Make it Five
Written by Mike on September 27, 2008 – 10:40 pm -
Five! Five wins! Ah ah ah! The Cardinals kept the winning streak going with another win over the Reds tonight, and with only one more game in the season, have a chance to end on a positive note.
Pin this win on Todd Wellemeyer. The Colonel was good again, giving up just three runs over 6.1 innings, while striking out three. Wellemeyer finishes the season 13-7, with a 3.71 ERA. Go ahead and write his name into the starting rotation next season, and use pen.
The Cardinals were able to put up eight runs, which included a two run shot from Troy Glaus, and solo homers from Felipe Lopez and Albert Pujols. Here’s tonight’s box score.
Kyle Lohse will take the mound for the Redbirds tomorrow afternoon, hoping to put an exclamation point on the end of the season for St. Louis. He’ll be opposed by lefty Adam Pettyjohn. Let’s end it the right way boys. Sweep!
Cards Trying to Finish Strong
Written by Mike on September 26, 2008 – 10:29 pm -What’s going on with the Birds on the Bat? They stayed in the race all season long before an ugly, unmotivated, and injury plagued September. Now that they’ve been eliminated, they’re winning baseball games again.
Taking three of four and spoiling the playoff chances for the Arizona Diamondbacks was first, and now the Cardinals have stretched their winning streak to four games with tonight’s win over the Reds. They’re now 84-76, despite a September record of 10-13, with two more games to play in the ‘08 season.
You could argue that the games don’t count anymore, but in some ways they still do. Maybe the guys aren’t playing for October, but they could be playing for pride. Some could be playing for milestones. Some could be playing for next year’s paycheck, and some for next year’s opportunity. Whatever the reason, seeing the Cards play winning baseball is still fun, and much better than the alternative.
The latest win didn’t come until the bottom of the ninth, when Troy Glaus knocked in Felipe Lopez with a walk-off sacrifice fly. The final score was 7-6, with Ryan Franklin getting both the blown save and the win. It’s crap. Franklin was again the worst of the Cardinal pitching, and doesn’t deserve any more positive statistics. Here’s a quick recap of tonight’s action, along with the complete box score.
Tomorrow’s game features Todd Wellemeyer and Aaron Harang. Hopefully the Cardinals can continue to roll, and end this season on a high note.
In the other meaningful action, the Marlins beat the Mets 6-1, while the Brewers beat the Cubs 5-1. Milwaukee again leads the Wild Card race by a game, but I’m really hoping they blow it. If I have to see any more shirt untucking I’ll probably puke. Go Cubs!
Cubs Even the Series
Written by Mike on September 10, 2008 – 10:50 pm -
Ted Lilly is good, and that sucks. Really, he’s good. Seriously, that sucks. Lilly kept the Cardinal hitters off balance all night, lasting eight innings, giving up just one run on five hits. He was brilliant. To me, he looks hittable. I guess to Major League hitters, he’s not.
So you’d think that Lilly’s dominance was the difference in the game. You’d be wrong. Blame it on the Cardinals’ defense. The Cards committed two errors, both by Felipe Lopez at third, but they had several other defensive miscues, and it clearly cost them the game. Only one of the Chicago’s four runs was earned, and the Cardinals lost the game 4-3. Here’s the full recap and box score.
I took note of a few other things in tonight’s loss:
- Jason Motte still kicks ass.
- Josh Kinney was awesome. Welcome back.
- Ryan Ludwick now has 33 home runs.
- Cubs pitchers and balks go hand in hand.
- Josh Phelps shouldn’t play in left field.
Chances are, since you’re reading this, you follow the Cardinals as closely as I do. I’m sure you were scoreboard watching, and noticed that although the Phillies lost to the Marlins, both the Brewers and the Astros won tonight, which is bad news for the Redbirds. The Cardinals have now fallen to fourth place in the NL Central, trailing the Cubs by nine games, and 4.5 games back in the Wild Card race.
Yesterday was great. Tonight was horrible. That’s the way it goes, I guess. One thing is for sure, though, the National League Central can no longer be considered a weak division.
So, tomorrow is another day. It’s the rubber game of this heated rivalry. Todd Wellemeyer gets the ball for the Cardinals. Rich Harden will take the mound for the Small Bears. A Cardinal win is imperative for their playoff hopes. Go Cards!
Losing Continues
Written by Mike on September 1, 2008 – 8:05 pm -
After getting swept by the Astros in Houston, the Cardinals headed into Arizona hoping to get back on track. Instead, they squandered another early lead, and are pushing themselves out of the playoff hunt altogether.
Unlike the final game in Houston, the Cards brought their bats today, putting up five runs in the first two innings courtesy of home runs from Yadier Molina, Joe Mather, Albert Pujols, and Felipe Lopez. They’d manage to put up only one more through the remaining seven innings, which wasn’t enough.
Anytime you score six runs and lose, you can’t fault the offense. Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro gave up four runs in his five innings of work, but the bullpen gave the D-Backs four more. I’ve beat up on the bullpen all year, and frankly, I’m tired of writing about their inability to get the job done. You know the story. Cards are winning. Blown save. Cards lose.
There was one performance from today’s game that stood out. Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew went 5 for 5, and hit for the cycle. Now there’s something you don’t see everyday. Too bad he plays for the wrong team. Here’s today’s box score.
Adam Wainwright will attempt to stop the bleeding tomorrow night. He’ll be opposed by Yusmeiro Petit. The Redbirds need wins. Their elimination number for the Wild Card is now down to 19. They have 24 games to play.
The Cardinals did make some roster moves today, but with more to come tomorrow, I think I’ll wait until then so I can post the complete list of September call-ups.
Finally, the St. Louis candidates for the Ford C. Frick Award have been announced, and Mike Shannon and Dan McLaughlin top the list. Matthew Leach has the full story.
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!
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.
Young Arms Make it Three in a Row
Written by Mike on August 15, 2008 – 7:53 pm -The Cardinals began a three game series with the Reds tonight in Cincinnati, the third city of their ten game road trip. After taking three of four from the Marlins, the Cards looked to keep things rolling at Great American Ballpark.
Brad Thompson got the start in place of the injured Chris Carpenter. Despite giving up a leadoff home run to his first batter, Thompson pitched fairly well. He lasted five innings to notch the win, allowing 3 runs, on 3 hits, while striking out 4. One of the runs was unearned. Jaime Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Ron Villone, and Chris Perez combined for four scoreless innings, with Perez earning his fourth save.
The Cards scored five runs spread across four innings, including a two run homer off the bat of Rick Ankiel in the first. Albert Pujols and Felipe Lopez were each on base three times, and Jason LaRue got in on the action with a pair of RBI.
St. Louis out hit Cincinnati 10-5, and won the game 5-3. Here’s the full recap and box score. The Cards are 5-3 so far on this road trip, which includes winning the last three straight ball games. They improve to 13 games over .500, at 69-56, with 37 games left in the season. They gained no ground on the Cubs, when Florida’s closer Kevin Gregg blew a two run lead in the ninth, giving Chicago another win. The Cards still trail Milwaukee by three games in the Wild Card race, with a chance to pick up a half-game if the Brewers lose in L.A. tonight.
It looks like Carpenter will miss at least one more start, as he was placed on the 15-day DL today, retroactive to his last appearance. Brian Barton takes his place on the roster. Joe Strauss has the full story.
Maybe a healthy Adam Wainwright can be the shot in the arm this team needs to have an extended run. He’ll make what could be his final rehab start tomorrow night for AA Springfield. With Carpenter out again, and Perez making the most of his late inning chances, I’m hoping to see Adam in the rotation.
Joel Pineiro will get the ball in game two of the series in Cincinnati tomorrow night. The Reds will counter with Aaron Harang. Let’s make it four in a row!
Cards Pummel Zambrano, Cubs
Written by Mike on August 9, 2008 – 9:32 pm -
YES! You know him. You hate him. The ace of the Chicago staff, Carlos Zambrano, and all of his cockiness, were at the center of some extremely entertaining television this afternoon when the Cardinals’ offense put on a hitting clinic.
After losing game one of the series with a subpar showing from the offense, the Redbirds showed up at Wrigley today ready for redemption. Facing Zambrano in Chicago is no easy task. Before today’s game, he was unbeaten at home in ‘08. The Cards were able to chase him out of the game after only 4.1 innings, in which he gave up 9 runs on 10 hits. Yep. 9 runs! Let’s count them:
- 1st inning: Ludwick singles in Schumaker from second
- 3rd inning: Schumaker hits a solo home run
- 3rd inning: Pujols hits a solo home run
- 4th inning: Glaus hits a two run homer
- 5th inning: Lopez singles in Pujols
- 5th inning: Glaus hits a three run home run
And Big Z was done. His nine earned runs were the most he’s ever allowed. The Cards continued to pile on, winning the game 12-3.
With all of the thunder from the Cardinal bats, it’s easy to forget just how important the strong outing from Todd Wellemeyer was. Making his first career start at Wrigley against his former team, the Colonel was impressive. With excellent command, Wellemeyer lasted 6.2 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 5. The bullpen was able to get the final seven outs without incident, which is an accomplishment in itself. Here’s the complete box score.
Game three of the series is tomorrow night, with Chris Carpenter facing off against Ryan Dempster. A win would certainly add some momentum heading into the four game set in Miami.
