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Too bad Pedro stayed home.

I wanted to see Carpenter start over Clemens, but I agree that Clemens has been the better pitcher this season and deserves it more based on his numbers. But I do not agree that Willis deserved to start over Carpenter. Willis only leads him in ERA, and not by much. And over the past month and two starts Carpenter has clearly been pitching better than Willis. Plus, if Carpenter starts, Willis gets to pitch to his normal catcher LoDuca, since Piazza has to start.

After having a terrific 100 at bats when he got called up in 2003 his hitting really trailed off because he refused to lay off pitches out of the zone. After 2003 he has pretty much been in the minors the past two years. He comes to spring training and has had a few call ups. His defense is good, it's his hitting that needs work. After a terrible start in Memphis this season his BA is up to .270 now, so it looks like he's improving. He's already 28, though, so he doesn't have all that much time to put it all together if he wants to make it back to the majors.

Sure, because you weren't looking for them. Did you watch a lot of Rockies games, by the way?

"Classic comeback!" "Incineration!" "You're the insult master!" Why do Cardinal fans have to be some of the coolest guys one here? BE A CUBS FAN. Thanks, but no thanks.

Do you have astigmatism?

"Classic comeback!" "Incineration!" "You're the insult master!"

When they won 105 games and went to the World Series? Last year sucked. As I recall Morris and Carpenter weren't a huge part of that by the end of the season because of ineffectiveness and injury respectively. Carpenter went down with nerve irritation in his elbow late in the season and Morris battled all year. But the each had 15 wins when it was all said and done, so 30 wins between them. Nothing to scoff at.

When they won 105 games and went to the World Series? Last year sucked.

He said that but at this point what could he possibly get for him? He has a lower trade value now than he ever has in his life.

I think it should be Carpenter, and that is not just the Cardinals homer in my talking. Clemens has started enough all-star games, and we all saw what happened the last time he had Piazza catching him. Willis is deserving, but Carpenter is equally deserving. Neither one of them is hotter than Carpenter right now. His stats from June and his two starts in July are amazing. For some reason the national media seems dead set on starting Clemens or Willis. But for the past month-plus Carpenter has been better than both of them.

Yadier Molina is awesome.

that's fine, she's not really all that hot. No she's not all that hot. But she is a beautiful woman who drives race cars. So she's cool. I'm prouder that Billy Bob Thornton is a Cardinal fan. (Insert redneck jokes here.) That means that while they were married, a Cardinal fan was tagging Angelina Jolie. And now Brad Pitt, another Cardinal fan . . .

That's a shame. Nonsense. The only shame was that Albert's 17 game hitting streak stopped tonight.

Great game tonight. Carpenter and Vazquez were both lights out. That 9th inning was a glorious thing. Molina doubles to lead off. TLR sends in So to pinch run. Nunez bunts So over to third. Eckstein succesfuly lays down the suicide squeeze bunt on a very tough pitch. Closer comes in and gets it done. Carpenter gets win number 13. Nice night. By the way Danica Patrick has been at the games this series. Apparently she's a Cardinals fan. :D

Good piece on OTL tonight on the triple crown. General consensus is that Pujols and Arod probably have the best chance of winning it in the near future. The kicker though came at the very end when the stat-guy from baseball prospectus said emphatically that Lee's shot at the triple crown this season is being "killed by Corey Patterson and Neifi Perez." Maybe Dusty Baker was watching. p.s. Somebody tell Peter Gammons that the Nationals DO NOT have the best record in the NL. Tonight was at least the second time this week that he has said that.

It's always bad times when someone affiliated with the team visits a message board. Dave Duncan visited Cards Talk once anonymously, posted something (I think something positive about Chuck Finley but I could be wrong) and he got ripped to shreds by a ton of posters. When they found out it was Dunc, the anti-Duncussa or LaDuncan (whichever you prefer) faction came out of the woodwork and made fun of him to no end. It was ugly. How did anyone know it was Duncan? Did he talk about it to the press or something?

I'm sure coaching helps a little, but I don't think it is the main factor. The first factor is that quality guys are acquired to begin with. Nunez was signed on the recommendation of Jim Leyland, who had watched him for years in Pittsburgh. He had been good there, but mired in that team's general losing ways. Mabry has had good major league seasons in the past so has proven capable of doing what he's doing. Taguchi is probably the most fundamentally sound player on the team. That combined with hard work at learning the American game has brought him success. The second reason is Walt Jocketty. Over the past few years he seems to have shown a knack for picking guys that might have underperformed on other teams, or who's relationship with their team has soured, but who by all accounts is a great personality and a ballplayer with tools. He plugs them into our system and, ta da, they start producing. That system is the biggest factor. TLR uses his bench very well. He gets them a lot of work to keep them sharp, and he is very good at putting them in matchups where they are more likely to have success. They are surrounded by so many good players that no one guy is trying to carry the team. The whole idea is to win games and all the players are very unselfish in that regard. Some of these bench guys come from losing teams to a team that expects to win every game. I think being surrounded by great hitters in an atmosphere of winning elevates their games.

They should bring Big Mac out of retirement to represent the USA. Give him the okay to pump up on roids a few days before the event and watch him hit some absolute bombs for old-times sake. Remember him in the HR Derby in Boston? That was absurd.

MLB has just announced the Japan will be represented by So Taguchi. Gooch has been killing the ball lately.

How Dusty still has a job is beyond me.

Off the top of my head he's been able to throw it pretty consistenly around 93 this season, occasionaly hitting 95 or so. Last season, 2004, he was lucky to throw one 90. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong this is just my general impression.

They very well might get a guy like you suggest. We could use more right handed power off the bench and somebody who can pinch hit since we have the worst pinch hitting in the league or something like that. But if they do get a big name guy before the deadline he can still get a lot of playing time because TLR sits both Walker and Reggie a lot because of their age. He could alternate between left and right. So as long as the guy is willing to put up with that for half a season it would be okay. Then next year Walker will be gone and maybe Sanders and he would get all the time in one of those corner spots. This season it will be a little like too many cooks in the kitchen, though, I agree.

I know gut feeling is to think of Lee as far and away a better defensive first baseman. All I can say is look at the numbers. Defensive stats are usually deceptive. All I can say is watch them play. Lee is just better, it has nothing to do with gut feeling. Also Lee has an advantage over Pujols: sheer size. He can pick and stretch for balls that Albert can't and never will be able to get to. Derreks combination of size and quickness is something that Albert can never match. That's not to denegrate Pujols, but unless he turns into Stretch Armstrong, that's just the way it will always be. Back to the stats; they tell us that Rafael Palmeiro and Paul Konerko have more range than Todd Helton and Derrek Lee, wich is ludicrous. They also tell us that Eric Hinske and Phil Nevin, who are statuesque at best, have a higher ZR than Pujols. Or how about this one: Jim Edmonds is 11th in ZR and 13th in RF. Do you buy what that says? And Rolen is waaaaaaay down the list in all three defensive percentage stats, even though he is the best defensive 3B there is. Even in 2004 and 2003 Rolen trailed many inferior defenders in all three categories. Did you know Aramis had more range in 2003 (his worst defensive season) than Rolen? That what the stats say. And that Andruw Jones, who has more range in CF than anyone on earth, is 14th in RF? I could do this all day. I think the implication is crystal clear, though. The stats are completely unreliable. Quantifying defensive prowess statistically has yet to be done with any kind of accuracy. You don't need a slide rule and calculator to know that Lee is a better defender than Pujols, just the same as you know Rolen is better than those many ahead of him statistically. Well argued. I must concede the point. Pujols is still a much better defender than people give him credit for, though.

Thank you very much. I enjoy posting here a great deal. I wish there were a Cardinals forum as good as this one. Agree 100% And as far as Trades go, if we get Venon Wells, I don't know what I'd do. Walt is going to do something, but as usual we won't see it coming. If we get Wells, Dunn, or Mench I will just totally freak out. I actually couldn't sleep last night because I lay awake thinking about who we might get and getting all excited about it (not in that way). Also, when I go to sleep and think back on the day in baseball I find myself thinking, "I can't believe we actually have Albert Pujols." It's like some kind of prayer in a way.