Brendan Ryan has had a rough year thus far. The Cards shortstop started the season battling back from a wrist injury and when he did return, he struggled. He struggled with the bat and surprisingly with the glove at times too. He was benched at times for Felipe Lopez after working so hard to earn that shortstop position. He knew he was good. But sometimes, baseball doesn’t give you the chance to show it.
Heading into last night’s contest, he was in the midst of an 0-for-16 slump.
Ryan finally had a memorable night with a big three-run home run in the [...]

The Cardinals used a late-game surge to top the Braves in the series opener in St. Louis by a score of 4-3. St. Louis trailed 3-0 after five innings before scoring four runs from the sixth to the eighth inning. Yadier Molina was the hero with an RBI double in the eighth to give the Cardinals their first and only lead of the game. Ryan Franklin headed to the mound and got the final three outs to complete the strong finish.
Albert Pujols, who got the comeback started with an RBI groundout in the sixth, had three hits for St. Louis. [...]

Sure it’s the Cincinnati Reds, but the Cardinals couldn’t have drawn a tougher assignment. In a three game series, they had to face three of the better starting pitchers in the National League in Johnny Cueto, Aaron Harang, and Edinson Volquez.  Not an easy task for any team, but the Redbirds gave it a shot, already missing their slugging third baseman Troy Glaus, and now short a power hitting outfielder in Rick Ankiel.
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 [...]

First and foremost, welcome to the new site.  And don’t worry about missing out on any of the over opinionated content that you’re used to reading at Mike on the Cards.  Aptly named Redbird Rants will give you all that and more.  I’ve teamed up with another blogger, David Frissell, to help give more ranting and raving about the Cardinals than you can probably stand.  We hope you enjoy the new digs, and visit and comment often.
Now on to baseball.  With just one week of Spring Training remaining, the Cardinals still have several questions concerning the makeup of their 25-man [...]