The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Milwaukee Brewers for the third straight night as they were shut out 3-0 on Wednesday night.  The Cardinals are really shooting themselves in the foot with the are playing against the Brewers.  It would have been the perfect time for them to pick up ground on the Cubs as they have really struggled in the second half.

Braden Looper took the loss for the Cardinals after he threw five innings.  Looper gave up seven hits but only run as he really didn’t pitch that badly.  Kelvin Jimenez and Jason Isringhausen both pitched two innings in relief and both relief pitchers gave up one run each.

The offense only came up with three hits on the night as they struggled against CC Sabathia.  The Cardinals really need to get the bats going and hopefully they will on Thursday as they try to avoid the embarrasing four game sweep.

Cardinals Baseball Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs for the second straight night as they lost 4-3 on Tuesday night.  Once again the game came right down to the end and once again the Cards were on the losing end of the game.  Not the way the Cardinals were hoping to play especially at home in such a big series.

Kyle McClellan gave up the game winning home run to Bill Hall in the top of the 9th inning and took the loss.  McClellan is now 2-5 on the season as he just hasn’t pitched that good.  Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse tossed the first seven innings of the game as he got the no decision.  Lohse allowed seven hits and three runs in the game while striking out seven batters.  It’s just too bad that Lohse and McClellan couldn’t hold the Brew Crew down to pull out the victory.

Ryan Ludwick, Yadier Molina, and Rick Ankiel all had one rbi each for the Cardinals.  Ludwick got the Cardinals scoring started in the first inning with a solo home run and then Ankiel added a rbi single to make it 2-0 after the first inning.  Molina added a rbi double in the third inning but that was all the scoring the Cardinals would get.

So will the Birds win on Wenesday as they face off against the Brewers once again?  Leave us a comment!

Cardinals Blog

In the opening of a big four game series, the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 in 10 innings of action.  The Cardinals were down 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning but the tied the game up to extend it into extra innings.  However in the 11th inning, it was all about the Brewers as they pushed across three runs to take the victory.

Skip Schumaker had a rbi single in the 9th inning to tie the game for the Cardinals.  The other two runs for the Cardinals came in the first inning when Troy Glaus doubled and Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel both scored.  That was it for the Cardinals at the plate as they just couldn’t push across many runs in the game.

Ryan Franklin gave up all three runs in the 11th inning to take the loss.  Franklin gave up a home run to Bill Hall as the Brewers scored their first run in the inning.  Jason Kendall then scored on a error by Aaron Miles and then J.J. Hardy singled to score Rickie Weeks.  Earlier in the game Weeks hit a three run shot off of Joel Pineiro.  Pineiro threw the first six innings but gave up ten hits and the three runs to get the no decesion.

The series is a big one but the Cards can’t get stressed out over one game.  Just come right back out there on Tuesday and try to even up the series.

Cardinals Blog

After taking the first game in a three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals lose the next two games to lose the series.  In the series finale on Thursday, the Cardinals lost to the Phillies 4-1 as they struggled scoring runs even though they had seven hits in the game.

Braden Looper tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and four runs as he took the loss to fall to 9-7 on the year.  Looper didn’t really put his team in a position to win the way they were struggling at getting runners in to cross the plate.

Russ Springer, Ron Villone, and Chris Perez all threw one inning of relief without allowing a run.  Good job by the bullpen as they atleast gave the offense a chance to make the game closer in the late innings.  It is to bad the offense didn’t take advantage of that however.

The only run to cross the plate came in the fourth inning when Yadier Molina had a rbi single that scored Troy Glaus.  So now we have to hope that the Cardinals bats come around and actually drive some runs in as they take on the Pirates this weekend.  I think they will come back and swing the bats better on Friday.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies were tied 2-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning but then Ryan Howard and Pedro Feliz both hit solo home runs and the Phillies went onto beat the Cardinals 4-2.  You have to put that loss right on the bullpen as they simply didn’t do their job.

Kyle McClellan gave up the first home run in the 8th inning to Howard and then Feliz went deep off of Chris Perez.  McClellan ended up getting the loss on the game and is now on the season.

Cardinals starting pitcher Mark Mulder only recorded one out in the game before leaving the game with some shoulder discomfirt.  It is unknown right now how bad it is but I wouldn’t expect to hear good news.

With Mulder leaving the game so early, the bullpen had their work cut out for them and they did a good job up until that eighth inning.  Brad Thompson gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings and that was all the runs the Phillies would get off the bullpen until that eighth inning.  Russ Springer and Jason Isringhausen both pitched good out of the bullpen.

Albert Pujols had a rbi sac fly in the seventh inning and then Troy Glaus added a rbi single right after that.  Those were the only two runs that the Cardinals would get in the game as they just couldn’t come up with the big hit in the ninth inning when they had a runners on first and second.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals kicked off their three game series with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday evening with a 2-0 win.  It was a very good quality win for the Cardinals as they shut out the potent Phillies offense to improve to 51-40 on the season.

Rick Ankiel smashed a solo home run in the fifth inning and than Ryan Ludwick added a solo shot in the sixth inning for the Cardinals.  Those two runs were their only runs for the game.  It was a good thing that the offense threw the ball as well as they did.

Joel Pineiro tossed the first 6 1/3 innings of the game to get the win.  Pineiro improved his season record to 3-4.  Pineiro allowed five hits but zero runs while walking three and striking out three.  Ron Villone recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning after Pineiro left the game.  Kyle McClellan tossed the eighth inning without allowing a hit and then Ryan Franklin closed out the game in the ninth inning to record his 12th save of the season.

It was a huge win for the Cardinals as they try to keep pace with the Chicago Cubs.  I have to wonder if the Cardinals will try to make a big move after the Brewers traded for CC Sabathia and the Cubs just traded for Rich Harden.  What will the Cardinals do?

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a very dissapointing game on Thursday afternoon to the Detroit Tigers.  The Tigers tied up the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and then scored the winning run on a bases loaded walk to get the 3-2 victory.

Mike Parisi gave up one hit and three walks in the 10th inning as he took the loss for the Cardinals.  Pariso just didn’t get the job done and wasn’t able to get the game into the 11th inning like he was expected to do.  Gary Sheffield took Ryan Franklin deep for a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game and send it in to extra innings.

Cardinals starting pitcher Todd Wellemeyer lasted five innings.  Wellemeyer gave up four hits in the game to get the no decision.  Ron Villone did give up one run as he pitched after Wellemyer was taken out of the game.  Jason Isringhausen did a good job as he threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Hopefully Izzy keeps on throwing the ball good.

The loss really purt a damper on the day that Albert Pujols returned to go 4-4 with one rbi.  Pujols and a great day at the plate in his first game since coming of the disabled list.  Brendan Ryan scored the Cardinals first run in the seventh inning as he scored on a Aaron Miles double and an error by the Tigers second basemen who made a bad throw to third base.

Now the Cardinals will have a three game series against the Kansas City Royals.  The Royals and Cardinals usually play some good games so who knows what will happen this weekend.

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The St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers sat through a 2.5 hour rain delay on Wednesday night and then the Cardinals ended up losing 8-7.  The Cardinals bullpen just didn’t throw the ball good as they gave up single runs in the final three innings of the game.  The loss hurt that much more because the Chicago Cubs won and now the Cardinals are 4.5 games back in the division.

Kyle McClellan gave up the game winning hit to Gary Sheffield in the bottom of the ninth inning and took the loss.  McClellan is now 0-3 on the season.  Jason Isringhausen and Randy Flores were both charged with giving up runs as well.  Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse pitched the first four innings of the game and gave up 11 hits and five runs.  Chris Perez pitched the fift and sixth inning and did a very good job.

Rick Ankiel belted two home runs to lead the Cardinals at the plate with three rbi.  Ankiel now has 14 home runs on the season and 35 rbi.  Skip Schumaker also added a solo home run for the Cardinals.  Aaron Miles and Yadier Molina both contributed with one rbi each.

In the end, the bullpen let the team down and that was the reason they lost this game.  The Cardinals and Tigers will turn right back around and play again Thursday as Todd Wellemeyer will take the mound for the Cardinals.

Cardinals Home Plate

The St. Louis Cardinals doubled up the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night as the Cardinals defeated the Tigers 8-4.  It was a good win on the road for the Cardinals as they began a three game series against the Tigers.  Cardinals just need to keep on winning and I think good things will happen.

Braden Looper pitched six innings and allowed seven hits and four runs.  Looper pitched well enough though to pick up the win and improve his record to 9-5 on the season.  Russ Springer, Kyle McClellan, and Ryan Franklin all pitched a scoreless inning of relief without giving up a run.  The bullpen did a great job on the night!

Brian Barton, Skip Schumaker, and Brendan Ryan all had two rbi each in the game to lead the Cardinals at the plate.  Barton did have a solo home run for the biggest hit.  Nick Stavinoha and Adam Kennedy both had one rbi each in the game as well.

The Cardinals will try to go up 2-0 in the three game series on Wednesday.

Cardinals Blog

Braden Looper pitched a gem giving up only 3 hits and NO walks on 98 pitches in Wednesday night’s game at the Great American Ballpark.  His performance was definitely something Cardinal fans needed after seeing our star, Albert Pujols, headed to the DL for at least three weeks.  This was Looper’s first shutout in his 44 career starts.  His start last night has definitely shown baseball fans that he has officially made the transition as a true middle of the rotation starter after spending the his first nine seasons in the bullpen as a reliever.  His ERA dropped from 4.86 to 4.34, improving his record to 8-5, being the first Cardinal this year to reach the 8 win mark.

Our offense was also superb, scoring 10 runs on 10 hits and drawing 8 walks.  It’s nice to see our LOB numbers finally coming down after it seemed like we were leaving 10+ men on base every game for the first two months of the season.  Our lineup has gotten especially good at drawing walks this year. Kudos to Hal McRae.  The Cardinals lead the majors with 392 walks, and are 26th in the majors in strikeouts!  Hal McRae does a great job of getting hitters to see the zone.

Rick Ankiel(10), Ryan Ludwick(16) and Jason LaRue(1) all hit dingers, this being the second game in a row for both Ankiel and Ludwick.  Ankiel’s three-run shot in the first lifted the weight off of Looper’s shoulders allowing him to get into the groove for the rest of the game.

Obviously the performance of the game was Looper.  After seeing three of our starters and Albert hit the DL, a game like this is just what the team needed.  If our interim starters and offense continue to perform we should be in great shape while Wainwright and Pujols recover from their injuries.

The cardinals improved their record to 40-27, 13 games over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the Cubs.  We keep winning games but the Cubbies just seem to be unbeatable lately.  This many games into the season last year, the Cardinals were 30-37.

Joel Piniero makes his first start since coming off the DL Thursday night to pitch against Bronson Arroyo.  Hopefully we can head home fresh off a sweep of the Reds. Remember to vote your Cardinals into the All-Star Game!!!!!!

Cardinals Blog