Showing posts with label St. Louis Rams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Louis Rams. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Awakening the Dome


February 3, 2002: A nation still recovering from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks turns to its most popular sporting event, the Super Bowl, as a chance to just forget about the world for a while and celebrate the conclusion to another NFL season.

It’s Super Bowl XXXVI and the Superdome in New Orleans is rocking.  People are waving flags and are filled with the American spirit as a singing ensemble made up of Barry Manilow, James Ingram, Wynonna, Yolanda Adams and Patti LaBelle sing, “Let Freedom Ring”. A video message of President George W. Bush, former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton reading excerpts from the Declaration of Independence is played. People are screaming and shouting. People are crying. It is quite the spectacle leading up to the biggest stage in all of sports.

In the middle of all of this, there are the St. Louis Rams waiting to take the field for their second Super Bowl appearance in three years. After another record breaking 14-2 season, they are heavy favorites over their opponent, the aptly named New England Patriots. Lead by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk, wide receivers Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt, the Rams highly touted offense waits in the entrance tunnel to be introduced onto the field, on there way to the franchise’s second Super Bowl victory.

With flashbulbs going off left and right and the cheers getting louder with every name announced, Rams Wide Receiver Ricky Proehl looks into a television camera and bluntly states, “Tonight, a dynasty is born.”

Four hours later, the Patriots beat St. Louis 20-17 on a last minute 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

The launch of a dynasty...just not the one we expected.

Perhaps Proehl should have been a little clearer when he said that a dynasty would be born. After the Patriots upset the Rams, they went on to win two more Super Bowls in three years and have become a mainstay in the NFL Playoffs ever since, including a near perfect season in 2007.

The Rams have gone on to plunge into what seems like a never ending tailspin. Poor play on the field and poor management on the sidelines in the front office has frustrated the majority of a budding fan base to the point that the Edward Jones Dome has seen a decline in attendance every year since the 2001 season.

The disastrous Super Bowl loss was only the beginning. The next season, the Rams took the field expecting to repeat as NFC Champions. But Kurt Warner came out flat, starting his season with seven interceptions versus one touchdown pass before breaking his finger and missing a majority of the season. With Warner’s injury, St. Louis was introduced to Marc Bulger who helped dig the Rams out of an 0-5 hole and back to a .500 record and a shot at making the playoffs. But 5-5 was as close as the Rams would get as they finished the season with a 6-10 record. Fans began to turn on Kurt Warner and head coach Mike Martz for not giving the ball to Marshall Faulk more often. Both became the fan whipping boys for the Rams first losing season since 1998.

FINAL TOTAL FAN ATTENDANCE: 528, 498

Warner was out most of the 2002 season due to injury. Eventually he lost his starting job to Marc Bulger and was not resigned by the Rams. He has gone on to revive his career with Arizona.


The 2003 season started with controversy as Mike Martz named Marc Bulger the Rams starting quarterback, relegating NFL and Super Bowl XXXIV M.V.P. Kurt Warner to the role of back-up. For some, it was a breathe of fresh air while others shook their heads in disgust. However, Bulger somewhat proved his critics wrong, leading the Rams to a 12-4 finish and a first round bye in the playoffs. But the good times would stop there as Martz’s poor coaching decisions lead to an overtime win for the Carolina Panthers on the Rams home turf in the divisional playoff round. It would also be the last season that St. Louis saw Kurt Warner in a Rams uniform.

FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 528, 456



Marc Bulger lead the Rams to a postseason appearance in his first year. He is yet to repeat the success he had in 2003.


The next season, the Rams were projected to repeat as NFC West Champions and got off on the right foot with a 17-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at home. However, the season proved to be an up-and-down season and dropped to 6-8 with two games left to play on the season. The Rams rallied to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 20-7 on Monday Night Football and won a thrilling overtime victory against the New York Jets at home to clinch a playoff spot. The team went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card game, but the good feelings were short lived as the Atlanta Falcons, lead by Michael Vick, steamrolled the Rams 47-17. Arguments between the front office and Mike Martz become very heated and both sides start using the local press to fuel the feud.

FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 527, 384

2005 was another season to forget. An injury to Marc Bulger kept him on the sidelines for the majority of the season and health problems to Mike Martz kept him from coaching the team, leading to Assistant Coach, Joe Vitt being named interim head coach. The Rams finish the season with a 6-10 record and Martz is dismissed from his head coaching duties.


FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 523, 685


"Mad" Mike Martz quickly fell out of favor with fans with his perceived pass heavy offense. Eventually he was chased out of town by fans and dismissed as the head coach.

The 2006 off-season brought signs of change and optimism to Rams fans. But that quickly changed as Miami Dolphins Offensive Coordinator, Scott Linehan was hired to replace Mike Martz as head coach. The pick of Linehan did not resonate well with fans as they expected a new approach for the team and wanted a more defense oriented approach. However, fans were excited because there young running back, Steven Jackson, would get a shot at his first full season as fan favorite Marshall Faulk was out for the season with injury and was most likely going to retire. Things started off well as the Rams got off to a 4-1 start, but a close loss to the Seahawks at home lead to a five game losing streak. The team and the fan’s frustrations were summed up in a Monday night shelling to the Chicago Bears, a game in which Bear fans outnumbered Rams fans, leading to some nasty words from Steven Jackson towards the people of St. Louis. Later in the season, a Rams game is not classified as a sell out and for the first time since the Rams relocated to St. Louis, a home game is blacked out on local television.

FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 522, 610

After an 8-8 season and a breakout Pro Bowl season by Steven Jackson, the early projections were for the Rams to make the playoffs and potentially win the NFC West. However, any optimism went out the window very quickly as the Rams lost their first eight games on their way to the worst season since moving to St. Louis. The lowlight of the season came on a Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Dome, when the Rams retired Marshall Faulk’s number…in front of a dome full of Steelers fans. Once again, a Rams home game is blacked out. Fans begin calling for the heads of Team President John Shaw, General Manager Jay Zygmunt and Head Coach Scott Linehan for poor draft picks and for poor team leadership. Linehan’s feuds with team stars Bulger, Jackson and Torry Holt become very apparent.

FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 504, 354



On what should have been a special day for Rams fans, Marshall Faulk's number 28 was retired at the Dome on a Thursday night national broadcast. Unfortunately, Steelers fans clogged the dome and Faulk's number was raised to the rafters amidst a sea of black and yellow.

2008 brought more poor feelings towards the Rams. After starting 0-4 and losing control of his team, Scott Linehan was fired and replaced with Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett on an interim basis. The Rams would win their first two games under Haslett but would lose their last ten, on their way to setting a new low in St. Louis Rams history. This appeared to be a breaking point as the total attendance at the Dome fell under 500, 000 for the first time since 1998.


FINAL TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 479, 843


Scott Linehan's tenure with the Rams can be summed up in this picture: A lot of shouting and a lot of pointing fingers.


As the 2009 Rams season begins, the Dome looks to be as empty and as silent as it has ever been. The days of the Greatest Show on Turf are long gone and have been replaced with a losing, pessimistic culture that St. Louis football fans are all too familiar with. How could a franchise on the brink of starting the next NFL dynasty fall so hard so fast and how can the Dome start rattling with the sounds of roars and cheers again?

After several bad drafts and ignoring fan pleas, the organization quickly went into disarray. The fading health and eventual death of former team owner, Georgia Frontiere left stakeholders vying for power leaving the front office and coaching staff with no clear leader. The fight in the front office trickled down to the playing field and eventually, players started fighting with coaches and suddenly the game being played wasn’t nearly as important as everyone’s self interests. The more selfish people became, the more the Rams lost and the less fans that came through the turnstiles. This season looks to mark a new low in fan attendance as season tickets are near an all-time low and predicted attendance figures have the Rams having another blacked out home game, if not more.

While the years after Super Bowl XXXVI have been some of the darker years in recent memory, 2009 marks a season of change. With the resignations of both John Shaw and Jay Zygmunt, the front office appears to be taking shape under the direction of Chip Rosenbloom. While Rosenbloom is simply cleaning house for the impending sale of the Rams, it’s a good sign to see the franchise rebuilding itself and starting off on fresh ground and having everyone working together to build a true contender for the first time in years.

For the first time since Dick Vermeil, the Rams appear to have a fairly uncontroversial coach in Steve Spagnuolo. The team appears to have rallied around Spagnuolo’s philosophy and posted their first winning record in the preseason since 2003. Spagnuolo faces a large task in getting the leaders on this team to be leaders and getting everyone to play team oriented football. He will need help from his top players in Bulger and Jackson. If Bulger can play the way everyone believes he’s capable of, that will be a start. If Jackson can keep his mouth closed and just run the football, that will be a start.

The keys to success for the franchise to move forward will be unselfish play, leaders fulfilling their rolls and players just getting back to playing the game of football.

This team will not win their division and will most likely miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year. But why not win five or six games? It won’t be a season to break records, but any improvement will work to show the fans the team is moving in the right direction. Any improvement will do to get them back in their favorite seat, wearing their favorite player’s jersey, sipping on their favorite beer. Any improvement to turn the Dome into the visitor’s house of horrors that it once was.


On February 3, 2002, a potential St. Louis dynasty came to a crumbling end.

On September 13, 2009, a new era in St. Louis begins. The fans will be slow to show, but every great season starts with one victory. The process of reawakening the cheers will take time. After all, the Dome wasn’t built in a day.


Steve Spagnuolo and company look to turn the entire Rams franchise around and win back the heart of St. Louis.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Friday Wrap-Up

As the calendar flips from August to September, baseball season begins to wind down and both the college and NFL football season starts to get under way. It’s also the time that I start realizing that college really is over and that I’m kind of an adult now. With all of that being said (and that last part having absolutely NOTHING to do with anything in this article) here are the three things we learned this week and the three things to look for in the days ahead.

WHAT WE LEARNED

1. THE CARDINALS CAN DEFINITELY WIN AT HOME


Traditionally, the formula for a team to make it to the playoffs is to dominate on their home field and to play .500 ball on the road. The Cardinals had done okay at home, but they definitely have made up for it on the road with a 36-30 record. Before this last nine game home stand, St. Louis was 36-24. To put that in perspective, the Los Angeles Dodgers had the best home record in the National League with a record of 40-25. After going 7-2 on the home stand, the Cards over took the Dodgers for the best home record by a full game. The Cards now stand at 43-26 at home with twelve games left to play at Busch. With the Cardinals able to dominate teams at home and take advantage of a full house every night, home field advantage in the playoffs becomes that much more important and the road to the World Series becomes that much easier.


2. THE OFFENSE IS CAPABLE OF PICKING UP THE PITCHING STAFF

Both Carpenter and Pineiro had off-nights this past week as they left their team trailing after one inning. For the majority of the season, if the Cardinals are trailing after just one inning, the game is usually over. Before this week, the Cards were 6-25 when their opponent took an early lead. But two nights in a row the Cardinals erased an early 3-0 deficit for Pineiro and an early 1-0 deficit for Carpenter. After about a two week stretch where the offense barely hit .230, it was nice to see the pitchers get a lift and not have to be perfect for nine innings. If both the pitching and offense can get rolling together come the playoffs, this team is looking unstoppable against anybody.



3. THE SCOTT LINEHAN FOOTBALL DRAFTS WERE JUST AWFUL

This fact was probably already known by many fans, but the trading of Tye Hill to the Falcons for a 7th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft essentially just confirmed it. This was just a poor pick as Hill was drafted way too high. People forget that Hill’s pick in the draft by the Rams was actually acquired via a trade with the Broncos. The Rams traded their 11th overall pick to the Broncos for the 15th overall and the 68th overall. The Rams drafted Tye Hill with the 15th pick and defensive tackle Claude Wroten. The Broncos drafted quarterback Jay Cutler with the 11th pick (you may have heard of this guy). Cutler has gone on to have a productive and very promising career. Wroten missed four games in 2007 and the whole season in 2008 after he failed to comply with the NFL’s substance abuse policy three different times. He now plays with the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League.




WHAT TO WATCH FOR

1. THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES ELIMINATED FROM THE PLAYOFFS

If the Cardinals sweep the Pirates this weekend, Pittsburgh will officially be eliminated from the playoffs and will clinch another losing season. While this may not seem significant, three more losses will break a Major League record. With their 82nd loss this season, the Pirates will break the Philadelphia Phillies record for consecutive losing seasons with 17. The Pirates have not had a winning season (or a trip to the playoffs) since 1992. The Phillies had 16 consecutive losing seasons from 1933-1948. Not only will this be a Major League Baseball record, but no team in any of the four major sports has ever had 17 consecutive losing seasons.

It’s amazing how such a historic franchise has become a minor league team to the rest of baseball. Does anyone realize how many great players have come up through the Pirates system? Here’s a look at a lineup the Pirates could have potentially fielded this year if they hadn’t traded away all of their players.

1B: Adam LaRoche
2B: Freddy Sanchez (2006 batting champion)
3B: Aramis Ramirez
SS: Jack Wilson (still leads the league in flashy plays)
LF: Jason Bay (3-time All-Star, 2004 Rookie of the Year)
CF: Xavier Nady
RF: Brian Giles
C: Jason Kendall (2,062 career hits, .290 career batting average)
SP: Ian Snell
CLOSER: Mike Gonzalez

That’s not the best lineup in the National League, but it’s definitely competitive and not an easy one for any starting pitcher to face.


2. WHO ARE THE MISSOURI TIGERS?

After two record setting seasons, the Tigers will take the field at the Edward Jones Dome on Saturday in the annual Arch Rivalry Game against the Illinois Fighting Illini. No team in the Big XII this year has more question marks this season than the Tigers. After losing superstars Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman, William Moore, Ziggy Hood and Jeff Wolfert (who was the most accurate place kicker in the history of NCAA football), it’s hard to grade where the Tigers will be. The team will definitely look to improve on defense from last year, when they ranked 116th out of 118 teams. The biggest question of all is can Blaine Gabbert orchestrate the spread offense? He has one year under his belt and had the privilege of watching Chase Daniel (the master of the spread offense) run the spread almost to perfection. Illinois will prove to be a good team to read the Tigers as the Illini are ranked 27th nationally and the Tigers are ranked 47th. This season will also solidify Pinkel as either a one-hit wonder with recruiting classes or a recruiting genius. If this team ends up going to a bowl game, Pinkel will have officially changed the face of the Tiger program.

My prediction: 8-4 with a trip to the Sun Bowl (Sorry. I’m a Homer when it comes to the Tigers and sometimes I’m blindly optimistic).


3. WAINWRIGHT TRIES TO SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM THE PACK

Cy Young or not, Adam Wainwright will end up having one of the best seasons by a Cardinal pitcher since Chris Carpenter in 2005. Right now, Wainwright and San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum are neck and neck for the NL Cy Young. Last night, Lincecum lost to the Phillies in a pitcher’s duel, 2-1. However, he still struck out eleven batters. While Wainwright can’t possibly pass Lincecum in total strikeouts, he can extend his Major League lead with his 17th win tonight against the Pirates. Depending on how well and how deep Wainwright goes into the game, Wainwright can overtake Lincecum for the 2nd lowest ERA in the National League and only trail the Cardinals other ace, Chris Carpenter.




That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute opinion.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Pinkel Shows NFL How It's Done

March 16, 2008: A domestic disturbance at Gateway Apartments in Columbia, Missouri escalates when it’s revealed that the man involved has a loaded 9-millimeter Ruger handgun beneath the front seat of his car. The man is identified as Marquis Booker, a reserve linebacker for the Missouri Tigers football team.


Acting swiftly, Coach Gary Pinkel dismisses Booker from the team just two days after the incident.

April 30, 2009: Blaine Dalton, freshman quarterback for the Missouri Tigers football team is charged with possession of drugs and possession of alcohol by a minor. Eventually the charges were dismissed.

Coach Pinkel suspends Dalton after the incident, but reinstates him under the condition that Dalton clean up his act.

August 28, 2009: Dalton is arrested for driving while intoxicated and possession of alcohol by a minor. This time, Pinkel is not as forgiving as he kicks Dalton off the team later that day.




The NFL could learn a lesson from Gary Pinkel. Pinkel stopped problems before they became hazardous to others and showed the type of justice that has evaded NFL players several different times. Too often players are being scrutinized for misbehaviors that only harm them selves while some players have gotten away with murder. Not that I condone actions on either side of the spectrum, but the NFL needs to start handing out the proper punishment and showing a zero tolerance policy like Coach Pinkel when it comes to the safety of other players and everyday citizens and maybe giving the offending player a wake-up call before it’s too late.

Take the case of St. Louis Rams defensive end, Leonard Little. Little was a third round draft pick by the Rams in the 1998 NFL Draft. On October 20th of the same year, Little was driving home intoxicated after celebrating his birthday in St. Louis. With a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 (more than double the legal limit), Little crashed into driver Susan Gutweiler, killing her. Little was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 90 days in jail and 1000 hours of community service.



The NFL found this so outrageous that they suspended Little for eight games. He has since gone on to have a fairly complete career.

A similar case has come up more recently. On March 14th of this year, Cleveland Browns wide receiver, Donte Stallworth struck and killed pedestrian, Mario Reyes while driving intoxicated in Miami, Florida. Stallworth was four points over the legal alcohol limit and was driving 50 miles per hour in a 40mph zone. Stallworth was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 30 days of prison, two years of house arrest, 1,000 hours of community service, eight years probation, and his Florida driver’s license was revoked for a lifetime. Stallworth only served 24 days of his 30 day prison sentence.




Again, the NFL was angry. So angry that Stallworth was suspended for a whole season. He is scheduled to be reinstated upon the completion of Super Bowl XLIV.

While Stallworth is in the limelight still because his incident is much more recent, Little’s manslaughter is vastly overlooked. The fact that both of these men are allowed to continue to play professional football is beyond me.

What’s even worse is the coverage and scrutiny the estranged Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Michael Vick, receives for his involvement in an underground dog fighting ring. Vick was suspended from the NFL for two years and was only reinstated conditionally this year and will miss the first few games at which point, Commissioner Roger Goodell will make a decision whether or not to fully reinstate Vick.




Which of the two offenses are worse: Manslaughter or killing dogs? Neither one is condonable, but one is clearly worse than the other. The life of an NFL player is a special one and is one that should not be taken for granted. What Vick did was awful, but not so awful that he should not be allowed to show that he is a changed man and have a chance to win his life back.

In the case of Stallworth and Little, justice may have never been served. Little continues to play in the NFL and Stallworth will surely be fully reinstated sometime next year. These two playing football will not make up for the two families that lost loved ones because of these players mistakes. Little apparently never learned his lesson as in 2004 he was once again arrested for driving under the influence.

I applaud Coach Gary Pinkel for showing all football coaches at both the college and professional level how to handle their players: With very little lee-way. Marquis Booker threatened to put lives in danger so Pinkel dismissed him. Dalton was given a second chance to prove himself, screwed up and Pinkel dismissed him. End of story. That’s it. No more football for you. Pinkel did not hesitate and gave these two players the wake up call they needed.
If the NFL is smart, they will instate a similar policy: The Pinkel Policy. When a player screws up, the repercussions meet the level of the offense.

Athletes will always make mistakes because they are human. But how can we expect them to behave better when the precedent set for the ultimate offense is a slap on the wrist followed by large paychecks? Nobody is above the law, including athletes. Gary Pinkel realizes this. It’s time for the NFL to realize it too.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Friday Wrap-Up

As the weekend draws near and the week that was comes to a close, we take a look back at the three things we learned in St. Louis and three things to look for in the coming days ahead.

WHAT WE LEARNED

1. ADAM WAINWRIGHT IS THE REAL DEAL

When Wainwright faced off against Wandy Rodriguez of the Houston Astros on Tuesday, I honestly expected them to lose. Rodriguez is a great up and coming pitcher and the Cardinal offense has been sluggish. The combination of those two things usually spells defeats for St. Louis, no matter who is on the mound. But the one run the Cards scored on an Albert Pujols double in the first inning proved to be enough for Wainwright, who pitched around trouble in the first and sparked the team to victory by striking out Jason Michaels with the tying run at third in the top of the 8th. He followed this by doing his best Chris Carpenter impression. By pitching eight innings or shutout ball, Wainwright passed Bob Gibson for second on the list of most consecutive starts of at least six innings pitched while giving up two runs or less. It was Wainwright’s 12th consecutive start to meet these standards. Who’s in first? John Tudor with 15 consecutive. That is some great company to be keeping.



2. THE OFFENSE STILL HAS SOME ISSUES

At the beginning of the week I wrote that the Cardinals needed to start scoring at home. While they did take two of three from the Astros, they did it with pitching and not offense. The Cards mustered a total of seven runs in three games against Houston, which is hardly pouring it on. Granted they did face Wandy Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt and Brian Moehler (who isn’t that great but for some reason makes the Cardinals look like they were all just called up from Triple A Memphis), but I’m still concerned as they have been slowly getting more and more sluggish all month. So far in August, the Cardinals have scored a total of 102 runs, which is slightly better than how they did in the month of May when they only scored 99. This fact has been overshadowed by tremendous pitching as the Cards have only given up 72 runs total. Over the last week, St. Louis is batting .256 as a team with five home runs and 19 RBIs. While these stats are alarming, there is some good news. The Washington Nationals are in town this weekend, which will be a good opportunity for everybody to get hot again.


3. STEVE SPAGNUOLO IS CHANGING RAMS CULTURE


I know it’s only preseason still, but I am getting legitimately excited about Rams football. After a 24-21 victory against the Bengals last night, the Rams defense looks like a completely different unit than it did last year. On the Bengals first play, James Butler recorded a sack and James Laurinaitis recovered a fumbled snap to place the Rams at Cincinnati’s 20 yard line, which five plays later resulted in a Rams touchdown. The Rams defense created four turnovers last night (including a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown by James Butler) while the offense played perfectly as far as holding on to the ball is concerned. Through three preseason games, the Rams are plus nine in turnovers. This team is still a ways away from being a true competitor, but Spagnuolo has these guys competing and going in the right direction (which is towards the opponent’s endzone).



WHAT TO LOOK FOR

1. SMOLTZ’S FIRST HOME START AS A CARDINAL

After a great Cardinal debut in San Diego last Sunday, John Smoltz will make his first Cardinal appearance at Busch Stadium tonight against the Washington Nationals. While another outing like the one he had against the Padres would be nice, everyone would settle for anything better than what Kyle Lohse has produced since April. Smoltz’s stats support Cardinal fan hopes that he should be able to deliver. At Busch Stadium II, Smoltz appeared in 20 games going 14-3 with 94 strikeouts while recording a 4.88 ERA. Smoltz has only had one start in Busch III, during which he went eight innings, striking out two and only allowing two runs on his way to earning the victory.



2. ALBERT PUJOLS’ 100TH RUN SCORED ON THE SEASON

Pujols scored his 99th run of the season against the Astros on Thursday. If, and when Albert scores his 100th run, it will be the eighth time in his nine year career that he will score 100 runs. The one year he missed the mark? 2007 when Albert scored 99.

3. THE BRAD PENNY AUCTION

Brad Penny was released by the Boston Red Sox this week to create room on the roster for Billy Wagner. While Penny started out with Boston okay, his second half has been forgettable. In his last five starts, Penny was 0-4 with an ERA of 9.11. While these numbers aren’t very attractive, Penny does have upside. Before going to Boston, Penny was a career National Leaguer spending time with the Marlins, where he won a World Series (2003), and time with the Dodgers, where in 2006 he was named the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game and made the All-Star Team again the very next year. For Penny’s career he is 101-83 with an ERA of 4.18. Just an idea, but why not take a chance with Penny? The Cardinals need a 5th starter and Penny has shown he can succeed in the National League. Plus, you have already found plenty of gold within Boston’s trash, why not take another chance? Adding Penny would only confirm the Cardinals have the best rotation in all of baseball. Just throwing that out there.


That’s it for the week. See all of you back on Monday.


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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Sports Munchies 8-19-09




In this episode we discuss

1. The St. Louis Cardinals Sign John Smoltz

2. The St. Louis Rams start Camp

3. Scott Boras is the devil, and the return of the Chris Duncan Watch