Monday, June 05, 2006
The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives
So, no Albert. Well then.
Whatever. It sucks to lose both the Cy Young and MVP to injury (though I think Carpenter should be back this week, yes?). Can't really do anything about it right now. We saw what happened to the Cubs after Lee went down, but I think the Cardinals are better equipped to weather Pujols' injury. For starters, the Cubs' leadoff guy has an OBP of .282. Gah. Eckstein? Yeah, his OBP is .392. Of course that doesn't mean jack if there's no one to drive him in, but Rolen is looking quite nice, Encarnacion has been picking it up, and if Jimmy can stay in the lineup he's (almost) always useful. Even Yadi is batting above .200 now. Throw in Taguchi and Luna and Spiezio and chances are the Cards won't be shut out.
And that's good, especially if Marquis can't get his head in the game or Mulder can't get out of his funk.
I don't want to be too Cardinal-colored-glasses-wearing. All the scrappy bench players in the world can't replace Pujols. Chris Duncan may be a serviceable major leaguer, we'll see, but I know Albert Pujols, and he's no Albert Pujols. There's still roughly two months before the trading deadline. As long as Walt knows the answer is never, ever Phil Nevin. When they've lost 10 straight and Miles is brought in to relieve in the 6th? Then I'll panic.
In the mean time, join Red Hot Mama and I for some long overdue smack talk tonight. It's pickles versus soup. The Reds are annoyingly close in the standings and harbor delusions of grandeur.
Whatever. It sucks to lose both the Cy Young and MVP to injury (though I think Carpenter should be back this week, yes?). Can't really do anything about it right now. We saw what happened to the Cubs after Lee went down, but I think the Cardinals are better equipped to weather Pujols' injury. For starters, the Cubs' leadoff guy has an OBP of .282. Gah. Eckstein? Yeah, his OBP is .392. Of course that doesn't mean jack if there's no one to drive him in, but Rolen is looking quite nice, Encarnacion has been picking it up, and if Jimmy can stay in the lineup he's (almost) always useful. Even Yadi is batting above .200 now. Throw in Taguchi and Luna and Spiezio and chances are the Cards won't be shut out.
And that's good, especially if Marquis can't get his head in the game or Mulder can't get out of his funk.
I don't want to be too Cardinal-colored-glasses-wearing. All the scrappy bench players in the world can't replace Pujols. Chris Duncan may be a serviceable major leaguer, we'll see, but I know Albert Pujols, and he's no Albert Pujols. There's still roughly two months before the trading deadline. As long as Walt knows the answer is never, ever Phil Nevin. When they've lost 10 straight and Miles is brought in to relieve in the 6th? Then I'll panic.
In the mean time, join Red Hot Mama and I for some long overdue smack talk tonight. It's pickles versus soup. The Reds are annoyingly close in the standings and harbor delusions of grandeur.
