Show-Me Kings

xactly four weeks ago tonight, I watched from a Busch Stadium seat pitcher Kip Wells get 50% of his 2007 win total. In picking up victory number two, Wells went seven innings and allowed only five hits. As poorly as things have gone for Kip since that night — only a Braden Looper injury may have spared his banishment to the bullpen — the Cardinals have lost zero ground to the Milwaukee Brewers over that time.

After Wells’ victory, the Cardinals were six games back on the loss side to the Milwaukee Brewers. St. Louis enters tonight’s rubber game against Kansas City an identical six back in the loss column to the front-running Milwaukee squad.

So if nothing’s changed, why does it feel so different? (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)

Sports Illustrated writer Jon Heyman recently ripped St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt, Jr. No surprise there. The formula is pretty straightforward. Team performs poorly. Columnist rips owner. But this has tale has another twist. The owner fired back. DeWitt called Heyman after the May 10th article in which the SI writer pointed fingers at the owner for the team’s poor start.

As you might imagine, DeWitt and Heyman don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.

There’s a good reason for that. (more)

Here’s a sobering statistic. ESPN’s Jayson Stark asks if the Cardinals are done. “Of the 96 playoff teams in the wild-card era, only one — the 2005 Astros (19-32) — headed into June as many games under .500 as the Cardinals are now.”

Let’s compare. Those 2005 Astros had Clemens, Pettite, and Oswalt. The 2007 Cardinals have Looper, Thompson, and Wellemeyer. Like their chances? (more)

Greetings from St. Louis where I spent the last couple of days enjoying Cardinals baseball at Busch Stadium. And I do mean enjoying. Sure, it’s just the Pirates, but solid pitching and timely hitting have produced three straight victories. This team, in this division - that’s something to celebrate.

But just when you think the action on the field is starting to get interesting, a bombshell drops away from it. (more)

Time Warner generates about $45 billion a year in revenue, good enough for 48th place on the Fortune 500. This corporate behemoth makes a lot of money in a lot of areas; movies, cable tv, magazines, online services, etc.

But here’s a business where Time Warner couldn’t make money — Major League Baseball. (more)

Bernie Miklasz builds on the palace intrigue in the St. Louis Cardinals front office started by Ken Rosenthal last week. With friction in the front office, a slumping team on the field, and after a dozen years in St. Louis, is this Tony La Russa’s last year with the Cardinals? (more)

How’s this stat grab you? The Cardinals have been outscored, 123-84, on the year. They have the third-worst differential in baseball. Only Washington and Tampa Bay have been outscored by more runs in 2007. (more)