Launching In Houston

Is there any way the Cardinals can arrange to play October facing Houston?Whatever the reason, either the ball park or just good timing, the St. Louis bats have woken up on their trip down south.  The 11 runs that the Cards scored last night equals the total runs scored by the Redbirds in their last five home games combined.  You could say that the offense has enjoyed this trip so far.

Joel Pineiro had one of those games that you really wanted to see.  With his struggles of late, you wanted to see if he could return to that dominant form that he had most of 2009.  Because if he can be that kind of pitcher, the Cardinals have a much better chance in October.  It’s hard to tell if he was completely back, given the fact that he faced a weaker Houston team who seem a bit dispirited by the firing of Cecil Cooper earlier in the week, but it definitely gave hope to Cardinal Nation.

Plenty of good things to note about the offense as well.  You have to like see Colby Rasmus not only getting three hits and scoring three runs, but also hitting a home run off of a left-hander.  Albert Pujols still didn’t hit a home run, but he did get a couple of hits.  Rick Ankiel had two hits, including a triple, and it’d been a long time since Yadier Molina had gone yard.  When this offense really is going, it’s a beautiful thing to behold.

When you think about it, the Cards are in good shape to get their offense rolling into October. They’ve got this Houston series, then they go to Colorado.  While the Rockies are post-season bound as well and are pitching better than they traditionally do, that ballpark is still a good place to hit.  Then they go to Cincinnati, which is a great ballpark to hit in as well.  Finally, they wrap with Milwaukee at home.  Milwaukee has been tough at times on the Cards this year, but depending on the pitching matchups (and the fact that the Brewers will be pretty much ready for the winter) it could be a nice thing for the Cardinal offense as well.

A Goat?  I gotta come up with a goat for this one?  I’d say Julio Lugo for his 0 for 4.  Even then, he scored a run and drove one in, so you can’t do that.  I guess we’ll go with Trever Miller, who allowed two hits and a run in his third of an inning.  Not a real issue when you are up 10-1, but it’s the weakest performance of the night.

Not only will the current roster be visiting Colorado, but the AAA reinforcements finally arrive after Memphis lost in the AAA unification game last night in Oklahoma City.  So now we’ll see David Freese, Josh Kinney, Tyler Greene and Matt Pagnozzi.

Not seen on that last is the player that seemed to be the most obvious callup–Allen Craig.  Craig had an outstanding season, one of the main reasons Memphis won the PCL Championship.  He’s done everything the organization has asked of him, moving positions, etc.  What more does he have to do to get a call up?

The rationales seem to be that he’s not on the 40-man roster and he wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time.  However, there is still room on the 40-man.  Right now, there are 38 players, though they’ll have to add Matt Pagnozzi (funny, the 40-man wasn’t a problem for him…) to it. If the issue is the long-term management of the 40-man, I don’t see that as a problem either.  There are players that are going to come off of it this off-season via free agency, if nothing else (players like Ankiel, Pineiro, etc.) and some “prospects” that could be removed from the 40-man and risk their pickup by another organization.  I mean, most people haven’t figured out why Matthew Scherer was put on the list at all in the first place!

As for playing time, I think that’s a crock as well.  Look, there’s 10 games left in the season, 9 by time these guys actually join up with the team.  Exactly how many ABs do you think someone like Pagnozzi is going to get?  Maybe one start?  Middle infield is pretty full now, you think Tyler Greene is going to play in five games?  Even if these guys do get to play and they’d not be able to find a spot for Craig to get some ABs, though, it’s still wrong.  This guy deserves to get the call, to be a big leaguer for a few days.  He deserves to sit on the bench and soak up the atmosphere.  He deserves to be at Closing Day at Busch, to enjoy hearing the fans and seeing how things are done at the highest level.  He could definitely pinch-hit and give more of an option than Joe Thurston, for example.  It’s pretty obvious Troy Glaus isn’t going to play again this year, so he could help out in that regard as well.

All in all, it really appears that this organization has something against Craig and I’m not sure what it is.  I just think it’s shameful that he didn’t get the call as a reward after his wonderful season.

Apparently Wagner Mateo’s eye injury is bad, because the Cardinals went ahead and voided his contract yesterday.  (Which probably gives me the award for Worst Scheduling.  If I’d waited to schedule the UCB Top 7 Prospects to this week, things would have looked a lot different.)  You definitely feel bad for Mateo and hope that he can sign on with some other team and at least get a chance to play, but it really sounds like the physical limitations may be too much.

In hopefully minor news, Albert Pujols jammed his wrist last night.  It doesn’t appear serious and he should play tonight, but it may be something to keep an eye on.

Lots of interactive chances today in Cardinal Nation.  Joe Strauss has his weekly chat over at the Post-Dispatch site at 1:00 pm, Fox Sports Midwest is having their weekly live blog tonight during the game (with the best comments and questions again making the broadcast), and the United Cardinal Bloggers Radio Hour will be here at 9:30 tonight, waiting for your calls.  Your hosts tonight are Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth and Dustin from Whiteyball.

Should be a fun night!  Let’s see the Cubs lose quickly so the Cards can win and clinch it on the field!

Daniel Shoptaw is the founder of “C70 At The Bat,” where he regularly writes about his beloved St. Louis Cardinals.  You can find more of his work here.