Recently in Pittsburgh Pirates Category

Time For a Breather

So, like I said yesterday, a Cardinal win and a Cub loss and they go into the break 4 1/2 games out.

The Hero is pretty obvious.  Aaron Miles hits a three-run bomb and a two-run triple, even if he did have a boneheaded fielding play in the game as well, which cost the Cards early.  I thought the Cards would tee off on Snell, since they kept fouling off his pitches, but he survived longer and did better than I expected.  The rest of the Pirates staff, well, not as much.  Good to see Glaus go yard again and Molina to keep hitting.  I'm really impressed with Yadi's .300+ average.  He's become a force at the plate as well as behind it.

The Goat would go to Joel Pineiro.  There's really nothing about that pitching line that looks good.  10 hits, six runs, three walks in less than six innings?  Yuck.  The staff is going to have to have someone step up (or have Wainwright come back strong and early) or things may start to get out of hand.

I meant to watch the Futures Game yesterday but it slipped my mind.  There's a thread on the game at the Clubhouse and a wrapup in the DFR at the new and improved Future Redbirds.

It's a breather in Cardinal Nation today, as Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols will be sitting on the field tonight watching the big bombs going off.  The rest of the team is home resting up and probably already thinking about Jake Peavy.

It Came From The Backyard

In the old days, before the draft, Ryan Howard probably would have wound up in the Cardinal organization.  Local guy, good talent, the bird dog would have gotten the scout and he'd have signed a deal with the Redbirds.

Nowadays, of course, it doesn't work that way, but Howard apparently thinks it should have.  He holds some sort of grudge against the Cardinals, at least.  With two more home runs yesterday, he has 11 against his old hometown team.  With his low batting average and propensity for striking out, pitchers are tempted to pitch to him.  From now on, though, it may be wise to consider walking him.

As noted in the PD game story, July has been a terrible month for the Cardinals.  They are averaging 2.7 runs a game and sporting a 3-6 record that could have easily been worse.  (It's sad that the Cardinals have scored 25 runs in nine games when the Phillies earlier in the year just needed one game to get to 20 against the Redbird staff.)

The UCB roundtable is going on via e-mail and one of the questions is what is the biggest need, the bullpen or the offense.  I said the bullpen when I made my answers, but with these kind of numbers, I very well may have been wrong.  You have to figure that things will turn around somewhat--Glaus will get hot again, Ludwick will make some adjustments--so maybe that offense is there hidden.  But it may need a boost from an outside source.

Anyway, let's lay out the labels.  Hero would probably go to Albert Pujols, who was 2 for 4.  If anyone had been on in front of him, maybe he could have done some damage.  Which leads us to our Goat, Adam Kennedy.  0-4 in the leadoff spot is not what the team needed.

So the Cards fall into third, a half-game behind Milwaukee and 4.5 behind the Cubs.  It'll take a good series against the Pirates to get second back, I believe.

The series starts with Kyle Lohse going against Zach Duke.  Lohse has done pretty well against the Pirate hitters, which may be a very good thing if the offense doesn't start clicking.  Keeping the score down would be a very good thing.  Duke has quietly started to pitch pretty well.  The Cardinals hung a loss on him May 30, but after that he had a 3.13 ERA in June and continued to drop his ERA until his last outing against the Brewers.  St. Louis has had success against him, especially Pujols.

In other news, the Cardinals put Rasmus on the DL.  It doesn't seem to be a torn groin, but they are going to do an MRI on it.  That doesn't really sound good.  Hopefully it's something that a couple of weeks of rest will take care of, because I want Mozeliak to have that option of Rasmus coming up when he's talking trade for the rest of the month.  Putting Rasmus in the lineup could be the spark the offense needs.

Brian Burwell writes a good column on the end of Mark Mulder's career.   It really is a sad thing when someone can't do what they love anymore.

That's probably it for the weekend for me.  I'll be back on Monday to catch up.

Playing It On The Field

My father used to tell me, "That's why they play the game."  You don't play it on paper (unless it's fantasy baseball, but that's a totally different topic), you have to actually go out there and try to win a game that everything says should be yours.

The Cardinals would have liked to have it stay in the realm of the theoretical last night, though until the seventh everything was panning out just like you'd expect.  I didn't get to see much of the game, having a meeting to go to last night, but when I turned off the radio the Cards had just scored their third run and were looking for more.  I figured it was their night, since Pujols smashed a 3-0 pitch right to the third baseman and everyone was safe.

I turn the game back on after my meeting and Pittsburgh is up 5-4.  It wasn't until later when I read about the pinch-hit grand slam, which turned the game completely around.

I think Adam Wainwright said it the best:

"You just can't give up a grand slam right there. It's the worst I've ever felt after a game."

Again, the Cards showed that they have trouble finishing off a struggling pitcher early and adding on to early leads.  There is no way that Gorzelanny should have gone six innings with the way he started off the game.  This offense tends to sputter sometimes, catching early then dying off.

Heroically, Albert Pujols was at it again, with a 2-4, 2 RBI night.  Pujols said that not having the postseason to worry about would probably help him be rested and ready for the season.  I think we've seen that theory has some merit.  Joe Mather also had a very nice game as the rookie gets adjusted to major league life.

That wasn't the best way to send the team off on a long road trip, but you deal with what you have.  Tonight the Cardinals will be playing in our nation's capital, with Kyle Lohse taking on Odalis Perez.  Lohse has been OK against the current National hitters, giving up a home run only to Dmitri Young.  Lohse also has faced the Nationals this year and threw seven scoreless innings against them in April.

And, though he doesn't have the greatest numbers against Lohse at least, the Cards will probably dodge a bit of a bullet this series as Ryan Zimmerman continues to sit out nursing an injury and could be placed on the DL soon.

Perez has always been Pujols's favorite whipping boy. The rest of the Cardinals aren't anything special against him, but AP has 5 HR and 14 hits in 21 ABs.  That's dominance and it'll probably get him four wide ones in any situation with runners on tonight.  Perez gave up five runs in four innings against the Redbirds in the earlier meeting between the two teams.

The Washington YNOT is up and the series preview will be up later this morning.

Oh, there's been a Matt Clement sighting!  Apparently today will start his 30-day rehab stint in the minors.  Hopefully it has a better ending that Mark Mulder's did.  It's not obvious who he'd replace in the rotation, really, but a fresh arm around the All-Star Break could be a nice addition to the team.

And congratulations to Todd Wellemeyer for being NL Pitcher of the Month, an award that puts him in good company.  (Hat tip: VEB)

Duncan Down, Mather Up

Per Bernie, who should know, it appears that Chris Duncan is heading down to Memphis and Joe Mather will be replacing him on the Cardinal roster for a time.  (EDIT: It's up on the PD main site as well.)

Mather's had a fairly successful season at Memphis and we all probably remember how well he looked in spring training.  It was definitely time for him to get a shot at the bigs, and it probably would have come sooner if the Cardinal outfield had performed as many thought it would.  With the relative success of most all the outfielders, though, it was going to take some kind of break for him to get up to St. Louis.

It's interesting that there didn't seem to be this drumbeat to send Duncan down until the last couple of days, then all of the sudden it happened.  Maybe it was because I was out of the loop last week.

As Bernie shows in his post, getting Duncan on track could provide huge benefits for the Cardinals.  When we looked at this season, I think most of us expected the production that Ryan Ludwick is having coming from Duncan instead, that he'd be the extra power source behind Pujols and Troy Glaus.  That hasn't happened, for whatever reason.  If it's because he needs reps after the injury last year, then sending him to AAA to get into the lineup basically every day could be of great use.

But what if it's not?  VEB has shown that everyone tends to pitch Duncan inside more this year.  If he can't make that adjustment, the Cardinals may regret not actively trying to move him last offseason.

I expect that the Cards were hoping he'd have a positive game like last night's to ease the sting of being sent down.  So they could legitimately tell him, "Look, we know you can do it.  See what you did against Oswalt?  You just need more playing time, and we don't have that here right now.  Go down, get straightened out, you'll be back up here before you know it."

It's interesting that the first outfielder called up this year is Mather and not Colby Rasmus, but there are obvious reasons for that.  Besides the fact that Rasmus is only hitting .202 (though coming on--reading the daily reports at Future Redbirds made me see that was happening and now I see he's hitting .303 over his last ten games), the idea is that this is a stop-gap, fill-in measure.  The Cards have said they don't want to bring Rasmus up until he can play every day.  Right now, that's not happening.  Mather is going to be more of a bench guy than they want Rasmus to be.

I wonder if Mather will get the start tonight.  Lefty on the mound, a home game, and the fact that LaRussa has thrown the pitchers called up into their first game to get their feet wet makes me think that he might be.  It could be a lineup like:

Barton
Mather
Pujols
Ludwick
Glaus
Molina
Izturis
Wellemeyer
Ryan

I was way off the last time I tried to guess a lineup, so I probably will be again, but that could be an interesting one to throw out there.

It's been fun seeing young players come up to contribute so far this year, hasn't it?  Much better than bringing up retreads or signing DFAs to fill gaps.

Oh, and in case you wanted to know, the CCH Pittsburgh series preview is up.

Off the Wagon

If Wednesday's win was a step toward recovery, St. Louis fell off the wagon on Thursday and landed with a thud that might be felt for days to come.  The same problems reared up on Thursday afternoon--a lack of the big hit, the inability to continue to pile on, and the shakiness of the bullpen.

This game was very similar to the one Ian Snell started against the Cardinals earlier.  They got out to the big lead, couldn't add to it, and lost it late.  It's possible the game turned in the first inning.  If Adam Kennedy's bases-loaded, two-out hit gets down, there's a couple more runs right there and the game could have gone quite differently.

From what it sounds like, this could be the last time for a while that Jason Isringhausen gets the goat.  Some sort of decision apparently will be made today, and it has to be.  Odds are there will be a DL move, especially since you'll note in that story people are now saying he's still getting treatment for his hip, something that hadn't been mentioned before now.  But Izzy did make that a little harder on them with his blunt honesty:

"I don't know what we're going to do," Isringhausen said. "I wish I could say I was hurt, my arm was falling off, or I couldn't land. I can't do that. People (hitters) standing at home plate tell you what the end result should be. I'm not getting any swings and misses, so that says something about my stuff. I feel healthy. But maybe my 'healthy' just isn't good enough."

While Izzy gets most of the brunt, most of the bullpen can come under the same indictment.  I ran the numbers since the middle of the Colorado series, when Izzy blew the win late.  Here's what the bullpen has done since then (again, apologies for formatting):

Randy Flores: 2.2 innings, two hits, one ER, three walks, two strikeouts, 3.37 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (1-2)
Ryan Franklin: 3 innings, two hits, 0 ER, two walks, one strikeout, 0.00 ERA, no inherited runners
Jason Isringhausen: 3.1 innings, 8 hits, 6 ER, four walks, one strikeout, 16.22 ERA, 100% inherited runners scored (2-2)
Kyle McClellan: 3.1 innings, four hits, 2 ER, three walks, three strikeouts, 5.41 ERA, 67% inherited runners scored (3-2)
Mike Parisi: 5 innings, seven hits, three ER, two walks, three strikeouts, 5.40 ERA, no inherited runners
Russ Springer: 3.1 innings, one hit, 0 ER, two walks, 1 K, 0.00 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (2-0)
Ron Villone: 2.2 innings, nine hits, eight ER, two walks, one strikeout, 26.97 ERA, 0% inherited runners scored (1-0)
Total Bullpen: 23.1 innings, 33 hits, 20 ER, 18 BB, 12 K, 7.72 ERA, 50% inherited runners scored (10-5)

Save for Franklin and Springer (and, to a lesser extent, Flores), everyone is struggling out there.  It doesn't seem to be overwork--that's an average of just over 2.1 innings per game over the nine game stretch--but something does need to be done.

I'd expect that the first thing that is going to happen is the promotion of Chris Perez when they do whatever they do with Izzy.  That should give the bullpen another look and a good power arm to help in some situations.  As you can see above, the relievers are only striking out one every two innings during that stretch.  That many balls in play is going to lead to some problems.

Villone obviously needs some time off as well.  He had a 0.90 ERA in April, but in half as many innings in May his ERA is close to 9.  The decision needs to be made soon whether he's going through a rough patch and needs to tinker or he's run out of gas and needs to be released.  There are a few other relievers in Memphis that might be worth taking a look at in St. Louis.

As for the offense, I don't know what you can do about that.  It's not that people aren't hitting--the team racked up 14 hits yesterday and they hit .313 for the Pittsburgh series--but the team can't seem to get them when they are needed.  37 men were stranded in three games in this series.  A couple of hits in the right spot and it's a sweep by the Cardinals, possibly rendering some of this bullpen angst moot.

We still need a Hero out of yesterday's game.  It's a tough call, really.  The pitching's out, either because of ineffectiveness or they didn't have a chance for a big moment play.  Numerous batters had multiple hits yesterday, which makes it a bit hard to narrow down, but I think I'll continue to honor the resurgence of our third baseman and select Troy Glaus for his 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB day. His bounceback is one of the reasons the offense is at least getting runners on.  Though we may have to use John's excellent Photoshop more often than we'd like!

It promises to be an interesting day whenever the decision on Izzy comes down.  But until then, there's also a ballgame to focus on for tonight.

The Cardinals and Rays were the last two of the current teams to meet, facing each other for the first time down in Tropicana in 2005.  The Cards swept that series 3-0 and haven't seen the Rays since.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this version of the Tampa Bay squad is much better than the previous incarnation.

Braden Looper is going for the Cards tonight.  Not surprisingly, there's not much history between him and the current Rays batters, being that most of them are homegrown ALers.  Looper's pitched fairly well since his shelling by the Giants and hopefully can continue that.  He's pitching a little better in Busch than on the road, so that may help out some as well.

Andy Sonnanstine goes for the Rays.  You have to figure the team is going to lean on Troy Glaus a lot this weekend, since he's the only player that's faced Sonnanstine and likely any of the hurlers that will be going for Tampa Bay.  Sonnanstine hasn't had the best of seasons, but being that he's a fresh face to these guys, it could be a long night.

With the Rays coming to town, Troy Percival gets to return to St. Louis.  We'll see what kind of reaction he gets when he comes into a game.  The Rays have some young hitters that should be fun to watch as well.

Just as long as they don't go beating around the bullpen like everyone else.

A Step Toward Recovery

The Cardinals took a good first step yesterday, riding Todd Wellemeyer to a solid win over the Pirates.  It's too early to say that the slump is over, but it's nice to break it up a little bit.

There's no doubt that Wellemeyer was the Hero of last night's game.  The Cardinal offense came through some (though they could have scored much more) but it would have possibly been moot if Wellemeyer hadn't pitched as well as he did.  I think we'd take one run and two hits in seven innings every time out!  There's a good blog post on Wellemeyer by Bernie on the PD site today.  He's definitely been much more than we expected when the Cards picked him up last year.

That catch by Ankiel last night, robbing the home run, was "Edmonds-esque", as Rick himself said after the game.  I remember Jim taking one away from a Cincinnati batter (maybe even Jason LaRue?) almost exactly like that at Great American Ballpark.  Perhaps it was fitting being that Edmonds had been in the news so much yesterday.

You also had to like Pujols's solid game (41 on the On Base Streak counter), Cesar Izturis having an all-around offensively charged night and Jason Isringhausen coming out of the pen for a one-two-three outing.  Don't tell me "yeah, but it wasn't a save situation".  Izzy seems to struggle more in those slots than he does in actual close saves at times.  A good number of his blown saves weren't one run games when he came in.

With 15 hits and only one run allowed, it's hard to come up with a Goat for that game.  It's tough, but I think I'll give it to Brendan Ryan if for the most subjective of reasons.  I saw some of the game, not all of it, and was hoping the Cardinals would score some runs when they had runners at first and second, nobody out.  Wellemeyer bunts the runners over.  Now all Ryan really needs to do is put the ball in play and a good chance a run will score.  However, he strikes out there, which was the last thing the Cards wanted to see.  Yeah, it's small, but there wasn't a lot of Goatiness to go around last night.

It's also nice to know that no one actually reads this blog, since I did yesterday's preview and had Pineiro starting instead of Wellemeyer.  Let me know when I mess up this bad, people!  (Speaking of, I need to resolve never to try to guess a lineup again.  That was terrible!)  It's especially bad since I got it right when I did the CCH preview of the series.

What I said about Pineiro yesterday still holds.  The Pirates have done OK against him.  It could be a tough game, but it's really one the Cards need to win.

Pittsburgh counters with Ian Snell.  The Cardinals have faced Snell already this year and got a nice 4-0 lead on him in the first inning.  Problem was, that's all they got and the Pirates came back to win 7-4.  Snell's history against the Cardinal batters is a little ragged.  He's never figured out Pujols (which seems to help AP's quest for 42) and Molina's done pretty well against him.  Chris Duncan, not so much, though he does have a home run against him.

Early start today with the businessman's special, so it should be a good afternoon for baseball!

Continuing to Falter

Last night's game was one the Cardinals really needed to win, in my opinion.  Fresh start, home game, opponent the Cards usually beat, everything was in their favor.  And when Albert Pujols ties it up with a long ball, you have to feel the tide has turned.

Instead, they leave the bases loaded in the ninth and the bullpen implodes in the tenth.  The latter is not that surprising, given the way the relievers have gone about their business this year.  A lot of the good fortune from last year is evening out this year.  Ron Villone had been pretty good most of this year, but he got the Goat label from last night.  When you face 8 batters, six of them reach base and four score, that's a rough night.

I thought Pujols would probably get the Hero tag, but after reading more about the game (I didn't get to see it), it's pretty obvious that Troy Glaus should get it.  Hitting one of those rare three-run home runs and going 2-5 is a good sign out of him.  Hopefully he'll have a few more home runs by this time next month.

The Cards have to shake that off and get back at it tonight.  If Joel Pineiro is on like he was last time, there's a solid chance they'll make a game of it.  Pineiro pitched six strong innings against the Brewers before faltering in the seventh.  Still, it was more the bullpen's fault he didn't get a win than his own.  Unfortunately, a number of Pirate hitters have had good success off of him in the past.  However, he did defeat the Bucs back on April 24, when he threw seven innings of one-run ball.

Paul Maholm goes for the Cardinals, meaning the Redbirds face yet another lefty.  Albert Pujols and Jason LaRue have had the most success against him, which may mean Tony sits Yadier Molina tonight and has him ready for the afternoon game tomorrow.  Maholm hasn't gone against the Cardinals this year.

Just taking a guess at the lineup.........

Barton
Miles
Pujols
Ludwick
Glaus
Ankiel
LaRue
Pineiro
Izturis

Check with Bernie's forum or the CardsClubhouse game thread later to see if I come at all close.

A few things to hit around the horn:

*John Mozeliak apparently is willing to be accessible.  He recently had a chat on MLB.com and today he'll go for his second chat at the PD website.  Somebody ask him when he's getting a blog.  He can join us in the United Cardinal Bloggers!

*It's a chat doubleheader at the PD, with Cardinal writer Joe Strauss taking his weekly turn in the tank after Mozeliak's done.

*Apparently the Cubs may sign Jim Edmonds.  I think Will Leitch summed it up quite well:  "It is rare to find anything that Cubs fans and Cardinals fans agree on. The horror of Jim Edmonds in a Cubs uniform is one of them."  Along with the Cub blogs in that Deadspin story, you can also see what fellow Blogs by Fans member Cobra Brigade thinks about it by following this link.  It does beg the question, though: Will Jim still get a standing O when he comes to St. Louis in a Cub uniform?  I think probably so.  John Mabry always was welcomed warmly, even when in Cub blue.

*I don't think anyone's really shocked that Tyler Johnson needs surgery.  I definitely wasn't.

If I get a chance, I'll do another version of Around the Blogs this afternoon, see what people are saying much better than me.

Splitting

The Cards have been doing a lot of .500 ball playing lately.  They are 5-5 in their last 10, with a pattern of win two, lose one, win one, lose two, win one, lose two, win one.  It's a roller-coaster ride after the smooth winning pattern of the first couple of weeks.

They got back on the horse last night with patience and strong pitching.  While I wanted to go Hero-wise with Brian Barton, who was 2-4 with a walk and got the scoring started with a two-run double (on the first hit of the game), it's tough to argue with the numbers Joel Pineiro put up last night.  Seven innings of one-run ball, four hits, six strikeouts and bonus points for the kick-save out that will on highlight reels for years to come.  I think that's the second time this year that Pineiro has done a kick move like that, but the first time it's actually worked.  Besides Barton, honorable mention goes to Yadier Molina for three hits, including two doubles, and Albert Pujols for reaching base five times (though once was when he was thrown out going for a double).

Goat-wise, I guess you have to go with Ryan Ludwick for his 0-5 night.  He wasn't even able to coax a walk out of Tom Gorzelanny, something that just about everyone was able to do.  I really like the patience that the team is showing so far.  Especially with the weaker hitters.  If they are able to get on base, that just makes the offense that much more potent.

The Cardinals go home and get to match up with the streaking Houston Astros, who have won five in a row.  The Cardinals beat them two out of three in Houston earlier in the year, but the Cards will only face one pitcher they saw in that matchup.

That pitcher is Shawn Chacon, who goes tonight against Braden Looper.  The Cards were able to beat him last time, 5-3, but historically they've had their troubles against him.  Chris Duncan has had success in limited action against him, so you figure to see him out there tonight.  Then again, since it's a right hander on the mound, you figure all the lefties will be in the lineup.  Which is too bad for Brian Barton, after his strong game, but if Ludwick got benched after hitting home runs in three straight games because a righty was on the mound, Barton has little room to argue.

Looper has done all right against the Astros and hopefully will continue that this evening.  He wasn't anything special last time out, allowing three runs in 5.2 innings, but he did get the win.  Which is what counts the most, right?

The biggest key to this series will be getting the guys out in front of Lance Berkman.  Berkman always seems to kill the Cardinals, so the pitchers are going to have to do their best to limit the damage.  To a lesser degree, Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada are also threats, but I personally will always breath easier when Berkman is retired.

And Saturday's matchup should be a lot of fun, with Adam Wainwright against Roy Oswalt.  If Oswalt's on his game (something that's eluded him a lot in 2008), that could be a pitcher's duel that ranks right up there with another Saturday afternoon game against the 'Stros.

The series preview and the YNOT are up at the Clubhouse, so check those out as well.

Slipping

When you are faltering, even the teams that you should beat wind up beating you.  Which doesn't really bode well for the future of this team.  Four runs is nice, but you'd like to see more than that when all four score in the first inning.

You knew that Wellemeyer was playing with fire last night.  The first seven outs were in the air, and that's just asking for trouble in a ballpark that's not known to be a pitcher's paradise.  Wellemeyer only got 2 outs on the ground, 11 by fly ball and 5 by strikeout.  That probably means that he was lucky to get away giving up only the one home run.

I don't think it's too much of a debate to anoint Anthony Reyes as the Goat of last night's game.  If he hits Miles with that double-play throw, it's two outs, none on and the .115 hitting Adam LaRoche coming up.  Instead, the winning run is at second with one out.  Allowing two extra runs just put the icing on the cake, unfortunately.

Kudos to Kennedy for not only backing up the play but having the presence of mind to throw it to first to get at least one out on the play.  Ironically, that's something I'd never seen before until my softball game Tuesday night, where the same thing happened (though no throw to first was made).  For that and the 2-4, 2 RBI game, Adam Kennedy is the Hero of the game.

It'd been nice if Albert could have come through in the sixth with a couple of runners on, but he was 2-2 with a HBP at that point.  While another hit wasn't unlikely, it's still tough to get three hits in a game.  And I guess you could say it was about time for Snell to get him out.

If not for Reyes, Chris Duncan might have gotten the goat.  Grounding into a big double play didn't help, but it seemed possible that, if he'd taken a better route to Bay's home run ball, he'd have been able to catch it at the wall.  Maybe not, but that's the way it looked to the untrained eye.

So now the Cardinals have slipped into third place, 2.5 games behind the apparently-never-losing Cubs.  Their 13-9 record, though, would lead the AL Central and West and have them a half game out in the NL East.  That said, four of the last five have gone the wrong way and that's a trend that needs reversing.

It might be a tough chore to do that today.  Tom Gorzelanny takes the mound, and the Cardinals have traditionally had some struggles against left-handers.  Gorzelanny sports a terrible ERA, but it's all based on two games against the Cubs, where he gave up 14 earned runs in 5 innings.  In his other two starts, he has an ERA under three.  Pujols hasn't hit him all that well, but Aaron Miles has.  Most of the other Cardinals haven't faced him much, though it is interesting to see that Ankiel is 3-3 with a HR against him.  Being that Gorzelanny is a lefty, I was going to say Ank sits today, but with those numbers, probably not.

Joel Pineiro goes for the Cards this evening.  The Pirates that have faced him the most were former American Leaguers, though both Xavier Nady and Jason Bay have home runs off of him in limited action.

This could be a tough one for the Cards, but they really need to get a victory before going back home for a key homestand against the Astros, Reds and Cubs.

Speaking of that Cub series, later today I'll release the lineup for the UCB Game Blog project.

The Wildest Times of the World

Lohse blowing a 2-0 lead.  Cards trailing 8-3.  Rallying for four, then scoring the tying run off a missed double play in the ninth.  12 innings.  Albert Pujols playing second.  And then the Brewer who scored the game winning run is traded to Tampa Bay.  (They couldn't do that just a little earlier?)  What's next, cats and dogs, living together?

It was a crazy game, made a little more so because it was a day game and I was following along at the CardsClubhouse game thread.  One of the great things about the internet and the rise of game threads (almost every forum has them now!) is that you can "watch" the game together.  As close as sitting with a bunch of people in the stands as you can get without spending money.

Anyway, it was a very unorthodox game.  Lots of what ifs.  Most people will dwell on the missed call by the umpire on Pujols's slide home.  I didn't see it, but it sure sounded like he was safe.  Obviously, that run plus the fact that it made first and third two outs instead of one out could have made a difference in the game.

The one I want to talk about, however, is one of LaRussa's questionable moves, at least in my mind.  As soon as a right hander came into the game, LaRussa pinch hit Rick Ankiel for Brian Barton.  This seemed a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction.  At the time, the Cards were down by 5, which seemed like a perfect opportunity to see what Barton could do.  I realize that TLR always goes all out for a win and the team did rally, but it didn't have much to do with Mr. Ankiel, who is really slumping right now.  Besides, if he'd kept Ankiel on the bench, he could have used him at a more strategic time.

Many people say that TLR doesn't like the youngsters, that he'll do anything not to play them.  A theory I've come up with in the last week or so is not that he doesn't like the young players.  I mean, look at his use of Kyle McClellan, the way he used the bullpen in 2006, his four ROYs under his watch, stuff like that.  No, I think what TLR's bias relates to is first impressions.

Rick Ankiel made a heck of a first impression as a pitcher and Tony immediately liked him.  Now, he'll go almost out of his way to give Ankiel shots.  Brian Barton started off the spring slow and didn't make the best of first impressions on the field.  That seems to be what LaRussa remembers and possibly part of why he starts on the bench.

It's not really a personality thing--I mean, he probably likes Barton as a person, just like he likes Brendan Ryan--but being that his first impression of Barton as a baseball player was negative, that keeps factoring into his decisions.

It's just a theory, but it seems to fit some of the decisions he's made over the last few years.

Anyway, back to the game.  It's a rare decision, but I think the Hero of the game has to be Aaron Miles, who went 4 for 5 with a run and an RBI while playing two different positions without an error.

The Goat is Jason Isringhausen, who quickly ruined the afternoon by allowing a walk, a stolen base and a hit.  You can't be walking people in the 12th if at all possible, especially when your first baseman is playing second and would have to cover on the steal.  (Though, to be fair, it sounded like Molina's throw was on the wrong side of the bag.)

While Izzy gets his third Goat of the year, it was one of the first and few times where you could actually consider Albert Pujols for the role.  Sure, AP had a nice game (2-6, 2 RBI, a run--should have been 2--scored) but look at his last two at-bats, when the game was on the line.  In the ninth, he impatiently swung at pitches with the game on the line and would have ended the game on a double play if not for Rickie Weeks' bad throw.  Then, in extras, he strikes out.  The Goat is not always about who had the worst game.

Still, I love his attitude about playing second.  (And also like the fact that he lobbied to play shortstop.  Like that was going to happen with his bad elbow, but the man wants to do anything he can to help the team.)  When he was given instructions about not turning a double play and to be careful, he said he would.  But later.....

"What do you think, that I wasn't going to turn a double play?" scoffed Pujols. "I was. I was going to turn a double play. I'd be careful. First of all, I'd make sure I catch the ball and not try to get too fancy and drop it. But I was going to try to turn it."

There's a reason he's the best.

So on to Pittsburgh, a land that has been favorable to the Cardinals in the past.  Last year, they went 12-6 against the Pirates and are 88-41 (.682) against them this century.  The last time the Cardinals had a losing record against the Bucs was 1999, when they went 5-7.

Tonight, Ian Snell tries to shut down the St. Louis machine.  El Hombre is really looking forward to this one.  He has four homers (and a .563 average) in 16 ABs against Snell.  There's a strong likelihood that Pujols will get his third three walk game of the season tonight.  The rest of the lineup looks pretty good against him as well.

Todd Wellemeyer is on the hill for the Cardinals.  Most of the Pirates haven't seen him much, but what they have seen, they've not liked.  Ronny Paulino does have two hits against him, however.

Finally, a couple of small notes.  If you've not heard, Brendan Ryan will be joining the team in Pittsburgh.  Brad Thompson is going down to Memphis for a bit, which is probably good because he's had some struggles in the bullpen in two of his three outings.

We've gotten one more blog to join our May 3rd game blogging project.  The Cardinal Virtue will be taking the second inning.  We still need one more volunteer and then the game will be set. (EDIT: We got it!  Fungoes is going to take an inning as well!)

Also, if for some reason you want these headlines on your site, check out the widget I created at WidgetBox.

Also on the Network: √ Yanks Beat A Lefty? [Depressed Fan] √ Yanks Start Second Half With "W" [Green Pinstripes] √ All-Star Breather: The Giants Catchers [El Lefty Malo] √ Rock Is Dead; Shea Stadium July 18, 2008 [Loge 13] √ Citi Field Revealed (FYI: No Loge Here) [Loge 13] √ My Rifle, My Pony and Me [Beantown West] √ Quick Chicago roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Giants Reveal New Stadium Ticket Plans [Loge 13]