This afternoon at Busch Stadium, the Cards wrap up the first month of the MLB season. Win or lose against the Reds, the 'Birds have been one of the more pleasant surprises so far this season.
- 17 wins (18 if they win Wednesday) ties a franchise record for wins during the month of April.
- The starting pitching has been fantastic. Especially considering the disaster it was in 2007. Try this on for size: Lohse, Looper, Pineiro, Thompson, Wainwright and Wellemeyer have 15 quality starts in 28 games. They're also a combined 14-5. Imagine if Izzy didn't blow those two ridiculous saves, we'd be talking about a team with the best record in baseball. Even with Izzy's two blown saves last week, the Birds bullpen is doing a relatively good job considering they are 14-1 when leading after eight innings and 13-3 when leading after seven. I'm sure Tony Larussa will take that.
- As far as the bats, they've been good as well. Troy Glaus, even with just one homer, has proven to be a solid acquisition. His 21 RBI this month are his second most-ever in the month of April. And you have to assume his power numbers will improve.
- Albert is, well, Albert. He's been on base safely in all 29 games he's played in. Not too shabby.
- And Rick Ankiel has broken out of that mini-slump he was in entering the Reds series. Ankiel had just seven hits in the 11 games leading up to this series. So far in the Reds three-game series, he has eight hits. He's done a very good job in the middle of that Cardinal lineup and has been practically spotless in the field committing just one error so far this season.
- There's a ton you can say about Skip Schumaker's job at leadoff. Aaron Miles and Adam Kennedy have also hit well and Brian Barton is proving to be a valuable guy to have off the bench.
Add it all up and the Birds are right there fighting for the top spot in the NL Central after month number one.
And month number two kicks off with a bang on Friday with the opener of a three-game series with the Cubs.
Should be a fun weekend to watch.
