Mike is a good family friend of mine and I have witnessed his dedication to becoming the pitcher he currently is. I remember a time during his high school years where his father would always be yelling at him telling him to practice, and one day it just clicked. Mike has been on a mission since Day 1, and I really believe that it’s just now all coming together.

His numbers at Memphis Triple-A are skewed before his call-up to the Cards..he was 2-1 with an ERA under 2.8 before his last start against Salt Lake where he knocked around a bit…stemming from a fly ball that could have been caught. The fact of the matter is, Mike got called up and he was suggested by Memphis to be that guy…he has a live fastball/sinker, a nasty hook and an above average change and he can hit his spots when he’s settled in and the nerves are gone

I don’t know many youngsters who have not been working out of the pen in the minors, to be able to get called up to the bigs, come in his 1st inning and pitch a beautiful debut. Followed by a kid who gets into trouble with 2 outs and has that mental toughness to not let the nerves get the best of him and finish up the inning against the middle of a good NL lineup.

Parisi would make an excellen 5 guy for the Cards, you aren’t expecting fireworks from a 5 starter, but someone who can go out there and battle for a solid 5, 6 innings. Mike has proved he can battle.

Throw Piniero on the 15 day DL, the guy is not healthy I think that is evident…let Parisi be that spot starter for Piniero see what the kid can do, after all, the Cards view him…exclusively as a starter.

The walls at Coors are significantly deeper than the any other walls. This means that when you hit a frozen rope in the gap or even down the line, it rolls farther and the chance of men scoring from first on doubles or stretching doubles into triples and even singles into doubles is higher. Also because of the deeper walls, the fielders will play farther back and allow more balls to fall in front of them that they would normally catch.

As for WHY it’s abnormal, the verdict is still out. There is little doubt that the ball carries farther, humidor or no humidor, than at sea level, but smart people argue among themselves as to how much difference that makes. They also argue about whether curve balls are disproportionately affected; the last I checked (I live fairly close to Coors and see a lot of games there), the consensus seemed to be that they weren’t, but the data aren’t conclusive. Dan Fox is doing some good stuff on this that may have answers by next year. For now, I’d really rather that Parisi not get his first chops there, but better him than a fly-ball machine like Reyes.

They modify the balls now so they behave normally - hence the fairly normal amount of runs being scored now at Coors. Thin air shouldn’t effect how his ball breaks.

As far as Reyes goes…of the pitchers that can be sent down, he appears to be the most expendable of those with options. The Cardinals haven’t really used him recently in pressure situations like they have with McClellan. I wonder if it’ll be one of those farm system “visits” where the player never actually leaves St. Louis….

But I agree re: Parisi. I’m not high on him as a pitcher but we’ll see.