STLCards.NET

The Cardinals won last night behind a solid Chris Carpenter effort and today get a much needed day off. Motte is going to the DL and as I said Fernando Salas has been called up again. The Cardinals are a half a game back with 54 games left – a three game series and shot at redemption begins in Cincy on Monday.

Did you hear the news? The Cardinals are retiring another number. Bud Norris. David Freese has also been retired for the season. Jason Motte has some arm/shoulder fatigue. The Cardinals have lost two games in disgusting fashion to the Astros. The Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman-less Astros. Oh. As I type this the Reds have almost come back from a 7-1 deficit against the Pirates. The Cardinals will need some fresh arms soon. Time to call in Nate Robertson and maybe bring Fernando Salas up for the one hundredth time this season. There is only one way for the Cardinals to make the playoffs. Play well. They have their work cut out for them and will have to start by avoiding being swept at home by the Astros, yes the Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman-less Astros. Ugh.

What a way to go out of first place. Jake Westbrook battles – strikes out his fair share of batters and leaves with a 2 run lead. The author goes to bed but dreams of a blown loss to the Mets. I wake up to find it wasn’t the Mets it was the Astros. And they scored 7 runs in the last two innings!!! And if things weren’t bad enough Bud Norris is pitching tonight!! I guess it really is Shark Week.

Ryan Ludwick is a Cardinal no longer – he was a good player and always seemed to be overperforming. The Cardinals owe a lot of solid production to him but John Jay was forcing the issue with his hot bat and Ludwick’s impending (again) arbitration raise was going to make him a Cardinal no longer after the 2010 season. Westbrook looked alright tonight working in and out of jams. He could use a bit more of a solid defense behind him – the return of Freese will be when the expectations can again be applied to the Cardinals. I like the trade and I look forward to it. I would still love to see Dan Uggla in a Cardinal uniform.

I think it really is for the best that Jeff Suppan only pitched 4 strong innings last night. It doesn’t get my hopes up for next time that he’s gonna save the team or even be a strong fill in for the rotation. He knows he obviously has a few things to work on too – but at the same time he pitched 4 innings at the start of the game – held the Mariners to 1 run (ok maybe I could do that) and the Cardinals won the game, Blake Hawksworth even got the credit for the win, good for him as well. I like seeing Suppan back in a Cardinals uniform probably because it only reminds me of winning seasons. Jaime Garcia goes for the sweep tonight and then the Cardinals have another off day. The Reds have lost two straight to the Dodgers and the Cardinals are back to being tied for first place. Also – Albert Pujols finally hit a home run.

Boy this team really can hit sometimes. Too bad they aren’t going to face Luke French again this year. Can you believe he’s a lefty? The Cardinals enter a distinctly new phase of the season when Jeff Suppan enters the rotation tonight. I hope the lineup stays just like it was – Aaron Miles was never needed for the PH grand slam either. The Cardinals are still just 1 game back behind the Reds who start a series with the Dodgers at home tonight.

It’s hard enough to follow the team from the east coast when they’re on the west coast and when they’re playing as they did I am less inclined to do so. If I told you that in one week the Cardinals won one only one game and it was on a 3 run homerun you’d think Albert and Holliday must be hurt and Carpenter and Wainwright must not have pitched. Well they all played and the pitchers did their job. This needs to be the worst stretch of the year if the Reds continue to play as well as they are. Carp pitches today to bring the team out of the slump but without a rejuvinated offense it will all be for nothing.

If the Cardinals beat the Reds today they will begin June tied for first place with a record of 30-22. With the hitters sputtering to life (last six games by # runs: 0, 1, 8, 7, 0, 9) and the bullpen back from the brink it’s not a bad place to be in. The series against the Padres was a really tough one, especially after loading the bases in the first inning of the first game and then losing 1-0, by winning 2 out of 3 in Chicago the Cardinals evened the road trip. I thought Ottavino showed a lot of promise and can easily stand in for Kyle Lohse for the rest of the season. He kept the ball down really well – when he missed he walked guys which combined with the errors made behind him was his undoing – but he didn’t miss up and give up homers and doubles. Yesterday was a great game not only because Albert scored his 1100th career run and hit 3HRs, but Matt Holliday was 4-5 and David Freese continued to cement his position hitting 5th. John Jay put Colby Rasmus on notice – that was the best throw from CF the team has had all season. Practice your defensive throws Colby – if he can ever start hitting again the batting order looks good and scary again. Now that I’m not worrying about Albert for a while, Colby has that special place in my heart. He seems to be a bit of a head case, worried about performing, but additionally he’s a strikeout case – those things don’t go together productively. Is he the next Anthony Reyes? Let’s hope not. A nice NL Central homestand begins today – before interleague mania next week. Bronson Arroyo pitches against Jaime Garcia today and Arroyo has NOT been kind to the Cardinals this year. Third time’s the charm?

That was a ballgame folks. The Cardinals won in 10 innings and they certainly should have lost. Albert was out by a mile stealing third but for some reason Brandon Wood forgot to tag him. The team got so many men on base in the final innings if it weren’t for the depleted pitching staff I’d be begging for a game today instead of an off day to keep it rolling. The team can still win the next two series despite the losses of Penny and Lohse who will miss at least one start. Against the Padres in San Diego they have Wainwright and Garcia pitching in the first two games and against the Cubs at home Carpenter and Wainwright will be pitching the last two games. Keep the bats rolling. Here’s to you Mr. We Don’t know who the second back up starter is yet.

Before getting worried or upset repeat to yourself, “Chris Carpenter pitches today for the series win, against the Angels.” Any series won in interleague play (aside from against the Royals) is a positive. The Angels do happen to have their best pitcher Jered Weaver pitching today. The only time he has faced the Cardinals he gave up 3 runs in 3 innings. Hopefully the Cardinals will put on their traditional Sunday afternoon offensive showcase. As disheartening it is to see Penny and then Lohse injured on consecutive days, I’m still more concerned with Albert Pujols. In my infrequent blog posts, Albert does not have a single RBI since I last posted 7 days ago. Last year he had 115 walks to 64 strikeouts. This year in 43 games he has 29 walks and 24 strikeouts. Take a look at his home hitting chart and notice the lack of hits to the opposite field. As a fan I don’t have the same confidence I used to have when Albert comes to the plate – I find myself sitting and watching and hoping for a hit just the same as when the struggling Brendan Ryan comes to bat. Kyle Lohse’s performance yesterday was ugly especially the day after a game the bullpen pitched the majority of when Brad Penny got hurt. Now if Lohse is hurt the Cardinals really seem do begin to strain. The team needs at least one of them to pitch again soon – hopefully Penny’s injury really is minor and he returns to April-wonder form. Just being able to go out there and pitch 7 or maybe 8 innings when it’s his turn in the rotation is what I’m looking for. If Lohse doesn’t come back for 3 months I don’t see much of a difference between himself and PJ Walters. Go ahead Kyle, prove me wrong. From now on the way to winning (even more so than it was at the beginning of the season) for the Cardinals is scoring runs, lots and lots of runs.