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.

Cards vs. Pirates

Finally, we swept a team! The seaosn is starting to turn around.

May 22, 2007
Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 9
Winning pitcher - Adam Wainwright (4-3)
HR: Chris Duncan (8)

Duncan is leading the team with eight home runs. Pujols is, well, I don't know.

May 23, 2007
Pittsburgh 3, St. Louis 5
Winning pitcher - Kip Wells (2-8)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (11)
HR: Chris Duncan (9), David Eckstein (1), Jim Edmonds (2)

Kip Wells has more than one win now. This is good news of Wells is starting to find his stuff.

May 24, 2007
Pittsburgh 1, St. Louis 3
Winning pitcher - Braden Looper (6-3)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (12)

Yadier Molina has a 15 game hitting streak going on and is batting .304.

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 12 11 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 20 16 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 33 31 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 19 18 saves for 278 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.

Cards vs. Tigers

Interleague play is amongst us.

May 18, 2007
St. Louis 4, Detroit 14
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (5-3)
HR: Albert Pujols (7)

May 19, 2007
St. Louis 7, Detroit 8
Losing pitcher - Anthony Reyes (0-7)

Reyes needs to work on his mechanics or something because he used to be the top prospect in the organization.

May 20, 2007
St. Louis 3, Detroit 6
Losing pitcher - Brad Thompson (2-1)
HR: Chris Duncan (7)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 13 12 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 20 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 35 33 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 19 saves for 278 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.

Cards vs. Dodgers

May 14, 2007
St. Louis 8, Los Angeles 4
Winning pitcher - Brad Thompson (2-0)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (10)
HR: Chris Duncan (6)

That game was the 9,000th franchise win.

May 15, 2007
St. Louis 7, Los Angeles 9
Losing pitcher - Adam Wainwright (3-3)

May 16, 2007
St. Louis 4, Los Angeles 5
Losing pitcher - Kip Wells (1-8)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 16 13 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 24 20 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 37 35 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 18 17 saves for 276 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 1 win shy of 9,000 franchise wins during the regular season.

I know I'm behind

I'll be completely caught up by Wednesday.

Cards vs. Padres

May 11, 2007
St. Louis 0, San Diego 7
Losing pitcher - Kip Wells (1-7)

I am starting to become concerned with Kip Wells. He's struggling as bad as Mike Pelfrey of the Mets, except that Wells has only one win.

May 12, 2007
St. Louis 5, San Diego 0
Winning pitcher - Braden Looper (5-2)

Looper has been impressive. I cannot say that enough.

May 13, 2007
St. Louis 0, San Diego 3
Losing pitcher - Anthony Reyes (0-6)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 18 17 16 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 1 stolen base for 100 career stolen bases.
Scott Rolen needs 26 25 24 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 39 37 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 18 saves for 276 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 1 win shy of 9,000 franchise wins during the regular season.

Cards vs. Rockies

The sad news is that Chris Carpenter is out for another three months. Ryan Ludwick was called up with Preston Wilson going on the DL.

May 7, 2007
Colorado 3, St. Louis 2
Losing pitcher - Brian Falkenborg (0-1)

May 8, 2007
Colorado 1, St. Louis 4
Winning pitcher - Kelvin Jimenez (1-0)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (9)

May 9, 2007
Colorado 2, St. Louis 9
Winning pitcher - Adam Wainwright (3-2)

Milestone watch:
Adam Kennedy needs 20 19 18 hits for 1,000 career hits.
Scott Rolen needs 1 stolen base for 100 career stolen bases.
Scott Rolen needs 27 26 hits for 1,500 career hits.
Jim Edmonds needs 43 40 39 hits for 1,000 hits as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 18 saves for 276 saves to tie Todd Jones for 23rd on the all-time list.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 4 3 2 wins shy of 9,000 franchise wins during the regular season.

Veteran Cardinal Jim Edmonds spoke recently saying he was unaware of Hancock's issues.

Monday's notes:

Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals
Busch Stadium (outdoor) 8:10 p.m. ET (partly cloudy, high of 83 degrees)
Jeff Francis, LHP (1-4) versus Anthony Reyes, RHP (0-5)

Notable Injuries: Preston Wilson, OF (knee, DL)

Game Story: Francis has been getting bombed by pretty much every team he has faced, but it's not as bad as it looks. Atlanta, San Francisco and San Diego are tough offenses for a left-hander. The Cardinals have a .593 OPS against lefties, 29th in the majors. Part of that is almost assuredly a small sample size, but it's still Neifi Perez bad. Francis might not look pretty doing it, but a quality start is well within his reach Monday. Reyes has been mediocre, but hasn't looked bad in facing good offenses in three straight starts (Milwaukee, Chicago twice). He too can notch a quality start against a subpar offense.

Wednesday notes, yea, I'm slacking...

Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals
Busch Stadium (outdoor) 1:10 p.m. ET (50 percent chance of rain, high of 81 degrees)
Jason Hirsh, RHP (2-2) versus Adam Wainwright, RHP (2-2)

Notable Injuries: Willy Taveras, OF (groin, day-to-day)

Game Story: You can make a living spot starting average pitchers against below-average teams, and Hirsh is the perfect proof. While his peripherals don't support his 3.82 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, four of his starts have been against poor offenses. The Cardinals will be No. 5; they have the fewest runs scored in the majors. Chris Duncan (five HRs, .927 OPS) is the best player on the team right now, and he's available in 64.2 percent of ESPN leagues. Wainwright is struggling, but it is always nice to face Colorado away from Coors. Wainwright's line may not look pretty, but it should result in a quality start, though do make note of Troy Tulowitzki's current nine-game hitting streak.