Using the Broom

Very good weekend for the Cardinals.  Let's recap:

Thursday
Hero: Troy Glaus.  Two home runs off of a very tough pitcher.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.  A two run lead in the ninth becomes one after two batters.  He was fairly lucky to wiggle out of that.
Notes: Pretty impressive to have four home runs off of Jake Peavy.  Being able to take the first game helped with the confidence this weekend, I think.

Friday
Hero: Rick Ankiel.  Three hits, including a home run and was a part of the game-winning eighth inning.
Goat: Braden Looper.  Six earned runs in three innings.  You aren't often going to win games with that kind of start against Greg Maddux.
Notes: I knew that if they could split the first two games, it'd be a good weekend.  A sweep of them only reinforced that.

Saturday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  Three for four with the bases-clearing double that got the Cards back into it.  AP hasn't gone yard in a while (since the Fourth of July) but he's definitely producing.
Goat: Yadier Molina.  An 0-4 when everyone else is hitting.  Some of the bullpen guys were candidates too, but their lapses didn't wind up hurting the team.
Notes: Another come-from-behind win. I figured this one was done early with the way Wellemeyer has been throwing and having memories of last year.  Glad that they proved me wrong.

Sunday
Hero: Troy Glaus.  Miles's slam was nice, but without Glaus in the eighth, the Cards face Hoffman and that probably doesn't happen.
Goat: Jason Isringhausen.  That may be the last time we see him in a save situation.
Notes: Nice first start of Jaime Garcia.

All in all, a good weekend for the Cardinals.  The Hard Nine mentality was in full force, getting into that San Diego bullpen and causing some damage.  I don't know what the team is going to do with Isringhausen.  It's becoming obvious you can't put him into a close game, for whatever reason.  He looked very good on the first batter and then it just started unraveling.  There's no one in the bullpen that I have complete confidence in and only McClellan gets close.  Hopefully Mozeliak is still working the phones.

The weekend got better with a fairly successful rehab start from Chris Carpenter.  If the only thing we have to worry about as Cardinal fans is Carp's command, we're in good shape.  It's not surprising that he's a little rusty, having not been in a game situation in over a year.  A couple of more starts and he should be good to go, I'd think, barring no setbacks.  Which is something you can never be sure about, especially with Cardinal rehab pitchers.

Now the Cardinals get to take on the Brewers.  Both teams will say this is just another series.  To some degree, it is.  But the two teams only play each other twice more this season, if my examination of the schedule is correct.  I don't think it's any coincidence that the Brewers made the move for Ray Durham right before this series.  A Cardinal victory in the series would really put some doubt in the minds of the Brewers, especially with both of their aces going in the series, and it would give St. Louis some breathing room in the wild-card race as well as keeping them competitive with the Cubs.

Tonight, Joel Pineiro gets the call against Seth McClung.  The Cardinals haven't seen much of McClung, though Troy Glaus, currently the hottest hitter on the face of the earth, does have a home run against him.  At least McClung throws from the right side, so maybe the Cards can get to him.  Pineiro has faced the Brew Crew once this year, allowing two runs in 6.1 innings.  He's mainly been able to hold the Brewers down, but after his rough outing against Pittsburgh, there's little confidence there as well.


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