Cardinals Lose Amidst Ugly Plays, Poor Pitching

You'd never know it from the final 9-5 score, but yesterday's game against the Mets was a close, low-scoring affair in which the Cardinals led.

Until the seventh inning.

I was listening to the radio broadcast when John Rooney and Mike Shannon were giving Colby Rasmus plenty of grief for not throwing out a runner at the plate and then dropping a fly ball.

There's no doubt it wasn't a stellar day for the prospect, either on the field or at the plate, where he went 0-for-3.

But what was more troubling to me was the pitching of Trever Miller.

Miller didn't seem to have much of anything, giving up a double to Carlos Beltran and then a home run to Omir Santos, a spring training invitee who had a whopping 10 at-bats for the Orioles last season.

Obviously, a lot of the hitters that Miller faced wouldn't have come up if Rasmus catches the third out earlier in that inning. But Miller didn't limit the damage either.

Five hits and a walk in one inning is more than enough to blow a game.  If it was a regular season game, I think Miller would get my "Goat" award.

On the bright side, Adam Wainwright had a good outing and is ready to start the season. He did walk four and allow five hits, which are troubling numbers, but if the strike zone was as iffy as some said yesterday, some of those walks might not be his fault.

The most important thing is that he's happy with his stuff, which should translate to good things for the Cardinals.

Offensively, Khalil Greene was the only Cardinal with two hits, pushing his spring average back over the .400 mark.

Save a few of those hits for the regular season, Khalil!

Someone wrote me yesterday asking about Shane Robinson and why he was still in camp. Right now, it appears to be just a depth issue, but he's definitely making his mark there.

Robinson had the winning RBI on Sunday and then belted a home run in the ninth yesterday. You have to think if he starts off well at Memphis, it's really going to push John Mozeliak to move an outfielder.

Speaking of the GM, he talked about the roster construction yesterday. Most everything is settled, which we pretty much knew.

Between Rasmus, Joe Mather, Brendan Ryan, Brian Barden, and Joe Thurston, someone will be heading to Memphis. My guess is Barden, unless they feel Mather needs some regular work to get back into the swing of things.

One person that won't be playing on Opening Day is Troy Glaus, who headed back to California to have his shoulder examined yesterday.

It's not necessarily a setback, since he was going to have to have it examined sometime, but until we hear the results and have him rehabbing, you can't count on his return.

LaRussa hopes for a May 1 return, but I'd be pretty shocked if that happened. If he's back before Memorial Day, count it a victory.

David Freese's message to Troy: "Hey, take your time. I've got it covered."

The Cards put their closest thing to an Opening Day lineup on the field today against the Red Sox.

As Derrick Goold noted in the UCB Radio Hour, this team will stay up in Fort Myers and face the Twins Sunday, while a B team will be used in the home game on Saturday.

Kyle Lohse takes the mound today, hoping to continue the streak of good starting pitching the team has enjoyed. Here's hoping he does!