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Rams vs. Seahawks 2012: St. Louis can complete comeback season with Week 17 win

2012-12-30T21:53:26Z

The Rams look for that elusive winning season when they close the year Sunday against the Seahawks.

The St. Louis Rams aren't playing for a playoff spot Sunday in their season finale against the Seattle Seahawks, but there's still a good bit to play for. For one thing, the Rams have a shot at their first winning season since 2003.

The Rams (7-7-1) look to be the first road team to knock off the playoff-bound Seahawks at their home when they meet Sunday for a 3:25 p.m. CT kickoff at Qwest Field in Seattle. The Seahawks (10-5) are still playing for a chance at winning the NFC West. They'll need to beat the Rams and hope the Cardinals can upset the 49ers.

St. Louis, meanwhile, is looking to spoil their division foe's plans while looking for a rare (of late) winning season. The franchise has finished 8-8 just twice since making the playoffs with a 12-4 record in 2003, with every other year since then finishing under .500. They made the playoffs as a wild card in 2004 with an 8-8 record and haven't made the postseason since -- a dubious streak that, despite a surprisingly good first year under head coach Jeff Fisher, will continue one more year.

The Rams knocked off the Seahawks 19-13 when they met in Week 4. Sunday's Week 17 game between the NFC West opponents will be televised by FOX.

St. Louis Rams' offensive line can't stay healthy enough to protect Sam Bradford

2012-12-19T13:05:02Z

The St. Louis Rams lost free-agent center Scott Wells and left tackle Rodger Saffold for weeks at a time earlier in the season. Now they've lost Harvey Dahl for the rest of the year. Is another offensive lineman in their future for the 2013 NFL Draft?

A last-gasp effort for the St. Louis Rams to try to earn a spot in the playoffs got a little tougher Monday when an MRI confirmed that offensive lineman Harvey Dahl will miss the final two games due to a torn biceps muscle, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The injury will force Dahl to stay off the field for the first time since he signed with the Rams prior to the 2011 season. In the last two seasons, Dahl has started 30 games for the Rams and started 43 of a possible 48 games for the Falcons in the three seasons prior to that.

Finding rushing success has been difficult for the Rams in 2012, and the loss of the team's starting right guard will make the cause even tougher in the final two games. With only four through 14 games, only two teams have fewer rushing touchdowns.

Rams vs. Vikings score update: St. Louis trails, 33-7, entering fourth quarter

2012-12-16T20:32:25Z

The St. Louis Rams were unable to make up any ground against the Minnesota Vikings in the start of the second half and trail, 33-7, entering the fourth quarter of play.

The Vikings, who exploded for 23 points in the second quarter, were held to a 53-yard field goal in the third quarter. But St. Louis also struggled to get into any sort of offensive flow, failing to put up any points.

Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson continues to put up big numbers on the day, accounting for 142 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, good for an average of 7.5 yards per carry.

A St. Louis loss would drop the team to 6-7-1 on the season and seriously damper any remaining postseason hopes for the team. Today's game at the Edward Jones Dome is the last home matchup of the season for the Rams before going on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.

St. Louis Cardinals sign Ty Wigginton to confusingly long, expensive contract

2012-12-14T20:01:14Z

The St. Louis Cardinals signed erstwhile utility-man Ty Wigginton to be their right-handed bench bat, and Cardinals fans are busy wondering what he brings to the table.

The St. Louis Cardinals signed Ty Wigginton to a two-year, $5 million contract on Friday, surprising two kinds of people: People who thought Ty Wigginton was retired, and people who thought Ty Wigginton was on a succession of minor league deals at this point. Well, three classes of people--it probably surprised Matt Carpenter, too. There's no getting around, with this signing, just how bad Wigginton has been over the last two years--and how replacement-level he's been over the last six.

Ty Wigginton is absolutely not a second baseman anymore, if he ever was. He's not really a third baseman anymore--and if the Cardinals don't plan on trading Matt Carpenter after making this move, the question is academic, because he's not as good as Matt Carpenter. He's a first baseman, but he'll play behind the Cardinals' other right-handed first baseman who's no longer a third baseman, Allen Craig.

Basically, he's a guy who will take swings against left-handers. He was reasonable there last year, hitting .234/.360/.411 in 150 plate appearances. But are the Cardinals really paying him $2.5 million a year for 150 plate appearances? We'll see what John Mozeliak says about it later, but right now this looks like a minor league contract that inexplicably metastasized.

St. Louis Cardinals' latest international signing is Dominican (and American) right-hander Alex Reyes

2012-12-14T19:15:04Z

The St. Louis Cardinals made their first big Latin American signing since Carlos Martinez when they signed Alex Reyes out of the Dominican Republic (kind of) for $950,000.

The St. Louis Cardinals have signed an 18-year old right handed pitcher from the Dominican Republic whose story is a little different from most international prospects. Alex Reyes was raised in Elizabeth, NJ with his parents before moving to the Caribbean to stay with extended famly. Reyes was given a $950,000 bonus to sign with the Cardinals, the second highest given to a pitcher out of the Dominican Republic this year. The Chicago Cubs gave right handed pitcher Juan Carlos Paniagua $1.5 million earlier this year.

Reyes reportedly has a fastball that tops out in the low-90's while occasionally touching slightly higher on the radar gun. When it comes to offspeed pitches, Reyes relies on a good changeup but mixes in a curveball or two as well.

The converted shortstop could start his professional career in the Gulf Coast League thanks to his fluency in both English and Spanish in addition to his age.

Danny Amendola injury: Will Rams vs.Vikings be a return to normalcy for St. Louis's top receiver?

2012-12-14T14:45:49Z

The St. Louis Rams have, for three weeks running, watched as foot problems forced Danny Amendola to the bench. Does his practice participation in Week 15 mean things will change?

This Sunday's game between the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings is critical for both teams, with each desperately needing a victory to stay in the hunt for a Wild Card playoff spot in the NFC. The Rams would love to have their best wide receiver back for the most critical game of the season, and Danny Amendola could be on the field Sunday. He was limited in practice for the second straight day as he deals with a foot issue that has kept him on the sidelines for the last two weeks.

Running back Steven Jackson was limited in practice after sitting out Wednesday with a foot injury, and tight end Mike McNeill was in the same practice situation while dealing with a thigh injury. Center Scott Wells was able to fully participate after sitting out Wednesday with a knee injury.

The news isn't as good on the defensive side of the ball, where linebacker James Laurinaitis (back) and cornerback Cortland Finnegan (ankle) both missed practice for the second day in a row. Safety Craig Dahl was at full speed after missing Wednesday's practice with a head injury.

Skip Schumaker trade: St. Louis Cardinals send longtime utilityman to Los Angeles Dodgers for prospect

2012-12-12T09:19:54Z

The St. Louis Cardinals traded Skip Schumaker to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jake Lemmerman Tuesday, pending the results of a physical.

It's unfortunate that I used up all my Los Angeles Dodgers Are In On Every Player rumor jokes when I was talking about their pursuit of Kyle Lohse, because they've picked an even weirder St. Louis Cardinals player to get involved with over the Winter Meetings: Skip Schumaker, the Cardinals' saber-fanbase's least favorite gritty, hustling utility infielder-outfielder.

In Schumaker's defense, he's been above replacement level for most of his career, and was—a little stunningly—an average second baseman for a year after he was converted from the outfield at the age of 29. But he was perennially overrated by the previous administration (and anybody who looks at batting average but not slugging percentage) so the goodwill his incredibly transition earned him didn't last. In 2012 some combination of the front office and Mike Matheny marginalized him, even after a hot start had his batting average up.

The Cardinals have him under contract for 2013, so this is one player the Dodgers can't just sign—but expect any prospect or player return to be minor. Because you were probably wondering, the Dodgers carried three left-handed relievers for at least part of last year. Scott Elbert is too good to be returned in a Schumaker trade and not a lefty specialist, though he's used like one; Randy Choate, who took an incredible 36 appearances to pitch 13 innings, is a free agent; and Paco Rodriguez is 21-years-old and was drafted in June. Alas.

St. Louis Rams visit Buffalo Bills with unlikely playoff berth on the line

2012-12-09T18:07:10Z

The St. Louis Rams' winning is making their losing retroactively less bearable.

The St. Louis Rams' recent winning ways have pushed them into the playoff race, and that is weird. I don't want to devalue that very important point. Say what you will about Jeff Fisher, about the young defense, about Winning Being Contagious, but it still surprises me. They go into Sunday's matchup with the Buffalo Bills with the chance to improve to the statistically improbable record of 6-6-1.

But the weirdest thing the Rams' wins (and the tie) have done—stranger even than putting them into the playoff race—is make all their near-miss losses (and the tie) feel like lost opportunities, instead of learning experiences. It was much easier to stomach their failure to put away the Detroit Lions in Week 1, for instance, before that became the one thing keeping them from a .500 record; it was simpler to chalk their failure to put away the San Francisco 49ers up to inexperience before they beat the San Francisco 49ers a few weeks later.

None of those games have changed, but the context certainly has-this is somehow, for all its failings, a team that could contend for an NFC Wild Card spot. That's really good news for next year, aside from the devaluation of their draft picks, but every win forces our eyes off next year's promise and on to their inconsistent, infuriating-in-hindsight 2012 season. We'll see what happens after Sunday's assignment on the road and in the cold against the Buffalo Bills.