Blame Tyler Greene! The guy really can’t catch a break can he? As I’m sitting here typing on this fine Sunday evening the Cards have completed a nice series win over the Brewers. But boy they should have swept. Good weekend of baseball nonetheless but I really can’t figure out why anyone’s pointing a disapproving finger at Mr. Greene for the outcome of Sunday’s game. One out hit and run with Yadi at the plate, he misses for strike 3 and that leaves Beltran hung out to dry between 1st and 2nd. Greene tries to sneak home before Carlos is tagged and game over. People complained TLR wasn’t aggressive enough and now Matheny’s reckless and Greene’s and idiot. And yes I’m just referring to this instance with Matheny. Quickly summed up then I’ll move along: Yadi’s not fleet of foot, he’s a very good contact hitter, want to stay out of the double play, hit and run put on, swings through, Beltran screwed, Greene breaks for home and is tagged. Now if Yadi hits one in the gap Matheny’s a genius. Can’t please everyone, obviously.
On a definite positive it’s sounding good that “The Wrench” Mr. Allen Craig will be back in the Cardinals lineup as soon as Tuesday against the Bucs with Lance Berkman hopefully not far behind. That means 2 roster moves will be needed to accommodate. Someone’s feelings are heading for Hurtsville but it’s really not clear who. I’m not going to necessarily make a case for anyone but I’ll sum up who it could be and just say I was right after the fact.
Shane Robinson: Alright so I’ll take one guess and assume Shane’s heading back to Memphis. Not for a lack of effort or even results he’s just an odd man out and probably the 1st move made. He’s got the options and will benefit not only himself but the Redbirds by seeing regular playing time there. I’m guessing he’s on a plane to Memphis Tuesday.
Matt Carpenter: There’s no way they send Matt to Memphis right? He’s been strong at the plate and can play 1st base and the outfield. Just get rid of that Greene guy! Not so fast. Carpenter will more than likely stay with the big club when Craig gets back. Then I assume Craig will play 1st and Carpenter will head to the bench. Then when Berkman gets back it gets murky. See next 2 names as to why.
Erik Komatsu: As a rule 5 selection he’s either in or out. In case you’re not familiar with the terms he must remain on the Cardinals 25 man all season or else be placed on waivers. If he clears they would then have to offer him back to his original team which is the Washington Nationals I believe. In other words he’s gone. Obviously not an easy choice especially if the team believes he has upside.
Tyler Greene: So sick of this subject. Eerily similar to the Colby Rasmus fiasco the last couple seasons. Again though not a cut and dry situation. First off he’s out of options so they’d have to cut ties. No Memphis. Let’s not forget Matheny tried to give the 2nd base job to him in Spring Training and he just couldn’t take it and run. On a quick side note 2 of the least confident guys on the 2011 edition of the Cardinals were probably Boggs and Greene and Matheny tried to give both a boost of confidence in the Spring. Telling Boggs he was the man in the 8th and basically giving Greene the 2nd base job to lose. I like that. Wow sweet story right?
Moving on…
Let’s play a game called Be Objective Negative Pants. Awful name I know but it gets my point across. Let’s begin. 1. When Daniel Descalso starts at 2nd you only have Greene and Schumaker as backup middle infielders and Skip’s well Skip in the infield. 2. He’s fast. This team can use his speed. 3. They’re 1 injury in the infield away from an alarming situation if they release Greene.
In other words other than possibly Robinson a really tough decision will have to be made. If you had to beat a guess out of me I’d say they send Carpenter to Memphis. He’ll get regular AB’s there and then it’s easier to get Jay and Craig regular AB’s in St. Louis with Craig rotating between the outfield and 1st. Just a guess though.
In closing who in the world saw the Los Angeles San Jose Compton Anaheim Angels starting 7-15 and 9 games back of the Texas Rangers? And then of course Albert Pujols hitting .216 with 4 RBI and 0 HR in 88 AB’s. Now I’ll admit I wanted him to scuffle at least for awhile and would love the Angels to miss the playoffs but it’s a little troubling. Well, on second thought I could care less about the the Angels but I can’t just act like I never watched 1 of the greatest decades ever for a player wearing the Birds on the Bat. He just looks clueless at the plate right now. Maybe when Stan Musial put up the stop sign and told Albert to stay in St. Louis it’s one he should have listened to. Whatever, later skaters.
