Philadelphia Phillies

The Cards Come Home Looking for Some Breathing Room

So, yeah, the Cardinals suck on the road. I mean, like, really suck. Like, dude, they suck. Seriously. By the way, yes, that English degree is totally paying off for me in a big way. Totally. Like, awesomely big time. My degree is as sweet as the Birds are suck on the road. See how I tied that ... More >>

Market Moves and What They Mean For the Cardinals

The trade deadline is just a few days off now, and the Cardinals are in a dogfight for the NL Central. Whether or not that ultimately translates into actual movement for the Cards on the trade market remains to be seen, but the conditions are certainly right. It's been a fairly robust trade mar ... More >>

A Turning Point For the Cardinals? (Again)

It may be that at the end of the season we will look back on the series sweep just completed by the Cardinals as a singularly important moment. I say singularly, but that may not be the absolute most correct word. I think we could very well see this series as an extraordinarily important moment ... More >>

Just How Hot is 108 Degrees?: Daily RFT Time-Travels Back to 1954 to Find Out

The National Weather Service predicts that the temperature will hit 108 degrees this afternoon. That's only a few degrees more than 105, which we've lived through plenty of times, but 108 seems more significant somehow, maybe because the last time it was ever this hot in St. Louis was back in July o ... More >>

The Dream is Over: Roy Oswalt Signs With the Rangers

So much for the early-season cavalry, folks. On the same day which would later see Jake Westbrook take the mound and get clubbed for five runs, the Texas Rangers signed Cardinals' fans' (and, ahem, certain sports columnists'), favorite target for signing speculation, inking Roy Oswalt to a one ... More >>

The Time for Roy is Now

John Mozeliak should be on the phone right now to Roy Oswalt. And I'll tell you why. The St. Louis Cardinals scored nine runs last night. It was a beautiful offensive performance, just the kind of beating a team of this talent level should regularly put on pitchers the caliber of one Joe Blanto ... More >>

Cy Young, MVP Predictions for 2012 MLB

You know, as a semi-professional sportswriter there are a few things toward which I am genetically predisposed. (Why semi-professional? Because I do get paid, but my talent and behavior are both, well, somewhat short of what is usually termed professionalism.) I love to hear myself talk, for one thi ... More >>

Ryan Madson Injured: The Reds Lose Their Closer for the Season

​Ryan Madson, the biggest offseason free agent acquisition for the Cincinnati Reds, has a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), and will miss the entirety of the 2012 season as he recovers from having Tommy John surgery. Madson has spent the last nine seasons -- the whole of his career, in fa ... More >>

Roy Oswalt: The Dream That Just Won't Die

​​Oswalt wearing the uniform of his last team, the Phillies. I always thought those two were just a terrible fit for each other. ​I've been very skeptical of the Cardinals and Roy Oswalt as a match for quite some time now. It's not that I don't think Oswalt would be a really nice add for the R ... More >>

The Cincinnati Reds Get Better (Again)

​Cincinnati is really serious about winning the NL Central in 2012. I'm not sure if they'll do it or not, but you have to give them credit: they're going after it hard. The Reds continued their busy offseason of win-now moves yesterday, signing Ryan Madson, late of the Philadelphia Phillies a ... More >>

Cardinals Reportedly Close to Signing JC Romero

Nope, wrong J.C. Though, I suppose there's a fairly good chance at some point during the 2012 season we'll all be screaming, "Jesus Christ, Romero!" after he walks the one and only hitter he was brought in to face. ​It looks like the Cardinals are close to bringing in a second left-handed reliever ... More >>

Cards Bringing Furcal Back for 2012

commons.wikimedia.orgFurcal in 2010 with the Dodgers. ​Thanks to their sudden (and unwanted), financial windfall, the Cardinals' find themselves in a position of having a big pile of Albert Pujols cash sitting around and missing a big pile of Albert Pujols production. John Mozeliak and Co. st ... More >>

Can the Cards Survive the Deadly Ex-Cubs Factor? [UPDATED]

Do the Cardinals need one of these?​Update October 31: It turns out they can! (It was proven in 2008 when the Rays lost to the Phillies that minor-leaguers do count as ex-Cubs.) Which means...if the Ex-Cubs curse has been broken, is the Curse of the Goat far behind? Dare we say -- Cubs in 2012 ... More >>

The Starters Still Suck, But the Cardinals are Moving On

This was the Mariners' bullpen car in 1982, back when baseball still had cool things like bullpen cars. No, this isn't really related to the Cards' current bullpen, but I've been waiting to use this picture forever. ​​The most improbable postseason run I can ever recall isn't ready to end just y ... More >>

Cardinals' Bullpen Comes Through In Big Way

La Russa kept the phone to the bullpen busy last night. It paid off.​Well, it wasn't quite the brilliant matchup of ace starters I think most of us were anticipating, but it'll do. Yovani Gallardo, ace of the Milwaukee Brewers, allowed thirteen baserunners, making it somewhat shocking the Car ... More >>

5 Keys to Cardinals' Game 3 Win in NLCS

The rally towels were out in force last night.​Unlike Chris Carpenter's last start, when he carried the Cardinals in a 1-0 shutout over the Phillies to advance to the NLCS, the clubhouse ace would require a team effort last night. He got it in a big first inning of production from Redbird batters ... More >>

Phillies 3, Cardinals 2: Missed Opportunities and One Very Bad Decision

​If you're surprised it was a double play that broke the Cardinals' collective back, then you just haven't been paying attention. The story of the season -- the historic number of double plays the Cards have grounded into this year -- popped up once again, killing an eighth inning bases loade ... More >>

Cardinals Had 1.1 Percent Chance of Making Playoffs a Month Ago

​The Cardinals completed one of the most improbable comebacks in baseball history yesterday in defeating the Houston Astros 8-0 and winning the National League wild card. On August 27 the Cardinals hit a season low when they found themselves 10.5 games off the NL Central lead and 10 games behind A ... More >>

Last Night's Cardinals Game Breaks Viewership Record

​The Cardinals' improbable entrance into the playoffs yesterday wasn't just one for the MLB record books. It was also a record-setting day for St. Louis television. At the risk of stepping on Dan Caesar's toes, Fox Sports Midwest just tweeted Daily RFT to report the news: Yesterday's Cardinals-Ast ... More >>

Jason Motte: Crazy? Awesome? Or Crazy Awesome?

commons.wikimedia.org​You know, it's kinda funny how sometimes you fail to really recognize something right in front of your face, even when it's sort of a big deal. So it was for me. I was watching the Cardinals last night, watching Edwin Jackson allow eleven base runners in five and a third ... More >>

Should the Cardinals Be In On Ubaldo Jimenez?

commons.wikimedia.org​The latest scuttlebutt all over the baseball trade landscape has Dan O'Dowd, manager of the Colorado Rockies, shopping his young ace Ubaldo Jimenez. Unsurprisingly, the Yankees have been mentioned prominently, along with pretty much every other big-time contending team with a ... More >>

Latest Use for Ballpark Village: Military Staging Ground

An alert reader just emailed Daily RFT the following image of Ballpark Village taken today. Don't know about you, but I don't see in this photo the dazzling display of commercial, retail and residential space that the Cardinals ownership has promised to bring to the site the past five years. ​So, ... More >>

La Russa Sidelined for Five More Games as Cardinals Manager Recuperates From Shingles

Joe Pettini, interim manager​The Cardinals announced last night that manager Tony La Russa will miss the remainder of the team's road trip this week. La Russa had been expected to return to the team today after taking a day off Tuesday to recover from a nasty case of shingles (evidenced here) that ... More >>

George Vecsey on "Prince of New York" Stan Musial

​Veteran New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey will be at O'B Clark's in Brentwood next Thursday night, May 12, for a signing party of his new book Stan Musial: An American Life. (The event is sponsored by Left Bank Books.) Yesterday he took some time out from his tour to talk to Daily ... More >>

Deja-Vu All Over Again: Berra Takes Another Tumble

​St. Louis son Yogi Berra briefly checked into a Florida hospital yesterday after taking a backward fall in the visitor's clubhouse at the Philadelphia Phillies spring training complex, according to a New York Times report. But the legend is fine. The 85-year-old Berra stumbled after his sne ... More >>

Roy Oswalt: The Deal That Just Won't Die

commons.wikimedia.org​So after a full week and a half of serious, intense speculation, discussion, and coverage, the Roy-Oswalt-to-the-Cardinals trade is...right about where it was a week and a half ago. A quick rundown of the pertinent facts: The Houston Astros want to move Roy Oswalt.  ... More >>

The Cardinals Weekend Review: A Royal Letdown

This Royal did NOT start against the Cardinals over the weekend; however, I'm convinced he could have thrown six shutout without much of a problem. ​So the 2010 edition of the I-70 series went about as poorly as one could possibly imagine. The Cardinals managed to lose two of three, Aaron Miles pl ... More >>

Sporting News: Mixed martial arts proves the end is near, and Pujols isn't going anywhere

The Ever-Prickly Tony La Russa Grows Pricklier By the Day

​Jeez, Tony, take a chill pill, will you? Give it a break. Smell the roses. Your rants and raves have grown old and tired. At issue, of course, is Temperamental Tony's latest flameout, chronicled this morning in the Post-Dispatch by Cardinals beat writer Joe Strauss. Tony La ... More >>

Trade Rumor: Albert Pujols to Philly for Ryan Howard

Could Ryan Howard be returning to his hometown of St. Louis? ​That's the speculation over at ESPN.com, where the sports network says the Philadelphia Phillies are discussing the possibility of swapping Howard for Pujols. The two first basemen are the same age and put up gaudy offensive numbers -- ... More >>

What the Hell are the Astros Thinking?

I really, really don't get it. The Houston Astros just keep making these bizarre decisions, and I've finally given up trying to figure it all out. The Lance Berkman Fan Club isn't happy about this post, but they feel it needs to be said. ​The most recent onslaught of craziness came just last ... More >>

The Year of the Collapsing Closer

​When people look back at the Yankees' 2009 World Series Championship (it's going to happen, sadly; get used to the idea), there will be talk of Alex Rodriguez finally breaking through and becoming the clutch genius we all knew he had locked away inside him, or Derek Jeter leading the Yanks to the ... More >>

By All That is Holy, Todd Wellemeyer Must Be Stopped

At this point, I honestly don't know who to beg, plead with, or pray to who might have some legitimate chance of ridding us of the curse of Todd Wellemeyer. I tried praying to God after Welley's start in Pittsburgh on the 12th of May, when he gave up seven runs in 4.1, but God seemed uninterested in ... More >>

Philadelphia Sports Hooligans Finally Have Player They Can Call Their Own: Michael Vick

Vick gives a "Philly Hello" to his new teammates.​Personally I was hoping Michael Vick would be picked up by the Cleveland Browns. Can you imagine anything better than the a man convicted of operating a dog-fighting ring jumping into the Brown's "Dawg Pound" after a touch down? The scene would&nbs ... More >>

Will "Mississippi Nights" see a new day? Plus: White people like Lake St. Louis, and a Philly fan gets (sic)

J.C. Romero is Being Screwed

Hey, I'll bet you don't know who J.C. Romero is, do you? Well, that's okay, because he's not the sort of person you're likely to hear about on a daily basis. Hell, even if your job happens to consist of writing about sports, you would probably only qualify for "passing familiar" status with regards ... More >>

RFT readers love Laurell K. Hamilton's vampire stories, Albert Pujols, and foodie trivia

2008 MVP Albert Pujols Shafted by the Media -- Again

They're at it again. On Monday, November 17, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) announced that Albert Pujols had won the 2008 National League Most Valuable Player Award. The announcement was followed, of course, by a spirited round of bleating from the sports press -- who are, let ... More >>

What If: The Cardinals Acquire San Diego Ace Jake Peavy

Nomar Back in Spotlight for NLCS

Now for the Bad News About the Cardinals

Cardinals at the Crossroads

Mark Mulder Pitches Tonight, and a Contest!

Putting the "fan" in "fanatic": The Mexican weighs in on etiquette at sports events

Concussion Could Knock Molina from All-Star Contention

Hopelessly Devoted

"I loved Ned Garver. He was [the Browns'] best pitcher in the '50s. He won 20 games in 1951, but the team lost 100."

A Mathews-Dickey coach does all he can to take black kids out to the ballgame.

African-American ballplayers are getting rarer than a triple play.

Best Local Boy Gone Bad

J.D. Drew

Black and Blue

An anthology of African-American writing on St. Louis paints a bleak portrait of the city