This team is hopeless. Dayton Moore has run it into the ground. The Glass family hasn’t been willing to spend to keep pace with the big-market clubs.

Ned Yost is a terrible in-game strategist. He mismanages his bullpen. “The Process” is just a myth. Our so-called “best farm system in baseball” means nothing at the big league level.

Something about our development of young pitchers is causing them to break down. Luke Hochevar is the new Kyle Davies. We should never have given Salvador Perez such a big contract at 21 years of age. Johnny Giavotella should have made the big league roster instead of Chris Getz.

I heard every one of these opinions expressed ad nauseum during the month of April. Particularly on talk radio, but also in the traditional newspapers and of course in the Internet blogosphere, Everyone piled on like a rugby scrum.

Now the team is the hottest in baseball, as of May 16, having knocked off the mighty Texas Rangers in back-to-back road contests.

I know this Royals team isn’t among the league’s best. But they are winning at that pace at the moment, and they’re steadily climbing back toward .500.

The negativity rubbed me wrong in April, and I couldn’t be happier that the Royals are vindicating themselves now.

Sure, the 12-game losing bender made me sick. But the rats fleeing the ship made me even sicker.

Think about it. Which team could have survived losing their ace reliever, centerfielder, catcher and a key starting pitcher (Felipe Paulino) at the start of a season?

Could the Rangers? They haven’t made a roster move yet. Take four key pieces from that team and see how good they would be.

Could the Yankees? They’ve limped along after the loss of Mariano Rivera.

I’m not trying to make excuses for the 12-game bender. But just as we’re probably not as good as our record in May would indicate, we probably weren’t as bad as we played in April.

I’m trying to not get too high over winning 12 of our last 18. But I don’t appreciate everyone who jumped off the bandwagon when we were 3-14. Maybe they didn’t belong on the bandwagon after all. Just stay off and leave room for the real fans.

This past week has seemed like the dog days of summer, even though that phrase is usually reserved for August. It’s usually stupid hot, and the Royals are usually losing at a good clip. Come August we’re tired of both, and ready write off the Royals until March while waiting for that first strong cold front in September.

Photo Courtesy of Minda Haas

This week in a lot of Royals Nation the temps have been near 100. Along with the heat was the humidity, and if you didn’t have humidity you had wind. Likewise, the Royals have dropped 16 of their last 26. Including being swept at home by the worst team in the league; the injury plagued Twins. For me it was my Annual “Ok I’m done with this.” Series

But then I remember: Like the 100 degree days I pine for while driving through snow, I remember that regardless of how bad the Royals are I spent the entire off-season looking forward to the season, not just the month of April. There will be a dark 4 month stretch in the winter where I’ll be looking for this stuff again. There is no sense in wishing either of them away

However, the end of this week brought some relief from the heat. It also brought some news we’ve been expecting since Spring Training. Mike Moustakas has been called up. This brings renewed energy into watching and paying attention to the Royals. “Moose & Hos” will now be in the same Major League line-up.

Mike Moustakas will make is MLB debut 50 miles from his home

The major dynamic Moustakas should add to the line-up is power. In the minors last year Moose had 36 HR in 118 games. I know it’s the minors, but even if there is a drop in production Moose should be a huge addition to the line-up. Especially when looking at previous decades power numbers. You know, what will go down as The Steroid Era? You have to go all the way back to Carlos Beltran in 2003 to find a Royals hitter with more than 25 home runs in a season. Miguel Olivo came close in 2009 with 23. Want to read something that will make you avert your eyes? Yuneski Betancourt lead the Royals in home runs last year with….16. This year the numbers are a little better, but still not good. Moustakas should help with that, and Hosmer has 5 HR in 32 games.

So the youth movement continues. The monotony of the season has been broken up. Hosmer, Moustakas, and the Law Firm of Coleman, Collins & Crow will provide enough bright spots to ignore the historically horrendous starting pitching. That’s a good thing, there are still 99 games left and no NFL waiting at the end.

Just how incredible was the Cardinals’ first month of the season? What if someone had told you during spring training that after losing staff ace, Adam Wainwright, to a season-ending elbow injury, the Cardinals wouldn’t get a single win from their other ace, Chris Carpenter, for the entire month of April? What if they told you perennial MVP candidate Albert Pujols would only hit .245? What if they said the bullpen would blow not one, not two, but six late inning leads, all resulting in losses.

I doubt you’d guess April ended with the Redbirds holding a 2-game cushion atop the NL Central standings.

I mean what haven’t the Cardinals dealt with in this young season? Cleanup hitter misses a week due to freak injury? Check. Matt Holliday missed 7 games thanks to an emergency appendectomy after opening day. Team-wide hitting slump? You bet. The Cardinals managed to score more than 3 runs in a game just once in their first 8 games of the season, the only exception being an 11-inning loss to the Giants when the team managed to scratch out four runs.

And yet here we are, talking about the Cardinals’ wildly successful first month of the 2011 baseball season. You can’t really call it anything else. Yes, there were missed opportunities (ahem, Ryan Franklin) but for this team to be alone in 1^st place without a single win from Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter is nothing short of amazing. So how’d they do it? Well, in late March, we broke down what it would take for the Cardinals to have a successful first month. So let’s take a look back at how they hit those benchmarks.

April Breakdown:

Total Games: 27 (16-11 record) (*note: one game played in March)

Home: 12 (6-6)

Road: 15 (10-5)

Vs. teams with winning records in 2010: 11 (6-5)

Vs. teams with losing records in 2010: 16 (10-6)

Vs. teams in the NL Central: 9 (5-4)

Key Series:

April 8-10 @ San Francisco –

What we said going in: Anytime you play the defending champions is a good measuring stick for your ball club, especially when you play in their home park. The Cardinals went 3-3 against the Giants last season, with each team winning 2 out of 3 at their own park. Stealing 2 of 3 in San Francisco early in the season would be a huge lift for this team.

The Result: The Cardinals could’ve easily swept this series. They had the lead with 1 out to go in the bottom of the 9^th in all three games. Unfortunately, Ryan Franklin couldn’t close the deal in either of his two chances, but the Cardinals were able to slug their way to a 6-1 win in the series finale. Moving forward, it’s hard not to like the Cardinals’ chances when these teams meet up at Busch.

April 22-24 vs Cincinnati –

What we said going in: You remember the Reds, don’t you? Brandon Phillips’ and his trash talking, and Johnny Cueto ending Jason Larue’s career in that nasty brawl in Cincinnati. Yeah, those Reds. The team that employs former Cardinals Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cairo, and Walt Jocketty. They’re managed by former Cubs manager, Dusty Baker. It’s the team that took the 2010 Central Division Title away from the Cardinals. And come late April, it’ll be time for some long overdue payback.

The Result: Take that, Cincy! Another series the Cardinals could’ve easily swept, but again the bullpen got in the way. Trevor Miller blew his first save of the season before Ryan Franklin came in and reopened the flood gates, allowing the decisive 2 runs to score in a 5-3 loss. The Reds, by the way, do not seem to be quite the team they were last year…and the Scott Rolen injury could be a killer for them.

Key To a Hot Start:

What we said: The Cardinals finished last season 86-76, good for 2^nd in the NL Central and 5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. A big reason St. Louis came up short in the standings last year was its lackluster play against teams with losing records, especially late last season. Dating back to late August, the team has a record of 7-18 against teams with losing records. So while it would be nice to steal 2 out of 3 from the Giants, Padres, Reds, and Braves, the teams needs to make sure and beat up on the Pirates, Diamondbacks, Nationals, and Astros.

The Result: The team passed the test: 10-6 vs. teams with losing records in 2010, 6-5 vs. three playoff teams from last season plus the 90-win Padres.

At the end of April:

What we said: If the Cardinals have 15+ wins, they’re performing beyond expectations. Even with a potentially “soft” early schedule, the team has 15 of its 27 games on the road. Without Adam Wainwright, 15 or more wins would have people talking up Tony La Russa as an early “Manager of the Year” candidate.

What we’re saying now: Manager of the year? Why not. Though Tony La Russa took a long, long time to switch closers, at least he finally cut the cord with his veteran closer and is allowing the team’s budding bullpen stars to shine.

Major Contributors:

Obviously when Albert Pujols’ bat goes south and the ace of your rotation fails to produce a win, a lot of other players had to step up. Insert Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman. They hit the ball like crazy this month. They’re 1^st and 3^rd respectively in the majors in batting average (.408 and .393), and they’re doing the heavy-lifting, too, combining for 11 HRs and 38 RBIs.

Kyle Lohse is off to an unbelievable start. Tied for the league lead in wins, the 4-1 right-hander has a stunning ERA of just 1.64 with 24 strikeouts and a 0.73 WHIP. Comeback player of the year, anyone?

Also stepping up big time is Kyle McClellan. Let’s face it, he’s the guy who’s technically supposed to be “replacing” Adam Wainwright in the rotation: no small burden. Yet all he’s done is win games. McClellan has a 3.23 ERA and 17 strikeouts to go with his flawless 4-0 record.

Then there’s the lights-out youngsters in the bullpen. I wrote about Eduardo Sanchez and Fernando Salas last week, so I won’t bore you with the repetition, but they along with Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte have the Cardinals boasting perhaps the most dominant young bullpen in the league. Of those 4, the “worst” ERA you’ll find is Boggs’ 1.98. In 43.2 innings, the four young guns have allowed fewer earned runs combined (8) than Ryan Franklin has himself (9) in just 8 innings of work.

And just to be sure I don’t slight anyone, a big shout-out to David Freese, Ryan Theriot, Jaime Garcia, Miguel Batista, and Yadier Molina. A lot of players have contributed to the team’s early success.

The Cardinals are simply defying the odds at the one-month mark of the season. Their 16-11 record would be 21-6 had the team been able to hold each of its 9^th inning leads. Imagine the damage they could do if Albert Pujols starts to turn it on offensively.

It’s a scary thought for the rest of the league.

For the first two and a half weeks of the season, the Royals seemed to have found the path towards becoming a successful ball club in the 2011 season. However, in the last week though, they seemed to have lost their way. Lack of offensive production and quality innings out of the starting rotation took the Royals from several games above .500 and a half game out of first down to below .500 and 4.5 games out of first place.

It is not all bad news from this past week; a few individuals are setting both personal and league records with their bats. Alex Gordon’s hitting streak ended at 19 games but saw his fellow teammate, Jeff Francoeur, keep his streak alive. This dynamic hitting duo has done something only one other pair of teammates has done since 1900 in the month of April. Both of them had streaks of more than fifteen games, and only Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez can claim to have also completed this feat (They did so in 2007). That is some good company to be in my friend.

Three every day players are hitting at .315 or above but unfortunately, you cannot send those three up to the plate every inning. The Royals have moved up to third in terms of team batting average going into Friday night’s contest but the poor pitching has left them near the bottom of the food chain (Soria did not have a save opportunity all week). The defense has continued to improve and only made one error during this horrendous road trip.

Another come from behind win late in the game on Friday night against the Twins and the Royals are back on the winning track. Despite the nearly week-long skid, the coaching staff does not want to make any drastic changes to the current roster at this time because they have already experienced more success than most anticipated this early in the season.

If the Royals continue to follow the method of winning baseball (solid pitching and defense combined with timely hitting), they will continue to turn heads in May just as they have in April. Will they be in contention come September? Nothing is for sure in this crazy game, but why not the Royals? The past few seasons the team that has won the division has finished just a handful of games above .500 and the Royals are a team that is capable of playing at that level.

However, in order to be a .500 or better team you have to win division games and series. You also have to be able to play on the road and the first significant road test of the year, the Royals failed. The good news is that the Royals will not be road tested until after Mother’s Day, but when they do go on the road, it will be against a perennial post-season team in the New York Yankees. However, they will have a chance to build some momentum at home against the Twins, Orioles and Athletics.

A solid start by both individuals and a young, enthusiastic ball club is just what Royals fans have been looking for.

If someone had told me a month ago that by the end of April Albert Pujols would be hitting in the mid-.200’s and had ground into more double plays than home runs, I would think the Cardinals probably would be struggling to find offense. If that same someone had also told me Chris Carpenter would have more losses than wins and Jake Westbrook would have a 7.40 ERA by now, I would think the Cards had major rotation issues.

I also would not think that despite the above numbers, the League Leaders would still be littered with Cardinals. And I also would not think the Cardinals would be in first place. But it’s true—all of it.

It may not be fair to label Matt Holliday an “other guy.” He is, after all, the highest paid player on the roster. He should have great numbers. But Holliday started off so slowly last year it’s almost comical to see that he’s hitting over .400 for the month of April. And maybe Jaime Garcia really is as good as his rookie campaign in 2010, so with that in mind his 3-0 start and 2.08 ERA could just be a continuation of the type of pitcher he really is.

But Kyle Lohse of all people has been the best pitcher on the team, and is one of the best in the league. He is 4-1 with a 1.68 ERA. He and Garcia both already have complete game shutouts this season. And Kyle McClellan has shown he really can be an effective starter after finally getting his shot: he is 4-0 with a 3.23 ERA. The Cards are the only NL team with two four game winners; one is a guy who missed the better part of the last two years to injury and the other is a converted reliever.

And what can be said about Lance Berkman that hasn’t already been said? He won player of the week once this season, and he could win it again this week. Berkman and Holliday are pacing the league in batting average, and Berkman is among the leaders in home runs, too.

David Freese is off to a hot start, too, joining Berkman and Holliday in the top 10 in the majors in batting average. Colby Rasmus is up over .300 as well. If these guys have a knock against them, it’s their strikeouts…they are the top two K-machines on the team. But they only barely crack the highest 50 whiffers in the majors. So it could be a lot worse. Remember the little tirade Tony LaRussa had earlier this month? It looks like he was right. The Cards lead the league in team hits, batting average, on-base percentage, and RBI and are top 10 in slugging, home runs, and fewest strikeouts. This team can hit, and they still are not seeing much out of Pujols.

Everyone knows about the bullpen troubles, but I believe that to be a temporary speed bump. Roles have completely changed and guys have been injured. Is it serious? Certainly. But it’s hard to get completely down on pitching with Dave Duncan in the dugout. The bullpen will get sorted out; it may not ever be stellar but it will be better than we’ve seen this month.

All in all, the Cardinals have been surprising this month. I remember talking to a friend at the beginning of the year—during their slow offensive start—and saying I wanted to see increments before I believed this could be a good team. I wanted to see a good game, then a good series of games, then a good week, then a good couple of weeks, etc. So far the Cards have produced all of the above and could finish with a good month. If these numbers keep rolling and others elevate their levels to their norms, there will be no denying the 2011 Cardinals are in fact a great team.

Over the weekend, the Cardinals realized they had a problem with the back end of their bullpen. The closer role needed a change and after four of five blown saves, that change is happening. In the midst of it all and lost in the shuffle, however, was the ailments haunting Skip Schumaker and Allen Craig.

Today, the Cardinals made the moves that no one was talking about Sunday. Outfielder-turned-second-baseman Skip Schumaker and outfielder Allen Craig will find their way to the disabled list and the roster spots will be filled by Mark Hamilton and Nick Punto.

Punto was a offseason acquisition to offset the loss of guys like Aaron Miles and Felipe Lopez. A utility infielder that plays three of the four infield spots, he is a defensive gem and an offensive liability. That being said, he is patient at the plate and sports a career on base percentage that is 74 points higher than his career batting average (.321/.247). Make no mistake, Punto is not here for his offensive production. Expect to see Punto late in games at short or second base, giving an added boost to the infield.

The surprising thing is that Punto is recovered and ready to be in St. Louis. Punto suffered a tear in his abdominal wall that required surgery that took place near the middle of spring training. He was expected to miss the entire month of April and at least part of May while on a rehab assignment to get back up to speed. With the current injuries, it seems the Cardinals feel the need to push forward a bit and activate the utility man a little early, giving St. Louis fans their first glimpse of him on this homestand.

Mark Hamilton is another story entirely though possibly equally surprising. Schumaker being supplemented by Punto makes some sense, Hamilton taking Craig’s spot does not. The twenty-six year old Hamilton has spent very little time in the outfield in his career and is a first baseman by trade. What he does replace very well, however, is Allen Craig’s bat. If there is one thing Hamilton has done well in the minors, it has been hit. A career .276 hitter over the course of six minor league seasons spent at all levels, he has hit 73 home runs and amassed 281 runs batted in. He produced a line of .298/20/62 over the course of 2010, including a short rehab assignment in Rookie Ball. Hamilton has shown a focus on patience so far this season with twelve walks to only seven strikeouts over thirty seven at bats. The left hander projects to primarily provide a bat off the bench for the Cardinals over the next few weeks.

Daniel Descalso projects to receive the bulk of the playing time in Schumaker’s absence. While he made his first major league start at second base this past weekend, it is in fact his natural position and it may be the opportunity for him to show the organization that he can perform at this level at that position. The common thought would be that Punto would pick up time at third when David Freese needed spelled and Descalso would be allowed to focus on second base until Schumaker is ready to return.

Many fans wondered why Adron Chambers and Nick Stavinoha were not called up ahead of Mark Hamilton. In my opinion (be it right or wrong), with the injuries sustained at Memphis over the weekend, outfield depth is a problem in the organization. Chambers is in fact on the forty man roster, but would benefit from consistent time at Memphis over spot starts in St. Louis. In addition, Jon Jay will continue to see playing time that he seems to be proving he deserves at this point. Satvinoha is a subject that is complex and challenging for the organization. He is not on the forty man roster, meaning that he would need to be added while another player would need to be exposed to waivers. While that challenge would be something the team could explore, when the time came for Schumaker or Craig to come off the disabled list, Stavinoha would have to be sent back down. Sending him down would not just require him to clear waivers, it would grant him free agency if he so desired. That may not be something the Cardinals are willing to risk with a player that has been working out at the catcher position this season and may be working towards becoming a reasonably priced back up to Yadier Molina in the near future.

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.
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