Monday, April 03, 2006

Opening Day for St. Louis

It's opening day as the Cardinals face the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Spivey is out and Hector Luna is in. Junior Spivey did not be make the trip to Philadelphia today.
"I don't think anything will happen before (today)," Jocketty said after the team arrived in Philadelphia for today's game against the Phillies. "We are going to address the roster then. There are people we have to add to the roster. We do have to remove a person, and we have some administering to do for the roster."

The Cardinals have 24 players on their 25-man roster but will add pitcher Josh Hancock and utility infielder Scott Spiezio to the roster today. After scouring the leagues for a potential trade, Jocketty did not find one and said Sunday that he did not see one developing before the game this afternoon.

Infielder Hector Luna is on the team, Jocketty confirmed.

That leaves Spivey as the movable piece.

The Cardinals have a couple of options, the most drastic and least likely of which is releasing Spivey, who was signed to a $1.2 million, one-year contract in December. The most likely alternative is to approach him about accepting an assignment to the minors, designating him for such an assignment and hoping he gets there and regains his game.
Albert "the Great" Pujols launched the first batting practice home run at the new Busch Stadium during a workout.

St. Louis is the "team to beat" this season.

Carp takes the start today against Jon Lieber. On Opening Day, the Cards have a 3-2 record against the Phillies. This is the second season that the Cards open the season on the road. It's the first time since 1996-97 that they open on the road in back to back years. To get the roster down to 25 players, Josh Hancock and Scott Spiezio's contracts were purchased while Junior Spivey was designated for assignment.

Milestone watch:
Jim Edmonds needs 2 RBI's for 1,000 career RBI's.
Mark Mulder needs 3 wins for 100 career wins.
Albert Pujols needs 18 hits for 1,000 career hits.

Pitching the rest of the week:
Wednesday: Mulder vs. Brett Myers
Thursday: Marquis vs. Cory Lidle
Friday: Suppan vs. Greg Maddux
Saturday: Carp vs. Carlos Zambrano
Sunday: Ponson vs. Sean Marshall

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