Man, I'm going out of my mind with anticipitation!! I can't wait for this! Thank God for MLB.tv so out of market heathens like me can watch every single game.

...Oh, man, and it's the Saint Louis feed!

I don't know where I'd be without my DirecTV feed....

C'mon BIRDS!!!!

I feel great about this team!!!

Anyone know what the final roster is? The mlb.com Cardinals page shows 27 players on the active roster, including Hector Luna, Abraham Nunez, and Adam Wainwright.

The Cardinals purchased the contract of Nunez yesterday, so I imagine that Luna is starting the season in Memphis; and I can't imagine Wainright is like waht, our 5th righty out of the pen..

A hit! Oswalt is so toast.

Nice hustle by Eckstein. I hope, ultimately, he provides more than that, though.

Great hustle by the Old Man!!!! And a hit for Rolen!!

Edmonds has taken a cou[ple of very close pitches ...3-1 count...

Oswalt is getting squeezed...let's hope that Carp gets a little better 'zone.

DONG!

Jimmy!!!!!

Thats the way you want to start the year!

WOW!!! How'd that thing get out!!!! Went out and got the low outside pitch and drove it on a line just over the wall to left.

Three-run first.... and a couple of very close calls to it being scoreless; great hustle by Walker, then the squeeze on Oswalt...Edmonds fouled off a couple of good pitches, too.

Iron, can you let us know how Carpenter looks?

I don't have video...

22-pitch 1st inning by Oswalt... I'd love to get into the soft underbelly so we never even have to sniff Lidge,,,

Everything Carp has thrown has been in the zone, belt down.

Including that DP-inducing grounder, 6-4-3. Just make the routine plays, like that one guys, and we'll be set.

I'm liveblogging, if anybody cares.

And man, that Jim Edmonds home run was ridiculous. Possibly the most awkward home run swing I've ever seen, he had to pull off a Mo Vaughn-esque lean to even make contact with the ball.

Rolen flashin' the leather.

Josh, I just e-mailed you something that might help you visualize Carp.

Welcome, Rookie.

Karpenter with his 1st.

Great lead-off at-bat by Eck...3-0, takes two perfect pitches right down the middle, then fists one on a line to the right of the 2b bag for his fisrt Cardinal hit.

Again---GREAT HUSTLE!!! Eckstein beats the peg to 2nd, everyone is safe!

The Houston Clown College of Defense is now accepting applications for the 2005 academic year.

Please submit two letters of reccomendation plus an essay on the subject of why it is better to entertain than to actually record a putout.

Josh, you may have to render unto me burnt offerings.

I know he wouldn't have but when I saw eckstein jump for that line drive by biggio I couldn't help but wonder if Renteria might have got it.

may?

Speaking of Edgar, I watched Opening Day, Bos. vs. NY, and, while he didn't make an official error, ERent looked sloppy on a couple of balls and hit into a DP.

Then today he made an error that led to a run in a tight 4-3 Sox loss, and hit into another DP.

So far our guy has been better.

Carpenter's looked great so far; two fly balls through three innings is pretty good.

Grudz waving at the high heat twice.

Sanders showed more discipline in that at-bat than he did all last year.

Oswalt not doing himslef any favors with Montague with all his crying.

The walk to Sanders was a textbook example of why you should never piss off an umpire. Could have gone to Oswalt easily.

Einar Diaz is a very very good backup catcher?

Did not know that.

Sure, compared to my friend's wife who catches for our intramural softball team.

You could see the difference between Carpenters high heat and Oswalts when Carpenter tried to go up on scott. Carpenter didn't bring it hard enough to get scott to bite.

Yes, but can either one of them compare to THE CODY?

62 pitches for Carp through four. I wonder how long of a leash he's on in his first start.

Oswalt looks like he's in a groove... one hit allowed since the Edmonds HR in the 1st....

Presumably Eldred not being available would make them a little cautious about keeping him on a short leash.

Then again, I've learned never to presume anything when La Russa's making the decisions, it's just not worth it.

We can relax---Rolen just proved that Eckstein doesn't have to move on anything hit to his right..

'Stros helping out here---just 4 pitches to get the first two in the 5th...

Ten pitch inning; that ought to Carp through the 6th before we see a reliever...

Good Lord!!!! How the hell did THAT get out??!!?? Pop to right that just kep going!!!

That's three decent at-bats by Sanders tonight; he's laying off oitches he'd swing at last year. I guess it's too early for the bad habits to have staarted yet...

It's an odd year... Sanders with a two run home run. Although that's a park effect home run, I'll take it. Oswalt should be gone after this inning.

Oswalt looked much better than the results show, I'll give him that.

What's with Grudzielanek batting sixth?

That's 10 straight retired by Carp since the RBI hit by Biggio..

Not that you'd ever have known via the national media during the World Series last year, but we really missed this guy.... he was rolling in the 2nd half (6-1, 2.82 after the break) until the nerve thing caused him to miss his last few staarts, then the entire postseason... it's like if Pedro had been out, it would've been the banner headline every day..

Have they mentioned anything about Ankiel making the opening day roster? ESPN gamecast has him in the lineup on the bench. That can't be right....can it?

I don't know, Will Carroll reports that he was released yesterday, but the Post on Sunday said he was being left on the roster before being released to make sure all the other teams had their 40 man rosters set and would have a harder time of claming him.

ANOTHER BOMB!!!!!!

Yes, I do like this team!!!!

(and that's the Russ Springer I remember from his Cardinal days...)

I cringe whenever I see Springer, Borbon, or Yan. What a painful, painful year.

Roster:

Starters: Carpenter, Marquis, Mulder, Suppan.
Pen: Eldred, Flores, Izzy, King, Pulsipher, Al Reyes, Tavarez

C: Molina, Einar Diaz

Inf: Eckstein, Grudz, Pujols, Rolen, Luna, Abraham O. Nunez

OF: Sanders, Edmonds, Walker, Cedeno, Mabry, Taguchi

Great finish by Carp: retired last 13 he faced, 7 innings in under 100 pitches.

Oof. Not a good start, Al.

Reyes pitched pretty good, except for the double, the walk, then the other double...

The Astros have had as many baserunners in the last 4 batters as they had in the first 7-2/3 innings....

ooooooohhhh... more squeezage from Montague

Well, there's a gift from Montague.

Montague's strike zone fluctuated.

Man, Tavarez didn't throw a single inarguable strike there.

Montague has got to be frustrating the Astros' hitters... ball 3 to Ensberg was a beautiful strike over the oputer half of the plate, then the Birds catch a huge break as a low fastball is called strike 3.

Blue giveth, and Blue taketh away.

Well, we'll get a chance to see if Izzy is over his rehab jitters after the Burger King got flame broiled.

Montague may not be in mid-season form, but La Russa is with his second double-switch.

Jeez...throw a freaking strike!!!

I knew it all the time---That is, in fact, a winner.

Why is Cedeno on the roster if he can't even beat out John Mabry as a defensive replacement? My goodness.