Ryan Turner's St Louis Cardinals fan blog

I haven't mentioned much about the Cardinals lately and now that the players have reported to spring training, I think it's time that I examined them a bit.

1. Chris Carpenter has looked good so far this spring, but due to his history (surgery before he actually played for us, the nerve thing at the end of 2004, Tommy John surgery in 2007, and now the shoulder injury in 2008 relating to the Tommy John surgery) I don't think I'm going to be convinced that he can go a full season without getting hurt. Even if he's fine in 2009, makes 33 starts while pitching 200+ innings, I think I'll still be skeptical heading into 2010. He's one of the best pitchers in the majors when he's on the field, but he's extremely unreliable.

2. Is anyone else irritated with Joel Pineiro for being angry that he was left off of the Puerto Rico roster for the World Baseball Classic? The guy is going to make $7.5 million for the Cardinals this year and he's worried about pitching in an exhibition tournament which derailed the careers of Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia in 2006, among others. Sure, the fact that the Cards' third base coach Jose Oquendo is managing the PR team might have hurt his feelings, but he was still offered a chance to pitch in long relief. That role is just as important if not more important in the WBC because of mandatory pitch counts that force starters out after I believe 60 pitches. That means that he could come on in a tie game in the fifth inning and be counted on for two or three innings. Even if that isn't the role he's used to since he's primarily been a starter in his MLB career, the three man rotation that Oquendo chose is comprised of much better talent than Pineiro. Javier Vazquez (now of the Braves, formerly of the White Sox) has been a decent three or four starter for years, Ian Snell of the Pirates would have a much better record if he played for any decent club, and Jonathan Sanchez could be looked at as the Giants' ace of the future if they didn't already have Tim Lincecum on their roster. If the Cards could deal Pineiro for any of those three guys, I'd be ecstatic. So the fact that he was passed over for them makes total sense. Did you hear about Brian Barton being angry that he didn't get to start at first base and bat third for the Cards last year? No, because Albert Pujols is significantly better. Pineiro needs to shut his mouth and focus on not blowing countless leads in 2009 like he did in 2008.

Continue reading "Cards issues and Blues drop another game by not playing all 60 minutes"

Most Super Bowl responses came out on either Monday or Tuesday of this week, but I needed a few days to catch my breath. I've spent most of the week wearing Steelers clothes, getting excited greetings from a guy at the Tin Can who looked like hw was out of an Adam Sandler movie and the occasional joking heckle from the other side of my weekly poker game. All the negative comments directed towards me stopped once the game ended and the Steelers brought home the Six Pack to Pittsburgh. After a game that exciting and nearly devastating, I'd even high five this girl (you know the one I mean).

Now I'd like to give you the view of what it was like to be a Steelers fan in St. Louis on Sunday. I know that the vast majority of the people reading this were cheering for the Cardinals on Sunday, so this should be a new perspective for most of you. As I said in my previous entry, I like Kurt Warner, but I couldn't cheer against my own team for him. This earned me an aura of negativity as soon as I arrived at my Aunt Sherry's house for her annual Super Bowl party (Yes, this is the aunt who curses games by looking at them, but we'll get to that later).

Continue reading "Super Bowl XLIII Champs"

Before I talk football, I want to vent about the Blues a bit. Prior to the All-Star break, the club managed to win at Chicago and mount a ridiculous comeback to win at Boston. If not for a horrible missed call by the refs (this isn't just about me being a homer, if a guy catches the puck in his glove and the entire catching portion of the glove is across the goal line, it's pretty obvious that so is the puck) in the home game against the Blackhawks, the Blues easily could've been riding a four-game winning streak heading into the break. So with seven points in their last four games, how do the Blues come back from the break? By blowing a home game against one of the worst teams in the Eastern (and in my opinion weaker) Conference. It was 1-1 with two minutes left and we allowed a goal when they were outnumbered 4-2 in our zone.

Continue reading "Super Bowl XLIII"

The NFL's final four are set. We're left with a two, a four, and two sixes. The four is actually more surprising than the sixes. I would guess that very few people had the Arizona Cardinals hosting the NFC Championship. I certainly didn't and I even managed to go four-of-five in my picks last week (five-of-six if you count Utah over Florida, which I'll give myself the benefit of a doubt since the BCS leaves us with nothing but doubt). The Cards got over the hump by winning on the other side of the Mississippi River. Sure, Jake Delhomme was awful, setting all kinds of records for turnovers (6) and interceptions (5), but the Cardinals fell behind 7-0 quickly and responded just as quickly. They could have gotten down on themselves while trailing on the road, but they fought back and blew out the Panthers instead. Hell, they even had a running game for the first time in weeks. That likely won't be the case against the Eagles, but they may not need it as they look to have Anquan Boldin back. When Kurt Warner is right, he's one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the league. With Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, they have two of the biggest deep threats in the league, so they have a chance against any defense, even one as good as the Eagles have been lately.

Continue reading "Conference Title Games"

Well, I'm finally back at it. I was going at a pretty good clip before the holidays but had something come up everytime I've tried to write since. I hope you all had a great holiday season and are ready for an even better year in sports. Which brings us to the first championship of the year.  In many mines, Utah won it a couple of days ago when they rolled right over the Crimson Tide. There was a team in that game that appeared like it didn't belong, but it certainly wasn't the Utes.

Utah's quarterback Brian Johnson passed for 336 yards and three touchdowns. Alabama's John Parker Wilson only passed for 177 yards with one TD, while also getting picked off twice. Those that want to argue that the Tide was more of a rushing team this year. That's fine. I agree. Wilson's -31 rushing yards didn't help their rushing game much on Friday, however. Their leading rusher was Glen Coffee, who only went for 36 yards on 13 carries. 

Continue reading "NFL Divisional playoffs and the BCS Title"

The Rams and the Steelers both continued their 2008 season trends in Week 15. The Steelers turned defeat into victory while the Rams did just the opposite. I was glad for both outcomes. The Steelers clinched the AFC North by beating the Ravens 13-9 to make their fourth consecutive playoff appearance while the Rams lost the tiebreaker with Seattle by getting swept by them, better positioning themselves for the upcoming draft. The Cincinnati Bengals upset the Washington Redskins, giving the Bengals an overall record of 2-11-1, meanin that St. Louis is now tied for the second worst record in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs, trailing just the winless Detroit Lions for the top pick. The Rams now stand a very good chance to pick second in the draft for the second straight year. Jim Haslett may not be around to enjoy it though. Haslett's been the only one enjoying the Rams playbook lately.

Continue reading "NFL Week 15"

This past weekend held many ups and downs for me on the football field. It started on Thursday with the Thanksgiving games. I went with the better win-loss record in all three of those games, which put me at two-for-two, before the Cardinals remembered their history and got blasted by Donovan McNabb(yes Roy Williams, he farted on me this year too, or at least my fantasy team). I of course had McNabb benched this week in fantasy since he got benched last week in reality, and got burned by him for at least the sixth time this year. My gut told me the Eagles would win the game, but with as bad as McNabb was the previous week, I just couldn't go with them.

 

Then there was college football. I was hoping that Texas A & M would upset the Longhorns, while Oklahoma would lose to Oklahoma State on Saturday, giving Mizzou the easier opponent of Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship game. By easier, I mean that Missouri would stand a chance. They've actually beaten Tech under Gary Pinkel (AKA Bob Stoops' bitch in this picture), as opposed to Texas and Oklahoma. And sure, Mizzou was ranked number one in the country last year, which shows us that history doesn't necessarily mean much in today's match ups. However, even us  Mizzou fans with the shortest of memories who can forget blowing that regular season game in Norman last year, will certainly remember the shellackings that the Tigers took in the Big 12 Championship game from OU (38-17) and the regular season showdown this year with Texas(56-31). The truly sad thing, is that Texas score is closer than the game really was.

Continue reading "Big 12 and the NFL"

Before I get to baseball, I'd like to start out with hockey as I haven't touched on it since the Blues were doing well in mid-October. Since then, the Blues have fallen into the Central Division basement and have had really bad luck play a part in it. Since Sarah Palin(should anyone looking that confused ever be allowed to hold a gun?) dropped the puck, the Blues have only won twice in 10 games with two overtime losses. They have also suffered injuries to Manny Legcae, T.J. Oshie, Dan Hinote, Paul Kariya, and Andy McDonald. Other than Hinote, all of those are impact players. That being said, the Blues are still giving an effort every night and Legace's back, so perhaps they will turn it around soon. The Blues could still go on a run and make the playoffs, as it's still very early, but they need to pick it up soon. The curse of Sarah Palin should be about over now that Obama won, Erik Johnson had successful knee surgery,  and perhaps debuting the new third jerseys on Friday against Anaheim will be the last part in getting this team going again.

Continue reading "Baseball Awards 2008"

I apologize for the delay between posts. I have been very busy after getting a new job, while keeping the old one. For about the past two weeks, I worked about 55-60 hours per week. I will try and get back to a post a week or better. Also, congratulations to the Phillies. It's nice to have a National League team win again. Now, on to the blog.



The Cardinals are apparently interested in bringing back Edgar Renteria to play shortsop after the Tigers declined his option, choosing to give him a $3 million buy out instead. Renteria played very well in his six seasons in St. Louis, and the two worst years of his career are probably the two he spent in Boston and Detroit (both in the AL). That being said, I don't think that it was just the AL pitching or playing style that slowed him down. Even though Renteria is only 33, he's been playing short for 13 seasons now, and that's bound to take a toll on a guy's body. Even Cal Ripken Jr., who never sat out for any reason, eventually ended up switching to third base.

Continue reading "Cardinals rumors"

St. Louis sports had a fantastic weekend (Columbia is not a suburb of St. Louis, so this excludes the Mizzou-Texas debacle from Saturday night). All three of the city's teams were improving in one way or another, even the Cardinals who are finished for year on the field.

Even though the Cardinals have missed the playoffs the last two years, they were competitive for the majority of the two seasons. The Redbirds are now rumored to be involved in trade talks with the San Diego Padres for ace pitcher and last year's NL Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy, as well as shortstop Khalil Greene. If Chris Carpenter can't go in the spring (or ever, Peavy would help to stabilize the front of the rotation. That could give the Cardinals a rotation of Peavy, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, and Todd Wellemeyer, with the last spot to be filled in by Joel Piniero or a minor leaguer. 

Continue reading "St. Louis sports are back"