The St. Louis Cardinals played the spoilers role on Thursday afternoon as they eliminated the Arizona Diamondbacks from the playoff race. The Cardinals hammered the D-backs by the score of 12-3 as Joel Pineiro and Albert Pujols both had huge days.

Pineiro improved his record to 7-7 as he tossed seven innings to pick up the win. Joel gave up three hits and three runs in the game. Adam Dunn took him deep for a solo home run and then he gave up a two-run single to Mark Reynolds but that was all the offense that the D-backs would get. Josh Kinney and Carlos Perez each tossed one inning of relief and held the D-backs scoreless during those two innings.

Pujols led the team at the plate as he went 3 for 3 wth a three run home run and a rbi sac fly to finish the game with four rbi. Ryan Ludwick also hit a solo home run and finished with two rbi. Felipe Lopez and Jason LaRue both had two rbi in the game as well. To finish out the scoring for the Cardinals, Cesar Izturis and Aaron Miles both had one rbi each.

The Cardinals will now play their final series of the 2008 season against the Cincinnati Reds. Friday and Saturday will be night games and then the season finale will be Sunday afternoon. Do your best to get out to the park one last time this season and catch the Cardinals play if you can.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a tough game on Wednesday night to the visiting Chicago Cubs. Two errors really hurt the Cardinals and the cubs took advantage of the errors to win by the score of 4-3. The cardinals really needed to win this game as they come down to the last few weeks of baseball.

The cardinals gave up all four runs that the cubs scored in the second inning. Felipe Lopez sure didn’t help things out as he committed two errors in the inning. Braden Looper ended up taking the loss and is now 12-12 on the year. He tossed the ball a lot better then the outcome was.

The Cardinals made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run home run off of Cubs closer Kerry Wood. That brought the cards to within one run but then Aaron Miles struck out looking and Josh Phelps flew out to center field to end the game.

The cardinals can still win the three game series if they can beat Rich Harden and the cubs on Thursday night.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals picked up a must win on Wednesday night when they rallied with four runs in the eighth inning and defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3. The win was crucial for the Cardinals as they are now 3.5 games behind the Brewers for the wild card position.

Ryan Ludwick had a solo home run and a rbi double to lead the Cardinals with two rbi. The dramatic eighth inning saw Ludwick get this started with the rbi double which was then followed by a rbi single from Troy Glaus. Glaus then came around to score on an Aaron Miles fielders choice to shortstop. To add a little insurance, Felipe Lopez singled to center field and Miles came around to score the fifth and final run for the Cardinals.

On the mound it was Ryan Franklin getting the win as he pitched the eighth inning. Franklin is now 5-5 on the year. Chris Perez pitched the ninth inning and earned his sixth save of the season. Cardinals starting pitcher, Adam Wainwright tossed six innings and gave up eight hits and three runs to get the no decision.

The Cardinals are now off on Thursday and will start up a weekend series with the Houston Astros on Friday.

Cardinals Blog