I just heard this on the radio and it's not on the Card's website or on here anywhere besides the game thread yet so I'll let this fly.  Anthony Reyes has been optioned to Memphis and Troy Cate has been called up.  The strangest part is that Cate will be put into the bullpen and Wellemeyer will be starting on Wednesday night in what would've been Reyes spot.  

I know we've all been gushing about Albert all year, and for 6 years, and we shall continue to do so but I just wanted to look at some numbers and I was so impressed I just thought I should share them with others.

Stat - Albert - 2006 NL Rank
R - 119 - 6
H - 177 - 14
2B - 33 - 34(T)
HR - 49 - 2
RBI - 137 - 2
TB - 359 - 3
BB - 92 - 11
OBP - .431 - 2
SLG - .671 - 1
AVG - .331 - 3
XBH - 83 - 4
OPS - 1.102 - 1

AVG w/ RISP, 2 Out: .435

Poll

What would we do without Pujols?

0%

Die.

0 votes

2%

Die.

1 votes

13%

Die.

5 votes

47%

Really Die.

17 votes

16%

Finish Last.

6 votes

19%

He's holding us back, without him we're World Champs.

7 votes

36 votes | Poll has closed

OK.  It's September 19th and in all likelihood, the Cardinals are going to the playoffs this year.  What I wanted to see from everybody here is a playoff roster.  If the playoffs started today, which 11 pitchers and 14 position players would YOU have on the roster?  Designate your rotation 1-4 and you can even suggest lineups and all kinds of super fancy things, should you desire.

P.S.  There are several rules involving playoff rosters and I would imagine we're all pretty well-versed, so instead of me finding a link with a comprehensive list of the rules (which is suprisingly hard to find, at least via Google), let's just police each other, easy peasy.

My own roster:
PITCHERS:
Starters:

1. Chris Carpenter
   
2. Jeff Suppan
   
3. Jeff Weaver
   
4. Anthony Reyes
   

Relievers:

5. Adam Wainwright
   
6. Braden Looper
   
7. Tyler Johson
   
8. Randy Flores
   
9. Josh Hancock
   
10. Brad Thompson
    
11. Jason Marquis

POSITION PLAYERS:
Catchers:

12. Yadier Molina
    
13. Gary Bennett

Infielders:

14. Albert Pujols
    
15. Ronnie Belliard
    
16. Scott Rolen
    
17. Aaron Miles
    
18. David Eckstein
    
19. Scott Spiezio
    
20. Jose Vizcaino

Outfielders:

21. Juan Encarnacion
    
22. Chris Duncan
    
23. Preston Wilson
    
24. John Rodriguez
    
25. So Taguchi

The biggest thing here is that I'm leaving off Jim Edmonds, which is unfortunate.  I really don't think he's going to be able to play though.

My basic lineup is no suprise:

1. SS Eckstein
   
2. LF Duncan
   
3. 1B Pujols
   
4. 3B Rolen
   
5. RF Encarnacion
   
6. CF Wilson
   
7. 2B Belliard
   
8.  C Molina

If we make it to the WS, I'd probably use JRod as my DH.  My other thought was Spiezio, but I'd like to keep his versatility available to play the field without having to forfeit my DH.

Ponson signs with Yankees

Ponson has already signed with the Yankees, that didn't take long.  I only just read that we had not found a taker for him and were going to release him.  I tell my roommate this news and he points me toward this article, already verifying the extreme short-livedness of his free agency.

Last night I was at Busch Stadium and some of the things I saw I did not enjoy.

Juan Encarnacion is having a rough start, but we're only 10 games into the season and I think it's absolute crap that he got assorted boos even during his first plate appearance.  Everytime he came to the plate or really did anything at all, he got booed, and by the end of the game, it was no longer assorted boos, it was loud massive boos.  At one point he was very close to the stands in foul territory and I could see people standing up and basically yelling in his face...that's shit, seriously, that is just apalling to come from "the best fans in baseball."  Give the guy a break, it's April.  So then when he makes an outstanding catch, only then do the boos turn to cheers.

In addition to that, there were a couple of plays that Edmonds wasn't able to make that received some boos.  The man is practically superhuman in the field, but he's had a rough couple of days...so that means we get pissed off when he can't catch a ball that most center fielders wouldn't have even gotten close to?  

It felt like people were being very fairweather fan-ish last night.  The team is struggling a little and people were, in my opinion, a little too outspoken with their dissatisfaction.  This is team that has won 205 regular season games in the last two years and some fans are turning on them with a 5-5 mark after 10 games.  

We love this team and we're going to have to love them even if they don't blow the entire central division out of the water.