Show-Me Kings

The topic was the Mitchell report and illegal drug use in Major League Baseball. The question came on ESPN radio Friday morning from Sean Salisbury to Peter Gammons: Should fans feel betrayed by the players mentioned in the report? Part of Gammons’ answer — do NFL fans feel betrayed by Shawne Merriman?

“It’s a good point,” conceded Salisbury. Yes, it is. Let’s explore. (more)

Sort of.

At least when it comes to their three-game series against Milwaukee. Here’s why.

After being swept by the last place Giants over the weekend, The Brewers are in a freefall. The last thing Cardinals’ fans need is for Milwaukee to sweep Chicago or take two of three and start to believe in themselves again.

It’s time to eliminate some competition. The division race becomes easier when you’re chasing one team instead of two. Right now, it’s clear the weakest link is Milwaukee. (more)

When Carlos Zambrano signed his five-year, $91.5 million contract on Friday, Albert Pujols had to be a happy man.

With an average annual salary of $18.3 million for Zambrano, there are only four higher paydays in all of baseball.

Average Salary

The Cardinals pound the Brewers and the Cubs lose again. St. Louis is still four games under .500 but only three back (on the loss side) in the standings. Welcome to pennant race baseball, National League Central style.

On a night when the Brewers honored their 1982 American League champion team, the Milwaukee writer says last night’s performance by the Cardinals (19 hits), may have reminded the former players of Game 6 of the World Series that year — a 13-1 spanking at the hands of the Redbirds.

Behold the power of those baby blue uniforms. (more)

So how did the Cardinals brass spend the last hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline? By attempting to acquire pitcher Matt Morris. But the San Francisco Giants had other plans and shipped him off to Baseball Siberia, otherwise known as Pittsburgh.

Thank goodness for unanswered prayers. (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)

The Mets broadcast filled the rain delay between New York and St. Louis tonight with a ‘Mets classic’ - the first game back at Shea Stadium after the attack on the Twin Towers.You forget the raw emotion of those days immediately following 9/11. Flags are everywhere in the stands, the fans chanting ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’, and tears streaming down the faces of more than a few people. (more)

Until July 5th of 2006, Terry Evans was a farmhand in the St. Louis Cardinals system. On that day, the team that drafted him dealt to the Angels for pitcher Jeff Weaver. The Cardinals went on to win a World Series with Weaver pitching the clinching game. Evans was just another minor league outfielder with a dream of getting to the big leagues.

That dream turned into reality this week when outfielder Garrett Anderson hit the disabled list and Evans got the call. (more)

It’s draft day for Major League Baseball teams. Head over to the Baseball Analysts where they’ll be live blogging all day long. Something they point out in this post I didn’t realize is that the rules have changed for signing picks. No more waiting until just days before the next year’s draft to put pen to paper (e.g. Max Scherzer). Instead, players and teams have only until August 15th to work out a contract. If no deal is struck by then, players return to the draft pool. (more)

Roger Clemens made his minor league debut this season on Friday, May 18th. He’ll make his major league debut with the New York Yankees on Monday, June 4th.

The entire process, from first minor league game to big league opener, will take all of 15 days. (more)