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I am not much of an Opening Day guy. Don’t put much stock in what a team does in it’s first “real” appearance of a season. Too many times, I’ve seen teams that look great or terrible on opening day, and then wind up being just the opposite.

The 2010 Cardinal edition is a little different. They are what they are. And, they ARE terrific. What we saw on opening day is exactly what we expected to see. Albert Pujols and cast hitting home runs, the club scoring a lot of runs, starting pitcher Chris Carpenter delivering a sterling effort, and the bullpen struggling.

I would expect to see much of the same this season. The lineup has a chance to be outstanding. The rotation of Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, Brad Penny and Jaime Garcia should be consistently solid. And, the way Ryan Franklin performed down the stretch last year and in spring training this year leads one to believe that he’s going to have to find the mojo he had in the first five months last year.

It should be a good 2010 for the Cardinals, and this year, Opening Day SHOULD be an indication of things to come.