Sunday recap

Here's a quick profile of Cardinals pitcher Jeff "Soup" Suppan.

Here's a health update on third baseman Scott Rolen. I'm hoping Scott is healthy enough to make the trip to Cincinnati and start at third base. In the mean time, utilityman Scott Spiezio has been starting the past five or six games.

Yesterday saw a better outing from Jeff Suppan. Juan Encarnacion went yard for the second time this season. The Cardinals won the game against the Nationals with a score of 9-2. St. Louis moves into a tie for first place with a 17-8 record.

The only times that Suppan gave up runs were in the top of the second and the top of the fourth. Both times, Ryan Zimmerman scored for the Nationals. For the Cardinals, Juan went yard in the second inning. In the fifth inning, John Rodriguez singled to left center. Aaron Miles scored and David Eckstein advanced on the throw. Jim Edmonds singled to center, bring home David Eckstein and John Rodriguez. Pujols advanced to third on the play. In the sixth inning, JRod singled again to center and brought home Miles and Juan. John Gall went to second. In the eighth inning, the Cardinals scored not one, not two, but three times! So Taguchi hit a sac fly to right field, scoring Aaron Miles. Jason Marquis, hitting for Adam Wainwright, advanced to third on the play. Afterwards, Jim Edmonds singled to center again. Marquis scored, and Albert Pujols advanced to third. Pujols scored when Scott Spiezio doubled to deep right, and Edmonds advanced to third.

Cardinal pitching combined gave up six hits, six strikeouts, three walks, and two runs.

Here is an update on Ballpark Village.

Baltimore-based Cordish Co., the developer of the mixed-use retail/entertainment and residential district, has leased space at the Bank of America Plaza to serve as its local office, which it expects to open in July with 15 employees. Blake Cordish, vice president of the company and son of its founder, David Cordish, will oversee the St. Louis project.

Cordish officials have been making the rounds to city officials and civic groups to discuss the company's intentions in recent weeks, but it is not yet releasing specific plans for the development.[...]

Cordish has confirmed that Ballpark Village will span six city blocks, have 360,000 square feet of retail and entertainment tenants, 1,200 residential units in three towers, 300,000 square feet of office space and 2,000 parking spaces.

The retail at Ballpark Village will face the streets on which it borders. The development will be designed to attract shoppers and visitors 365 days a year, with several entertainment venues, including an auditorium for performing arts.

Cordish is negotiating with the International Bowling Museum & Hall of Fame to buy its property for possible expansion of Ballpark Village. The bowling museum has owned the triangular-shaped parcel that spans seven-tenths of an acre since 1982. The three-story museum has nearly 50,000 square feet of space.

"We're happy staying where we are, but we're certainly interested in considering a proposal," said Gerald Baltz, executive director of the bowling museum. Baltz said Cordish representatives approached him in recent weeks to consider a buyout of the property. Cordish has not yet responded with an offer, but Baltz said one possibility is that the bowling museum could be relocated inside Ballpark Village. For the past five years, the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum has leased about 5,000 square feet of space in the bowling museum's facility.[...]

When Cordish Co. comes to town, national names follow. In each of the developer's multimillion-dollar projects located across the country, well-known names such as Borders, Barnes & Noble, ESPN Zone and Hard Rock Cafe are typically part of the mix.

That's a sweet sound to St. Louis city officials. Billions of dollars of development have poured into the city in the past four years, but most agree it's only the beginning of revitalizing the city.

One retailer that's on Cordish's preliminary design plans for Ballpark Village is Borders, which has located in several other Cordish developments, including Louisville, and Landover, Md. A Borders spokesperson would not confirm whether Cordish has been in talks with the bookseller.

For what it's worth, I've been to the Hall of Fame one time so far--in my last trip to Busch Stadium.

There's been a pitching change this week. The Reds will start Bronson Arroyo tonight instead of Dave Williams. Williams will now pitch on Tuesday.