Gone this weekend

I will not be around this weekend, because I am moving all of my stuff from Auburn back home. I also won't be around a computer. I'll be back Sunday night.

J-Dizzle

Cubs 4, Cardinals 3

If you follow baseball -- particularly the Cardinals -- at all, then you know exactly what this week means. 7 games against the teams directly ahead of us in the standings, finally a chance to directly impact what happens to us. I've been excited for this stretch of games for some time now, and I still am to an extent. I think we probably need to win the last 6 or 5 of them to feel like we're still in the race, and also have some help from the Reds, playing the Brew Crew for the first half and the Baby Bears for the second half of the week. It's unfortunate (to say it kindly) that we lost tonight's game, but you have to look at it as it is:

1. The starting pitching matchup tonight was Kip Wells vs. Carlos Zambrano. That is the epitome of a mismatch, as one brought in a 4-12 record with a 5.75 ERA and the other brought in a 12-7 record with a 3.69 ERA. However, I will say this: Kip Wells outpitched Carlos Zambrano. He took the loss, but considering the difference in talent level and quality of pitching thus far this year, Kip did a hell of a job. He was hurt by bad fundamentals, which leads me to my next points...
2. In the crucial 7th inning, both teams made an error with 2 out in their defensive side of the inning. The only difference is that the Cubs scored a run on Scott Rolen's error, while the Cardinals did not capitalize on Ronny Cedeno's. That made the score 3-2, and would basically provide the decisive run.
3. Ryan Theriot was caught stealing by Yadier Molina in the top of the 6th inning. However, he (and Lou Piniella) stayed aggressive and went for a steal in the top of the 9th with two out and a one-run lead, and made it. The batter, Derrek Lee, drove him in with a single, pushing the score to 4-2. This is just sound fundamental baseball, and is to be commended.
4. In the aforementioned 7th inning, there was much discussion at Viva El Birdos (my personal favorite Cardinals' blog) about whether to get Kip out at the beginning or not. My personal feeling on the matter is that La Russa did the right thing to start with, meaning leaving Kip in until the first baserunner. Kip got two quick outs, but then Ryan Theriot reached on an error (also aforementioned). At this point, La Russa should have pulled Kip and gotten Russ Springer in there. His mistake was to try and leave Kip in to "get the win" (or so the announcers said) and Kip ended up giving up consecutive singles to bring Theriot in and give the 3-2 lead. That was my only problem with La Russa's managing tonight.
5. All ten of the Cubs' hits were singles, while of the Cardinals' eight, one was a double and one was a triple. This says to me that the Cubs were more efficient and had better timely hitting. These are two qualities that the 2004-2006 Cardinals thrived on but has been lost on the 2007 Cardinals.
6. Lastly, the Cubs have three above-average power hitters, while the Cardinals have two. Albert Pujols and Chris Duncan were mostly kept in check (combined 1/9), and two of the Cubs' three were as well (D-Lee and Soriano combined to go 2/9 with 1 RBI) but their third, Aramis Ramirez, went 4/5 with 1 RBI. The Cardinals don't have anybody to counter their third big power bat, and it cost them.

Overall, kudos to the club for giving it a great shot. This was about the best I could have hoped for, and when you have Kip Wells pitching, who knows, you could lose 17-8. Eking out 2 runs off of Carlos Zambrano in 6 1/3 innings pitched is a positive as well for the 2007 Cardinals. It just didn't happen tonight.

Padraig Harrington, 2007 British Open Champion

I love Carnoustie. Of all of the venues of the British Open, it is far and away my favorite. Solely based on the Van de Velde collapse of 1999, I instantly loved this course, now throw in the 2007 Open and it's legendary in my book. It was extra special this year because two of my favorite players -- Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia -- were vying for the title, and both blundered 18. Not as bad as Van de Velde, mind you, but either could have won on 18 with a par, and neither did. I think it is precisely the 18th hole that makes me love the course so much. There is something about leaving the hardest hole for last during a major, so that who knows what can happen. Unfortunately, though, once the final putt dropped, Sergio had to go and
re-establish his reputation as a whiny little brat with these quotes:

I don't know. I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field.

Having to wait 15 minutes in the fairway doesn't help when you're trying to win the British Open.

These quotes and a complete recap can be found here.

I love Sergio, don't get me wrong. I can't wait for him to win his first major. But chalking this one up to bad luck? Unprofessional. You had a bad final round, Serge. Suck it up and go win the PGA.

I finally did it

So I've been thinking about starting a blog for the last few weeks, and have finally committed to doing it. Let me let you in on a few things about the blog:

1. The Title - I took the name of the blog from something I witnessed while in Atlanta watching a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves. A young man, probably in his 20s, was wearing an Eli Marrero #26 road jersey -- in 2007. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Eli Marrero. In fact, during his "break-out" season of 2002, I was an Eli Marrero supporter. But that still doesn't erase the fact that even during said "break-out" season he was -- at best -- the fifth-best position player on the team, even on par with the dreadful Tino Martinez of 2002. Why a man would want to rock this jersey is beyond me. Anyway, by the time I got my camera out to take a picture of this madness, the man had disappeared. So this is all I can give you for now:
2. The Content - I intend for this blog to be mostly about the sports I care about, specifically the St. Louis Cardinals, Auburn Tigers, PGA golf, Oakland Raiders, and the occasional international soccer discussion (about once every two years, for either the World Cup or the Euro tournament). This is not a personal blog, so you will not find personal ramblings on here. You may find the occasional political piece, or a commentary on something I've seen in the theaters or heard on the radio lately, but that's about it. There are plenty of other blogs on the internet to find what you're looking for, if this isn't it.
3. The Object - This blog is supposed to be one man's views and commentary on the aforementioned sports. I am not a stat junkie, and do not recap events as if I were writing a sports column. I am just giving my straight-from-the-heart opinion of how things went. I will not give statistics ad nauseam to support or decry a decision that was made, but I will call Tony La Russa a f'in idiot for deciding that Aaron Rowand was a better option in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded, two outs, and down by a run than Albert Pujols would have been.

That about sums it up in a nutshell. Until next time...

JDizzle