We're Back

Sorry for the two day hiatus. My laptop broke and I was on the road. But I'm back at home on the desktop and ready to get everybody caught up on what's new in Cardinal Nation.

The great thing about baseball is at every ball game, Grapefruit League or World Series, you see something different. Today against the Marlins was a great example of that. The Cards were down 9-0 in the middle of the fifth, scored 8 runs in the bottom of the fifth and still lost 9-8.

Four of the Marlins nine runs were unearned as the Cards fielding absolutely ridiculous. They somehow managed SIX errors today. Get it all out of your system boys before opening day. The most notable of the six errors was Schumaker's two errors at second in only five innings on the field. That gives him a total of three on the season now. Florida's nine runs were all scored on only eight hits...all singles.

Adam Wainwright struggled, as many times the performance of a pitcher is only as good as the defense behind him. He went 2.2 innings and gave up three runs (one earned) while striking out two and walking two. The bullpen did their best with the lack of defensive support. Josh Kinney threw a scoreless sixth and Jason Motte a scoreless ninth. Kinney and Motte have given up zero runs so far this preseason.

Other news of note:

• Troy Glaus took 20 swings off a tee today; hit first swings since the surgery. "Every day it feels better," Glaus said. "In the morning, we ramp it up a little bit and see how it feels the day after that. That's really all there is. As long as it feels good the next day, we take a step forward. If it doesn't, then we don't necessarily take a step back, but we don't take another one forward." Glaus is shooting for a earlier return than all expected; April 2nd, the Cards final spring training game. The official estimate for his return is mid-April.
• A poor throw from Schumaker at second today took Pujols off the bag. As Pujols reached for the ball he fell to the dirt. Just as he fell, the batter's shoe hit Pujols in the head. Luckily Pujols was OK. "I'm fine, man," Pujols said. "I stayed in the game." La Russa was worried as well. "It's scary. (It was a) pretty good pop to the jaw and the side of his head. Glad he's OK."
• Soreness in Ryan Ludwick's side has kept him sidelined (no pun intended) the past two games. Ludwick is adamant that it's nothing to worry about. "I talked to the doctor, and he said he'd be skeptical even to call it a minor strain," Ludwick said. "He said he thinks it's just sore. It's like if you go and lift at the gym, you'd be sore the next day. It's more that type of thing." Nonetheless, the Cards will play it safe at this stage of the year.
• The Cards assigned 15 players to Minor League training camp on Sunday. The most notable included third base hopefuls David Freese and Brett Wallace. That would leave only Brendan Ryan, Joe Thurston and Joe Mather competing for the position while Glaus is still out.

That's all I've got for today. It feels good to be back.

Go Cards.