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Cardinal baseball, from the girls
The Memphis Redbirds have won the first two games in their current series against the Oklahoma City Redhawks, and I was in heaven there at the ballpark this weekend for all the baby bird fun. The two games were very different experiences, both wonderful in their own way. The first game, Saturday, was an evening game with the family – the kiddos, Hubby, me and my Mom. We laughed and chatted about the players, cheered on our boys and enjoyed each other’s company. With Memphis the visiting team, it was auditorily obviously we were in the minority cheering for the Redbirds – just the crickets and us!
Memphis had a big game, winning 8-4. Adam Ottavino pitched well, into the 7th inning. Both Pete Kozma and Andrew Brown smacked homeruns. Aaron Luna stole 2nd. Kozma kicked off an adrenaline packed 6-4-3 double play. A balk was called on OKC’s pitcher (I missed it, as usual…. Balks continue to mystify me.) Donovan Solano was on base all night, going 4 for 5 at the plate. And Cory Rauschenberger, Chuckie Fick and Raul Valdes all pitched in relief for Memphis (some better than others). 😉
And bonus! There was a new Baby Bird making his AAA debut! Jose Garcia was a fresh call-up from Springfield during the shuffle that sent both Matt Carpenter and Mark Hamilton up to St. Louis and brought Pete Kozma back down to AAA. Garcia had an applause-worthy game both defensively (playing 2nd) and at the plate with a walk, a double, a single and 2 runs batted in. A .500 AAA batting average!… for the moment.
Sunday’s game was night-and-day different, both literally and figuratively. Bright (hot) sunshine and a smaller crowd. I was on my own (with my camera) for this one since the kiddos (and Hubby) had ball practice and a date with the swimming pool. I grabbed a seat in the shade – first row seats were open all around the park, and I moved around a few times to catch a better camera angle here and there. It was a shame really, to see the park so empty. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was Sunday… it sure wasn’t because the baseball was disappointing! I enjoyed the peace and quiet that afternoon. There is something almost magical about watching a ballgame by yourself, with no distractions. Don’t get me wrong, I love the experience of sharing a game with friends and family. But for just those few hours, I had the gift of a baseball game to which I could give 100% of my attention and it was a wonderful reprieve from a crazy last couple of weeks.
PJ Walters started for Memphis and threw 7 innings, walking 2 and striking out 6. He also managed to hit two batters. Nothing serious, but the Memphis play-by-play announcer mentioned PJ has hit 9 batters so far this year. (yikes?!)
Memphis’ top of the 6th kept what few fans were in attendance on the edge of their seats. After Pete Kozma lined out, Andrew Brown reached 1st on a throwing error. Nick Stavinoha struck out, but then OKC walked the next two batters. The bases were loaded with Redbirds and a wild pitch scored Brown from 3rd. Bryan Anderson then struck out, stranding two, but after four innings with only one baby bird making it to base, it was nice to finally see some action. There were more thrills in the top of the 8th (but not the rah-rah kind) when Freddie Bynum lined into an unassisted double play at first which caught Stavinoha off the bag and abruptly ended the inning for Memphis.
Jess Todd, Raul Valdes and Victor Marte all pitched in relief. Marte had an impressive 9th inning, and the game ended with Donovan Solano’s glove being in just the right place at the right time to catch a smoked line drive towards 3rd. Solano smiled, looking surprised to see he had caught it, and the baby birds celebrated on the field for the 2nd time, winning 3-2.
An aside: There is one thing I am embarrassed to report. We may need to take up a collection for our baby birds clothing fund. It was painfully obvious their travel-gray uniforms are getting old and being pieced together with replacements. For some of the boys, the gray in their shirts mismatched their gray pants. OKC fans around us were making fun, and I had to agree it looked, well… odd.
I’d keep a closer eye on stuff like that for them if they lived closer. Dress to impress, boys! 😉
It’s been nice to read/hear that our Cardinals had a monstrous weekend, sweeping the Cubs in exciting fashion while my attention was focused on the farm boys. Albert Pujols heating up?? Well, it’s about time!
The Cardinals have the day off today. Memphis plays at 7:05. If you’re in town, I recommend some baby bird watching! 😉
Conflicted – I watched from afar as my family enjoyed the game from seats behind the Memphis dugout. My kids got autographs before the game, but this time I would be an observer instead of a participant. A player tossed a game ball over the dugout to my daughter when he noticed she was wearing a Memphis Redbirds jersey (not many of those in Oklahoma.) And my clan celebrated and cheered our Baby Birds each time they stepped to the plate. There were many moments that night when my empty seat there in the stands beckoned me. I was sorely missing those special fan experiences.
Since I have now typed enough words to fill this space with a spattering of beautiful baseball boys, I will close this out.
Chris has a great post for today, but she’s having technical difficulties. Hopefully we’ll get it all squared away later this afternoon!
In the meantime, check out this story by Bernie Miklasz on the Cardinals’ suddenly older bench. Glad I’m not the only one speaking out on this (far from it).
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Tonight’s starter? |
Cards are out on the West Coast tonight at the late late late time of 9:10 PM CST. In a strange twist, reports are coming out that Blake Hawksworth will make the start. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of Hawk – but I’m confused as to why P.J. Walters is being tossed into the pen as a long reliever. Are we looking at a bullpen game?
We’re still new at this blogging thing, which is why I think this is the first time any of us have ever completely changed course after a game. My plan was to write about Aaron Miles, but that’ll have to wait for another day.
I crack up when pitchers hit big home runs. You never see them coming, and half the time the pitcher is just as surprised as you the fan are. Brad Penny, before last night, had not hit a home run since 2003! So forgive me for still being giggly when I saw the Fox Sports Midwest commercial break cut back to the game prematurely and players, Tony LaRussa and Barry Weinberg (the Cardinals trainer) are all wandering the field. That’s never good, and my euphoric feelings were flushed away when I saw Penny heading down the dugout steps.
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Hurry back, man. (no pun intended… okay maybe pun intended). Chris Lee, Post Dispatch |
Lat strains are no laughing matter. All of my physical education and sport first aid textbooks from college (finally putting my PE degree to use) state that the less you the first responder are involved, the better. Strap the arm to the body in a sling and send ’em in for an MRI. Injury expert Will Carroll, when asked how long Penny might miss, responded with this:
@miklasz Pitcher, so 4-6 is about right.
Safe to say the Cardinals are making a move. The immediate reaction was to put PJ Walters on a plane to St. Louis, and to that I say excellent. PJ has had a rough year in real life, but has had a very nice start to the season, so I was hoping he would be the one to get the call. The question I have seen is which pitcher gets shut down – Penny or Blake Hawksworth, who is nursing a sore groin that also troubled him in spring training.
First of all, yes I am being a Hawk apologist here to say that I’m glad there was a reason for his recent struggles. Despite his claims that the groin only bothers him when there are men on base and he quickens his motion to the plate – the fact is still there that it bothers him. He obviously needs to rest a few days and re-evaluate, which is what the Cardinals were planning to do this weekend with Monday’s looming off-day. However, I fully expect Penny to be the one that is shelved, assuming the Cardinals only make one move.
Should the Cardinals make a second call to Memphis for a relief guy? Glancing quickly at the Memphis stats, the only relievers that are standing out in any way are Rich Rundles (WHO???) and Oneli Perez. Josh Kinney and Rich Hill, our two in the Memphis pen with the most major league experience, have been less than stellar this year. Therefore, my answer is no – there should not be another phone ringing in Sacramento (Baby Birds are on the road right now) today.
Obviously the next two games could be a grind. With Kyle Lohse starting today, Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte each going 2 innings and Trever Miller and Ryan Franklin as the only two that didn’t see action out of the pen last night, the pen is stretched. Now, thankfully Walters was scheduled to start today for Memphis. I imagine if Lohse has a rough game, Walters will get the call to mop up the rest of the innings, giving the pen a relative day off. Today’s game will be an interesting one to be sure, and we’ll see where we stand at day’s end.