Cards vs. Astros

The Cards took on the Stros for the third time this season

May 27, 2008
St. Louis 2, Houston 8
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (6-4)
STL HR - Brian Barton (1), Albert Pujols (12)

May 28, 2008
St. Louis 6, Houston 1
Winning pitcher - Adam Wainwright (5-2)

May 29, 2008
St. Louis 3, Houston 2
Winning pitcher - Kyle Lohse (5-2)
SV - Ryan Franklin (4)

The Cards finish the series 32-23.

Joel Pineiro was placed on the DL.

Cards vs. Dodgers

May 23, 2008
St. Louis 2, Los Angeles 1
Winning pitcher - Adam Wainwright (4-2)
SV - Ryan Franklin (3)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick (13)

May 24, 2008
St. Louis 4, Los Angeles 0
Winning pitcher - Kyle Lohse (4-2)

May 25, 2008
St. Louis 3, Los Angeles 4
Losing pitcher - Mike Parisi (0-1)

After playing the Dodgers, the Cards are 30-22.

Hey, those of you that subscribe to the postgame alerts...are you recieving them at all?

Cards vs. Padres

May 19, 2008
St. Louis 8, San Diego 2
Winning pitcher - Todd Wellemeyer (5-1)
STL HR - Cesar Izturis (1), Ryan Ludwick (12), Albert Pujols 2 (10, 11)

May 20, 2008
St. Louis 2, San Diego 3
Losing pitcher - Joel Pineiro (2-3)

May 21, 2008
St. Louis 11, San Diego 3 at PETCO Park
Winning pitcher - Braden Looper (6-3)
STL HR - Rick Ankiel (8)

The Cards, following the series, have a record of 28-21. In this past week's SI, Ludwick's season is being argued as a fluke instead of being for real.

The Edmonds Reaction

Here's a snippet of reaction on Edmonds signing with the rival Cubs.

Edmonds speaks. And it makes me sick in my stomach.

Cardinals honor Stan the Man

The Cardinals honored Stan "The Man" Musial this past weekend.

On the day that the Cardinals honored Stan Musial with a sweet, sentimental ceremony at Busch Stadium, this year's team offered a tribute to The Man by leaving 3,630 men on base — or so it seemed.[...]

"Perfect," manager Tony La Russa said. "The greatest Cardinal of all, and one of the greatest of all time. Today was beautiful. The tribute was very well deserved ... we talked about it ... we wanted to play a game that Stan would enjoy. And as it turned out, we played a good game."

In addition to an abundance of glorious skill, Musial was a persistent and durable player who never cheated anyone with a lack of effort. He respected the game. And in this regard, the Cardinals did The Man proud on Sunday to edge the Rays.

Rick Hummel:

The Cardinals rallied Sunday for their second last-bat victory in two days. But, even if they had lost, it would have been a good day at Busch Stadium. Every day Stan Musial is at the park is a good day.

Musial, the greatest Cardinal of them all, was honored before the game on what was proclaimed "Stan Musial Day.'' Fans in attendance received a replica of the nine-foot statue on Musial Plaza, which is on the newly renamed Stan Musial Drive. Those same fans rose in standing tribute as the 87-year-old Man was wheeled around the ballpark in a cart, and his No. 6 had been carved into the center-field greenery.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa gets excited the few times he gets to see Musial every year.

"... Once you get to know him, he's just as great off the field" as he was on it, La Russa said. "That combination not only is to be admired and respected, it is to be loved.

"He's an unbelievable person. It's a disappointment that we don't see him more. He really lifts everybody's spirits when he comes around. And he's like (Hall of Famer) Red Schoendienst. When they see something, they say something."

Musial never stops talking about how fortunate he was to have played in St. Louis for his whole career. After making some brief remarks to that effect Sunday, Musial left the microphone, only to return to salute longtime teammate Schoendienst, who was sitting behind him, and another return to note that his bad knees were a result of his having run out too many triples (177).

Cards vs. Tampa Bay

The first interleague series took place this past weekend.

May 16, 2008
Tampa Bay 3, St. Louis 1
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (5-3)
STL HR - Chris Duncan (4)

May 17, 2008
Tampa Bay 8, St. Louis 9
Winning pitcher - Ryan Franklin (2-1)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick 2 (10), Albert Pujols (9)

May 18, 2008
Tampa Bay 4, St. Louis 5
Winning pitcher - Chris Perez (1-0)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick (11)

The win by Chris Perez was his first major league win in his career.

The final two games in the series were won with walk-off hits and the Cards are getting their act together and now stand at 26-20 on the season.

Cards vs. Pirates

May 13, 2008
Pittsburgh 8, St. Louis 4
Losing pitcher - Ron Villone (1-1)
STL HR - Troy Glaus (2), Albert Pujols (8)

May 14, 2008
Pittsburgh 1, St. Louis 5
Winning pitcher - Todd Wellemeyer (4-1)

May 15, 2008
Pittsburgh 11, St. Louis 5
Losing pitcher - Jason Isringhausen (1-5)

The Cards, after losing two of three, are now 24-19 on the season.

Cardinals Roundup

Jason Isringhausen, previously serving as the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, claims to be recovering from his pitching problems just fine. When Izzy is at his prime, he does fantastic. When he is injured...not so much.

In a perfect world, demoted St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen would regain his effectiveness with several games in nonpressure situations.

But Cardinals manager Tony La Russa can't envision Isringhausen throwing in many games of that nature.

"I don't think we're going to have the luxury of giving him four or five appearances in nonpressure situations," La Russa said Tuesday before his team lost the opener of a three-game series to Pittsburgh 8-4 in 10 innings. "Whenever he pitches, it may not be the ninth inning, but there's a hell of a chance we're going to need those three outs or whatever outs there are (to get)."

Until Isringhausen regains his command, the Cardinals will employ a closer-by-committee system centered around Ryan Franklin, Russ Springer and perhaps even Ron Villone, who gave up four 10th-inning runs Tuesday.

Isringhausen said he's making progress on his road to recovery, and he was mostly encouraged with his one scoreless inning Monday in Milwaukee.

"I need to go out there and pitch in some not-as-pressurized situations and get everything back together," said Isringhausen, who has five blown saves in 16 opportunities, along with a 7.02 ERA. "I'll start at the bottom and take baby steps and get my way back in to the way I've got to pitch. (Monday) went OK. I'm still out there thinking a lot. I'm doing a lot of side throwing and stuff right now so I don't have to think as much."

Pitching coach Dave Duncan was more encouraged about Isringhausen's performance Monday than Isringhausen.

"He threw the ball good yesterday -- real good," Duncan said. "That's what he's got to do a couple of times so he's confident he can make the pitch he wants to make. His stuff is good. He's just not executing pitches. He's got to get back to where he's making pitches, and the confidence will be there."

Duncan maintains Isringhausen's problem is twofold. He said hitters typically are in attack mode against closers, and because Isringhausen's location is off, he's unable to get ahead in the count. Because he's not ahead in the count, he never gets to throw his out pitch, the curveball.

Word has it that Tyler Johnson will be undergoing arthroscopic surgery soon.

Stuart Pomeranz, the 2003 second round draft pick, has been released by the organization.

He began his professional career with Rookie Level Johnson City in 2003, and slowly rose up through the ranks before being sidelined multiple times the past couple years with shoulder injuries. He did, however, post a 12-win season for Single-A Peoria in 2004.

In 2006, Pomeranz was named the #4 prospect in the Cardinals farm system by The Birdhouse writers, then slid a couple spots in 2007 to #7. Pomeranz was also chosen as the Cardinals Pitcher of the Month for May 2006. He added appearances the past two seasons in the Arizona Fall League to his resume, where he worked on his arm strength after shoulder and oblique injuries.

Last season, Pomeranz split time between the GCL Cardinals and Palm Beach squads on separate rehab assignments, posting a 1-2 record with a 6.28 ERA allowing 16 hits, 12 runs (10 earned), five home runs, three walks, and striking out nine over 14.1 innings in six starts.

Cards vs. Brewers

May 9, 2008
St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 4
Losing pitcher - Jason Isringhausen (1-4)
STL HR - Albert Pujols (7)

May 10, 2008
St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 3
Winning pitcher - Russ Springer (1-0)
SV - Ryan Franklin (2)
STL HR - Chris Duncan (3)

May 11, 2008
St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 5
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (5-2)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick (8)

May 12, 2008
St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 8
Losing pitcher - Adam Wainwright (3-2)
STL HR - Rick Ankiel (7)

The Cards are now 23-17

Jason Isringhausen is no longer the closer for the Cards, which makes me wonder if he's injured again.

Cards. vs. Rockies

Posting has been slow...finishing a paper due next week.

May 5, 2008
St. Louis 6, Colorado 5
Winning pitcher - Randy Flores (1-0)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (11)

May 6, 2008
St. Louis 6, Colorado 5
Winning pitcher - Braden Looper (5-1)
SV - Ryan Franklin (1)
STL HR - Rick Ankiel (6)

May 7, 2008
St. Louis 3, Colorado 4
Losing pitcher - Jason Isringhausen (1-3)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick (5)

May 8, 2008
St. Louis 3, Colorado 9
Losing pitcher - Kyle Lohse (3-2)
STL HR - Ryan Ludwick 2 (7)

St. Louis now stands at 22-14.

Cards vs. Cubs

This was the first of four series to be played against the rivals this season and it was refreshing to watch most of the series on television this past weekend. I say most as it was the Kentucky Derby this past weekend so coverage was split accordingly. St. Louis took two out of three and Izzy redeemed himself in game 3 for his blown save during game 1 which led to Skip Schumaker's walk-off home run in extra innings to win the game.

May 2, 2008
Chi. Cubs 3, St. Louis 5
Winning pitcher - Ron Villone (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Chad Fox (0-1)
STL HR - Skip Schumaker (2)

May 3, 2008
Chi. Cubs 9, St. Louis 3
Losing pitcher - Kyle Lohse (3-1)
STL HR - Yadier Molina (2), Albert Pujols (6)

May 4, 2008
Chi. Cubs 3, St. Louis 5
Winning pitcher - Todd Wellemeyer (3-1)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (10)

St. Louis says on top of first place with a 20-12 record. Next up is a four game series in Colorado and back to Milwaukee for four games.