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

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

The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night by the score of 8-3.  Ryan Braun hit two home runs off Adam Wainwright who also gave up another home run to Bill Hall as he took the loss.  Wainwright is now 3-2 on the season.

Wainwright tossed six innings and gave up eight hits and eight runs.  The three home runs were all solo shots so it wasn’t like Wainwright just made three mistakes in the game.  He just didn’t have his good stuff in the game and that is why the Cardinals got down by so many runs and lost.

The Cardinals did get on the board first with a Rick Ankiel solo home run in the first inning.  The home run was Ankiels seventh of the season.  The Cardinals then scored back to back runs in the in the eighth and ninth inning on a Skip Schumaker rbi single and a bases loaded walk to Jason LaRue.

The Cardinals are now one full game behind the Chicago Cubs who crushed the San Diego Padres.  It is key for the Cardinals to come back and get a win on Tuesday against the Brewers because the Cubs are playing some really good baseball the past four games.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals went into the eighth inning with a 3-0 lead but they gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning to the Colorado Rockies and lost the game 4-3.  Kyle McClellan, Randy Flores, and Jason Isringhausen all gave up runs in the final two innings.

Isringhausen took the loss after giving up a two run double in the game.  He is now 1-3 on the season.

It sucks that Adam Wainwright had to get a no decision in the game after he limited the Rockies to only four hits through seven innings.  Wainwright pitched very good, and it was definately enough for the win if the bullpen would have been able to hang on.

Ryan Ludwick led the Cardinals with two rbi in the game.  Ludwick had a sac fly in the first inning and then a solo home run in the fifth inning.  Rick Ankiel also had a rbi single in the first inning to chip in with one rbi.

The Cardinals remain up 2.5 games in the divsion on the Chicago Cubs as they also lost on Wednesday.

Cardinals Blog

Things sure did get interesting in the ninth inning for the St. Louis Cardinals as the Colorado Rockies scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to bring the score to 6-5, but Ryan Franklin was finally able to get his first save of the season.

Braden Looper pitched 8 1/3 innings to pick up the win for the Cardinals.  It was the longest outing of Looper’s career.  He did allow ten hits and four runs in the game but the offense and two great throws by Rick Ankiel really helped him out.

After the game Ankiel said that he was more impressed with his two outfield assists in the game then he was with his solo home run in the eighth inning.  Brian Barton, Adam Kennedy, Ryan Ludwick, Ankiel, and Looper all had one RBI in the game for the Cardinals.  That is production up and down the lineup.

Good win for the Cardinals as they stay up 2.5 games on the Chicago Cubs who beat the Cincinnati Reds.  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 completed a short two game series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon with a 5-2 victory.  The win over the Reds puts the Cardinals up half a game in the divsion as the Cubs and Brewers will play each other tonight.

Braden Looper pitched six innings to pick up the win which was his fourth of the season.  Looper gave up seven hits and two runs in the game.  Jason Isringhausen pitched the ninth inning to pick up his ninth save of the season.

At the plate, Aaron Miles and Rick Ankiel both had two RBI in the game.  Chris Duncan scored the Cardinals first run of the game on a wild pitch in the second inning.

The Cardinals are playing some good baseball and they definately are doing it at the right time.  The Cardinals will have Thursday off before they take on the Chicago Cubs in Chicago.  Another big divisional series coming up.

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 dropped a divisional game to the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 4-3 on Monday night.  The Cardinals just couldn’t get over the hump after giving up four early runs to the Reds.  The Cardinals left 16 guys on base and Chris Duncan left five of them on base himself.

Todd Wellemeyer gave up seven hits and four earned runs over six innings as he took the loss for the Cardinals.  Wellemeyer didn’t pitch that bad, there just wan’t much offense to back up his pitching performance.

Randy Flores, Russ Springer, and Ryan Franklin pitched the final three innings of the game.  Flores gave up three hits and Franklin gave up one hit.  Good job by the three pitchers as they did not allow any runs to score.

Rick Ankiel led the Cardinals at the plate with a solo home run in the fifth inning.  Troy Glaus and Cesar Izturis both had an RBI as well.  Izturis was making his return after taking some games off with a bruised arm.

The Cardinals are now one full game behind the Chicago Cubs in the Central Division.

The St. Louis Cardinals had a 3-0 lead heading into the eigth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers, but the Brewers tied the game up with a Prince Fielder double in the eigth inning and then a home run by Fielder in the 10th inning won it for the Brewers 5-3.

Brad Thompson took the lose as he served up the Fielder home run in the 10th inning.  Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse pitched sevin innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs.  Ryan Franklin had a hard time as he gave up one earned run and only recorded one out.

Ryan Ludwick hit a home run for the Cardinals and Lohse had an two-run single but that was really all the Cardinals could get in the game.  Rick Ankiel left six men on base and Troy Glaus left four men on base.  Not very productive in the middle of the order today.

Cardinals Blog