Friar Watch

Even though we’ve been soundly trounced in the playoffs by the Cardinals two years in a row I’ve always had a hard time working up any real hatred of the team. They have probably the best fan base in baseball (sorry Boston), a rich history and none of the players are real A-holes (Pujols can be a bit of a jerk but he’s no Bonds and besides, he really is that damn good). It’s even harder to hate them in light of the recent Josh Hamilton tragedy, something the Padres went through in 2002 with Mike Darr’s death.

Let’s take a look at some Cardinals blogs and see what’s happening in Bird Land:

lboros at Viva El Birdos (shouldn’t that be Viva Los Birdos?) suggests the Cardinals reimburse fans for cab rides home from the ballpark. A noble suggestion but I can think of one big flaw. Far more people leave the park sober than drunk and a free cab ride home sure beats paying $15 or $20 for parking.

lboros also points out the fallacy that the Cards are struggling because their rich owner won’t shell out money for big free agents (sound familiar?):

ken rosenthal cited “questions about the commitment of ownership” in his article yesterday; an even more strident critique appeared at si.com, where jon heyman wrote: “[T]he Cardinals’ problems go right to the top, to the owner, Bill DeWitt Jr., a rich guy determined to hold on to his money.”
that might be an accurate portryal of the st louis ownership, but it’s not sound analysis of the cardinals’ current woes. the cards are losing because three high-priced veterans — carpenter, rolen, and edmonds — are contributing nothing and a fourth (pujols) is well off his game.

Dan at Get Up Baby reports Rick Ankiel played one of the cruelest April Fool’s jokes ever:

He played an April Fools’ Day joke on pitching coach Dyar Miller, declaring himself ready to return to the mound.

“I got him,” Ankiel said later with a mischievous smile.

Ouch. Maybe all this talk of Phil Nevin returning to the Padres is a belated April Fool’s joke.

ryan vb at Cardinals Diaspora bemoans the collapse of the mighty Cardinals:

Nevertheless, the Cards are still nine games behind the once boutique pick Brewers in the Central, and Baseball Prospectus’ postseason odds gives them just a 3.98% chance of making the playoffs at all. And it’s this fact that promises to make the 2007 season the Cards’ most dramatic yet, because for the first time in a long time, the Cards could seriously be faced with deciding whether or not to have a sell off/build for next year year.

Given the recent tragedy I hate to say we should kick a team when they’re down but this seems like a good time to catch the Cardinals. The only thing that worries me is Kip Wells is starting tonight and the Padres always seem to struggle against guys with high ERAs. Of course the Padres bats seem to struggle against everyone so I suppose it’s to be expected. At least we have Peavy on the hill tonight. Plus tonight is retro night so we have the sweet brown and yellow unis going for us. I hope Jake does his traditional old school double pump windup on the first pitch. Actually I’d like to see Jake take the mound wearing a giant Randy Jones perm-fro wig.

Experience it!!