- Jim Rapoport was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Allen Craig was 0-for-2 but walked twice. Craig hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire since returning to Memphis with a .633 OPS. With David Freese outpacing what his minor league numbers would have indicated, Allen Craig is in danger of becoming an afterthought.
- Mark Shorey was 2-for-4 with a HR. Shorey is batting .320/.363/.467 on the season.
- Donovan Solano was 2-for-4.
- Brandon Dickson was roughed up for 7 hits and 4 ER in 5 innings. He struck out 3 and walked 1.
Springfield 3, Northwest Arkansas 2 (13 innings)
- Matt Carpenter was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.
- After Adron Chambers was thrown out at home in the bottom of the 13th, Aaron Miles would score the winning run on a wild pitch while Curt Smith was at the plate.
- Scott Gorgon had the start and wound up with an unusual line. He struck out just 1 in 7 innings but walked 4. He managed to hold the opposition to just 1 unearned run on 5 hits.
- Adam Reifer pitched a perfect inning.
- Eduardo Sanchez took the blown save on an errant pickoff throw allowing 1 unearned run. He allowed two hits and struck out 1 in 1 IP.
- Blake King got the win with two perfect innings striking out 3. His command appears to have taken a huge step forward this season. He’s allowed just 13 hits in 18 innings and has 21 strikeouts against 11 walks. He’s still a bit of a wild pitcher but the stuff is there.
- Jose Garcia was 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Nick Derba was 2-for-4.
- Palm Beach spread out the attach with 6 different players having a hit. Palm Beach had 8 hits and 5 walks.
- Scott McGregor went 7 strong innings allowing 9 hits and not walking a single batter. He struck out 2.
- Ramon Delgado and David Carpenter each contributed a scoreless inning. Carpenter got the save. With the departure of Casey Mulligan to AA, look for Carpenter to get most of the save opportunities at High-A.
Palm Beach 4, Charlotte 2 (7 innings)
- Tony Cruz was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
- Alex Castellanos was 2-for-2 with a walk.
- Mark Diapoules threw 4 innings allowing 3 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). He struck out 3.
- Brett Zawacki returns from Extended Spring Training and lingering injury issues to pitch the final 3 innings allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
- Niko Vasquez and Jason Stidham were 1-for-3 with a walk. Stidham is posting a mid-.800 OPS with a good batting average and walk rate.
- Joe Kelly had a rough outing getting tagged for 4 runs in 4 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks striking out 3. On a positive note was his 6 out of 7 groundball rate.
- Daniel Calhoun got hit even harder allowing 7 hits in 2 innings including a 3 run homerun.
Entries (RSS)
Good to see Zawacki back in competitive baseball. Also real pleased with King, they say he has a big time slider. Could be a good 7th or 8th inning set up guy in the Cardinals future.
Too early to write off Allen Craig. He takes time to heat up. If they pencil his name on the lineup card every day, he’ll eventually catch fire.
Like what Stidham is doing. I’m guessing he’ll be in Palm Beach soon.
I think Craig will be this years Freese in STL next year. Look for him to be the starting Right Fielder in STL next year. Its really too bad he cant be played or moved to 2nd base. I know he was drafted as a SS but has anyone heard anything about a possible move or if they may even consider trying to work with him at 2nd base? I think he would have performed better at STL had he been playing everyday like they have done with Freese since Lopez got injured.
Craig needs to work on his swing. Repeatedly during pinch hits they mentioned that he was wrapping his bad and not able to get around or catch up to anything. Could explain why he hit so well opposite field last year as he was just late on most of the pitches. I’m guessing Craig ends up in Right field next year much to my disspointment as Ludwick is one of my favorite players.
@ Andrew
I think Ludwick is a very good player as well. My thinking on Ludwick is that he could be used to obtain a young bullpen pitcher. I actually believe that Ludwick could have been used to obtain a pitcher like Matt Linstrom from Florida instead of having him whind up in Houston this past off season. I think Ludwick could be used to land someone like the following type of players (I am not saying these players are available just an idea):
Aaron Poreda
Clayton Richard
Matt Lindstrom
Evan Meek
Nick Masset
Joel Hanrahan
We have tons of talented arms for the bullpen in the minors. Best scenerio is to sign Ludwick for another year or two. The guy can carry a team when hes hot and thats needed in our lineup with so many hot and cold hitters. Not too many are just consistant all the time.
@Andrew: Agree 100%. I’ve never understood Cards fan’s feeling on Ludwick. To me, he is a core player. If you are going to pay Holliday 18 million to do what he does…then I don’t understand the apparent cold feeling on Ludwick. The guy can hit, he can drive in runs and he plays plus defense. 3 years in and it’s the guy is not a fluke. He bring what we want to the park, everyday. I like Craig a lot but if he’s gonna be on the team next year, he’s going to have to learn to take advantage of his at bats, a la Stav (did I just say that?)
unsign holliday
sign luddy for the same # years and 1/2 the money