Welcome to your new home, Larry Walker.
On your first day, you received an immediate education and instant gratification.
This is St. Louis: You struck out in your first at-bat as a Cardinal, and 45,364 fans gave you a standing ovation and approximately 45,364 goosebumps.
This is your new team: The Cardinals are so deep, so resourceful, so ridicu-lously good, that they beat the Mets 2-1 on Saturday with RBIs by John Mabry and Yadier Molina. Not Scott Rolen, not Albert Pujols, not Jim Edmonds, not Edgar Renteria … but Mabry and Molina, two guys who began the year in the minors.
Before the game, Rolen went into manager Tony La Russa’s office and vol-unteered to drop down to fifth in the lineup, just in case La Russa decided to bat you fourth.
You traded a 48-61 season lost in the Rockies for the Cardinals’ 71-38 mountain climb to the top of the NL.
“We put an MVP in the lineup,” Rolen said. “This was a real impact move. He’s won an MVP and Gold Gloves. He hits for a high average. He hits for power. He can do everything.”
Adding Walker to this lineup is like giving Lance Armstrong another yellow jersey. The left-handed slugger has a career .401 on-base percentage, giving the Cardinals a new bal-ance of power: Two right-handed sluggers in Pujols and Rolen; two lefties in Edmonds and Walker.
The Cards’ lineup now contains 22 Gold Gloves, including Walker’s seven.
The only potential downside is his health (378 missed games).
If adrenaline means anything, the energy Walker is about to receive from this team and this fan base will push him through the aches and pains.