***Offical 2010 STL Cardinals Baseball Thread ***

[BigRedChief]

Holliday signs. The Deal is Done. $120 Million over 7 years.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=stl

Signed or controlled for the next 2 years

Shumaker 2B
Rasmus CF
Pujols 1B
Holliday LF
Ludwick RF
Molina C
Freese 3B
Ryan SS
And 2 CY Young caliber starting pitchers
Carp and Wainwright P

We get Lohse or Garcia to step up and be a reliable 3rd starter in the playoffs we can win a World Series with this line up.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

According to folks close to the situation, Musial asked that he not be focused on during the festivities in no small part due to his declining health.

Yeah, he looked bad. I'd rather not see him like that. I don't want my last memory of Stan the Man to be him trying to just stand up out of a chair. He deserves better. He can't stop the aging process but I'd sure like to remember him as "The Man".

[Chief Henry]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

7 living hall of famers.

BY DAN O'NEILL
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/13/2010

The "Cardinal Way."

You will hear about it a lot this summer, see it characterized in commercials and pasted on billboards. The baseball team in town has put forth the proposition there is such a thing, a discipline unlike any others, a method tried and true.

Clever concept? Madison Avenue musings? Perhaps some of both.

But when asked to explain 118 years of baseball, 17 pennants and 10 World Series titles, some of those who have participated suggest there is a discernible fingerprint, a Cardinal experience that is unparalleled and unmistakable.

"You're talking about a spirit," said Lou Brock, who found the spirit after coming from the Cubs to the Cardinals in 1964, then rode it all the way to Cooperstown. "When you hear 'Cardinal Way, ' you know full well you're talking about meeting the opponent eye to eye.

"It started long before all of us. It was a scratchy type of baseball that doesn't know how to say no. It's a team that doesn't beat itself. Today, you see a scrappy player like Brendan Ryan and you say, 'Oh, that's a throwback to the old Cardinals teams. That's a dirty uniform, that's the 'Cardinal Way.' "

The personality has manifested itself in different forms over the years, adapting to different eras and unique circumstances. From Gas House Gangs, to El Birdos, to Whiteyball to Tony La Russa's Hard Nine, the texture has evolved. CARDS BASICS

Its creators included sage philosophers like Branch Rickey, Sam Breadon and Bing Devine. Its practitioners are colorful characters like Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin, fierce competitors like Bob Gibson and Rogers Hornsby and wholesome heroes like Red Schoendienst.

The "Cardinal Way" can be daring as Lou Brock, dazzling as Ozzie Smith and incomparable like Stan Musial.

Long before he put his own signature on the franchise, New Athens native Whitey Herzog was well familiar with the "Cardinal Way."

"I can remember when I signed as a high school player, in 1949 with the Yankees, I was 17 years old," Herzog said. "The three top organizations were the Dodgers, Cardinals and Yankees. They had 24 to 26 minor league teams then.

"And those three organizations taught fundamentals better than everybody. ... I'll say this, and it's true. The guys who played for any of those three organizations were cockier than all the rest. It was different. If you played for the Cardinals, it meant something."

Jack Clark recognized the essence shortly after he was traded from the San Francisco Giants to the Cardinals in February 1985. A feared equalizer in the middle of the lineup, the slugging Clark propelled the club to World Series appearances in 1985 and 1987.

"The 'Cardinal Way' is respecting the game and the name on the front of the shirt, the history of the organization," Clark said. "Stan Musial is at the top of that and it filters down to all of the Hall of Famers and great players who have played here. It's the pride you to have to wear the uniform from the time you go to spring training, to represent it on the field and off the field, too."

Clark readily acknowledged the Cardinals don't have a patent of pride; other organizations value the same. But not many have the same DNA.

"It's just different here because of the fan base, the support," Clark said. "And when I got here we had a Hall of Fame announcer like Jack Buck, and we had an owner like Gussie Busch and they bring you into the family. ... You put it all together and it's like being in heaven — baseball heaven."

Andy Van Slyke advanced through the organization to play four years in St. Louis before being traded to Pittsburgh in April 1987. The strong-armed outfielder knows for a fact there is a "Way."

"For a very long time, the 'Cardinal Way' was the George Kissell way," Van Slyke said. "I'm not necessarily talking about winning all the time. I'm talking about always playing the right way, always running out balls, throwing to the right base, always knowing what you are doing before the ball is in play."

A legendary "baseball man," Kissell passed away in October 2008. He was in the organization for 69 years, serving in various instructive roles. Those who learned from Kissell hold him in the highest regard, and those who didn't the highest respect.

"In the process, you saw a lot of other teams respect the Cardinals because of how they played," Van Slyke added. "You talk to any player who has played for another organization and come over to St. Louis, or one who came up with the Cardinals and went elsewhere, and they really realize what that meant.

"There was a certain pride when you put on the (Cardinals) uniform, and I think players took on the responsibility for themselves to not disgrace that uniform and play up to those standards. ...

"It still exists and you know what, I think Tony La Russa has done a terrific job of continuing that tradition."

Maybe the "Cardinal Way" is a slick marketing campaign, or maybe it's something more. If you were at opening day, saw the parade of legends and luminaries, saw the red-splashed stands and soaring spirits, you bet on the latter.

I love what "the ripper" speaks of in this article. Now he needs to go eat a salad !

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Yeah, he looked bad. I'd rather not see him like that. I don't want my last memory of Stan the Man to be him trying to just stand up out of a chair. He deserves better. He can't stop the aging process but I'd sure like to remember him as "The Man".

On the bright side, he was able to get out of the cart this year.

This is the first home opener I've missed at the new park, and I don't recall him ever getting out of the golf cart before.

[DJ's left nut]

Damn it's fun being a Cardinals fan.

Molina throws one away for an unearned run in the first.

Bottom of the inning - BB, 1b, 1b...game is tied.

These guys just don't go away. They don't take bad ABs, they don't give away chances. (Though Holliday swung at a pitchers pitch on a hitters count for a DP).

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Chief Henry

I can't wait to see the high lights of this on MLB tonight. Since MLB came on, I hardly watch ESPN during the summer.

What is the "unwritten" code of baseball in this particular case ?
I hope his peers in mlb dump all over him.

You don't bunt for a hit, you don't cheat your way on base.

If it was a 1-run game in August, perhaps it would've been acceptable. But this was a 4-run game in early April without divisional consequences.

It was completely bush-league and completely within Pierzynski's character. That guy can kiss my ass.

[Third Eye]

This will probably get lost in here pretty quickly, but probably not worth its own thread.

The Mimi Fishman Foundation is having a charity auction and the Cardinals donated a sweet package. Four reserved tickets, passes for the field before the game including being on-field for batting practice, and a seat from the old Busch signed by Gibson, Musial, Brock, Schoendienst, and Ozzie. So far only bid is for $450, well worth it if you have the money to spend IMO. Unfortunately, I do not.

http://www.mimifishman.org/auctions/viewitem.asp?ID=892

[DJ's left nut]

!@#$ me.

Brad Penny looks absolutely filthy right now.

He just threw the best Cardinal fastball I've seen since Morris' first year back from TJ surgery.

96 mph, explosive tailing action in on the righthanded hitter (Pence). Pence started his swing around when the ball was caught. 2 pitches later he threw a wicked splitter at 89 mph that Pence couldn't have hit with a tennis racket.

Pence was an All-Star last season and had absolutely no chance in that AB.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Well that decision didn't pay off.

I would rather have seen Penny try to hold a one run lead than this bullpen.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

C'mon Big Sweat.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

NICE PLAY, BOOG!!

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Well that decision didn't pay off.

I would rather have seen Penny try to hold a one run lead than this bullpen.

Gotta pull him there.

If you manage with the idea that your guys will fail, you're not going to win too many games.

If anyone involved does there job from that point forward (i.e. Stav hits a deep fly ball or grounds to the right side of the IF, McClellan/Reyes/Franklin hold the Astros down), you win and do so without pushing Penny.

Penny looked great, but he's still a fatbody with a high effort delivery and a fairly extensive injury history.

It didn't work out, but I think it was absolutely the right move.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Gotta pull him there.

If you manage with the idea that your guys will fail, you're not going to win too many games.

If anyone involved does there job from that point forward (i.e. Stav hits a deep fly ball or grounds to the right side of the IF, McClellan/Reyes/Franklin hold the Astros down), you win and do so without pushing Penny.

Penny looked great, but he's still a fatbody with a high effort delivery and a fairly extensive injury history.

It didn't work out, but I think it was absolutely the right move.

I can respect that, but he's been nails tonight and hadn't thrown 90 pitches.

JMO.

[Frazod]

Sure would be nice if we could get Penny some RUN SUPPORT.

Two goddamn runs against the Asstros?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

There is nothing better than facing a batter who swings at the first pitch.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by frazod

Sure would be nice if we could get Penny some RUN SUPPORT.

Two goddamn runs against the Asstros?

No shit.