When the St. Louis Cardinals waged their annual war with injuries last season as Allen Craig and Lance Berkman went on the disabled list within weeks of each other in May, the Cardinals needed a replacement, and their first choice was minor leaguer Matt Adams.

Adams looked the part. He’s 6-foot-3-inches tall, weighs 260 pounds and hit 82 homeruns in his four years in the minor leagues while compiling a .318 batting average. But that wasn’t the player who showed up in the Cardinals lineup in 2012. Adams hit .244 with two homeruns and 13 RBIs in his 27-game stay with the big-league club.

So where was this power potential that made him the Cardinals first choice to fill-in while two players with power bats sat on the disabled list? Apparently it had left Adams’ right elbow.

Adams and the Cardinals didn’t know it at the time, but he had been hampered by a bone spur in his elbow and eventually had surgery to repair it last season after the Cardinals sent him back to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

And it turns out that injury made a huge difference because the 2013 version of Adams is much more in line with the stories of his powerful approach to hitting and why the Cardinals considered him a top prospect..

Adams crushed the ball throughout spring training. He hit three homeruns and led the team with 17 RBIs in 28 games. He has carried that success into the regular season so far, and at times carried the team.

He got the Cardinals their first extra-base hit of the three-game series last weekend against the San Francisco Giants when he hit a two-run, ground-rule double into right-centerfield in the fourth inning Sunday against Giants ace Matt Cain. He also carried his hot bat into the Cardinals first home series of the season, a three-game set with the division-rival Cincinnati Reds.

The Cardinals trailed the Reds 1-0 in the sixth inning Tuesday against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, who to that point in the game had not allowed a hitter to reach base. But Adams, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, waited on one of Arroyo’s trademark slow breaking balls and crushed it into the rightfield seats for a two-run homer.

Then he did the same thing in the sixth inning Wednesday against Reds pitcher Homer Bailey as the Cardinals cruised to a 10-0 win behind a stellar complete-game performance by starter Jake Westbrook.

Adams is in such a groove right now he has the look of a hitter who could hit almost any pitch out of the ballpark. He is getting healthy cuts on pitches he misses, and most of his foul balls have been smashed into the seats down the rightfield line.

That’s the type of hitter the Cardinals management saw in the minor leagues, and it’s the type of hitter who will likely play a very important role for the team throughout the season.

Craig is still the starting first baseman, and he is in no danger of losing that job. But Craig will also have to play rightfield on a fairly regular basis to give 35-year-old Carlos Beltran enough days off to make it through the season, and that could give Adams enough opportunities to be a large part of the Cardinals offense this season.

Even if he is primarily used in a bench role, it’s always nice to have a player who’s hitting over .600 ready to take an important at-bat late in a ballgame.

Sure, Adams won’t continue to hit .600 or better throughout the season, but the Cardinals now have a power hitter who can change the tone of a game immediately.

The Cardinals thought Adams could provide that aspect of the game when he came up in 2012. Now they know he can in 2013.

ST. LOUIS – September 12, 2012 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced their 2013 regular season schedule today in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s league-wide release.

The Cardinals start the 2013 season on the road in Phoenix on Monday, April 1 against Arizona. After three games with the Diamondbacks, and a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants, the Cardinals return to Busch Stadium on Monday, April 8 for the home opener against the division rival Cincinnati Reds. The first home series includes three games against the Reds and three games against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Throughout the season, the Cardinals face the Reds and National League Central Division opponent Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates a total of 19 times each. The Cardinals will also play two interleague series with the Houston Astros, who will move to the American League West in 2013. The Cardinals play the Astros in Houston (June 25-26) and in St. Louis (July 9-10).  The Cardinals will also play every team in the American League West as part of the club’s extensive interleague schedule.

While interleague games will be played throughout the entire regular season, the Cardinals open an 11-game stretch of interleague play on Friday, June 21 as they host the Texas Rangers at Busch. The Rangers’ visit marks their first trip to St. Louis during the regular season and first visit since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. The interleague stretch continues on the road with the series in Houston and Oakland (June 28-30), as well as the club’s first visit to southern California to face the Los Angeles Angels (July 2-4). The club’s record number (20) of interleague games includes games with the Kansas City Royals (May 27-28 in KC and May 29-30 at home) and the Seattle Mariners (September 13-15 at home).

Other schedule highlights include two weekend series against the Cubs at Busch (August 9-11 and September 27-29 to conclude the season), as well as a four game weekday series, June 17-20. The Cardinals will host 43 games at Busch Stadium before the All-Star break and 38 after the break. The team has 11 home dates in April, 14 in May, 13 in June, 11 in July, 17 in August and 15 games during September. The Cardinals will make future announcements regarding game times, ticket pricing and availability for the 2013 season. The full 2013 schedule is located here in PDF Format.

For the first time this season, I will be in attendance for a St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium.

This Sunday, April 29, the Cardinals will take on division rival Milwaukee and I will be in attendance with a group of school kids and Angela Weinhold.  Why should you care?  Well that is simple.

Last year I started a tradition of carrying a messenger bag with me to all games that I was in attendance for.  You see, over the course of the almost two years that we have run the site, I have collected a fair amount of items that have been given to the site in one form or another for means of promotion.

Books, t-shirts, can coolers, and many more products have been sent in to the site to give away at various events.  Companies ranging from RinaWear Clothing company to Fox Sports Midwest have asked us to distribute cool gifts on their behalf, and we have happily obliged.  So before each game, I fill my bag with as much as it will hold and reward anyone who happens to come up to me and either recognize me or identify i70baseball.com with something from it.

This year, it gets better.

On Sunday, if you recognize me and mention i70baseball.com, I will have my normal bag of fan-centric stuff to reward you with.  If you are one of the first to come up to me, however, you are in for a treat.  In my bag this weekend will be one each of the following:

A BluRay/DVD Combo of the newest addition to the A&E Home Video Greatest Games set.  The newest addition?  Game Six of last year’s World Series.

“But, Bill”, you say, “Game Six was outstanding, but there was so much more to the World Series than just that game.”  You’re right, my friends.  Because of that, I will also have a box set of the entire World Series, also from A&E Entertainment.  This set is a massive eight discs and contains every game from the World Series and a ton of extras.

I will have plenty more to give away at the game Sunday.

Winning is simple:

- Follow me on Twitter (@poisonwilliam) as I will tweet updates on my location, my attire, and pictures to help you find me easier
- Find me at the game on Sunday
- Mention that you read i70baseball

See you at the ballpark!

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.
Follow him on Twitter here.

The Kansas City Royals and the Los Angles Angels will be the last two teams in Major League Baseball to begin their season. The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners have already started theirs. The Miami Marlins and St Louis Cardinals will start theirs in Wednesday evening. Finally, six days from today, after twenty-eight other teams have started, the Royals and Angels will start at 9pm local time. Even though these two teams will be the last to step off, I think they will get the most media coverage, and it’s not because the national media is in love with the Royals.

This guy and the Royals are going to crash the Angels Opening Day Party

It seems that the Angels have signed a couple of big name free agents over the off-season in the name of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. It is a compelling story in the national media. Albert Pujols graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s MLB Preview. ESPN is televising the opener, and FOX added Saturday’s game to their regional coverage. If you live in the Royals television market don’t expect to watch the ESPN telecast. It will be blacked out to protect the FoxSports Kansas City broadcast. In Los Angles, the Orange County Register is hopping on the “mob” fad, and plans to cover the Royals-Angels Opener like never before.

The Royals track record doesn’t lend itself to the Royals being anything more than facilitaters for a game of baseball disguised to be a celebration of Arte Murano’s shopping spree during the winter. The Royals are like the convicted being lead into the Roman Coliseum to be eaten by lions. The cards are even stacked against the Royals liturgically. That’s right, Christian Royals fans will be rooting against the Angels on Holy Weekend.

I think the Angels are a good out of division rival for the Royals. Southern California is a hot bed of baseball talent. George Brett is from there, and so are a bunch of other Royals players. The Angels broadcast team consists of Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza. Mark Gubiza needs no explaining. Victor Rojas is the son of Cookie, and grew up in Kansas City. If you follow him on Twitter you’ll notice he remains a Chiefs and KU Jayhawk fan. The Royals broadcast team has many ties to the Angels. Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler were Angels broadcasters for 11 seasons. Ryan Lefebvre is also from Southern California. If that’s not enough these two teams have seen a lot of each other in Cactus League play. Including a little dust up when Everett Teaford hit Peter Bourjos with a fastball after surrendering three straight home runs. This opening series shapes up to be exciting and hotly contested.

There is always opportunity in adversity. What better time to come out in punch the other team in the mouth than when they congratulating themselves? The Royals have a power hitting first baseman of their own. The Royals have some electric bullpen arms. The Royals have an excellent outfield. The Royals also won the last season’s series 7-3.

Earlier in the winter I was concerned that the Royals were getting too much media attention. It appeared they had become the next trendy pick in the surprise baseball team sweepstakes. I’m sure the Angels organization is not overlooking the Royals. I’m glad to see that for one weekend it appears the national media is. It’s a good recipe for “Chip on our shoulder”. It’s time for the Royals to crash the Pujols Party and shock the world.

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2012, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty seven men on the ballot this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2012 menu at the top of the page.

Tune in Saturday, January 7, 2012 as I-70 Baseball Radio will host a panel of writers discussing the Hall Of Fame Ballot in a 2-hour special.

In this article, we take a look at Bill Mueller

Bill Mueller
The St. Louis native spent his 11 year career playing for four different franchises. His debut would come wearing the Giants uniform in 1996 and he would put the finishing touches on his career in 2006 as a member of their division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. This is his first year on the ballot.

Why He Should Get In
Mueller was a defensive player that managed to show an offensive side to his game. In his short career, he would win a batting title in 2003 with the Red Sox and finish 12th in the Most Valuable Player voting that year as well. That season would also bring Mueller’s only Silver Slugger Award.

Why He Should Not Get In
Mueller’s career was shortened by injuries and therefore remained a bit lack luster. Though his career batting average was .291, that only equated to 1,229 hits and 493 runs batted in. A career that had a lot of promise, as often is the case, simply never materialized.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Storm Chasers Release 2012 Schedule
Opening Night at Werner Park set for 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 5

Photo By Erika Lynn

OMAHA, Neb. — The defending Pacific Coast League Champion Omaha Storm Chasers have officially set their complete 2012 baseball schedule, the club announced Thursday.

Werner Park, entering its second season as the home of Triple-A baseball in Omaha, will host 72 Storm Chasers games between Thursday, April 5 and Sunday, August 26, plus up to five September playoff games if necessary. Full-season, half-season, 20-game and 7-game Holiday packages are currently available to the general public online at www.omahastormchasers.com, by visiting the Werner Park ticket office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., or by calling(402) 738-5100.

The season will kick off with a special Championship Weekend celebration against the Albuquerque Isotopes, Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Beginning on Thursday, April 5 at 7:05 p.m., the Chasers will celebrate Opening Night, two consecutive nights of fireworks, a ring ceremony, a banner raising and a weekend of giveaways.

Albuquerque will be back in town to celebrate America’s Independence, as the Isotopes return from Saturday, June 30 through Tuesday, July 3, with fireworks on July 2 plus the highly-anticipated 20-plus minute fireworks extravaganza wrapping up the homestand on July 3.

Round Rock, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and 2011 playoff opponent, will visit Werner Park twice in the opening two months of the season. They will visit from Monday, April 9 through Thursday, April 12 and again Thursday, June 7 through Sunday, June 10. The division rival Iowa Cubs will be in town from Tuesday, May 29 through Friday, June 1 and Thursday, July 12 through Sunday, July 15.

If Omaha is able to chase down its second-straight division title, the Storm Chasers would host Games 1 and 2 of the American Conference Championship Series September 5-6 and Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) of the Pacific Coast League Championship Series September 14-16.

This past weekend, the Royals clinched their season-long series against the White Sox 11-7. It was the first time since 2000 that the Royals completed this feat, but don’t expect it to be another 11 years before it happens again.

After the game on Sunday, Ozzie Guillen said “They’re (the Royals) going to be awesome. They’re not too far away.” And on Monday night, it was announced that Guillen was leaving the White Sox to coach the Miami Marlins in 2012.

There, White Sox fans. Now do you believe it? Your (former) manager just gave a bigger compliment to a division rival than he gave to your team all year long. Something’s got to be going right in Kansas City now, doesn’t it?

Over the weekend, I got to catch up with some friends who I haven’t seen in a while and (of course) talk about baseball. Most of them are fans of teams in the Midwest like the White Sox, Cubs, and Twins. Naturally, a few of them are fans of the Red Sox or Yankees. For the most part, they all see the Royals’ record and say, “Those are the Royals we’ve all come to know.” The Royals have been getting national hype from guys like Peter Gammons and Steven Berthiaume lately, but not many people are noticing besides fans in Kansas City. This is completely understandable, because I don’t follow any other team as closely as I do the Royals. I couldn’t tell you much about White Sox center fielder Alejandro De Aza or half of the Twins’ roster that they trot out on a nightly basis. What I do know is that the majority of the MLB is taking notice of the Royals. Especially everyone in the AL Central.

In his postgame press conference last night, Guillen went on to compliment the Royals. “I talked to Manny Acta and any manager in our division,’’ he said. “The first thing they talk about is how good [the Royals] are and how hard they hit the ball. You talk about the future, I think these are maybe the guys with the best future in our division,” he added. “You look at Detroit, they’ve got the big boys, but in the future, I think Kansas City is way in front of a lot of teams.”

For how much Ozzie hated losing to the Royals this year, I take these statements as a huge endorsement. Thanks, Ozzie. Looks like you picked the right time to get out of the AL Central.

The Minnesota Twins came to Kauffman Stadium this week and were quickly swept aside in less than 24 hours. Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar looked like the 1 to 2 punch the Royals needed them to be back in June. Back when the Royals were in a free fall. Not to cheapen the wins the Royals got this week. They were wins, 62 and 63 which ensures that the Royals will not lose 100 games this season. Woo freaking Hoo! I would have rather had these wins when the Royals were still in the division race. But that is not what was sad about this series. What was sad, was how terrible the Twins were playing.

You see, the Twins are my favorite division rival. I have this perception that out of all the cities in the division Minneapolis is most like Kansas City. They are the most like Kansas City in market size, and from the visiting Twins fans I’ve met at Kauffman Stadium their fan base is similar to us in personality. It seems the Royals and Twins always play close games even though the Royals have a hard time winning a season series against them.

I think my affinity for the Twins as a rival began in 2003 when the Royals were actually competing for the division title. During that time the company I worked for had an office in Minneapolis and the guys there were big Twins fans. It seems we had a wager on every series that year. I even have a favorite game that year: This one. The Royals scored 12 runs in the bottom of the 6th. If you look at the box score you’ll notice it was against good pitching.

In August of that year the Vikings had a pre-season game at Arrowhead the same weekend the Twins had a three game series. Kauffman was invaded from the north with Minneapolis sports fans. I made a sign that said “Circle this Bert” depicting the Royals ahead of the Twins in the standings. I ran all kinds of smack at them when they were there. At the end of the game we smiled and shook hands.

I like the way the Twins organization came to prominence by building from within. The way the Royals are trying to. I enjoyed the Royals beating the Twins this week. But that was not Twins baseball. The team I saw this week looked like a wounded critter looking for a place to die. I guess in a way it was. They’ve had a rough season and the players are probably looking forward to the season being over. I hope the Twins get better this off-season. Next year when the Royals are better, I want them to beat the Twins when the Twins are good too.

Cardinals Announce 2012 Home Schedule
Team opens home action against division rival Chicago Cubs, Friday, April 13

ST. LOUIS, Mo., September 14, 2011 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced their 2012 home regular season schedule today in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s league-wide release. The Cardinals will open their home slate Friday, April 13 vs. Chicago. It marks the latest home opener for the Cardinals since 1991 when the team’s first home game was on April 19 vs. Philadelphia. The Redbirds’ opening homestand features three games against division rival Chicago (April 13-15), followed by three vs. the Cincinnati Reds (April 17-19). The Cardinals play division opponents in each of their first four home series through May 3.

The club’s home interleague action features a three-team homestand that brings the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals to St. Louis (June 8-17). Following a 9-game road-trip, the club returns home for a 10-game homestand facing Pittsburgh for three, the Colorado Rockies for four games and Miami for three games (June 29-July 8) leading into the All-Star break. The other three team homestand falls in August (14-23) when the club is home for 16 of 19 games August 3-23.

St. Louis will host the Chicago Cubs two additional times besides the home opening weekend; hosting a two-game Monday-Tuesday series, May 14-15, and a three game weekend series in July (20-22). The Cardinals will host both Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for three, three-game series each. However division opponent Houston will visit St. Louis just twice next season, with their first visit not coming until August 21-23. Cincinnati is also at Busch Stadium on just two occasions next season. After hosting the Reds for three games during the opening homestand, the Cardinals don’t see the Reds at Busch Stadium until the final three games of the season (October 1-3). St. Louis will close the season at home with three games vs. the Washington Nationals (Sept. 28-30) followed by the final three vs. the Reds as the season once again ends on a Wednesday.

The Redbirds will host every National League East and West team one time during 2012, playing the National League East 16 times at home and the National League West teams 17 times. St. Louis will host 43 games at Busch Stadium before the All-Star break, and 38 after the break. The team has nine home dates in April, 15 in May, 11 in June, 15 in July, a season-high 16 in August and 15 September/October home games.

The Cardinals will make future announcements regarding game times, ticket pricing and availability for the 2012 season.

2012 St. Louis Cardinals Home Schedule
April		July
April 13-14, Friday-Sunday – Chicago Cubs April 17-19, Tuesday-Thursday – Cincinnati Reds April 27-29, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers		July 2-5, Monday-Thursday – Colorado Rockies July 6-8, Friday-Sunday – Miami Marlins July 20-22, Friday-Sunday – Chicago Cubs July 23-26, Monday-Thursday – Los Angeles Dodgers
May		August
May 1-3, Tuesday-Thursday – Pittsburgh Pirates May 11-13, Friday-Sunday – Atlanta Braves May 14-15, Monday-Tuesday – Chicago Cubs May 21-23, Monday-Wednesday – San Diego Padres May 24-27, Thursday-Sunday – Philadelphia Phillies		August 3-5, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers August 6-9, Monday-Thursday – San Francisco Giants August 14-16, Tuesday-Thursday – Arizona Diamondbacks August 17-19, Friday-Sunday – Pittsburgh Pirates August 21-23, Tuesday-Thursday – Houston Astros
June		September/October
June 8-10, Friday-Sunday – Cleveland Indians June 12-14, Tuesday-Thursday – Chicago White Sox June 15-17, Friday-Sunday – Kansas City Royals June 29-July 1, Friday-Sunday – Pittsburgh Pirates		Sept. 3-5, Monday-Wednesday – New York Mets Sept. 7-9, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers Sept. 18-20, Tuesday-Thursday – Houston Astros Sept. 28-30, Friday-Sunday, Washington Nationals October 1-3, Monday-Wednesday, Cincinnati Reds

When word broke a few days ago that reliever Arthur Rhodes was released by the Texas Rangers, Cardinal fans everywhere wondered if the team would take a flier on the pitcher that as recently as last year was pitching for division rival Cincinnati. While it appeared that John Mozeliak would let this veteran pass, the Cardinals watched as recently dominant Lance Lynn leave a ball game with an oblique strain that may put him on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2011 season.

That was all it took for the Cardinals management. Lynn would go down on a day that Allen Craig would be activated and the roster would shift to a heavier bench for the first time in quite a while. Fans and pundits would wonder if the Cardinals would replace Lynn and on Thursday night, they found out just how the team would do it.

Arthur Lee Rhodes, all 41 years old, six-foot two-inch, 220 pounds of left handed pitcher, is on his way to join the team for this weekend’s series with the Colorado Rockies. He fits the Tony LaRussa/Dave Duncan mold of a veteran pitcher that has played for multiple organizations looking to catch on with a contending ball club.

Rhodes was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 1988 draft. Three years later, he found his way onto the major league roster and would be used as a starter until 1994. By 1995 he was working primarily out of the bullpen and by 1997 his role on any pitching staff would be that of a relief pitcher. He would stay with Baltimore until the turn of the century, joining the Seattle Mariners in 2000. It was in Seattle that he would establish himself as a solid relief pitcher and someone that could be counted on for 66+ appearances a year. From Seattle in 2003, he would sign a contract to join the Oakland A’s. Oakland would trade him during the off-season the following year to Pittsburgh who would flip him to Cleveland before he ever wore a jersey for the Pirates. After a season in Cleveland, Rhodes would find himself traded to Philadelphia in January of 2006. A one year contract with the Mariners would not mean much as Rhodes spent all of 2007 injured before signing a new deal to return to the Mariners once again in 2008, just to see them trade him to the Florida Marlins before the season was over with. Two productive years in Cincinnati and half a season in Texas has led Rhodes to the Gateway City and the St. Louis Cardinals, his tenth franchise (including Pittsburgh) in his 20th season in Major League Baseball.

He is a left handed specialist and will allow Marc Rzepczynski to be used in various situations and not just in a typical lefty/lefty matchup. The team will need to make a corresponding move with both the 25-man, major league roster as well as the 40-man roster. That move is anticipated to be announced very close to game time on Friday.

Rhodes has struggled at times this year, evident by his release. However, he was used in standard relief and called upon to face hitters on both sides of the plate. It is projected in St. Louis he will not be asked to do that. We can see his performance in Texas this year by looking at the following table, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Should Rhodes continue to pitch well against left handed hitters, and nothing suggests he will not, he will be a welcome addition to the Cardinals’ bullpen. If he is used in situations where he will face right handed hitters, then we may see some frustration from fans when his number is called.

Cardinal fans can rest easy when it comes to Rhodes. After all, he does not write poetry.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.