10/2/11 St Louis Cardinals 5, Philadelphia Phillies 4

Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
NLDS Game 2

Allen Craig…he does it again!


Another postseason classic pitching match-up ensues; Cliff Lee versus Chris Carpenter at Citizens Bank Park: The CLASH of the TITANS!



The Phillies took game 1, and just like that the Cardinals’ win expectancy yielded a few percentage points when facing “the greatest rotation in history”…or so they say. Lee hangs in for 6 innings, fanning 9 batters, and outlasts a seemingly struggling Carpenter who leaves the game after three mushy innings (5H, 4ER, 3BB, 2K). It seems as if LaRussa is playing the tournament baseball game so soon in the NLDS; many ask “why?” but so few understand…there is no need to wait any longer, the Cardinals are still on a roll. TLR intends to keep it that way.

The majority of the Phillies’ damage to the Cardinals erupts in the very first inning, an exhaustive combination of patient plate discipline and timely hitting (in the first inning!) where 3 runs scored on 3 hits. Another run scores in the 2nd, and after 3 innings the Phils are up by four and the Cards are still scoreless.

The Cardinals find their teeth in the 4th, and do so immediately. After Lance Berkman’s full-count walk and David Freese is called out on strikes, Yadier Molina, Ryan Theriot, and John Jay open up a can of hot sauce and tag Lee for 3 runs on 4 hits, leaving 1 behind as Jay is thrown out at home on a 7-2 flyball by Rafael Furcal. We already know Carpenter is done when Nick Punto bats in his spot (and strikes out); LaRussa summons Fernando Salas to the mound and the game is on.

Salas handles the Phils with 3 groundouts, Lee returns in the 5th to strike out two and get Berkman to pop out but in the 6th, Theriot doubles and is brought home by another John Jay spray single. The inning ends with the score tied, and Lee at 101 pitches. The Cardinals take the lead in the 7th when Allen Craig belts a husky triple on a fly ball to CF and Albert Pujols’ go-ahead RBI single scores Craig easily. He does it again, Berkman reaches on a bloop single to RF, and Lee leaves the game after 110 pitches and 5 ER.

Of interesting note during this frame is Pujols’ exceptional attempt at a productive out, Freese’s dribbler bounces near the mound; with Pujols at 3rd and Placido Polanco recovering the ball, Pujols induces a 5-2 Fielder’s Choice rundown that allows sneaky Lance Berkman to advance from 1st to 3rd without a throw. Pujols claps joyously as he is tagged out by Carlos Ruiz and Berkman is standing on the bag, now in scoring position with only 1 out, and 2 men on base. This prompts an intentional walk to Molina, and the stage is perfectly set…until Theriot ends this crafty exercise by grounding into a 6-4-3 DP. You can’t knock Prince Albert for trying!

LaRussa brings on the bullpen now, as if he is negotiating a sinister chess match…well, he is. Marc Rzepczynski hits Chase Utley to start the 8th, and Hunter Pence hits a sure-fire double-play ball to Furcal. There are no easy outs; Utley masterfully breaks up the DP by uprooting Theriot at second. However, the Phillies are unable to score; TLR summons 2 more pitchers to face the next 2 batters with 1 on and 1 out and the shut down is executed.

The Phillies can’t touch Jason Motte, brought in for a 4-out Save, and the Cardinals slide their way into a win.

The attendance of 46,575 sets a Citizens Bank Park attendance record.

Series tied 1-1



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6/17/11 Kansas City Royals 5, St Louis Cardinals 4

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
Game 1 of 3


MOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!

How kool, the boy isn’t afraid to eat some dirt. A1 (that’s Alex Gordon) helped the Royals contend against the Cardinals early on with a bases-clearing single, but if it weren’t for Moose Mikestakas charging home plate face first to cross just in time on an error by Prince Albert Pujols…the game could have gone somewhere else.



Felipe Paulino let it all hang out in the 3rd inning, with the Cardinals batting around and scoring 4 times. Paulino has to learn, when the bases are loaded with 2 outs, this still isn’t a great time to pitch to Lance Berkman. At least not this year. But the Royals offense took advantage of “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” in capitalizing on an uncharacteristic shaky start by Chris Carpenter to scratch out 4 total runs in the first 4 innings to tie the game. All without an extra base hit by the Royals during the entire game.

While I’d usually say that TLR knows Carpenter best, he must not have read his tea leaves right today and left tall and goofy in for an inning too many, as the error-scoring face-first-slide run occurred during Carpenter’s last inning in the 8th…and with 2 outs already on the board.

By the way, I accidentally charged that 5th run to Carpenter…not in time to fix the scan but don’t worry, my paper copy has been revised.

This was St Louis’ 7th consecutive loss, and also the 3rd PIDP (popped into double play) I’ve scored in one month’s time after never scoring one in my life until now. Go figure.

6/3/11 Chicago Cubs 1, St Louis Cardinals 6

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
Game 1 of 3


Image borrowed from this famous post on “A League of Her Own”

Yes, he’s a CARDINAL now…



STL highlights:
• Ryan Theriot continues his 17-game hitting streak with a lead-off double to start the Cardinals’ 1st inning
• Albert Pujols hits his 100th HR at Busch Stadium 3 with 1 on and 0 out in the 5th inning; his 418th career HR, his 48th HR vs. the Cubs, his 7th HR courtesy of Ryan Dempster
• Lance Berkman is charged with a throwing error yet knocks a 3 run HR in the first inning, also against Dempster
• Jaime Garcia pitches like, alas, Jaime Garcia

CHC highlights:
• DJ LeMahieu gets his first MLB hit (a single) in the 8th inning
• Lou Montanez’ RBI double is the only other significant Cubs offense
• Cubs do not win

3/24/11 St Louis Cardinals 3, New York Mets 16

Digital Domain Park, Port St Lucie, FL

Ahem. Did I just go out on a limb only a few days ago, by publicly announcing that, yes, I think the Cardinals will be more formidable than many people realize, and that Jaime Garcia may be one of the best pitchers in the NL that nobody's talking about (that much)? Yes, that was me. This game should be no indicator, it is Spring Training and if this one REALLY counted, LaRussa would have given Garcia the hook instead of leaving him in to 'get out of it.' What "it" was, was the Mets.



This reminded me of a Spring Training exercise 2 years ago, indeed, my very first post...I am much more comfortable with the lineup changes and a bit more adept at scoring the game...it was really the lopsided advantage displayed by the Mets, nearly making their opponent hapless in nature. But this is the CARDINALS, I mean...no way...

Chris Capuano pitched an unreasonably great game for the Mets, going 5 innings, allowing 8 hits and 3 earned runs. Garcia on the other hand...uff da! Things were going great for Garcia, just a coupla runs in the first (from a David Wright 1 out 1 on HR), no biggie...with 2 outs in the 4th, Brad Emaus reaches on a single, Schumaker commits an inning-changing error, and that really starts the commotion. Emaus' single would start a run of 9 consecutive hits for the Mets over 2 innings. Garcia leaves the game after 4 innings, 78 pitches, giving up 14 hits (OUCH), 10 runs (only 3 earned) and just one strikeout.

If you like games with gross offensive display...this game was just fine with that. the Mets launched 4 HR as a team, big blasts like those of Matt Den Dekker and pinch-hitter Josh Thole (who hit the ball so far it ended up in the alligator pond outside the stadium) were legendary; besides Wright, Emaus (who went 4-4 for the day) and Angel pagan went yard.

The Cards did their best, but just got clobbered. They thanked goodness that Miguel Batista came along in the 7th and kept the Mets quiet for the rest of the game.

And if you haven't seen Lance Berkman the outfielder yet...he's just as good as you thought he would be. Only a little bit better than Jason Bay.