An Afternoon Watching The Cards and the Draft

Sooo...how great is it that Cardinals seem to be able to delight and surprise even with their star pitcher getting knocked out for 2 months. The games are all fun and there is always a question of whether they can hold a lead... any lead. They remind me of Don Coryells old cardia Cardinals with every game going to the wire even where you have a 5 run lead going into the ninth. They seem to be scoring and the run production is from all over the line up which is also very interesting.

Their fielding appears to be suspect (at best). The relief pitching is...exciting? But Tony (the Genius) La Russa and pitching coach (on his way to the assisted living center) Dave Duncan keep giving us memories by coaching a lot of effort and a lot of production out of a line up which appears to be cheap and patchwork... other then that Pujols guy. It has been a lot of fun.
You have to believe that this is a team which will run out of gas sooner or later but while they are hitting on all cylinders they are pretty hard to beat. Their run production is huge and they have been hitting in key spots up and down the line up. Number 3 in team pitching in the NL. Number 16 in fielding. Yikes. But all that having been said they are tied for the best record in the National league with the hated (yet cute) L.A. Dodgers. Lets hunker down, say a few Red Bird prayers and see what the future brings.

They are kind of an ugly team too without Edmonds and Drew but winning ugly is still winning.

***

Saturday afternoon watching the draft and the Cardinals. The Rams draft Jason Smith. Hard to see how a rookie on that line is going to make an impact and give long suffering, beaten up and often concussed Mark Bulger but... you got to start somewhere. Mark Sanchez going to the Jets is really the most interesting thing in the draft and not a 4:00 on Saturday afternoon I am just waiting to see where Jeremy Maclin of Kirkwood Pioneer fame (I think he also played for some college in Missouri). He just got passed over by Darius Heyword Bay of Maryland and no one looked more surprised then May. Interesting. Michael Crabtree seems a little dumbfounded as well. I thought I saw Maclin projected at 7 or 9. The announcers are going on and on about Bay being the 4th best and the 24th player in the draft lambasting Al Davis. We will see. We are down to 15 already. Perhaps his youth is playing against him. I would love to see him be a Charger.

***

Cardinals seem to be in a pitching duel with the Cubs. 0-0 in the 4th.

***

Maclin goes to the Eagles in the 19th. We wish him well. He is young but seems to be a fine young man. He went later then expected and I do not know if that is his youth... or what.

Oops...another Pujols grand slam. Magic.