This is Disturbing

Here's your choice:  

1)  a 26 year-old shortstop with a .347 OBP in his first year in the majors.  It's a small sample, but his minor league numbers suggest he may be able to stay close to that OBP.

2) a 28 year-old shortstop with a career .295 OBP in 2751 Major League At Bats.  This guy has proven again and again that he cannot get on base.  He will never get on base.  Some may say he should only be a utility infielder.  I submit that he is too offensively inept to be on a Major League roster.

Of course, Tony La Russa has chosen #2 to be his starting shortstop.  When you pair him with 2nd baseman Adam Kennedy, you have the worst middle infield in all of baseball.

We're in for a long, long season.

Rick The Man

Whether or not Rick Ankiel becomes a Major League star, he is definitely more fun to watch than Juan Encarnacion.

Unhappy Returns

Once again I return to work to find my cubicle vandalized. In May, I went to a conference and returned to find my cube defaced. Monday I returned to find it even worse. The Cub fans had turned my cubicle into a Wrigley Stadium replica complete with brick, ivy, and the basket that catches home runs. Of course I had to rip through a bunch of Cub banners to even see the Wrigley replica.



Luckily, one of the culprits is on vacation this week. The contractor is already working on his cube.

That's a Winner!

While I slumbered the Birds evened the season series with the Royals. I watched the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't stay awake for extra innings.

For one day, all is again right in the universe.

Is It Wrong?

Another note about last night's game: During Juan Encarnacion's at bats last night, I was rooting against him extending his hitting streak. Is that bad?

They flashed some funny numbers on the scoreboard when he batted. His average during the streak, .288. He had exactly 21 hits in his streak. I guess that's about as bad as you can hit and still have an 18 game streak. Sounds like a lot of 1 for 4 nights.

Anyway, last night I used Karma to put an end to the anomalous streak.

Cards Even Series

I was in the eleventh row of section 155 last night. My buddy Chuck scored some awesome tickets at work. We were between the end of the home-plate screen and the Royals Dugout. A perfect angle to see Chris Duncan' eyes light up on meat ball delivered by the Royals' Scott Elarton.

Ole' Abner delivered a perfect evening for baseball. The temps were in the low eighties at the first pitch. There was a bar selling Schlafly's near our section.

The game lasted only two hours and ten minutes. I was home and in bed by 11:30 pm.

I ran my record to 2-1 on the season.

Cardinals 7, Royals 3

Looks like tonight will be the rubber match in the I-70 series. The Cards prevailed yesterday behind some solid pitching from Adam Wainwright.

Go tell Andy how it will turn out tonight!!

Cards/Royals update

St. Louis 21 29 .420 6.5
Kansas City 19 35 .352 14.5

Notice the last column. The number is how many games out of first place the team is. A small number indicates a more meaningful season (or some might say, a weak division). No matter how you interpret the numbers, one team is still playing for something, and the other team is merely playing out the season.

Baseball

In response to a loony commenter, I want to post the following:

Team Winning %
St. Louis Cardinals .419
Kansas City Royals .404

We will keep an eye on the developing situation.

Is This Child Abuse?

I returned to work after a conference in Milwaukee. My cubicle had been vandalized in my absence. I thought you guys might enjoy the pictures.

I attended the Brewers/Cardinals game at Miller Park Wednesday afternoon. Brewer fans are very nice. They seem to hate the Cubs as much as we do.

The Cardinals were terrible though. After Jim Edmonds and Chris Duncan our outfield is a complete disaster. We have a bunch of guys who either can't hit or can't field and in some cases, can do neither. We need to deal for a quality outfielder and get J-Rod up to the big club to strengthen the bench. And then we can start working on all the other problems.

The Brewers look very good to me. If they can keep getting quality starts from the pitchers they will have a very good chance to win the division. They have terrific group of young position players on the infield including a third baseman who is still in the high minors. (Remember to click the photos to get the full effect.)