Run of Bucks broadcasting Cardinals comes to an end
By Dan Caesar
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/04/2008
For the first time since 1960, there won't be a Buck in a Cardinals broadcast booth this year.
Joe Buck, who had been doing the play-by-play for a few Redbirds games on FSN Midwest in recent seasons, has decided not to return in order to enjoy himself at the ballpark in a nonworking capacity.
"It's nothing more than it feels like it's time to make that change and to concentrate on some other things and basically go to Cardinals games as a fan,'' he said Monday night. "I'm a fan, and I love to go down there with my wife and two daughters. The fun of that now is more appealing than anything to me.''
My take: Say it ‘aint so Joe!
===
Looper's sinker is solid in defeat
By Rick Hummel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/04/2008
VIERA, Fla. — Righthander Braden Looper pitched more than effectively in his first outing of the spring, though he was the losing pitcher in a 3-2 setback Monday against the Washington Nationals. Looper, throwing his sinkerball an estimated 80 percent of the time, recorded seven ground-ball outs and gave up just three hits and one run in three innings.
Looper, one of the few assured of being in the Cardinals' rotation in the first week of the season, threw 24 strikes out of 36 pitches. But then, isn't Looper always good in the daytime?
Last year, his first as a starter, Looper, 33, was 7-1 with a National League-best 1.69 earned run average in 10 daytime starts. By contrast, he was 5-11 and 6.75 in 20 nighttime starts.
My take: Awesome. We'll have special daytime pitchers and special evening hurlers... that's swell.
===
Selig: There's no ban on Bonds
Also tells Astros it's up to them about Rocket in camp
Associated Press ©2008
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Bud Selig says he isn't trying to keep Barry Bonds out of baseball, and the commissioner told the Houston Astros it's up to them whether to have Roger Clemens in their spring training camp.
Selig made the comments in an informal meeting Saturday with reporters at Scottsdale Stadium, where the San Francisco Giants played the Oakland Athletics.
"Every club is free to do whatever they want with whom," said Selig, adding that he had not read Bonds' grand jury testimony that was ordered released by a judge on Friday.
When asked if it was appropriate for Clemens to be in Astros camp, Selig said: "I have said to (owner) Drayton McLane and the Houston club that that's a decision they have to make."
My take: Holy shitake mushrooms, what’s this?! Selig being non committal? I’m so shocked I may go lie down.
===
Cardinals deny being lax on 'roids
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/04/2008
This spring, the Cardinals are being examined, and in some cases criticized, for leading in another category: active players implicated in former Sen. George Mitchell's report in December to Major League Baseball. Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt insists the organization is not "permissive" about the presence of performance-enhancing drugs within the game but is ready to "move ahead" rather than fixate on findings that may or may not have been independently corroborated.
My take: Remember this Cardinal Nation: TLR asked management less than a month ago -- for the second year in a row -- if we could pursue Bonds. To quote Forrest, Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.
