Random Baseball

1. The Cardinals have quite a bit of salary opening up after this season. Obviously, two of the four (Looper and Lohse) have been integral to our rotation this year so those are spots that have to be filled. And I don't know how they are getting $40M either. The four guys mentioned (Looper, Lohse, Izzy and Springer) make $21.25M from what I can tell in 10 minutes of Googling. Still, I like that Mozeliak is talking agressive this year. That wasn't the rhetoric I recall from last fall. Still, as Missourians are want to say, "Show me!"
   
2. Bye Ned! They're sliding, yes, but do you really do this with two weeks left in the season?
   
3. Commenter Danny at Zorn's site makes a great, if not original, point. If the home field advantage in the World Series was determined by the teams' records in the regular season, managers of playoff bound teams would have more strategic decisions to make. Instead we get the stupid "Winner of the All-Star Game" rule.
   
4. BTW, congrats to the Cubs on winning the NL Central. I was standing in the middle of Clark and Addison Saturday night (after taking a beer shower in the Cubby Bear). The fans celebrated clinching the division like they had won the World Series. I'm definitely leaving the car in the 'burbs if they make the World Series.