St Louis Cardinals

We’ve some some pretty horrific Albert Pujols memorabilia in our storied history of St. Louis fan hunting.

Large in part, this fanatical abhorrence is gender-biased.  Outside of a few pink jerseys here and there, our studies show that female Pujols fans tend to stay within traditional affection mechanisms.

That is, until we saw this…

(Hat Tip to Jason for the fan pic)

A month into the season, races are naturally tight throughout the league.

The Rays and Yankees, the Twins and Tigers, all the teams in the AL West, NL West, and NL East

In the NL Central, the St. Louis Cardinals are running neck and neck with...the St. Louis Cardinals.

What I’m Reading

The parallels between Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard continue, as Howard’s recent contract extension is bound to influence the market for Pujols’ cash-in day.

The St. Louis Cardinals lost their first series of the year this past weekend in San Francisco.

How concerning is this to the Cardinals?

Let's try not at all. Or maybe 0%. Either would work.

Fans are understandably on edge. After all, the teams offense seems to be under the impression that they only have two options when batting: strike out or hit a home run.

While this approach isn't exactly preferred by baseball people, it has propelled the Cardinals to a comfortable first-place lead after three weeks.

Relief pitching in the 1950s was much different than the relief pitching of today.

It was still the general ideology of managers that the good arms were in the starting rotation and the duds were in the bullpen.

In a way it was true. However, the relief pitchers on this list broke that rule, they could flat out pitch.

Having said that, there weren’t many career relief pitchers in this decade and many of them had seasons where they were a starting pitcher and even had spot starts during their relief seasons.

Lost in the very oddly played, sometimes head-scratching 20-inning marathon on Saturday between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals was the starting performance turned in by LHP Jaime Garcia.

The Cardinals’ rookie was very good on Saturday.

Garcia matched Mets ace Johan Santana pitch for pitch, giving up just one hit (a blooper by Angel Pagan), walking two, and striking out five in seven innings. He now has an 0.69 ERA in two starts (13 IP) this season.

He was just the remedy the St. Louis Cardinals needed after the 20-inning marathon loss against the New York Mets on Saturday. 

It wasn’t certain what we’d get from the Cardinals and Mets on Sunday night. After all, they did just finish a 20-inning game the night before.

Of course, the players were going to be tired, relievers overworked from the night before and everyone else pretty much mentally exhausted from six hour and 53 minute marathon.

One big question was going to be about the availability of the relievers on both sides, as 19 Mets pitchers and 16 Cardinals pitchers were used in Saturday night’s game.

Although it is only a few weeks into the 2010 Major League Baseball season, it's not too early to take a look at the 2010 Midsummer Classic in Anaheim, California. All-Star week is filled with excitement and fun for MLB players and fans. Who will be representing their respective leagues in Anaheim?

American League

Starting Lineup

Pitcher: Zack Greinke-Kansas City Royals

Catcher: Joe Mauer-Minnesota Twins

First Base: Kevin Youkilis-Boston Red Sox

Second Base: Robinson Cano-New York Yankees