Spring Training Day 28

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*** The Cards lost to the Tigers 7-6 on yet another walk-off hit...the same thing happened yesterday against the Phillies.

     -- Even with the loss, the biggest news of the day happened after the game was over.  The team sent 8 players to the minors...none bigger than OF Brian Barton.  He was a guy who may not have been a "favorite" to make the team, but was thought to be in contention since he's right-handed and has great speed...a combination the Cards do not have in their outfield.  With Barton out of the equation, it's very hard to envision Tony La Russa keeping 5 outfielders.  He would not say that's what's likely to happen.  But when you look at who is left on the roster there is really no one left who has that great of a shot.  I asked Tony about Jon Jay and he says he's playing well, but he also says "the odds are against him" to make the team.  Tony did also go on to say that if you're still here, you've got a chance.  The other 7 players sent to minor league camp are pitchers Mitchell Boggs, Matthew Scherer, Charlie Manning, Jess Todd, Clayton Mortensen and Adam Ottovino; Allen Craig is the other.  No real surprises there at all.  37 players are left on the roster.

     -- As far as the game goes, pitcher Todd Wellemeyer had a decent-to-good outing today.  It started out very rough...4 runs in the first 3 innings.  But he settled down and held the Tigers to nothing over the final 2 innings he pitched.  His final line: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R (all earned), BB, 3 K, 2 HR.  The home runs are the most alarming thing because he gave up a lot of them last year (25) and he gives up 2 more today.  Wellemeyer though says that's really not a big deal to him at all because HRs are just line drives that get up in the air.  He says if there's runners on base then that is something you need to worry about more...but not when no one is on.  Both homers today were solo shots.  As far as his stuff, Wellemeyer was happy with his command and the improvement of his changeup and slider.  Last start he said his slider was too "big"...meaning it broke way too much.  Today, he says it was much better.  Velocity-wise, Wellemeyer was consistently in the low 90s with his fastball.

     -- Khalil Greene continues to tear the ball up over the last couple weeks.  He goes 3-3 with a double and 3 RBIs to raise his spring average up to a ridiculous .447.  He's just in one of those hot streaks...leading the team with 17 hits.  Probably the funniest moment (for me anyway) was after the starters came out of the game and we are all back in the locker room talking.  All of a sudden ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" comes on with Cardinals-Tigers highlights...while the game is still going on.  The very first thing they talk about is Khalil Greene.  I'm standing right next to Khalil while he does not even turn around and change facial expressions.  I say to him, "I see how much you care what they think of you".  He tells me he could not care less.  I know it's one thing to not pay attention to that stuff, but it's amazing how they're doing YOUR highlight immediately after you go 3-3 and you don't pay any attention at all.  Pretty cool stuff.

     -- Tony went with a little wrinkle in today's lineup.  Chris Duncan (who had been hitting 2nd mostly this spring) was put in the #4 spot.  Rick Ankiel (the normal clean up hitter) hit 2nd.  Dunc's been very hot this spring, but so has Ank, who's average is .348 after going 2-4 today.  Tony told me Duncan is every bit capable of being the team's cleanup hitter this season...along with Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.  Most days, he would definitely prefer to have a left handed hitter behind Pujols, so that would make it Ank and Dunc the most likely guys to hit there most of the time.  But after seeing Ankiel hit 4th just about all of spring and excel at it, I found it quite interesting that Duncan was there in the lineup today.

     -- Albert Pujols hit his very first home run of spring training today.  It was a no doubter over the left field wall.  As soon as I HEARD the crack of the bat I knew it was gone.  Didn't even have to watch. 

     -- Say what you want about Skip Schumaker's defense at 2nd base (he did make a couple really nice plays today by the way), but the dude can hit.  2 more hits today raises his average to .333 for spring.  It's not a cheap .333 either.  Skip leads the team in ABs right now with 48 and is tied for 2nd most hits (16). 

     -- In the all-consuming battle for the closer job, the latest to audtion today was Jason Motte.  And, let me tell you, he was filthy.  Motte struck out the side in the 8th, hitting 98 MPH on the stadium radar gun in the process.  His ERA is now 1.50 for the spring.  It's March 16th and he's easily been better than his good friend Chris Perez.  Perez is the guy with all the hype.  But Motte is just downright nasty at times.  He might not be the closer right out of spring, but I do not see how Tony can keep this guy off the roster.  Motte's for real.

     -- Up next: the Cards are OFF tomorrow.  Tony says only the guys that need treatment are expected to show up.  That means it is a total day off.

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