Blogs By FansC70 At The Bat
Sponsor


Cardinals_WideSkyscraper.jpg

Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.

Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines


Slots Galore Casino Tournaments

Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets

Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified.

Subscribe
RSS Feed

Archives

Players

Categories


Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets.

With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials!

Cardinals Battle To The Top

Posted on August 11, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds | Heroes and Goats | St. Louis Cardinals
I think I'm glad I'm not vacationing up in Reds Country this week.  I was only approached a couple of times about my Cardinal attire while I was there on my vacation, but I have a feeling it would be a bit more right about now, and perhaps not quite as friendly.

Let's take a look at the game first, then we can come back to the early scrum that developed.  It was great to see the Cardinals continue to answer any punches (yes, still talking about the game) that the Reds threw.  The Reds tie it at 2, quickly the Cards get a few more.  The Reds cut the lead to one, immediately the Redbirds get three more.

Matt Holliday had a huge game, capped off by that bases-clearing double.  Everyone contributed something, though, as all the starters (save Skip Schumaker) had a hit.  Which is what you want to see--and about time, as well.  The consensus has been that this team could take off if everyone got into the groove at the same time.  At least for the last two nights, that's been the case.

Jaime Garcia did well, though had some issues with his control.  I don't know if he was being more cautious, knowing that it is a small ballpark, or he is starting to wear down a bit as the season gets into its final stretches.  Without the walks, he probably could have gotten into the seventh, and perhaps the final two runs for the Reds wouldn't have scored.

Speaking of, why was Fernando Salas pitching around Jim Edmonds?  There are two outs and two on.  If he hits it out, he ties up the ball game, but did they really think that it was a strong possibility?  With bases loaded and two out, a hit is going to score two and a walk brings in a run.  The Cards were able to get a runner at second to end the threat, but if they hadn't, they'd have had two on, two out and a one-run lead with the Reds getting the momentum.  I'd have rather see them attack Edmonds, but perhaps there was more than what appeared on the surface.

Kudos also to Yadier Molina, who pulled off the unthoughtof combination (for him) of home run and stolen base in the same game.  Toss in brawl-starter and you are looking at a Triple Crown day.

Sometimes Cardinal Nation wonders what it takes to lead SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight.  Now we know--a fight in the middle of a tight pennant race.  I can't blame Molina for telling Brandon Phillips off, because words have consequences.  Don't insult a team, then go up to them and pretend nothing happened.  It's not going to work.

It was strange seeing Scott Rolen go after some of his former teammates, but 1) Rolen's a team guy and he'll defend his teammates, whether they are right or not and 2) both he and Chris Carpenter indicated that instead of Rolen fighting Carpenter, he was doing more to get him out of the scrum, and it did look like that on TV.  I also appreciated seeing numerous players, including Schumaker, trying to protect Carpenter from getting hurt.  I didn't see Adam Wainwright in the mix, so Carpenter was the most valuable person out there (assuming Albert was on the fringes).

I don't think we'll see any more of that in the afternoon meeting between these two teams.  If for nothing else, they'll be playing in an excessive heat warning, so that will probably sap any extra energy the players may have.  (Off-topic, what constitutes an "excessive heat warning"?  Looks like heat index of 105, which is bad, but the air temp here today is supposed to be 101, and all we get is a heat advisory.  All about what you are used to, I guess.)

Also good to know that Carpenter and Brendan Ryan have patched things up.  Sounds like Ryan really is a little kid out there at times.  CDD breathes a sigh of relief.

A few things that came to my mailbox while I was gone:

*Joe from The McBrayer-Baseball Blog had an interview with the media/promotions guy of the Durham Bulls.  Check that out when you've got the time!

*Reading Redbirds, one of the early UCB blogs that had gone dark for a while, has made its return to the blogosphere.  Which means I'll need to update the Definitive Guide pretty soon!

As noted above, the Cardinals finish out this set with the Reds this afternoon at 11:35 Central.  Adam Wainwright goes for the sweep, only the second three-gamer of the year (following last week's Pittsburgh series).  Bronson Arroyo goes for the Reds and he's been tough in the past against St. Louis, though they were able to get to him in the Memorial Day game.  You can follow the action with the live chat over at Fox Sports Midwest!


Leave a comment




Leave a comment




Cardinals_MediumRectangle.jpg

UCB_11_trans_dark_sm.png

Search



BallHyped Best Sports Blogs Book
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book!
• Pick up the limited print edition
• Free Best Sports Blogs ebook 


United Cardinal Bloggers

FRIENDS OF THE UCB


Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Open in Mobile App 

And check out the UCB Network over at LockerDome!
lockerdome-share_63x63.png
  



Other Cardinal Blogs

Recommended Cardinal Forum

Other Cardinal Sites

General Baseball Blogs/Sites



Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


    Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets?  TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets.

    Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets.

    Referrals