cmarlow's Blog

STL:

Lots to talk about regarding this year's All-Star break.  First off, awesome display put on by Josh Hamilton in the Home Run Derby.  I was hoping he would actually hit one out of Yankee Stadium (as former negro league star Josh Gibson once did), and for a while it looked like he would.  But, how could Hamilton not win the Derby in the end?  I felt like I was watching the movie Rudy, except at the end Rudy never got in the game.  It's okay, though, because years from now everyone will remember Hamilton's first round laser light show and nobody will remember that Justin Morneau actually won (except for Canadians).

If you haven't heard or read about Hamilton's struggle with drug addiction, you should.  It's pretty incredible.  He talks openly about how he wasted his almost 4 million dollar signing bonus, how he shrunk from 230 pounds to 180 because of an addiction to crack, how he once wrote a $2000 dollar check to a crack dealer that bounced, so he had to have his father in law track down the dealer and pay him in cash.

The guy was out of baseball for almost 4 full years and now he looks like Mickey Mantle.  Dozens of Major League scouts and players say Hamilton has the most raw talent of any baseball player they've ever seen.  It would be neat to see how accomplished Hamilton would be by now if he never had gotten caught up in drugs.  We could be talking A-Rod and Pujols like numbers.  But in a way, Hamilton's legacy may be even more lasting because of what he's overcome.

As for the actual All-Star game, I slept through about innings 6 thru 12.  I thought the ending was pretty decent, and I think the game determining World Series home field advantage does give it some extra flavor.  Question: How can Carlos Marmol be an All-Star and not Kyle Lohse?  Lohse has 11 wins and an ERA of 3.39.  Marmol is a freaking set-up man with an ERA over 4.00, and has been absolutely rocked in the last month.

Great pitching match-up tomorrow at Busch.  The Padres Jake Peavy versus Lohse, I'm looking forward to watching that one.  This is a big week for the Cards, 4 at home with the Pads' followed by 4 at home with the surging Brewers, should be a fun start of the second half.

I'm rooting for the Cards to hold on in the Wild Card race, but I don't think they can do it unless they add a piece to the puzzle, or unless Carp and Waino come back really strong.  C.C. Sabathia is in a contract year and he's got a change of scenery, I think he's gonna be lights out in the second half.  C.C., Ben Sheets and the Brew Crew will be tough to beat, and I think we've seen the best of Todd Wellemeyer.  I wouldn't be surprised if he's a .500 pitcher for the rest of '08.

What do ya'll think.  Cards in the playoffs or a September St. Louis scuffle?  I wanna hear from you.

Later,

Charlie Marlow