Fred Burke

Who? Juan or Jacque? Can I be the founder of the "Release Juan Encarnacion Bandwagon," by the way? Maybe CardsFanInChiTown and I can be co-founders since we both seem to hate him more than most. I'd get on that bandwagon. I shook my head when the Cards signed him. I remember him from his days in Detroit. A poor option, to put it mildly. Incidentally, he and Jose Macias were on the Tigers together. IMHO, RF is more of a problem for us than LF.

Hello, everyone. This is my first post here. I would just like that I'm glad to be here, but I must say I am a Cardinal fan, but I look forward to talking baseball with you all. I was indeed disappointed with the Cards performance against the Astros, it seemed too reminiscent of the WS against the Red Sox. In regards to LaRussa's managing style, I have gradually began to believe that a change is necessary for the Cards. LaRussa seems to be very uptight during the playoffs (his single WS championship no doubt weighing on his mind) and that attitude may transmit to his players. Plus, his over-realiance on "veterans" may hurt us as well. After 162 games and various injuries, veterans may be too tired to perform up to snuff in the playoffs. It seemed to me the only Cards to hit the ball with any semblance of consistency were Pujols, Molina, Eckstein, and Rodriguez, all 30 or younger. All in all, I hope LaRussa opens his mind to younger talent and learns to be more relax and be more aggressive during the playoffs. I remarked to a friend of mine during the past series "The Astros are winning right now because they're playing just like the Cardinals did during the regular season." For whatever reason, LaRussa's team becomes as stiff as a corpse during the post-season. I hope it changes... That said, I'm glad to be here and look forward to posting here in the future.