The University of Louisville won their 12th straight, lead by Chris Cates's career-best five hits and Isaiah Howes's career-high five RBI as the Cardinals thumped Rutgers 13-3, advancing them to the BIG EAST Championship game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET in Bright House Networks Field. The Cards will face the winner of a match-up between St. John's and Notre Dame that will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. and the winner of the tournament will receive and automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.

Cardinal starter Jake Smith tossed his first career complete game, scattering eight hits and six walks, while striking out one in the win. The efforts by Howes and Cates also tied BIG EAST Baseball Championship records in addition to being career-bests.

In the top of the first, Rutgers leadoff man Jeff Grose blooped an 0-2 pitch down the left field line for a double. Two outs later David Williams singled to center and the Knights third base coach sent the runner to the plate, where Grose was nailed on a one-hop laser by U of L centerfielder Pete Rodriguez to end the inning.

Louisville (31-28) carried the momentum into the bottom of the first, batting around and putting up a four-spot.

Nick Haley extended his season-high hit streak to 14 games with a double down the right field line. Cates laid down what was to be a sac bunt down the third base line, but Knights (29-28) third baseman Tim Querns tried to let it roll foul, and it hit the bag for a bunt single that put Haley at third.

 

Add yet another catcher to Puerto Rico's World Classic roster: Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Molina told a Puerto Rican newspaper that he's been invited to participate in next year's inaugural World Classic by manager Jose Oquendo, who's also the Cardinals' third base coach.

"Oquendo spoke with me and I agreed to join the Puerto Rican team," Molina said in Wednesday's edition of the newspaper El Nuevo Dia.

He said he was surprised by the invitation because the Puerto Rican roster was already expected to include four catchers: Detroit Tigers Ivan Rodriguez, New York Yankees Jorge Posada, and brothers Javier and Bengie Lopez, who play for the Los Angeles Angels.

"I never thought that I would be invited because they have too many catchers," Molina said, adding, "He chose me and I feel proud."

On Tuesday, major league outfielders Carlos Beltran, Alex Rios, Tony Valentin and Luis Matos signed on to play for Puerto Rico in the Classic, which will include 16 teams and will be played in the United States, Puerto Rico and Japan. It begins March 3.

"At this point, no one has said that they are not going to play," said Israel Roldan, president of the Amateur Baseball Federation of Puerto Rico. "Everyone we contact tells us yes."

Though the team fell short of its goal of a World Series title again in 2005, the Cardinals also reached 100 wins and posted the best record in the major leagues for the second year in a row. St. Louis led the National League in ERA and finished third in scoring, showing once again that the front office knows how to build a major league roster.

The Cardinals are built largely around players who came up through other organizations, with such notable exceptions as Albert Pujols and Matt Morris. Homegrown catcher Yadier Molina did seize the big league job, and righthander Brad Thompson established himself as a reliable set-up man in his rookie season. Otherwise, the big league team was assembled through astute free-agent signings and savvy trades.

To bolster their minor league system, which Baseball America rated the game’s worst entering 2005, the Cardinals have taken a hard look at their scouting operation over the last two years. They have made significant changes, both in the structure and responsibilities of the scouting staff and in the use of sophisticated performance analysis through statistics.

The new philosophy resulted in a heavy college approach in the 2004 draft, as St. Louis drafted just four high school players and signed none. Club officials said they wanted players who could make quick contributions at the higher levels of the system.

The team was also in the early stages of developing its system of statistical analysis, which has become much more sophisticated and is now done almost exclusively in-house, rather than by outside suppliers. St. Louis got a golden opportunity to test its new approach with a draft windfall in 2005, getting four extra picks for the loss of free agents Edgar Renteria and Mike Matheny.

The Cardinals’ 2005 draft showed their willingness to look at all types of players. There were sleepers who were picked based on their college performance, such as outfielder Nick Stavinoha (seventh round). But there were also college players whose performance has never seemed to quite measure up to their tools, such as righthander Mark McCormick (supplemental first).

There were toolsy high school players whose projection is based on the judgments of scouts much more than their statistics, such as outfielder Daryl Jones (third). St. Louis even spent a couple of early picks on Tyler Herron (supplemental first) and Josh Wilson (second), a pair of prep righthanders—considered the riskiest demographic in the draft.

The Cardinals have shown a willingness to blend all these approaches, which could pay quick dividends for the farm system. The players mentioned above and first-rounders Colby Rasmus and Tyler Greene immediately stand out in an organization lacking headline talent beyond top prospect Anthony Reyes.

Fortunately for St. Louis, the major league team has few immediate holes that need to be plugged by minor leaguers. But as the Cardinals move into a new Busch Stadium, they have the hope of introducing new homegrown talent in the coming years as well.

In the biggest deal of modern baseball history, Rogers Hornsby, greatest batsman of the game, and manager of the world's champion St. Louis Cardinals, was traded to the Giants tonight for Frank Frisch and Pitcher Jimmy Ring. The transaction, completed over the long-distance telephone between St. Louis and New York, involves players valued at more than half a million dollars and brings to this city the second of the two outstanding figures of the sport - Babe Ruth, king of the long distance hitters, and Hornsby, six-time batting champion of the National League.

Although President Charles A. Stoneham of the Giants declared that no money was paid to the Cardinals, baseball men were unanimous in insisting that the New York club must have handed over at least $100,000, in addition to its star second baseman and a veteran pitcher who is almost at the end of his career. Hornsby, it was pointed out, is worth much more than $300,000 at present baseball prices. Several years ago John McGraw, manager of the Giants, offered $250,000 and five players for him. Not long afterward the Brooklyn club raised this figure to a straight $275,000.

Since that time Hornsby's value has increased greatly. He went on to win his sixth successive hitting championship of the league, was universally recognized as the finest right-handed batter of them all and climaxed his career last season by leading the Cardinals to the first pennant ever won by a modern St. Louis team and later to the world's championship. The rival second baseman greeted the news with a marked lack of enthusiasm. Hornsby was quoted in St. Louis as saying that "it doesn't look right that I should be traded from a club that I just managed to a world's championship."

At his home in this city Frisch, born and brought up in New York, seemed stunned by the tidings. "It's pretty hot out there, but I suppose I'll play," he said in a listless tone.

Among other things, this is the first time in baseball history that a manager has been traded within a year of his having won the world's championship. From that angle alone the trade was enough to set the baseball tongues wagging. Not since the sale of Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 has there been a baseball trade which might be compared with the trading of a world's championship manager and possibly the flashiest second baseman of any day. Last year was Hornsby's eleventh full season with the Cardinals. His first big year was 1920, when he batted .370. After reaching .397 the next year, he went over the .400 mark in 1922, 1924 and 1925. His .424 in 1924 established a new modern major league batting mark. In 1922 he hit forty-two homers, the National League record. His batting feats eclipsed even those of Delahanty and Honus Wagner. Last year he was voted the most valuable player in his league.