Before I begin with the game, I must address a subject very important that I'm sure many St. Louisans are interested in: Mark McGwire.  I think it is finally time to express my distaste for one thing in particular concerning the current Cardinals' hitting coach.  Here is goes.

*Ahem*

Why the hell do people STILL have trouble spelling his last name???  To this day, when I surf message boards, people still tend to spell it "McGuire."  Are you kidding me?  This guy was one of the most recognizable public figures in St. Louis in the late '90s.  You couldn't turn on the T.V. in the summer of '98 without hearing something on the news related to McGwire's famed but now tainted home run chase.  Fast foward to 2005 with McGwire's infamous congressional hearing regarding his alledged steroid use where he refused to talk about the past.  His name was all over the news in St. Louis then.  Fast foward again to earlier this year, when McGwire finally admitted to his use of performance enhancing drugs during his playing career.  Once again, he has been all over the news.  How do you not know how to spell his name by now?

Honorable mention related to this topic: Ryan Ludwick's last name does NOT end with a 'g'.

Moving on...

Okay, I apologize for all of that.  I'll admit, I was going for some extra filler in this post because there's not a lot else for me to say today.  The Cardinals lost a tight game today to the Red Sox 6-5.  Here's the boxscore.

The Red Sox actually had the Cardinals no hit for six innings.  It was a tough day for the regulars.  To their credit, for the first five innings, the Cardinals had to face Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima.  It was actually the kids who came through offensively as the Cards made a late charge to take a couple of leads in the eigth and ninth innings, both of which were blown by Eduardo Sanchez (in the eigth) and Evan MacLane (in the ninth, credited for the loss).

Chris Carpenter made his spring debut today.  The projected Opening Day starter for the Cardinals went two innings, gave up four hits and a run.  Not too bad, I guess.

Overall, it was a rather rough day on the mound and at the plate for the Cardinals.  Today was forgettable.

I guess that game summary wasn't too short.  Either way, I really wanted to address the odd existance of St. Louisans who still do not know how to spell Mark McGwire's name.

Check your spelling, folks. Peace.

Boxscore courtesy of MLB.com.