Show-Me Kings

Back on June 20, I made the case why there is still hope for the Cardinals by pointing out the advantages of the schedule. Interleague play had ended, there were plenty of games left in the division and St. Louis was anticipating the return of pitcher Chris Carpenter, among others.

While Carpenter won’t be back — a huge blow to any chances of a comeback — the other two factors are still in play. (more)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is angry over media reports. This time, the skipper was “irritated by media descriptions of the club’s treatment of injured players.” It doesn’t take a genius to solve this riddle. (more)

Judging by the meltdown in message board land, Cardinals fans haven’t been this upset since Don Denkinger was a World Series umpire. To play or not to play Albert Pujols was the question. Manager Tony La Russa’s answer was no.

In an All-Star game featuring a St. Louis manager, the only St. Louis player watched the entire affair from the dugout. (more)

Today’s New York Daily News pays tribute to Charley Lau, probably the most influential hitting coach in baseball history. As the article points out, hitters like Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez can trace their swings to the Lau influence.

In the early 1970’s, Lau went to work for the Kansas City Royals and transformed the swing of a young third baseman. George Brett went on to a Hall of Fame career.

“All these guys that are being successful now, and all that success that’s bringing them fame and fortune, don’t know that they should attribute it, in a very large part, to Charley,” St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa told the paper. (more)

After the Cardinals game last night, I could have sworn I heard Al Hrabosky make a comment to the effect that it was only the second time all year that the team had won a game by the score of 3-2 (or maybe it was win a game scoring three runs or less). Either way, I was curious to see if he was right. He couldn’t have been more wrong. (more)

The St. Louis Cardinals have now completed 81 games, or one-half, of their 2007 schedule. With a record of 38-43, it’s the worst performance of the Tony La Russa era. You have to go back to 1995, the last year of Anheuser-Busch ownership, to find a Cardinals team with a worse first half performance. (For some fun with the standings, check out BaseballRace.com).

There’s something else different about this team. For only the second time since the calendar rolled over to Y2K, the Cardinals find themselves looking up in the standings at the midway point. (more)