Not worth the win!

Some things you don't do!

Or get caught doing.

Cardinals give rest of the division hope by signing Jeff Suppan!

Holliday signing neutralized!

We didn't even try!

Born on today's date, Kurt Bevacqua. Of course, Kurt's claim to fame is that he was the 1975 Bazooka Bubble Gum Blowing Champ as commemorated on this card.

You gotta admit, that is some bubble! They don't make them like that anymore! And state of the art measuring equipment too!

That is certainly an impressive accomplishment but there has always been one thing that has bothered me about this contest. Take a look at the lower right hand part of the back of this card. Unfortunately, you might need a superstrong magnifying glass; you know the kind you used to incinerate ants on the sidewalk on sunny days.

Anyway, it reads, "Tigers & Pirates did not participate."

What the....?!

The Tigers did not participate?!

Why not?!

In 1975, the Tigers had Bill Freehan, Willie Horton and also Al Kaline was recently retired and any of them could have represented the Tigers as I am sure Kaline would have come out of retirement for something like this.

Al Kaline is even in the Hall of Fame! I bet he could have blown a great bubble and put non-Hall of Famer Kurt Bevacqua to shame!

But they didn't even try! How utterly disappointing!

I note that the Tigers finished 57-102 in 1975 and this was good enough for (gulp) last place in the A. L. East.

I am not surprised.

Buncha quitters.

Hand over your phones! You work for us!

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cardinals were so paranoid about potential leaks of Mark McGwire's plans to "confess" his steroid usage, that several employees had to turn over their cell phones after being informed of the pending announcement.

Now there is some morale-building stuff for you!

Is this covered in the Employee Handbook?

I wonder if they are unionized over there.

I wonder if they will be by the All Star break.

How the Holliday negotiations likely went

Boras: Hey guys, no more playing around here, I need $140 million for 7 years and that is my absolute bottom line here.

Cards: Sorry, 7 years at $105 million is the best we can do.

Boras: I might be able to go $135 million but I would need to make a call and I don't know if he would go for it.

Cards: Sorry. We can go $105 million.

Boras: Vernon Wells got $126 million years ago. Holliday is much better than him. I need a LOT more than that.

Cards: We never signed Wells. Go talk to the Blue Jays about that. Look, Pujols is up soon and we will never pay anybody but Pujols more than $125 million. We will offer you $124,900,000 and that is it. Take it or leave it.

Boras: $135 million but I will have to make a call. Let's close this deal.

Cards: Read our lips! $124,900,000. If you don't like it, you can go talk to the Pirates or one of your mystery teams.

Boras: Guys, help me out. I can't go $124,900,000 because it will make it look like I tried for $125 million and couldn't get it.

Cards: Oh, well.

Boras: Lets close it at $120 million then.

Cards: Done deal. My people will send your people the paperwork. You can tell the camera people outside how you worked us over.

Boras: You owe me one.

The triumphant return of Mark McGwire?

Various media outlets are reporting that Mark McGwire will soon be named the new Cardinals hitting coach and this is apparently just waiting confirmation that Tony LaRussa will stay on with the team as expected.

First off, this seems to be a big "screw you" to the baseball establishment by Tony LaRussa who of course has repeatedly and indignantly denied that Mark McGwire ever took steroids but frankly that is not what this post is about.

Putting aside the steroid issue, would Mark McGwire even make a good hitting coach?

*When did Mark McGwire ever hit behind a runner?

*When did Mark McGwire ever "go with the pitch"?

*When did Mark McGwire ever hit the opposite way?

*When did Mark McGwire ever shorten his swing with two strikes?

*1596 sure is a lot of strikeouts.

*Does he know how to bunt?

*He had 6 career triples in 6187 at bats. Not hitting many gaps there though his turtle-like speed in his Incredible Hulk days is acknowledged.

*An incredible power hitter but his career batting average is .263.

Not everybody on the Cardinals is going to be groomed, or has the potential, to be a one-dimensional power hitter.

What does he say to the other guys?

The Cardinals need to work on their pyro

In the AP story of the Cardinals/Brewers game last night, it is noted that Yadier Molina's ground rule double in the fourth inning fooled the fireworks operator who believed that it was a home run and fired off a few quick salvos.

Good thing the Cardinals fireworks operator does not work for that band, Kiss. If he did that there and ignited pyro at the wrong time, those guys are toast. Literally.

Lawsuit of the century.

Make that mistake with the Cardinals and you just confuse a few fans.

Albert might want to work on his sliding

I think that somebody needs to work with Albert Pujols on his sliding.

Obviously when attempting a slide, you are supposed to begin your slide sometime before the base which allows you to "slide" into the bag; hence the term "slide". I do not believe that you are supposed to run as fast as you can and then try to stop on a dime by plopping your body right on the bag leading with your outstretched stiff leg. This does not seem to me to be a very safe maneuver. It also causes your foot to do some unnatural and "hard to watch" things. Further, it also causes the trainer and a panicked Tony Larussa to rush out onto the field to check on your condition; even delaying the game a little.

Obviously Albert has the hitting thing down pat. No remedial measures are needed there. That said, the Cardinals might want to invest in a baserunning coach for Albert so they can work on the "sliding" thing. Start on a "slip and slide" if you need to and go from there.

Just trying to help.