The leaves are beginning to change down here in extreme southern Illinois and now that baseball season has come to a close for Cardinals fans it is time to go out and cut some firewood and crank up the ol’ hot stove league once again. Perhaps we can use all that kindling from those broken baseball bats that seem to populate every major league game. It would look to us as if the team needs to invest in some good reliable relief pitching in the off season as well as find some lumber to come off of the bench to pitch hit. The team seems strong at virtually every position but we need to bring up the fact that it might be time to begin to start the early stages of seeking a replacement for Yadier Molina. Yadi has been around for ten years now and that is getting on in time for a catcher with all of the wear and tear that they accumulate over the years. As Indiana Jones said to Marianne in Raiders of the Lost Ark: Its not the age, it’s the miles! We saw the rise of Jon Jay to a position of prominence among center fielders from the lowly place that he started in the Spring and we found out that Randal Grichek was the real prospect in the trade with the Angles that seems so long ago now. Matt Adams has arisen as a rising star at first base and Matt Carpenter has taken his place as possibly the best leadoff man in major league baseball today. If Kolten Wong had a few more games in the post season he might have been a real prospect for rookie of the year in the National League. It seems so long ago now that he was picked off of first base in the world series game a year ago and he has really come a fer piece as we like to say down in these southern Illinois hills. Adam Wainwrights last game might have been his best as he held off the Giants and we might have still been in the hunt for red October if he had had a couple of more innings left in him. Lance Lynn has emerged as a first line pitcher in his own right as he has placed his mid season slumps well behind him now. We have John Lackey back for a full season next year and Shelby Miller and Michael Wacka round out what looks to be a formidable pitching staff. This marked our fiftieth year of watching Cardinal baseball as we look forward to our next fifty with some relish and regard for the game and all it has meant to us and so many others. As Ted Williams asked someone a number of years ago, can you smell it burning when the ball comes off the bat? Baseball is and always has been a changeless game always in the process of evolution and we look forward to a bright future watching the Cardinals and the other twenty nine teams in the sport as they wend their way into the future, always with an eye on a past that now included a Derek Jeter who joins those other class acts that make this game something very special in a league all its own. Have a nice winter. Regards, Joe
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:06:02 +0000