DAN O’NEILL:
My favorite moment and lasting impression will have to do with Joe Torre. As always, Torre was genuinely tickled to be back in St. Louis. I covered the team when Torre was here as the manager and had not seen him in several years. It was great to catch up with one of the truly delightful people in the game.

And what I will remember is Torre’s wonderful gesture during the pregame ceremonies. Many people in St. Louis were disappointed that the All-Stars did not surround Stan Musial and embrace him in the manner they embraced Ted Williams 10 years ago. But the one All-Star who did was Torre. After President Barack Obama threw out his pitch and left the field, Torre made a point to leave the NL dugout and go over to Musialand giving him a big hug.

Torre was grossly underappreciated when he was in St. Louis. He managed teams that were built around players like Todd Zeile, Felix Jose and Mark Whiten, and he was provided a pitching staff that leaned on Bob Tewksbury as its “ace.” And in the three full seasons he had here, he averaged almost 85 wins. Yeah, what an awful manager he was.

There aren’t many people I might mention in the same breath with Stan The Man, but, at least for me, Joe Torre is one of them.

DERRICK GOOLD:

The All-Star Game has been — and likely always will be — a national holiday around my family. My father and I would watch them, tape them and then I’d watch them again until the tape wore out. The personal high point for me was seeing my father attend his first All-Star Game in person and on his lap was his 3-year-old grandson, my son, also taking in his first All-Star Game in person. The little man lasted the whole game and told me the next day that he liked the Game more than the Home Run Derby. Must be the genes. I got to share the Game with them, just as St. Louis got to share it’s love of the game with the world. While we all would have liked to see Stan Musial get a bigger moment — highlights of his career, anyone? — we shouldn’t discount all of the moments the All-Star Game allowed Musial to enjoy. He had the long chat with Albert Pujols, as deftly relayed by Rick Hummel. He attended the owners’ party. He exchanged handshakes with President Obama, saw fellow Hall of Famers and exchanged a point with friend Joe Torre. In St. Louis, it’s popular to say that we appreciate Musial as much as baseball should, and maybe the opposite is true, too. Maybe Musial appreciates St. Louis as much as baseball should. The All-Star Game gave him reason to get out and enjoy that part of the city. It was great to see him and hear about him everywhere. Like it was for my family, the best memories of the Game being here cannot be captured in a moment or in a video. It’s about sharing the Game with family, with fans, and wanting to do so again. It’s best summed up by the sentiment Musial expressed leaving the Cardinals clubhouse and photo shoot with Pujols: “I’m coming back every Sunday home game.”

KATHLEEN NELSON:
I was mystified at the contrast in fan response in the stadium to the words of Barack Obama and George W. Bush during the taped segment about the community heroes. For the current president, the crowd interspersed mild boos with mild cheers but gave a rousing hurrah to “W.” Their reaction when Obama took the field was surprisingly tepid, considering the cheers for Roy Halladay. It seemed a bit disrespectful to the president. It was a baseball game, not a political rally. I thought that people with the reputation as the classiest fans in baseball would have responded with more class, regardless of politics.

BRYAN BURWELL:
The streets of downtown bustling like a major city. That was the absolute best thing, even better than the parade.

REID LAYMANCE:
The best thing for me was something out of the spotlight that I only read about in the Seattle Times newspaper. Ichiro took time on Monday to visit the grave of George Sisler, the former St. Louis Browns star. Ichiro had broken Sisler’s single-season record for hits in 2004 and met the Sisler family then.

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: Assuming good health, how close do you think Ryan Ludwick will come to matching last year’s productivity, which included 37 HRs, 113 RBIs and a .299 average?

DERRICK GOOLD
Ryan Ludwick can have a better season in 2009 and not come near the numbers or the accolades of his breakout year in 2008. That said, the number he’ll come closest to duplicating — and likely surpassing — is that RBI total. More games and more opportunities coupled with a more prominent spot in the middle of the Cardinals’ order will give him a ample chance to repeat as a 100-RBI outfielder, even with a drop in homers and average.

RICK HUMMEL
If Ludwick hits 25 homers and drives in 90 it still will be a good year. He probably isn’t a .300 hitter. Put him down for .275.

JEFF GORDON
Ryan is a grinder. He kept making adjustments last season. He will punish bad pitching and get lots of breaks against tough righties. So I see him hitting .280 with 30 homers and 95 RBI. La Russa will want to spread it around to keep any one of these guys from getting exposed.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
His history suggests that his batting average may come down a bit. Ludwick has a .270 career average in the big leagues and he was a .273 hitter in 2,780 at-bats in the minors, so something around .270-.280 would be logical for ’09.

I don’t expect his home run total to slip much, if at all. Ludwick has never hit fewer than 24 home runs in any pro season during which he’s picked up at least 400 at-bats and he’s hit a home run every 18.1 at-bats in the Major Leagues. It’s fair to assume he’ll get more at-bats in ’09 than he did in ’08 because he really didn’t cement himself as an “everyday player” right away last year. He enters this season with that distinction and should get 40-50 more at-bats as a result.

I think he’s a little better than his “career pace” indicates, so I think it’s safe to count on Ludwick for 35 bombs. His RBI total will depend on where he hits in the lineup. If he’s hitting 2nd a lot his RBI total will dip but if he spends the year hitting 4th or 5th I think he’ll top 100 RBI.

My projections: .275, 35 HR, 110 RBI, .350 OBP, .550 SLG, .900 OPS

TOM ACKERMAN (Sports anchor of “Total Information A.M.” on KMOX)
Ludwick is capable of putting up similar numbers, but I think it’s asking a lot. Never underestimate the value of scouting reports. Teams have compiled enough video to know his hot and cold zones. Ludwick should have ample protection in the lineup and plenty of RBI chances, so he’ll be close to those All-Star stats.

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MIDDAY NEWS AND THOUGHTS

BUT I’M A-ROD: Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News has a hilarious column on Alex Rodriguez showing up today for his hip surgery in Arizona. In Bondy’s world, A-Rod would be treated just the same as the rest of us in today’s American health care system. Here’s a quick sampling of his column:

A-Rod: I’m here for my surgery.

(No answer.)

A-Rod: I’m here for my surgery, with Dr. Philippon.

Clerk: Just a minute. (into telephone) Peggy, I have someone here. I’ll have to call you back.

A-Rod: I’m A-Rod.

Clerk: Is this your first time here, Mr. Rod? Fill out these seven forms.”

If you want a good mid-afternoon chuckle, you should check out his column.

L.T. SHOULD GO TO BIG EASY: The San Diego Chargers and five-time, Pro-Bowl running back LaDainian Tomlinson continue to haggle over terms that would keep Tomlinson with the team this season. Tomlinson, who has three years remaining on an eight-year contract he signed in 2004, is being asked to take a pay cut to remain with the team after suffering through an injury-plagued season in 2008 when he had a career low 292 rushing attempts and 1,110 yards. The Chargers apparently feel comfortable asking L.T. to take the pay cut after putting a franchise tag on running back Darren Sproles, which guarantees Sproles will be paid at least the average of the games top five running backs.

San Diego is the only home Tomlinson has ever known, but if I had produced the way he has for the Chargers the past eight years and had other teams pursuing me (reportedly the New Orleans Saints), I’d go ahead and kick the dust of San Diego off my heels and head south. Furthermore, I’d feel totally disrespected by the team franchising a scatback like Sproles while asking L.T. to take a cut. Here’s hoping L.T. decides to join a backfield with Drew Brees and continues to light up the league for another couple years. That would be poetic justice, as it was the Chargers that sent Brees packing a few years back in a similar scenario — and we’ve all seen Brees’ aerial attack for the Saints. Imagine if he had L.T. in that backfield to help him out.

THINGS TO PONDER

RETURN TO THE ROAD: Former NBA star Charles Barkley has been released from jail after serving his three-day sentence on a drunken-driving conviction. Everyone be careful out there.

TRENT EDWARDS IS T.O.’S NEXT VICTIM: The Buffalo Bills have just mortgaged their future. They’ve taken on a 35-year-old wide receiver by the name of Terrell Owens, formerly known as one of the best WRs in the game and currently known as the guy who has served as a divisive force in three different NFL locker rooms. I’m sure the lure of T.O. is hard to pass up, but the Bills have just washed away the future of young QB Trent Edwards. Owens will devour Edwards, who will be entering just his third NFL season in 2009. Owens has thrown his previous three QBs under the bus, including Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo. And those are three pretty high-profile QBs. How is a young guy like Trent Edwards going to handle T.O. in his face demanding the ball? And what about the chemistry Edwards already has with the team’s No. 1 WR Lee Evans? This has disaster written all over it, and not just for the Buffalo Bills. Specifically, it likely will come at the expense of destroying the psyche and ego of a pretty good young QB in Edwards. I’m really surprised conservative coach Dick Jauron signed off on this one.

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STAT OF THE DAY

4 DEGREES OF SEPARATION — I found this cool tool called the “Oracle” on baseball-reference.com that allows you to link any two major league players by a shortest possible list of teammates. By just punching in their names, I was able to connect Stan Musial to Albert Pujols in just four degrees of separation. Here they are:

1. Stan Musial played with Dick Schofield for the 1953 St. Louis Cardinals
2. Dick Schofield played with Jerry Reuss for the 1971 St. Louis Cardinals
3. Jerry Reuss played with Bobby Bonilla for the 1990 Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Bobby Bonilla played with Albert Pujols for the 2001 St. Louis Cardinals

If you wanna have a little fun with some of your favorite players of the past and present, check out this site.

THE WATERCOOLER

THE SHOWDOWN: Break down this Sunday’s Missouri-Kansas matchup in Lawrence and tell us who wins and why.

BERNIE MIKLASZ
This will be a difficult setting for the Mizzou Tigers. The team is obviously playing with a lot of confidence these days, and that will help the cause. This should be a terrific game: a renewal of a wonderful rivalry that will showcase two ascending teams. I have to give the edge to KU. The Jayhawks haven’t lost at home in a long time, and Allen Fieldhouse is one of the most imposing and impressive settings in college basketball. The young Tigers are almost ready to snatch a game at KU, but not quite yet. The Jayhawks should have won in Columbia but discovered that this was a different kind of Mizzou team: one that won’t back down. It’s almost as if KU, accustomed to so many recent surrenders by MU basketball, was caught off guard by Mizzou’s resilient comeback. I don’t think that will happen this time. Kansas won’t be surprised by MU’s aggression. And KU’s floor leader, Sherron Collins, will finish strong. He faded down the stretch in the first encounter.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 82, Missouri 76.

JEFF GORDON
Missouri is rolling. The Tigers have 11 guys playing with confidence. Their kids aren’t kids anymore. It’s easy to build a scenario where they upset the Jayhawks on the road. If they take care of the basketball and hit their shots, they can use their superior depth to beat anybody anywhere. But . . . Bill Self is a great coach, KU will be jacked up at home and the Jayhawks will hit their shots this time. The Jayhawks had a chance to blow the Tigers off the court in Columbia and they blew their opportunity. Sunday, the shots go down.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 91, Missouri 84

VAHE GREGORIAN
The game figures to have a totally different complexion than the first. The Jayhawks won’t commit 27 turnovers again, the Tigers won’t be held to 16 points in the first half and MU also won’t be able to overcome repeated double-digit deficits again. If KU gets up big early, the Tigers will keep playing but KU will stiffarm them away and win comfortably. If MU keeps it close in the first half, the ending should be similar to the sizzling one in Columbia. I think the Tigers are too good at this stage to let it get out of control and should be another great game.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 73, Missouri 70

DAN O’NEILL
It’s an interesting game to analyze based on the crazy last meeting, which Missouri won 62-60 at Mizzou Arena. On one hand, Missouri was fortunate to win at home, benefiting from a late Kansas meltdown. On the other hand, Missouri won despite playing poorly for two-thirds of the game. Soooo … if the Tigers play well from the get-go this time, what happens? Here are some factors:

• Good start: Hard to believe the Tigers won last time after scoring just 16 points in the first half — they trailed 30-16. Hard to believe they could have a similar start this time and still be in the building for the second half.

• Missouri’s defense: It caused 27 Kansas turnovers in the last meeting, and it will have to be at its chaos-creating best to disrupt the Jayhawks and quiet the Allen Fieldhouse crowd. Missouri had 13 steals in the last game, they will need at least that many this time.

• 3-point shooting: MU leads the Big 12 in 3-point shooting defense, and that will be important. Like many teams, KU tends to struggle offensively without 3-point injections. The Jayhawks were just 2 of 15 from the arch last time. Meanwhile, Missouri was 2 of 14, and it must do better, must get Matt Lawrence (0 for 2) more involved.

• Rebounding: Missouri was outrebounded 48-28 last time — yikes! A lot of that had to do with shooting the ball poorly. The Tigers were 7 of 29 from the field during the first half in the last game.
• Free Throws: The first meeting, Mizzou was 1 for 4 from the line in the first half, 17 of 23 in the second. The Tigers have to hope DeMarre Carroll can wear out a path to the line this time.

• Sherron Collins: KU’s excellent guard is coming off a 26-point performance against Oklahoma and is fourth in the Big 12 in scoring average (18.3). Hear that J.T. Tiller? That’s your man.

Both teams have momentum, with KU coming off a big win at Oklahoma and Missouri riding a seven-game streak. But winning at Kansas will be a tall order for the Tigers.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 87, Missouri 79

TOM TIMMERMANN
First off, show of hands: How many people expected the Mizzou basketball team to be ranked higher than the football team? Mizzou won the last meeting because Kansas came apart down the stretch, and still, if one or two iffy calls had gone the other way, the Jayhawks would have won in Columbia. KU, no doubt rattled by what the Tigers threw at them, committed gobs of turnovers. They’ll be better composed in Lawrence. If KU hangs on to the ball, that will be a major difference.

Normally, I say pick against the team coming off a big win, like KU’s at No. 3 Oklahoma. But, 1) almost a week has passed since that game; 2) Oklahoma didn’t have Blake Griffin, so that takes some of the luster off the win; and 3) what the Jayhawks have been hearing around campus all week hasn’t been, “good job against Oklahoma,” it’s been, “Beat Missouri.” I think Sherron Collins will do better than the 9 points he had last time and Tyshawn Taylor will do better than his 11.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 64, Missouri 56

KATHLEEN NELSON
Two factors work against Missouri. The Tigers will need a more consistent performance than the spotty effort they mustered in beating the Jayhawks in Columbia. In addition, KU’s tough at home.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 82, Missouri 78

MIKE SMITH
Coach Self will sell this one to his players as being the equivalent of a national championship game. Feeding off the fan frenzy, the Jayhawks will respond accordingly. And if I’m Self, or any other coach with a physical post man like Aldrich, I pound it inside against Mizzou for 40 minutes. Lyons will back off soon as he sees that’s the strategy, saddling Carroll with the impossible task of singlehandedly stopping the inside game. Translation: He’ll foul out.
FINAL SCORE: Kansas 69, Missouri 57.

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MIDDAY NEWS AND THOUGHTS

MANNY REJECTS TWO-YEAR, $45 MILLION OFFER: You saw my thoughts yesterday that Manny Ramirez would be crazy to turn down the Dodgers offer. Still, it appears his agent Scott Boras has done just that. And I’m not the only one who thinks he’s nuts. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times writes today: “This week, by every stretch of the wildest imagination, the Dodgers made Manny Ramirez a no-lose proposition. By rejecting it Thursday, Ramirez has officially lost it. He’s lost his dignity. He’s lost his perspective. He’s lost his marbles.”

Plaschke also has some pointed words for Boras. You should check out his column today.

REDSKINS AT IT AGAIN: Redskins owner Dan Snyder desperately wants to win. He just hasn’t figured out yet that throwing money around isn’t always the way to get it done (See: New York Yankees.) Still, Snyder pulled out the wallet Thursday night and kept it out until the wee hours Friday in an attempt to build a winner in Washington.

First, Snyder ponied up a six-year, $54 million deal ($22.5 million guaranteed) to retain DeAngelo Hall. The deal made Hall one of the league’s highest paid cornerbacks. But at that point Snyder was just getting started, because as soon as free agency opened around midnight, he signed DT Albert Haynesworth to a seven-year, $100 million deal ($41 million guaranteed.)

It’s not Snyder spending money that I find surprising … it’s just how he spent it. Hall was actually cut by the Raiders last season after eight games. Cut. By the Raiders. He ended up with Washington and finished the season on a high note. But a $54 million high note? I don’t know. As to Haynesworth hitting the free-agent jackpot … I know he was one of the most coveted free agents on the market this year, but do you really spend $100 million on an interior defensive lineman?

Snyder has swung and missed on many big-name free agents in the past, but who knows, maybe this is the year he gets it right. Time will tell if it was money well spent.

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SOMETHING TO PONDER

WEDNESDAY ROUND 2 REDUX:
WILL TKACHUK BE A HALL OF FAMER?

My friend Kevin Wheeler, who hosts “Sports Open Line” on KMOX, stated his case earlier this week in this space for why he thought St. Louis Blues forward Keith Tkachuk is unquestionably a Hall of Famer. Not everyone agreed. In the spirit of debate, Kevin went back to work and offers up the following to support his case:

FROM KEVIN: After giving this subject a little more thought, because I’m a sports guy and that’s what I do, I decided to do a little more research on the subject of Keith Tkachuk and the Hall of Fame. The raw numbers I presented in Wednesday’s Round Two were pretty compelling, but what I found when I dug a little deeper was even better.

With a little extra time on my hands I sat down and compared Tkachuk to Hall of Famers Glenn Anderson, Bernie Federko, Dale Hawerchuk, Joe Mullen and Peter Stastny. What I looked at was the number of goals each scored per game compared to the number of goals scored per game overall in the NHL during their respective careers.

Even the least-experienced hockey fans recognize the fact that offense in the NHL is not what it used to be. Goals are harder than ever to come by, even after a bunch of rules changes, but I don’t think people truly understand how much scoring has decreased over the last 15 years.

Here’s how Tkachuk’s goals per game rate stacks up against the aforementioned Hall of Famers:

Goals per game
Tkachuk - 0.47
Anderson - 0.44
Hawerchuk - 0.44
Federko - 0.37
Mullen - 0.47
Stastny - 0.46

Tkachuk scores more per game than anyone on that list except Mullen, which kind of surprised me. Even in an era where fewer goals are being scored on a nightly basis, Walt’s scoring rate compares favorably with five guys who were no-brainers for the Hall.

I also looked the points per game rate:

Points per game
Tkachuk - 0.93
Anderson - 0.97
Hawerchuk - 1.19
Federko - 1.13
Mullen - 1.00
Stastny - 1.27

He’s at the bottom of the barrel here but within a whisker of Anderson and Mullen.

The numbers below signify the average goals scored per game in the NHL from the first year each player stepped into the league until the day they retired.

Total goals scored per game
Tkachuk era - 5.51
Anderson era - 7.28
Hawerchuk era - 7.25
Federko era - 7.48
Mullen era - 7.17
Stastny era - 7.35

In other words, there were roughly 25% more goals scored during the careers of the five Hall of Famers than there were during Tkachuk’s career.

Tkachuk has played in the NHL equivalent of baseball’s “Dead Ball Era” yet he still scores goals at the same rate as Hall of Famers who played in the high-flying offensive years.

Voters may or may not consider these kinds of facts when the time comes, preferring to fall back on lazy critiques that are more about the teams Tkachuk has played for than on what he’s accomplished as an individual, but they should at least do the amount of digging I was able to do between the 2nd and 3rd period of the Blues-Stars game Thursday night.

Nothing can “prove” that Tkachuk will he in the Hall someday because voters are human and humans can be a little goofy, but I think his case is outstanding even if has yet to play for a team good enough to win the Stanley Cup.

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STAT OF THE DAY

548 — Most career homers hit by a player who played his entire career for only one franchise. Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt leads the list. Here’s the top 20, along with their HR totals and the team they played for:

1. Mike Schmidt, 548, PHI
2. Mickey Mantle, 536, NYY
3. Ted Williams, 521, BOS
4, Ernie Banks, 512, CHC
5. Mel Ott, 511, NYG
6. Lou Gehrig, 493, NYY
7. Willie Stargell, 475, PIT
8. STAN MUSIAL, 475, STL
9. Carl Yastrzemski, 452, BOS
10. Jeff Bagwell, 449, HOU
11. Cal Ripken, 431, BAL
12. Chipper Jones, 408, ATL
13. Al Kaline, 399, DET
14. Johnny Bench, 389, CIN
15. Jim Rice, 382, BOS
16. Joe DiMaggio, 361, NYY
17. ALBERT PUJOLS, 319, STL
18. George Brett, 317, KC
19. Todd Helton, 310, COL
20. Edgar Martinez, 309, SEA

(SOURCE: Baseballreference.com)