Well, we made it to the halfway mark, folks. I know I’m not the only one who breathed a sigh of relief to win the last game against those bothersome Cubbies. I’d like to take a few minutes to make a few shout outs to some deserving Cardinals who have made the first half of this season so darn fun.
First off, everyone knows who is most deserving of the team MVP vote, and that would be none other than our own No. 4. He ended the first half leading the NL in batting average and with a near perfect .996 fielding percentage. He will be making his 5th All Star Game appearance tonight and heck, even Wrigley Field was chanting his name on Sunday!
Our skipper also deserves a special nod. After seeing him stand up for rookie Matt Adams against home plate umpire Dan Bellino after a 3-0 loss to Chicago, my sentiment that Matheny is most deserving of his job was further solidified. Adams was not happy about a called strike during his last at bat, and Bellino seemed to shoo the rookie off the field, which incensed Matheny. Once the final out was made, Matheny made his opinions on the treatment of his player more than crystal clear, resulting in his ejection from the game. Which was already over, by the way, but whatever you guys say, umps. Matheny has established a reputation for himself of being a manager who sticks up for his players and backs them up, and he exemplifies this when the need arises.
Chris Carpenter also gets a little shout out here. His first rehab start back in Springfield was not exactly picture perfect, the 38 year old pitcher seemed positive about his progress. “It starts with trying to command your fastball and command your secondary pitches, which I feel like I did.” His velocity was also up, hitting 94 on the gun. He now essentially has 30 days for the Cardinals to monitor his progress with the rehab assignment before they must either activate him or place him back on the DL. Personally, I see him fitting into a long relief position for the second half of the season if his command continues to improve.
One minor grumble here: Why does Joe Kelly not have a spot in the rotation? He comes into the break with a 3.88 ERA and statistically just doesn’t give up a whole lot of runs. He’s been called on to pitch on relatively short notice and always steps up to the plate. His W-L record doesn’t really cause me to have heart palpitations, but it’s my humble opinion that this statistic is probably the most overrated for pitchers. I would like to see Kelly be given a few more starts or perhaps even join the rotation while it needs the help.
Speaking of pitchers, has anyone heard the Matt Garza rumors? This is sort of interesting to me, considering the fact that I still harbor hard feelings against all involved parties for the fact that Jim Edmonds ended up a Cub. But it could be an interesting solution for the shaky spots in our rotation, and he is a free agent at the end of the 2013 season, meaning he could be a lower cost, short term deal. He finished the first half with a 1.24 ERA in his last 6 starts, his last being the not-so-memorable shutout against the Cardinals this past weekend. Multiple teams are rumored to be idly interested, and the Cubs will likely want some of our juicy pitching prospects in return, so I would not think this trade would be a strong possibility, but it’s interesting. I’d certainly take Garza over Cliff Lee any day.
And finally, on a completly un-Bird-related subject, I must give a big congratulations to Yoenis Cespedes (who I must admit I struggled to pronounce his name at first!) for his big win in the Home Run Derby last night. Cespedes came into the Derby with little pomp and circumstance, most of the crowd’s attention devoted to last year’s winner Prince Fielder and highly touted Oriole Chris Davis. However, he quickly won over some new fans after blasting 32 home runs in the pitcher-friendly Citi Field. While I was satisfied with Fielder being eliminated after the first round, it was great to see Cespedes rise to the occasion.
That’s all I’ve got. I hope you all can find something somewhat productive to do with your yearly downtime from baseball. I’ll be cheering on the National League tonight and then twiddling my thumbs until the Padres come in town this weekend.
