St Louis Cardinals

Matt Holliday smashed a home run in the bottom of the eighth to put the Cardinals up 3-2, but it wasn't enough to get the win. 

Cameron Maybern hit a two out home run in the top of the ninth to tie up the game and the San Diego Padres added two more in the top of the 11th to ruin the Cardinals season opener at home. 

One of the most storied franchises in the world, the St. Louis Cardinals have captured 10 World Series championship trophies.

Recently awarded a Medal of Freedom by president Obama, Cardinal for life—Stan Musial—is a champion in baseball and in life.  Considered one of the best hitters ever in the majors, he's ranked somewhere on my list of all-time Cardinals rippers. 

Zip along for the ride to find out where.  Rip camera one...

At first glance the N.L. Central would seem to be a two-team race between the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. Some people add the St. Louis Cardinals to the mix because, well, they're the St. Louis Cardinals. But most analysts seem to agree that it's between the Reds with their combination of speed, power and pitching, and the Brewers, who have one of the top offenses in baseball.

But hold on!

The St. Louis Cardinals seem like they are going to wait for a decision from Albert Pujols about his future with the ball club.

That is not a smart decision for the Cardinals. We've seen this happen before. 

Here are the top five reasons why the Cardinals should end the relationship with King Albert on their terms.

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Starting Pitchers

Heading into the season, the Cardinals rotation looked like one of the best in all of baseball. That all changed on February 24, however, when it was announced that Adam Wainwright suffered an injury that required Tommy John surgery and would sideline him for the entire season.

Catcher:

Catcher and first base are the only two positions Cardinal fans should feel comfortable with defensively. Yadier Molina is easily one of the best defensive catchers in the game. I won’t bore you with stats, but suffice it to say Molina’s defensive numbers at the end of each season consistently rank among the top 10 in the league.

During the first decade of this millenium, Lance Berkman was a staple in any conversation about the best hitters in baseball.

Through almost 12 seasons in Houston he had become the face of the franchise, along with Roy Oswalt, and was a former member of the Killer Bs, taking Derek Bell’s place in 2000 alongside Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.

In his first three full seasons, Berkman was 6th in Rookie of the Year voting and was a two-time All-Star:

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 

Last Year: 86-76, Second in NL Central 

Manager: Tony La Russa 

PROJECTED LINEUP

C- Yadier Molina (R)

1B- Albert Pujols (R)

2B- Skip Schumaker (L) 

3B- David Freese (R)

SS- Ryan Theriot (R)

LF- Matt Holliday (R)

CF- Colby Rasmus (L)

RF- Lance Berkman (S)

The Cardinals might have the best hitter in baseball, but the lineup has some limitations.

Sometimes, when a star player goes down, the team rallies around and comes together, but the Cardinals will have to rally for an entire season. 

The loss of Adam Wainwright was the catastrophe of Spring Training, but the other 29 teams certainly don’t feel sorry for St. Louis.  The Cardinals went from having one of the best starting rotations in baseball to one with several question marks.

First, let me make this clear: I am not a baseball fan. I have no ax to grind. I have been following Albert Pujol's contract "negotiations" because he wants a ten year, thirty million dollar per year contract.

Right. You can see how this could make even a non-baseball fan curious. 300 million, really?

The market value cannot be driven by complete greed or narcissism.