Step Away from the Edge

Good
news:  It is Opening Day.  Summer is here!

Bad news: 
  Someone forgot to put Opening Day
on Mother Nature’s calendar.  It is still
winter in St. Louis.

Good news: 
I was home from work today.

Bad news:    The
reason I was home was because I was sick. 
It was a two Kleenex box day.

Good news: 
I got to see the home opener in real time between the St. Louis
Cardinals and the Pittsburg Pirates.

Bad news:    Pirates
won.

Good news:  We
got the first loss and blown saves out of the way.  We can concentrate on winning now.

Despite
pitching five scoreless innings, starting pitcher, Adam Wainwright, will take
the heat for walking his last two batters. 
Lefty reliever, Trevor Miller, will take the heat for letting them
score.  Rookie Jason Motte will take the
heat for being one strike away from a save, but instead giving up the game
winning double.

In other
news that will make Cardinals fans shake their heads, former Cardinals middle
infielders had big opening days elsewhere. 
For the Orioles, Cesar Izturis hit .500 including a home run and ended
the day with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s.  Felipe
Lopez matched those numbers, hitting two homeruns for the D-Backs, one from
each side of the plate.  Go figure.

Before we
all go throw ourselves from the St. Louis Arch or toss ourselves in to the Mississippi river in despair or to simply make our
nose stop running, let us take a few moments to review a few things that might
get lost in the Opening Day grumblings:

• Kyle McClellan, despite a
  rough Spring Training, pitched a scoreless inning
• Khalil Greene notched both
  his and the Cardinals first RBI. 
  Welcome to St. Louis, Mr. Greene.
• Hometown rookie, David Freese,
  recorded his first big league RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring speedy pinch
  runner, Joe Thurston.
• Adam Wainwright reached base
  in both of his at bats.  Once on an
  error, which led to a run.  Once on
  a double.  You cannot say he did not
  help himself any way he could.
• Albert Pujols batted .750
  with two singles, a double and an intentional walk.
• Ryan Ludwick had a .400 day,
  hitting the first bomb of the year
• Skip Schumaker, coming off
  the bench, is officially batting 1.000 against lefty pitching.  Schumaker also stole the first Cardinal
  base of the year.
• Chris Duncan is .333 with a
  double and a walk.  The walk led to
  a run scored by pinch runner Joe Thurston.

Remember
this is one of 162.  We are not supposed
to win them all.  Baseball is where the “you
can’t win ‘em all” phrase comes from.  So,
put the razors away.  Step back from the
edge.  Take a deep breath.  In with the good air.  Out with the bad air.  Put it in a bubble and blow it away.  The Cardinals are going to be just fine.