Phungo 5 with Cards on Cards

Now I am falling way behind. The Phils series with the Cardinals is already over and I still have not posted the Phugno 5 from Cardinals fan, Kerry, from the great Northwest. Kerry from Cards on Cards demonstrates his versatility here by giving us some feedback on not just the Cardinals, but also the Portland Trialblazers and one of our favorte bands.

First off a hoop question is the Trail Blazers season a success or failure?

If you’re talking about the regular season, then I’d have to say it was a resounding success. I’ve never seen another professional franchise have to deal with so much adversity, more in terms of volume than just severity, that the 09-10 Blazers went through. After Greg Oden went down, I really did not expect the team to make the playoffs considering all of the talent available in the Western Conference right now. The move to pick up Marcus Camby proved to be a critical one in terms of solidifying their playoff position. However, if you look at the end result, the bottom line is that the Blazers did not improve as a playoff team and improvement is what you strive for.

2008 Topps Heritage #433 Adam Wainwright

Do the Cardinals have the best rotation in baseball?

Yes, absolutely. But we’re in Week 5 of the season right now. Adam Wainwright is among the select few elite pitchers in baseball, in company with Roy Halliday and Tim Lincecum. Chris Carpenter is simply amazing at 35. But when you look at the rest of the rotation, we’re getting the best case scenario from all three pitchers. Brad Penny has been the All-Star caliber pitcher he was in 2006-2007, albeit with a Dave Duncanized groundball rate (which means fewer strikeouts.) Kyle Lohse has looked, at times, like the healthy 2008 version of himself. And Jaime Garcia has lived up to his pre-Tommy John surgery top prospect billing. I think it would be quite a leap of faith to count on the latter three situations continuing for the rest of the season, but if one or two of them continue to play out that way I’ll be a very happy Cardinal fan.

Best Year of Topps Heritage for Cardinals Collectors?

I’m going to go ahead and say 2002 for purely aesthetic reasons. I think the most interesting Heritage Cardinals cards end up being short prints, so it’s hard for me to say whether that becomes a “best” situation or is just simply annoying. Also, I don’t have many 2002 Heritage cards, so feel free to send me some!

Last year you introduced us to Daryl Jones - He appears to be struggling this year after a pretty decent 2009. Any updates on his progress?

I suppose I’m admitting to being a bad fan if I reveal that I haven’t followed the minor league clubs at all so far this season. I guess you could blame it on the big club getting off to a huge start. When things aren’t going right, you naturally look to the minors to see what’s on the way. I suppose that it’s probably a bit disappointing that Jones is still in AA, but the AAA club does have two outfielders with big league experience on the roster and are loaded right now in the majors.

TMBG Question - What Album would you like to hear TMBG do a Concert of?

Ordinarily, I would say Apollo 18 without skipping a beat as it is one of my favorite albums of all-time. However, I know that they have done that one a few times on the east coast and I have actually been listening to the Then: The Earlier Years compilation lately. (I recently scored a used copy.) As far as I know, I’ve never heard of them performing Lincoln in its entirety, so I’d love to see that.

Phungo 5 Boxscore

Thanks to Cards on Cards and we have a 5 out of 5. I think Kerry is correct in his analysis of the Cardinals rotation. As with all aspects of the game, the assumption that whatever happens in April is automatically replicated during the rest of the season is certainly dubious. That being said and despite their recent power outage in Philadelphia, I believe the Cards are in the race for the long haul. The Phils and Cards have both been in the mix the last couple of years, but have yet to meet in the playoffs - I think it would make for an exciting series.

Looking Back

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 with Sports Locker click here.

Phungo 5 with Cards on Cards

The Phils are on the road for a couple of short series this week, the first of which features the Red Hot St Louis Cardinals. For Phungo 5 we are checking in with Cards on Cards. ConC is based out of Portland Oregon and also covers the upstart Portland Trail Blazers and was also good enough to send me a great lot of Phillies Minor League cards earliar this year. We cover a good bit of ground here including some Cards past and future and the quirky band "They May Be Giants"

1) St Louis is hosting the All-Star Game this year, Do you know of any interesting events the Cards are planning to give it a St Louis Flavor? Anything special you would like to see the Cardinals do? and Do you think they will bring back Mark McGwire for the weekend?

I’m not sure of all of the details, but I know that many former players have strong connections to the team still and they are often brought back for smaller events. I could see a huge group of former Cardinals on hand for the festivities. I know that Pujols is going to be at the center of a lot of what they’re doing. I don’t know about McGwire coming back. If he’s involved, I’m sure it will be very low-key. I find it interesting that you asked that because I was just reading a discussion the other day about how McGwire was a player who seemed to be a lot more popular with casual baseball fans around the country than he was with the St. Louis fanbase itself. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the guy as I’m sure many Cards fans do. I do know that he does seem to be a pretty nice guy, all things aside.

Phungo: This is interesting - I had not known that there was such a ambivalent reaction to McGwire in St Louis. Oddly this is just the opposite of the opinion on Barry Bonds, who is still fairly popular in San Francisco, and generally disliked outside of his home city. Perhaps because the Cardinals won a world Series without McGwire (and a more notable first baseman) St Louis fans have moved on.

2) I have Brett Wallace on my Fantasy squad - is he the real deal and just blocked? Are there any other Cardinal prospects that you woud consider their Autos a good investment.

Brett Wallace is a big-time hitter. I think he’ll find his way onto a team somewhere and at some position, too. I don’t think you’ll see him before September call-ups because the organization likes to work players in slowly, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t see any big league time at all this season even with Troy Glaus’s season a big question mark at this point. I’m sure it’s far too late in the prospecting game to get in on Colby Rasmus. Watch out for Daryl Jones, especially if Rick Ankiel doesn’t stick around.

3) Is there anything going on with the Portland Beavers that we need to know about?? I saw that Kyle Blanks swinging the bat in spring trainging looks like a real monster.

The Beavers seem to be in this sad state of being the split squad San Diego Padres these last couple of seasons. So many of their players seem to float up and down because the Padres have just been atrocious going back to the beginning of last season. I know they’re pretty big on Blanks. They had an even larger guy a few years back named Walter Young, but I would hope that Blanks will turn out more useful than he was.

4) From your profile, I see that you are a "They Might Be Giants" Fan. what song would you pick for their "request a cover" segment?

I think it would be fun to see them do a Queen song or just some really bombastic arena rock. Basically anything but Bohemian Rhapsody.

5) Favorite Molina?

There’s only one true answer to that. As a Phillies fan, I think you should be a Yadier Molina fan by proxy, with what he did to the Mets in the 2006 NLCS.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Yep - always good to work in a dig on the Mets - 5 out of 5 for Cards on Cards, Thanks for another batch of terrific answers. Good to hear the optimism on Brett Wallace, Queen was a great choice for TMBG I wonder what they would do with Bicycle Race?

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 Click here to find out whats going on with Sports Locker.

And we are looking forward to a future Phungo 5 with Waxaholic.