Pitcher Josh Kinney of Port Allegany has been called up to the
major league roster of the St. Louis Cardinals, fulfilling a
lifelong dream.

Kinney, 25, was notified of the elevation in a phone call at 2
a.m. Sunday in his hotel room at Albuquerque, N.M.

Hours earlier, he had pitched two effective innings to help the
Memphis Redbirds hold on for a 3-2 win.

Team officials asked Kinney to board a plane and be in uniform
for Sunday’s game in St. Louis against the Kansas City Royals.

Although the Cardinals came into Sunday’s game in a virtual tie
with the Cincinnati Reds atop the National League’s Central
Division, they have been struggling in recent weeks.

After the St. Louis bullpen faltered in Saturday night’s game
with the Royals, manager Tony LaRussa, pitching coach Dave Duncan
and general manager Walt Jocketty held a closed-door meeting.

An hour later, Kinney got the call. Outfielder Timo Perez was
sent back down to Memphis to make room for Kinney on the major
league roster.

He’ll gladly forgo his selection as Memphis’ only representative
in next week’s Class AAA All-Star Game.

While he covets the role of closer on the major league squad,
that job is capably handled by one of the game’s best, Jason
Isringhausen.

Kinney will likely be a middle-inning relief specialist, setting
the stage for Isringhausen to do his thing in the ninth inning.

That’s a role to which Kinney adjusted well at Memphis. He led
the Redbirds with 35 game appearances. In 50 innings on the mound,
he struck out 51 batters, yielded just 32 hits and posted a
microscopic earned run average of 1.62.

Last year, Kinney was a workhorse out of the bullpen with the
Redbirds and the Cardinals’ AA squad in Springfield Cardinals. He
battled some arm soreness, but pronounced himself 100 percent ready
for the 2006 campaign.

Kinney spent most of the 2004 season with the Tennessee Smokies,
another Class AA affiliate of the Cardinals, recovering from
shoulder surgery.

Kinney, a 1997 graduate of Port Allegany High School, previously
played with the Cardinals’ Class AA Tennessee Smokies and, before
that with the Class A teams in Palm Beach, Fla., and Potomac,
Va.

He played his youth baseball in Roulette and Port Allegany and
was a member of the Oswayo Valley High School baseball team.

Josh is the son of Tom Kinney and Deb Brookens, both of Port
Allegany.