Junior Spivey has hit well during his brief stint at AAA, and one of those hits was a leg double where he embarrassed a sleepy left fielder. On the other hand, Spivey also committed his second error of the season last night. I find it interesting that he hit in the 6th spot his first game, but has hit leadoff the past two nights, almost as if somebody in St. Louis called Memphis manager Danny Sheaffer after the first game and said, "Uh, Danny, can you get Spivey some at-bats, OK?" Dennis Tankersley goes this afternoon, and with today's Cardinals game being a night game (who ceded that kind of decision to ESPN?), you can listen to the Tank's Redbird debut over the Internet. (Late add-on: Spivey was hit by a pitch Sunday, then went first-to-third on a groundout to the third baseman. The baserunning is there.)

The Palm Beach Cardinals are looking for host families. I didn't know affiliated minors teams did that sort of thing. The PB Cardinals might want to update their site, since Tennessee and Peoria haven't been Cardinals affiliates for over a year.

Finally and most importantly, I bought my Baseball America Prospect Handbook the other day. They have this to say about Sean Marshall, the Cubs' #6 prospect according to BA and tonight's starter:

Marshall picks up plenty of groundballs and strikeouts thanks to an 88-92 mph sinker that can reach 95. He keeps batters off balance with his curveball, a sharp downer he can change speeds with. He commands both pitches well... He'll have to improve his changeup to remain a starter and he's working on a slider. The Cubs believe Marshall is on the verge of a breakthrough season in 2006.

Marshall has had a couple of injuries that BA describes as flukey, so health may not be the issue that his lack of playing time suggests. We could be seeing this guy a bunch, which is kinda funny considering how little press he got behind Angel Guzman and the rest.