St. Louis Cardinals: Monday Morning News Links

Redbird Rants collects some St. Louis Cardinals news links for your Monday morning reading.

St. Louis Cardinals left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales is still devoted to his Rocky Mountain High School family. Gonzales has been working out during the month of January at his high school alma mater where his brother, Alex, serves as his personal catcher.

"“Having this bridge open and having a relationship with the coaches and the team is everything,” said Gonzales, who leaves for St. Louis Cardinals spring training in Florida this week. “These guys have made me who I am and played a big part in my development.”"

Jesse Spector reviews a St. Louis Cardinals game that was broadcast by Dan McLaughlin and Ford Frick Award recipient Tim McCarver. The particular game is a Cardinals matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 26, when Adam Wainwright took the mound against Josh Beckett. The game ranks 17th in the list of 33 games reviewed by Sporting News. Say what you want about McCarver but this was a pretty entertaining read.

A second Cardinals game ranked 28th and featured McLaughlin alongside analyst Al Hrabosky.

NBC broadcaster Al Michaels talks about his experience in broadcasting the 1987 World Series. Michaels’ memoir, You Can’t Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television, was published this past November. Michaels alleges that the Minnesota Twins were pumping in fake noise.

Bernie Miklasz takes a look at the recent farm system rankings. Said rankings do show that there is a gap within the farm system. The Cardinals don’t have nearly as many prospects in the top 100 as they have in prior years. The Cardinals have one to four players in the top 100 prospect rankings depending on which list one is reading.

Bernie also looks at the National League Central Divsion battle.