Welcome to the sixth annual United Cardinal Bloggers Progressive Game Blog.  While the Cardinals haven’t had the best of success in these games, odds are in their favor to snap some PGB streaks this afternoon.

If you’ve never read one of our Progressive Game Blogs before, you are in for a treat.  The PGB is a unique way to look at a game–you’ll not find anything like it elsewhere–and is always a lot of fun.  Nine blogs will each analyze a different inning, linking to each other in a seamless line.  When you are done, you’ll have read a number of points of view and seen the one game through many different eyes.

Before we dive into today’s matchup, let’s take a quick look at the last five Progressive Game Blogs.  As you’ll see, it’s a shame Kyle Lohse went yesterday for the Brewers instead of this afternoon.

May 3, 2008: Cubs 9, Cardinals 3. Kyle Lohse allowed eight runs in six innings. Yadier Molina was the offensive hero, going two for three with a home run.

May 23, 2009: Cardinals 5, Royals 0. Lohse again got the start and fared much better before being hit by a Ron Mahay pitch that significantly affected the rest of that season and 2010 as well. Yadier Molina again went two for three, but the only home run of the game came from Skip Schumaker.

May 29, 2010: Cubs 5, Cardinals 0. Same score as the prior year, different outcome. Adam Ottavino got the start for the Redbirds because (honestly) Lohse had been put on the disabled list earlier that week. Ottavino went into the sixth, but gave up four runs mainly due to six walks. Molina only went one for three this year, with Matt Holliday collecting two of the team’s four hits on the day.

May 7, 2011: Milwaukee 4, Cardinals 0. Three shutouts in four years, with St. Louis only on the positive side once. Yovani Gallardo carried a no-hitter into the eighth, completely handcuffing the Cardinal offense. Daniel Descalso was the only thing keeping St. Louis from the record books. Unsurprisingly, it was Lohse on the opposite side, allowing just one run over eight innings.

June 2, 2012: New York Mets 5, Cardinals 0. The Cardinals run their scoreless-inning streak in PGB games to 27 innings with another quiet offensive performance. The day after they were no-hit by Johan Santana, St. Louis managed only seven hits against R.A. Dickey, who pitched a complete game and struck out nine. Lance Lynn was the starter for the Redbirds, but he was unable to get through the fifth before departing, having thrown 105 pitches.

So the Cardinals are on a 27-inning scoreless streak in these PGB games and are a paltry 1-4 over the past five years.  Is there such a thing as the Progressive Game Blog jinx?

If so, it’ll get its strongest test today as Adam Wainwright takes the hill for the Cardinals.  Wainwright is 4-2 with a 2.03 ERA so far this season, only walking three batters in 44.1 innings, a span in which he’s struck out 43 batters.  Wainwright appears to be fully back to the Cy Young level that he was at before Tommy John surgery knocked him out for the 2011 season.

Wainwright also has had a lot of success against these Brewers batters.  He’s 9-6 with a 1.93 ERA in his career against Milwaukee and has a respectable 2.57 career ERA in Miller Park, a stronger offensive environment than Busch Stadium.  Those numbers help explain this table as well.

Nobody has had much success against the Cardinal ace, as Waino has shut down the big guns of Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks.  (Aramis Ramirez doesn’t show up on the table because, as of this writing, his activation from the disabled list hadn’t hit Baseball-Reference’s web site yet.)

Taking the hill for the home team will be Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo has been the Brewers’ ace in the past and is still in that conversation.  You’ll note that the last time the Brewers were the featured PGB game, Gallardo almost no-hit the Redbirds.

That game, and a few like it, belie the fact that Gallardo has struggled overall against the St. Louis nine.  That almost no-hitter was the only decision Gallardo has won against the Cards out of the 11 he’s garnered and he has a career 6.84 ERA against them.  Last year he gave up 16 earned runs in the three games he started against St. Louis and has already struggled with them this year, giving up five runs in 5.1 innings back on April 13.  Wainwright opposed him that day as well and just threw a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts.

So who beats up on Gallardo the most?

It’s pretty spread out.  Matt Holliday has three home runs, David Freese and Carlos Beltran are hitting .400, Matt Carpenter is hitting higher than that (in fewer plate appearances).  It’s not like Gallardo can avoid just one player.

The Cards have already taken the first two in the series, surviving some bullpen hijinx in the first one and riding some rookie arms in the second.  A win today gives them the series and keeps them in first place in the National League Central.

While the Cardinal lineup is fairly imposing, the UCB one is just about as strong today.  Running from one to nine, this group is going to give you some unique looks at this game.  We’ve already had a late scratch to the lineup–Saint Louis Sports had another obligation–but we’ve tapped the deep bench of the group to make a more than adequate replacement in the sixth inning.

Here are the blogs that are participating this year.  A * next to the link indicates their post is up and linked.  Enjoy the game everybody!

First inning: Aaron Miles’ Fastball*
Second inning: Stl Cards ‘N Stuff*
Third inning: Pitchers Hit Eighth*
Fourth inning: I70 Baseball*
Fifth inning: On The Outside Corner*
Sixth inning: Keene On MLB*
Seventh inning: Fungoes*
Eighth inning: ManFridge Baseball*
Ninth inning: Cards Tied For First*
Extras/Postgame: C70 At The Bat*

Every year at this time, the UCB puts their predicting hats on or digs out their crystal balls to try to determine what is going to happen in the baseball season to come.  We also do this with the implicit understanding that we will not go back later and see just how terribly wrong we were (though we reserve the right to crow about any right ones).

As always, most of us will be taking a week to do these.  Some will do all of theirs at once, but for the rest of us, we’ll be posting on the schedule below.  Follow the links to see what everyone is predicting.  Just, please, don’t take notes for later mocking.

Links will go up as posts do, so continue to check back and see who is making what stabs in the dark.

All At Once
Balls & Strikes
Redbird Rants

American League (scheduled for Monday, March 25)
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
Born Bleeding
C70 At The Bat
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
CardinalsFarm
CardinalsGM
Cards ‘N Stuff
Fungoes
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Phat Bunneh Baseball
RetroSimba
StL Sports Minute
Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball

Entire National League
Born Bleeding
RetroSimba

National League East (Tuesday, March 26)
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
C70 At The Bat
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
CardinalsFarm
CardinalsGM
Cards ‘N Stuff
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Phat Bunneh Baseball
Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball

National League Central (Wednesday, March 27)
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
C70 At The Bat
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
CardinalsGM
Cards ‘N Stuff
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Phat Bunneh Baseball

National League West (Thursday, March 28)
C70 At The Bat
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
Cards ‘N Stuff
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Phat Bunneh Baseball
StL Sports Minute

Postseason and Awards (Friday, March 29)
Born Bleeding
C70 At The Bat
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
Cards ‘N Stuff
St. Louis Perfectos

As is our tradition here at the United Cardinal Bloggers, we are again spending February with a email roundtable.  The general format is that a blogger emails the group a question, the group kicks it around for a day, and then the blogger posts a transcript on their site the next day.

In the past, it’s been an all-play situation, where everyone that wants to participate gets a day to ask a question.  This year, we’ve limited it to three weeks and so there are some blogs that will be answering questions without posing any.  Those blogs are listed at the bottom of our schedule.

Please note that the date on the schedule is the date the blogger is supposed to post their transcript.  Links will be updated to take you directly to those posts when they go up and will be * when they are.

PART 2012. PART 2013. ALL CARDINALS.

THE 2013 UNITED CARDINAL BLOGGERS ANNUAL: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Compiled and Edited by Christine Coleman (Aaron Miles’ Fastball) and Daniel Shoptaw (C70 At The Bat)

Foreword by Will Leitch

The 2012 St. Louis Cardinals was a team that was hard to figure. Playing without their Hall-of-Fame manager and longtime first baseman, expectations for the squad were mixed. However, Mike Matheny led his charges into October and then, via a playoff road never before traveled, within one game of repeating as National League Champions.

Throughout the year, the team was covered by the intrepid band of Internet writers known as the United Cardinal Bloggers and, with that season in the books and a new one about to begin, the UCB has put together a look at what happened during the season from their unique points of view.

With a foreword by Will Leitch, founder of Deadspin and now a columnist at Sports On Earth and New York Magazine, The 2013 United Cardinal Bloggers Annual recaps not only the regular season but every round of the playoffs as well as providing features on such players such as Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright.

Along with the player profiles, there are other examinations of the season including the work of the bullpen and Matheny’s bunting habits as well as a summary of the minor league season for each level of the Cardinals’ farm system. The annual also includes a tribute to St. Louis icon Stan Musial.

Contributors include Drew Silva, known for his work at NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk blog; Matt Philip from Fungoes, a part of ESPN’s Sweetspot blog network; Bill Ivie from I70 Baseball, which covers both of Missouri’s professional baseball teams; and a host of other Redbird writers.

The 2013 United Cardinal Bloggers Annual brings you work from 18 Cardinal bloggers and also includes a capsule for every player who wore the Birds on the Bat in 2012 with their projected role for the next season, as well as an overall look ahead at the 2013 season. No stone is left unturned by this group of writers!

The 2013 United Cardinal Bloggers Annual is available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store for $4.99. The book can be read on any of the devices in the Kindle family as well as by downloading Amazon’s free reading apps for your computer, tablet or smartphone.

About the Authors

The United Cardinal Bloggers was founded in 2007 as a way to foster communication and collaboration among the many Cardinal blogs. Members participate in various blogging projects throughout the year as well as interact via Twitter and email. The UCB also produces UCB Radio Hour, a one-hour weekly look at the Cardinals on Blog Talk Radio, maintains a website at www.unitedcardinalbloggers.com and can be found on Twitter at @utdcardbloggers.

Christine Coleman is the senior writer at Aaron Miles’ Fastball, part of the Aerys Sports blog network. While Christine started life as a Cub fan, she eventually saw the light and now is fully immersed in Cardinal Nation. She can be found on Twitter at @ccoleman802.

Daniel Shoptaw is the author of C70 At The Bat, part of the Blogs By Fans blog network. Daniel is also the founder and leader of the United Cardinal Bloggers as well as the founder and past president of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. He can be found on Twitter at @C70.

Cardinal Nation is in mourning as longtime icon Stan Musial has passed away at the age of 92.  Capturing what Stan The Man meant to the city and the fanbase is nigh on impossible, but so many of the UCB did their best in the following posts.  Continue to check back as we add other links.

Aaron Miles’ Fastball 1
Aaron Miles’ Fastball 2
Aaron Miles’ Fastball 3
Balls & Strikes
Bird Brained 1
Bird Brained 2
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
Born Bleeding
C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Cardinals Fan In Cubs Land
Cards ‘N Stuff
Cards Tied For First
Cheap Seats Please
I70 Baseball
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbird Rants 1
Redbird Rants 2
Redbird Rants 3
Redbirds Nest in Korea
RetroSimba
Stan Musial’s Stance
StanGraphs
View From The Cheap Seats 1
View From The Cheap Seats 2
Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball 1
Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball 2

As 2012 was in its waning hours, it inspired a look back at the year that was.  As we do every year at this time, the United Cardinal Bloggers are listing out their top 5 stories of the year.  Click through and read what those that participate think were the most important things of the Cardinal year!

C70 At The Bat
Fungoes
Redbird Rants (Daniel)
Redbird Rants (Marilyn)
RetroSimba
StanGraphs
Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball

Every year, the members of the UCB vote on various postseason awards, usually split between what happened in baseball and what happened in blogging.  Below are this year’s ballots–the awards will be announced next week.  Continue to check back as more links are added!

85% Sports
Aaron Miles’ Fastball (Christine, Tara, Miranda put their three ballots into one post)
Birds On The Bat 82
C70 At The Bat
Cards Disapora
Cards ‘N Stuff
Cards Tied For First
Fungoes
I70 Baseball
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
On The Outside Corner
Pitchers Hit Eighth (Dennis)
Redbird Rants
Redbirds Nest in Korea
RetroSimba

With the season finally over (though not exactly the way we were hoping) it’s time to sit down and do a post-mortem.  The best way to do that is, of course, the famous UCB roundtable.  Here’s the schedule–the day listed is the day the blogger should be posting their transcript. (The blogger will actually propose the question the day before.)  If there’s a link below, it goes to that transcript so you can read all the wonderful and brilliant ideas we’ve had!

Tuesday, October 30: Kevin, Cards ‘N Stuff 
Wednesday, October 31: Christine, Tara, Miranda, Aaron Miles’ Fastball
Thursday, November 1: Rodney, Ryan, Saint Louis Sports
Friday, November 2:  Pip, Fungoes

Monday, November 5: Bill, I70 Baseball
Tuesday, November 6: Daniel, Redbird Rants
Wednesday, November 7: Mark, RetroSimba
Thursday, November 8: Mary, MLB Voice
Friday, November 9: Chris, Bird Brained

Monday, November 12: Spencer, Brian, StanGraphs
Tuesday, November 13: Bob, On The Outside Corner
Wednesday, November 14: Dustin, Welcome To Baseball Heaven
Thursday, November 15: Wes, Keene On MLB
Friday, November 16: Dathan, Cards Tied For First

Monday, November 19: Chris, Birds On The Bat 82
Tuesday, November 20: Dennis, Pitchers Hit Eighth
Wednesday, November 21: Diane, Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball

Monday, November 26: Corey, Bleacher Report
Tuesday, November 27: Matt, Cheap Seats Fan
Wednesday, November 28: Nick, Pitchers Hit Eighth
Thursday, November 29: Tom, CardinalsGM
Friday, November 30: Daniel, C70 At The Bat

The Cardinals are in the midst of another magical playoff run and there’s a great new way to participate in it.  The United Cardinal Bloggers are glad to partner with the iPhone and Android app Bonfyre to add to the October experience.

Even if this wasn’t brought to us by one of our former members, we’d still be quite excited about this app.  Bonfyre takes your online experience and bumps it up a notch.  It’s like a dedicated Twitter feed, without the limitation of 140 characters and with the extra benefit of having it as a long-lasting thread.  You can look through this throughout the whole run through the playoffs.

It’s like having a ton of Cardinal fans hanging out with you, focused completely on the game and what’s going on either on the screen or talking about the game before and after.  There’s nothing better than talking about a great play or some run-scoring double with the red-clad faithful, is there?

So how do you join up?  Easy enough.  You can follow this link to sign up for the bonfyre, then download the app and you’ll be good to go.

Besides the obvious fun you can have, there are some prizes involved as well for those that participate.  You’ve got a chance to win playoff tickets or an Allen Craig signed baseball.

This is not just for October, either.  The Bonfyre crew has a partnership with the Rams and is hopeful to have one with the Cards either for the playoff run or for 2013.  So join up now and enjoy some great Cardinal interaction both this month and next year!

Every September, the members of the UCB take their cracks at who the top seven prospects are in the Cardinal minor league system.  Different methodologies are used and there are different levels of familiarity with the minor leagues among the membership, but it still allows for some interesting opinions.

Follow the links to see everyone’s selections, check back regularly through the day for updates, and be sure to see the combined totals at the bottom!

Aaron Miles’ Fastball
C70 At The Bat
CardinalsGM
Keene On MLB
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbirds Nest In Korea
RetroSimba
Saint Louis Sports
StanGraphs