Train Keeps Rolling

Another game, another win.  You know, a person could get used to this.

The Cardinals kept their lead at 1.5 games, though the second place team is now Chicago instead of Milwaukee.  They guaranteed they'll go into the weekend in first and kept pace with Arizona for the best record in baseball.  (Notably, no AL team has 10 wins yet.)  I'm sure they can keep up this .733 pace and win 118 games.  Right?  No?

Hard to top the all-around game that Adam Wainwright had.  7 2/3, one earned run, six strikeouts and he hit a home run to boot.  Close second on the Hero scale would be Albert Pujols, for his two-run double that got the scoring started and his nice defensive play that help stop the Izzy meltdown.

The only downside to Wainwright's outing was the fact that he threw 115 pitches.  Not terribly extreme, but a little higher than you'd like to see.  That's not all Tony's fault, though, as Wainwright started the eighth with a servicable pitch count before things snowballed, and by that time the braintrust was trying to nurse him along to play the percentages.  It worked for another Cardinal win.

A rough ninth means that Jason Isringhausen gets the Goat.  For the second straight outing, he allowed two runs and put a Cardinal victory in jeopardy.  I know Izzy's done this before--they are even called "Izzy saves"--but it seemed like he did that less last year after the hip surgery of 2006.  Hopefully he is just hitting a rough patch and can straighten it out quickly.  I can't handle that kind of stress!

And how about that 17-pitch walk by Ankiel last night?  Talk about working pitch counts!  And even Skip Schumaker chipped in with a home run.  This offense definitely has its moments.  If it can continue to work the count and get good pitches, they will put up the runs.

Bernie makes a very solid point, one that probably is going unnoticed outside of St. Louis.  There are no dramatic stories here that make for a great early record.  It's not like Pujols is going yard every night or the pitching staff is perfect.  People are playing around their ability levels--a few above, a couple below--and this should be a pretty decent team.  Which is what I've been saying since before the season started.

Afternoon baseball today.  A lot of times, that's when Tony runs out the B lineup.  We'll see who we see today.  The pitching matchup is Kyle Lohse vs. Manny Parra.

Lohse has spent most of his career in the American League, so he's not faced a lot of the Brewers.  Looks like the guy with the most success against him is Gabe Kapler, who probably won't play due to his shoulder injury sustained shagging fly balls.  Craig Counsell is hitting .400 with a home run against him, so I expect Rickie Weeks will get the day off.

The Cardinals haven't seen Parra much, but what they've seen, they've liked.  No home runs against him, but a .333 BA will generate some runs if you keep that going.

Chance for the sweep.  Can the Cards pull it off?

And remember, if you want in on the next United Cardinal Blogger project, let me know.  There are still spots available!


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