Sports
Westplex Today Sports Page: March 13, 2010:
By Bob Hudson
Mar 13, 2010 - 6:30:17 AM

The Cardinals had an unexpected day off in Jupiter, due to the weather. Floridians have a rule of thumb for rain: if you don’t like it, wait five minutes and it will be sunny again. Officials didn’t pay that much attention because not only did they call off Friday's game against the Red Sox at Roger Dean Stadium, but a number of other Grapefruit League contests were also lost to the weather.  The Redbirds contest has been rescheduled for March 22nd. 

The Cards will have to play the makeup as a split squad contest as they already have a game against the Astros scheduled for that day.  Rich Hill was scheduled to get the nod, with fellow fifth-starter candidate Kyle McClellan also among the scheduled pitchers.  The Sox were to counter with Clay Buchholz.  Over the weekend, the Cards will host a split squad from Houston on Saturday, then travel to Viera to take on the Nationals.  Chris Carpenter will remain the starter for tomorrow's contest. 

The St Louis Blues will try to make it two wins in a row tonight when they face the Blue Jackets in Columbus. It will be the penultimate stop of a six-game road trip for the Note. Thursday, the Blues beat the Islanders 2-1 at Nassau Coliseum, which put St. Louis at 3-and-1 so far on the trip. It was also the team's sixth win in its last seven games. The Blues are currently in 10th place in the Western Conference, where the top eight teams get playoff berths. With 71 points, the Blues trail eighth-place Calgary by six points, and ninth-place Detroit by five points.  The trip will wrap up Sunday in Minnesota against the Wild. 
 

It will be a weekend filled with college baseball for the local programs.  The Illini are playing in the Caravelle Resort Classic this weekend.  The opened the event by facing Lipscomb Friday and will wrap up the weekend against Ball State on Sunday. 

For a second-straight weekend, the Mizzou Tigers are hosting a softball tournament.   Last weekend, Mizzou won all four games it played in the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament. This weekend, Missouri will face New Mexico, Bradley, San Diego State, Illinois and Illinois State in the Children's Hospital Invitational. Overall, the third-ranked Tigers have won their last 11 games. 

Oshiomogho Atogwe will reportedly be a no-show when the Rams start off-season drills on Monday.  League sources have let slip word that the safety might not be at any team activities this summer due to his contract situation. Atogwe was tendered a 1.226-million-dollar contract by the Rams last week, making him a restricted free agent, which is the lowest amount a team can give a player of his experience. The Rams have the rights to match another team's offer, but wouldn't get a draft pick if they let Atogwe go. 

This is the third-straight off-season Atogwe was denied a long-term deal by the Rams. In 2008, he received a one-year tender for about two-million dollars. Last season, he was the team's franchise player and made 6.34-million dollars. Had the Rams given him a tender at another level for the upcoming season, he would have made nearly seven-million dollars .