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

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

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 Cardinals took an 4-0 lead in the first inning of Wednesday’s game against the Mets.  New York starter Pedro Martinez struggled, and the Cardinals sluggers looked as if they had his number.

Aaron Miles and Skip Schumaker both singled to set the table for the Cardinals in the top of the first, Schumaker would score on Rick Ankiel’s single to center.  Also in the first, Troy Glaus hit his 12^th homerun of the season to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.  The game was stopped for rain in the third and play resumed 47 minute later.  Martinez did return to the mound; but seemed to be pitching better and more aggressively than he did in early innings.  After the runs he gave up in the first, the only other run he allowed was homer to Rick Ankiel, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning.

Joel Pineiro started the game for the Cardinals.  He pitched 5 innings, giving up four runs on 11 hits, while striking out four and walking just one.  The Cardinal’s bullpen had some trouble as Kyle McClellan gave up one earned run in 1 2/3 innings of relief.  Mark Mulder allowed an inherited run to score as well as two earned runs in his 1/3 inning of work.  However, Springer, Perez and Franklin kept the Mets in check with Ryan Franklin getting the win. After the Mets took the lead 7-5 in the top of the seventh, Aaron Heilman entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and hit Ryan Ludwick with a pitch, Pedro Feliciano would come into the game and threw just one pitch to Chris Duncan that he sent over the fence in right field to tie the game at 7.  In the bottom of the ninth, it was Troy Glaus’s walk off homer that won the game for the Cardinals 8-7.

First pitch is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.  Mitchell Boggs will pitch for the Cardinals and the Mets will counter with Mike Pelfrey

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The Cardinals lost to the New York Mets 7-4 on Wednesday night.  St. Luis took an early lead and looked as if they were well on their way to another victory, but the Mets had other plans. 

The Cardinals scored in the bottom of the first, Aaron Miles doubled to lead off the inning and then Rick Ankiel long homerun to.  In the second inning, Yadier Molina lead off the inning with a single to center, he would advance to second on a sac bunt by the pitcher, and score on a double by Skip Schumaker.  Down 7-3 in the sixth inning the Cardinals looked as if they might start a rally; Troy Glaus doubled to lead off the inning, and would take third a single to right by Chris Duncan.  Glaus would score on a sac fly by Molina that was caught by Ryan Church in foul territory.  However, pitcher Brad Thompson popped up a bunt attempt,why they didn’t use a pinch hitter there is beyond me, but worked out for the Mets, as Brendan Ryan popped to second to end the innings. 

Todd Wellemeyer did not have his good stuff.  In his five innings of work, he gave up 12 hits, 6 earned runs, while walking two and striking out two.  Brad Thompson pitched four innings in relief allowing two hits, and homerun to David Wright.

First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m.  Joel Pineiro will pitch for the Cards and the Mets will have Pedro Martinez on the mound.   

Cardinals Blog

Joel Pineiro made one bad pitch in the sixth inning as Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a three run home run and the San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2.  That just goes to show that one pitch can cost a team a win at any time even if it is in the sixth inning.

Pineiro tossed 5 2/3 innings as his record dropped to 2-3.  He didn’t throw the ball that bad, just one mistake and the Padres took advantage of it.  Russ Springer, Kyle McClellan, and Chris Perez finished out the game for the Cardinals.

Troy Glaus had a rbi double and then Adam Kennedy grounded into a fielders choice that scored a run for the Cardinals.  Both of the runs came in the second inning, after that the Cardinals hitters didn’t have much luck at all.

The Cardinals remain two games back from the Cubs as the Cubs also lost on Tuesday night.  Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals blew a big lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates as they lost 11-5 on Thursday.  Actually, I should say that Jason Isringhausen and Ron Villone blew the game for the Cardinals.  They combined to give up seven runs the final two innings of the game.

Isringhausen took the loss for the Cardinals as he dropped to 1-5 on the season.  Just a terrible performance by Izzy and Villone.  Starting pitcher Joel Pineiro only pitched five innings as he was taken out of the game after giving up six hits and four runs.

Chris Duncan had two rbi to lead the Cardinals at the plate.  Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus, and Yadier Molina all had one rbi in the game.

All I can blog about is how bad of a series this ended up being for the Cardinals.  The Cubs won once again and now the Cards are down two games in the division.  Cardinals Blog

It was an exciting end to the Cardinals and Rockies game on Monday night as Albert Pujols showed that he can run the bases as he scored from second base on a RBI groundout to second base.  Pujols scored when Rockies second basemen Jonathan Herrera lofted a ball to Todd Helton and Pujols then go by the tag at home plate to score the go ahead run.

Adam Kennedy, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, and Pujols all had one RBI each in the game.  Starting pitcher Joel Pineiro led the Cardinals with two RBI as he doubled in two runs in the fourth inning.

Speaking of Pineiro, what a dissapointing performance on the mound.  He only lasted three innings after giving up eight hits and four runs.  Brad Hawpe took him deep in the second inning as well.  Ron Villone and Mike Parisi pitche two innings each in relief of Piniero and both did a great job without letting any runs cross the plate.  Randy Flores pitched the eighth inning and gave up a run in the inning even though he picked up the win in the game.  Jason Isringhausen closed the door in the ninth inning to pick up his eleventh save of the season.

The Cardinals are playing good baseball, lets see if they can continue it on Tuesay when they play the Rockies again.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals batters jumped all over Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto on Tuesday night as they knocked him out of the ballgame after only 1.2 innings of action.  The Cardinals put up seven runs against Cueto and then cruised on for a 7-2 victory over the Reds.

The score could have been a lot worse then 7-2 as the Cardinals left 24 runners on base.  I guess that is what happens when you aren’t hitting homeruns and you still put seven runs on the scoreboard.  All off the offensive scoring came from Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel.  Glaus finished the night with three RBI while Ankiel had two RBI.  The other two runs the Cardinals scored were un-earned.

The Cardinals pitching staff held the Reds to only threee hits in the game.  Starting pitcher Joel Pineiro pitched seven innings and only allowed one hit.  Now that is what I call a quality start!  Ron Villone and Anthony Reyes pitched the final two innings of the game.  Reyes did give up two hits including a two run home run to Adam Dunn in the ninth inning.

It was a nice win for the Cardinals who picked up a game in the standings on the Cubs who lost to the Brewers.  Just keep plugging away and things will work out for themselves I think.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Tuesday night to avoid a embarassing three game sweep.  It was good to see the Cardinals come back and salvage one against the Pirates.

Joel Pineiro pitched seven innings to pick up the win.  Pineiro allowed four hits and only one run in his seven innings of action.  Pineiro is now 1-2 on the season.  Russ Springer allowed one earned run before Jason Isringhausen picked up his eighth save of the season.

Brian Barton had two RBI’s on a single in the fifth inning to lead the Cardinals at the plate.  Skip Schumaker, Albert Pujols, and Brendan Ryan all had one RBI each.

Cardinals Blog