As Mr. Bacott alluded to this morning, the Rams really need to stay away from players named Claude. The 68th overall pick of the '06 draft, Claude Wroten, is suspended for the entire 2008 season. The announcement of the decision isn't too surprising to Rams fans, but I'm sure there is a wave of shock at Rams Park.
Last summer, I spent several posts voicing my disagreement with the coaching staff that Claude Wroten had turned the corner and improved, both on and off the field. Sure, I don't go to practices and have never been inside a Rams locker room, but it's commonplace for coaches to overstate and exaggerate the status of their players in the summer months.
Wroten proceeded to sit on the suspension sideline for the first four games of the season after sacking his girlfriend. SportsMag 1, Coaches/Media 0.
Prior to that four game suspension and preceding arrest, here were some of the glowing remarks about Wroten the person and player:
"Over the past year, Claude Wroten has shed his flabby waistline as well as the skepticism over his off-the-field indiscretions. When the 6-foot-2, 295-pound Wroten arrived at Rams Park this spring, he brought a newly chiseled frame. He also brought a spiffed-up reputation that includes an incident-free resume over the past year and a half. " - Bill Coats
"It's totally behind me. I'm continuing to try to prove myself and let everyone know it was a stupid mistake I made and just look for great things from here on out." - Claude Wroten
"He's a much more confident player. I think he's got a little chip on his shoulder. There's a little bit of talk about who potentially could be starting there in the first game, and he's not conceding that." - Scott Linehan
Now we come to July 2008. Wroten is gone for the year after a substance abuse violation, and isn't eligible for reinstatement until May 30, 2009. If the Rams decide to sever all ties with Wroten, he'll be third of three Rams players selected in the 3rd round of the '06 draft no longer on the team (Jon Alston and Dominique Byrd are the other two).
And so friends, when you hear Rams coaches gloating this summer about the sudden improvement of various young players and or underachievers, take it with a grain of salt - and hope they abstain from beating their girlfriends and abusing illegal substances.
Game Result: Brewers 3, Cards 0 Standings: 57-46, 3 games back of the Cubs, third in the NL Central.
It's not a fun time to be a Cardinals fan. With Ben Sheets going for the Brew Drew tonight, things aren't looking much better. Let's have some fun with pictures today, shall we?
The Skinny (minus Sabathia's waist line):
Sabathia threw a complete game shutout against the Birds last night, and it took them until the bottom on the 6th to record a hit. Um, yea. He's good. Real good. It's also hard to believe the guy just turned 28 on July 21st. Not really sure why. Maybe it's because he's so dominant, or maybe it's because he's so large.
Either way, he'll look good in pinstripes next year. They're slimming.
CC Sabathia must be loving the National League. Since coming over to the Senior Circuit, he's 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA — and three straight complete games. You know who else loves the National League? C&C Music Factory - because with every Sabathia dominanting performance comes free advertisement from some snappy headline writer.
Good News Regarding Ballpark Village
During the game, FSN announcer, Dan McLaughlin, conducted an informal interview with new Cardinals' president, Bill DeWitt Jr - also neglecting overseeing the Ballpark Village operation. DeWitt Jr. announced that the Cardinals have reached an agreement with the city of St. Louis to begin development as soon as next week.
Details regarding the "announcement" can be found here.
Personally, as a resident of the city of St. Louis, I've tired of these "announcements," and won't really begin paying attention until I see actual human beings and/or machines working inside the fenced-in area North of Busch Stadium. Coupled with the success of the All Star events in New York last week, the Cardinals brass should be thankful the lack of progress on Ballpark Village isn't getting more national attention.
Official Beavis and Butthead Analysis
Mr. JJ (James Jerry) Hardy went deep in the 5th inning to open the scoring against the Redbirds. He slugged .606 in June and is slugging .757 in July. Hardy.
Goal of the day: describe an oppositional player using only 80's pop pictures.
Corey. Hart.
Official SportsMag Game Rating:
It wasn't pretty, and it doesn't look to get much better tonight against Ben Sheets. For your no-crap stat of the day, the only Cardinal to hit Sheets particularly well over the course of his career is Albert Pujols (.394 AVG, 4HR, .652 SLG). The lone Cardinals highlight of the night was Yadier Molina throwing behind Rickie Weeks at first base for his 4th successful pick-off of the year. That's scrappy, and is good for at least one point on the scrappy meter.
However, we're taking away that scrappy point because Jason Isringhausen entered the game.
If last night's game taught me anything, it's that it is not any more fun to watch your team get dominated by a 300 lb pitcher in person than it is on TV. Scored some nice tickets, lower level behind the Brewers dugout and the most exciting part of the night was getting to hear the umpire scream obscenities at Ned Yost.
But hey, at least the peanuts were tasty.
Safe to say Milwaukee is pleased with the production of Mr. Sabathia at this point [Milwakuee Journal-Sentinel]
If nothing else, the injury to Colby Rasmus may put an end to the trade rumors [STL Today]
The Rams just need to stay away from players named Claude [ESPN]
Get your tickets people. Vashon and Mizzou grad Jimmy McKinney makes his big screen debut tonight [Columbia Tribune]
A message to all you kids out there who think you can't play sports because you wear glasses - there is hope [JoeSportsFan.com]
Who says its too early to start reviewing the Cardinals 2008 draft? [Future Redbirds]
So it looks like the fairy tale that is Ballpark Village is really going to happen [STL Cardinals]
As Mr. Bacott alluded to 
If last night's game taught me anything, it's that it is not any more fun to watch your team get dominated by a 300 lb pitcher in person than it is on TV. Scored some nice tickets, lower level behind the Brewers dugout and the most exciting part of the night was getting to hear the umpire scream obscenities at Ned Yost. 
