St. Louis Cardinals Letdown: A Shot To The Optimism

Don't get me wrong. I'm not this guy who is trying to write off the season after two spring training games. The traditional spring disclaimers of "the games don't count" and "it's early" and everything else definitely still apply. Still, as a Cardinal fan, you hate seeing games like yesterday's.

Like Rick Hummel says, there wasn't much good out of yesterday's game.  The Orioles got to Kyle Lohse for two two-run home runs on a day when the wind was blowing in. Ian Ostlund didn't do anything to claim that second lefty job. And Brad Furnish showed why he was just added to camp when the Cards were running short on arms.

Putting all that aside, let's look at what went right. Joe Mather continued to cement his chances at being the Opening Day third baseman with a diving catch. Not a great day at the plate, but when there were only six hits, not many people were bringing the lumber.

Joe Thurston hit a home run, which was probably surprising to everyone in the park, including Joe. Colby Rasmus went 0-2, but did draw a walk and score a run. Yadier Molina drove in two runs, giving the team an early lead.

Jess Todd pitched fairly well in his outing, Chris Perez got some work in on his slider, and Charlie Manning got two outs without incident. So there were positives, just not many of them.

But the grand thing about baseball is that today is another day. The Cardinals can move on and face the Mets, who may have more important things to worry about. I've not seen lineups or schedule pitchers yet, but I do know the game will be on XM 177 today, which is a beautiful thing.

Various quick links:

Dustin Mattison has another great article, this time comparing Rick Ankiel and Colby Rasmus. I wouldn't necessarily expected Rasmus to be that far ahead defensively from cannon-armed Rick.

Chris Perez is working on his slider. If he gets that clicking, the closer job is his and he'll do a great job with it. Having that extra pitch, especially one that moves like that, could make him dominant.

Pujols, the face of baseball? If so, that just shows you what a remarkable talent he is.  Who'd have thought someone from St. Louis could be the face of the sport instead of someone on the coasts?