Looper Gets Shelled in Loss
Written by Mike on August 31, 2008 – 11:50 am -Ugly. Really, really ugly. After getting spotted a three run lead by Rick Ankiel’s homer in the first inning of game two in Houston, starter Braden Looper immediately put the Cardinals in a hole by giving up six runs in the bottom half. Manager Tony La Russa stayed with the pitcher into the fifth, but turned to his bullpen after a two run homer off the bat of Geoff Blum. Looper’s line: 4.1 innings, 8 earned runs on 11 hits, 3 walks, and 1 strikeout. Ugh! Here’s the box score.
It’s tough to watch the Cardinals lose games to lesser teams down the stretch. They’re now back down to only 12 games over .500, with a record of 74-62. What’s worse is they’ve gone 4-6 in their last ten games, and are now tied with the Phillies at 5.5 games behind the NL Wild Card leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Game three against Houston is later this afternoon. Todd Wellemeyer will try to keep the Astros hitters in check to prevent the sweep. He can’t do any worse than Looper.
Houston Delivers Tough Loss
Written by Mike on August 30, 2008 – 7:22 pm -The Cardinals began their six game road trip last night with a heartbreaking loss to the Houston Astros. For the Cards, time is running out, and every loss puts them further out of the race.
The game started off as a pitchers duel between Kyle Lohse and Randy Wolf. Lohse held the Astros scoreless through six before giving up a two run homer to David Newhan. The Cardinal starter left the game after eight very solid innings with the game tied at two.
When the Cardinals didn’t score in the top of the ninth, veteran reliever Russ Springer was summoned out of the bullpen to pitch the bottom half. After getting the first out, Springer served up a walk-off homer to Lance Berkman, putting the Cards another game off the Wild Card pace. 3-2 was the final. Here’s the complete box score.
Game two is tonight, with Braden Looper facing Brian Moehler. The Cardinals have come back to win each series this season against Houston, despite losing the first game in each. Hopefully, another win is in the Cards.
Cards Earn a Split
Written by Mike on August 28, 2008 – 7:37 pm -After losing big in the first game of the short series against Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Cardinals “played a hard nine” to take game two last night.
It was Adam Wainwrights second start since coming off the disabled list. He wasn’t dominant, but he definitely got the job done. He lasted 6 innings on 89 pitches, allowing 3 runs (2 earned), and got a pair of strikeouts. Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin each pitched a scoreless inning to bridge the gap to the ninth for Chris Perez.
After taking the lead with a four run eighth, the Cardinals looked once again to Perez to close it out. He was outstanding. Perez picked up his sixth save with three swinging strikeouts against the heart of the Milwaukee order. Derrick Goold has an excellent article on the rookie over at Bird Land.
The offense was quiet until the sixth, when Ryan Ludwick hit a solo homer off of Manny Parra. Ludwick still leads the team in home runs with 32. The Cards stranded the bases loaded in the seventh, and some words were exchanged between Albert Pujols and Carlos Villanueva. The rally came in the very next inning, with RBI going to Ludwick, Troy Glaus, Aaron Miles, and Felipe Lopez. More on the extracurriculars from Bernie Miklasz.
The final score was 5-3. Here’s the complete box score. The win bumped the Cardinals back up to 3.5 games behind the Brewers in the Wild Card race. The Phillies loom just a half-game behind the Cards, although they’ve just started a four game series against the Cubs in Chicago.
Following the day off today, the Cards will open a three game set in Houston tomorrow night. Kyle Lohse gets the ball for the Redbirds, while lefty Randy Wolf will start for the Astros. Milwaukee plays Pittsburgh, so anything less than a sweep of Houston would have to be considered unsuccessful. Go Cards!
A Frustrating Loss for the Cardinals
Written by Mike on August 26, 2008 – 11:10 pm -
The clock is ticking, and the Cardinals need wins. We would have liked to see a two game sweep to begin the home stand against Pittsburgh. But the Cards split. We would have liked to see a three game sweep against Atlanta. But the they could only take two. And in what seems like the most important series of the second half, we would have liked to see the Redbirds get redemption with a pair of wins against Milwaukee. Game one is in the books. Brewers 12, Cardinals 0.
From looking at the final score, you would think that starter Todd Wellemeyer had a bad game, and it got out of hand in a hurry. That wasn’t the case at all, as Wellemeyer was down by only three runs after six. He left the game after two batters in the seventh, on 112 pitches, finishing with a line of 6 innings, 5 runs (4 earned), and 5 strikeouts.
The Cardinals used four relievers to finish the game, the worst being Brad Thompson, who allowed four runs in his one-plus. Jaime Garcia allowed three more runs before finishing the top of the ninth.Nothing doing for the St. Louis offense. They managed seven hits, five of which were off of Ben Sheets, but couldn’t get anyone around, stranding eight runners on base. Here’s tonight’s full recap and box score.
So it’s another loss, moving the Cardinals record to 3-3 on this home stand and 73-60 overall. They now trail the Brewers by 4.5 games in the Wild Card race. Is it a more significant loss than any other? Depends on who you ask.
“I think, to us, these are our biggest games all year,” said Cardinal reliever Ryan Franklin.
Manager Tony La Russa knows these games are important, but also acknowledges that they won’t determine whether or not the Cards make the playoffs.
“The biggest thing is that this two-game series will not determine October chances for either club,” La Russa said.
So while we die hard Cardinal fans feel like the playoff bus is leaving the station, and we don’t have tickets, we have to remember a couple of things. First, these same two clubs play again tomorrow, and win for the Redbirds ensures no more lost ground. And secondly, there are still 28 more games after that one. A lot can happen.
Look for Adam Wainwright to lead the Cards to a win tomorrow night, and we’ll all feel better afterwards.
Batting Stance Guy
Written by Mike on August 24, 2008 – 12:43 pm -Just to lighten the mood after yesterday’s loss, we’ll revisit the Batting Stance Guy. Enjoy!
Offensive Outburst Earns Cards a Split
Written by Mike on August 21, 2008 – 11:17 pm -Just a quick post today, as the team has the day off. I’m working on a rather lengthy post for the weekend when the team hosts the Braves.
Last night the Cardinals were able to trounce the Pirates 11-2. They tallied 13 hits, and scored in five of their eight innings at the plate. Jason LaRue got the scoring started in the second inning with a sacrifice fly, and added a two-run homer in the seventh. Rick Ankiel also went deep with a two run shot in the third, his 24th.
Todd Wellemeyer earned his eleventh win of the season, pitching 5 innings, giving up a pair of runs on 5 hits. He also struck out five. Russ Springer, Jaime Garcia, Ryan Franklin, and Chris Perez threw a shutout for the remaining four frames. Here’s the complete box score.
The Cardinals could have used some of those runs on Tuesday, when the offense was silent until the ninth inning. The series split didn’t allow the team to gain any ground on Milwaukee in the Wild Card race.
A three game series against Atlanta starts tomorrow night, with Adam Wainwright scheduled to take the mound for the first time since his finger injury. Charlie Morton will pitch for the Braves. With the regular season winding down in hurry, hopefully the Cards feel a sense of urgency, and can string together a nice winning streak. Who better to start the streak than Wainwright?
Pitchers Making Headlines
Written by Mike on August 20, 2008 – 4:13 pm -In the stretch run to keep their playoff hopes alive, the St. Louis Cardinals started the current seven game home stand with a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. The loss was especially frustrating for fans when the offense and defense couldn’t show up to compliment the outstanding pitching performance from Braden Looper. He went 7 innings, allowing 1 run and only 3 hits. Here’s the full recap and box score.
Another starter, Adam Wainwright, is ready to get back to pitching in the big leagues, but is still sitting on the disabled list, waiting for the news on his role, or worse, his next rehab assignment. I cannot fathom what’s going through the heads of those in charge. It seems as if Adam doesn’t understand it either.
“It’s frustrating to know I’m ready to pitch and I don’t have a role,” Wainwright said.
Joe Strauss has the full story, complete with all the quotes from the pitcher, as well as some responses from Tony La Russa. It’s a must read.
For some reason, the indecisiveness leads back to staff ace, Chris Carpenter. He was scheduled to do some more throwing today at Busch Stadium, and the outcome would likely dictate what the Cardinals do with Wainwright. It makes no sense to me.
Update (7:00 pm): Adam Wainwright will start Friday against Atlanta. Hooray!
Sticking with starters, Kyle Lohse has received a five game suspension from Major League Baseball for throwing a pitch up and in to Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez. Are you fucking kidding me?! He didn’t even hit the guy. He just threw it inside. What is this game coming to when you get suspended and fined for throwing near a batter? I was furious when Volquez and manager Dusty Baker weren’t ejected in that game after Felipe Lopez was hit. Both benches had already been warned. Why no ejection? I know that it’s the umpires discretion, and if he believes a player was hit intentionally, he can throw out the pitcher without warning. If he can also leave a pitcher in after a warning, then what the hell is the point of the warning? Seriously. Anyway, here’s the press release.
Finally, the news on Jason Isringhausen. The results of his latest MRI revealed a partial flexor tear, and thus puts an end to his season. Robert Falkoff has the story. It’s a tough break, in a rough season for Izzy. I was hoping to see him reach the 300 saves milestone soon.
Series Preview - Pirates @ Cards
Written by Mike on August 18, 2008 – 8:55 pm -
The Cardinals enjoyed only their second day off since the All-Star break today, but it’s just one of four off days scheduled in the next eleven days. We knew the schedule makers were out of their minds when they had the Cards traveling to Detroit for the third consecutive year this season, but this makes me believe that they really do just throw darts at a calendar.
Tomorrow at Busch Stadium, the Cards will play the first of a short, two game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates before taking another day of rest. Braden Looper (11-9, 4.07 ERA) will face Ian Snell (4-10, 5.91 ERA). On Wednesday, it’s a battle between Todd Wellemeyer (10-4, 3.79 ERA) and Jason Davis (1-2, 1.80 ERA).
St. Louis needs to start this seven game home stand off with a bang, and I wouldn’t be satisfied without a sweep of the Bucs. With only 35 regular season games remaining, and the Cardinals trailing the Brewers by 2.5 games in the Wild Card race, playing .500 or slightly better baseball isn’t going to get them playing in October.
Pittsburgh comes to town with an abysmal 56-69 record, while the Redbirds, at 70-57, are only eight wins from matching last year’s total. The Cards haven’t been as good as expected at home this season, only five games over even, but that needs to change, starting tomorrow.
This is the last visit of the year for Pittsburgh. Remember the final visit the Pirates made to St. Louis last season? It was a four game series beginning on September 3rd. The next night was the debut of the famous rally squirrel, and the Cards won 6-4. Maybe we’ll see him again!
Lastly, a programming note. I finally got the pictures from the series with the Marlins uploaded. There’s quite a few horrible shots, but here’s the link anyway, and it’s also now listed in the photos section of the sidebar.
[Image Credit: Cardinals Clubhouse]
Bird Bits
Written by Mike on August 17, 2008 – 10:13 am -First off, I’d be remiss to not point out a debate going on over at Viva El Birdos this morning. houstoncardinal, one of the regular posters at VEB has sparked some heated conversation on the subject of Cardinal prospect Colby Rasmus. He claims that it would benefit the team to call up the youngster and play him in the outfield everyday in place of Skip Schumaker. I think it’s an asinine idea, but rather than hash out why again, I’ll let you read my comments, as well as many others, here. There’s nothing like a baseball debate, and if nothing else, the author did get me in the mood for some baseball today.
Next, check out the odds of who’s going to win the National League Wild Card in an article in the Post Dispatch from Joe Strauss. I still like our chances.
And finally, for those like me that were wondering if we’d see the “B team” out there today for Tony La Russa, here’s the Cardinals’ starting lineup:
- Skip Schumaker CF
- Ryan Ludwick RF
- Albert Pujols 1B
- Rick Ankiel LF
- Troy Glaus 3B
- Adam Kennedy 2B
- Yadier Molina C
- Kyle Lohse P
- Cesar Izuris SS
It’s nice to see the regulars in there while the Cards go for the sweep. With only 36 games left in the season and so many off days coming up, I think it’s time to play the best nine every day.
Four Straight Wins
Written by Mike on August 16, 2008 – 7:59 pm -
With a fine performance from Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro, and four home runs from the supporting cast, the Cardinals picked up a decisive win against the Reds in Cincinnati.
Pineiro earned his third win in as many starts with six strong innings. He allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, and struck out 6 without issuing a walk. Jason Isringhausen, Russ Springer, and Ron Villone each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick each had a home run, while Albert Pujols hit a pair. 9-3 was the final score. Here’s the complete box score.
You can bet I switched over to the Cubs/Marlins game as soon as the Cardinals recorded the final out. Wouldn’t you know, Kevin Gregg was in trouble again in the ninth, clinging to a one run lead. The Fish prevailed this time, so St. Louis picks up a full game in the standings.
I mentioned yesterday that Adam Wainwright was scheduled to pitch tonight for the Springfield Cardinals. As Matthew Leach reports, the outing went well.
The Cards will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon with Kyle Lohse on the mound. The Reds will hand the ball to All-Star Edinson Volquez. I’m anxious to see if Tony La Russa uses his typical “getaway day lineup”, or sticks with the big guns due to the off day on Monday. I’ll have a pre-game post up early tomorrow after the lineups are announced. Already at 6-3, a Cardinal win would put an exclamation point on a very successful road trip.
