Tag Archives: Houston Astros

From The Cardinals: Statements from DeWitt, Mozeliak Regarding Investigation

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The Cardinals issued the following news release.

The St. Louis Cardinals Chairman and CEO William O. DeWitt Jr. and Cardinals Sr. Vice President and General Manager John Mozeliak this morning shared their thoughts regarding Tuesday’s news of a federal investigation of the club related to a possible security breach of the Houston Astros’ database.

Saint_Louis_Cardinals_logo“These are serious allegations that don’t reflect who we are as an organization,” DeWitt said. “We are committed to getting to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible, and if anyone within our organization is determined to be involved in anything inappropriate, they will be held accountable.”

DeWitt said that several months ago, after the team was made aware of the allegations, he and Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak engaged Jim Martin and the law firm of Dowd Bennett to assist the team in providing requested information to the federal government and to conduct an internal inquiry to attempt to identify any employee that may have engaged in the alleged conduct.

“The alleged conduct has no place in our game,” Mozeliak said.  “We hold ourselves to the highest standards in every facet of our organization.  It has been that way forever and is certainly true today.  We are committed to finding out what happened.  To the extent we can substantiate that these allegations have merit, we will take appropriate action against anyone involved.”

“The internal inquiry is not yet complete,” said Martin. “In the meantime, we wish to respect the process and avoid saying anything which would interfere with the government’s investigation.”

Ever Been To A Ballgame In The Middle Of A Flood?

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It’s been a while since I’ve written about the Quad Cities River Bandits, since they unfortunately (for those of us here, anyway) are no longer a Cardinals minor league affiliate as they were through 2012. Yet the now-Astros Midwest League team still plays at Modern Woodmen Park, the beautiful riverfront ballpark along the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa.

Although, at the moment, the Mississippi surrounds Modern Woodmen Park.

It’s an island, as the river reached more than 20 1/2 feet on July 4 (which is more than five feet above flood stage) — the sixth-highest flood in Davenport history. Yet the ballpark remains high and dry thanks to the tremendous engineering that went into remodeling the ballpark about 10 years ago to build in flood protection, as well as an only-when-needed flood wall that can be installed. Which means we have the opportunity to watch the Bandits play even as the water flows around the ballpark instead of beyond right and center fields as usual … once we cross the walkway over the water, that is.

Yesterday the River Bandits hosted the Brewers-affiliated Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in a doubleheader, thanks to a rainout on Saturday. So a friend and I went to the game and I, like so many others there, had to get photographic evidence of this unique occurrence. Because it’s obviously not often you go to a ballgame in the middle of a flood.

Now you can see what the experience was like as well, and it sure beats thinking about the now-third place Cardinals, doesn’t it?

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Here’s what you see as you approach the ballpark, as the parking lot had enough dry land in the last row for about five cars.

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The walkway, which takes you above and over the flooded parking lots.

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The parking lot from the walkway. Yes, that’s a ferris wheel in the background — the newest addition to the ballpark this season.

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Cardinals Throwback Thursday: Mark Mulder’s 10-Inning Shutout

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In case you haven’t heard, Mark Mulder could be joining That Guy Who Used to Play First Base and David Freese in Anaheim this season. Mulder signed a minor league contract with the Angels as he attempts to return to the majors.

capt.989e77d27a48436d88daa5bbc7b3c83fNow, chances are when you think of Mark Mulder’s career with the Cardinals, you’re some combination of disappointed or angry since Walt Jocketty traded Danny Haren, Kiko Calero and Daric Barton to obtain him on Dec. 18, 2004. Mulder’s four-year career as a Cardinal only included 55 appearances due to shoulder injuries that forced him into retirement after the 2008 season. And you don’t even want to look up the numbers for his very limited 2007 and 2008 seasons — some things are best left in the past.

However, Mulder’s first season as a Card in 2005 was very good — he was 16-8 with a 3.64 ERA in 32 starts. The best of those was on April 23, just his fourth start as a Cardinal, when he threw a 10-inning, 101-pitch, five-hit shutout as St. Louis beat the Houston Astros 1-0.

Roger Clemens started for the Astros and lasted seven obviously scoreless innings. The winning run scored when Larry Walker drove in Reggie Sanders, who’d singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a groundout by (who else but) David Eckstein.

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Throwback Thursday: Looking Back to the 2004 NLCS

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Ah, the 2004 Cardinals. That great 105-win team with the MV3 seemingly unstoppable on offense, Larry Walker receiving a standing ovation upon striking out in his Cardinals debut, a rookie named Yadier Molina getting called up in June, Chris Carpenter having a great first season with the team, those other new starters Jason Marquis and Jeff Suppan doing really well too (yes, they really did) and Rick Ankiel successfully returning to the mound in September plus winning a game. (Sadly, his last.)

2004-CardinalsAnd how could we forget a bullpen with Cal Eldred, Ray King, Steve Kline, Julian Tavarez, Kiko Calero and of course Jason Isringhausen? Ray King! Steve Kline! Kiko!

Plus, in looking at this picture to the left, we can’t avoid mentioning Mike Matheny. Or Reggie Sanders, Edgar Renteria and Tony Womack. Also, of course, Matt Morris (who you can see in the video below).

Ever since researching my post the other day on the 2004-2006 teams vs. the 2011-2013 teams, I’ve been remembering how much I loved that 2004 team. They were just so fun to watch, game after game, because they were so good in so many ways — especially Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds.

The 2004 NLCS was also a classic. A seven-game battle against the Houston Astros, with the home team winning every game. It was the perfect ending to the 2004 season! (That’s what I’ve told myself for years, anyway: the season ended with the Cards crowned NL champs.) Of the seven, Game Six was probably the most epic of all — a 12-inning battle that only went to extras because of a blown save by Izzy yet ended with the spectacular walk-off homer by Jimmy with Albert on base.

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September Baseball: Emotional, Exhausting, Energizing

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If you’re like me, the Cardinals aren’t the only team you’re watching now. With the National League Central race so close and the standings fluctuating daily, my nightly baseball watching has expanded this month since I need to know what the Pirates and the Reds are doing every game too.

9-18-13 1The Cardinals still have my primary attention, of course, and the prime viewing spot on my television. But here’s a picture to show you just how I’ve been watching — with the Pirates game on MLB-TV, sound muted. The Reds game, depending on who they are playing, is either on Gameday on my laptop (like last week when they played the Cubs and Brewers, since I’m in their home market and blacked out on MLB-TV) or on a split-screen with the Pirates.

But it’s September — what else can we do? Besides find ourselves doing the unlikely and rooting for the Cubs and Brewers and Astros to win, anyway.

It’s an emotional roller coaster at times — last night being a prime example.

It’s exhausting on occasion.

Yet it’s also energizing.

And it gets us ready for what’s ahead in October, on a slightly less intense level.

Back to last night …

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Oh, THERE You Are, Offense!

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Nothing like a good, old fashioned slugfest to break an ice cold offense out of a slump, eh? Also, the Astros. Nice to have a few games with the Astros again.

Cardinals_Astros_If you listen to or read many quotes from the team, though, you’d certainly not think it was a 13-run night for the NL Central leaders. Words like “weird,” and “off” were common. Most of the frustrated comments were in relation to an odd strike zone. Despite the 15 hits and 13 runs, the team also struck out a season-high 14 times. “Odd” certainly seems apropos.

Matheny agreed that it was “odd” for his team to strike out so many times, yet have so many hits (15) and score so many runs.

“Guys on our club were having called strikeouts you just don’t see very often. Something was a little off tonight,” said Matheny.

This was a gentle way of suggesting that home plate umpire Marvin Hudson’s strike zone took some getting used to, both for his hitters and even for Westbrook.

“There were a lot of things on both sides,” said Matheny. “The strike zone was tough tonight.”

Still, the power plenty to make up for the frustration with the strike zone. Every starter but Jon Jay had at least one hit (Jay walked to force in a run, though) and nine different players had at least one RBI. It turned into a party — a home run party — in the Crawford Boxes, with Allen Craig as the guest of honor.

The Amazing Whacker Guy was 4-for-5 on the night, scoring two and adding three runs to his already impressive RBI total (his 61 rank 5th in MLB). He knocked in the first run in the fourth inning, then Matt Carpenter did what he does and broke the game wide open with bases-loaded triple, making it 6-0. They’d add one more run in the inning … and that’s as many runs as the team had scored in the entire weekend series against the Rangers.

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