Milestones

It was great to see Pujols get that pesky 100th RBI out of the way early last night, swatting a solo home run to lead off the game.  What I was really surprised about was the fact that he scored 3 runs, pulling him within 4 of the 100 level there as well.  I'd written off his chances at the run milestone this year, but if he's playing entire games and running the bases well, there is still an outside shot that he'll get there, especially if he's healthy enough to take advantage of Pittsburgh's PNC Park, where he typically goes nuts hitting.

It was also nice to see the Cardinals get everything clicking and win one against a tough team.  Sure, it helped out the Cubs, and it'd been nice to see the Brewers pull within one game, but if you can't root for your team in these situations, what good are ya?  I hate seeing the Cubs in the postseason as much as anyone, but I was glad to see the Cards start putting up the runs.

It'll be interesting to see if they can do that today against a Mets team that desperately needs a win.  The Cardinals send out Pineiro, who could be good, could be ugly.  It depends on how many of the hard-hit balls will be caught by the fielders.  I understand that the Cardinals are considering bringing back Pineiro as a fifth starter.  As long as that's all he is (and he comes at a price that is appropriate), I could handle that.  He's not as good as he's shown, but we've seen a whole lot worse.

The Mets rely on Pedro Martinez.  Not usually a bad thing, and possibly won't be today either.  Pedro had a little better recovery from his surgery than Mark Mulder did and will have some adrenaline going today, I'm sure.  The good news for the Cardinals is that he'll probably be out after 5 or 6, so hopefully they can hit some of the Mets bullpen before they get to Billy Wagner, who can be gotten too as well, just not that easily.