a slump is a slump and when you watch a player everyday you know when it’s a slump that’s normal and when it’s gone on longer than normal. When it goes on longer than normal (for that player) then you start to get a little concerned that there may be something more to it. Sometimes you can just see that something’s not right. I can see that in Albert. He just doesn’t look right at the plate. He’s swinging at pitches that he normally doesn’t. He’s expanding his zone, which he never does.
is he tired? are his eyes ok? is he pressing? and so on. that’s all. managers and coaches and team mates get concerned so why shouldn’t a fan?
 They almost always come out of it sooner or later. And I did say that i think he probably will as well.
 I just haven’t seen him have a slump this long, that’s all. Maybe a couple weeks. This one’s longer.
 And so what if he hit 289 for the month of July? What kind of production has he had in the last 30 days? How many Homeruns and how many RBIs?
 Ankiel was mired in an awful slump for a LONG time and it was a concern for the club. He’s just now showing signs of coming out of it. But for him you say that because he’s been getting some hits. With Albert, he’s been getting more hits than Ankiel but that’s a slump for him. It’s all relative.
 If you were watching Albert everyday you may see what I’m seeing. It’s not the end of the world and I’m not in a panic. I’m just anxious to see what this club can do when all these guys are hitting up to their potential.

and as far as you hating Tony La Russa…….good for you!
It has nothing to do with the conversation we’re having here. I’m not sure what it adds to it, so if it makes you feel good to say it then I’m glad for you.
I’m not taking the bait.

some of them don’t. Pretty much like here, except that they understand it a little better because they see it everyday and they don’t inject anything more into it than what is said. It’s more of a discussion of opinions. They don’t try to make it into a fight. They have opinions of their own as well and we allow that and respect that among ourselves. Hell, we even respect the opinions of fans from other teams. It makes for some good baseball discussion and healthy exchange of ideas and thoughts. It’s fun.

I’ve never seen such obsession from any other city

that’s what he called it so that’s what I called it.

“they STILL were the most happy they were there instead of the Cubs. It’s like a little brother with a constant chip on his shoulder trying to impress dad…never getting enough of showing up his brother 50 years old”.

I have no idea what you’re saying in that sentence but I can say this…………
I lived in Chicago for long time, part of that time I lived just a couple blocks from Wrigley and went to every game I could no matter who was playing. I love Wrigley more than any other field. And I always wore my Cardinals hat. I never encountered any fans like what I encounter here….maybe because we were face to face, or maybe I was just lucky. I don’t really see much difference in the fans here or there. It’s a mixed bag. And I REALLY haven’t gotten any sense of St Louis being any more happy about about “being there instead of the Cubs” than being there instead of Houston or Atlanta Or New York. There’s no more joy in beating out the Cubs to the playoffs than there is beating out anybody else. The most fun beating out the Cubs happens during the season. The Cubs Cardinals series’ are by far the most fun…and the Cubs always give as good as they get.

And that’s without Boras as an agent. I don’t see how they will manage this…to me signing Holliday to anything other than a 1 year contract means they can’t sign Pujols. Which would be really irritating if they did manage to hang onto Holliday, whatever contract, and lost Pujols because he didn’t take the hometown discount they needed. None of that math makes any sense at all unless management opens up the checkbook to the tune of 30 million more per year, and I don’t see that happening given their history.

We have a winner!

And I’d say he’s willing to sign for less than that, less than a few other offers he will get. That said I still don’t think they have enough money to sign them unless they add a ton more money per year, as well as signing early to shorten the bidding…going longer as Boras usually does will just raise the pricetag more. I don’t see it happening unless they release a number of other players and hamstring the team.

He hasn’t done a lot better since then. I still think he’s tired more than anything. I’d really like TLR to give him a bit of a rest. That’s one of my sore spots with Tony. Sometimes he can run a player into the ground. Molina has caught almost every game this year and just caught an entire 15 inning game. Tony had him in again the next night for a 10 inning game.
 I know sometimes it’s hard to rest a player and sometimes they don’t want a day off but Tony seems to get the other players some rest more than he does Albert…and Molina.
A day off when you’re struggling won’t hurt a bit. Albert seems to need to relax a little. He doesn’t seem to be having as much fun as he usually appears to be.

looking for where i said I was worried about our chances. the closest i could find is where i said the Cubs chances are as good as ours. That’s not quite the same as saying I’m worried about my teams chances….not at all.
I also looked for where I said that I thought Albert is a problem. I didn’t see that either. I said he was in a slump that’s gone on for awhile. I said I wondered If the arrival of Holliday and all his accolades may have an affect on him, And I said that with all this high priced talent and some contract issues coming up, I wonder If the Cardinals will have the ability to sign them and expressed the possibility that some may not want to play here if things don’t fall the right way.

That’s what I said, but that’s not what some people are reading.
It kind of reminds me of the Bible. It says what it says but you can say that it says whatever suits your agenda. You can make it say what ever suits you.

I think I’ll stay for awhile, thank you very much.

Just like “Albert can’t be Albert” because of Holliday. What does Holliday have to do with anything Albert does and more importantly what the heck does it with anything the Cubs are doing.

Plus I thought the picture was funny and it too made me laugh. I’m just easy like that.

This post was very aptly named – It’s Still All About Albert. A very interesting, thought-provoking musing on the recent slump of one of the best players in the game, as well as some theories as to why that slump is happening and possible outcomes moving forward. It’s great fodder for discussion… amongst Cardinal fans.

I still fail to see the relevance of it being posted here. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. Even more mystifying to me is the original posters’ apparent bewilderment as to why folks here might think that. I remember him from last year as well. I understand and am perfectly fine with his stated intentions to “offer a little something from the St Louis point of view and talk some baseball.”

And if I recall, his postings from last year did exactly that within the context of some Cubs/Cards discussion. But when something is posted that has almost nothing to do with the Cubs, I don’t think he should be surprised or offended by the reaction, obvious troll trash notwithstanding.

Again, this was a very interesting offering and one that probably would have generated lots of interesting discussion more germane to the topic at hand had it been viewed by Cardinal fans. I don’t understand his reluctance to participate on Viva El Birdos – this would have been a great piece to post there where Cardinal fans could have enjoyed it. Posting it here was… pretty much a big meh.

It’s like being helped up off the floor!