Following are the highlights from the 13th day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Tuesday, March 29. (Monday’s games were rained out.) As is the case every third day all spring long when the Mets and Marlins play each other, this was a camp day. Memphis faced Springfield and Palm Beach took on Quad Cities.
In the default 2-2 day, everything was as it should be. Both higher level clubs prevailed. Palm Beach padded its system-best 9-4 record with another win. The Cardinals system is a combined 27-21-6 this spring. That includes a 17-11-2 mark against external competition.
Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Memphis right-hander Lance Lynn. In 6 2/3 shutout innings, he gave up just four hits and three walks while fanning four.
On Wednesday, Memphis and Springfield are slated to play the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A clubs at Port St. Lucie, while Palm Beach and Quad Cities take on their New York counterparts at home in Jupiter. For the full state of minor league spring training schedules, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can click here.
As he has been doing the last few seasons, Cardinals farm director John Vuch is sharing game highlights with this site and several others with interest in Cardinals prospects. As always, the raw data is his, with the comments mine.
Memphis (4-5-3) 8, Springfield (5-4-3) 3
Memphis pitching
Lance Lynn showed he is ready for the season to begin as he allowed just seven baserunners in 6 2/3 innings. The big righty fanned four.
Adam Reifer struggled, yielding four hits and three earned runs in just one inning of work.
Eduardo Sanchez, fresh from major league camp, walked one and fanned one in his scoreless frame.
Memphis hitting
Pete Kozma and Shane Robinson both had two singles and a double in three plate appearances. The shortstop scored three and had an RBI while the outfielder drove in three.
Tony Cruz, Donovan Solano and Daryl Jones all had two singles in three at-bats.
Freddie Bynum singled in two at-bats, scored twice and drove in one.
Adron Chambers doubled in three at-bats.
Springfield pitching
Lefty Raul Valdes dropped down a level for the day and gave up two runs, one earned on three hits over four innings. He walked none and fanned three.
Ryan Kulik allowed three baserunners in his one inning, but none scored.
Cory Rauschenberger had a day to forget as he allowed eight baserunners in 2/3 of an inning, though just two crossed the plate.
Nick Greenwood worked a perfect inning, with all three outs on ground balls.
Casey Mulligan was spanked for four earned runs on five hits while getting just one out.
Springfield hitting
Ryan Jackson had a pair of singles in four at-bats.
Tyler Henley who later appeared in the MLB game, went 2-for-3 with an RBI
Big Matt Adams joined Henley, but before he left, he clubbed a two-run home run.
Alex Castellanos was on base twice via a double and a walk. He also scored one.
Aaron Luna and Niko Vasquez both singled and walked. Luna also scored.
Palm Beach (9-4) 4, Quad Cities (6-7) 3
Palm Beach pitching
Lefty John Gast, who received a long look in MLB camp, yielded just an unearned run over four innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five.
Eric Fornataro was touched for a pair of runs in his three innings. He yielded four hits and walked three. Fornataro, about whom pitching coordinator Dyar Miller told me earlier in camp has “major league stuff,” struck out a pair.
Chase Reid allowed a hit and two walks in two innings, but kept Quad Cities off the board. He fanned two and picked up the win.
Palm Beach hitting
Phil Cerreto’s two-run single in the ninth was the game-winner.
Zack Cox singled, doubled and had an RBI in four plate appearances.
Luis Mateo had two singles in two tries and scored once.
Nick Longmire doubled and scored.
Mike O’Neill was on base twice in four plate appearances with a walk and a single. He drove in one.
Quad Cities pitching
Anthony Ferrara had a nice outing, scattering four baserunners over four scoreless frames. He struck out five.
Drew Benes gave up a run on three hits in his two innings of work. He fanned four. Aidan Lucas tossed a perfect inning.
Ricky Martinez gave up a run in his inning on a pair of hits.
Lefty Dean Kiekhefer took the loss as he yielded three hits and a walk in his one inning, including Cerreto’s game-winner.
Quad Cities hitting
Michael Swinson had two singles and a hit-by-pitch in his three times up.
Adam Melker drew a pair of walks.
Jonathan Rodriguez had an RBI single in his lone at-bat.
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Congrats to Brian Broderick, 20th rd 2007, for making the Nationals bullpen. Broderick broke out during the second half of 2010 as a starting pitcher at AA. His pitch repertoire must feature a sinker. Faced with a choice, the Cards chose to protect AA reliever Blake King, who has a strong K/IP rate, but a poor BB/K ratio. King is a descendent of the great Mickey Mantle.
The Cards added a rookie to their bullpen, also out of the 2007 draft, Augenstein. He is unusual for moving up to the majors after a terrible season at AAA in 2010, but Dave Duncan knows what he is doing. Augenstein went higher than Broderick in the 07 draft in keeping with a higher profile as lead starter for the U of Florida. Lots of starting pitchers can get hit around in the Pacific Coast League given a bunch of ballparks favorable for hitting.
It was a small surprise Augenstein made the team over Salas. This suggests Duncan is concerned about how many innings our starting pitchers will consume, early in the season. Augenstein and Batista can serve as longmen out of the bullpen.
Starters innings early in the season does seem a reasonable concern.
I had not met Broderick before the AFL this past November. A month later, he was taken by Washington. I recall waiting to talk with him after he pitched in a game as he spoke with his parents and other family members. Making the major leagues is a huge accomplishment, to be shared with the others who supported and sacrificed along the way. Congrats to many young men, including Broderick and Augenstein.
They are attempting to “bolster” Augenstein at a critical time……taking advantage of his positive self image after a good spring…….. Batista……use him or lose him………. Salas will be up shortly…….. Bull pen is going to suffer serious “wear and tear”.
I agree that the pen is lining up to see a lot of action. That is why I was surprised that some were so up in arms over Augenstein and Batista on the team over Salas. Salas will be along pretty soon anyway.
Broderick’s ground ball rate this Spring was about double his minor league average and far better than he has ever achieved. Can he continue that? Doubtful unless the Nats changed something about the way he pitches. If he can continue it, he will be very succesful given his lack of walks.
Broderick’s change must have occurred at Palm Beach or Springfield, in the middle of last year. Broderick himself credits Dennis Martinez for advising him to go after hitters more aggressively. Broderick moved from the pitching friendly FSL to the hitter friendly Texas League, yet lowered his ERA by about 2.5 runs and went 11-2. Then he did ok in the fall Arizona instructional league and was seen by more scouts. The Cards did not protect him because he does not have a big arm and had not pitched AAA.
For the time being, Broderick is doing something right and collecting outs. Its reasonable for the Nats to give a roster slot to a hot pitcher.
HIs GB rate actually was less at Springfield than PB. HE did reduce his walks significantly at AA.
i had augie ahead of salas and batista, so the pen shook out as i expected. they are already talking of adding a pitcher for the 10 game stretch. best guess, salas rides the shuttle to stl and daniel rides it back to memphis.
batista is the only one i didn’t get to see on a broadcast. salas appears to still have vs lhb issues, and augie is showing better “hold” skills than motte or boggs (especially boggs). the results augie is getting vs both LH and RHB’s should make him a candidate for what has expected to be motte or boggs filling k-mac’s late inning role. he’s throwing strikes, challenging hitters and getting K/GB results, ala kyle.
It will be interesting to see if Augenstein is allowed and earns his way into the late inning mix.
I newly noticed the formating of links to related stories, at the end of articles. These links seem like a nice visual design, an important aspect to a blog.
Thanks for noticing, Jumbo. The selection is random, but still hopefully interesting.
Randomly “related” I assume?
Yes, but I can’t alter the software’s algorithm for selecting the articles. Fortunately, most everything here could considered to be related in one way or another, so I am not sweating it. Seems fine here in the early going.
Yes, but I can’t alter the software’s algorithm for selecting the articles. Fortunately, most everything here could considered to be related in one way or another, so I am not sweating it. Seems fine here in the early going, though it seems odd that one Spring Training Notebook does not call other days’ editions…
For the out-of-towners, it is snowing lightly at Busch right now. Out in West County, huge fluffy flakes coming down pretty good. They say it is not a big storm, just light precipitation. And the temperatures are not frigid.
Selig may have borrowed from Peter to pay Paul. To keep the post-season from running so long, he started the regular season a week earlier in 2011.
Good article about RCW:
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2011-03-31/news/shit-colby-rasmus-dad-says/
RCWarrior is in the news, having granted an interview to The Riverfront Times, called “Shit Colby Rasmus’ Dad Says…”.
In response to a direct question about comments he has posted here, RC made it clear where is coming from:
Folks who come here expecting to have serious discussions should always keep this in the back of your mind…
RCW may be giving himself plausible deniability, saying he is pulling people’s legs. We can all use some wriggle room.
No breaking news here. Its a known fact that I do enjoy getting a rise out of the radical left. And my guess is every comment that was written has been written on this blog prior to this Riverfront times article.
yada yada yada…same old stuff.
I have known for a long time RC likes to play with people on these boards. So do I to a certain extent. RC has admitted as much numerous times. If he means something seriously, he says so. You have to realize that somebody who has access to infromation about the goings on with the team that others don’t is going to be circumspect about what he reveals on a public forum.
I enjoy the give and take on this board. We all bring something useful and interesting to the discussion and we should all just enjoy that aspect of it and not take it so seriously. It’s Brian’s blog and he is the informer; the rest of us are just the peanut gallery
here here.
“…. Tony Rasmus periodically vents opinions (and gossip) about the Cardinals on blogs and chat boards… [s]ome… cheer him as a blunt truth teller with a refreshingly unsentimental view of the baseball industry. Others think he’s an attention-starved shit disturber who’s trying to stage-manage his son’s career and doing at least as much harm as good…”
I think old RC is both of these things… and always an interesting read… so long as one uses discretion and circumpection in evaluating his contributions here. Some of his more vociferous defenders/sidekicks/horse halves might keep that in mind when folks like myself occasionally challenge or question things he says.
Keep up the good work RC, not every chemistry teacher in Alabama gets articles written about the “doody” he/she says. That makes you really special.
Maybe his defenders et al, like stirring the pot too, HB.
RC and I have had our differences. It isn’t as black and white as you see it. I believe color came in sometime in the 50s
That’s a mighty big ladle you’ve got there, missy!
Don’t forget to throw in a little eye of newt and some black cat bones whilst you’re tending the cauldron! 
Is this really TEx back on the horse or an April fools joke
CC — It’s the real deal!
I see reading back a few days that you were worried about me or missing me or somethhing like that… I’ve been busy and fixing to get busier. Two job interviews today… if that works out as I hope my particpation here and elsewhere in the blogosphere will be necessarily limted. That’s good news for some… but even if I don’t have time to post regularly I’ll try to keep up a reading program and render an occasional howdy…
See RC’s comment below. I concur he speaketh trutheth.
While I am sitting in the parking lot of my credit union with a blown tire, I will remember this moment as the time I learned you thought I had magic powers.
Tex…………you have come full circle at this point. The constancy of your BS is starting to seem suspicious. Every word intended to aggravate it seems.
That being said Brian, the reason this group is not a “progressive”, and profitable one……..is because your attempts at “containing” the dialog with these “noise makers”……….. and yes, they are your “folks” when you let the environment deteriorate.
My problem……….is I don’t feel like writing when I see this happening. All of the Post guys read here…….when its going on…….at least 2 major NY writers “scope” the subject matter here….along with SB’s “readers”…………. You’re right, this is something you need to be cautious about….. but don’t make the mistake in thinking that by just grooming a bit, is going to suggest that these are your views……………… Now you have to deal with this WC complaining about it again….. Tex is suggesting the CRD is a witch………and that RC is a scalawag by some definition of his. Its neither here nor there………… but it cheapens your blog…………. deal with it………..
Yesterday was a massive “news day”……….important things were suggested……..important things became apparent…………to what degree this is accounted for, is what makes this an interesting blog…….or not………. at some point…..you have to perform yourself here…
Go to a different format……….. put in an ignore………that way…….only you have to deal with the “entirety” of this environment and whether it reflects your aspirations.
It could be a great year for Cardinal Nation Blog……………. or not.
Oh come on WC, lighten up. Joe Strauss already knows I am a b……..witch, if he’s read any of my replies to his tweets, and I know he read one cause he didn’t like it one bit if his reply was any indication.
I am a nobody so why should I care what other people think? I bet Brian can take care of himself.
What you’re saying CRD………..is that your preference is a dynamic social environment in which you can fulfill your ……personal affirmations…….. you are participating in a dialog to the best of your ability…………. there are other considerations…….. be mindful of those possibilities.
Gotcha Silver.
I say neither HB. I neither claim to be a truth teller and I most definitely don’t stage manage Colby’s career. If you think I’m making things up…fine. If you don’t fine. It really doesn’t matter one way or the other. I have on occassion helped him with his hitting when he asks me…that is the extent of my stage management.
I have at times privately spoken of many truths about things I know of that go on concerning the cardinals. Crdswmn may have been involved in some of those discussions. So has WC. But anything written on some message board should never be considered factual imo. When all people involved choose to give their names then we can all consider everything we say as being the truth. But as long as Tony Rasmus is speaking to HB Texas and Jumbo Shrimp, we’ll just keep it gossipy and off the record. It very well may all be true, but who really cares and why would it bother anyone if it is or is not?
I personally don’t need defending as neither the Cardinals or HBTexas have anything to do with what I do each day, outside of killing some time on the internet. If I cared what people thought or said then I wouldn’t be commenting here. The fact I do should show you HB that I could absolutely give a rats behind what people say or think.
If I had a dollar for every nasty email saying I am killing Colby’s career or hurting this, or hurting that or for every comment like I get tired of watching your son strike out comment I could retire and buy an island. And if it hurt my feelings I wouldn’t bother reading it, but it doesn’t. People say those things to try and get me mad…but I say….who cares? My wife has said from the first day we met that I am the one person who just cares very little what people think. I do and say what I want when I want to say it. I’ve always been that way. I have found that 99.9% of all people to be fake. I am not. I am this same guy 24/7 for better or for worse.
I have stated this many many times HB………Who cares what some players dad says, writes, thinks…etc? The fact people give a shit is comical to me. The expectations that I should act like Pope John Paul II is even more hilarious to me. Your son plays for the Cardinals you should act like Jesus Christ himself…..out of respect.
Oh, OK….I gotcha.
Special? Special Ed maybe.
RC — Meant that more as a complilment than a criticism. You tell it like you see it, and that to me matches the “truth teller” portion of the description. And when he talks about the other half, I think the occasional agitation about Colby playing elesewhere, and some of your comments about TLR & AP fit the bill. So I see truth on both ends, but would venture to say you’re usually in the middle of those extremes…
As a manager/supervisor who was often involved in training others… I’ve found the hardest thing in the world is to watch someone do something you can do better… and be patient enough to let them learn, even when it involves some failure. That’s where growth happens.
You would be superhuman, if as a former player, present coach, and dad… if you were not involved to some degree in Colby’s career… Less public might be better for him, but that’s just my opinion.
Don’t change… you’re fine by me just the way you are… I do reserve the right to respectfully disagree with you on occasion… and to poke a bit of fun at you… which you seem to enjoy as long as it’s not taken to extremes. And of course, turnabouts is fair play. Comes with the territory and makes these blogs more interesting and a bit of fun.
RCW-the truth shows up at last.
BW, you are in the circle of trust…….you had this information all along.
You’ve got the “pole position”………the “catbird seat”……the whole shebam…….. It is highly advised that “you all” know what the game really is. Mister fast hands has already tipped his approach. Be standing on second (gold) 1st (silver) look long when there’s 2 outs and 8 and 9 are standing out there………until you lose the count………….never strikeout to end a rally…. and just hold on………big set is approaching….. miss the first wave on a wipe out….you’re gonna spend the next 5 minutes under water, right in the impact zone. Be smart….be patient…hold your place in the lineup.
BW, everything said in that article has been said on this board at one time or another. There is no Deep Throat here.
Here’s the opening-day lineup:
1. Ryan Theriot, ss
2. Colby Rasmus, cf
3. Albert Pujols, 1b
4. Matt Holliday, lf
5. Lance Berkman, rf
6. David Freese, 3b
7. Yadier Molina, c
8. Skip Schumaker, 2b
9. Chris Carpenter, p
I guess this is how it is supposed to work, on paper. Lets see how long it holds up.
Will be interesting to see what happens Friday against a lefty.
I believe you mean Saturday. No game on Friday.
Right.
I understand Colby will get more swings against lefties this year, so he could stay put. Skip is already 8th. Berkman shouldn’t hit 5th, or at all, against a lefty of course. I don’t know if Tony will sit him in favor of Craig so soon. Would make sense to swap him and Freese against LHP. Nobody is going to pitch to Matt because Lance is behind him, until Lance shows something. So what’s the point of cementing him into the 5 slot.
They have to make it look good. Theriot hasn’t shown anything in the leadoff spot but Skip hits better down in the lineup, so Colby needs to get on a base a lot.
IIRC, this is precisely the lineup I suggested several months ago would be the primary against RHP… Since I’m closer to Nostrodumbass than Nostrodomas… it just goes to show that even a blind squirrel finds the acorn every now and then.
I had to explain more times than I care to recall over the winter why I thought TLR would be going with that opening day order. (The only thing I was unsure of was Theriot vs. Skip at 1/8.)
With a lefty going for SD on Saturday, we will see if TLR adjusts.
Crdswmn-why not see what happens before starting another rant?
That wouldn’t be any fun.
Any word if Stan will make a appearance for the opener?
Stan has been invited along with all the Hall of Famers and there will be a tribute to his Presidential Medal of Freedom, but I have not seen a confirmation of his attendance. I would imagine it depends on how he feels today.
Link to details of the day, both for those going in person and watching on television.
“Guide to Opening Day 2011 in St. Louis”
Is Holliday hurt? Inquiring minds want to know. hint hint Brian.
He has a sore toe, but he played yesterday.
Correction. Just saw on Twitter that Holliday is having an appy. When did this happen? That will be two weeks on the DL. Cripes.
Correction again. 4 to 6 weeks. Double Cripes.
This changes the pecking order unfortunately………… and of course that is insured. What a wondrous world we live in. Craig will be in left on Saturday…………lets hope he takes advantage.
AP as he is fans will love Saturdays game……………… I hope he has some company. Good lefty against a sometimes sinker guy…………. I’m dying to see the line on that one now…… I predict that the good old fashion chemisty will reign once again………………. They gonna bring MCarp up? No way……..it will be Stava to free up Laird a little.