PURE CARDINAL OBSESSION

So, I've been kinda absent posting lately, but that was because I took a road trip to follow the Redbirds through the Ohio Valley. I began in Cincinnati on Thursday night, where the game was decided 1-0 despite an absolute gem by Chris Carpenter (8 IP, CG, 11 K's, 4 baserunners)... and the scoreboard didn't work. Seriously:



Weird, eh? It remained that image through the first four innings, then shut off completely for the next few, only to come back on again with the same jumble shortly before the end of the game. For the first three innings or so, there was no display of the ball-and-strike count anywhere in the park. Only after mooching the screen-top info display off Fox Midwest's cable feed (the game was not televised in Cincy) and somehow pasting it onto the bottom of the color display to the right of the main scoreboard were they able to show the count. I sat next to the Cards bullpen, which was not used. The GABP is a good place to sit and relax and watch a game; it's not its own spectacular architectural entity like the BOB, Minute Maid, or Miller, and it doesn't have an distinctly beautiful feature, like the fountains at Kaufmann, or view of downtown at PNC. To me, what it does is create a very subtle aesthetically pleasing environment; small things like the asymmetrical nature of the entire ballpark (i.e. the rounded wall on the right side vs. the sharp-edged wall on the left side), the gap in the stands behind the third-base dugout, or the view of the pastoral Kentucky shoreline beyond the river. It's definitely cool in a not-so-obvious sort of way. But maybe that's because I've been there so much; Thursday was the fifth game I'd seen there in only two seasons since it'd opened.

After that tough loss, however, it was on to Pittsburgh for one more game before returning to St. Louis. The Cards did manage to win that one for me, however, which was nice -- I was worried my jinx would carry over, but 1-1 is a better winning percentage than I've seen them play at Busch. I'd never been to PNC Park before (one of the main reasons I made the trip), unlike Great American Ball Park, so I took a lot more pictures at PNC than at GABP. Here's a sample:


PNC as seen from the Roberto Clemente Bridge.


The statue of Clemente right outside the ballpark.


Cards relievers warming up in right field during the team batting practice.


The view of the Ohio River and downtown Pittsburgh from the upper deck.

I called PNC the coolest park in baseball before having seen it, and seeing it only backed up that assessment. It is truly a jewel. The setting, a short walk across the Clemente bridge -- open only to pedestrians after 4 p.m. -- into downtown (which reminded me more of some downtown areas in Europe than downtown St. Louis -- for example, the McDonalds in downtown Pittsburgh still exists), is great. The ballpark itself is also, with features such as the large concrete deck/walkway overlooking the river beyond the outfield, the black metal walkway with a view onto the playing field in left, and the press box being located above the upper terrace seats. All in all, the trip was definitely worth it for the experience.

Some more notes from the trip:
• In Cincy, I sat behind some Reds fans who impressed me with their knowledge of the game. There were two twenty-something couples there together, both appearing to be straight out of a Gap commercial, so when one of the guys said something about Wily Mo Pena's upside (yes, he used the word "upside") appearing limited by a lack of plate discipline, I was a little surprised. We got to talking Reds baseball, despite my Cards outfit, and it made for a good time. Even one of the women chimed in that she didn't think Ryan Freel was an everyday player.

• In addition to the fans in the previous bullet, I talked to several fans of both the Reds and Pirates who said they were rooting for the Cardinals to win it all. It could be that these towns (among others) think of St. Louis as the model; a medium-sized Midwestern market with knowledgeable fans makes good, perhaps?

• In Cincinnati, I walked up to the ticket window, and was given a free ticket by the woman inside, even after she showed her disdain that I was a Cards fan. No kidding. No complaints on my part. But that can't be good for business, especially when this sort of thing has been happening.

• One feature I would remove from each ballpark: PNC -- the overdone animated pirate character on the scoreboard. Most of the animations aren't too silly (I especially liked the one of the pirate ship firing cannonballs into ships representing other NL Central teams, played before the game), but that one is a little annoying. And GABP -- the sound effects on foul balls (a carry-over from old Riverfront Stadium). What's the point of playing a loud glass-shattering sound when a ball hits an empty seat? I've only been to a few games there, and it's already gotten old.

• Thursday night's game was a rare one -- in this era, anyway -- in which both starting pitchers went the distance (had there been a bottom of the ninth, however, Carpenter would have been gone). There may have been more recent ones, but this is the last one I can think of involving the Birds on the Bat.

American League Most Valuable Player

Main Contenders:
Manny Ramirez, Boston: .316/.408/.624 (1.032), 34 HR, 102 RBI
David Ortiz, Boston: .302/.375/.612 (.988), 33 HR, 111 RBI, (72 XBH)
Melvin Mora, Baltimore: .349/.432/.594 (1.025), 22 HR, 78 RBI
Vlad Guerrero, Anaheim: .329/.383/.570 (.954), 28 HR, 100 RBI, 10 SB
Miguel Tejada, Baltimore: .311/.363/.533 (.895), 24 HR, 113 RBI
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle: .366/.408/.457 (.865), 6 HR, 46 RBI, 29 SB
Gary Sheffield, New York Yankees: .296/.405/.554 (.959), 32 HR, 95 RBI

Others:
Mark Teixeira, Texas: .269/.354/.563 (.917), 30 HR, 82 RBI
Carlos Guillen, Detroit: .317/.382/.558 (.940), 20 HR, 94 RBI, 11 SB
Travis Hafner, Cleveland: .310/.408/.576 (.984), 23 HR, 92 RBI
José Guillen, Anaheim: .306/.368/.534 (.902), 26 HR, 99 RBI
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees: .281/.366/.511 (.876), 30 HR, 73 RBI, 22 SB
Victor Martinez, Cleveland: .287/.363/.510 (.873), 20 HR, 93 RBI
Scott Hatteberg, Oakland: .304/.389/.459 (.849), 14 HR, 70 RBI

Pitchers:
None.

Wow. Kind of a jumble, although two names stand out somewhat when you look deeper at the numbers, and they both play for the Red Sox. Melvin Mora actually has put together a marvelous season to this point, but his team is struggling, and his teammate Tejada has the league RBI lead, which will likely hurt Mora in the voting. Ichiro may also get himself some votes with a successful run at George Sisler's hits record. It's a shame that two guys from the big-time media market of Boston are the front-runners for this award, since there really are a lot of players in the AL this year who're enjoying breakout seasons (Martinez, Teixeira, Hafner, C. Guillen, Hatteberg, and Mora to an extent). Those guys are worthy of some votes, but Ramirez and Ortiz have carried the offensive juggernaut that is the Red Sox, and one of them will likely win the award.

My vote:
1) Ortiz
2) Ramirez
3) C. Guillen
4) Sheffield
5) Hafner

It's a tough call, since both guys have performed so well, but the nod goes to Ortiz merely because his expectations going into the season were lower, and their numbers are pretty similar. Among the others, the Tigers would certainly not be on pace to improve 30+ games without Carlos Guillen's breakout year, and the Indians also with Hafner. Sheffield has been the most consistent and solid offensive performer (along with Hideki Matsui) on the AL's best team, the Yankees, so he deserves some kudos.

American League Manager of the Year

Main Contenders:
Ken Macha, Oakland
Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota
Buck Showalter, Texas
Eric Wedge, Cleveland
Lou Piniella, Tampa Bay
Alan Trammell, Detroit
Mike Scioscia, Anaheim
Joe Torre, New York Yankees

This race is pretty wide open, and probably changes week-to-week given the streakiness of many of the teams in the West. Scioscia and Torre almost not worth mentioning, because they, along with the Red Sox's Terry Francona, have merely met the expectations for their high-payroll clubs. Piniella and Trammell have taken teams that were absurdly awful in 2003, and made them mediocre in 2004 -- that may garner some votes, but probably won't win them the award. Wedge's team showed consistent improvement, and shot up within a game of the Twins for the Central lead towards the beginning of August, but has since faded, along with Wedge's chances. Showalter has led an incredible post-A-Rod turnaround of the Rangers; however, much of the offensive nucleus of that team (Teixeira, Young, Blalock) was in place before he arrived. Macha has turned Billy Beane's El Cheapo Special into a West division lead for yet another year (minus pitching coach Rick Peterson, who defected to Art Howe's Mets before the season). Gardenhire has taken a team that had several questions going into the season (most notably its bullpen), and handled the weak Central once more.

My vote, as of today:

1) Showalter
2a) Gardenhire
2b) Macha
4) Trammell
5) Torre

The Rangers are hot right now, having won 8 in a row, so Showalter gets my vote in a tight one over Gardenhire and Macha, whose teams are also playing pretty well. The difference? The A's and Twins both won their divisions in 2003, while the Rangers were dead last in theirs. Trammell gets the 4th place vote merely because of how awful the Tigers were in 2003, while Torre gets points for winning despite George Steinbrenner holding a gun to his head.

This week, I'm going to take a look at the various end-of-season awards around the league, and give an analysis of the contenders, and my pick to win with just over a month left of regular season baseball. Today, I'll start with the AL Cy Young, and move on from there.

American League Cy Young Award

Main Contenders:
Mark Mulder, Oakland: 16-4, 185 IP, 3.75 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 5.79 K/9, 1.95 K/BB (5 CG)
Johan Santana, Minnesota: 13-6, 173 IP, 3.23 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 10.20 K/9, 4.36 K/BB (61.3 AGS)
Pedro Martinez, Boston: 13-4, 166 2/3 IP, 3.78 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 9.18 K/9, 4.15 K/BB
Curt Schilling, Boston: 14-6, 171 2/3 IP, 3.51 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 7.65 K/9, 5.21 K/BB

Others:
Tim Hudson, Oakland: 8-4, 128 1/3 IP, 2.95 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 4.63 K/9, 2.44 K/BB (2 SHO)
Brad Radke, Minnesota: 8-6, 170 IP, 3.55 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 5.98 K/9, 6.64 K/BB (19 QS)
Kenny Rogers, Texas: 15-5, 158 1/3 IP, 4.55 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 5.06 K/9, 1.97 K/BB
Mark Buehrle, Chicago Sox: 11-6, 182 1/3 IP, 3.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 6.27 K/9, 3.43 K/BB
Ryan Drese, Texas: 11-6, 163 2/3 IP, 3.30 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 3.90 K/9, 1.54 K/BB
Jake Westbrook, Cleveland: 11-6, 156 2/3 IP, 3.50 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 4.83 K/9, 1.75 K/BB
Freddy Garcia, Seattle/Chicago Sox: 10-10, 173 1/3 IP, 3.74 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 7.53 K/9, 3.22 K/BB
Javier Vazquez, New York Yankees: 13-7, 155 1/3 IP, 4.29 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 6.72 K/9, 2.97 K/BB

Best Relievers:
Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees: 3-1, 57 G, 41-of-44 SV, 1.46 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 7.34 K/9, 2.94 K/BB
Francisco Cordero, Texas: 2-0, 49 G, 38-of-40 SV, 1.71 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 9.40 K/9, 2.20 K/BB
Joe Nathan, Minnesota: 1-1, 54 G, 34-of-36 SV, 1.30 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 10.73 K/9, 5.21 K/BB
Keith Foulke, Boston: 3-3, 53 G, 21-of-26 SV, 1.97 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 8.16 K/9, 4.14 K/BB

Note: Bold indicates league leader in that stat category. Rate stats are best among qualifiers.

Mulder has been doing his best Roy Halladay (circa 2003) impression, eating up lots of solid innings and racking up wins, while Santana has put up very pretty numbers in the Baggy Dome. Those two are probably the real favorites at this point, mainly due to the fact that Pedro and Schilling -- same team, nearly identical resumés -- will likely eat up each other's votes.

Among the others, only Hudson and Radke stand out -- although with a strong finish, I believe Rogers (if he gets to 22+ wins) or Garcia could sneak into the top two or three candidates. Drese and Westbrook are nice stories, but they clearly are not Cy-worthy. Vazquez may get some votes since he plays in the media capital of the world, as may Rivera, but won't win. Nathan is clearly the best of the relievers, but none of them are at the level of Gagne's 2003, which is essentially what it takes to win this award for a reliever.

Garcia has received the second-worst run support among AL qualifiers due to pitching most of the season in Seattle, which somewhat explains his 10-10 record. Hudson is also in the bottom ten among qualifiers in run support, in addition to missing 4 or 5 starts while on the DL. On the other end of that spectrum in the AL, Buehrle, Mulder, Rogers, Westbrook, and Schilling rank 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th respectively. Radke, in case you were wondering, is in the bottom half for run support -- which only partially explains his lack of wins. Of Radke's twelve no-decisions, four were blown saves, and seven were games he left while tied. Only once, on Opening Day, has the Twin offense bailed Radke out of a possible loss.

So, to use a big cliché, "there's plenty of season left", but as of right now, my vote for the AL Cy Young Award (if I had one, of course) would go:

1) Santana
2) Martinez
3) Mulder
4) Schilling
5) Radke

You just can't ignore the phenomenal season Johan Santana is having, no matter how many wins or solid innings Mulder and Schilling have. Pedro has also been good, but not quite good enough.

...is 28. On August 21st. Boys, let's get this thing done and over with by mid-September, without worry.

Ick. What a loss.

Jason Marquis pitched like a champ tonight (from the 4th inning on, anyway), but Oliver Perez was unreal good. That kid could be ridiculous someday, as evidenced by his 10 K's, 1 unearned run in 7 innings (perhaps more, if not for the rain delay) against the best lineup in baseball. And he's done it all season, too. He is fifth in the majors with 175 K's. In only three of his twenty-two starts has he allowed more than three earned runs, and not since June 10. His ERA is 2.90, and hasn't been above 3.74 since his first start of the season. He's "only" 8-6, but the Pirate bullpen has blown five saves behind him. He throws 95-96 mph. Oh yeah, he just turned 23 years old. Because of Perez and Jason Bay, who is hitting .299 with 17 HRs (despite not playing in the majors in April) and a .943 OPS at age 25, the Pirates are probably feeling pretty good about the Giles trade last season.

But Reggie Sanders took away another one of Perez's wins, with a dramatic 9th inning 2-out HR. Unfortunately, Kline gives an unearned run back in the 10th, intentionally walking Daryle Ward (scary, I know... especially to a lefty) to face right-handed pinch-hitter Jose Bautista, who hit a ball that hopped through Scott Rolen's legs, and the Pirates had their run. Larry Walker hit into his second double play of the night -- an awful one for him, with 3 Ks and 2 GIDPs -- in the bottom of the 10th, ending the game with Pujols in the on-deck circle. Ouch.

But... I suppose losing a game on a Rolen error doesn't happen too often, so you have to take it and move on -- since you feel pretty secure that it won't happen again for a long time.

This game could have been a renaissance of sorts for Matt Morris.

The results were solid, but fairly unspectacular -- 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 6 H, 2 BB, in a no decision. Not bad by any stretch. It kept us in the game for yet another win.

But what got my hopes up was this: I don't know if it was the humidity or gusts of wind or if this was actually happening, but Matt's fastball was routinely hitting low 90's last night on the Busch Stadium radar gun. Several reached 93-94 mph -- and not just one or two. In fact, his last pitch of the game, in the top of the seventh, was a fastball clocked at 93 mph that retired Adam Dunn on a groundout to short with the bases loaded. He also struck out several hitters using that pitch earlier in the game.

If Matt's mid-90s fastball truly does return from its year-plus-long hiatus (provided he remembers how to use it), it could be an even bigger boost for the team than acquiring a mid-level starting pitcher. A dominant and resurgent Matty Mo could prove very useful come playoff time.

It's almost unreal. 78-40. Not even in my wildest April dreams.

Well, I'm not dead, and thankfully, neither is PCO.

Much has happened in the (nearly) month that it's been since I've last posted. The Cards a) only won 19 of 24 games, moving a whopping fifteen games ahead of the Cubs; b) didn't make a trade at the non-waiver deadline July 31; and then c) went out and acquired now-former Rockie Larry Walker (who passed through waivers unscathed) for three minor league pitchers (two of whom I'd actually heard of, Chris Narveson and Luis Martinez) and some cash. Walker, batting mostly in the 2-hole, has made Jocketty look good thus far, posting a .571 OBP with 3 HRs and 11 RBIs in the eight games since joining the team. The prospects given up were a mixed batch; Narveson supposedly has injury problems but a higher upside, Martinez is a lefty who essentially we got for free (claimed off waivers from the Brewers after a shooting charge that was dropped, I believe) but also has a high upside, and Jason Burch, the third pitcher in the deal, is a closer at one of our Class A-level teams. The Rockies are also paying $7.5 million (I've seen different numbers, so this is a bit confusing) towards both Walker's salary this year and next, making him free for the remainder of this year and $9 million next year. If healthy and productive, that's a decent bargain for a player of his caliber.

Let's make no mistake about it: the Walker deal is essentially about this year's team, but Jocketty did the right thing. If you have as great a chance as the Cardinals do this year to win it all, there is no reason not to go all-out in your efforts to put the best possible team on the field. That is what Walt did, and we will (hopefully) be thanking him in October.