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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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!

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