We Will Rally Around Freese… And Play Good Baseball

Written by: Aaron Hooks on 1st April 2009

We Will Rally Around Freese... And Play Good Baseball | read this item

We will rally around David Freese… and we will play (tear) good baseball…

In 1999 Dick Vermeil, head coach of the St. Louis Rams, spoke something very similar about a no-name scrub, past his prime and always getting passed over for the opportunity to play with the big boys. 10 years later Kurt Warner is certainly in the conversation for the football hall of fame and 10 years later a very similar golden opportunity has been created by injury for a St. Louis team.

Late Tuesday, the Cardinals announced that Troy Glaus’ rehabilitation on a injured right shoulder needed a “fresh approach” and that their was “no timetable for his return”. Very reassuring stuff coming from a Cardinals medical staff who had their residencies under Sweeney Todd.

But Clark Avenue is no Fleet Street… so the games must go on.

What looked like a nice little month of work for Joe Mather early in the spring has turned in to probably at least 3 months- possibly more of playing time with a team that absolutely needs production out of their corners. (I’m working off the wild assumption that the production level @ 1B will be OK at worst. I know, big limb…)

Mr. Freese, as you may recall, was the odds on favorite for the job once Glaus was sliced on. Coming off a very strong AAA campaign in 2009 and being a natural third baseman gave him the edge over utility man Joe Mater even though he had far fewer MLB at bats. But just as the Freese jersey’s were hitting production lines news hit that he’d injured his ankle in a car accident weeks before spring training and he was going to need some time to heal. Eventually Joe Mather put a stranglehold on the job for about 3 weeks blistering pitches all over spring training fields and showing himself a more than average leatherman.

Lo and behold, a 1-33 streak, a call-up from minor league camp and a strong 10 games and -voila!- we have a new third baseman.

An added bonus? Mr. Freese grew up in St. Louis. These days that and 50 cents might buy you a cup of coffee… but it’s something, right? (I don’t drink coffee- or hot drinks of any kind for that matter, but the previous sentence was a saying, not necessarily my belief that a cup of coffee cost 50 cents. I know it’s more than that. Whatever.)

Like it or not Cardinal fans, Troy Glaus is further away from coming back to the team than he was a month ago. As time progresses, we’ll have plenty of time to hammer the medical staff of the Cardinals for sucking at life… but until then.

Let’s accept the fact that a local kid, an older-kid, a kid that nobody wanted to give a shot to is coming to a TV near you in mere days… and the rest of the Birds need to rally around him… and play good baseball.

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Topics: Cardinals 3rd Base, Cardinals Third Basen, David Freese, Opening Day Roster, St. Louis Cardinals, Troy Glaus