Aside from collecting their first win of the season on Friday night there was another good sign for the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. Adam Wainwright made his first Major League start and looked very good. Wainwright collected the win by pitching seven strong innings allowing one run on five hits and three walks. Any success the Cardinals will have this season will rest on the shoulders of their starting pitching. Chris Carpenter appears to be okay and should return to the rotation on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but aside from Carpenter nothing is a given with their rotation. There is definitely potential but think about the potential that the 2004 Chicago Cubs rotation had. Kip Wells threw 44.1 innings last year and has never won more than 12 games. Braden Looper made his first Major League start ever this week and he made his big league debut nine years ago. Last but not least Anthony Reyes has the third most starting experience in the rotation and that is 18 starts from last year, a season in which he was 6-9 with a 4.74 earned run average. I was baffled when I saw several "expert analysts"on ESPN pick the Cardinals as the National League Central favorite, but that pretty much guarantees that it won't happen, right?
Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals is showing for, maybe, the first time in his career that he is just human and not some robotic built fantasy God that they pulled from some unwritten science fiction book in St. Louis. Thee Mighty Pujols is batting a feeble .077 with just one hit, zero homeruns and zero runs batted in. I haven't heard any rumors about what is going on but I can't help but think something must be wrong. Despite collecting their first win of the season Friday night Cardinal fans are probably a little concerned since Pujols and Scott Rolen are batting a combined .115 with one run driven in.
Rich Hill of the Chicago Cubs couldn't have asked for a better cushion before he threw his first pitch of the 2007 season. The Cubs let out some pent up aggression on Milwaukee's Dave Bush, tagging him for six runs on six hits in the first inning on Friday. Hill then picked up right where he left off last September. In that month Hill was 3-1 with 2 complete games, 1 shutout, 10.7 K/9, 5:1 K/BB and a WHIP of 0.88. On Friday night Hill took a perfect game into the sixth inning before surrendering a solo shot to Corey Hart. Overall Hill's line was seven innings pitched, one hit, one run, ZERO walks and seven strikeouts. For Hill, the Cubs believe the sky is the limit and if he continues to pitch the way he has since the All-Star break of 2006 that could be an understatement!
Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs is showing signs of significant improvement in the early going of the season. Ramirez is a notoriously slow starter but he reportedly took a different approach this spring and it appears to be paying off. Ramirez is nine for eighteen after four games and although he has yet to hit a homerun and has only driven in two runs it is a very good sign that he is seeing and hitting the ball well. Ramirez came into this season with a career .257 batting average in the month of April. Keep in mind that with A-Ram's power is usually preceded by making good contact and that for most of his career he does almost all of his work in June through September so good hitting in April could be the first sign of a monster season.
Pat "The Bat"Burrell of the Philadelphia Phillies and formerly of the Miami Hurricanes returned to Miami on Friday and did some damage against the Florida Marlins. Burrell went two for four with four runs batted in including a three run homer. Burrell is batting .400 with one homer and five runs batted in through four games this season. Burrell is a very streaky hitter so his owners should be pleased that it appears he is starting out on a hot streak.
