The Cardinals' schedule, which includes television coverage of every game again, was released Thursday and the most notable item is that they have only two home games set for late-afternoon starts. Games in that block drew heavy criticism last year from players because of health concerns created by shadows on the field at that time of day.
"It's absolutely not safe, " second baseman Skip Schumaker said last season. "You can not recognize the difference between pitches. You have to sell out or guess, and that's not a good situation for a hitter."
Last year 11 games were scheduled for a starting time between 3 and 5:30 p.m. But the only games in that span this time are on Saturdays. And while the players' gripes were taken into account, the biggest reason for the shift was a change in the Fox network's scheduling. Fox televises games on Saturdays, and has liked the 3:05 p.m. slot. And because the Cards often were picked for Fox's package, they had a lot of games then. But this year Fox is going to be in prime time on eight Saturdays, the most it ever has, and the Redbirds will be on two of those.
"We certainly listened to the players' concerns,'' Cardinals senior vice president Dan Farrell said Thursday. "But if it's a choice for us between a 1 o'clock or 3 o'clock game on Saturday, we're going to pick 1 o'clock because it's more of a natural time. ... It's better (for) concessions ... More people have lunch at the ballpark for a 1 o'clock than a 3 o'clock game.''
And on Saturdays at the start of the season that Fox has NASCAR on at night, it is scheduling baseball very early — 12:05 p.m. — to try to avoid some of the overlap mess that has occurred. The Cards have two of those starts in April, something club officials don't particularly like.
"Frankly we'd rather play at 1 than noon,'' Farrell said.
After the All-Star break Fox goes back to it's 3 o'clock starts. The Cards have just one home game in the slot via mandate from Fox (July 21, vs. the Cubs). They also have scheduled the July 7 contest, against Miami, in that block because a large corporate picnic is scheduled to be held in the ballpark earlier that day. That contest is on the local Fox Sports Midwest schedule.
"We're not denying that we heard the players' concerns about the shadows, although I don't think they're as big a concern in summer'' as they are in the fall with shorter days, Farrell said.
FSM will end up with about Cards 150 games. Fox has scheduled seven, and can add up to two more. ESPN has the Redbirds on "Sunday Night Baseball'' twice, plus the opener April 4 in Miami, and can pick them up on three more Sundays. On radio, KMOX (1120 AM), has all the games in its second season back as the team's flagship station.
Around the dial
• The Blues make their first appearance on NBC in more than five years when they play Sunday at Chicago in a game televised regionally by the network. The contest, at 11:30 a.m., airs locally on KSDK (Channel 5). The Blues last were on NBC on Jan. 13, 2007, when they faced Los Angeles.
• Mizzou's basketball blowout Wednesday of Oklahoma State, on ESPN2, was seen in 3.2 percent of area homes, according to The Nielsen Co. St. Louis University's win over Richmond, on KPLR (Channel 11) drew a measly 0.9 rating. When they went head-to-head (8:15-8:45 p.m.), MU had a 2.9 rating, SLU a 0.8.
