SB Nation User Blog: BTown Birds fan

Yahoo sports writers pick their NL Cy Youngs

BTown Birds fan — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:06:31 -0000

Yahoo sports writers pick their NL Cy Youngs

They've been going through the various awards (La Russa got a little NL MOY love), and they're up to NL CY. Their vote is Carp 2, Wainer 1, Lincecum 1.

Jeff Passan story about Carpenter

BTown Birds fan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:39:21 -0000

Jeff Passan story about Carpenter

One of those nothing-really-new-but-fun-to-read-an-effusively-positive-piece-on-a-Cardinal stories.

Ten random photos from the archives: Old school Cardinals

BTown Birds fan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:15:03 -0000

Ten random photos from the archives: Old school Cardinals

The Yahoo baseball blog periodically does these "Ten Random Photos" posts, and yesterday the Dizzy, Stan the Man, and Gibby era Cardinals were the stars. Some neat photos, including a fantastic one of Brock, Gibby, and Julian Javier celebrating after winning the 1967 WS.

"The Exploding Rage of Cubs Fans"

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:59:35 -0000

"The Exploding Rage of Cubs Fans"

Graph showing the frequency of Twitter tweets containing "Kevin Gregg." Needless to say, there was a rather dramatic increase late last night.

Second half contributors

BTown Birds fan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:53:26 -0000

With the season officially (if not mathematically) half over, this seems like a good time to ask about whether some players with big question marks over their heads are going to contribute in the second half. I'm curious what folks here think, so I thought I'd throw these names out and see what you expect from them.

Rather than ask everyone to predict specific stats for each player, I thought it would be interesting to ask a more general question - which of the following players will make a significant contribution to the Cards in the second half? The phrase "significant contribution" is obviously open to some interpretation; I figured I'd let everyone decide what they think it means, making this a broad optimistic/pessimistic question. It's sort of a gestalt view of what the VEB group expects from these players; I realize the yes/no format will be frustratingly vague to some, so please feel free to add some non-gestalty details or stat predictions too. For reference, I've included some (major league) numbers for each player for the past 2-3 seasons; the HR totals are based on 162 game averages, prorated for the 71 games left this year. One possible interpretation of "significant contribution" would be will they put up the numbers you expected of them back in the offseason, before various injuries, anxieties, surgeries, and incompetencies came to pass. But feel free to use your own interpretation (and feel free to explain it).

Rick Ankiel: He announced going into the ASB that he was still dealing with significant pain and stiffness from his collision with the outfield wall in early May. Presumably a few days off has helped a little, but a few days can only do so much. Even before the collision his slash lines were .247/.326/.395 with 2 HR, well below average for his brief outfield career so far.
Stats (2007-2008): .270/.334/.515, 15 HR

Mark DeRosa: The latest word is that he'll need surgery in the offseason to repair his wrist, but he hopes to play through the injury the rest of the season. FWIW, he had a pain-free batting practice today and personally hopes to play as early as Saturday.
Stats (2006-2008): .291/.368/.453, 7 HR

Chris Duncan: There's been considerable speculation here that he's still dealing with the effects of his neck surgery. As far as I know there haven't been any specific statements to that effect from the Cards medical staff, but there wouldn't necessarily be if he's just dealing with lingering weakness or stiffness. Or maybe he just hasn't humped a trophy lately. We all have needs.
Stats (2006-2008): .267/.355/.486, 12 HR

Troy Glaus: He's hitting - not well - at Palm Beach, but still can't throw. There was a rumor recently that he would need a second surgery (which would presumably sideline him for the year), but as far as I know there hasn't been anything definitive about that.
Stats (2006-2008): .261/.364/.491, 14 HR

Khalil Greene: Apparently playing with Springfield tonight. Rotowire says he could be back in St. Louis "by next weekend," but I doubt too many people would be willing to put money on that. Last time he came back he homered in three straight games, then he got beaned.
Stats (2006-2008): .240/.291/.421, 10 HR

Brett Wallace: My strong impression is that most of the relevant people in the organization are very much against bringing him up this year, but what do I know? It shouldn't be too surprising that a walrus is somewhat ungainly at third, but with those tusks he's a lot less likely to get Hee-Seop Choi'ed than Rolen.
Stats: Nothing to see here; move along.

Todd Wellemeyer: Since Joel Pineiro stole the magic beans Welley got from Duncan, he's gone back to pre-2007 Welley. Except now he's doing it for 4-5 innings at a time instead of 1-2 innings at a time.
Stats (2007-2008): 3.95 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 1.9 K/BB, 10 HR allowed

Trade: Finally, just for fun - will there be at least one person not currently in the organization who will make a significant contribution? It could be a pitcher, a hitter, a back-up for Fredbird... will we make any "impact" trade this summer?
Stats (2006-2008): Just for fun, imagine Halladay's stats here. Turns out they're really good.

I don't know of a convenient way to do a single poll incorporating all these guys, so if folks are interested I figured we could to a comma-delimited list of yes/no answers, like we do for preseason predictions, and if there are a decent number of responses I'll tabulate them next week. To start things off, for the following order:

Ankiel,DeRosa,Duncan,Glaus,Greene,Wallace,Wellemeyer,Trade

my answers are

no,yes,no,no,no,no,yes,no

Interview with "As They See 'Em" author

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:16:42 -0000

Interview with "As They See 'Em" author

Bruce Weber, the author of the recent book "As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels In The Land Of Umpires," was interviewed last week on the NPR program Fresh Air. It's a really interesting interview, touching on such topics as the 13 "official" infractions for which a player/coach can be tossed, umpire salaries (which start in the $90K range for first year MLB umps), umpire training (including how to take off your mask and how to deal with angry players/coaches), and how many umps like to develop signature strike calls. It's about 33 minutes long and definitely very much worth a listen.

"The Baseball Project" CD

BTown Birds fan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:34:46 -0000

I just came across a music CD called "The Baseball Project Volume 1: Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails." It actually came out last summer, but there doesn't seem to have been any mention of it here. Officially the group itself is also called The Baseball Project, but it's really more like the latest incarnation of The Minus 5. There are 13 songs, most of which are about different individual players, although there's also a song about closers generally and one about baseball nostalgia generally. I bring it up because two of the songs are about former Cardinals - "Gratitude (for Curt Flood)" and "Broken Man," about Mark McGwire.

There are also songs about Ted Williams (or "Ted Fucking Williams," as the song is called), Satchel Paige, Fernando Valenzuela, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays (kind of - the song is more about the singer remembering a game he went to with his dad, which the Giants won on a HR by Mays), Ed Delahanty (I had to look up who the hell he was), Harvey Haddix, and Jack McDowell.

Here's the link to the Yep Roc Records page for the album, and here's a link to all of the lyrics for the album.

If you're familiar with The Minus 5 the overall sound of this album will also be fairly familiar to you. It may be my own bias showing through, but I think the two Cardinal songs are among the best ones, especially the Mark McGwire song. The Koufax and Robinson songs are also pretty good; the Mays song not so much. I'm a pretty big fan of The Minus 5, but on first listen I don't think this is one of their better albums. But maybe it'll grow on me, and anyway it's pretty entertaining to have an entire rock album dedicated to baseball, including a song about how Curt Flood doesn't get enough respect.

A quick sampling of the Cards song lyrics (these are both partial):

"Gratitude (for Curt Flood)"
On the day that I died and they laid me in the ground where was everybody?
They couldn’t be found.
I’m gone and they don’t know my name.
No plaque, no speech, no hall of fame..
A-Rod, Zito, Posada, Tejada, Johan, Manny, Maddux, Mussina.
Who’s the one who paved the way with blood?
Go say my name—it’s (Flood!) Curt Flood!

You call that gratitude?"

***

"Broken Man"
We all need to gain the upper hand.
An edge to do even better than we can.
No one seemed to care when it brought back the fans.
It’s a broken record, strike up the band for the broken man.

A crowd so loud and a son so very proud.
The powers that be counting money, handing me a crown.
Only now they decide that it’s time to take a stand.
It’s a broken record, strike up the band for the broken man.

"Play Like a Cardinal" ads

BTown Birds fan — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:34:04 -0000

"Play Like a Cardinal" ads

As pointed out by Derrick Goold today, the "Play Like a Cardinal" ads are up at the Cards' official site. I can't say they did a whole bunch for me overall, although I did like the Pujols superhero cape spot.

Nate McLouth fears the Carp

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:58:22 -0000

Nate McLouth fears the Carp

From an interview with Nate McLouth at Yahoo Sports:

Q: Is there a pitcher who keeps you up at night the night before you face him?
A: There’s plenty. If I had to name one, probably Chris Carpenter from St. Louis. He’s got four great pitches. He locates well. Unfortunately for him, he’s been hurt the past couple years. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years. But he’s tough.

"Appreciating the genius of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa"

BTown Birds fan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:31:23 -0000

"Appreciating the genius of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa"

An appreciation of TLR by Joe Posnanski.

Bonus link: a "caption contest" at Yahoo Sports for a photo of TLR looking at his line-up card and casting a long shadow, with the question "So what happens when Tony La Russa sees his shadow?"
The best submission so far: "Six more weeks of Chris Carpenter on the disabled list."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/C-a-C-So-what-happens-when-Tony-La-Russa-sees-?urn=mlb,144455