I'm An Ingrate

You are great, Ryan Ludwick, and the Cardinals are not in today's game if not for your two dingers and four RBI, but in the top of the 9th you have GOT to move those runners over with 2 on and no outs. This is a pet peeve of mine, just like failing to score the run from third with fewer than 2 outs (thank you Brendan Ryan).

That having been said, since I expected a loss today this loss doesn't aggravate me that much. P.J. may not be ready for the big time, but he held up alright and got out of a few jams. I would love to blame Chris Perez for the loss, but that was a pretty good pitch that Soriano hit.

Brian Barden is a MAN. Three home runs in such limited time is awful good.

Big Z has lost a lot of his mystique in my eyes. I will try to remember this the next time we face him.

Break It Down! April 17th Edition

This is the face of the enemy:

P.J. Walters and the Cardinals face off against Carlos Zambrano today. Zambrano is probably my most hated baseball player and if memory serves he performs really well against the Cardinals. Turns out, not so much. Last season Zambrano was 1-2 against the Cardinals with a 12.75 ERA. We won't talk about the preceding seasons (suffice it to say my memory hasn't actually faltered).

Albert Pujols (surprise!) has 5 dingers off of Big Z. I would LOVE it if he made it 6 today. Also look for Schumaker to get things going, he has a career OBP of .400 against Zambrano.

All this having been said, the Cardinals are starting a rookie today against one of the finest lineups in the National League (or so we are told). I expect a Cardinal loss, but as long as they are competitive today I still like our chances to take 3 of 4 in this series.

Well that's it in the way of analysis(?). Wish I were in Chicago. GO CARDS!!

Just Who Is P.J. Walters?

According to the Post Dispatch, P.J. Walters will start for the Cardinals on Friday at Wrigley. Not a lot of detail there, but here is what we know from the article about Mr. Walters:

Walters was impressive in his first start for Memphis. He pitched seven shutout innings and struck out six against two walks. The righthander has a plus changeup that, early in his professional career, was actually described by scouts as a “screwball.” Walters rejects that description, and he has more velocity on his fastball that expected from a starter who steadily climbed the system with his changeup.

That's all good, I guess. In 2007 Walters was the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Surprising I have never heard of him (that I can recall). Here are Walters' stats since joining the organization. Good, but he was hardly spectacular in 2008. He was, however, impressive this Spring, where he became the last non-roster pitching invitee to be cut from big league camp. Even more significantly, Walters is being given this honor over other legitimate major league prospects Jess Todd, Blake Hawksworth, and Clayton Mortenson, not to mention Mitchell Boggs who also got a call-up.

All things considered, I don't know what to expect from this kid. Keep your fingers crossed.