The Stinky Bird Season Ends

The St. Louis Cardinals as you know missed the playoffs losing out by a half dozen games to the Cincinnati Reds, who also bowed out of Post-Season play in quick fashion. The whole division sucked this year.

But, back to the purpose of this post. I had said the Cardinals would win their division easily back in April. But, I also said injuries could put a damper on that activity. Well, key injuries to the four and five starter positions and the loss of David Freese at third base due to injuries contributed to the team's eventual downfall. In addition the bullpen struggled and the team's management didn't really help out very much when players were needed to fill the gaps.

It's history now, but I keep thinking of what might have been. Oh well, there's always next year.

Another Night Another Choke in Colorado

As if it wasn't bad enough that the St. Louis Cardinals blew up on Tuesday night, the same thing happened last night. The Cardinals gave away leads to the Colorado Rockies of 5-0 and 7-4 only to lose 8-7. Once again the hitters did there job racking up 16 hits. But, the bullpen did NOT do it's job and blew up again for a second consecutive night. The goat last night was Jason Motte who blew the save. Actually it was only his first blown save of the year, so I am going easy on him. But, in general the bullpen has been feckless the last several games. And while I was critical of Ryan Franklin yesterday, to be fair he has had only blown 2 saves all year.

Baseball is a marathon not a sprint, so hopefully the Birds will right the ship today when they wrap up their visit to that haunted house called Coors Field. They still have the best talent in the NL Central, but I am starting to question their heart and desire to win.

A Pretty Good First Week for the Redbirds

The St. Louis Cardinals opened the 2010 season by going 4-2. But it could have been better. The Cardinals' bullpen gave up two walk off homers in the bottom of the ninth in the course of the week. One was surrendered by Jason Motte on Thursday to the Reds and the other last night by Kyle McClellan to the Brewers.

This St. Louis team should win the National League Central Division easily if the team stays healthy. But, if there is a question mark it is the bullpen. While, the Cards started 4-2, the bullpen was not impressive this past week. Hopefully, it will get better as the weather gets warmer.