The St. Louis Cardinals scored five runs in the ninth inning as they went on to beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 on Tuesday night.  It was awesome to see the late inning scoring that really pushed the game out of reach for the Braves.  It was also a big win for the Cardinals as they kept pace with the Chicago Cubs and picked up a game on the Milwaukee Brewers in the standings.

Ryan Franklin picked up the win as he pitched in relief.  Franklin pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the Cardinals and did not allow a run in either inning.  Todd Wellemeyer started the game and pitched the first six innings of the game while giving up eight hits and just two runs.  It was a good quality start for Wellemeyer that is for sure.  Kyle McClellan pitched a scoreless ninth inning and gave up one run but it didn’t really matter at that point.

Albert Pujols hit his 21st home run as he went deep in the eighth inning.  Yadier Molina led the team with two rbi while Nick Stavinoha, Troy Glaus, Brendan Ryan, Cesar Izturis, and Pujols all finished the game with one rbi.

Cardinals Baseball Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs for the second straight night as they lost 4-3 on Tuesday night.  Once again the game came right down to the end and once again the Cards were on the losing end of the game.  Not the way the Cardinals were hoping to play especially at home in such a big series.

Kyle McClellan gave up the game winning home run to Bill Hall in the top of the 9th inning and took the loss.  McClellan is now 2-5 on the season as he just hasn’t pitched that good.  Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse tossed the first seven innings of the game as he got the no decision.  Lohse allowed seven hits and three runs in the game while striking out seven batters.  It’s just too bad that Lohse and McClellan couldn’t hold the Brew Crew down to pull out the victory.

Ryan Ludwick, Yadier Molina, and Rick Ankiel all had one rbi each for the Cardinals.  Ludwick got the Cardinals scoring started in the first inning with a solo home run and then Ankiel added a rbi single to make it 2-0 after the first inning.  Molina added a rbi double in the third inning but that was all the scoring the Cardinals would get.

So will the Birds win on Wenesday as they face off against the Brewers once again?  Leave us a comment!

Cardinals Blog

After taking the first game in a three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals lose the next two games to lose the series.  In the series finale on Thursday, the Cardinals lost to the Phillies 4-1 as they struggled scoring runs even though they had seven hits in the game.

Braden Looper tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and four runs as he took the loss to fall to 9-7 on the year.  Looper didn’t really put his team in a position to win the way they were struggling at getting runners in to cross the plate.

Russ Springer, Ron Villone, and Chris Perez all threw one inning of relief without allowing a run.  Good job by the bullpen as they atleast gave the offense a chance to make the game closer in the late innings.  It is to bad the offense didn’t take advantage of that however.

The only run to cross the plate came in the fourth inning when Yadier Molina had a rbi single that scored Troy Glaus.  So now we have to hope that the Cardinals bats come around and actually drive some runs in as they take on the Pirates this weekend.  I think they will come back and swing the bats better on Friday.

Cardinals Blog

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

The Cardinals opened a four game series against the New York Mets on Monday night.  They beat the lackluster Mets 7-1; taking advantage of the Mets lack of offense, terrible pitching and worse defense. 

Kyle Lohse got his 10^th win of the season.  He pitched well against the Mets, holding them scoreless through five.  He allowed only one run off five hits in seven innings of work.  He walked two, and struck out four. 

The Cardinal’s offense took advantage of John Maine early, scoring in each of the first five innings.  The Mets made three errors in the game and the Cardinals took advantage, scoring two runs on errors. 

Skip Schumaker walked to lead off the first, he advanced to third on a single to right by Aaron Miles.  Schumaker would score, and Miles would take second on a single to right by Albert Pujols.  Miles would score, but Troy Glaus did not get credit for an RBI because he hit into a double play.  The Cardinals scored again in the second, Yadier Molina lead off the inning with a single to right, he advanced to second on a ground out by Brenden Ryan and would score on a fielding error by Luis Castillo.  The Cardinals tacked another run in the third when Rick Ankiel singled to lead off the inning and came around to score on a one out double by Troy Glaus.  In the fourth inning, with two out, Aaron Miles hit a single to third baseman David Wright, and took second on Wright’s throwing error.  Miles would score on a single by Pujols.  In the fifth inning, with John Maine out of the game and Carlos Muniz on the mound, Glaus was hit by a pitch to lead of the inning and would score when Chris Duncan hit his fifth homer of the season. 

 Tuesday night’s game is scheduled for an 8:05 p.m. start.  Todd Wellemeyer will be on the mound for the Cardinals and Tony Armas will make his for start for the Mets.

Cardinals Blog

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

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 didnt’ have any problems with the Houston Astros on Wednesday night as they came away with a 6-1 victory.  The game was a huge win for the Cardinals as they are now one full game ahead of the Astros in the standings.

Adam Wainwright tossed eight strong innings as he gave up three hits and one run to pick up the win.  Wainwright is now 5-2 on the season.  Chris Perez threw the ninth inning for the Cardinals and allowed one hit but zero runs.

Yadier Molina and Cesar Izturis both had two rbi in the game to lead the Cardinals at the plate.  Ryan Ludwick also helped out with one rbi.

Cardinals Blog

The St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols had no problems beating up on the San Diego Padres Monday night.  Pujols connected on two home runs to lead the Cardinals as they smashed the Padres by the score of 8-2.

Pujols wasn’t the only Cardinals hitter to go deep however.  Ryan Ludwick had a two run home run and Cesar Izturis had a solo home run.  Ludwick led the Cardinals with three rbi in the game.  Pujols finished the game with two rbi.  Yadier Molina, Todd Wellemeyer, and Izturis all had one rbi in the game.

Welleymeyer pitched six innings to pick up his fifth win of the season.  Welleymeyer allowed six hits and two runs as he improved his record to 5-1.  Randy Flores and Ron Villone pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings before Russ Springer came in and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

The Cardinals won and it was a good thing because the Cubs also won.  The Cardinals remain two games back in the division.  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