While the October/November/December roundtable is still going on, another project also gets a little play.  Every November, the UCB votes on certain awards, both on the field and in the blogging arena.  This is the fifth straight year that the awards have been handed out, and this year there is a twist.

We’ve added a fan voting portion to the awards, so you the reader or Twitter follower can also get a say in the action.  The fan blogs will be compiled into one vote to go into the mix with all the other blog ballots.  You can vote for your selections on this form here.

If you want to read how the UCB members are voting, follow the links below.  As always, continue to check back as more ballots are added.

Aaron Miles’ Fastball
Birds On The Bat 82
C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Cards ‘N Stuff
Cards Tied For First
Craving Cardinals
Fungoes
I70 Baseball
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
On The Outside Corner
Pitchers Hit Eighth (Dennis)
Pitchers Hit Eighth (Josh)
Pitchers Hit Eighth (Nick)
Redbird Rants
Redbirds Fun
RetroSimba
STL: Fear The Red

While the Cardinals continued their push to the World Series title (and you can read all our thoughts on that here), they also pushed our traditional roundtable back down the calendar a week at a time.  Now that the season is triumphantly over, it’s time to get down to it.

How the roundtable works is the blogger of the day poses a question to the rest of the group via email.  We spend the day batting it around, and the next day the blogger posts the transcript of our talk on their blog while the next person in line throws out another question.

You know that you are going to want to read them all.  As transcripts are posted, the links below will change to a direct jump to the answers and a * will be placed next to the blog name.  The days on the schedule are the days when they should be posted on the listed blog.  Lots of good baseball talk coming to heat up the winter!

Tuesday, November 1–I70 Baseball*
Wednesday, November 2–RetroSimba*
Thursday, November 3–Aaron Miles’ Fastball*
Friday, November 4–Welcome To Baseball Heaven*

Monday, November 7–On The Outside Corner*
Tuesday, November 8–Pitchers Hit Eighth*
Wednesday, November 9–MLB Voice (rescheduled)
Thursday, November 10–El Maquino*
Friday, November 11–Gas House Graphs

Monday, November 14–Cards Tied For First*
Tuesday, November 15–Cards Diaspora*
Wednesday, November 16–Cardinal Diamond Diaries*
Thursday, November 17–Cards ‘N Stuff*

Tuesday, November 22–Birds On The Bat 82*
Wednesday, November 23–Fungoes*

Tuesday, November 29–View From The Cheap Seats
Wednesday, November 30–Rob Says Really?
Thursday, December 1–Redbird Rants
Friday, December 2–STL Cardinal Baseball*

Monday, December 5–The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Tuesday, December 6–CardinalsGM
Wednesday, December 7–Intangiball
Thursday, December 8–MLB Voice
Friday, December 9–Cardinal Diamond Diaries*

Monday, December 12–The Redbird Menace*
Tuesday, December 13–Redbird Dugout*
Wednesday, December 14–STL: Fear The Red*
Thursday, December 15–Bird Brained
Friday, December 16–Redbirds Fun*

Monday, December 19–Cardinal Diamond Diaries*
Tuesday, December 20–C70 At The Bat*

Good afternoon and welcome to the fourth annual Progressive Game Blog, hosted by the United Cardinal Bloggers.  We have an excellent lineup of blogs for you today to get you through today’s matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Progressive Game Blog is (as far as we know) a UCB exclusive, in which one game can be seen through many different sets of eyes.  Each blog will take an inning (or half-inning, in two cases) and fill you in on what happened in their own unique way.

Let’s set the lineup for today’s action before setting the scene for the game.  As posts are made, these links will be edited to take you to the specific post rather than the blog in general, so continue to check back throughout the day.

First inning*:  I70 Baseball
Second inning*:  Aaron Miles’ Fastball
Third inning*:  The Redbird Menace
Fourth inning*: Fungoes
Fifth inning*:  STL: Fear The Red
Sixth inning*:  El Maquino
Seventh inning*: Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Top of the eighth inning*:  Cards ‘N Stuff
Bottom of the eighth inning*: Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Goodnight
Ninth inning*: Pitchers Hit Eighth
Extra Innings/Postgame*: C70 At The Bat

(*–Inning posted)

Milwaukee comes into this game riding a seven game losing streak and is tied with Houston for last in the NL Central, five and a half games behind division-leading St. Louis.  The Brewers narrowly avoided history last night, breaking up Jaime Garcia’s perfect game with one out in the seventh inning.  The Brewers managed only one other hit and lost 6-0.

Offense was supposed to be Milwaukee’s calling card this year.  The rotation had been upgraded, sure, but a team with Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee should be able to back whatever pitching they had with some strong outings.  Milwaukee is fifth in home runs in the National League with 32 (two behind St. Louis), but their team OPS is .707, ranking eighth in the league.  The offense has also gone south during this losing streak, as they are only hitting .157 over that span.

Taking the hill today for the visitors will be their ace from last year, Yovani Gallardo.  Many thought that he lost that status when the Brewers traded for Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, but that he would be a very dangerous number three starter.  However, this season has been a disaster so far for him.

Gallardo comes into this game with a 6.10 ERA in seven games, a mark all the more notable since he has one complete game shutout on his record as well.  In his last two starts, he’s allowed 11 earned runs in just 10 innings and his ERA in the last four is 9.28.  Whatever the problem with his stuff is, it has been an extended one.  According to the Brewer blog Bernie’s Crew, it appears that Gallardo is out of rhythm when he pitches and having trouble getting it back.

The Cardinals might not be the team he does it against, though.  Here is what he’s done against the current Birds on the Bat:

As you can see, a number of the Cardinals have had a lot of success against Gallardo in the past, a surprise given his ace-like status the past couple of years.  Also, one of the people that has struggled with him, Matt Holliday, is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, so it will be interesting to see which wins out during today’s contest.

The Cardinals, on the other hand, have shaken off the weak 2-6 start to the season to take the top slot in the division.  While the team is not without its question marks, most notably in the bullpen, they are 6-0-1 in their last seven series and looking to take yet another one this afternoon.

As noted above, Jaime Garcia flirted with perfection last night, settling for his second shutout of the season.  (Interestingly, Garcia now has more shutouts–three–than Adam Wainwright–two.)  The Cardinals have a +46 run differential, which is the highest in the National League, and a good portion of that is due to the remarkable pitching that St. Louis has received, most notably from the back end of their rotation.  The pitcher that most exemplifies that surprising success takes the mound today for the Redbirds.

It’s fitting that Kyle Lohse is on the mound for today’s Progressive Game Blog.  The first game blog took place on May 3, 2008.  Lohse was on the mound that day and had one of his worst outings of the season, allowing eight runs in six innings in a game against the Chicago Cubs.  Lohse only had a couple of other games that season approach that level of carnage and finished the year 15-6 with a 3.78 ERA, good enough for the Cardinals to sign him to a four-year contract on the last day of the season.

The results were completely different on May 23, 2009.  Lohse again took the mound, this time against the Kansas City Royals, and spun scoreless ball through eight innings as the UCB recorded it.  It seemed just a regular game, getting Lohse back on the track he was on with a superb April before slipping a bit at the beginning of May.

However, a fastball in the eighth inning from Ron Mahay struck Lohse on the forearm.  Seemingly innocuous, that pitch turned out to have major impacts not only on the rest of 2009 but most of 2010 as well.  Lohse missed most of the next six weeks and when he returned to pitching, he wasn’t at all the same player Cardinal Nation had seen wearing the St. Louis uniform.

Lohse continued to try to pitch through the injuries, but after his May 22, 2010 start, he landed on the disabled list.  Had he not, he would have pitched on May 29, 2010, the third of the game blogs.  Instead, Adam Ottavino made his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs.  Ottavino struggled with his command and didn’t make it through the sixth inning.

That brings us to today.  Lohse had the surgery on the forearm last season and has been a different pitcher in 2011, one that resembles the Lohse that was signed to that long-term deal.  He finished April with a 1.64 ERA before hitting a speed bump last time out against the Florida Marlins, allowing five runs, including a Gaby Sanchez grand slam, in six innings.

Lohse has had his struggles with this Brewers lineup as well in the past.

This stats should be looked at with the caveat that a number of them have been piled up in the last couple of years, when Lohse was not at 100%.  That said, there are some high averages there, though it does look like Lohse has been pretty good about keeping them in the park.

Today’s game starts at 3:05 PM Central with Dan and Al on the Fox Sports Midwest telecast.  It should be an exciting game and you’ll have some great guides through the way today.  Bill Ivie and the crew at I70 Baseball will get you started here soon.  Enjoy the afternoon, everyone!

One of the staples of the United Cardinal Bloggers is our roundtable project.  Twice a year, in February and October, we have a routine.  A blogger will send out a question to the group, everyone will respond to it (and to the other responses) and the next day, the blogger posts the transcript of the discussion up at his/her blog.

It’s February, so it’s time for it again!  Below is the schedule, with the days that you can expect to see the transcript appear.  Once they do so, you’ll be able to find the link here, so you may want to bookmark this post for easy reference.  A month full of talking Cardinal baseball–what could be better?

Tuesday, February 8: CardinalsGM
Wednesday, February 9: I70 Baseball
Thursday, February 10: RetroSimba
Friday, February 11: Aaron Miles’ Fastball

Monday, February 14: Stan Musial’s Stance
Tuesday, February 15: El Maquino
Wednesday, February 16: Redbird Report
Thursday, February 17: Cards Diaspora
Friday, February 18: Gas House Graphs

Monday, February 21: Fungoes
Tuesday, February 22: Pitchers Hit Eighth
Wednesday, February 23: The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Thursday, February 24: The Outfield Ivy
Friday, February 25: Bleed Cardinal Red With Me

Monday, February 28: Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Tuesday, March 1: Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Goodnight
Wednesday, March 2: Welcome To Baseball Heaven
Thursday, March 3: On The Outside Corner
Friday, March 4: Bird Brained

Monday, March 7: C70 At The Bat

This month’s project comes from the mind of Tom at CardinalsGM.  He suggested that we jot down five headlines that we expect to happen during the coming year.  Not necessarily what we want to happen, but what we think will happen.

The posts are scheduled for Friday, January 28, but some have come early.  Be sure to check back as more links are added.

4thebirds….
85% Sports
Aaron Miles’ Fastball
Bird Brained
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
CardinalsGM
El Maquino
Fungoes
Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Goodnight
I70 Baseball
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Pitchers Hit Eighth
RetroSimba
Redbird Dugout
Throatwarbler’s Blog
View From The Cheap Seats
Welcome To Baseball Heaven

As is our tradition in the United Cardinal Bloggers, we take the end of the year to look back at what were the biggest stories of the past twelve months.  Not everyone agrees on the order or the makeup, which makes for fun reading.  Click below on the different posts and get our members’ take on 2010!

C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
The Cardinal Virtue
CardinalsGM
Fungoes
I’m Just A Fan, What Do I Know?
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
RetroSimba
Throatwarbler’s Blog
Welcome To Baseball Heaven

After the 2010 season, the United Cardinal Bloggers got together and worked on their first real collaborative document.  Ten of the different members have put together this look back at 2010 from a myriad of different angles.

Probably the best way to interest you in this is just to list off who participated:

Josh Gilliam, Pitchers Hit Eighth
Justin Husley, i70 Baseball
Bill Ivie, i70 Baseball
Tom Knuppel, CardinalsGM
Erika Lynn, Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Tim McCullough, Future Redbirds
Matt “Pip” Philip, Fungoes
Daniel Shoptaw, C70 At The Bat
Steve Sommer, Play A Hard 9
Angela Weinhold, Cardinal Diamond Diaries

As you can see, that’s a load of Cardinal goodness right there.  Along with these articles, we have player capsules, with stats of what they did last year and their projected roles for 2011.

So click on the link below and either save it for reading later or get cozy and read through all 46 pages at one shot.  Either way, you’ll enjoy!

The Year In Cardinal Baseball

As is the custom of the United Cardinal Bloggers, after the season is over, we engage in an electronic roundtable.  Going by the schedule, one blogger e-mails out a question to the participants, which triggers a day of discussions and responses.  The next day, that blogger posts the transcript of our talks on their blog, while the next blogger in line starts the project all over again.

Below is the schedule for this year’s postseason roundtable.  The dates listed are the days when the transcript should be posted on the blog site.  After they are posted, they will be linked up here as well.  So sit back and enjoy your tour around the Cardinal blogosphere as we talk about 2010, 2011 and all things Cardinal.

Wednesday, October 6: CardinalsGM
Thursday, October 7: Intangiball
Friday, October 8: Redbird Report

Monday, October 11: Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Tuesday, October 12: i70baseball
Wednesday, October 13: Bird Brained
Thursday, October 14: RetroSimba
Friday, October 15: Welcome To Baseball Heaven

Monday, October 18: Pitchers Hit Eighth (skipped–made up at end)
Tuesday, October 19:  Play A Hard Nine (Erik)
Wednesday, October 20: Reading Redbirds
Thursday, October 21: The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Friday, October 22:  85% Sports

Monday, October 25: Stan Musial’s Stance
Tuesday, October 26:  Redbird Rants
Wednesday, October 27:  Fungoes
Thursday, October 28:  Play A Hard Nine (Steve)
Friday, October 29: Busch Birds

Monday, November 1: Pitchers Hit Eighth (Dennis)
Tuesday, November 2: Pitchers Hit Eighth (Nick)
Wednesday, November 3: C70 At The Bat

For the third straight year, the United Cardinal Bloggers have taken on the difficult and subjective task of ranking the top 7 minor league prospects in the Cardinal farm system.  Take a look around the UCB and find out about the future of the St. Louis nine!

85% Sports
C70 At The Bat
CardinalsGM
Fungoes
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Play A Hard Nine (Steve)
Play A Hard Nine (Erik)
Reading Redbirds
RetroSimba
Redbird Rants
Rising Redbirds

On Friday, July 2, Fox Sports Midwest is honoring those that serve in the military with a game presentation entitled “This One’s For You.”  Troops will watch the game on American Forces Network, and members of the Missouri National Guard will be interviewed via satellite during the game.  You can see some of the players sending out their greetings and thoughts to the troops in these video clips.

We here at the United Cardinal Bloggers wanted to join with FSMW to honor our military, both retired and active, especially with the Independence Day holiday also this weekend.  So the membership has been encouraged to write posts on their blogs dealing with their thoughts or memories about those that serve our country.

As the blogs are posted, this post will be updated with links to those posts.  Please check back often and read our tributes to the men and women who sacrifice so much so we can have so much.

Blog Tributes

Baseball Digest
Busch Birds
C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Cardinals Front Office
CardinalsGM
Fungoes
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Stan Musial’s Stance