Ryan feels a hunger to return
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/22/2008
JUPITER, Fla. — Brendan Ryan tries to calm himself, but it's little use.
Here, in his third major-league camp, Ryan represents something of a test case within an organization that has pledged to create more opportunities for younger players. He is still 25, coming off a solid rookie year in which he showed well offensively, and offers the versatility a transitioning Cardinals team claims to embrace.
In many ways Ryan is the canary in the clubhouse. When the club re-signed utility player Aaron Miles and free-agent shortstop Cesar Izturis, it created a middle-infield logjam daunting to a player with only 180 major-league at-bats.
"I could be in a much worse position," Ryan says. "But we've got a lot of middle infielders on the roster. If you do the math, I'm in a pretty tough spot."
Unless manager Tony La Russa opts to keep only four outfielders — a possibility he all but dismissed earlier this week — Ryan would become, as he calls it, "odd man out."
Dyer Perspective:
Kennedy will fall flat, Miles will start 2B and Ryan will be a reserve on the bench in the first month of the season.
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Kinney continues down road to recovery
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/22/2008
JUPITER, Fla. — So much has happened since Josh Kinney last threw a pitch with major-league purpose — an entire season, for one — and he still has so far to go before he does again.
Like his elbow, his patience is tested with every bit of rehab.
"I feel good, I feel real good," said Kinney, who is recovering from elbow ligament replacement surgery done last spring. "But I have to ease back, because I felt good (last fall) too and had a setback. Intensity isn't a main priority right now. Repetition is."
Kinney is scheduled to upgrade to 45 pitches off the mound today, but he is under strict orders to throw at around 60 percent of full effort. The righthanded reliever does not expect to be ready for opening day, and it's possible he'll begin his season on a rehab assignment. While he continues to expand his workouts on the mound, Kinney said it will be a couple of weeks before he incorporates a breaking ball and could be a month before he's game ready.
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La Russa stresses better defense
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/22/2008
JUPITER, Fla. — Hidden behind a starting rotation that wheezed and stammered through last season was a defense that didn't do it any favors.
A staple of the Cardinals' October-bound teams earlier this decade was sterling defensive play, which helped to turn a groundball-happy pitching staff into a successful pitching staff. And then there was 2007.
It put an end to the summers of glove.
"That is why there will be a defensive emphasis in this camp," manager Tony La Russa said this week. "We have to be more consistent. Our defense was several levels below what we've been accustomed to."
Led by the addition of former Gold Glove shortstop Cesar Izturis, the Cardinals hope to perform a defensive revival this season. When there is an opening in the daily schedule, La Russa plugs it with defensive work. That has meant more scheduled time for Izturis to spin double plays with Adam Kennedy, and more short-hop drills for Kennedy and the other second basemen, like they had Thursday.
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Izzy takes pals on excellent RV adventure
By Derrick Goold
02/22/2008
JUPITER, Fla. — Boredom is the fuel of so many road trips.
Jason Isringhausen and a few other Cardinals pitchers let the tedium of the early daze of February take them places a few weeks ago. Here they sat around the spring training clubhouse, realizing that there weren’t many teammates around, there wasn’t anything to do on a Saturday night and, dadgum, none of them planned to work out on Sunday anyway. So, Isringhausen organized the obvious.
They were going to go RV’ing.
“There weren’t that many people here, there wasn’t that much to do,” Isringhausen said. “Seemed like a thing to do.”
And where else do you take an RV than … the infield at Daytona.
Isringhausen scored passes for the 30th annual Budweiser Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway. He had a 37-foot RV delivered from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and in piled a group of pitchers: Isringhausen, Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Todd Wellemeyer and two of his buddies, Adam Wainwright, and bullpen coach Marty Mason. Isringhausen’s dog, Sierra Nevada (yes, you guessed it), also hopped aboard. They packed the standard-issue folding chairs for the kickback atop the RV. They bought some small grills to short-order cookout. They sought flags to fly like the other RVs. And they packed some coolers full of “concessions,” Mason said.
“We acted like your average redneck,” Mason said. “Just go with it.”
Dyer Perspective:
Priceless quote from Mason.
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Cardinals: Spring Outlook
By Scott Miller
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Things can't be worse this spring for the Cardinals than last, when manager Tony La Russa was socked with a DUI arrest and things went downhill from there. On the other hand, things aren't significantly better, either. The Cards have downgraded at shortstop with Cesar Izturis over David Eckstein. They didn't exactly cover themselves in glory in trading Scott Rolen to Toronto for Troy Glaus. Two of their best starters -- Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder -- won't be ready on opening day and part of this spring will be about evaluating whether phenom Colby Rasmus, 21, is ready for The Show. That's part of why they traded Jim Edmonds to San Diego. Mulder isn't expected back before May and Carpenter is out until at least the All-Star break. Ah well, at least one-time slugger Juan Gonzalez is riding in to the rescue. Let's see whether he's got anything left this spring.
Dyer Perspective:
Damn. You spell it out like that and I'm starting to think my friend Adam Zapple might be writing for CBS Sportsline under a Scott Miller pen name! It's Spring Training so hope of course springs eternal -- I do think we'll be better than most give us credit for and it'll be an interesting season for sure.
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CBS Sportsline
The Sports Xchange
TOP CANDIDATE TO SURPRISE
2B Adam Kennedy is coming off the worst year of his career at .219. He finished the season on the disabled list after knee surgery. Presumably healthy, Kennedy should be more comfortable in his second season back in the National League, although, if Kennedy struggles early, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa isn't likely to go too long with him with Aaron Miles in reserve.
TOP CANDIDATE TO DISAPPOINT
RHP Braden Looper won 12 games in his first year as a starter but must improve his nighttime record of 5-11 with a 6.75 ERA. A 4.94 overall ERA doesn't suggest he would win 12 games again.
AUTHORITY FIGURES
Tony La Russa has 2,375 wins (2,070 losses), ranking him third all-time in managerial victories. He is very much a hands-on manager, although he will let pitching coach Dave Duncan make many of the decisions in that category. La Russa is comfortable with his six-man coaching staff, which has been together for five years.
