Who knows how reliable this is, but I just found this article on mlb.com regarding the Cardinals perhaps picking up Jeff Conine from the Orioles to play LF.  All I have to say is… WHAT??  I’ll admit that I don’t know that much about Conine, but from his line of .326 OBP/421 SLG/.258 AVG he doesn’t seem to fit Walt’s criteria for the OF:

1. The article states that Walt is particularly upset that our LF platoon has only hit 6 HRs so far this season.  Guess how many Conine has so far?  Exactly 1 more, 7.  That’s not really much of an improvement…
2. He is a worse hitter than all the guys we’ve used in LF with the exception of Skip Schumaker (remember him?) and Larry Bigbie.  Taguchi, J-Rod, Speezio, and Duncan top him in SLG, OBP, and AVG, with only 1 exception: he outslugs Taguchi .421 to .375.
3. He’s not young, and youth is supposed to be exactly what Walt is looking for.  He just turned 40 last month, making him 6 months older than our last LF that was too old, our friend Reggie Sanders.

And since I brought up Sanders anyway, he is also likely to be available from the Royals.  I’d much rather see Reggie back than see Conine come over.  Their lines are about the same except that Reggie has been on the worse team, has 15 more RBIs, 2 more homers, and a few more stolen bases.  Their AVG/OBP/SLG aren’t much different, but Reggie is a known quantity for us, he loves STL, the fans love him, and he’s always clutch in the post-season.  I’m not saying Reggie is my first choice – he doesn’t have the impact we need – but if I had to choose between him and Conine (or any other non-impact player), I’d much rather have Reggie.

***** UPDATE 7/15/06 00:45*****

Reverend Redbird just posted that the Cards might be close to signing David Delucci.  I really know nothing about him, except what I just read over at the Rev’s, but he could be valuable simply because he is dirt cheap.  As long as this isn’t treated "The Answer," he could be a good patch or utility man.

Today’s game was boring: No deficits to overcome, no extra innings, no walk-off home-runs.  Just adequate offense (HRs & small ball), great defense (spelled J-I-M-M-Y), and amazing pitching by Carpenter.  But you know what?  That’s fine by me.  I don’t know about you, but after the June we had, I’ll take boring every day of the week.  I don’t care if we never have a nail-biter again; I’d rather see dominance.  And with 50 wins down, 50 wins to go, and only 73 games left, dominance is exactly what we’ll need.

Congratulations to Carpenter on the Cards’ first complete game this season and the Cards’ first shutout since May 17 – when Mulder almost (and probably should have) got the CG, Izzy got the save, and Rolen doubled in Pujols for the game’s only run. 

And in case you didn’t hear, Wood is likely done for the season and Prior will miss yet another start.  Will the Cubs EVER learn?

Well, it’s time for me to make some fearless predictions/observations for the 2ND half:

1. The Cards will still win the division.  100 games is looking much more difficult given our heIIish June, but is not out of the question quite yet.
2. The pitching will recover, although, will not be as strong as last year (unless Mulder comes back and absolutely blows the doors off his game).
3. Reyes will be sent down when Mulder returns and I will blow an aneurysm.
4. Luna will be hitting .450 and Miles will still start more.
5. Offensively, we will improve.  Hitting will be adequate for the post-season, assuming Jocketty is able to get anyone decent for the OF.  I haven’t been too impressed with Young Dunc so far.
6. The Reds will fall off.  I have a feeling this trade will not work out as well as they are hoping.
7. The Astros will not win the Wild Card and I will dance a jig.
8. The Brewers will hang in there and finish 2ND in the division.  They will be tough when Sheets and Okha return from the DL.
9. The Cubs will not make significant moves, will keep both Wood and Prior, will continue to *****, and will pin their hopes on the broke-arm duo again next year.  Baker will not be re-signed.
10. David Wright will win the MVP because he’s just so da mn cute, and I will vomit.

Seeing a Cardinals streak with a ‘W’ in front sure is a sight for sore eyes.  The Cards still have a lot to improve on, but I think it’s safe to say that the worst is over (Rachel had a good post on the subject, she captured what I have been feeling quite well).  The starting pitching can’t help but improve (it is statistically improbable that this rotation could perform any worse given their career numbers), the offense is clicking on most nights (how about giving Carp and Reyes some more support though?!), and the defense is still solid for the most part.  Here’s some things I’m excited about looking forward:

• Jimmy Ed is starting to find his HR stroke again and has turned in some amazing catches in the past few games. 
• Pujols, while not quite his first half self again, did win 2 of the last 4 games with a walk-off homer.
• Marquis has had 2 strong starts in a row.
• We used almost every member of our bullpen tonight and none of them gave up a run.
• The Cardinals, while still blowing countless offensive chances, are giving much more than a hard 9.  We have won 3 extra-innings games in a row.
• We will get our first look at Jeff Weaver on Monday.  I’m not sure that he will solve our problems, but he surely can’t be worse.  He isn’t much of a pinch-hitter though…

One thing I don’t like is the way Ponson went out.  It is apparent that several teams were interested in Ponson and we got nothing for him.  Actually, we got less than nothing, because we still have to pay his $1 million salary while he plays for the Yankees.  I know this isn’t much, but it seems to me we could have at least shoved some of his salary off on somebody, if not gotten a low-level prospect.

Here’s hoping for continued success and some run support for Carpenter tomorrow!