David Freese Out for Season

The sad news comes from Matt:

The Cardinals received very bad news on David Freese on Tuesday, learning that the rookie third baseman requires surgery to repair tendon damage in his troublesome right ankle. Freese will miss the remainder of the season.

Freese, 27, was a valuable member of the Cardinals' offense when he was healthy, and it appeared he was close to a return to active duty. But while playing in a Minor League rehabilitation game at Double-A Springfield on Monday, he re-injured the ankle. He was removed from the game and returned to St. Louis. According to general manager John Mozeliak, it is a new injury in the same area as the one that landed him on the disabled list in the first place.[...]

Freese last played on June 27. He hit .296 with a .361 on-base percentage and a .404 slugging percentage this year. Felipe Lopez has been manning third base for the most part in his absence.

Here's to a safe recovery for the promising ballplayer.

Jake Westbrook excited

Jake Westbrook is excited to be coming to the St. Louis Cardinals organization. I don't blame him. St. Louis is one of the best baseball cities in all of the country.

The NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals were the prime players in a three-team trade today, getting pitcher Jake Westbrook from Cleveland and sending outfielder Ryan Ludwick to NL West-leading San Diego.

"I'm excited to go to a club that's contending for a playoff spot and pitch in some meaningful ballgames," Westbrook said. "That's why you play the game, to get a chance to play in the playoffs and I look forward to doing that."

Westbrook was scratched from his start today in Toronto and headed for a flight to St. Louis. He said he was sad to leave Cleveland, his major league home since 2001.

"It's tough because this is all I've known other than about a week in the big leagues with the Yankees," he said.

The deal was announced about three hours before the non-waiver trading deadline.

"Any time you're trading a veteran guy at this point in the year it's a difficult thing to do," Indians assistant general manager Chris Antonetti said. "With Jake, it's even more difficult because of his contributions on the field for almost a decade or longer.

"This guy epitomizes professionalism. I'm not sure there's a classier act anywhere in baseball."[...]

A 2004 All-Star, the 32-year-old righty was 6-7 with a 4.65 ERA in 21 starts this year. He is 69-71 overall in 10 major league seasons.

Here's to hoping Dave Duncan can help with his customary magic that he's known for.

While one era begins, the Ryan Ludwick era came to an end Friday night.

Shortly before games, outfielder Ryan Ludwick would get so adrenalized, so frothing to play that some other Cardinals coined a nickname for their wired teammate and his contagious energy.

They called it the "Luddy Launch."

There was no Luddy to launch Saturday even when one was needed to shake a stunned clubhouse and its subdued reaction to a three-team trade that landed a starting pitcher but cost a favored teammate. Ludwick, a former All-Star, was sent to San Diego to acquire a prospect used to get righthander Jake Westbrook from the Cleveland Indians. A year ago, the Cardinals' clubhouse was buoyant and energized by the addition of Matt Holliday via trade.

This year, any enthusiasm was tempered by disbelief, and many players chose their words carefully, pausing sometimes to find acceptable answers. Asked if he was surprised by the deal, Chris Carpenter waited 12 seconds before responding.

"The loss of Ludwick is something that surprised me," the ace eventually said. "In turn, you have to give up something to get something. Unfortunately it was Ryan. ... I can only speak for myself and not for everybody else. It's nice to acquire a guy like Westbrook, and it's hard to lose a guy like Ludwick. There's no question."[...]

"You're always excited when the front office is trying to make moves, but today we lost a pretty key piece of our lineup from the last few years," Adam Wainwright said. "In return, we get a really, really quality starting pitcher. You have to give to get. ... We'll definitely miss Luddy. No doubt."

Whitey Herzog's 24 retired

Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog was in St. Louis this weekend to see his former jersey number, 24, retired by the St. Louis Cardinals.

On Saturday night at Busch Stadium, the stage was all Herzog's, even though he tried to share it with members of his 1985 National League championship team. The Cardinals retired Herzog's No. 24, with numerous notations of that act on the Busch Stadium message boards, with the number to be permanently applied to the left-field wall, alongside the other retired numbers, in time for the start of the next season. A No. 24 also was affixed to the dirt behind second base Saturday.

Herzog said the retirement ceremony was tantamount to his entering the Hall of Fame. And that's the way it seemed, too, to a sellout house that accorded him a lengthy standing ovation after he and wife Mary Lou rode into the yard on a two-horse Clydesdale hitch.

In the dugout, current manager Tony La Russa and his players also applauded, and Herzog said having his number retired "is right up there" with his Hall of Fame honor.

Later, Herzog would say, "This really means a lot to me. Not that the Hall of Fame didn't. I know they kind of go hand in hand. You don't get your number retired unless you get into the Hall of Fame. But it actually means just as much to me. They're both honors that you never dream of that ever happening."

A proclamation from Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's office declared Whitey Herzog Day, and the Cardinals gave Herzog a framed baby blue jersey with his 24 on it.

A dozen or so members of the 1985 team felt a part of the moment. Almost as much as Herzog.

With Herzog's 24 being retired, Rick Hummel raises the question: What about Joe Medwick? The Commish does raise a good point. Outside of honorary numbers such as Darryl Kile's 57, anyone that gets inducted into the Hall of Fame usually sees their jersey retired.

Of the Cardinals numbers we see today, enjoy seeing No. 5 and No. 10 because those numbers probably won't be worn by anybody else but Albert Pujols and manager Tony La Russa, both of whom someday also may be headed for the Hall of Fame.

But there is one other former Cardinals star whose number older fans would like to see retired. Hall of Famer Joe Medwick wore three numbers for the Cardinals - 28, 7 and 21 - in two tours here. But he wore No. 7 for eight seasons, from 1933-40, the first seven of which were the best seasons of his career.

From 1933-39, Medwick hit .306, .319, .353, .351, .374, .322 and .332. In 1937, he had 31 homers among his 237 hits and drove in 154 runs while hitting .374. That was the last time a hitter won the Triple Crown in the National League.

Besides satisfying a small but vocal group, the Triple Crown might be enough to merit retiring No. 7. Of course, they might have to tear it off the back of current star Matt Holliday, who plans to be here seven years.

With Medwick, it is more of a question of which jersey number would be honored with his wearing 3 different numbers.

Ryan Ludwick traded to Padres

Prior to the trade deadline, Ryan Ludwick was traded to the San Diego Padres as a part of a three-team trade that sent Jake Westbrook to the Cardinals.

The Ludwick deal means regular playing time for the red-hot Jon Jay.

Take me out to the ballgame...

It's been a busy year so my apologies.

JTA has some fascinating history behind the song.

At the ballpark this summer, when you rise for the seventh-inning stretch to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” stretch a bit taller -- one of the song’s writers was Jewish.

The unofficial song of America’s pastime, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is the product of a Jewish-Episcopalian collaboration: Jewish songwriter Albert Von Tilzer wrote the melody, lyricist Jack Norworth penned the words.

Prior to writing baseball's hit tune, the lore goes, neither had attended a ballgame.

Their famous collaboration, which is sung publicly somewhere in the U.S. every day from mid-spring to early fall, is believed to trail only “Happy Birthday” and "The Star-Spangled Banner” as America’s most performed songs.

Since the sportscaster Harry Caray first began belting it out at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in the mid-1970s, and later at Wrigley Field, the song has become a regular feature at major league and minor league ballparks across America. They even sing it in Japan.

Yet considering the song’s fame, Norworth and Van Tilzen go largely unrecognized by baseball officialdom, and Von Tilzer scores barely a nod in the Jewish community. Their story resembles the song’s famous punchline: “and it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out at the old ball game.”

According to the Songwriters Hall of Fame website, Norworth wrote the lyrics to the universal seventh-inning stretch anthem in 1908 “while riding a New York City subway train.” He had spotted a sign that said "Ballgame Today at the Polo Grounds" and “baseball-related lyrics started popping into his head.”

His partner Von Tilzer already had a successful career in songwriting and music publishing in the Jewishly influenced Tin Pan Alley in New York when he wrote the music for what was to be his most enduring creation.[...]

Von Tilzer died in 1956 and Norworth three years later, but word now comes from AOL columnist Chris Epting in a story titled “Stepping Up to Bat for Jack Norworth” that in Southern California where Norworth is buried -- just a mile or two from the site of next week's Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim -- the stone marking his grave site is worn and barely readable.[...]

In an era of sheet music, “Von Tilzer wrote the music for 20 million copy-selling songs,” said Tim Wiles, director of research at The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., one of the authors of “Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game,' ” with whom I recently spoke by phone.

Von Tilzer, who changed his name from Gumm (originally Gumbinski), was one of five brothers from Indiana who all had careers on Tin Pan Alley and in vaudeville.

What a game

Twenty innings. 6 hours, 53 minutes.

Yadier Molina should have the Sunday night game off.

2010 MLB Predictions

National League
EAST: Philadelphia Phillies
CENTRAL: St. Louis Cardinals
WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers
WILD CARD: Atlanta Braves

NLDS: St. Louis over Atlanta; Philadelphia over Los Angeles
NLCS: St. Louis over Philadelphia

American League
EAST: Boston Red Sox
CENTRAL: Minnesota Twins
WEST: Seattle Mariners
WILD CARD: New York Yankees

ALDS: Minnesota over Boston, Seattle over New York
ALCS: Minnesota over Seattle

World Series: St. Louis over Minnesota in five games.

Awards:
National League
MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies
Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves

American League:
MVP: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
Cy Young: C. C. Sabathia, New York Yankees
Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, Detroit Tigers

A Loss in the Family

The St. Louis Cardinals suffered two losses within the Cardinal family this past weekend and I offer my condolences to both families.

Ninety-three-year-old Fred Kuhlmann died Saturday at his home in Webster Groves, his family says.

Kuhlmann was an Anheuser-Busch executive who inherited control of the ballclub's day-to-day operations from August A. Busch Junior in the 1980's and retired in the early 1990's.

Also announced Saturday, Annabelle Walters, the newborn daughter of Cards pitcher P.J. Walters and wife Brittney, died Friday night.

David Freese gets 3B job, Lugo traded

With only a few days to go before the regular season starts, we now who our fith starter is along with our starting third baseman.

Jaime Garcia is the fifth starter.

David Freese is the starting third baseman.

Julio Lugo has been dealt from the Cardinals to the Orioles for cash or a player to be named later.

Heading into Spring Training, Lugo was set to be the Cardinals' backup infielder. But the acquisition of Felipe Lopez in late February meant Lugo didn't have an identified role off the bench.

Before he walked out the door on Thursday morning, though, Lugo had nothing but good things to say about the Cardinals.

"They were honest to me," said Lugo, who added that he never requested a trade. "They did everything they told me they were going to do. It didn't work out here. They told me if I get a better situation, they were going to trade me. I'm happy they did it.

"I have a lot of respect for those guys, and I loved it here. I wish I could come back. I really liked it over here. This is one of the best places I've been."

With Lugo gone, the Cardinals' 25-man roster -- barring injuries -- is set.

Allen Craig, Nick Stavinoha and Joe Mather -- who were competing for the final two reserve spots -- will all make the team. Craig and Mather each has experience as corner infielders and could be the second backup to Lopez, who could end up getting 400 to 500 at-bats this season.[...]

Lugo is owed $9 million this season, and he has a $9 million vesting option for 2011 that's unreachable because he hasn't compiled the necessary plate appearances since 2007. The Red Sox are on the hook for all of Lugo's 2010 salary.

Acquired from Boston in exchange for Chris Duncan in late July, Lugo batted .280 with three homers and 21 RBIs in 88 games this past season.

In spring, he battled a groin injury and hit .242 in 10 games.

Carp gets the nod

Chris Carpenter will be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals when the Cardinals open their season in Cincinnati to face the Cincinnati Reds on April 5th.

Kyle McClellan's bullpen assignment was only the second-worst-kept secret in Cardinals Spring Training. The worst-kept was also officially unveiled on Monday. Chris Carpenter, who has been on track to start Opening Day since before Grapefruit League games started, was formally confirmed as the Cards' starter for April 5 in Cincinnati.

He'll be followed by Adam Wainwright, Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse in the Cardinals' first four games. The only question for the first week of games is when fifth-starter-elect Jaime Garcia will start. The fifth member of the rotation could either pitch on Saturday, April 10 or Sunday, April 11 in Milwaukee, with Carpenter making his second start the other day.

Wainwright, the other prime candidate for Opening Day honors, will get the next-best thing. Wainwright will start the Cardinals' home opener, on April 12 against the Astros. It's a convenient coincidence that each of the Redbirds' two aces can get one of the two plum assignments.

"That's the way it's mapped out," manager Tony La Russa said. "It's not our first rodeo. Maybe our last, but it's not our first."

It's grea to see Carp making the opening day start. Here's to better success than the last opening day start for him. That was the last time I drafted a pitcher in the first round of a fantasy baseball draft.