A Bit of Pixie Dust...

Matt Holliday turned on the heat last week and has not looked back.  After a chronic dry spell that had Cardinal Nation seeing red, Holliday finally broke free of the evil curse that had stolen his slugging power.

So what happened? What flipped the switch?  Some have speculated that Holliday heats up when the mercury rises.  Sure, Matt may have just started seeing the ball better or fixed a hiccup in his swing, but isn’t the possibility of magic blogger pixie dust a whole lot more fun?

Hang with me here…

A little blog with magic powers? What if that were true? Maybe Albert Pujols came back swinging to prove me wrong when I blogged about him in “Questioning the King,”  When Holliday heard boos at Busch stadium, Diamond Diaries gave him a shout out of support and maybe Matt returned the favor by hitting us 5 homeruns in the next 4 games. Coincidence?  Maybe.

This week a reader suggested we give a little blogging love to some other Cardinals in need of a boost.   And obviously we could never refuse if the boys need our help!

So, in the spirit of fun ...

Ready? Set?   Bring on the magic pixie dust and let’s meet the three candidates for this Diamond Diaries luck-changing experiment!

Brendan Ryan (my favorite spinning RedBird)

image from FSMW 

Brendan was the first player nominated for this post.  While he certainly could use another boost, we admit that our track record is poor when it comes to pushing Brendan out of a slump.  The more we talked about his troubles at the beginning of the season, the longer Brendan kept mucking it up. In fact, Brendan didn’t find his groove again until we QUIT talking about him. So, I’m going to ignore him again and hope that is the magic button. (I will not even mention how his lucky ‘stache is growing in nicely or the fact that Brendan disappointed us by ditching his rockin’ high socks again on Wednesday.)  Shhhhh…

Albert Pujols

When “Dark Erika” showed up and blasted Albert back in May, he went on a tear.  So let’s try it again:  Albert has been striking out A LOT more than he should be.  He is swinging at some crazy pitches that last year’s Albert wouldn’t have touched.  Suggestion:  Colby hit a lot better with new contacts.  Maybe Albert needs an eye exam?  Prove us wrong Albert, because we know you aren’t playing like you should!  And those base-running bloopers are embarrassing.  (Whew! That better work because writing it made me cringe!)

Skip Schumaker

photo from stltoday.com

Poor Skippy has had a rough year so far, and was even recently booted from his perch as lead-off hitter.  Luck has not smiled on Skip as his batted balls appear to sail directly into waiting gloves more often than is logical. Like Holliday, Skipperdoodle’s rocky start this year has frustrated the fans – and the grumbles are getting louder.

With little prior blog love for our darling outfielder-turned 2nd baseman, I had trouble predicting a magical blog tone for Skip.  Holliday responded to support, Brendan to silence, and Albert to criticism.  So here I went with a different plan: “praise plus pep talk.”

Praise: Skippy is the reigning prince of ill-advised headfirst slides and spectacular gliding belly flops across the grass reaching for line drives through the gap. He’s a cutie-patootie, writes a darling column for the Cardinals GameDay magazine each month and the boy likes to slide!  Yay Skip! 

Pep talk: Now Skip, we love looking at you, but we also know you can hit that ball. So it’s time to focus, make solid contact (hopefully hitting away from waiting infield gloves) and earn back your leadoff spot! Your bad luck is now over. *sprinkles magic pixie dust*

Have a magical Friday, Cardinals Fans!  =)

And if Brendan, AP and Skip all sparkle just a bit more tonight, we may just do this again for other worthy candidates!

Cardinals vs. Royals (the I70 Rumble) at 7:10 CST

GO CARDS!