John Gast (screen shot)

It was a spectacular start to the major league career of John Gast. It was even more spectacular that he got plenty of run support in his debut! The Cardinals defeated the Mets 10-4 Tuesday night.

First off, let’s discuss this smooth lefty!

The first Mets batter Gast faced, Justin Turner, was thrown three pitches. All three pitches were strikes. Poor Justin didn’t know what was going on, it seemed!

The amazing start continued from there for Gast.

He threw 71 pitches over the course of six innings. Of the 71, 48 of those pitches were strikes. He threw three strikeouts.

Gast did give up six hits, a walk and had four earned runs thanks to some struggles in the sixth. According to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “Gast did stumble in the sixth, allowing three straight batters to reach with one out. A botched rundown later extended the inning long enough for Marlon Byrd to connect for a two-run homer. But maintaining his poise, Gast closed his outing with a strikeout — the same result with which he had opened his night.”

Langosch also reported Gast was “[t]he first Cardinals left-hander to make his debut as a starter since Rick Ankiel in 1999. Gast is now the first lefty starter to win a debut since Allen Watson in 2002. Asked how the long-time dream measured up to reality, Gast answered: “It was pretty close.”‘

Very exciting for the 24-year-old. I know I am far from alone in looking forward to more great starts from this guy! Continue reading →

John Gast

With an inflamed elbow and an amazing set of pitchers in the minor league system, now seems as good a time as ever to give Jake Westbrook a little break and promote one of the minor league system’s prized pitchers in John Gast.

Fans of John Gast? REJOICE!

Gast, a smooth move having lefty, will get the start for the Cardinals on Tuesday evening against the Mets.

Per Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch:

The Cardinals’ starting pitching, which had posted a major league best 2.11 earned run average, took its first hit this year when veteran righthander Jake Westbrook was placed on the 15-day disabled list this morning with right elbow inflammation.

Westbrook, 2-1 with a 1.62 earned run average, will be replaced on the roster by lefthander John Gast, who has been purchased from Class AAA Memphis to start Tuesday here against the New York Mets.

Westbrook gave up nine hits and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his last start Wednesday in Chicago. Righthander Jason Motte, who had been on the 15-day disabled list but will be out for the season, will be moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Gast on the 40-man roster.

Gast, the Cardinals’ minor league player of the month for April, is 3-1 with a 1.16 ERA over six starts in Memphis. The sixth-round draft pick out of Florida State University in 2010 began the season with a 32-inning scoreless streak.

Here’s hoping for a good rest and speedy recovery for Jake … and an another amazing pitching performance by the Cardinals pitching staff for Gast!

Miranda Remaklus is a contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball and lead writer for Aerys Offsides in the NFL section. Follow her on Twitter @missmiranda. 

John Gast

With an inflamed elbow and an amazing set of pitchers in the minor league system, now seems as good a time as ever to give Jake Westbrook a little break and promote one of the minor league system’s prized pitchers in John Gast.

Fans of John Gast? REJOICE!

Gast, a smooth move having lefty, will get the start for the Cardinals on Tuesday evening against the Mets.

Per Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch:

The Cardinals’ starting pitching, which had posted a major league best 2.11 earned run average, took its first hit this year when veteran righthander Jake Westbrook was placed on the 15-day disabled list this morning with right elbow inflammation.

Westbrook, 2-1 with a 1.62 earned run average, will be replaced on the roster by lefthander John Gast, who has been purchased from Class AAA Memphis to start Tuesday here against the New York Mets.

Westbrook gave up nine hits and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his last start Wednesday in Chicago. Righthander Jason Motte, who had been on the 15-day disabled list but will be out for the season, will be moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Gast on the 40-man roster.

Gast, the Cardinals’ minor league player of the month for April, is 3-1 with a 1.16 ERA over six starts in Memphis. The sixth-round draft pick out of Florida State University in 2010 began the season with a 32-inning scoreless streak.

Here’s hoping for a good rest and speedy recovery for Jake … and an another amazing pitching performance by the Cardinals pitching staff for Gast!

Miranda Remaklus is a contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball and lead writer for Aerys Offsides in the NFL section. Follow her on Twitter @missmiranda. 

It’s a new series. With a team the Cardinals have yet to play this season. Meaning we will be inundated with a bunch of new material our favorite FoxSports Midwest broadcasters will use and abuse our ears with. So in between celebrating Mother’s Day with our favorite Momma’s, we will be throwing our remotes, random pieces of newspaper, all  in failed effort to get Al Hrabosky to shut up.

So! What are some items we could grow tired of this weekend? Let’s see…

* Humidor Talk. OK, so it might not be as prevalent as they are playing in St. Louis this time around. But, I have zero doubt it gets brought up. Just for your clarification, I looked up a little something on Coors Field, it’s former reputation as a “home run friendly” ball park and the Humidor.

Per “source” Wikipedia: “Prior to the 2002 baseball season, studies determined that it was more the dry air rather than thin air which contributed to the more frequent home runs. It was found that baseballs stored in drier air are harder and therefore more elastic to the impact of the bat. A room-sized humidor was installed in which to store the baseballs, and since its introduction the number of home runs at Coors Field has decreased and is now nearly the same as other parks.”

You see, this was done in 2002. That’s over 10 years now. Yet! Al will bring it up and talk about it like it’s some new concept every season. It will be brought up at some point this weekend, I guarantee it. I also guarantee that you shouldn’t make a drinking game of it. You’ll be tipsy by the end of the first inning!

* Todd Helton. Helton is in the final year of his contract. He is 39. This will probably be the last time we see Helton. Which I actually have zero sadness about! Helton is kind of good at baseball. He has a .320 lifetime average and 356 home runs in a major league career which began with the Rockies in 1997. Continue reading →