(Tuesday’s) practice was again a lot of tee work and a little bit of live pitching. The pitchers are on their regular weekly routine now of throwing light bullpens, heavy bullpens, live pitching to hitters, conditioning and long toss. Every day there is some conditioning and I feel like there is a greater urgency to have our pitchers build their stamina than in previous years. Once the pitchers realize the importance of this, they tend to work a little bit harder so they can be the guy to pick our team up in a tight spot.
One thing we focus on a lot in winter practices is running the bases. Along with defense, there is not any part of the game that can take you out of a good situation if you make a mistake fundamentally. Whether it is going from station to station or trying to take the extra base, you need to have solid execution. We also started to work on bunting in live situations today which is another big part of our game. If we need to move a man to the next base late in the game, there is no room for error and our coaches stress that principle when we run these drills. With all of the things we are beginning to work on, we need to keep the same intensity throughout the next few weeks leading up to our trip to Myrtle Beach the opening weekend of March.
#17 = Matt Burns
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Small ball and starters going deep into games will have to be a key for the Cardinals this year. Losing both their slugger Joe Curcio and closer Billy Davis, (both now playing for the KGB's), puts emphasis on these two points. Their strongest bat this season, aside from Andrew Gooch, stands to be catcher Matt Burns, who "slugged" a single solitary double, and one very loooong triple. Bunting, moving runners over, stealing, etc will need to be their strong-points if they wish to contend.
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