Birdinal5

Who the hell are you talking to with that post? Are you replying from a different thread or something? And thanks for the donation to the Jim Edmonds fund. Replying to this thread in general and the board's (including your) idea that Edmonds doing so well is really sticking it to the Cardinals. There's two ways you (again, a general "you" since you are so concerned with exactly who I am talking to) seem to think he can stick it to the team: 1) Hitting well directly against the Cards like yesterday (which I agree with as being the best way to "stick it to your former team") and 2) hitting well for the Cubs in general. #2's sentiment, which you can plainly see by reading posts in any Edmonds-related thread, is not very strong at all. This is because the Cardinals themselves are doing just fine without Edmonds due to Ankiel, so the subtraction wasn't really a subtraction at all. What exactly, then, is being shoved into the Cardinal's faces? Jimmy is doing well, but Ankiel is doing just as well if not better at a younger age. My point is that anyone trying to relate this to the Cardinals making a mistake with Edmonds or that Edmonds has really buried the Cardinals is not looking at who replaced him, a better player. I have, to date, paid $0.00 to Jim Edmonds. Thanks for today's winning pitcher.

You guys said it, the Cubs have 38 year old Jimmy Edmonds and the Cards totally got the shaft by paying a whole 900K to a guy who (in 146 games in '07 and '08) is only hitting .281 with 148 hits (29 HRs), 99 RBIs and OPSing (everyone's absolute favorite stat!) a mere .880. And Oh the fielding difference! This goober the Cards replaced Edmonds with is fielding .977 this year. Edmonds career mark is .989 and this year he is destroying our guy with a .967 mark with the Cubs. Biggest fault against our guy? Either his [expletive] rocket arm that has the annoying knack of bruising the catcher's hand from warning track throws or the fact that he is already 29 years old. Yep, the Cards made a fatal error in "moving on" with this Ankiel character. I wish Jimmy the best and the Cubs the worst. Congrats on Jimmy's success, as I said when I first joined this board, I thought you guys would come to love him.

I'd rather the Cardinals just go ahead and win the division, but I'll take a WC berth. 2006 kinda worked out in the end. :wink:

5% is about the chance I'd give the Cardinals of winning the division while both the Brewers AND Cubs spiral out of the playoff picture completely, not simply making the playoffs. Unlikely. Since when is .5 games back of the Wild card grounds for saying that they have a 95% chance of not overtaking that team and remaining above the others? I'm tired of everyone picking and choosing when recent stats are significant and when they are not. Example arguments from this very board: The Cards have been playing near .500 baseball recently so that will obviously continue and they will miss the playoffs. But on the other hand, Ludwick's recent success is only a fluke and there is no way he can keep up the pace he has been setting this year. A little bit hypocritical maybe? The Cards are 5.5 games back of the Cubs and .5 out of the wild card. 5% of making the playoffs? Keep dreaming. If thats the case around here I give the Cubs a 1% chance of winning the world series, just look at the trend in the most recent 100 years... How does your own medicine taste? Nobody here in STL or CoMo is claiming that the Cubs aren't talented, not favorites to win the division or that the Cards are guaranteed a playoff spot. Be realistic, there is a lot of baseball left to be played.

8 games out? Unlikely. I still don't understand where Cubs fans are getting this sense of entitlement to the division crown. That team of "scrap metal" and "rejects" has played your team of God's gifts to baseball to an even split and you play it off as luck. Ludwick was a highly touted prospect until he ran into a string of injuries. If those hadn't happened he would probably have been playing near this level years ago for another team. Ankiel is one of the best athletes in baseball, so his success isn't that baffling. Pujols? Who's this guy? Schumaker has been a good Cards prospect for a while, but as Cubs fans you aren't that familiar with him. Just as I was like "Who the hell is this Theriot turd?" earlier in the season. The bias in this place when talking about the Cards is unbelievable. I expected a lot since this is a Cubs fan board, but I bet you don't play Soto's performance off as pixie dust. Cards are a few back and you are afraid of the history you try so desperately to say is irrelavant. While it has no real impact on the games this year (just as players' performances years before only correlate and do not determine their performance this year) we are in your collective dome!

http://www.dealbreaker.com/images/entries/McDonalds%20I

They should just create a computer that simply judges the winner based on previous stats. No need to bother with games, just extrapolate! Based on previous years and the talent still playing games in the minors: They've announced that the Cardinals have won the World Series in '10, '11, '19, '23, and '30. Cubs had a chance in '16 but a robotic Bartman intercepted the game result printout and "accidentally" changed the 4-1 series result to 4-7 with a sharpie. No questions were asked since the computer hadn't been wrong since a bug allowed it to award the '12 WS to the Washington Senators.

People keep saying that they are overachieving, but I don't think you can say something like that until the season is over or a few seasons pass. What if this is just the beginning for the likes of Ankiel, Schumaker, Ludwick, McClellan, Wainwright and the rest? What if they repeat this performance next year and keep getting better? Was it overachieving then? No. It was a young team just getting started. If next year with basically the same group of guys they lose 85 games or so then yeah they probably were overachieving, but as for right now you can only say that they are playing better than expected. These "overachieving" numbers from Ankiel and Ludwick may just be their normal numbers given playing time. It's hard for a team to go weeks without its best hitter. A full season without its best pitcher and then more missed time from his replacement. I wonder if Harden goes down if Cubs fans will blame any slowing down on injuries... I agree, as the numbers show, that the Cardinals have slowed down. But slowing down to just over .500 baseball in the NL is cruising to a potential WC berth.

What an awesome comeback for Mulder. :roll: If the doctors say that this injury requires surgery or another long time out I think Mulder will retire. He has already said that he will not try another surgery recovery. Even if we assume the worst from Carpenter (he doesnt pitch well when he comes back) the Cards will still get Wainwright back and our starters (espescially Piniero and Looper) have not shown any performance decline yet. I've still yet to see a valid reason why the Cards won't be in this race when they have been since the start.

Getting Wainwright back may help, but I wouldn't count on anything from Carpenter. Not expecting Cy Young Carp back, but even at 85% he is better than most MLB starters. Also, they've taken his rehab slowly and not pushed anything. I think he'll at least be able to contribute, plus with Lohse, Looper, Piniero and Wainwright pitching well we won't need him to be lights out.

I've yet to see reason 1 why everyone seems to think the Cardinals will "fade." They haven't been playing as well lately, but many forget that at the times when most teams start getting injuries and starters begin to lose stamina the Cardinals will have Mulder, Carpenter and Wainwright returning. This will send at least 2 of Looper, Wellemeyer, Piniero or Lohse to the bullpen. The Cubs made a trade to get Harden and the Brewers mortgaged a big part of their future to get Sabathia. The Cards are on the verge of trading nothing for Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright back. In that 28-28 stretch someone cited the Cards were without Pujols for a while, Wainwright, Pineiro missed some starts as well as Wellemeyer. The Cards have been in this for over half the season now and it's time to accept that the Cubs haven't earned the division crown yet.

I've been to 19 MLB ballparks, and I've attended hundreds of games in STL in my lifetime. Your fans are no more respectful or observant than the majority of the other fans out there. It becomes obnoxious when they are quick to acknowledge how observant and respectful they think they are... If you read what I said I never used a superlative in regard to our fans versus others. I just said very observant and respectful, which if you refute you haven't been to or watched any Cards games w/o a severe Cubs bias. Our fans ARE respectful and observant just like I assume your fans are. Since I rarely watch Cubs home games that don't involve the Birds I can't comment past seeing the rowdy fans that are there during Cards games (just as ours are rowdy during Cubs games). Bernie is quite often a turd. Like I said I think he should get the standing O his first at-bat back here (even though he returned w/SD) and after that he can be treated as a Cub(booed) or as Jimmy Ballgame(cheered), I don't care.

Happy 4th Cubs fans! Get ready for some outstanding baseball!

With 13 pitchers you only have 4 guys to pinch hit, and one of them is the catcher. He probably didn't want to burn any more pinch hitters than absolutely necessary. Yeah, but keeping 13 pitchers is another head-scratcher. Silly La Russa That dummy, who does he think he is? The third-winningest manager of all time or something? He should thank Dave Duncan for that. Duncan is the genius there. Can't disagree there. They are a potent combo, but Duncan doesn't make all the lineup decisions either. Pinning it all on one or the other isn't right. It's a joint effort, and an outstanding one at that.

I've said why Cards fans should applaud him and I don't think that my reasons are just for show. You keep trying to bait me with the classy organization stereotype, I really don't understand it. Just because some Cards fans are quick to point out that our fans are indeed very observant and respectful doesn't mean that every display of "class" is done simply to keep the reputation in tact. I'm gonna put this little guy in here as my last point. :stickman:

Your words, not mine; but thanks for the compliment. That comment was soaked with sarcasm... :eek: I live in STL, and I can tell you firsthand that there's very few Cardinal fans around that have anything nice to say about Edmonds - have you forgotten how your relationship ended on a sour note? No, but I also haven't forgotten everything he did for the franchise. Including restructuring his contract multiple times to accomodate resigning Pujols and other FA's. It was sour, but I think ultimately the decision worked out for both parties. The Cardinals felt that it was Ankiel's time regardless of whether Jim could still play or not (and you have you admit his performance had declined in the last few years) and Jim still wanted to start. Overall his time is STL was much more good than bad and I think a lot of fans will remember that when they see 15 back at Busch. If they don't then they are a paying too much attention to the uniform and last 2 years.

Your words, not mine; but thanks for the compliment. Probably, but what I was trying to say that even though he is a Cub I still want to see personal success for Jimmy Ballgame, just so long as it doesn't help his team. :lol: I wasn't sure whether you guys liked Marquis or not, ergo the uncertain word "seems." I didn't like him as a Cardinal, he often seemed emotionless even when he was getting torn apart which is something I can't tolerate as a fan. I don't necessarily want a guy to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but like Troy Glaus said, "If you don't get upset when you strike out whats the point? Why put all the work in?" Thanks for the welcome to the forum.

I don't see why you guys wouldn't accept him. He was a really fun player to root for in STL and his outfield performance was always fantastic. Say what you want about him trying to make routine plays looks dazzling, he makes the catches and entertains the crowd, isn't that his job? Plus you guys seem to have accepted Marquis which is working out perfectly for the Birds. :D We'll see what happens when he makes his return to Busch in a Cubs uniform. My bet is he receives a standing ovation his first at-bat. As for this: We will see. Since when are the Cubs (or any other team for that matter) entitled to a division crown? They still have to play the games and prove they are significantly better than the Cardinals and Brewers. They are currently 1-2 in their efforts to beat this team composed of "luck" players and "scrubs". I really don't understand where you get this "scrub" attitude anyway. Just because a player was not a highly-touted prospect doesn't mean he can't be good. Ankiel is obviously a gifted athlete so his success, while surprising, is not impossible. Ludwick was a very higly rated college star who had injuries early in his career which devalued him. The Cards picked him up and allowed him to develop and he has begun to reach his potential. Skip Schumaker and Brian Barton are relatively young talents, since when are player not allowed to develop and begin a career well. Even your Derek Lee had to start somewhere. The fact is that the Cardinals have a fantastic coaching staff from the minors through the majors. Our young players don't get over-exposed wince we have a very strong bench with Miles, Kennedy, Ryan, Barton and Duncan. This team has "hung around" for over 1/2 the season now and can be in position to overcome the Cubs this weekend. I am still pleasantly surprised with their performance, but to claim it is luck and a fluke is just hubris. This will be a fun weekend with great baseball. I hope Edmonds hits 6 home runs in 3 Cubs losses.

With 13 pitchers you only have 4 guys to pinch hit, and one of them is the catcher. He probably didn't want to burn any more pinch hitters than absolutely necessary. Yeah, but keeping 13 pitchers is another head-scratcher. Silly La Russa That dummy, who does he think he is? The third-winningest manager of all time or something?