Newest Cardinal Tyler Greene arrived in Washington about 11:45 a.m. and taxied over to the team hotel. As evidenced in this photo and about a dozen others I took, the new number 27 can’t stop smiling. Hard to blame him. Other than a handshake and a “congratulations”, I decided to leave him alone before the game. Already enough going on.
Tony La Russa on what he told Greene: “It’s what I tell all the young players when they come up here. Just trust your ability and not try to do too much. Nothing too complicated.”
TLR on why he started Greene on his first day: “You usually bring up a guy when you need him. If he’s a spare part, then I don’t find a way to start him, but I have two shortstops hurt. I think it’s good to get him out there.” No, I didn’t ask him what that says or doesn’t say about how he feels about Brian Barden at short.
We may see Blaine Boyer pitch Thursday evening, as he is one of the “hot” relievers. TLR: “The best laboratory is actual games.”
TLR on Chris Carpenter “feeling better” and his work in the training room: “I’m encouraged…. But no predictions when he can play.” As I was coming off the field before the game, Carp was standing on the stairway watching the pitchers take batting practice in the cage under the stands. I asked the obvious – “Wish you were out there?” The answer was equally predictable.
I am posting up for Scout.com subscribers a discussion I had today with Brendan Ryan about his hamstring injury. He thought he had clearance from the trainer to take batting practice today, but as I was talking with bench coach Joe Pettini, he told Ryan “no”. Khalil Greene concurred with the decision. A former MLB middle infielder himself, Pettini has a lot of experience with this kind of injury. On a side note, Ryan’s brother Paul had to scrap his planned trip to DC for the weekend with “The Boog” placed on the DL.
I asked Colby Rasmus about the outfield turf in Atlanta. Not making an excuse in any manner, he answered the question by holding his hands about a foot apart saying that the ball actually “snakes” to the left and right as it passes through the grass. Rasmus acknowledged that it is not easy to spot on television. He had an estimated 150 friends and family from Russell County, Alabama in Atlanta. Colby exclaimed that fortunately he didn’t have to buy all of the tickets! P.J. Walters also mentioned that he had a contingent up from Pensacola, Florida.
Hitting coach Hal McRae was giving some tips to Joe Thurston before the game. I asked the coach how his recovery from the flu is going and if it is spreading through the team. On the latter question, he said, “Thankfully, not yet.” He just took his fifth daily dose of antibiotics but is expecting a total of seven to ten days with it “no matter what”. Ryan Ludwick’s minor ailment is apparently unconnected.
Did you notice that Yadier Molina is wearing a different style batting helmet than the rest of his teammates? I did, so I asked about it. It is one of the modern-looking Rawlings Cool Vent models with indentations and slots on the sides. Turns out Yadi tried it out during the World Baseball Classic and decided to keep it. Says it keeps his head cooler. Whether real or imagined, it doesn’t matter. The rest of the club opted to stay with the traditional models when asked several years ago when they first came out.
I passed Nats television play-by-play man Bob Carpenter in the tunnel and we exchanged greetings. The former Cardinals broadcaster looks great. His sister Judy Carpenter-Barada is a long-time key member of the Cardinals front office with the official title of Director of Major League Administration.
Cards-focused scribes on this assignment include Joe Strauss from the P-D and locally-based Lisa Winston of USA Today Baseball Weekly and MiLB.com fame covering for Matthew Leach with MLB.com. Look for their articles during this series. The FOX Sports Midwest crew includes producer Tom Mee and his fine crew in the truck as always, along with Dan, Al and Pat Parris. Rick Horton is also with the club along with John Rooney on the airwaves.
Minors matters: I updated the Roster Matrix with the latest moves, including the activation of outfielder Paul Cruz with Quad Cities. Unfortunately catcher Blake Murphy’s elbow is causing him problems again, so he returned to the DL.
Donovan Solano was promoted from Springfield to Memphis to replace Greene. Pitcher Marco Gonzalez moved in the opposite direction. That keeps Springfield whole, but Memphis would seem to still be one player short. Here’s how that was apparently solved. Outfielder Shane Robinson is shown on the DL by MiLB.com while catcher Brandon Yarbrough and reliever Fernando Salas are now active.
Shortstop Pete Kozma is heading from Palm Beach up to Springfield on Friday, reports Ray Mileur at Scout.com. Kyle Mura is moved onto the Springfield DL with Trey Hearne taking his spot in the rotation. Springfield now has five players on the disabled list and one on the temporary inactive list. Palm Beach’s addition to replace Kozma is not yet known. (Edit: See update below.) I did notice that regular Domnit Bolivar (currently hitting .224) is out of the Quad Cities lineup on Thursday evening, but that could be coincidence (Edit: It wasn’t!).
On a personal and negative note, I am having monitor problems with my laptop and am hoping that far away from home, my machine will be kind to me this weekend. If I do disappear, do not assume foul play is involved!
Good stuff, Brian!
Thanks! (as always)
You are welcome!
Appears Thurston’s work on his hitting didn’t pay off yet.
Thurston’s problems began about the time I activated him from my reserve list to replace Stephen Drew. I like him more than I did before the season started, though.
Awesome Brian! I know it’s kind of silly, but it’s the little tidbits like Molina’s helmet that are so great. I had been wondering why he was the only player on the team with the new helmet. I never expected an explanation though.
Don’t get that flu Brian!!!!!!!
So with Solano moving up from Springfield to Memphis, and Kozma moving up from Palm Beach to Springfield, who moves up to Palm Beach? Niko Vasquez?
Here’s what i have come across in the transaction pool:
Brendan Ryan to St. Louis D.L.
Tyler Greene Memphis to St. Louis.
Shane Robinson placed on Memphis D.L.
Marco Gonzalez Memphis down to Springfield.
Fernando Salas & Brandon Yarbrough activated off Memphis D.L.
Donovan Solano Springfield to Memphis.
Jon Jay takes over for Robinson in centerfield and leadoff spot.
Pete Kozma Palm Beach to Springfield.
Kyle Mura placed on
Palm BeachSpringfield D.L.Trey Hearne takes Mura’s spot in Springfield rotation.
Domnit Bolivar Quad Cities to Palm Beach.
Paul Cruz activated from Quad Cities D.L.
Blake Murphy returns to Quad Cities D.L.
Maybe more moves that haven’t been announced yet or I missed.
On another note…..both the Triple-A Mexican League (Amaury Cazana) and Nicaraguan National Championship (Walter Santos & Edgard Montiel) have been shut down for a short time due to the almighty epidemic of the swiney flu.
Ivan Maldonado who was invited to camp after winter leagues and before WBC has now been released by two (yes two) Triple-A Mexican League teams. Glad we didn’t waste are time there.
And last but not least…..newly acquired Evan MacLane will be making his first start for Memphis on Friday. Possibily something for you all to pay attention to.
Good to see Salas off the DL. Yarbrough and Degerman are off the faux DL, leaving just Buckman in this state.
Jose Martinez is missing out on a chance to get playing time at Memphis. Solano is the beneficiary. The Cards are well-stocked in SS within the system.
T. Greene can gain some useful experience and make himself a better candidate for 2010, if K Greene leaves.
The Cards are in a pretty good situation right now. A few more games vs. the Nats. Best record. In time to be reinforced by Carpenter and Glaus.
I think everyone would have to be pleased with Thurston’s contributions to date.
Jason, thanks for the kind words. Post more often!
JMo, about the PB move, as I implied above, Vasquez was in QC’s lineup Thursday night with Bolivar the one sitting out. (Edit: Ray Mileur now confirms my suspicion that Bolivar is the one promoted.)
jrocke, thanks for the transaction summary. It is easier to follow in a list.
I don’t even want to think about the Swine Flu. A terrible situation.
If K. Greene leaves? As volatile as the trade market will be in July, anything is possible I would think with Glaus and Greene. Neither will be here in 2010.
I’ll say this up front, if Rasmus keeps his current batting stance, yeah the one McRae is using to alter and delay his swing trigger in an attempt to get him to take the ball deeper, he could be in trouble. He is trying to hit everything out at this point, against sub-par teams. Cards keep winning, but it will tighten up shortly. Someone is going to step up and sweep us before to long. It was KC last year. They are hitting well this year too.
You can just keep hoping for the team to fail, WC. I prefer to look at things with a more cheerful attitude. You rarely miss a chance to criticize McRae but they’re leading the NL in runs.
I guess now that we’ve got the bull pen resolved, we can talk about hitting. McRae is right in his aim. Wrong in his assessment of what is causing the problem.
My assessment. Colby doesn’t have a major league swing. Like Ankiel, he has a “we’ll kick your ass” if you can’t pitch cut. His numbers and or success so far are based on walks and mis hit flares. He is striking out allot, and flying deep an awful lot. He is trying to take everything in front of the Plate. He is getting no extension over the plate, and almost never working the ball middle away with any authority. McRae is trying to slow his swing down by getting him to step to a closed position thus creating a timing mechanism that might be slowed down to create the desired effect. This a very risky speculation with highly instinctive hitters like Colby and Rick.
Solution 1) To Colby. Son, it appears that you would like to make some of that big money, right, a 30 hr power bat with allot of extra base hits. Maybe do your time then arbitrate for some of that Matt Holiday money? Hey, who wouldn’t. If you want people to risk those kind of pitch locations with you, you have to start dealing what they are throwing at you. Chase Utley is a good example. He hit Hr’s with a nice easy stroke because he has time to make that swing. He earned that time by relentlessly hammering the middle, with a thought to hit the OPO power alley on occasion. Pitchers have to risk pitching him inside because he is killing them away. Here is what you need to do. (end of part 1)
Brian, i know you are on the road but please post something new today as to not break your record. I think you have posted something new everyday since this blog started. Keep that hitting streak alive!
CC, I accepted your challenge, but it is difficult. I can’t complain, but I am on a borrowed machine for a couple of hours with a very different keyboard, too sensitive mouse and a crazy version of Word. Posting a new photo at this point is out of the question. Still, I will limp along as I don’t want some Wally Pipp blogger slipping in…
I love when they dim the lights and everyone flicks their lighters as Albert agrees to another encore. He’s the consummate showman, staying late to entertains the faithful. Swing of the night for me has been Thurston’s “stop pitching me on the hands A–Ho-e.” I noticed Luddy closed his stance back to normal.