M is for Victory

The guy on the right pulled out his Cubbies "W" flag before the sixth inning was done on Sunday.

After several Cards fans helping explain that the game wasn't over until the 27th out, he finally was right to celebrate when the Scrubs closed out the victory three innings later.

From Birds, Bat, BaseballTM

Too bad this isn't a common practice for the Small Bears...might have made a nice picture...

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Who needs pitching?

With another dozen runs on the board today, the bashin' Redbirds took their seventh straight home victory and Win No. 11 overall on the young season.

The pitching staff suffered another bad day, including a scare for Kyle Lohse, who will have his knee examined after feeling a pop in the 5th inning. In the post-game press conference, the skipper sounded optimistic Kyle would take his next turn as scheduled...

But who needs pitching, anyway?

Through the first 16 games of the season, just a hair under 10% on the books, the Cardinals lead the Majors in batting average and sit in the Top 5 for all other major offensive categories.

With the newly-stached Rick Ankiel heating up as Brian Barden and Joe Thurston fall back to Earth, and Ryan Ludwick and Yadier Molina proving they're more than one-year wonders, we're starting to see what kind of club this is going to be.

In 16 games, the 'Birds have tallied 100 runs. That's a 6.25 runs per game clip, also good enough for tops in baseball.

Projected over a full season, this team is on pace to surmount the elusive 1,000-run plateau.

And it's not like the pitching staff has been worthless. Considering we've lost Chris Carpenter and the completely reshuffled bullpen, the 4.375 runs allowed per game is tolerable.

Push that average out to 162 games, and you've got a season-ending run differential of about 300 runs.

What's the math mean?

Run differential isn't an end-all and be-all stat, but it certainly has to inspire some early confidence in a club that was picked by many to finish in the lower half of the National League Central.

Estimates using the runs scored and runs allowed figures to come up with a record for the year put us in the 108-win/.671 win percentage range today. That's an ungodly large number. For perspective, the 2004 MV3 juggernaut season netted 105 regular season wins.

We can't ignore the small sample size, and it's hard to imagine this club keeping up these trends while shuffling so many untested arms into the rotation.

Historically, only a handful of teams have topped 1,000 runs scored in a season.

But how can you not like our chances after this start?

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Miss me?

Since last I wrote, there have been some happenings in my life worth mention:

• Falling in love.
• Biggest pay raise of my professional career.
• Recording my first original solo track.
• Watching my heart stand in for a yo-yo.
• Pay cut twice the size of the raise I was promised [insurance company, if you didn't remember (R.I.P.F.J.M)].
• Not making the top 12, or even 13, of American Idol.

God damn you, Anoop!!

I'd be negligent not to mention the baseball season started two weeks ago, and because of the aforementioned issues, I haven't chimed in on anything from our first-place (10-5) club's strong offense to its anxiety-inducing pitching staff.

A few quick thoughts, and I'll let you get back to whatever it is you found to fill the hole I left in your hearts. I think:

• The Cubs aren't as good as they're paying for, and besides them, no one else in this division is as good as we are, even with our pitching in distress. The Small Bears are still the favorites but aren't going to run away with this.
• We're not as good as we've been so far. Barden and Thurston aren't going combine to hit .450 all year, and while Yadi's long-promised offense may have officially arrived last year, he's not going to lead the league at his position the rest of the way. The offense we can reasonably expect to be there should be plenty to compete.
• Every game this year has been entertaining. Maybe, it's the kids. Maybe, it's the journeymen getting another chance at the dream. Maybe, it's the fact that Carp got everyone so fired up about our chances. But no matter the reason, they compete, and they don't look like a team that will put up with anything less than 100% effort every game.

These things get me excited.

This weekend, I make my first visit to Busch Stadium in almost two years. The greatest rivalry in the game, and the forecast is for sun and 80-plus degrees.

Well, I'm back so maybe you already put the pieces together, but the string finally snapped on that yo-yo.

Probably be seeing a little more of you...

Go 'Birds!

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