Too Little Too Late?

You know, you'd think the Brewers would know better than to do stupid things against St. Louis after last year's beanball war that started them on a slide out of the playoffs.  Apparently, Carlos Villanueva didn't get the memo.

Like Bernie said (and it's a fascinating look at the comments from Pujols in the link), it's not likely Villanueva really was the cause of the uprising, because this team always plays a hard nine.  But don't underestimate how much firing up Albert Pujols does for him and this team. Pujols has always been one to help keep the team going, getting them riled up at the right times.  If he just lets Villanueva get away with his actions, perhaps the Brewers are a little more focused with momentum.  Instead, AP got the Cards ready to take that momentum.  It helped that he was the leadoff hitter in the eighth, because you just knew he was going to do something.

And wasn't it fitting that the winning run scored on an infield grounder after Milwaukee had done the same earlier in the game?  Watching them score a run with three balls that didn't leave the infield made me think that last night was going to go the way of Tuesday night's action.  When the Cardinals had Pujols and Ludwick on with no outs and didn't score in the fourth (I believe), I thought the same way.  And I was sure it was over when Joe Mather popped up with the bases loaded, though he definitely had a good at bat there.  An 0-4 with that at-bat as well give him the Goat, however.

It might have been a last gasp in relation to the playoffs, of course.  The Cards are still 3.5 out, where they were when the series started, but now have only 28 games remain.  6 more with the Cubs, which won't be easy of course, and 6 with NL West-leading Arizona.  It's not going to be easy to make that ground up, though I'm sure the Cardinals will play hard and try to.

Still, last night would have been exciting even if the Cardinals were already eliminated from the playoffs.  Maybe not to the same level, but it's baseball--the game can be taken without context and still be a lot of fun.  Even if the Cardinals are out of it after a week or two in September, the last few games will be worth watching, if only because, well, it's baseball.

The next United Cardinal Bloggers project is set for tomorrow, so be sure to check it out.  And maybe we'll take a look at the first game of the Houston series as well.


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