Adam Wainwright singled in a run in the 5 th inning, as the Cardinals scored four runs on six singles to win the finales of a three game series with the Braves in a 5-3 win.
The Georgia native who grew up watching the Atlanta Braves went six innings, allowing three runs, two earned, as he walked five while giving up seven hits.
He’s lucky the Braves didn’t blow this game open early on in building their 3-1 lead in the first three innings. Wainwright has been effectively wild. At times he looks like he struggles with control, such as he did in this game and the one in Chicago almost two weeks ago, yet he finds a way to get out of trouble or minimize damage. His ERA is 2.76.
Braves starter Javier Vasquez went eight innings and gave up just nine hits, with six of those coming in the fifth. After three straight singles including the RBI hit by Wainwright, Vasquez struck out Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus, but Albert Pujols, Chris Duncan, and Rick Ankiel all delivered clutch two out RBI singles to give the Cardinals the lead for good.
Brendan Ryan left the game with a sore hamstring and manager Tony LaRussa says they may need to make a roster move.
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Wainwright helps himself in win over Braves
Draft expert thinks Rams and Chiefs did well
Scott Wright of NFLdraftcountdown.com, joins me on this week’s podcast and he breaks down this past weekend’s NFL draft and at first glance he thinks the Rams and Chiefs did alright with their picks.
While Scott admits he hasn’t had a chance to look deep at each team’s picks, he feels confident in saying the Rams addressed some needs on defense and may shake out somewhere in the top 10. He also thinks the Chiefs are in the upper half with the selections they made.
Scott likes the Rams’ second round pick in James Laurinaitis at linebacker and is also pretty high on the Chiefs’ fourth round pick of Donald Washington, a cornerback from Ohio State.
We also talk about the Missouri Tigers who were drafted and of course the future of Chase Daniel. Scott does a good job of explaining exactly what type of "free agent" contract Daniel most likely signed with Washington.
I’ve always been surprised at how big the NFL draft has become. I still believe that at best, the average football fan may know 5-10 names that get drafted and it will be several years before this year’s draft can fully be graded. Out of the seven rounds of draft picks, there are not that many players that are going to make a big impact for their teams this year. I’m always more interested in free agency when I look at the current season.
Having said that, there are hardcore fans that eat this draft stuff up and Scott Wright certainly knows his stuff.
Webb City’s Wistrom named to College FB HOF
Grant Wistrom, the former Nebraska defensive star who helped NU win three national championships, was introduced as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame today.
Wistrom, a native of Webb City, MO. was on those 1994, 1995 and 1997 Cornhuskers title teams. He won the Lombardi Trophy in 1997 and was named Big 12 defensive player of the year in 1996 and 1997. Wistrom enjoyed a good pro career as well where he won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999 and finished his career with Seattle.
He joins 15 other players and two coaches apart of this year’s class. Some of the other notable names include Heisman Trophy winners Tim Brown and quarterback Geno Torretta of Miami, along with Penn State running back Curt Warner, and Texas defensive tackle Steve McMichael.
Coaches John Robinson of Southern California and UNLV and Dick MacPherson of Syracuse and Massachusetts also were elected.
Click here for the full list .
House gives initial approval to spending federal money
House members make changes, but leave enough money alone to pay for their billion dollar tax cut as they advance a bill dividing federal economic stimulus money.
The capital improvement bill spends nearly $400 million in federal money the first year; $158 million the second.
The process used, not the projects funded, infuriated the top Democrat in the House, Paul LeVota of Independence, who was still smoldering about how House Republicans by-passed the Budget Committee to rush the bill to the floor, claiming that created mistakes in the bill.
LeVota asserted again that House Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) violated House rules by assigning HB 22 to the Rules Committee, by-passing the House Budget Committee. When a problem arose, LeVota latched on to the problem stating that it disclosed the problem with the method used. He claimed the Budget Committee would have caught the problem it came to the floor.
House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet (R-Wildwood) defended the method in an interview with the Missourinet, pointing out that budget bills now move to the Senate with the clock ticking toward the deadline next Friday.
"Had we gone through the Budget Committee, it would have chewed up at least one, if not two additional days," Icet said. "We were literally out of time to make this work"
One major change was made during floor debate. House members divided up $50 million that had been allocated for a new office building in Jefferson City. The money was allocated to various projects; $10 million was set aside for a highway interchange in Jefferson City, $4.23 million for a DNA testing lab in Kirksville, $2.5 million for a plant science facility in Mexico, among other projects. The House restored $31 million the Rules Committee had stripped from the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia after Democrats had walked out of the committee meeting. In another move during floor debate, $12 million dollars was taken from a fund to pay ethanol plant incentives and given to aid the financially strapped Metro transit system in St. Louis.
The bill needs one more positive vote to move to the Senate.
Judge selection plan stalls in senate
A plan to get the legislature involved in the selection of the state’s top judges has stalled in the senate and is not likely to see more debate unless strong wills on both sides of the issue loosen up.
Missouri’s non-partisan court plan relies on the Supreme Court Chief Justice, three lawyers and three private citizens to give the governor three nominees for state supreme court and appeals court seats, regardless of political affiliation.
Among the critics is Senator Brad Lager of Maryville who wants to have five citizens, who have to be approved by the senate, and three lawyers. "I believe it should be drive….by real citizens, not lawyers," he says.
But opponent Wes Shoemyer of Clarence says opponents of the bill are not just lawyers, citing one of many opposition groups, AARP, as "just regular folks."
Shoemyer and Senator Jolie Justus of Kansas City pretty much ran out the clock on the debate by talking at length about other organizations of "regular folks" opposed to changing the plan.
The Senate floor leader says the bill will not come back for more debate unless the two sides can find middle ground—an unlikely event.
