.  I needed it to cope with lame atmosphere that is Landshark Stadium. Seriously, I’ve seen more people at an American Legion game.

Todd Wellemeyer was on the hill for the Cards.  He didn’t have his best stuff, but managed to get through six innings, allowing five runs, including yielding a pair of homers to Ross Gload.

Albert Pujols hit his nineteenth home run in the sixth, but a three run eighth inning put the Cardinals back on top 6-5, and closer Ryan Franklin, and all of his chin hair, sealed the victory and the series for the good guys.  Here are the numbers.

That’s two games in a row now that the Cards have scored six runs or more.  You know what that means!

Seeing the offense come alive in this series was great.  Rick Ankiel alone went 8 for 13.  It would be nice if the team could start firing on all cylinders.  It seems like no one really wants to take the lead in the NL Central.  Surprisingly, the Cards are just a half game behind the division leading Brewers.

Next up, the Redbirds have an interleague series against the Indians in Cleveland.  Joel Pineiro will start game one of the three game set tomorrow night.  Predictions?  I say the Cards take two of three.

Coming into this series, St. Louis hoped to widen their lead over the rest of the NL Central. Instead, they leave Cincinnati with a record of 20-12, and a slim two-game lead over second place Milwaukee.

The Cards lost the first two games of the series, much in part to the lackluster performances from their starters, Joel Pineiro and Kyle Lohse.  Although they escaped with an extra innings win today, the performance from their starter was far from impressive.

Adam Wainwright entered the game still trying to find his form from a year ago.  He struggled through six innings this afternoon, allowing four runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs.  Now with seven starts under his belt in ‘09, Wainwright has only collected two “quality starts”.

It took eight different pitchers, but the Cards edged the Reds in extra innings 8-7.  Here’s the full recap and complete box score.

So far this season, the Cardinals have lucked out, not having to face many of the opposition’s best pitchers.  I thought the Cincinnati series would be a good test for the club to finally see an ace (or three) to get a better understanding of how good the offense really is.  Red’s pitchers owned the Cardinal hitters in the first two games, so maybe the jury is still out.

One thing is for sure, I still hate Cincinnati.  Even though this weekend of bad baseball may have added to it, I already had some pretty good reasons.

For one, Dusty Baker.  How can you not hate that guy?  From the time his kid was running amok in San Francisco, to his time with the Cubs, Baker has done nothing but infuriate me.

What about Adam Dunn?  He hasn’t been with the Reds in over a year, but in my mind his all or nothing approach at the plate, combined with his complete inability to play defense will always be associated with Cincinnati, adding to my hatred of that city.

And most recently, my own personal experience, from all the way down here in South Florida, put me over the top.  It may not be directly related to baseball, but it fits in this case.  Let me give you the prelude:

Last month, on my way home from a crazy night of St. Patrick’s Day partying, I stopped to get a bite to eat at Skyline Chili.  I’ve never tried it, but have seen the commercials every time the Cards play the Reds, and have heard countless Cincinnati fans rave about the place.  It’s even called the official chili of the Cincinnati Reds.  Anyway, I got some crap to go, went home and ate, and thought it was one of the worst meals I’d ever eaten.

Then today, during the game, I see the stupid commercial again.  I start to think that maybe my recollection of Skyline Chili was inaccurate.  After all, the first time I was drunk out of my mind.  Combine that with the fact that Skyline is only about 50 yards from my front door, and I’m convinced to give it another try.  I hustled back with a pair of chili dogs, hoping I didn’t miss the entire inning.  My god was that shit terrible.  Without hesitation I can say that the two worst meals I have ever eaten were provided by Skyline Chili.

Does that have anything to do with baseball?  No.  But fuck Cincinnati, not only for beating the Cardinals two out of three games, but also for charging me money for a stomach ache. They’re still in business, so I guess people eat there, but I have no idea why.  I promise you if anyone comes up to me and says they enjoy that place, I’m going to punch them in the face.

Anyway, back to baseball.  The Cardinals enjoy a much needed day off tomorrow before heading to Pittsburgh for a three game series.  The key for the Birds will be starting pitching.  They’ll need a much better showing than they had this weekend if they want to stay atop the division.