Another One Bites The Dust/Here Come The Reinforcements

It seems as if you can add yet another player to the Cardinal’s DL. This time it’s Cesar Izturis. What is with this team? Every time it looks like someone comes off the DL or is coming back from an injury, somebody else takes their place. As bad as this might be, seeing as how his glove has saved us dozens of runs, it looks like we may have some serious reinforcements coming: Albert Pujols. Pujols is expected to come back during the series in Detroit, as soon as he is eligible. Since his absence, the team has been unusual, to say the least. How the hell does a team get swept by the Royals while never scoring more than 2 runs, and takes 2 out of 3 from Boston. BOSTON! The games in Boston were the exact opposite of the games with the Royals. The team scored runs. They hit. They pitched. They fielded. I bet that any Cardinal fan who watched the series finale on Sunday can safely say that it was the most exciting/nail-biting game of the season, regardless of whether or not we won. After all, with 2 outs in the 9th, Adam Kennedy of all people hits a game-tying double, forcing the game into extras. The bottom of the 10th, 11th, and 12th all began with leadoff doubles, but amazingly, nobody scored! The bases were even loaded with one out in the 11th, and Jason Isringhausen, back from his blown psyche was able to get out of a jam.

Other news:

The team has given up on Matt Clement the starter. Here comes Matt Clement the reliever. With less than 10 days remaining on his rehab stint, the Cardinals have decided to move him to the bullpen for the rest of the season. At the beginning of the season, everyone thought how good of a signing this was, but now, it appears as if it was just wasted money. The one thing that the team doesn’t need is a righty reliever.

Mark Mulder, hoping to make only one more rehab start before returning to the club, was scratched from his final tune-up due to back stiffness. I think that everyone in Cardinal Nation has just about given up on this guy by now. For every good start/bit of good news, he has two bad ones. This guy is a lost cause, and the team should pull the plug before they decide to call him up and he single-handedly knocks the Birds out of contention.

The team is searching for a lefty reliever, after everyone in Redbird Nation is fed up to here (raises hand to ceiling) with the recent poor outings by Villone and Flores. Some possibilities: George Sherrill (O’s), Brian Fuentes (Rockies), or even Ron Mahay (Royals). Anybody have suggestions of other players who might be available?

Nick Stavinoha became the 9th Cardinal player this season to make his major league debut. 9! Man, the team is on pace for 20! Does anybody out there know what the record is?

Tonight, the Redbirds face Kenny Rogers. Oh man, every Cardinal fan would give an arm and a leg to see the Redbirds kick the snot out of him after what happened during Game 2 of the 2006 World Series. The Pine Tar Incident. Come on! And he didn’t even get ejected! Tonight should be sweet revenge!