Here's why I'm excited about our "kids"

[Migrant Redbird]

Bottom of the first. Rule 5 pick, Brian Barton, gets his first major league start, leading off the game.

Odalis Perez pitching for Washington

B Barton doubled to left.

R Ankiel homered to right, B Barton scored.

A Pujols doubled to deep center.

Typical line for Pujols tonight. 1 for 2, with 2 walks. His only home run so far was rained out in the opener and he's only got 12 at bats through 4 games, but he's got 5 walks against just 1 strikeout, 6 hits, a .500 BA and a .647 OBP. If Ankiel remains hot and Glaus's bat ever comes around, this could be the biggest season of Albert's career. He's not lofting the ball, but he's really driving it, and the home runs will come in time as long as that continues.

I really, really like this Barton kid, but I'm afraid that he won't get enough playing time with 4 other good young outfielders ahead of him on the depth charts. Brian has a minor league career .417 OBP in just 1520 plate appearances, but that's padded by getting hit by the pitch 74 times! He really needs to improve his BB/K ratio (152/304) to develop into a really good lead off hitter, but I can't stop comparing him to the young Lou Brock.

Barton also got an infield single later in the game and finished the day with a "career total" of 3 hits in his first 6 major league at bats.

AA pitcher, Kyle McClellan had a little bit of a rough outing in his relief appearance, but worked through it and all the runs he let score were inherited runners.

Washington - Top of 7th, Cards leading 5-1, Russ Springer pitching for St. Louis

R Springer relieved B Looper.

C Guzman homered to right.

L Milledge singled to center.

R Zimmerman singled to left, L Milledge to second.

R Villone relieved R Springer.

N Johnson walked, L Milledge to third, R Zimmerman to second.

K McClellan relieved R Villone.

A Kearns struck out looking.

P Lo Duca walked, L Milledge scored, R Zimmerman to third, N Johnson to second.

R Belliard singled to shallow left, R Zimmerman scored, N Johnson to third, P Lo Duca to second.

F Lopez struck out swinging.

W Harris hit for J Hanrahan.

W Harris grounded out to shortstop.

Cards still leading 5-4, which ended up being the final score.