Spring Training News

Hope everybody had a fun and safe St. Pat's Day.

Here's the top news from spring training this week:

• On Monday, The Mets scored 2 in the 9th inning off of Pete Parise to walk off 6-5. Ludwick drove in 2 runs, Albert Pujols drove in 1, and Felipe Lopez collected 2 hits. Brad Penny was unable to continue rolling from the momentum of his last strong start and was roughed up to the tune of 3 runs in 3.2 innings. 
• The Cards lost to the Nationals on Tuesday 4-2. Ryan Ludwick and Nick Stavinoha both collected hits apiece, but the Cards collectively went 2-11 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Kyle Lohse got pretty beat up and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings. Jaime Garcia was impressive in relief, throwing 3 scoreless innings, while allowing only 1 hit and striking out 7.
• After a day off on Wednesday, the Cards lost again on Thursday to the Braves by a score of 5-3. That drops the Cards to a record of 5-8 this spring. To keep consistent, Rich Hill was beaten up his start as well. He gave up 3 runs in 3 innings on only 2 hits, but he walked 5 batters.
• The Cards' 2009 Rule 5 draft pick, Ben Jukich, was returned to the Reds. By rule, the Birds would have had to keep him on the 25 man active roster for a full year in order to keep him. The when  the Cards realized that was not going to happen, Jukich was returned. La Russa was hoping to work out some sort of trade with Cincinnati to keep him, but no deal was reached.
• In injury news: Julio Lugo should be back in the lineup by Monday, Brendan Ryan should be back full time in a week or so and is available to pinch run or play defense right now, and Matt Holliday is also making slow but steady progress.