Today's Spring Training game against the Marlins reflected much to be happy about.  For one, the Cardinals finally came away with a win, prevailing over the Marlin 7-4.  Here's the boxscore.

The highlights start with Joe Mather, who drove in four runs in a 2 for 3 ballgame.  Mather is already making good impressions this spring, and as mentioned in an earlier post, he should be a top contender for the fourth outfield spot.

Yadier Molina also had a good day.  Yadi was 2 for 2 with an RBI and run scored.

On the mound, there were mostly positives.  Kyle McClellen, a top contender for the last spot in the starting rotation, made the start.  McClellen pitched for three inning, struck out four, and only allow one hit.  If La Russa and Duncan are really considering giving McClellen a starter role, then I hope they let him pitch for more innings in the later spring games instead of just a few innings.  That's okay for the earlier games, but it would be nice later on to see how well K-Mac is able to hold up as he gets into the about the fifth or sixth innings of games.  McClellen's proven to be a good multi-inning pitcher, but I'm skeptical of just how far he can go and how durable he can really be.

Rich Hill, likely to be McClellen's biggest competition for the last spot in the rotation, also pitched today.  Aside from giving up a home run, Hill pitched fine.  He went two innings, allowed two hits, and struck out two batters.

Aside from a rough outing from Blake Hawksworth, who allowed three runs in an inning and a third, the pitching was outstanding today.  There's not much else to say.  Tomorrow afternoon, the Cardinals play the Red Sox.  That should be interesting.  Chris Carpenter is going to make his Spring Training debut in that game.  Meanwhile, the Red Sox will have Josh Beckett starting.  It's too bad this has to be a Spring Training game, or I would expect this being an intense pitcher's duel where each team is just scratching to outscore eachother.  Ah, well.

That's all.  Peace.

Boxscore courtesy of MLB.com.