coming in out of the cold

saturday's postponed game was the first one that mrs. rabid and i attended. it was cold, and so were the cardinals' bats. they were the best seats i have ever purchased (right field field boxes, twenty feet into foul territory). the drunken folks behind us had driven in from hannibal, mo in time for the noon start; instead of going to the arch, or the art museum, or some such, they had chosen to drink from noon until gametime. while your very own rabid redbird is no stranger to drink (though at times, sobriety has seemed like a long lost acquaintance), hours of drinking followed by hours of driving is never a good idea. i can only hope they killed no one on the way back to hannibal.

yesterday, our son, jackrabid, had his first birthday party/bbq. in celebration, the cardinals rediscovered their abilities at the plate (most of them, anyway... both rolen and edmonds 0-4 with a walk weren't quite mv3 calibur, but what can you do). perhaps i need to grill 20-plus pounds of meat for every game, or perhaps we need to change the jersey numbers to 42 permanently. whatever the case, it was good to see/hear.

that's all for today, as work crises come before baseball good times.

aaaantiiiiiiiiciiiiipaaaaaatiooooon

i'm waiting excitedly for next wednesday, though i know it will be a disappointment. "pitchers and catchers report," but it's to start throwing, working out, etc. they won't even pitch a bp for another week after that.
nonetheless, after a long, dim offseason that has seen the cubs get simultaneously better and worse, the astros finally get some offense while trying to convince oswalt to pitch every other day ("how many bulldozers will it take, roy?"), and the brewers pay jeff suppan as though he really will be a #2 guy, i'm glad to have baseball again.
so far, we're only going to one game this season, but that will have to change. i'm just hoping they offer the 5.50 tickets again this season, or it will be a bigger budget hit than we're ready for.

the boy at busch

disappointment

so last night turned out not to be jack's first ever cardinals game, as he had just come from a doctor's appointment and was too fussy to go to the park. siouxs! and i missed the game as well, but we did listen to it on the radio. i'll still stick with my cries for a short rest, but marquis just looked (sounded?) bad last night. this guy is having a mental meltdown that is ending up worse than a physical issue. his consistency is horrendous, his record with a full count is ridiculous, and he doesn't seem to be taking the whole thing hard enough to make the necessary changes.

jason, we like you, but listen to dave and figure it the hell out.

so friday night's game (my first at the new stadium) was a bit disappointing, but at least i got to scope our seat for this year. they're in section 450, straight behind home plate, all the way up. while the height is pretty extreme, i really enjoyed being able to see balls and strikes as well as i could. (i did not enjoy marquis having such a hard time finding the outside corner against righties, however.) at least i was there for pujols april hr #13.

as for the other two games this weekend, i wonder sometimes how this team ever loses. everyone has talent, even the talentless hacks. what is it about the cardinals? how can don speizio di soulpatch hit like he has been, and make plays at third like he has in the last few days? how can the smallest middle infield in the majors be so surprisingly productive (though i'll allow that the actual production is a bit skewed)? why am i such a big hector luna fan this year? am i drinking too much kool-aid, or what?

god damn, i love baseball.