Results tagged ‘ St. Louis Cardinals ’
Cards’ Wings Clipped in Rubber Game
Thursday night’s game in St. Louis very well could be the point of no return for the St. Louis Cardinals as they fell to the Chicago Cubs in game three of three game series. With both Houston and Philadelphia winning while Milwaukee lost, a shaking up of the Wild Card standings was inevitable. St. Louis remained 4.5 games back of the Brewers, while the Astros passed them up in the standings, moving to 3 games back with the Phillies. Tony LaRussa’s ball club would have it hard enough to be chasing two teams, now adding a third team to the mix makes it that much more difficult for the Cardinals to find a way into the playoffs.
A tight ballgame was being had in St. Louis, with pitching that was very solid for the first 4 innings of the matchup. Todd Wellemeyer and Rich Harden both performing well with the rain falling in St. Louis. Unofrtunately, Wellemeyer would be on the bad end of an error from sure-handed firstbasemen, Albert Pujols. Uncharacteristically of Pujols, everyone in the ballpark was in disbelief as the error allowed two Cub runners to cross home plate later in the inning. Two runs were only given up by Wellemeyer, both unearned. St. Louis got themselves on the board in the bottom of the 6th-inning when Albert (Pujols) dobuled to left that scored Aaron Miles. Pujols’ RBI double gave him 100 RBI’s on the season and puts him in company with Al Simmons and Ted Williams as the only players in history to begin his career with eight straight 100-RBI season. Felipe Lopez followed Ryan Ludwicks groundout with a sharp single to center, scoring Pujols easily. The 6th-inning would be the only inning the Cardinals would manage to score in, as they were shut down the rest of the way, but not without threatening, though.
In the bottom of the 8th-inning, Aaron Miles lead off the inning with a single, bring up the always dangerous Alert Pujols, yet again. Carlos Marmol, who was pitching for the Cubs made an attempted pickoff move to first, but didn’t step off the rubber before faking a throw. Thus is a balk in baseball, which would allow each runner to move up one base. Homeplate umpire, Mike Reilly did not call the balk, which very well could have cost the Cardinals the game. Sadly, I was able to catch the balk instantaneously, while these Major League umpires couldn’t pick it up. Any of the three other umpires could have stepped forward, but no call was made by any of them. As an umpire I know the stress that is put on you, as I umpire youth league baseball from ages 12-18. I hate to blame an umpire for a loss because I’m simply not the person that tries to find excuses for a bad outcome, but this call could have been a huge swing for the Cardinals at that point in the game.
With the Cardinals 4.5 games back in the Wild Card now, the door seems to be closing more rapidly as the Astros continue to make yet another late-season run for a playoff bid. Philadelphia doesn’t look to be going anywhere either with MVP candidate Ryan Howard leading the way for the Phils. Although, the Brewers seem to be fading for the second straight season, that will not be enough, as the Cardinals look to chase Houston and Philadelphia as well. LaRussa has done a great job with keeping this team afloat all season long, let’s just hope the recent injuries won’t be the demise of the St. Louis Cardinals for the 2008 season.
Lilly, Errors too Much for Cardinals
Left-handed veteran starter, Ted Lilly was outstanding in tonight’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lilly improved to 14-9 on the season, but made every bit of this outing count, both on the mound and on the base paths. The first inning was the only hiccup Lilly had on the night, when he allowed a run on an Albert Pujols RBI ground out, bringing his season total to 99. With the first inning behind him, Lilly put the Cardinals on lock for the next seven innings, shutting them out while only allowing four hits in his last seven innings of work without walking a single batter. After a two inning outing against the Reds, Ted Lilly made sure to right the ship for the struggling Cubs, only needing to throw 90 pitches (63 for strikes) to get through eight innings of work.
The mound wasn’t the only place Lilly managed to do damage against St. Louis. After a bunt that lead to an error on Felipe Lopez at third, when he tried to make a force play into a tag play, Lilly reached first on a fielder’s choice. The very next play, Lopez made another error after making a spectacular diving play to his left, got up to make a throw to second, making a low throw in the dirt. Lilly, running to second on the play, didn’t slide and ran over Cardinal second basemen, Adam Kennedy. With Derek Lee at the plate, Lilly tried to score on a soft chopper to Ceaser Iztruis, who threw Lilly out at home. With the close play at home, Lilly went in hard at home, trying to jar the ball loose from Yadier Molina, where Lilly’s knee went into the thigh of Molina. Molina suffered a bruised thigh which would later be the reason for him leaving the game after his at-bat in the bottom of the 4th-inning.
Lou Pineilla would take the ball from Ted Lilly after the 8th-inning and hand it to tenured Cub, Kerry Wood. After a strikeout of Felipe Lopez, Albert Pujols came to the dish, looking to spark some sort of rally for his Cardinals. Pujols doubled to deep right, giving exactly what the Cardinals were looking for; baserunners. Ryan Ludwick took a pitch out to deep right-center for a two run bomb, bringing the Cardinals within a run, while notching his 101st RBI and 33rd homer on the season. Kerry Wood would go on to retire the next two Cardinal batters, one by means of the strikeout, and another on a flyout to center. Wood obtained his 29th save on the year, but has made a number of those saves very interesting, keeping manager Lou Piniella on his toes.
The late-inning surge by the Cardinals was not enough to mount a complete comeback, but shows the type of heart St. Louis has shown all year. Tony LaRussa has his club using the “never-give-up” attitude which has kept them within contention for a playoff berth. Hopefully, the Cardinals can keep that attitude up, and overcome the newest dose of injuries to Troy Glaus and Yadier Molina. It’s up in the air now, but it’s only a matter of time before the playoffs will be set, and the postseason to begin. Intriguing is the most fitting word to use to describe the playoff races down the stretch.
Birds Not Dead Just Yet
Albert Pujols has taken the St. Louis Cardinal team and put them on his back, carrying the team the last week. Pujols, who has an elbow injury has taken it upon himself to come up clutch in key situations that could change the ballgame. Making a bid for yet another 30+ homer 100 RBI year, Pujols homered last night off of Ryan Dempster to tie the game at three a piece, brining Pujols’ season RBI total to 98. He’s already reached the 30 homer plateau, but remains two RBI’s away from 100.
The Cardinals have won three straight, but Pujols hasn’t been the only person helping the Cardinals win in this recent streak. The starting pitching has also been giving the Cardinals a big lift in the last four or five games. After coming back from injury, Adam Wainwright has been outstanding in his four starts. In those four starts, he’s 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA fanning 19, and a stat that’s even better, the Cardinals have won all of the games Wainwright has started since his injury. Todd Wellemeyer also put forth a good effort in his last start to earn a victory against one of his former teams, the Florida Marlins.
With the Brewers wining this afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds, the Cardinals are now 4 games out, and need a win tonight against the NL Central leading Cubs to keep pace with the Brewers. If the Cardinals can win tonight, they’ll remain 3.5 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card. Philadelphia, who is currently losing to the Florida Marlins, 2-1, are also ahead of the Cardinals in the Wild Card race, but could fall behind the Cardinals tonight with a Phillies loss, and a Cardinal victory. St. Louis has 18 games left, and is still very much alive in the National League Wild Card. It should be a fun race as September continues.
8th-inning rally pushes Cards passed Brew Crew
Hopeful Cardinals fans witnessed a sight that should present more hope for their scrappy bunch of ballplayers. The Milwaukee Brewers came to St. Louis looking to stretch their lead in the Wild Card race, while the Cardinals were looking to the exact opposite.
With a 12-0 victory for the Beer Men, the Cardinals looked like a cellar dwelling team, instead of a lively ball club fighting for a playoff berth. Resiliency has been one term that the Cardinals could use about this season. They’ve always had resiliency. Not going on long losing skids that would resemble the 2006 campaign. Although, we all know what happened in ’06.
In the second of a two game series, St. Louis was trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th-inning, when Ryan Ludwick blasted his 32nd homer on the year, cutting the lead to 3-1. Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin teamed up to pitch scoreless 7th and 8th-innings respectively. After Franklin finished his inning on the mound, the Cardinals came to bat, but with a little more fire than usual. At the end of the 7th, relief pitcher, Carlos Villanueva got out of the inning, and began yelling towards the St. Louis dugout. Pujols, the on deck batter, walked towards Villanueva as he was walking off the mound toward the visiting dugout. Pujols and Villanueva jawed back and forth for about a minute, with homeplate umpire, Phil Cuzzi trying to keep Pujols from going after the right-handed reliever.
Unfortunately, for David Riske, Villanueva got him into trouble. “He woke a sleeping bear” Pujols said. Riske back-to-back doubles, to Pujols and Ludwick, Ludwicks being the latter, also driving in a run. Troy Glaus came to the plate and singled to beat the shift the Milwaukee defense had set for him, plating Ludwick to tie the game at 3. Good baserunning allowed the Cardinals to score the go-ahead run as Glaus took second base on the throw from Mike Cameron to try to cut down Ryan Ludwick at the plate. Yadier Molina did his job, grounding out to the right side, allowing Glaus to advance to third on the play.
Brewers manager, Ned Yost, was playing a matchup as he brought in Brian Shouse to face Skip Schumaker to create a lefty-on-lefty matchup. LaRussa quickly countered with switch-hitting Aaron Miles as a pinch-hitter. Miles hit a groundball to shorstop, J.J. Hardy, in which Troy Glaus bolted home on contact, and with a smart slide was able to avoid the tag of Jason Kendall to give the Cardinals the lead on the fielder’s choice. After a sac-bunt from Braden Looper, Felipe Lopez singled and Miles scored to make the score 5-3 in favor of the Redbirds.
Rookie “closer” Chris Perez took the ball from Tony LaRussa in the top of the 9th-inning, pitching a solid inning. He gave up one hit in the inning, a double to J.J. Hardy, but he fanned the other three batters he faced in the inning. One being his old college teammate, Ryan Braun. Braun battled him nicely, but Perez threw a slider that fooled Braun badly, and sent him back to the bench with his 110th strikeout of the year. Perez blew Prince Fielder away with 94 mph gas to strike him out and end the game.
St. Louis has moved within 3.5 games back of the Brewers for the Wild Card and head into Houston on Firday to wrap up the month of August. Another three games in Arizona to start September, and the Cardinals are back home in St. Louis to take on the Florida Marlins. The Brewers play Pittsburgh for three games, then take on the Mets at home for three. We’ll see if the Cardinals can gain any ground in the Wild Card over the next week.
Birds Fly Out of Florida with Series Win
Todd Wellemeyer pitched his best game of the season Thursday night against the Florida Marlins. Wellemeyer brought home the third victory for the Birds in the four game series against the Fish.Todd threw 7.2 shutout innings, gave up only three hits, walked 4, and struck out three in what was easily his best start of the season. The dominance was some of the best seen all season by a Cardinal pitcher. After the second-inning, only one hit was allowed by the power pitching right-hander.
Needless to say, Wellemeyer didn’t need much help on the offensive side of the game with the masterpiece he was putting together. Wellemeyer got the only help he would prove to need when Ryan Ludwick doubled to deep left and plated Cesar Izturis in the top of the third-inning. That wasn’t all the help Ludwick would offer his pitcher though, he went on to drill a home run over the wall in left to score two more for the Cardinals. Ludwick’s double and home run boosted his season average to .304, gave him his 26th double, and 30th homer, and 90th RBI. Without Ludwick, the Cardinals would not even be close to where they are now, he’s been a huge uplift to the offense with pitchers continuing to walk Albert Pujols. St. Louis leaves Florida with two straight wins, and three out of the four game series. Milwaukee lost to San Diego tonight, which puts the Cardinals three games back in the Wild Card race. With pitching performances like tonight the Cardinals have a very legitimate shot at capturing a playoff berth, most likely as the Wild Card.
Carpenter to Miss Start Friday
Last Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs proved to be a little bit of a hiccup for Chris Carpenter and his surgically repaired arm. His third start back from being the DL, Carpenter was pitching a solid game against the Central Division rivals. Carpenter threw a pitch with one out in the fifth-inning and immediately called battery mate Yadier Molina to the mound. Molina motioned for the trainer and manager Tony LaRussa to come to the mound. Carpenter would leave the game Sunday after allowing six hits and giving up two earned runs. The Cardinals would go on to lose the game, handing the loss to Carpenter. His first decision of the season.
Caution is one word that can be used when describing the way the Cardinals will handle the injury to Carpenter. After an MRI was done the conclusion was made that it wasn’t anything too serious. A muscle strain in the right “posterior shoulder” was the diagnosis by George Paletta, Cardinal trainer. Carp escaped another serious injury, but will not make his next scheduled start in Cincinnati on Friday. Dave Duncan, Cardinal pitching coach, mentioned that Jaime Garcia or Brad Thompson are the prime candidates to receive the spot start for the injury to Carpenter. As for Tony LaRussa, he calimed, “If I have any doubts about his health, I’ll err on the side of caution.”
Birds Claim Game One Against Fish
Monday brought a bounce-back victory for the Cardinals, after losing the rubber game of the 3 game series to the Chicago Cubs. A sweep from the Marlins is what the Cardinals need to keep pace in the NL Wild Card with the Milwaukee Brewers. The 4-2 victory Monday night wasn’t much of an offensive explosion for either team. Joel Pineiro took the mound against Anibal Sanchez, who pitched a no-hitter in 2004. Pinerio pitched seven strong innings, gave up two runs, only one being earned, and fanned four.
Scoring got started early as the Cardinals plated one in the first inning. Rick Ankiel, who had been battling an abdominal strain, singled in the first to bring newly signed Cardinal Felipe Lopez to pay dirt. Pineiro gave up the two runs in the first and second inning, and that was it for the Florida Marlins. In the fourth-inning, the Cards were put on top for good by a Yadier Molina two-run homer to deep left. That homer being the first for Molina since June 20th. Although, Yadi hasn’t had a lot of pop in the bat this year, he’s been a consistent offensive performer. He’s the hardest player in the NL to strikeout, while batting the highest he has in his career, .304. The Cardinals were leading 3-2 heading into the ninth-inning. Joe Mather, who has shown the Cardinals that he possesses power, hit a solo homer to left-center field, putting the Cardinals up by two. With a two run lead, Chris Perez came on for the save, and has put and end to the woes in the back end of the bullpen for the Cardinals. At least for the time being. The flame-throwing right-hander stifled Marlins hitters, after walking Dan Uggla. Uggla was thrown out trying to steal second base by Yadier Molina, with Wes Helms and Cody Ross both striking out to end the game.
Rick Ankiel has come back and looks like he’s at 100% after an abdominal strain held him out of the starting line-up for nearly two weeks. Ankiel will be a good asset to have back on the field both offensively and defensively. Chris Perez looks to be stepping into the closers role nicely and has somewhat sured up the tail end of the bullpen. Down the stretch the Cardinals are going to need all the help they can get while they try to chase down Milwaukee, and Chicago.
Ex-Cardinal Reyes Solid in Cleveland Debut
Once a highly touted pitching prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Anthony Reyes was traded to the Cleveland Indians for a young right-handed pitcher, Luis Perdomo. The Cardinals had been hoping that Reyes could come up for multiple years and be the starter they’d always envisioned him being. Unfortunately, Reyes could not live up to the standards set by himself and the St. Louis organization. He showed signs of promise different times throughout his promotions from Triple-A, but could never really put it all together and make it work at the big league level.
Anthony Reyes started game one of the 2006 World Series in Detroit, in which he pitched a magnificent ballgame. Anthony gave the Cardinals 8 innings of work, gave up four hits, yielded 2 runs, and struck out four on the way to pitching the game of his life. Reyes made his first start with the Cleveland Indians on August 8th. Maybe a change of scenery proved to be what Reyes needed to be a successful pitcher in the majors. 6.1 innings of work, gave up 7 hits, one earned run, and struck out four in his debut with the Indians. Hopefully he can finally figure it all out and become a solid major league pitcher.
Glaus Breaks 0-30 In Big Way Against Cubs
St. Louis third-basemen, Troy Glaus, had been in a deep slump against the Chicago Cubs this year. His .000 batting average made Tony LaRussa ask if Glaus wanted a day off on Saturday, with Glaus replying “No way, I want to play.” Glaus rewarded the Cardinals and his manager by going 3-5 with 2 homers, 5 RBI’s, and 2 runs scored on the way to a Cardinal route of 12-3. Troy had been 0-30 against the Chicago Cubs this year, and his chances didn’t look very good against Cubs ace of the staff, Carlos Zambrano. After the victory, Glaus was asked if he knew what kind of serious slump he’d been in, and claimed he had no idea. It wasn’t just Glaus who saw the ball well out of Big Z’s hand, it was the whole Cardinals team. Albert Pujols and Skip Schumaker both joined the power club on Saturday, nailing a solo homer each. New Cardinal Felipe Lopez had a good day at the plate, going 2-4, driving in a run, and scoring twice.
The Cardinals exploded offensively for twelve runs on Saturday, after only scoring 3 runs in their previous two games. St. Louis will get another tough match-up Sunday night against right-hander Ryan Dempster. Dempster hasn’t faced the Redbirds this season, and has been very effective against the rest of the league. Chris Carpenter will be on the mound for the Cardinals, looking to get his first victory, after taking no-decisions in his previous two starts. Carpenter has looked good in both starts so far, so the Cardinals have something to be very excited about. Sunday will be the rubber game of the series, with both Chicago and St. Louis winning one game a piece.
Cards Ink Infielder Felipe Lopez
Wednesday the St. Louis Cardinals added some depth to their middle-infield by signing the switch-hitting Felipe Lopez. Lopez was recently released by the Washington Nationals after a terrible start to the 2008 season, and was having difficulties getting anything generated offensively. He’s proved to be a decent player over his six-year career, snagging an All-Star appearance in 2005 when he was still with Cincinnati. An aspect that I really like about the signing of Lopez is the speed he brings to the team. St. Louis isn’t known for having speed on the base-paths, so Lopez will help out in that facet of the game for the Cards.
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