Tag: St. Louis Cardinals (Page 10 of 20)

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      July 10, 2010 /

      Not much has changed at the top of this list, but the Rangers are making a statement. Meanwhile, the Mets, Cardinals and Twins have been playing such mediocre baseball that a few upstarts have knocked them off this list. Here are the pre-All Star game power rankings:

      1. New York Yankees (55-31)—It’s on. The Rangers out-bid the Yanks for Cliff Lee, but lookie here—the Bombers have won 7 in a row. They don’t need no stinkin’ Cliff Lee.

      2. Texas Rangers (50-36)—Yesterday, Nolan Ryan and company vaulted their team from playoff contender to World Series contender by obtaining Mr. Lee. The middle of their lineup with Vlad, Hamilton and Nelson Cruz just might be the most potent heart of the order in baseball.

      3. Tampa Bay Rays (52-34)—Sorry, Boston. Sorry, New York. These pesky Rays are not going away.

      4. Atlanta Braves (51-35)—This pains me as a Mets fan, but the Braves made a series-opening statement last night at Citi Field. They are for real and they are trying to pull away from the Mets and Phils.

      5. San Diego Padres (50-36)—You think the Mets wish they still had Heath Bell?

      6. Boston Red Sox (50-36)—They aren’t giving in either. The next two and a half months are going to be very exciting in the AL East.

      7. Cincinnati Reds (45-35)—That team dressed in red leading the NL Central is not the Cardinals. By the way, if Joey Votto didn’t win that online voting, it would have been one of the worst all-star snubs in baseball history.

      8. Detroit Tigers (47-37)—Don’t look now, the Tigers have won four in a row and the White Sox six in a row, and they are 1-2 in the AL Central while the Twins are suddenly floundering.

      9. Los Angeles Dodgers (48-38)—Will the NL West be like a stock market correction and have the Dodgers and Rockies take over the Padres’ lofty spot? The Dodgers are winning again and making their move.

      10. Colorado Rockies (48-38)—Always a late bloomer, the Rockies are also making a move, and their stud ace Ubaldo Jimenez is a positively sick 15-1 at the all-star break.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      July 3, 2010 /

      Amazingly, we’re only 10 days away from the All-Star break. That means teams will re-charge and start to make a serious run at a playoff spot from mid-July on. And the power rankings haven’t changed much, other than most of the California teams dropping off the list. So without further adieu…..

      1. New York Yankees (48-31)—The Bombers continue to ride their stars to victory, and survived a recent team hitting slump. There’s no reason to believe they won’t win the division again and contend for the title.

      2. Texas Rangers (47-32)—Seriously, how scary has this team become? This past week Vlad gave his former team a taste of what they might be missing this year

      3. Boston Red Sox (48-32)—Barely hanging on to second place in the tough AL East, but only two games separate the Yanks, Sox and Rays.

      4. San Diego Padres (47-33)—Sure, the Rangers are a big surprise. But no team has been as surprising as the Padres, who just keep winning. And here’s a frightening thing for other National League teams—the Pads are now believing in themselves too.

      5. Tampa Bay Rays (46-33)—Thankfully the Rays got off to a hot start, because everyone knows how much talent resides in the AL East. And has Carlos Pena become Dave Kingman? Yikes….he’s batting .196 with 16 homers and 50 RBI.

      6. Atlanta Braves (47-33)—The Braves are a major league best 29-9 at home this year (.763 winning percentage). Too bad no one goes to their home games.

      7. New York Mets (45-35)—With two more games against the suddenly slumping Nationals, the Mets still have a chance to close the gap with Atlanta this weekend.

      8. Cincinnati Reds (46-35)—I’m getting closer to believing, and so are the Reds.

      9. Minnesota Twins (44-36)—They haven’t been playing great baseball, which has allowed the mediocre Tigers and White Sox back into the AL Central race. But there is too much talent in Minnesota to keep the Twins out of the postseason hunt.

      10. St. Louis Cardinals (44-36)—I’m now ready to put the Reds above the Cardinals, and Tony LaRussa’s boys had better start playing better away from home (18-22) if they want to keep pace.

      External Sports, MLB

      Cardinals interested in Mariners’ Cliff Lee

      June 28, 2010 /

      And this week’s Cliff Lee rumor is brought to you by…Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse and Rotoworld!

      Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse has confirmed that the Cardinals are indeed interested in Mariners lefty Cliff Lee.

      Where the talks currently stand is anyone’s guess. The Cardinals have a very thin farm system and really only boast one top prospect: 19-year-old potential ace Shelby Miller, who has struck out 60 batters in 44 1/3 innings at Single-A this season. If a deal is to happen, he will need to be part of it. Lee, 31, has a 2.39 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP and an incredible 76/4 K/BB ratio through 11 starts this year. He has thrown four complete games, one shutout.

      The Mariners are looking for young bats in exchange for Lee and as Rotoworld points out, the Cards are a little thin in that area. If (and that’s a big if) the Rangers were able to overcome their financial restrictions and get involved, then it would be hard for St. Louis to match the compensation that Texas could offer out of its farm.

      That said, the Cards have already shown that they’ll do whatever it takes to add missing pieces, as they proved last year by trading for Matt Holliday (who provided much-needed protection behind Albert Pujols). If there’s a deal to be worked out and St. Louis is seriously interested, then expect the Cards to be major players in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      June 26, 2010 /

      A lot has changed since last week. The Dodgers have faded and the Rangers have caught fire. The Yankees and Red Sox have been steadily winning while Tampa bas dropped off just a bit. And the Mets and Braves keep battling for first place. Here are this week’s power rankings…..

      1. New York Yankees (46-27)—Not only have they taken over first place in the mighty AL East, but the Yankees are starting to put a bit of distance between themselves, and the Rays and Sox. They just have way too much talent.

      2. Texas Rangers (44-29)—We knew the Rangers would hit the ball, but did anyone expect their pitching staff to be fifth in the AL in ERA, and second in strikeouts? Quick, name me two of their starters…..I know, I couldn’t either.

      3. Boston Red Sox (44-31)—Like the Yanks, too much talent, and too much straight up desire to win. No wonder the chowder heads love their team.

      4. San Diego Padres (43-30)—Don’t look now, but the Padres have the best record in the National League. That is not a typo.

      5. Tampa Bay Rays (43-30)—I’ll give you five reasons why the Rays aren’t going away any time soon—Garza, Price, Davis, Niemann and Shields. It’s almost like a young version of the ‘90’s Braves. But being no-hit again isn’t good, either.

      6. Atlanta Braves (43-31)—Speaking of the Braves, these guys are turning back the clock with guys like Chipper Jones, Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson and Billy Wagner leading the way; and with Martin Prado leading the NL in batting.

      7. New York Mets (42-31)—Seriously, RA Dickey is 6-0 with a 2.33 ERA in 7 starts? It’s like suddenly the Mets can do no wrong, and they just keep winning.

      8. St. Louis Cardinals (40-33)—Raise your hand if you think the Cardinals are afraid of the Reds. I see a few hands up and they’re all in Southern Ohio.

      9. Minnesota Twins (40-33)—Leading a weak division once again, and there’s no reason to believe the Twins will relinquish first place any time soon. Or that Joe Mauer’s average will continue to drop.

      10. Cincinnati Reds (41-33)—They might be overachieving right now, but you can’t count them out.

      External Sports, MLB

      Rosenthal ponders McGwire’s quiet return

      April 17, 2010 /

      In a recent piece for FoxSports.com, Ken Rosenthal points out that the baseball world seems to have accepted Mark McGwire.

      McGwire did not move to change the conversation, yet the noise did subside. He was not a distraction to the team in spring training. He is not a distraction now.

      All this amounts to a positive step in the evolution of how fans, media and people within the game view players who used performance-enhancing drugs.

      Other past users should draw inspiration from Big Mac, recognizing that they can admit the truth, emerge with a clean conscience and move forward.

      No matter what you think of McGwire, he deserves the chance to be hitting coach of the Cardinals, who host the Mets this weekend on MLB on FOX (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET).

      It bothers me that he used PEDs. It bothers me that he refuses to admit they helped him as a hitter. It bothers me that he has failed to fulfill his pledge to become a national spokesman against steroids, a pledge that he made to Congress in 2005.

      But exactly how long should any of us harbor resentment toward McGwire and other past users?

      People change. Perceptions change, too. Forget the Hall for a moment. If McGwire can regain at least a measure of dignity, then why not Sammy Sosa? Why not Roger Clemens? Why not Barry Bonds?

      While I agree with Rosenthal, I think he should acknowledge that our interest in McGwire has also weakened because more important things are happening in the sport. I mean, what’s really left to say about Big Mac? I know there are many out there that loathe the idea of a baseball cheat being allowed back in the game, but they’ve even exhausted themselves talking about it. MLB follows 30 teams and hundreds of players over the course of seven months. Simply put, nobody wants to read about a hitting coach for too long. Rosenthal is correct in that our resentment for McGwire may be waning, but it’s not because of McGwire’s recent sound decisions. It’s because the story is boring. We all made up our minds a long time ago about how we viewed McGwire — his steroid admission just hardened those opinions.

      It’s also tough to despise a guy that didn’t directly harm anybody but himself. Sure, he sullied the game of baseball, but he had many accomplices. I tend to group all these steroid guys in a giant cluster of disappointment. I don’t have a unique hatred for each and every one of them anymore. McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens — they’ve all exiled themselves from the hearts of the baseball-adoring public. If one of them comes back, like McGwire has, the story will lose steam quickly.

      McGwire doesn’t have our forgiveness. We may empathize with him, but hitting statistics never go away. Instead, he’s become a sports figure we’ll simply deal with because we’re tired of mentioning him.

      MLB

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