Be Kind Rewind...Cardinals Style

Well Blues fans…I’ve got nothing, (and by nothing I mean I have a little but nothing blog-worthy...stay tuned). Not too much exciting news from Prospect Camp, (although look out for that Phil McCrae in the future). So instead of collecting fake unsigned paychecks from FORF and waiting until September to write another blog, I’m going to have some fun.

I recently watched a couple bars of a god-awful movie Be Kind, Rewind, and became inspired. And what Jack Black movie won’t inspire? Who didn’t want to challenge the local preps to a city-wide rollerblading race after watching 1993’s Airborne? But anyway, I opined to myself, what would the world do if someone in St. Louis erased all the baseball movies and the St. Louis Cardinals had to lend some of their players for the roles?

It’s pretty obvious that Yadi Molina could lend his likeness in a remake of The Sandlot. He’s chubby, he seems talkative, even if you can’t understand him all the time, and he’s a heck of a catcher. He wouldn’t have to do too much research to portray the great Hamilton Porter. However if someone erased The Big Green, I’m not so sure he’d pull off Larry Musgrove.

Worried about the last remaining copy of Major League? Fear not. Put Chris Duncan in the role of Pedro Cerrano and would anyone notice? Hell Duncan has been auditioning all year for that role. When’s the last time Duncan hit a curveball?

Had it been a year or two ago, I would have easily asked Rick Ankiel to audition for the role of Roy Hobbs, but lately he seems more interested in A League of Their Own’s Kit Keller. Like Duncan, Ankiel has been auditioning all year for this role. Like Kit, he cannot lay off the high fastball, and also like Kit, he can’t hit them either. Luckily for Rick, it’s a movie so in the pitching scenes all he needs to do is have the proper throwing motion, and they can just jump cut to the result.

Remember Bull Durham? It’s only the greatest baseball movie ever made (sports.munchies@gmail.com for comments). Well if you remember it, then you sure couldn’t forget Crash Davis, the career minor league player that cracked the majors for a brief stint. Although it might be a year late, Ryan Ludwick’s previous career experience should more than equip him for the role.

Comments, concerns? Extensions of the list? Sports.munchies@gmail.com

BLUES UPDATE

Since I am FORF’s only hockey expert, it is my duty to fill the FORF-Universe in on the latest doings.

· T The Blues have not yet resigned Roman Polak, but several sources say it is only a matter of time before they do. The risk of an offer sheet from another team is minimal because most teams don’t yet think Polak is worth the risk of giving up a third or second round pick if the Blues don’t match the offer.

· Those who missed Blues Prospect camp missed quite a show from instant fan favorite T.J. Oshie. Aside from the fact that he made the Blues Prospects (some of whom will make the big club this fall) look like sled hockey players, I also heard no less than ten young ladies refer to him as their future husband. Here’s to hot broads and restraining orders T.J.!

N No word yet on the Phil Kessel trade that I had so vehemently predicted… FORF fans I may have been wrong.

· A And finally the Dany Heatley rumors have all but died. It would be a massive shocker if he were to wear a bluenote in 2010.

It's Anyone's Year

Former Cardinal pitcher and fan favorite Joaquin Andujar once said, “This game can be summed up in one word: Youneverknow." Andujar, of course, was referring to the old baseball adage that any team can beat any other team on any day; you just never know if the better team is going to be the one that comes out on top.

This baseball season has taken the idea of “youneverknow” and expanded it to more than a game by game basis and has turned it into this year’s theme. Only one team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is running away with their division and, barring an unheard of collapse, is almost certainly going to finish with the best record in the National League and a trip to the playoffs. The rest of the league, however, is a different story. Every other division, in both the National and American League, has at least three teams within 5.5 games of first place. The NL Central Division alone has five teams fighting for first place. And at this point in the season, that is relatively unheard of. What’s even more unheard of is that over half of the league’s teams are at .500 or better. Eighteen teams to be exact.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE!

On this date last year, only one division had more than two teams within 5.5 games of first place, which was the Central Division. This includes the God awful NL West, where at this time last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks were in a first place tie with the Dodgers with the ever so stellar record of 45-46. To make things even worse, only half of the MLB’s teams were at .500 or better.

If you go back even further, things only become more separated. Only one division, the AL East had more than two teams fighting for first place and one division was almost completely locked up as the Cardinals enjoyed an 11.5 game lead over the Houston Astros in the NL Central and were the only team above .500 in the division. To make things worse, less than have of the MLB was above .500.

So what has led to this “spreading of the wealth” in baseball? For your consideration, I present my three theories on the newfound parity in baseball.

1. ALMOST EVERYONE IS STRUGGLING

No team has been able to runaway with their division because almost no team has been able to stay hot for very long. Only two teams have been able to string together exceptionally large winning streaks: The Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies (both tied with one eleven game winning streak each). The longest after that is a respectable seven game winning streak by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who spoiled the winning streak by having no offense or any pitching after stud pitcher and former Cardinal Dan Haren. There have been two losing streaks of note, one by the Toronto Blue Jays and one by the Chicago Cubs. The Blue Jays were looking like real contenders until they decided to lose nine games in a row, catapulting them to third place behind the Red Sox and the Yankees, but somehow they are still within striking distance of first place. The Cubs lost eight in a row earlier this year, which dropped them below the .500 mark. They have been hovering around .500 ever since, yet they are still only three games out of first. It could be an interesting year for several teams if nobody steps up and starts to take control of their division.

2. THE UNBALANCED SCHEDULE IS TAKING ITS TOLL

When Major League Baseball created the unbalanced schedule for the 2002 season, many fans were outraged as their favorite team was going to start playing the majority of their games against foes within their division, which meant seeing the same teams over and over and over again.

While the lack of variety in match-ups kind of stinks, it is beginning to create some very interesting division races. By making teams beat up on each other, it means that each team has more control over its own destiny and keeps some teams from running away from the rest of the field. In the Central Division, the Brewers have the best interdivision record standing at 23-14. But after that, the Cards have the best record being at just 22-17 followed by the Cubs who are only three games over .500 when playing their division rivals.

Only one team in all of baseball has a record within their division that is far and away better than any other team chasing them: The Dodgers. With an interdivision record of 30-12, they are the only team playing over .500 ball within the NL West. The San Francisco Giants are second best with a record of 15-16. It’s no wonder why the Dodgers are running away with that division. With no team able to really get a groove going against their division rivals, teams will continue to beat up on each other until the team with the least amount of bruises takes the division crown.

3. HOW MANY INJURIES CAN YOU HAVE?


With this being a Midwest sports blog, we focus on the NL Central for this theory. No team in contention has been completely healthy this year. While injuries are to be expected throughout the year, I cannot remember a year in which so many key players were hurt at the same time. For the Cardinals, Troy Glaus is yet to play in a game and there is a chance he has played his last game in a Cardinal uniform. Shortstop Khalil Greene apparently doesn’t know how to handle failure and, in a move to protect him from physically hurting himself, the Cards not only removed all sharp objects from the team clubhouse, but they put Greene on the DL twice to help him solve his anxiety problem. Now, newly acquired Mark DeRosa is on the DL with a wrist injury before recording his first hit as a Cardinal.

The Cubs have had it even worse. With Aramis Ramirez being out a majority of the season, the Cubbie offense has been fairly silent and inconsistent (much to the delight of your’s truly). Now things have gotten even worse as mediocre Cubs super pitcher Ryan Dempster is out with a fractured toe after trying to climb the fence in front of the Cubs dugout and one hit wonder Geovany Soto has now landed on the DL, though this might be for the best as Lou Piniella is no longer forced to continue to play him.



The Brewers have had a key injury as well. Rickie Weeks is out for the season with a wrist injury similar to Mark DeRosa’s, only much more severe, apparently.

The injury bug isn’t only affecting the NL Central. The Mets were expected to make a push for the playoffs this year, or at least a push for September, but they have had several key injuries to flamboyant shortstop Jose Reyes, Cardinal killer Carlos Beltran and future hall of fame first baseman Carlos Delgado. Needless to say, David Wright can’t carry an entire team by himself and a team full of bench players has left the Mets three games under .500.



Some say that parity in sports is a sign of mediocrity. Even if this is the case, who cares? The more teams involved in a pennant chase the better. One of the reasons that Opening Day is so great is because for one day of the baseball season, everyone is in first place and everyone is contending for a playoff spot. What’s wrong if the majority of team’s feel like they have a fighting chance halfway through the season? I say sit back, open up an ice cold Bud Light (the difference is affordability!) and get ready to watch some bare knuckle baseball. Even if your team is barely hanging on to a respectable record, there’s still hope.

After all...

...you never know.