Highlights from Sunday’s final St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games from Jupiter, Florida.
Following are the highlights from the 18th and final day of St. Louis Cardinals minor league games in spring 2011, on Sunday, April 3. In a camp day, Memphis took on Springfield while Palm Beach opposed Quad Cities. The Redbirds and River Bandits each won.
The 2-2 result means the Cardinals system finished the spring with a combined 38-28-10 record. That includes a sharp 24-14-6 mark against external competition, the Marlins and Mets.
Today’s photo is of the Player of the Day, Memphis catcher Tony Cruz. He reached base every time, with a double, homer and walk in three plate appearances. The 40-man player scored twice and plated two. Honorable mention to Quad Cities hurlers Justin Smith, Andrew Moss and Keith Butler as they spun a shutout against Palm Beach.
The Cardinal Nation subscribers can see all four full-season rosters as camp breaks on Monday as well as players remaining behind for Extended Spring Training. They will be joined by 42 more players in EST. Again, TCN subscribers can view all the additional EST players’ names 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.
A special thanks to the Cardinals for providing game stats all spring long.
Memphis (8-5-4) 4, Springfield (6-7-4) 3
Memphis pitching
Lance Lynn fanned nine Cardinals over seven innings. The big righty yielded three runs on four hits over seven innings. Lynn walked no one.
Eduardo Sanchez fanned one during his scoreless frame. Sanchez is our fifth-ranked Cardinals prospect for 2011.
Cory Rauschenberger gave up a hit and fanned one in his run-free frame.
Memphis hitting
Andrew Brown keeps on hitting, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a run scored.
Tony Cruz doubled, homered and walked in three plate appearances. The catcher scored twice and drove in two.
Pete Kozma singled and doubled, driving in one in two PAs.
Donovan Solano singled in three at-bats and scored one run.
Ramon Vazquez singled in two at-bats and collected an RBI.
Springfield pitching
Kevin Thomas started and yielded two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits and walk and fanned three.
Ramon Delgado fanned two in two scoreless, hitless and walkless innings.
Brett Zawacki had a rough 1/3 inning outing, as he allowed two hits and a walk. Two of them scored.
Casey Mulligan gave up a hit and a walk without getting an out.
Springfield hitting
Aaron Luna had a home run and two RBI in three at-bats.
Nick Derba tripled in three at-bats.
Chris Swauger singled in three at-bats. He scored and drove in one.
Xavier Scruggs doubled and scored in four at-bats.
Quad Cities (8-8-2) 8, Palm Beach (11-7) 0
Palm Beach pitching
John Gast was spanked for five earned runs in four innings. The lefty allowed four hits, three walks and fanned three.
Joe Kelly, like Gast a MLB camp invitee, yielded three runs in two innings on four hits and a walk.
Jose Rada pitched a perfect inning.
Jorge Rondon walked one and fanned two in a scoreless frame.
Hector Corpas worked a quiet inning.
Palm Beach hitting
Alan Ahmady was on base twice with a single and walk in two plate appearances.
Luis Mateo, Audry Perez and Zack Cox each had one hit.
Quad Cities pitching
Justin Smith gave up just one hit and three walks in 4 2/3 scoreless. He fanned seven.
Andrew Moss followed with 3 1/3 shutout frames of his own. Moss allowed three hits and a walk and struck out three.
Keith Butler had a scoreless inning, fanning one.
Quad Cities hitting
Nick Longmire singled and doubled in four PAs. He scored one run.
Victor Sanchez doubled twice and walked in four plate appearances. He scored twice.
Jonathan Rodriguez was also on base three times in four PAs with a double and a pair of walks. He scored twice.
Cody Stanley singled and drove in one in three at-bats.
Frederick Parejo singled and walked in four PAs. The outfielder scored one run.
Yunier Castillo had a single in four at-bats and drove in two.
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Jeff Suppan is available. We should get him inked up.
And the Dodgers has McDougle, Aaron Miles, and Hawksworth on their roster. Scary.
If Matt is DLed, Mo could lure Winn out of retirement with 750K and dinner at Red Lobster.
I try give Mo a tip, but the Royals must be following my posts with eagle eyes, because already Suppan is returning to KC.
After his first ML appearance, Brian Broderick with the Nationals has an ERA of 54.
The Mariners have Brendan Ryan, Josh Wilson, and Adam Kennedy handling their middle infield positions.
Lineup:
Theriot SS
Rasmus CF
Pujols 1B
Berkman RF
Craig LF
Freese 3B
Molina C
Schumaker 2B
Lohse P
Looks like TLR does not agree with the 31% who voted for a straight LF platoon.
I find the Molina start….suspicious. That is about something……….and I don’t really like it.
The Freese placement too, I find a bit provocative. Looks like a bifurcated RBI ploy………..based on the assumption that Pujols and Berkman may be the inning enders.
I still like Molina 8th………..he will walk more in front of the pitcher.
Well, TLR usually starts the backup catcher with the #5 starter. He did it with Suppan last year. So Laird will probably start tomorrow.
Tony never bats Molina in front of the pitcher anymore. He claims he wants speed in front of the pitcher. He wont bat the pitcher 8th unless he can put speed in front of and behind the pitcher. (i.e whenever the pitcher bats 8th and Molina is in the lineup look for Molina to bat in the 6th spot).
Congrats, WC. I am pretty sure you are the first to drop any derivative of the term “bifurcation” here! I once had a boss who used it all the time…
Surprised it didn’t get filtered.
His location is fabulous………….hasn’t had to use the slider because the change up is un-hittable where he’s leaving it……….. That bodes well for the 4-6…………. No surprises from 1-2-3…..
Despite the loss of Wainwright, I think our pitching is the least of our problems. Offense and defense concern me more.
That was a pathetic AB from Freese………..the frequency of “goalless” pitch selection is unrivaled in the big leagues…………. they made Morton look like an Ace. Ball has to go out of the infield.
Here is a look at the dynamic pricing in action. Check out the $5 seats for Pirates and Nats series’. Slow sales I guess.
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/ticketing/dynamic_pricing.jsp?m=4
Wow…………. thats 3 card Monty if I’ve ever seen it.
Seats were 0.99 (plus svc charge) on stub hub for tonight’s game.
Its like watching a damn little league team………………..
Calm down WC.
Shu got such a late jump……..he had no business going……….. passionless hitting by Rasmus. This team is just waiting to be taken over by anyone with an appetite.
This is where AP has been good.leading off……
They aren’t going to let Freese go OPO……….he has to be able to deal with the inside pitch……
Freese shut it down 3/4 of the way up the line……….he has no high end……….. this team has no hitters.
It seems we no longer need Holliday to get them to pitch to Albert. It follows logically, that there is no reason to have Holliday permanently entrenched in the 4 spot. Except the money.
Not much of an effort by Craig to keep that second run from scoring.
Man….and Lohse was cruising.
Why does this team look like they don’t give a shit?
As soon as Theriot’s foot touched second……….Colby wasn’t going to see a pitch……..they wanted AP…thats for you baseball buffs……….. That HR was up and in…..not a bad pitch. The double was where it shouldn’t have been………. Molina was calling the elevated pitches because they stopped chasing the Change…………… Lohse was good……………. he choked with no run support…trying to be too fine………….. this team sucks………
If you wonder where the swoons come from………….. AP is just dragging everyone down…….poor Berkman playing his little heart out……and he has no game.
Skip didn’t make an effort to snag that grounder. It wasn’t like it was right over the bag.
Thats it for Lohse………… His first walk was intensional to set up the DP……thats how worried they were about the lone run…………. and then he hangs one………. I pinch hit for everyone here.
Right. Our mighty bench of sluggers will save us.
I let Laird and Green hit……………..
In hindsight I’d say no…….
We got a rookie in in a 2 run game…………… are there miracles?
Freese can’t hit the inside pitch………..or pick a strike for that matter
There was actually a big negative in that game…………..and it was Freese showing everyone that he can’t handle anything in……..inability to alter his swing plane……..actually offered at two pitches that appeared to be a foot inside………….thats going to haunt him until he shows more.
The HR pitch was just a setup pitch that was well up and in…..live and learn……… Theriot is a toy player……… Craig throws the bat head for contact for money…………thats sad. Freese will be buried for weeks by the scouts……..I don’t see any fixes save back up 4 inches….he won’t…….. AP’s troubles are just starting…………… i apologize to everyone for this………but I don’t like Molina…….he bats 8th for me and wheres a different color uniform…………….. You saw Descalo there……. he is a boy playing a mans game there…….. ………… Franklin warms again and doesn’t appear…. BD must be ecstatic…
Freese looks no worse than Albert vs inside stuff. And Albert is the best .125 hitter in baseball.
No need to apologize WC, it is a free country, you are allowed to dislike Molina if you want to. I thoroughly dislike TLR, as everyone knows, and I don’t apologize for that.
I agree Freese didn’t look good at the plate tonight, but I don’t see that as a chronic issue. I like to gripe but it’s hard to justify too much this early.
I take Stava to catch up to the heat over the rabble……….. is Greene hurt or something? Berkman isn’t showing me a swing that threatens power…….. but he is at least a professional hitter. This team is in huge trouble right now……………this is SD and Pittsburgh………..
This is just an aside……………but AP doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of pouting, or displays of frustration………………. thats a little mysterious………seems to be disconnecting…….. if he’s hitting 235 in June, I bet he allows a trade………… this team is never going to build from this base……….. is MM a liability??????????
Losing to the Pirates at home would try the patience of Job. Many of our fans are not Job-like.
Its been a tough opening few games but the season is long and things will take a turn for the better, that I’m sure.
With Holliday out and Albert struggling out of the gate it is no surprise that the Cardinals haven’t scored many runs. Those guys get paid the big money for a reason, when they are not producing it will be hard to put up bunches of runs.
I thought Lohse was excellent last night until the 5th when he just got knocked sideways before he had a chance to realize what hit him. He showed some real dominance until that though imo. It was a good first outing for him.
Morton looks outstanding last night. That sinker was boring down and in on the Righty’s. yikes. He has really good stuff. I like the Pirates club….a lot of youth but some really good players in the mix.
And Hanrahan came in blowing gas….wow! Nice to have a closer that throws that hard. Daniel D looked a little overwhelmed last night. He will make the necessary adjustments and be ready for that type of heat next time.
In short the team is looking for its leaders to lead in my estimation and Albert is struggling, Matt is out, and Lance has not really heated up yet so the team is searching now. Everything will pick up in the days to come. Albert is going to hit, Matt will be back and Lance will pick it up.
I’m optimistic.
Sorry, meant 6th inning.
The count is 2/1 and Theriot steals 2nd……………….. Morton promptly drops 2 pitches in the dirt to get at Albert with 2 on. That was their coaching assessment of where we stand. Not so good.
At present Albert looks as bad as I’ve seen him…….but that will not last. Albert has not looked locked in from the beginning of spring training. He had a good game here and there but not any kind of dominant stretch. History tells us he will eventually hit. He has had opportunities to have a few RBI’s but has stumbled out of the blocks.
This offense has been built for Albert to deliver the mail for some time now and when Albert doesn’t deliver it the Cardinals are FUBAR. Especially without Holliday backing him up.
I’ve always wondered why pitchers didn’t stay on Freese, Jay, and Skips hands as all 3 want the ball away. Morton did a great job of staying in on David’s knuckles all night.
The team is again a non excited baseball team. It would benefit the group if they would return to playing the game like it is a game, not a funeral procession………but I’ve said that for a while now. Professional is ok I guess but emotionless professionalism wreaks of slow moving, non excited, boring baseball, which seems to lead to very little run scoring.
Things will turn around but its just not the start every one hoped for.
Fair assessment……………. AP’s emotional detachment has been a bit perplexing. Hows this for a “black helicopter”……………………. Pujols has backing from some civilized and very self interested people. They know that the worst case scenario for Albert is a “Bondsian” freeze out. 100 + intensional walks. He is being aggressively attacked by pitching at this point (circa July 2010)……….and then he goes superman and kicks ass until they tactically adjust (aug 2010)……his numbers go back up (at the expense of winning of course) and he then starts the cycle again. Be honest……….. taking the first pitch for a strike……every time…….sets up a probable pitch sequence that has offered him many (some) opportunities so far this year……….if he was cranking on that first good pitch…….he likely wouldn’t be getting it, setting up a bunch of hitters count sequences, that would likely be avoided, creating a much higher probability of just issuing a walk instead of the baiting scenario’s that are now occurring. And he knows it. No matter what happens, the walks don’t pay. The hot and cold cycles at least produce the numbers in the end…………………………… it could all be just an odd coincidence……….. but it has occurred to me……… and it certainly fits the (big picture).
Otherwise………..he is just an idiot……..and not complicated at all………. decide for yourselves…….
While you and I have gone around and around about the not having fun as an excuse thing, RC, I will say it would be nice to see the kind of clubhouse camaraderie that the Giants and the Rangers have, both winning ball clubs. But that is not possible with TLR at the helm, he wouldn’t stand for it. But at least not looking like a bunch of zombies, is that too much to ask? Apparently so.
After two years ruined by injury, Lohse is rebounding. This is a big positive. The Cards can use a solid contribution from Kyle.
Taking a hint from CC yesterday, I checked out stubhub. Terrace $0.95, (saw 4 seats at that price, more for a buck) Loge $1.49. Even saw some field box seats on the third base side for $10.00. The fee is $4.95. When the team gets above .500 I’m a buyer.
Even so, I guess the Cards are selling some of those $5 seats.
Wishing McClellan the best in his first ever ML start.
WC should investigate StubHub. They never tell the buyer the seller’s identity. I have bought blocks of two dozen tickets that almost had to be team-supplied. That company was a smart acquisition for eBay, akin to their purchase of PayPal.
Too bad they don’t have dynamic beer pricing. Could get a deal on these chilly evenings.