A hot topic this offseason for Cardinals fans has been the changes in the rotation. The top two are rock solid, probably the best in the bigs. After that, there are plenty of questions to be answered. Hot Stove posed one of these questions to me yesterday: “Did you agree with the Cardinals’ decision to allow Joel Pineiro to leave via free agency, coming off of a career year, and in essence, replace him with Brad Penny, who’s coming off very shaky 2009?”
My simple answer is yes. “While it may look like a downgrade from Pineiro to Penny, the Cardinals got a very similar [...]

Coming off one of the worst stretches of Cardinal baseball I’ve ever witnessed, the Redbirds came to my town in hopes of getting back on track against the Marlins.  I was in attendance for all three games of the series.
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 [...]

We’re going to need more brooms.
First, the Brewers swept the Cardinals in a three game series with their win on Sunday in St. Louis.  Then the Cards did some sweeping of their own, taking all three games from the visiting Chicago Cubs.  And now, there’s a pile of broken glass somewhere under Big Mac Land at Busch, thanks to a first inning blast off the bat of Albert Pujols.  Somebody’s got to clean that up.
Pujols’ home run was measured at 418 feet, and shattered the “I” in the illuminated Big Mac Land sign on the upper deck in left field.
Pujols [...]

Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro isn’t the first guy that comes to mind when you think about a “stopper”, a guy that can pitch his team to a victory to end a losing streak. But, deep in the midst of their May skid, and coming off a winless series against Milwaukee, the Cardinals handed the ball to Pineiro in hopes of putting an end to their losing ways.
Pineiro lost his last two starts, allowing a combined 9 earned runs in 12 innings to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, so it’s understandable to not have much confidence in his ability to keep the [...]

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 [...]

The Cardinals former ace and 2005 Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter enjoyed an offseason that could almost be called “normal”.  Cardinal fans were hoping for a strong return from the pitcher this year, but most were playing the safe bet that his health would keep him from taking the ball every fifth day.
After a very solid month of Grapefruit League play, Carpenter started to sway our opinions. What if he could continue his spring pace in the regular season?  How good would the Cardinal rotation be?
On April 9, against Pittsburgh, Carp threw a one-hit gem through seven innings, striking [...]

Cardinal fans everywhere rejoice!  A healthy Chris Carpenter took the mound for St. Louis in today’s series finale against Pittsburgh, and looked a lot like the Cy Young Award winning version we saw back in ‘05.
Before today, the last time Carpenter received a win was in Game 3 of the 2006 World Series against Detroit.  It’s been a long road back for the pitcher, and at least for today, we can all breath a sigh of relief.
If Carp can stay healthy the entire year, the season outlook is a lot brighter.  He’s capable of pitching deep into games, giving the [...]