While throwing to rookie Salvador Perez in the second half of 2011, Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar had his most consistent run of success in his career.

Luke Hochevar has been an enigma for most of his career. Early on, he was mostly bad with a few starts here and there that showed the ability that the Royals saw when they drafted him 1st overall in the 2006 amateur draft. Over the years, the good starts became a little more frequent, with a few outstanding performances thrown in. But when he was bad, he was really bad. It wasn’t until the second half of last season that Hochevar began to show some consistency. He still had some great starts, but his off-days were average instead of horrendous. They say that a pitcher should be judged on how he performs on his worst day, rather than on his best day. Hochevar’s worst days became much better in the 2nd half of 2011, which gave Royals fans much hope for him to continue this trend in 2012. Unfortunately, it was not to be. On April 13 for the Royals home opener, Hochevar gave up 7 runs in the top of the 1st inning which would be the beginning of one of the most horrific stretches of pitching for a starting pitcher in recent American history. His ERA currently sits at 7.02 for the season while pitching to Humberto Quintero in all 8 of his starts this season.

Salvador Perez was called up by the Royals last August and started his first game at Catcher on August 10. He caught each of Hochevar’s last 7 starts of the season. During this stretch he threw 45 2/3 innings and gave up 22 runs for a 4.34 ERA. In the first start he gave up 5 runs, so if you take out that one, assuming he was getting acclimated to having a new catcher behind the plate, the ERA is lowered to 4.17. Now, while an ERA over 4.00 will not win Hochevar any Cy Young awards, Royals fans would undoubtedly be pleased if he could provide numbers like this on a consistent basis.

While it may be a stretch to try and make this correlation, it cannot be discounted that if Hochevar can experience some success once Salvador Perez returns, that he will be the one common denominator. It cannot be understated how important consistency at the Catcher position is to the success of a pitching staff. And while Royals fans have seen pitching coaches come and go, and starting pitchers displaying maddening levels of inconsistency, perhaps it is the game of musical chairs that the Royals have played at the Catcher position over the last several years that is most responsible for this. Time will tell. Perez is due back in a couple weeks. Hopefully he can help Hochevar “turn the corner” one more time.

• With the release of the 2012 Royals schedule, the only thing that jumps out at me is a visit from the Brewers of Milwaukee June 12–14. I very much hope Zack Greinke will not pitch in the series. It would only bring up unpleasantness from the past and mean spirit from some Royals fans.

• Bruce Chen is a magician. I had one of those perfect nights at the park this Tuesday, where the weather could not be better and the good guys make the Twins look silly. Chen was the main reason, plowing through the Twins for eight innings with his off-speed, arm-slot varying slop. His game score of 85 was the best of the year for the Royals. He continues to outshine his unimpressive defense-independent stats for a second straight year, and while the saber-nerd in me knows he is probably due to regress, I can not help but believe in some of the cliches. That Chen just “knows how to pitch.” I would be glad to see him back in Royal blue again next year to see if he can extend the magic show.

• Before the game on Tuesday, Twins player Michael Cuddyer took some fantastic photos around Kauffman Stadium that you can see here.

• In my previous gallimaufry, I proposed a few metrics that could be used to come up with a new pitcher’s record and showed how each Royals starter was faring by classifying starts as a “win” for a quality start, positive win probability added or game score of 51+. Here are those updated records (through the 13th):

The team-wide average of the three records (64-85) is just one game different than the team’s actual record (63-84). For me, the quality start and game score records of 66-83 are too kind to what has been a very bad staff. The win probability added record of 59-90 sounds just right.

• For whatever it is worth, Alcides Escobar has gained the MLB lead in shortstop UZR with a current rating of 9.5 runs above average. Factor in offense though, and he only comes out at 17th of 22 qualified shortstops in fWAR. He is on the short list of the worst hitters in the league: His 68 wRC+ is fourth worst among qualified hitters and his -5 win probability added is by far the worst.

• While the 2011 season has been another lost cause in the standings, I am dreading the season’s end. In years past, it can feel merciful, but this year it feels like the real Royals are just taking shape. Ever since Sal Perez debuted on August 10, the lineup of the future is suddenly here in the present, and man are they talented and fun to watch. 2012 could very well be bogged down by starting pitching woes again, but the position players make me feel opening day can not get here soon enough.

The 2011 season did not start the way Joakim Soria wanted it to.

Through April and May, he gave up 16 earned runs over 23 innings. He was 3-3 with 5 blown saves in 12 opportunities.

Nearly every Royals fan was calling for his removal from the closer role (or the entire team, in some cases). There was talk about trading him before his value went any lower, converting him to a starter, or possibly even demoting him.

Many said his career was over and that the Royals needed to start fresh with the younger, more exciting Aaron Crow.

Well, Ned Yost did end up giving Crow the closer role.

However, he made it clear that it wasn’t permanent and that he wanted Soria to work some things out as a middle reliever until he felt more comfortable on the mound.

He ended up pitching 5 scoreless innings in 3 games as a middle reliever, which was good enough for the Royals’ skipper.

Yost immediately gave Soria back the title as closer, which turned out to be one of his best decisions of the year.

Since that point, Soria only has 2 blown saves while giving up 11 earned runs in 35.1 innings. He has also had 41 strikeouts compared to 7 walks in that same time period.

These numbers might seem completely inaccurate to most Royals fans because it feels like he has been much worse over the past three and a half months.

The main reason for this is because his two blown saves since the 1^st of June were the two most heartbreaking losses for the Royals in that span.

The first of the two came on July 30^th against the Indians. The Royals gave Soria the ball with a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 9^th. He gave up a sacrifice fly to tie the game and a walk-off 3-run bomb by Matt LaPorta to end it.

Then came the Tampa Bay Rays game on August 10^th. No Royals fan will forget this one, so there isn’t a need to go into great detail. Crow and Soria gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9^th to lose 8-7. It was the epitome of a heartbreaker for the Royals and their fans.

Other than those two games, Soria has been almost lights out. It’s hard for fans to see it, but he is back to his old self.

Wanting a trade or a role change for Soria needs to come to a stop. His first two months of this year were horrendous to say the least, but he has definitely regained his form.

Other than perhaps Greg Holland, Soria has been the most consistent pitcher for the Royals this year.

He is still the leader of the Royals’ bullpen and should continue to be as they make their push in the next couple of years.

A good closer is tough to come by, and the Royals have one in Soria.

It’d be a shame to mess that up as they get closer to becoming a real contender.

Labor Day. Many people recognize this as the end of summer. The Boys Of Summer in Kansas City may very well feel the same. With a loss today and a Tigers win, the Royals will find themselves mathematically eliminated from winning the American League Central division, putting an official end to a race they have not been a part of for months.

The strike shortened season of 1994 would see the Royals finish the closest to first place that they ever have since the installation of six divisions in baseball. They would be eliminated from competition on August 7th due to the strike, but they were only four games back when the season came to a close on August 10.

Despite a losing season in 1995, the Royals would finish second in the American League Central. That may be just a bit deceiving however as the team finished 30 games behind the Cleveland Indians and would find themselves mathematically eliminated on September 8th. It would not be the smallest margin they would trail by, but it would be the highest finish they would enjoy since then.

Looking back across the dates, the research shows that the Royals have faded over the last 17 years fairly early. Below you will see the date that the boys in blue found themselves aware that it would be impossible for them to find post-season baseball.

Only one time in the last 17 seasons have the Royals found themselves in the hunt past the second week of September. With the young guns on the horizon, that may finally change. Maybe then the Kansas City area can find more to celebrate than the beginning of football season.

The St. Louis Cardinals and the National League Central division crown seemed to be synomonous with each other. Year in and year out it was the Cardinals who sat at the top of the standing, but in recent years the tide has changed.

No longer are the Cardinals the lock they once were, especially after last season witnessed them tumble toward the finish line — losing 13 of 15 games during one horrific stretch. The upstart Cincinnati Reds were the Cards kryptonite, winning a few key series down the stretch to show them who the real big boys were.

This season the Cardinals were not even the odds-on favorite to win the division crown, but instead that honor was bestowed upon the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers, possessing a potent offense and a great pitching staff were an easy pick over the mostly no-name Cardinals.

However, it was the Cardinals and their under-the-radar acquisitions that made the most noise throughout the seasons early going. It was the Cardinals who sat atop the division, reminiscent of old times while the preseason favorites struggled to play with consistency.

Unfortunately the good vibes the Cards had earlier this season have not continued due to a variety of reasons: The most obvious one is injuries playing a major toll. Perennial N.L. MVP candidate Albert Pujols suffered an injury and faced a DL stint, causing the team to struggle.

In the opening game of a pivotal showdown against the Brewers, rookie righty Lance Lynn suffered an injury to his oblique, most likely sending him to the DL. Lynn has made all of 18 appearances, but already has a place in the Cards’ faithful hearts.

Lynn hasn’t been lights out like other rookie phenoms, but he has been effective out of the bullpen, giving them the spark they need. Since he joined the ranks of the bullpen, the staff has compiled an ERA over a run better than their season average.

With the Cardinals now trailing the Brewers by four games and the date August 10, time is not in their favor, but they have a roster in place that is built to withstand injuries and compete for the division crown.

For years pitchers would never pitch to Pujols because they did not fear the hitter who came after him in the lineup, but those days are long over. The Cardinals, never one to spend big on free-agents, paid an exorbitant amount to keep Matt Holliday after a mid-season trade.

Holliday has supplied St. Louis with another power bat to help take some of the pressure off of Pujols while adding some toward the opposition. However, arguably it has been an under the radar pickup who has supplied even more pop

While Holliday has blasted 18 home runs, obviously still struggling without the benefit of playing in Coors Field, Lance Berkman has found the fountain of youth.

After a year so disastrous that many thought he was done, the Cards took a chance and found lightning in a bottle. Berkman has blasted 28 home runs, which leads the team, while playing adequate defense in the outfield.

With three power hitters in their lineup, the Cards should be fine in the offensive side of the ball. For them to overtake the Brewers, the Cards need to pitch better than them, and win their head to head match-ups.

Following their three game set against the Brew Crew, the Cardinals will still have six games left against the division leaders. Those six games will almost certainly determine the division winner.

If the Cardinals play up to the level they had earlier this year, the lights will be on in Busch for October. If not, then a long winter awaits for the Cards and their fans.

Ryan Lazo is a contributing writer to I70 Baseball. He is also a Senior Writer for BaseballDigest.com. He can be reached at RMLazo13@gmail.com, followed on Twitter @RMLazo13 and read his blog Artificially Enhanced.

August 10, 2010 was Jason LaRue‘s last day on a Major League field.

Most know the story: a fight that was incited by comments from Brandon Phillips the night before led to an all-out brawl that caused the mob of red-clad ballplayers-turned-fighters to crash into the backstop. One of the first ones to hit the wall was the Reds’ starter in last night’s game, Johnny Cueto.

Cueto started kicking–with his spikes on–at the two people closest to him: last night’s Cards starter Chris Carpenter and backup catcher LaRue. Carp got scratches on his back. LaRue got concussed and was rendered unable to play pro baseball ever again.

Cueto was suspended for seven games. One start.

The next time he was due to pitch against the Cardinals, he conveniently had family matters to attend to. But he made an appearance in St. Louis tonight. God knows what was going through the Cardinals players’ heads.

Carpenter remembered. He probably still has the scars Cueto gave him on that August afternoon in Cincinnati. He does remember what kind of impact Cueto had that day. After all, he had a front row seat to it all.

Maybe he was just carrying over his recent success. Maybe he was filled with the desire to beat that guy pitching the other halves of innings. Probably both. But he matched him for seven innings. Seven innings of shutout ball from each starter. There were close calls and amazing plays on both sides, but the score remained stagnant for both sides for seven long innings.

As the game progressed into the Fourth of July night, you got that tightness in your gut of pure excitement every time someone on either team made it on base. Both pitchers seemed extremely vulnerable and unstoppable at the same time. But one of them would stand, and one would fall. The one that would make it through had to be Carp. He couldn’t let that dirtbag shove gis team into a deficit in the NL Central standings. Not this time.

Carpenter finished off the Reds again in the eighth inning with 119 pitches right after his longest Cardinals outing ever four days ago; the score still 0-0. Then Cueto became the one who fell.

Colby Rasmus led off with a single. After Yadier Molina finally got a bunt down after five pitches, Cueto bobbled it and was forced to throw to first instead of getting Razz out at second. Skip Schumaker flew out to get him to third, bringing in Mark Hamilton who was hitting for Carp. With two outs, Mark hit a grounder to Scott Rolen at third, who slid to catch the ball and fire it to first in what is being called one of the best plays all year. One problem: Hamilton beat the throw. 1-0 Cardinals.

Fernando Salas had a one-two-three ninth, ensuring Cueto’s defeat as news poured in that the Brewers had blown yet another game, this time in Arizona. The Cards were now alone in first place while the Reds stood at 43-43 and a game and a half behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

But most importantly, Johnny Cueto lost. He didn’t get throttled, chewed up and spit out in the first inning. No, he pitched a great game, got so close to beating Cincinnati nemesis Chris Carpenter. But he fell about one foot short. That was probably the best revenge of all.

Postscript: Hit me up at my site

After this three game series in Chicago, the Cardinals will travel to Cincinnati for a weekend set against the Reds. Now that Johnny Cueto has been activated from the disabled list, it will also be the first time the Cardinals will face him since the benches clearing skirmish that ended Jason La Rue’s career.

The Commissioners’ Office referenced the Roseboro incident as a guideline for determining punishment for the players and coaches involved in that unfortunate situation, and we have looked at that in a previous I-70 Baseball article. Now it is time to turn our attention to the Cueto incident, and see how the Commisioner did in this case.

August 9, 2010

The Cardinals and Reds had been battling for the lead in the National League Central since mid-May, with neither team being able to make much progress on the other. At the start of this game, the Cardinals trailed the Reds by two games.

There was controversy from the very beginning of the game, but not the type you would have thought. It was between two players from the Cardinals. A promising rally against a struggling Mike Leake had the makings of a huge first inning. As a result, Brendan Ryan ran down to the batting cages to get ready for his at-bat. A double play ended the rally unceremoniously, and Ryan had to hustle to get on the field in time to start the home half of the first. On the way, he couldn’t find his glove and chose to run out with one borrowed from a teammate. Just before Chris Carpenter was about to make his first pitch, somebody in the Cardinal’s dugout found Ryan’s glove and time was called. The volatile Cardinals hurler gave Ryan a glaring look as he switched out his equipment.

Between innings, Carpenter gave an earful to Brendan Ryan. Unfortunately for the two players, the exchange was captured on camera and replayed over and over.

The game was rather uneventful, and over before the last pitch in the fourth inning was thrown. Both pitchers were able to get through their first three innings without much difficulty. The fourth would be a different story as the Cardinals sent 12 men to the plate. When the final out was recorded, they had a commanding 7-0 lead.

Carpenter and two relievers would combine for the win, giving the Reds three runs in the late innings.

What the Cardinals did not know at the time were some inflammatory comments made by Brandon Phillips. He was speaking to a sports writer from Dayton, and took the opportunity to rip on the Cardinals.

I’d play against these guys with one leg. We have to beat these guys. I hate the Cardinals.
All they do is b***h and moan about everything, all of them, they’re little b****es, all of ‘em.
I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs.

Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.

– Brandon Phillips, August 9, 2010

Oh, the Cardinals would learn of Phillips’ comments before the start of the next game.

August 10, 2010

Johnny Cueto would get the start for the Reds in the second game of the series. His opponent from St. Louis is the rookie left-hander, Jaime Garcia. Garcia being a rookie may have a significant impact on what was about to happen.

The Cardinals would manufacture a run in the first inning, thanks to a lead-off double by Felipe Lopez.

Things would turn nasty when the Reds came up to bat for the first time.

Brandon Phillips tapped Yadier Molina’s shin guards, as he usually does in his first plate appearance. Instead of choosing a more old-school approach of having his pitcher throw at Phillips, Molina decides to take matters into his own hands. He stands up and starts barking with Phillips. As the two exchange pleasantries, both benches clear and a mob begins to form around home plate.

Yadier Molina, Mark Wegner and Brandon Phillips

What happens next is captured in detail in the MLB Video Archives. You can see both the Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Midwest broadcast of the event. In addition to the MLB video, our friends at Viva el Birdos have broken the event down into who did what to whom, albeit with the bias of a Cardinal Fan’s point of view.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Cardinals fan or a Reds fan, this conflict turned ugly. At the back of it all was Reds starting pitcher, Johnny Cueto. He was kicking Cardinals players repeatedly – and while still wearing his spikes. A very dangerous situation, indeed. The concussion that Jason La Rue sustained in the brawl would ultimately cost him the remainder of his baseball career.

What happens next angers Cardinals fans to this very day. Johnny Cueto was allowed to stay in the game.

Perhaps there is something to the notion of karma. Cueto would end up taking the loss, and the Cardinals would pull even with the Reds after this emotional victory. An dominating afternoon win by Adam Wainwright on the following day would give the Cardinals a sweep of the series, and a one game lead in the division. Sadly, it would be their last one as a disappointing homestand followed by a brutal road trip through Washington, Houston and Pittsburgh ended all playoff hopes for the 2010 season.

But that’s not the real end to this story.

A Slap on the Wrist

Major League Baseball was about to take punitive action against several Cardinals and Reds players and their managers.

The first failure of Major League Baseball happened immediately following the brawl. In the Roseboro incident, Shag Crawford wasted little time ejecting Juan Marichal. We will never know if he would have done the same to Roseboro because the Dodgers catcher had to leave the game due to injuries sustained in the attack.

Neither home plate umpire, Mark Wegner, nor crew chief Jeff Kellogg took any action towards Johnny Cueto. He was allowed to stay in the game, which in retrospect might have been a good thing for the Cardinals. He was clearly rattled and the Redbirds hitters were able to take advantage of that. Mark Wegner did eject both managers: Tony La Russa (St. Louis) and Dusty Baker (Cincinnati).

Next came the suspensions. Both managers were suspended for two games. It was the suspension for Cueto that raised eyebrows in Cardinals Nation. The big right-hander was given a seven game suspension for his “violent and aggressive actions.” All three were fined an undisclosed amount, as were Brandon Phillips, Yadier Molina, Russ Springer and Chris Carpenter. In case you are wondering about Springer’s fine, it was because he was still on the disabled list, and was not eligible to be on the field when the brawl took place.

Any way you look at this, Johnny Cueto got off with just a slap on the wrist. A seven game suspension meant that he would only miss one start. While the League Office did not know that Jason La Rue’s concussion was career ending, they did know that he had been placed on the disabled list immediately after the game. If the Commissioner were trying to apply the Roseboro Incident here, he really missed the mark. Juan Marichal was suspended for nine games when he took a baseball bat to the helmeted head of John Roseboro. He was also prohibited from making the final road trip to Los Angeles, which forced the Giants to rearrange their rotation to accommodate the ruling. In addition, Roseboro only missed a few games and never went on the disabled list. Even more infuriating was the part that Roseboro played in instigating the confrontation in 1965, which would have been taken into consideration in Marichal’s punishment. The only thing La Rue did was try to get between Cueto and his teammate, Chris Carpenter.

On the subject of fines, even though the one to Cueto was not disclosed, we can make some guesses relative to the one handed out to Marichal. The Giants hurler was fined $1,750, which was approximately 3% of his salary for the 1965 season. Marichal was an established star at the time and was earning the pay you would expect from a top player of his era. In 2010, Cueto was earning a league minimum of $445,000. 3% of that would be $13,300, and that is probably close to what he was actually fined. That amount would be consistent with other players whose fines were made public.

But let’s look at this another way. Cueto just signed a five year deal to avoid his arbitration years. That deal is paying him $3.4M for 2011. 3% of that would be a whopping $102,000. When was the last time you heard a player being fined anywhere near this amount ?

While there were some similarities between the Roseboro and Cueto incident (pennant race, a player using their equipment to injure another), there were some striking differences. Johnny Cueto was not provoked like Juan Marichal. Marichal also stopped hitting Roseboro when he saw that he was bleeding from under his batting helmet. Cueto kept on kicking until the scrum of players broke up.

The biggest difference between these two events is the power that the MLB Player’s Union carries. In 1965, the union was weak, relative to the team owners. As a result, baseball decisions coming out of the League Office tended to favor the position of the owners, not the players. Things were changing quickly, the union was not in the power chair quite yet. A ripple effect of this is that umpires were not shy in taking control of situations on the baseball field.

In 2010, the players union carries much more clout. The implication is that the League Office will not do anything to upset them, and put a future collective bargaining agreement in jeopardy. Umpires, except perhaps Bob Davidson, are less likely to take control of events in a baseball game, relying instead on filing a detailed report and letting somebody else make the decision about what to do, and whom to fine.

Tough Guys, Big Hearts

There must be something truly special about catchers. John Roseboro originally sued Juan Marichal, but later settled for a much reduced amount without going to court. That was later put behind the two men as Roseboro acknowledged his part in the event and subsequently forgave Marichal for his actions. They two became friends, and their story ends with Marichal delivering the eulogy at Roseboro’s funeral.

The last we heard from Jason La Rue was that the effects from the concussion were still persistent and making his daily life difficult. He also indicated that he has no plans on seeking any civil litigation as a result of Cueto’s attack, preferring to put the matter behind him. That’s already several steps down the path that Marichal and Roseboro took. Mr. Cueto, the ball is now in your court.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at On the Outside Corner. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

For the fourth straight year, the United Cardinal Bloggers will recognize the best from on the field and in the blogging community.

The rules are simple. The ballot has to be posted on the website of the voter and you cannot vote for yourself.

Here is the Ballot for I-70 Baseball:

Cardinal Bloggers Awards
2010 Ballot

1. Player of the Year
–Matt Holliday
Holliday put together an impressive campaign. I would have to say that my vote here may be influenced by the desire to not just vote for Albert every year. Holliday did post the highest average on the team, first time that has happened for anyone not named Albert since 2001.

2. Pitcher of the Year
–Adam Wainwright
Wainwright put together a season that solidified him as the ace of this staff and started the process of the Cardinals moving past the era of Chris Carpenter.

3. Game of the Year
–August 10 at Cincinnati–Brawl, home run from Molina
I am not sure how any other game can be voted above this one? The shin guard tapping, the brawl within a brawl, the shot by Yadi, the ensuing sweep and then the total collapse of the team immediately after? Other than Wainwright’s first ever shutout, I cannot think of another game that sticks out as much as this one.

4. Surprise Player of the Year
–Jon Jay
My first instinct was to vote for Jaime here, but I really was not surprised by his performance. He has been dominant before and surprised at every level during his minor league days. I honestly did not see Jon Jay performing like he did, despite the fall off. I’m anxious to see what he does over a full year.

5. Disappointing Player of the Year
–Brendan Ryan
Brendan was a huge let down this year. A player that the Cardinals were relying on to anchor an offense and defense was sporadic at best in both at times this year. Reyes was supposed to be a strong reliever and I never believed in Lohse, but Ryan let us all down on a much greater level.

6. Rookie of the Year
–Jaime Garcia
I would have preferred this to be a two horse race between Garcia and David Freese, but Cinderella can’t keep his glass ankles safe and Jaime will be finishing in the top 3 in the National League voting this year.

7. Acquisition of the Year
–Jake Westbrook
Westbrook may not have had a major impact, but his arrival was too little too late. Penny might have got my vote had he stayed healthy. Whoever put Miles on this ballot needs to be drug into the street and shot.

8. Biggest Off-Field Story
–Colby Rasmus’s trade request
You couldn’t turn on the radio, tv, read a blog, or a newspaper without being infected with this story. What was lost in the whole mix was that the manager broke it to the media. Everyone conveniently forgot that and openly wondered where it came from.

9. Most Anticipated Cardinal
–Zack Cox
Word out of the Arizona Fall League is that he was overrated and not going to be quite what we have expected. I’m anxious to see how fast he gets here. Not to mention, living in Springfield, I will see him sooner than later.

10. Best Individual Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: C70 At The Bat

11. Best Team Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: Pitchers Hit Eighth
The guys over there have a great balance of new statistics, good commentary, and solid humor. The team is great and we have featured most of their writers at various times because of it.

12. Best Media Blog
–Obviously, You’re Not A Golfer
I like Leach’s mix of baseball and pop culture along with music. He is to the point and not too wordy and has some good insight.

13. Best UCB Project
–Roundtables
I enjoy these tremendously. The questions that come out, the various opinions and the respect shown across the board is tremendous.

14. Most Optimistic Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: Cardinal Diamond Diaries

15. Funniest Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: Joe Sports Fan

16. Rookie Cardinal Blog of the Year
–Cardinal Diamond Diaries
The ladies do an amazing job. It is different, it is uplifting, it is staffed by some amazing talented people, and it has become one of my most visited bookmarks over the course of this year.

All too often in life, there is simply no justice. And there may be no sport that demonstrates this fact as clearly as baseball does.

You have seen it in the tiniest wrinkles of the game’s fabric. The bloop single that ends a no-hit bid, or the rally cut short by a blistering line-out right at a defender with the bases juiced. You have seen it represented in larger samples as well. Such as when the 2001 Seattle Mariners, dominant all season in collecting a record 116 wins, were able to manage only a single victory against the Yankees in the ALCS. Or when the Saint Louis Cardinals were unable to convert regular season mastery into World Series success, both in 2004 and 2005…further illustrated by the fact that a vastly inferior squad was able to so unexpectedly achieve October glory in 2006.

Jason LaRue will likely vanish into a San Antonio sunset after a three game set in Pittsburgh that begins tonight. The trip to PNC gives LaRue an opportunity to enjoy a final road trip with his teammates, while also allowing the former backup backstop to see a specialist regarding severe concussion symptoms still lingering from the well-documented melee with Cincinnati Reds players on August 10^th. Most notably, with Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto who, while pinned against the netting behind home plate, flailed about wildly with spike-clad feet, landing multiple blows to LaRue’s face and head.

Cardinals fans were not even given the opportunity to shower Cueto with their displeasure upon the Reds’ recent trip to Saint Louis, as Cueto was absent the team with a “family issue”. Redbird faithful were left to pummel Brandon Phillips with the full brunt of their frustrations instead, though his crimes against the home team must now be considered misdemeanors in light of the recent announcement that LaRue is retiring due to the aforementioned medical concerns.

The hell with Brandon Phillips. He is a sideshow. He is the guy in a drama film who is inconsequentially disposed of in some manner and immediately forgotten about by the audience. He is a mouth. And a mouth from which remarkable ignorance is spoken. Truth be told, a stadium of complete silence, or perhaps the entire crowd dispersing into the corridors all at once upon each of his at-bats, would have likely been more effective in punishing such an attention-starved excuse for a ball player.

Johnny Cueto, on the other hand, is a different animal entirely.

Let us try to move past the juvenile and reckless act of kicking with eyes closed like a frightened pussycat, as I know virtually nothing about Cueto the person. No reader fixated upon these words is without a fear so paralyzing that they could not also be rendered neurotic. Perhaps that was not the first time little Johnny Cueto found himself beneath a pile of men (go with that where you wish), or perhaps he is truly terrified of enclosed spaces. In all seriousness, we know nothing of the traumas that might lie at the heart of such an abhorrent display of behavior. I ask that you all take a look in the mirror and consider this. But please, also be careful to not confuse my thoughts for anything other than what they are…pity for a weak and pathetic man.

Still, the fact remains. This scared little kitty was not declawed and significant damage was done. Of course, painful headaches and nausea have taken their toll, but LaRue has reported that even simple tasks – such as driving a car, cooking, and watching television – have been difficult throughout his ongoing recovery. And regardless of whether LaRue had intended to play beyond 2010, for all intent and purposes, that decision was made for him by Johnny Cueto. Emphasized with each kick to his skull.

I am proud to call myself, at least as it relates to baseball, a purist. I love a pitchers duel, loathe the stat junkies, and like Bull Durham’s Crash Davis, believe that there should be a ban on AstroTurf and the designated hitter. I waffle agonizingly between whether instant replay is a positive or not, and those who know me well know that I don’t waffle about much. But there are times when tradition hinders the correct action of an institution, and the “punishment” Cueto received is an excellent example.

Jason LaRue’s career is over and his long-term health may very well have been compromised. Johnny Cueto missed one game. Essentially, this translated to an extra day’s rest en route to postseason play. (Cue the violins)

Questions beg to be asked. What if the “severe bruising of the brain” administered by Cueto had ended the career of Yadier Molina? Or Joe Mauer? Or Jorge Posada? Or Victor Martinez? Or Jason Varitek? Does the MLB players union file grievances for such matters or do they only step in on contract negotiations? (Yes, that was sarcasm.) What if the recipient of an indefensible beating had not been some second-stringer with a mullet and a career batting mark of .231? What then? Should any of that matter? Obviously, the answer is no, but we all know that is not the case. Meanwhile, pop some “greenies” and promptly get suspended for 50 games. I’m not sure I follow the logic, Mr. Selig.

Oh well. I suppose it is not my business. Concussed and all, LaRue is free to make up his own mind. He was said to have considered taking legal action against Cueto, which would seem veritable given the criminal nature of the inflictions and the revenue potentially lost, but he has apparently decided against this. His retirement will be unceremonious and the Cardinals organization will probably be too “classy” to retaliate in 2011.

So the fact remains, ringing true in this beautiful game of baseball just as it does in most all worldly affairs: sometimes there is simply no justice. Unfortunately, there is no longer a Bob Gibson either.