Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Odds and ends and the Cardinals

Well the Latos/Hernandez duel was pretty good, with Latos getting the better of it.  Of course, it didn't hurt the Mariners put a woefully weak lineup on the field for that game (and if you don't read USS Mariner, you should), and their bullpen combusted in the eighth.  Considering the Padres got ambushed on Friday night, taking 2 of 3 over the weekend was a nice turnout.

Coupled with a Dodger loss, and our Friars find themselves still in first as we start play this week.  This is becoming a trend.

This will be a short 'catch up' post, where I make a couple of announcements.  First, we've added two new players to the Juan Eichelberger All-Stars:  Milton Bradley and Chase Utley.  Anytime a player exists with the name of a major board gaming company of my youth they are automatically inducted on this roster.  If there was a McGraw Hill or a Parker Brothers playing at the major league level, they'd be on the team too.  Chase Utley sounds like a guy with 'a tea cup on [his] lap and ticker-tape coming out of [his] ears'* as opposed to the best power-hitting second baseman in the game.  That's enough.  Also, with Yuri playing short, we need some help up the middle.

*Can anyone name the movie that line appears in?  I'll give something to the winner.  Not sure what, but it'll be nice.

Second, I've been asked to write about the Padres over at Baseball Digest.com, and have accepted.   My first story went up today.  I hope to make it a regular weekly feature over there.

Finally, since the next Padre opponent is the other MLB team I blog about, I am going to try something daring:  do a game recap for each of the 3 Cardinal/Padre games from the perspective of each team's fanbase.  I don't think this has been attempted anywhere ever by the same writer.  It might suck, it might be great, it might cause the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy to happen 2 years early - I don't know.  But it'll be fun nonetheless.

The Cardinals are scuffling right now but are still one of the most dangerous teams in the league.  St Louis has had some success at Petco (10-9 against the Padres since the park opened).  Adam Wainwright is one of the best pitchers in the NL, and the ace of the Cardinal staff.  Jon Garland has his work cut out for him, because the Padre offense won't get much from Adam.  Jamie Garcia is an early favorite for Rookie of the Year.  The other Cardinal starter is unsettled; both Brad Penny (who's turn it would be) and Kyle Lohse are on the DL after injuries suffered this weekend.  From the Cardinal perspective, it's great to bring a kid up and pitch in a pitcher's ballpark.  From the Padre perspective, it's fresh meat.

Amazingly, this series will pit two division leaders against each other (amazing because none of us expected the Padres to be in first place the week before Memorial Day) You'd think that'd mean a Wednesday Night Baseball gig, right?

No, it'll be Yankees/Twins.  What-ever.

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