thats so wrong. That scared little pussy deserves worse.

Two games for Dusty may actually help the team!

A fitting place for Cardinal Fans to Drop Dead!
From the STL Post-Dispatch:
Caskets are final show of baseball loyalty

By Dave Seminara • Special to the Post-Dispatch | Posted: Friday, August 13, 2010 12:15 am

Eternal Image began selling caskets with major league baseball themes in 2008. The casket's price is $3,500.

Chase Shaw was a loyal Cardinals fan. He would often chide his father, Steve, for abandoning their post in front of the television if the Cards fell behind late in a game. "He'd come into my bedroom and say, 'You better turn it back on, they're getting ready to rally,'" Steve Shaw said. "He liked to repeat Mike Shannon's home run call. He'd say, 'Get up baby, get up, get up!'"

Chase Shaw died in a car accident in December, at age 22, near the Saints Avenue Café he managed in Canton, Mo. "As soon as the tragedy happened, there was no doubt in my mind that I'd get him a Cardinals casket because that's what he would've wanted," Steve Shaw said. Chase Shaw was laid to rest in a Cardinals jersey and hat, with a Cardinals bat and ball inside of a Cardinals casket, which was placed inside a burial vault adorned with the Cardinals logo, in a plot near their home in Hannibal, Mo. "If we could've gotten a Cardinals logo on his headstone, I would've done that, too," Shaw said. "We live the Cardinals."

As the Cardinals and Cubs resume their rivalry today at Busch Stadium, fans will reopen their never-ending battle for bragging rights. But while nearly every aspect of the rivalry can be easily quantified, one question eludes easy answers: Which team has the most loyal fans?

Not even Bill James, the godfather of sabermetrics, could invent a statistic to measure fan loyalty; but surely the sales of team logo caskets, urns and burial vaults are as good a measure as any to quantify fan loyalty and passion. In 2008, a Michigan-based company called Eternal Image began selling caskets for $3,500, which come complete with mini bats for handles, and urns bearing Major League Baseball team logos for $799.

According to Nick Popravsky, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, team logo casket sales were up 32 percent in 2009. The company's sales of MLB urns and caskets are nearing 3,000. And while there may be no Cubs-Cardinals pennant race in 2010, the two teams are neck and neck for the lead in National League casket sales.

"We started out with just five teams to see if the market would accept this, and they have. People love it," Popravsky said. The company has expanded its product line to include caskets for all 30 MLB teams and the kind of headstone medallions that weren't available when Chase Shaw died.

But why do fans want to take their team allegiances with them into eternity?

"This is for the die-hard fans — excuse the pun," said Hal Wilkes, director of the Christy Vault Co., which distributes MLB caskets and urns. "People take their sports loyalties with them — even to the grave. This is the ultimate final purchase for a passionate baseball fan."

With 10 titles, 17 pennants and 23 playoff appearances, it's easy to understand how the Cardinals command cradle-to-grave and beyond loyalty from their fans. But why would Cubs fans, tormented by their team's futility in the living realm, want to carry that frustrating allegiance into the hereafter?

"People are more loyal to their sports teams than they are to their spouses," Wilkes said. "It's a second religion — it's sports worship. It's eternal optimism."

Dennis Mancari, a lifelong Cubs fan, is the creator of Beyond the Vines, a final resting place where the ashes of eternally optimistic Cubs fans can be interred inside Cubs urns in a 24-foot-long ivy-covered brick wall. Mancari sought to create the kind of environment people would actually enjoy visiting, a warm antidote to a typical mausoleum.

Herb and Evelyn Lathrope of Arlington Heights, Ill., were the first two die-hards to reserve their places in the wall. Herb died in 2009, but Evelyn, now 85, is still hoping to see the Cubs win the World Series before she takes her place next to her husband at Beyond the Vines.

"We're always hopeful," she said. "Once a Cubs fan, always a Cubs fan. It's not just till death do us part."

Lathrope, who was at Wrigley Field in 1945 to witness the Cubs most recent World Series appearance, sees nothing unusual about seeking Cub fan immortality; maintaining a connection to the team is important because 'sooner or later they will win, and you want to be a part of that."

For Lathrope, there is no debate about which team has the most loyal fans.

"Cubs fans are more loyal — we haven't won in so long, but we keep hanging in there. It's easy to be a Cardinals fan — they win!"

But tell that to Cardinals fan Joan Benson, a teacher at Holy Rosary Middle School in Monroe City, Mo., who already has reserved her Cardinals casket. "I'm in no rush, but when my time comes, absolutely, that's what I want to be buried in," she said.

"The casket has a Cardinals logo in the middle," Benson said. "As a loyal Catholic, the crucifix should really be in the middle, but I'll have to put the crucifix on one side, and the Virgin Mary on the other. Religion is first, then family, then the Cardinals."

While MLB caskets, urns and vaults are proving to be surprisingly popular, the NHL, NBA and NFL have resisted the idea, even as the NCAA has allowed more than 200 colleges and universities to license their logo to casket manufacturers. Critics might accuse MLB of exploiting the most devout fans by offering pricey products, but for those coping with a devastating loss, reaffirming a loved one's allegiance to a cherished team is a way to celebrate their life.

When Larissa Rzemienski's husband, Ben Maldonado, died in his sleep last year of a brain cyst at age 34, she knew right away that she wanted his ashes to be placed in a Cubs urn at Beyond the Vines, inside the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago.

"He believed in God, but he didn't go to church," she said. "He did watch the Cubs religiously and his mood usually depended on whether the Cubs were winning."

Putting Maldonado to rest in a place he would have loved provided comfort to her at a time when she was wracked with grief. "If we had done a traditional funeral, it would have been more somber, and it wouldn't have had as much meaning. This just seemed right," she said.

Steve Shaw also found comfort in paying tribute to his son's greatest passion during his family's most trying time. "I was thrilled with the dignity of how we buried him, because I know it's what he would've wanted," he said.

No one knows how the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry plays out beyond the grave, but many fans of both teams contend that their team loyalty comes with no expiration date.

Opening Day this year was particularly difficult for Shaw, who also plans to be buried in a Cardinals casket, because it was the first he had experienced in many years without his son at his side. But in death, his son taught him something about being a loyal Cardinals fan. "Now when they're behind, I keep watching, because Chase always used to tell me I gave up too easily. He never gave up."

Okay, when a casket maker says that these things are for "Die Hard fans", all I can think is "evidently not"....

Seriously, if you sell caskets for a living, you should probably be a little less cavalier with your phrasing. Just sayin'...

I hope that, when the time comes, Brandon Phillips is buried in a Cardinals casket. :)

It's easy to be a Cubs fan, because rooting for the Cubs isn't really about caring about a winning team. Cubs fans are like Red Sox fans--they secretly enjoy losing because of the attention that it brings them.

Cubs games aren't baseball affairs--they're excuses to get drunk.

No joke... Rememinds me of what Chipper Jones agent said on espn yesterday after he blew his knew out... something along the effect of "He's not going to rush the decision to retire or not, it depends on how long it will take for the knee to fully recover, we dont want it to be a knee-jerk reaction.."


I was like uhhhhh :spock: better choice of words maybe?

Today the Reds announced that Cueto was appealing.

Either MLB will grow a pair and deny it by tomorrow (so he doesn't get his Sunday start).

Or MLB will do what it always does - nothing. And Cueto's 'punishment' will be a couple days off.

Guess what I have my money on...

Cubs up 2-0 but they were all good piitches by Westbrook. Hr does look like a "Duncan" type of pitcher.

Nice win.

And the Card fans don't disappont. :clap:

Kind of fun to say that the good news is apparently you heard incorrectly. Says he's not appealing, so yay? http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Good to see them actually advancing baserunners tonight.

Got Jealous?

Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips went too far in his incendiary name-calling directed at Cardinals players. But he did tap into something: the Cardinals are disliked by many of their opponents. I saw that theme repeated a lot this week in media analyses of the Reds-Cardinals brawl on Tuesday night.

Five theories:
Jealousy • The Cardinals win. A lot. And draw huge crowds. The players are treated like baseball gods in St. Louis. Naturally, opponents are envious. Since the beginning of the 2000 season, the Cardinals have won more regular-season games than any other NL team. Their winning percentage over the past 10-plus seasons is .564. Compare that to the other win percentages in the NL Central between 2000 and now: Houston (.508), Chicago (.493), Cincinnati (.470), Milwaukee (.458) and Pittsburgh (.416). Wouldn't you be bitter if you were constantly getting hammered by St. Louis?

Jealousy, Part II • Since Tony La Russa took over as manager in 1996, only the New York Yankees have won more postseason games (87); Boston and St. Louis are tied for second with 39. That's 17 more postseason victories than the other five NL Central teams have, combined.

La Russa's team plays with edge • La Russa never fires the first shot, but if retaliation is in order, the Cardinals respond aggressively. If you start a battle, La Russa will escalate it. When La Russa goes into the Don Tony mode, he does not make friends.

The Cardinals irritate opponents • They gripe about such items as slick baseballs or foreign substances on pitchers' caps. The Cardinals have talked about their own pitchers tipping pitches, which probably offends opposing batters who interpret it as a slight. La Russa and the Cardinals dispute this, but clearly opponents have been bothered by it.

The George Will factor • La Russa entered the weekend with 2,616 victories, No. 3 on the all-time list. He has been exalted in two best-selling books written by prominent authors George Will and Buzz Bissinger. Many opposing managers are clinging to their jobs, and on top of that, they have to lose to La Russa and then read about his genius. Wouldn't this make you resentful?
But understand this, too: There's a lot of respect for Cardinals baseball. It may be grudging respect, but it's real. The attitude was described nicely by Michael Wilbon on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" earlier this week: "The St. Louis Cardinals are a great organization," he said. "As a Cub fan, I grew up hating the Cardinals. Part of why I hate them so much is that they're such an admirable organization."

From my recollection, Jim Edmonds was a huge cry baby when he didn't like the umpires
strike zone. I can recall on many occassions when he would drop his bat or his head
at home plate when he didn't get the call. The cardinals biggest whinner over the years is now with the Reds...how ironic.

Yadi is the bomb for getting in the grill of BP...BP knew exactly what he wanted when
he taped Yadi's shin guards. BP got exactly what he hoped would happen. MOST of MLB knew BP was being a classless jerk in tapping the shinn guards, then to try and do it a 2nd time !!!! BP should have gotten at least a 20 game suspension because he tried to tap Yadi's shinn guard a 2nd time.

Good for Cueto, I suppose.

The radio reports this morning said he had lodged his appeal already; there was an understandable amount of outrage at it.

Anyone else see the graphic that the Cardinals have scored 4+ runs in something like 10 consecutive games for the first time since July of 2004 (and that team was probably the best Cardinal club I've ever seen)?

Molina's resurgance has ben big, but getting Pujols and Holliday rolling at the same time is about all you need.

:spock: Really?

Henry's a ****ing dumbass. Just ignore him.

Yep.

How ****ing hard is it to bunt?

you can almost always count on the Cubs to blow a game late. But you don't count on the Cardinals to fail to get a sacrifice bunt down....

Nice inning, gentlemen.

****ing pathetic.

What a ****ing terrible 8th and 9th inning.

You can with Ryan batting. He's not a good bunter at all.

He's completely useless at the plate. If you're going to be a bad hitter, being a bad bunter as well is just unacceptable.

At least we know McGwire taught them something. Unfortunately, it was how to bunt.

these are MLB players, they shouldn't have to be taught how to bunt. I was teaching 6 year olds how to bunt. This is on the players.

It was sarcasm... Meaning McGwire can't bunt either... But... Yeah...

And WTF was John Jay pinch hit for?

Bad loss, but they almost came back and tied that thing in the 9th. Downer dropping 2 out of 3 to those turds. Cincy right back in 1st.

maybe, but at least they didn't go down quitely.

God, I ****ing hate Kyle Lohse.

Remember, you can't spell LOhSE without LOSE.

I liked that ****er better when he was on the DL. 4321

Ryan had the worst fundamental I have ever seen trying those two bunts. It's little league shit that you hold the bat at a 45 degree angle upward and if the ball is low, then bend your knees but keep the bat at the same angle. That makes sure the bat is above the ball and lessens the chance of a pop up. On both attempts, Ryan dropped the bat like a reerun and popped the ball straight up. Either make sure the guys know how to bunt, or don't have them bunt.

Rasmus pulled the same shit the other day and then didn't run to first, so if the fielders had been paying attention, they could have turned a double play.

It's about time to just give up on that failed big money contract. The team is better off going with Westbrook and Hawksworth in the 4/5 slots. When Lohse is spotting his sinker, he is pretty tough. But once out of every 5 pitches, he serves up a meatball waist high. You can't do that when you have a pedestrian fastball.

I think we should just have a Fifth Starter Day - randomly pick somebody out of the crowd and have them start the game.

Couldn't be any worse than what we've been doing. :banghead:

How did B Ryan get this far in his baseball career w/those bunting skills ??? He looked brutal.

And as a SS?

The dude shows flashes of greatness in the field. But, I think he might have ADD or something. Hid focus needs work.

I sure would like to know why this team always plays down to the other teams level. They have handled all the playoff contender teams they have played all year.

I gued as long as they make the playoffs, it won't hold them back in the playoffs...maybe.

Funny, because if you do remember, every time McGwire would take batting practice... he'd bunt on the first pitch he saw.

GD Lopez :banghead:

They can't get someone that doesn't cost them runs defensively every frikkin game? He's not hitting. WTf is he still out there?

Pujols is already 50th on the all time home run list.:thumb:

I am tired of watching these ****sticks lose to bad teams with a pitcher that has a 5 ERA and they cant score runs.

Felipe Lopez is God-Awful.

I still think he's a viable option at 2b, but he's scared of hard-hit balls. It makes him flinch on anything hit down the line.

That needs to be his last game at 3b. We should've claimed Edwin Encarnacion when he was placed on waivers.

But alas, we'll probably do nothing. Afterall, we need to save our pennies for Albert's extension.

What'd I tell you, BRC? Signing AP to an extension will be the end of winning baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Turns out I was wrong - the mere possibility of signing AP to an extension is enough to end winning baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals.

This !@#$ing sucks. I hate this team more than I thought possible for a ballclub that didn't employ Tino Martinez.

Fortunately, we activated Greene and immediately sent him down to Memphis, because we definitely do not need middle infield help.

At least he got on, but I really don't know why you'd PH Skip for a legit HR threat like Craig when he's the tying run.

Odds on a Molina GIDP to end it?

How the **** do you take that pitch?

Huge AB with our division sliding away and we have Aaron Miles hitting for us.

Prince Buckner.

id rather have miles than ryan.. games over

Brendan Ryan is up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded.

:facepalm:

only hope is walk or wild pitch

****!! I thought he had that one.

****. 0-2.

This AB is over.

stupid pos cardnals

God **** you, Brendan Ryan.

And double **** you, Mozeliak.

Same piece of rat **** left 3/4s of the infield we've had since 2007 and we haven't done jack ****ing shit to improve it.

Damn...I can't believe Hoffman actually got a save.

I could get Brendan Ryan out, and I probably throw about 60.

someone need to get him on some ridaline

Albert is not our problem.

If we paly like we did in Cincy the playoffs are a lock. We play like we have since Cincy....we are dead team walking.

Never said he was.

Ownership's refusal to put a team around him is.

The Cardinals have made it apparent that they intend to create an Albert circuis, winning be damned.

Think Ryan Ludwick might've been useful the last few nights? Get used to it, because we're going to keep dumping salary and talent so we can afford to pay for the owners golden calf.

The Cubs traded Derrick Lee to the Braves today.

To bad they didn't move the one who sucks the penis last week. :grr:

It's not just ownership.

Brad Hawpe cleared waivers today. They should immediately sign Hawpe and cut Winn.

He's had a terrible year, but the guy had four straight years of 20+ HRs.

We need that kind of power in the corner OF right now, even if it is just a bat off the bench.

Reds rallied from a 4 run deficit in the 8th to score 8 unanswered. They are now three clear.

I put our odds of winning the division at 5-1.

The Cards traded for Feliz today-

ST. LOUIS (AP)—The St. Louis Cardinals got some help at third base on Thursday, acquiring Pedro Feliz(notes) from the Houston Astros for minor league pitcher David Carpenter.

The Cardinals also placed catcher Jason LaRue(notes) on the 60-day disabled list. LaRue sustained a concussion in a fracas with the Reds earlier this month.

Felipe Lopez(notes) has been starting at third base since David Freese(notes) was sidelined by injuries in June. He’s slumped at the plate and in the field lately, committing two errors on Wednesday, prompting the Cardinals to go after the 35-year-old Feliz.

He started for the Phillies’ 2008 World Series team, and has played 97 games for the Astros while batting .221 with four homers and 31 RBIs. Feliz also has the second-best fielding percentage among third baseman since 2007 at .967.

He’s made 60 starts at third base and 10 at first base for Houston.

“It’s been a tough year for him, and with the changes that we’ve made, his playing time would continued to be limited,” Astros general manager Ed Wade said. “This deal puts him back into a pennant race and his veteran presence should help the Cardinals.”

Carpenter was 5-3 with a 2.36 ERA and 20 saves at Class-A Palm Beach.

“We’ve acquired a power arm for our system and we’ll give him every chance to develop into a major leaguer,” Wade said.

The Astros also reinstated infielder Tommy Manzella(notes) from the disabled list. Manzella hit .366 (15 for 41) in 11 games during a rehab stint from a fractured left index finger. He was batting .212 in 59 games with Houston, with one homer and 16 RBIs.

So help is on the way in the form of one of the worst hitting 3B's in the majors?

He can't be any worse than Lopez

+d
-o
???

sec

feliz = .221
ryan = .223
:banghead: seeya all next year.
sec

Its not looking good but its too early to throw in the towel.

i'm not throwing in the towel, but i aint planning on taking off work to go to any playoff games either. looks like instead of losing games 3 to 2, we'll be losing games 2 to 0.
sec

I dont know... If we make it thinks could get interesting seeing how we play against good teams.. thats a big if though

Feliz plays excellent defense, but he's a free-swinging ass hat with no power.

That said, given that you get horrible defense and comparable hitting from Lopez at 3rd, it does actually represent an improvement.

That said, we need to recall Greene, sign Brad Hawpe, and cut Randy Winn.

FWIW: Skip is playing below replacement level this year, Ryan has given us .9 WAR, and Lopez has been .7 WAR.

Thus, the left 3 positions of the infield have produced 1.5 wins, total, over 3 random AAA players.


And we're in a mother****ing pennant race.

Phenominal pickup.

Now if we can just grab Betancourt to play SS, Gload to play 1b, Kendell to play C, Francouer for RF, Garrett Anderson for LF and Josh Byrnes for CF.

With Skip and Feliz manning 2b and 3b, we could make an argument for the worst team ever assembled. Especially if we could coax Griffey out of retirement to face lefties and

I mean putting guys that hit like catchers at power positions like 3b and combining that with guys that play infield like outfielders at defensive positions like 2b....****ING BRILLIANT!

Let's trade for Trevor Hoffman and make him our closer. Shit, that's not awesome enough. Let's trade for Trevor Hoffman and make him a lefthanded starting pitcher.

I hate this mother****ing team. I hate the owners. I really really ****ing hate the GM. I hate the manager. I hate every last one of the loafing assholes that show up every 6 or 7 days.

I like Adam Wainwright.

The end.

Feliz play[ed] excellent defense.

He's been awful this season. So bad that they moved him to 1b, where he wasn't much better.

There's no silver lining - this team ****ing sucks.

yep, Troy Glaus stats w/ a bad back, vs. bad knees.


http://i38.tinypic.com/2rcwe11.gif

Good news:

Reds up 4-0.

So with any luck, the Cards can get all the way to 6 or 7 out by September and we can focus our energy on the Chiefs.

Because that will go much better.

****.

I almost started a thread today titled "Cards trade Carpenter for Pedro Feliz," but ya'll would have nuthooks-neg-repped me back to the stone age.

Probably. As you can see Cardinal Nation is in a foul mood.:(

**** you.

:LOL: Now to push him over the edge..........Obama rocks :p