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

Tuesday night at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati ended with a Redbird win, however, what was on most fans minds was the image of of our superstar, Albert Pujols, being carried off the field.  Despite rumors of elbow trouble at the start of the season, Pujols was quietly having the best start to a season in his incredible career.  Now that season will be stalled by a strain in his left calf suffered while running out a grounder to first in the seventh inning of last night’s game.

To be honest, from the look on his face when he fell to the ground, I thought it was a tear.  After aggravating his left calf muscle last week against the Nationals, I think we are all lucky that this time it is only a strain and not a tear.  A tear would mean months, maybe the rest of the season, with Albert landed on the disabled list.  A strain means that he can probably recover and rejoin the lineup in a couple of weeks.

At the beginning of the season, Prince Albert stood alone as the one glimmer of consistency that we could count on.  No one could have predicted how well our starting pitching has done thus far, and thanks to our rotation and Ryan Ludwick’s breakout season, we find ourselves tied for the fourth best record in baseball.

Albert’s absence means that Ludwick, Troy Glaus, and Rick Ankiel are going to have to start picking up the offensive slack.  Glaus has started to play better in the warm weather, having hit five home runs in eight games just recently.  Ankiel will likely hit just as he has for the rest of the season with lots of strikeouts and moments of power.  Ludwick has been absolutely incredible for our team, and if he can continue to produce like he has been, there is no reason why anyone else should see the three spot while Pujols is on the DL.  Our post-Izzy bullpen has shown that they are ready to regain our trust on the mound, and with Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker having stellar offensive seasons, I don’t see any reason to panic with Albert out of the lineup for a few weeks.

The likely call-up to replace Pujols on the roster will unfortunetaly be Chris Duncan.  After struggling during the start of the season, Duncan was sent down to Triple-A in order to find his swing, which apparently he still has not found.  Since being sent down, Duncan is hitting .190 with no home runs.  I wish that our farm team had someone that was ready to step up instead of Duncan, but Chris seems to be our only option.

Last night was a great game to watch as we saw Mitchell Boggs make his first start as a Cardinal. Boggs had a great start pitching 5 innings with only two runs on four hits.  The runs came from Joey Votto’s fourth inning two-run homer.  With Wellemeyer, Piniero, and Wainwright all on the DL, it is good to see we can rely on our rookies while they recover.  Our bullpen also shined as they only gave up one hit and one walk in 4 innings of work, highlighted by a three strikeout ninth inning by Russ Springer.

Ludwick (15), Ankiel(9), Pujols(16) all hit longballs.  It’s good see our power break out like this, but it is also nice that the teams knows that we can win without it.  We have accumulated a lot of wins this season by simply executing small ball and smart baserunning.  Brendan Ryan also had a great night as he went 2-3 with three runs scored and two stolen bases.

The Performance of the game goes to Ludwick.  Ryan went 4-5 with 4 RBI’s, two doubles, and a home run.  He is the first cardinal of the season to reach the 50-RBI mark.  He has been absolutely incredible for the Cardinals this year, basically doing everything we expected out of Glaus plus hitting for average.  He is now slugging .667 with a .388 OBP raising his OPS to 1.055, which is good for fifth best in the Majors behind Lance Berkman, Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols and Milton Bradley.   The Cardinals are now 39-27 and 2.5 games behind the cubbies.

We are 3-1 so far on this road trip, and hopefully we can take at least one more game in this series to go back home 4-2 or even 5-1.  As hot as the Cubs have been, the Cardinals have no let them gain much ground.

Remember to vote your Cardinals into the All-star game.  Ludwick really deserves a spot on the roster.  Right now Pujols is third in first-baseman voting behind Derrek Lee!?!?!, thats ridiculous, get your votes in so we can see some red at Yankee Stadium in July!

Cardinals Blog

Talk about a bad way to lose a baseball game.  The St. Louis Cardinals had just tied up the game in the top of the ninth inning, and then took the lead in the top of the 10th inning, but ended up giving up a two run walk off home run and lost to the game to the Washingtion Nationals 10-9.

Ryan Franklin gave up a two run home run to Elijah Dukes in the bottom of the 10th inning.  Franklin took the loss and is now 2-2 on the season.  Franklin simply didn’t get his job done.  Mike Parisi the Cardinals starting pitcher pitched terrible as he only lasted four innings after giving up ten hits and eight runs.

Mark Worrell, Kyle McClellan, Ron Villone, and Randy Flores all pitched alteast one inning after Parisi left the game and before Franklin blew the game.  All four of those relief pitchers did a great job of not giving up any more runs to the Nationals.

Worrell actually led the Cardinals at the plate with three rbi as he hit a three run home run in the sixth inning.  Troy Glaus and Joe Mather both hit solo home runs.  Mather’s home run was what put the Cardinals ahead by one in the top of the tenth inning.  Parisi had two rbi while Skip Schumaker and Aaron Miles finished with one rbi each.

Tough way to split a double header.  Hopefully the Cardinals will get a decent nights of sleep so they can come out and play good against the Houston Astros on Friday.

Cardinals Blog

After being rained out on Wednesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals will be playing a double header on Thursday.  In the first game of the double header, it was the Cardinals coming out on top with a 4-1 victory.

Troy Glaus had a two run home run and Albert Pujols also hit a solo home run to lead the Cardinals.  Joe Mather had a rbi doulble in the seventh inning after the Pujols solo home run.

Todd Wellemeyer tossed six innings and gave up five hits while picking up the win.  It was a good performance by Wellemeyer who improved to 7-1 on the season.  Chris Perez did give up one run in the eighth inning but Ron Villone, Russ Springer, Randy Flores, and Ryan Franklin all pitched good.  Franklin picked up his seventh save of the season.

The Cardinals will go for the double header sweep this evening so check back after the game for a recap!

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals played through a rain delays but the rain couldn’t even slow the Cardinals down as they came away with a 6-1 victory over the Nationals.  Four runs in the first inning and then single runs in the fourth and fifth innings ended up being enough for the Cardinals.

Bengie Monlina hit a three run home run in the first inning for the big hit of the game.  The Cardinals also got a run in the first inning off of a Ryan Ludwick single.  In the fourth inning of the game, Cesar Izturis stole home to score and then the fifth inning Kyle Lohse had a rbi single.

Lohse ended up getting the win in the game as he tossed five innings and allowed four hits and one run.  Good outing by Lohse who improved to 6-2 on the season.  Kyle McClellan, Russ Springer, Ron Villone, and Mark Worrell all pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

It was a good win for the Cardinals as they were 3.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs.  The Cubs are up three right now against the Padres so it looks like the Cards will remain 3.5 games back if the score stands.

Cardinals Blog