The St. Louis Cardinals, left for dead many times during the regular season and the postseason, have won their eleventh World Championship.  See how the members of the UCB are celebrating this amazing accomplishment!

Aaron Miles Fastball (One and Two)
Birds On The Bat 82
Bleed Cardinal Red With Me
C70 At The Bat
Cardinal Diamond Diaries
The Cardinal Virtue
Cards ‘N Stuff
El Maquino
I70 Baseball (One and Two)
The McBrayer-Baseball Blog
On The Outside Corner
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbird Dugout
The Redbird Menace
Redbird Rants
Redbirds Fun
RetroSimba
Stan Musial’s Stance
STL Cardinal Baseball
STL: Fear The Red

August is the last “freestyle” month of the year for the United Cardinal Bloggers.  September through December, there are regular projects that are done every year, but the August project tends to vary.  This year, we thought it’d be a good idea to get together and find out a little more about each other.  Bloggers were paired off and they exchanged Q&A.

To find out about this diverse group, follow the links below.  Due to the Cardinals scheduling Social Media Night the day before this was due, some postings have been delayed, so check back and continue to read!

Nick, Pitchers Hit Eighth and Rob, Rob Says Really?
Pip, Fungoes and Angela, Cardinal Diamond Diaries
Aaron, El Maquino and Jon, Redbird Dugout
John, STL: Fear The Red and Tara, Aaron Miles’ Fastball
Daniel, C70 At The Bat and Marilyn, Redbird Rants
Dathan, Good Morning Good Afternoon Goodnight and Bob, On The Outside Corner
Cole, Redbird Report and Mike, Stan Musial’s Stance
Bill, I70 Baseball and Dustin, Welcome To Baseball Heaven
Christine, Aaron Miles’ Fastball and Chris, Bird Brained

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

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

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

The Cardinals ride a two-game winning streak and some hints of a resurgent offense into today’s game with their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs.

After scoring only one run in the first two games in San Diego, the Redbirds have been serious the last two games, piling up fifteen runs.  Yesterday, the Cardinals chased Cub starter Randy Wells before he even recorded an out, scoring five runs on six hits.  The Cub bullpen was effective from that point on until Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run home run in the ninth.

However, with Chris Carpenter on the mound, five runs is usually plenty and so it was in the series opener.  Carp may not have been as dominant as he’s been in the past, but it definitely was enough to keep the Cubs from mounting a serious rally.

Today, the Cardinals hope to continue their hitting ways and provide a warm MLB welcome to Adam Ottavino, who is making his first appearance in the bigs due to Kyle Lohse’s injury.  Ottavino, who was 4-3 with a 4.17 ERA overall in Memphis this year, was given a long look in spring training by the club and seems to have made strides recently, striking out 22 and posting an ERA under 3 in his last five outings.  Ottavino becomes the third rookie in the rotation, following 2010 sensation Jaime Garcia and the fill-in for the injured Brad Penny, PJ Walters.

It seems completely possible that the fact that Lohse was supposed to start on Progressive Game Blog day was the final straw in him deciding to go ahead and have the surgery on his forearm.  In the inaugural PGB, Lohse was shelled by the Cubs in Wrigley.  Last year, Lohse also pitched the PGB game, dominating the Kansas City Royals but getting hit in the forearm with a pitch from Ron Mahay, a plunk that may be part of the recurring issues he’s had since then.

Carlos Silva is a long way from his MLB debut, having put in close to 12oo innings since his debut in 2002.  Obtained from Seattle in the offseason in a swap of terrible contacts (the Cubs sent off Milton Bradley), Silva has surprised a lot of people with his performance here in 2010.  He’s 6-0 with a 3.52 ERA and has a WHIP that currently is the second-best in his career.  His numbers across the board are much better than anything he’s put up in recent seasons and there’s no indication that it’s a mirage.

With him pitching that well, it may not be enlightening to see what he’s done historically against these Cardinal batters, but to add to the discussion, here’s the chart:

As you can see, not a lot of exposure to him, which isn’t surprising given that he’s spent most of his career in the American League.  Could we see Yadier Molina get another day off, even though he rested Thursday, do to Jason LaRue’s past performance?  Small sample size and all, but Tony La Russa does look for every advantage.

Sit back and enjoy the game, then read the perspectives of the bloggers covering the various innings.  A * next to the blog below means that the site has been updated with their inning.

First: Baseball Digest *
Second:  Fungoes*
Third:  Stan Musial’s Stance *
Fourth: Pitchers Hit Eighth *
Fifth: The Cardinal Virtue *
Sixth: Redbird Rants*
Seventh: Cardinal Diamond Diaries*
Eighth: Intangiball*
Ninth: C70 At The Bat*
Extras/Wrapup: Fredbird Follys*

It’s well late, but here they are anyway.

C70 At The Bat
Fungoes
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbirds Fun
Stan Musial’s Stance

Ah, the NL Central.  We’re home.  Something tells me the top of this division will have the same team from all of our contributors.

C70 At The Bat
Fungoes
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbirds Fun
Stan Musial’s Stance

Today, the UCB takes on the NL East.  A long time ago, this would have entailed where the Cardinals finished, but that’s ancient history.  Now, see where the UCB ranks Atlanta, Florida, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

C70 At The Bat
Fungoes
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbirds Fun
Stan Musial’s Stance

All this week the UCB will be making their predictions about the season to come.  We start off with the American League as a whole, because we couldn’t care less about that league.

5 O’Clock Blogger
C70 At The Bat
The Cardinal Virtue
Fungoes
Pitchers Hit Eighth
Redbirds Fun
Redbirds Rap
Stan Musial’s Stance