Baseball season has finally begun, and Cardinals fans are rejoicing.  The 2012 Cardinals have picked up where they left off in 2011, winning all but one of their first 6 games.  The bats are hot and the defense is great. Mr. He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named is now Mr. He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Missed.  This is a different Cardinals team without Mr. You-Know-Who;  a real team, a sum of all its parts, not Mr. You-Know-Who and then the rest of the team.  No set of rules for Mr. You-Know-Who and another set of rules for the rest of the team.

Mike Matheny is a confident manager.  His players respect him and are supportive of him.  And Mark McGuire is turning out to be a great hitting coach.  And why not?  Surely the man who once hit 70 home runs in one season knows something about hitting.  Knowing how to hit and knowing how to teach players to hit are two different things, but McGwire seems to be melding them together quite well.

The only loss thus far this season is the game in which Adam Wainwright pitched.  He did well enough, considering it was the first regular season game that he had pitched since September 2010.  I think it will take a couple of starts for Adam to get the rust off and get his focus back. Batters had better watch out once he does.

Will the Cardinals be able to keep up this pace all season?  It is a long 162 game season, after all.  There is bound to be a slump or two. Hopefully, there will be no major injuries besides Chris Carpenter’s balky shoulder.  But I really like the new attitude and the new spirit of these 2012 Cardinals.  I think they’re going to be a fun team to watch this year. What do you think? Comments are welcome, as long as they’re civilized.

Congratulations to Matt Leffler, Matt McArthur, and Aaron Morey, the winners of the 2011 World Series Collector’s DVD sets!  If you didn’t win, stay tuned – there will be another giveaway of a different DVD later this week, thanks to my friends at A&E.  Thanks for reading!  See you next time!

Diane