attn june

lohud blah blah:
"Meanwhile, good luck to Ron Villone. He signed a minor-league deal with the Cardinals today."


good god

Labels: birds on bat

la la la

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen may waive his no-trade clause to escape manager Tony La Russa, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Monday.

Rolen, who has battled shoulder problems the last two years, was benched for a few games during the 2006 postseason, causing a rift between he and La Russa, who just signed a two-year contract extension.

The two claimed they had patched up any differences, but it was obvious there were problems between the two and according to the report, the club now acknowledges the problem. [msnbc]

Labels: birds on bat

most underwhelming headline ever?

zzz.

Labels: birds on bat

!!!

Let the Rick Ankiel era begin -- again.

The St. Louis Cardinals purchased the contract of Ankiel from Triple-A Memphis on Thursday, and the outfielder is expected to be in the starting lineup for tonight's game against the Padres. [milb]

edit: danup = made of awesome.

Labels: birds on bat, squee

qotd

"good thing you didn't catch the padres game on monday. you may have heard about it by now, but in any event towards the end of the game matt vasgergian thought he had his mute button on and was talking to tony gwynn, but gwynn's mic was still live. vasgergian said that cards fans need to get back in their el caminos and go back to the ozarks and that he's tired of coming to this shithole and having the team get the shit kicked out of them and he never wants to set foot in st. louis again and he's not going to come back next time." - high and tight mike

Labels: birds on bat, i don't even know, quote of

second best minor league promotion ever?

rick babe ruth ankiel comic book day! (thx dan, who also gets mini qotd: "Man, I’m beginning to lose patience with this team. They can’t even fall out of contention right.")

speaking of, one of my favorite things to read over at the milb site is the weekly promotions roundup. it's too wonderfully snarky and fun:

In a prime example of mankind's remarkable ability to evolve and adapt, Minor League promotion directors keep finding new body parts that can be "bobbled." Just six days after the Stockton Ports' "Fonzie Bobble Arm" giveaway, the Whitecaps will be distributing 1,000 "Ty Cobb Bobblefoot Dolls" prior to Tuesday's contest against the Chiefs. These items -- fittingly sponsored by Foot and Ankle Specialists of West Michigan -- feature a determined-looking Cobb sliding into a base. His foot bobbles menacingly, no doubt looking for an opposing bobblefielder it can brutally spike.

Labels: birds on bat, milb, things that are funny

qot night, and assorted stream of consciousness psychobabble about that team i've been neglecting

"shelley duncan hit 25 home runs at AAA, so he IS a power hitter." - joe morgan, with authority, during chris duncan's at bat just now

yeah chipper, scotty woulda had that

apparently ryan howard hitting 50 billion home runs last year is reason enough for humpty dumpty jon miller be shocked and appalled that howard was not included on the all star team THIS year. OH, THE HUMANITY.

watching izzy just now reminds me that i never shared this fantastic danup quote: "By my estimation, we’re finally seeing the old Jason Isringhausen–not the broken 2006 model, or the unhittable early-2007 model, but the most terrifying elite closer in baseball, loading the bases and making inadvisable bare-handed grabs and generally acting like he does not care at all that he’s the shutdown closer of a Major League Baseball team. Giving up a double and striking out the side? Classic Izzy."

dane cook? don't tell me about baseball, or why i love baseball, or anything involving baseball. stick to your shitty boring comedy and leave me alone.

THE MIGHTY ECKSTEIN HAS STRUCK OUT!

which, naturally, they follow up with some a them statistic thingies that say he's hard to strike out so.. yeah, still pretty much the best little player ever!

i like how five minutes ago i was thinking that miles-eckstein-shumaker was the least terrifying/most depressing part of an order since any two names+wil nieves and skip goes and hits one out. well done indeed.

scott rolen! somewhere juney is shrieking. if not, i just might have done it for her.

Labels: birds on bat, quote of

Those who saw it still talk about "the bomb" Rick Ankiel drove over the right-field fence last month, over a berm and past a walkway at Round Rock's Dell Diamond. They talk about his right fielder's arm, center fielder's speed and his aptitude for learning a proper drop step needed to run down balls hit over his head.

And lately, the only organization Ankiel has ever known has pondered the proper time for promoting its former star-crossed pitcher to St. Louis as a position player. As the talk grows louder, Ankiel reminds himself not to listen.

"I just get excited about being successful," he says. "I try not to get too excited about where I'm at now because you never know what's going to happen."

No one is more entitled to that philosophy than Ankiel.

Ten years after being drafted, seven years after winning 11 games as a too-young-to-drink rookie lefthander and six years after virtually vanishing from the major leagues, Ankiel is close to accomplishing the truly Ruthian feat of moving from a major-league starting rotation to outfield. In between he has experienced a lifetime's worth of professional and personal angst. His return would represent an organizational as well as a personal triumph.

"I want to go up there and stay there and play for years," Ankiel says. "I don't want this to be a novelty where people say, 'Wow, look, he made it back' and then I go away."

Ankiel has had enough of being someone's novelty. He lived it for the last five years of his pitching existence, until his inability to retain command of his brilliant assortment proved too much to carry.

Now a month shy of turning 28 and one of only two remaining players in the organization from the 2000 NL Central Division championship team, Ankiel is ready for something else.

"I'm 27 now," he says. "I need to prove I can play or get out of the way." [stl post dispatch]

Labels: birds on bat

ha!

izzy appears to be back where he belongs so that means mo's yearly hiccup is over, right guys?

Labels: %#^%*$, birds on bat

honestly

my reaction would have been about the same

When the Cardinals' center fielder arrived at Minute Maid Park, Edmonds was so certain he was in the starting lineup against Houston Astros lefthander Wandy Rodriguez that he didn't check the card manager Tony La Russa posted on the clubhouse wall. So Taguchi, not Edmonds, received the assignment, prompting Edmonds to offer, "You're kidding." [stl today]

Labels: birds on bat

quote of the evening

"WHAT IN THE GOOD GREAT GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING SHIT." -- juney

Labels: birds on bat, hmph, quote of

quotes of the first day of the season

"Even when he's not doing anything [jose reyes is] the most exciting player in the game." - joe morgan

"And Jose Reyes is the most exciting player in the game. He can just stand there and be exciting. I'm sure Joe Morgan could watch the guy take a dump and get excited....just needed to get that off my chest." - veb

this was all i heard: "ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING APPROACHES TO A GROUNDER THAT YOULL EVER SEE!!!11 WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW AN INFIELDER SPRINT TOWARDS A BALL!!!11 SLURP SLURP SLURP!"

Labels: birds on bat, hmph, quote of

did i post this already?

don't care. it never gets old.

Labels: birds on bat, youtube

i always say i love you when i mean turn out the light

"A rabid newspaper, Internet and chat room reader, Isringhausen felt the hostility before reaching the park each day." [stl post dispatch]

poor izzy. so sensitive! who knew? beneath that scowly veneer is an unsure little boy yearning for acceptance. as they say in the interweb parlance of our times, ilu bb!

Labels: birds on bat

:/

Rumored deals for the New York Yankees' Carl Pavano or the Philadelphia Phillies' Jon Lieber carry little heft, according to club sources, though the Cardinals have asked to examine the oft-injured Pavano's medical records. [stl post-dispatch]

Labels: birds on bat

know how homer has those intense conversations with his brain?

yeah, i just did that. i saw an ontd item on james gunn's red hat nation which mentioned a gilmore girls affiliated brother, whose bio blurb stated "cousin of mark gunn." wondering just how many frigging gunns there are, i clicked through sean's bio, and onto james', and there began my homer moment of the day: "irish catholic... st louis... brian gunn... 2gether... hey, wait.... st louis... brian gunn [pause. pause. pause. pause. pause.] OH."

Labels: birds on bat

vomit everywhere

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Luis Gonzalez is leaning heavily toward signing a one-year deal with the Cardinals, possibly as soon as next week.
Some have speculated that Gonzalez would prefer to stay in the NL West with the Giants or Dodgers, allowing him to punish the Diamondbacks for letting him go. If the Cardinals made him their left fielder, there wouldn't be any room left for Chris Duncan, who was only the club's second best hitter once he got his chance last season. They would likely consider trading Juan Encarnacion, but it's doubtful there'd be a lot of interest. Nov. 11 - 11:02 am et [rotoworld]

Labels: birds on bat

calloo callay pt 2

The Cardinals locked up the dean of their roster and one of their core players on Friday, agreeing to a two-year contract extension with center fielder Jim Edmonds. The deal ensures that Edmonds will be a Cardinal through the 2008 season.

[mlb.com]

Labels: birds on bat

i should just call it the scott rolen quote of the day

on last night's home run: “The ball’s in the air, and I’m trying to figure out, how’s this one going to screw up? What’s going to happen here? Is it going to hit a tree?”

on that weird interference play: “I got up and tried to score, slid into a dead play at the plate and ran back and got my helmet like the guy in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ looking for his arm.”

Labels: birds on bat, quote of, things that are funny

quote of the day

"Swift kick in the … leg – the shin." -- scott rolen, on how it felt watching endy chavez's spectacular and fucking devastating-at-the-time leaping catch

Labels: birds on bat, quote of, things that are funny