LaRussa, Cards Weak out of the Gates

NY Mets 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 6 12 0
St. Louis 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 10 1

Well, you could say it wasn't pretty. It wasn't pretty from the time the Cardinal lineup was announced. On a day when Tony LaRussa went public with his disgust of the media blowing the opening day lineup way out of proportion, we do just that: discuss the lineup.

So Taguchi in left over Chris Duncan? Yes, Tony, I understand. Duncan sucks against left-handed hurlers, plain and simple. A measly .170 in 47 tries last season doesn't qualify as good. In fact, you would probably consider that combination of numbers well below average. So, statistically, Tony, you're justified.

But on opening day? C'mon. I'm not hear to question LaRussa when it comes to baseball knowledge, but I do think playing the exciting, young Chris Duncan on opening day would have been a better idea than tossing the 38 year old Taguchi out there. I would be willing to bet that upwards of 80% of the people in Busch Stadium Sunday night were disappointed when they found out Duncan wouldn't be batting in front of Pujols. The idea of opening day is not only to win, but also to fill the stadium with excitement as you gear up for the rest of the season. Chances are, most people would have been more excited to see Duncan taking hacks than they were watching Taguchi misplay flyballs. Down the stretch, I don't have a problem with Taguchi playing against lefties, but when it comes to opening day at the ballpark things are different. All anyone has talked about all offseason is whether or not Chris Duncan can be an everyday starter and, repeatedly, LaRussa has offered his confidence to the media and to Duncan saying "he's above average" and "he's ready to go. He's really improved." Well, what kind of message do you send to Duncan and the fans if you don't think he's good enough to be in your starting lineup in front of an exciting crowd on opening day? Sounds to me like: "Um, well. He's probably not as good as I've made him out to be. Chances are we won't even play him against lefties, much like last season."

Give the kid a chance.

*Props to Duncan, who took the decision in stride and said all the right things: "I definitely didn't swing the bat good against lefthanders this spring. I think Tony gave me an opportunity in spring to face some guys. It's the way it goes. Sure, it would have been nice to play opening night. But we have so many good outfielders, you want to take the best shot at winning."
*My mistake for making fun of the 94 year old Tom Glavine, he sure as hell carved up the 'Birds on Sunday.
*Carpenter wasn't smooth...at all. No worries. Yet.
*Perhaps the post-season birth of Yadi Molina was no fluke, he seemed to be the only person able to get good wood on the ball Sunday, despite blooping out in a critical at-bat.
*The Cubs announced today that, after spending upwards of 300 million this offseason, they plan to sell the team. I'd sell that can't-hack-it franchise if I owned it to.

Birds. Mets. Tonight.

Timo's favorite part: THE PUNDITS
Steve Rosenbloom, Chicago Tribune: “The Cardinals always seem smarter and more resourceful than everybody else. I mean, the Cubs have no idea what they’re doing with Wood and Prior, so they turned to Cardinals curbside pick-up Jason Marquis, and meanwhile the Cardinals have one-time Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter being followed by future multiple Cy Young winner Adam Wainwright.”

Jim Armstrong, Denver Post: “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Alfonso Soriano, baseball’s first 40-40-40 man: 40 homers, 40 steals, 40 errors trying to impersonate a center fielder.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Pacman Jones will have his meeting with NFL Commish Roger Goodell on Tuesday. Just in case Pacman gets hit with a big fine, he’s bringing a Hefty Bag full of dollar bills.”

Jim Armstrong, Denver Post: “To put it in a way Pacman Jones will understand, word is NFL commish Roger Goodell plans to shower Jones with fine money.”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “At the NFL meetings, owners made instant replay permanent by a vote of 30-2. The only dissenters were the Cardinals, who said they were “tired of waiting for the referee to decide whether our player dropped the ball or fumbled it,” and the tightwad Bengals, who were willing to share the cost of the new high-definition equipment but only if the monitors were black-and-white.”

Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times: “Only hopeless grumps and half-dead curmudgeons wouldn’t enjoy the union of Mark Cuban and the free-at-last Cubs. For one, he’s a bleacher bum at heart, a crazy fan who truly gets Wrigleyville, vines, beer and bikini tops. And unlike the fallen Tribune Co. — good riddance, losers — he doesn’t like mixing futility with fun, preferring to augment the party with big spending and bigger winning as shown by his once-moribund, now-dominant Dallas Mavericks.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Lou Piniella promises a ‘change of culture’ for the Cubbies. Since Dusty Baker came in promising to change the Cubs’ ‘culture of losing,’ Piniella’s promise is kind of like rotating four bald tires.”

Ex-Cardinal reliever, Steve Kline: “Toad food? Tofu? I don’t even know what that is. I don’t believe in dieting. I went on two diets in my life, and I got fatter both times. No thanks. I’ll be out eating Beer Nuts.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “The NHL is considering an outright ban on fighting. Isn’t that a little like a liquor store banning alcohol?”

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports.com, on Illinois starting spring football: “Big question is, how many plays before Ron Guenther calls Juice Williams an ‘idiot’?”

Jim Armstrong, Denver Post: “This just in. Duke forward Josh McRoberts has declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. As opposed to prepared for it.”