Barton makes his mark in St. Louis Cardinals’ outfield derby
JUPITER, Fla. _ Brian Barton, an outfielder who needs work on his defense, had gone nothing for six this spring in the St. Louis Cardinals’ first four exhibition games. But he exploded with a six RBI day today in an 14-10 exhibition victory over the Florida Marlins, hitting two-run homers, albeit wind-aided, in the fourth and sixth inning and doubling home two more runs in the fifth.
Skip Schumaker, an outfielder who needs more work on his defense at second base as he attempts to make a rare transformation, showed his first signs of indecision, backing up on two balls. One, hit by Robert Andino, went off his glove for an error when there was the potential of a double play. The other, hit by Dallas McPherson, scooted past Schumaker, who then made some amends by taking a hit away with a diving play on Andino later in the game.
“Those two balls he missed are easily remedied,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. “Your first move has got to be in. He just needs to work on it. But he didn’t put his head in the sand. He dives and makes a play. It’s a great example of his toughness.”
Barton, who had to be kept last season when he was a Rule V draftee, did not come to camp as a strong candidate to make the club, but he is a righthanded hitter and the Cardinals don’t have many of those in the outfield, now that Joe Mather is in the infield.
“He showed flashes last year when he caught the ball with good timing,” said La Russa. “He’s got a live bat.
“We’ve got so many lefthanded hitters (in the outfield). If you’re a righthanded hitter, you’re going to be looked at seriously. He’s in a good position _ if he can play.”
Barton said, “In my heart, I feel I’m a big-leaguer. I’m not thinking about (Class AAA) Memphis until I’m given the word that that may be the case. .
“I don’t worry about it. It was a crowded outfield when I was in Cleveland. The only thing I can do is make sure my game is where it needs to be.”
(12 votes, average: 4.58 out of 5)
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Tony LaRussa again will only have a token African American player or two with the St. Louis Cardinals. Ala Preston Wilson (2007), Barton(2008). None before Wilson aquired in 2006. Ran Ozzie Smith off and hestill had 2 years left. Look at the attendandance and how many African Americans support the team by attending games? I know the naysayers are going to cite economic times; but I know I would make more of an attempt to see the Willie McHee;s, Ozzie Smith’s, Lee Smiths, Terry Pendleton’s. I cannot believe our organization has so few black players. Read between the line people.
Gee hard to see that your a liberal democrat. Maybe you
would feel better if you cried about it. Maybe we should
cut Pujols and sign Frank Thomas. That would make you happy.
Look around the MLB, the number of black players is falling. Is it Tony LaRussa’s fault? I have been accused of bashing Tony from time to time but this is not an issue I personally see as negatively reflecting on TLR. He’s shown a willingness to reach out to players from whatever stripe who play hard. OTOH, I’m on board with you on the Ozzie Smith deal. TLR has to admit he was ridiculously wrong to play Royce Clayton over the Hall of Famer. Why? It was completely unjustified. Tony should publicly announce he made a horrible mistake and ask for forgiveness.
Huzzah, you’re an idiot for injecting politics into a baseball discussion. Just an idiot.
As of 2007 8.2 percent of all MLB players were African-American…which equates to 2 per 25 man roster. The Cardnials roster more or less reflects a common MLB roster makeup in terms of ethnicity. Race may be an issue in many things in our lives, this isn’t one them. If you only want to go to a baseball game to see black players then I might suggest you look in the mirror and see just who has the problem. Personally, I could care less as long as they were the “Birds on the Bat”.
See report: http://www.bus.ucf.edu/sport/public/downloads/2008_MLB_RGRC_PR.pdf
Tony Womack, Reggie Sanders, Ray King, Ray Lankford, Ron Gant, Bernard Gilkey, …
Ozzie was trying to manage the team again. Torre had stopped him. He was in charge from 1988 on until Herzog admitted “he had lost control of the team”. Ozzie was a whimpering crybaby. LaRussa let him go out with a respectable average.
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“(R)ead between the line”…is that liberal tripe for TLR and the Cardinals are racist? That’s pure crap.
I agree with Token. If you need any more proof that the organization is racist—just look at the 2nd base situation. OF COURSE THEY HAVE A WHITE PLAYER TRYING TO LEARN THE POSITION BUT WHERE IS THE BLACK CANDIDATE? They have ran off every black player they have ever had—it has no matter if the players were toward the end of their careers or not, they just hate black players. They should just cut or trade at least half of the roster to make it fair. Why are they looking at 2 or 3 white pitchers to fill the closer role? Why is there no black player in the starting rotation??? See, the Cardinals are nothing but racist. Hopefully Obama will step in and put a stop to this oppression. Actually he should step in and make it illegal for any team in baseball to have anything more than a 2 game lead in the standings. It’s only fair if every team is in the hunt for the playoffs.
Gee, I didn’t realize Royce Clayton was white.