Game one, Cards lose 6-4

Written by: Bill Ivie on 6th April 2009

Game one, Cards lose 6-4 | read this item

Opening Day. It should be a National holiday. How dare anyone be forced to work when they can finally watch the guys they’ve be reading about since last October play a game that is actuall going to matter for the first time over five months.

The Cards open their 2009 campaign today against the Bucs from Pittsburgh. Wainwright finally got Mother Nature to cooperate just enough to get an opening day start under his belt for the Redbirds.

Taking a look at Wainwright’s first start of the season, I had a few observations:
- Adam never seemed to settle in completely, working behind in the count constantly, running a high pitch count early on.
- Showed good resilience working his way out of jams, but put himself into some poor situations, too.
- This seems typical of Adam in the early months of a season. Overall not a bad game, 7 K’s in 5 1/3 Innings of work is equally responsible for the high pitch count.

As for the rest of the game:
- We have been blessed as Cardinal fans to see some great defensive centerfielders over the years. Ankiel’s read, jump and diving catch in the second inning showed that he has carried that torch well.
- Chris Duncan is nothing short of an adventure. In the field, running the bases, swinging the bat, he makes everything interesting. I thought for sure he was getting thrown out at second on his second inning double.
- I’m a Brendan Ryan fan and I’m glad to see he made the club out of Spring Training, but if you’re going to lead off, you have to take some pitches at some point. Ryan comes to the plate five times, sees a total of nine pitches.
- Jose Oquendo seems to be out of character in the cold. The Cardinals play 90 feet at a time baseball in the third as he holds up Ryan and Pujols at third on consecutive base hits. Is this a side effect of the WBC?
- Malholm is the 10th different pitcher in 11 years to start the opener for Pittsburgh. Only Oliver Perez can brag that he got the ball twice on opening day.
- Bullpen doesn’t do horrible, but doesn’t keep the inherited runners from crossing the plate.
- Kinney shows some rust, going full count and 3-0 on consecutive hitters, walking the second batter.
- Brian Barden looked horribly overmatched in every at bat today.
- The Cardinal announcers spent the first five innings reminding the viewers how great of a defensive shortstop Khalil Greene is. Then in the seventh, Greene can’t come up with a play that wasn’t routine, but not exactly highlight reel either. Never heard mention of his glove the rest of the game.
- David Freese gets his first major league at bat and promptly pops out. He does come up with a sac fly in the eighth.
- With first base open and Ankiel on second, Albert gets an intentional pass. I will type that many, many times this season.
- How horrible is the wind in St. Louis today? Ludwick and Ankiel have looked like Duncan trying to track down fly balls.
- Ryan Ludwick couldn’t hit to save his life through the entire spring. But, hey, these games count now.
- What kind of throw is that from Moss to attempt to get Thurston at home? If he was trying to hit Schumaker, it was a great throw.
- Is that Jason IsringMotte? Damn this feels familiar.
- Did I miss the press release that the Cardinals signed Spicoli to play short? I know I didn’t read that, but I seen him on camera repeatedly today.

A decent start from Wainwright, good run production from a young line up, and a blown save from the bullpen. Let’s hope today wasn’t a sign for the remainder of the year. Pirates win, 6-4.

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Topics: 2009 Opening Day, Adam Wainwright, Cardinals, Jason Motte, Pirates, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick