In Memory: Darryl Kile

Darryl Kile (December 2, 1968 – June 22, 2002)) played his last game on June 18, 2002, the same day that Jack Buck died. Darryl tragically died five years ago today in Chicago. Less than five years afterwards, we went through it all over again with Josh Hancock's sad and untimely tragic death.

Joe Buck broke the news on Fox that day. And it was Joe Girardi who made the announcement at Wrigley:

"I thank you for your patience. We regret to inform you because of a tragedy in the Cardinal family, that the commissioner has cancelled the game today. Thank you.... Please be respectful. You will find out eventually what has happened, and I ask that you say a prayer for the St. Louis Cardinals' family."

Houston Astros: 1991-1997
Colorado Rockies: 1998-1999
St. Louis Cardinals: 2000-2002

Career record: 128-115 with 1,618 K's



The following was posted on CardNilly.com. It's so awesome yet sad at the same time. I always get chills whenever I think of DK and his short time on earth.

In Memory: Jack Buck

With what we have been through this season with the loss of Josh Hancock, it's time once again to remember the life of legendary broadcaster Jack Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002)) died.


  From Baseball Almanac, a list of Jack Buck quotations:
"After all of these years, I realize my energy comes from the people at the other end."

"Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!" - Game 5 1985 NLCS (Ozzie Smith hit a game winning home run)

"I don't think there is anyone in any sport who combined the supreme talent with a great personality. He is also is one of the most beautiful people who ever walked the face of the earth. I don't think there's anybody who compares to Stan Musial on both fronts."

"It's such a beautiful sport, with no politics involved, no color, no class. Only as a youngster can you play and as a pro can you win. The game has kept me young, involved and excited and for me to be up here with gems of baseball"

"It (George Steinbrenner's new yacht) was a beautiful thing to observe with all thirty oars working in unison."

"Kid (White Sox broadcaster John Rooney), you better slow down. You're going to wear 'em out in a week, and you've got to be out there for one-hundred sixty-two."

"That's a winner."

"The biggest kick I get is to communicate with those who are exiled from the game — in hospitals, homes, prisons — those who have seldom seen a game, who can't travel to a game, those who are blind."

"When Harry and I were doing the games together, we were as good as a team as there ever was. His style and mine were so different that it made for a balanced broadcast. The way we approached the job, with the interest and love both of us had for the game, made our work kind of special." - from Jack Buck - That's A Winner (1999)

On Hiatus...

I am in Israel from June 13-24 and on vaction to Philly-Baltimore from June 27-July 1.

Normal blogging will resume on July 2nd.

Cards vs. Angels

June 8, 2007
LA Angels 10, St. Louis 6
Losing pitcher - Tyler Johnson (1-1)
HR: Chris Duncan (10), Albert Pujols (13), Kelly Stinnett (1)

June 9, 2007
LA Angels 9, St. Louis 3
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (6-5)
HR: Jim Edmonds (7), Juan Encarnacion (4)

June 10, 2007
LA Angels 6, St. Louis 9
Winning pitcher - Todd Wellemeyer (2-1)
HR: Albert Pujols 2 (14, 15), Scott Spiezio (2)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 4 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 2 1 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 18 15 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Albert Pujols needs 2 RBI for 800 career RBI and 7 games for 1,000 career games played.

Cards vs. Reds

June 5, 2007
Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 4
Winning pitcher - Jason Isringhausen (3-0)
HR: Juan Encarnacion (3)

June 6, 2007
Cincinnati 4, St. Louis 6
Winning pitcher - Tyler Johnson (1-0)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (14)
HR: Ryan Ludwick (1), Albert Pujols (12)

June 7, 2007
Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 1
Losing pitcher - Adam Wainwright (4-5)

The Cards were able to take 2 out of 3 from the Reds.

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 8 4 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 5 2 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 21 18 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 16 15 saves for 278 saves to tie for 23rd on the all-time list.

Regarding the draft, the Cardinals selected Peter Kozma as their first round pick on Thursday.

The Cardinals went off the map a little bit with their first pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. St. Louis selected shortstop Peter Kozma of Owasso (Okla.) High School with the No. 18 overall choice, bucking nearly all pre-Draft projections.

After that, though, the Cardinals' Draft looked a whole lot like a Cardinals Draft. Four of the remaining six St. Louis selections were college pitchers, starting with supplemental first-rounder Clayton Mortensen from Gonzaga.

After Mortensen, the Redbirds took two more right-handers in the second round: David Kopp from Clemson and Jess Todd from the University of Arkansas. Daniel Descalso, a third baseman from the University of California-Davis, was the Cards' third-round pick.

The team's most intriguing pick of day one may have been the fourth-rounder. Outfielder Kyle Russell from the University of Texas set a school record and led Division I with 28 home runs for the Longhorns. He's a draft-eligible sophomore, so he could be a difficult sign, but he's a player with tremendous potential. The Cardinals rated Russell as one of their top-20 players, and only waited until the fourth round because of money concerns.

Righty Thomas Eager from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo was the Cards' fifth-round pick, their final choice of the day.

One of their picks on Friday included Antone DeJesus from UK.

Cards vs. Astros

June 1, 2007
St. Louis 8, Houston 1
Winning pitcher - Ryan Franklin (2-0)
HR: Gary Bennett (1), Juan Encarnacion (1)

Friday night's victory was the 1,000th win under the Tony La Russa managerial era.

June 2, 2007
St. Louis 3, Houston 8
Losing pitcher - Kip Wells (2-10)
HR: Jim Edmonds (6)

June 3, 2007
St. Louis 8, Houston 6
Winning pitcher - Jason Isringhausen (2-0)
HR: David Eckstein (2), Juan Encarnacion (2), Albert Pujols 2 (11), So Taguchi (2)

Pujols is definitely showing up again. Now if we can get the rest of the offense to produce, maybe he will get his 100 runs and 100 RBIs again this season like he has for his first six seasons.

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 8 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 5 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 23 21 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 16 saves for 278 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.

The Cardinals are in no rush to get Colby Rasmus up to the majors quite yet.

Lo and behold, as if playing the part of Roy Hobbs in the movie "The Natural," Colby Rasmus delivered, depositing his second solo home run of the evening — a tying shot at that, in the ninth inning no less, with two outs and two strikes — and then bashing his way straight into the next night with seven RBIs.

With that and a torrid stretch over nearly five weeks in which he buzzed along at a ridiculous .354 clip, Rasmus sent the dot-com commandoes of Cardinal Nation into a frenzy as fan message boards screamed for an instant promotion to Triple-A Memphis in hopes that Rasmus would reach St. Louis later this season.

However, the man who will make the decision to push Rasmus on to Memphis is not booking him on the next flight out of town. Rasmus entered Saturday leading the Texas League in RBIs (35), doubles (20), extra-base hits (31) and slugging percentage (.583). Oh, and he ranked third in home runs (10), too.

"I expected he would have success this year at Double-A; I didn't expect he would do it so quickly," St. Louis Cardinals farm director Jeff Luhnow said. "But we're in no rush to move him up. And it's not like he's going to regress in Double-A by staying the whole year."

Luhnow said the master plan entering the season called for Rasmus to remain in Springfield all summer, and he would like to stick to that plan, mainly because Memphis' abundance of outfielders, notably center fielders Skip Schumaker and Rick Ankiel, need at-bats should St. Louis come calling.

The Cardinals presented their Roger Dean Stadium employees with World Series rings.

Cards vs. Rockies

May 28, 2007
St. Louis 2, Colorado 6
Losing pitcher - Kip Wells (2-9)
HR: So Taguchi (1)

May 29, 2007
St. Louis 3, Colorado 8
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (6-4)
HR: Jim Edmonds (4), Scott Eolen (3)

May 30, 2007
St. Louis 8, Colorado 4
Winning pitcher - Todd Wellemeyer (1-1)
HR: Jim Edmonds (5), Albert Pujols (9)

That was Wellemeyer's first start since when he was in the minor leagues. Jim Edmonds appears to be cranking it up a little bit.

May 31, 2007
St. Louis 7, Colorado 3
Winning pitcher - Brad Thompson (4-1)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 9 8 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 12 5 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 28 23 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 16 saves for 278 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.

Cards vs. Nats

May 25, 2007
Washington 5, St. Louis 4
Losing pitcher - Anthony Reyes (0-8)
HR: Jim Edmonds (3), Albert Pujols (8)

May 26, 2007
Washington 6, St. Louis 8
Winning pitcher - Brad Thompson (3-1)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (13)

May 27, 2007
Washington 7, St. Louis 2
Losing pitcher - Adam Wainwright (4-4)
HR: Scott Spiezio (1)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 11 9 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 16 12 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 31 28 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 17 16 saves for 278 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.

Not surprisingly, Anthony Reyes was optioned down to Memphis after ten starts in a row without picking up a win. Todd Wellemeyer replaced him in the rotation. Troy Cate was called up to replace his spot on the roster.