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The Cardinals won their third straight game of the spring today with a 5-4 victory over the Mets on the road. Three in a row is what we call a winning streak.
There was a lot of hype going into this game. It was the Mets’ debut of their new ace Johan Santana. The Cards got to him early, tagging him for three runs in the first, courtesy of a Juan Gonzalez home run. Other highlights from today’s action include a double and a homer from Albert Pujols, and a 2 for 3 day from Brendan Ryan. Derrick Goold has more notes from the game. Here’s the box score.
So far, Gonzalez has been hitting the ball well. At first, I was secretly rooting against him, and hated the idea of a 38 year old has-been taking at-bats away from the younger players. Erik at Future Redbirds shares my sentiment. All things being equal, you’d have to give the nod to the younger player, maybe a guy like Brian Barton. I’m afraid that Tony La Russa will see it differently. We know how much he loves his veterans. Anyway, after thinking it over a bit more, I just want the 25 guys that give the Cardinals the best chance to win. If Juan Gone is one of them, then I’m all for it.
Brendan Ryan continues to make his case for one of the roster spots. One of his two hits today was triple. There were a couple of interesting stories on Ryan floating around recently. Joe Strauss revealed some more of Ryan’s personality, as well as his attention deficit disorder, in his article last Friday. The other story was news to me. Apparently, Ryan was kicked off his college baseball team four times. Jim Masilak had the story way back in July of last year. I don’t know how I missed that one, but either way, hat tip to Ronnie Dobbs, a frequenter of the forums in the Post Dispatch.
Finally, Matthew Leach of MLB.com shares his latest interview with La Russa. Find it here.
The Cardinals hope to continue their winning ways tomorrow when they face the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cards will be the visiting team. Let’s hope the streak continues.