Posted on August 1, 2011 at 6:42 AM
Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Heroes and Goats | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals

The sixth and seventh innings provided most of the relevant action and they were innings filled with enough strange, non-La Russa-like decisions that you wondered if Tony had taken an little time off to hit the concession stand.

Start with the top of the inning.  Jake Westbrook is rolling along with a perfect game and, while you knew it couldn't last, it was enjoyable to see that anyway.  He got through the fifth on only four pitches, I believe, so there was no reason to think that he was wearing down.  Yet whether it was the heat and humidity or just results catching up to him, the sixth got ugly.

To be fair, it wasn't all his fault.  There were at least two pitches on Carlos Pena that should have been called strikes, which should have ended the inning with the Cards just down 1-0.  After that, though, Kevin from Cards 'N Stuff was screaming on Twitter that Westbrook looked gassed and TLR should make a move to the pen.  It did seem to make some sense.  On the one hand, Tony may have been trying to save some arms for the upcoming Milwaukee series and also thought that Westbrook was pitching OK, just unable to get any help from the man behind the plate.  On the flip side, there are a lot of new arms down there that haven't been used in a while.  Octavio Dotel was unavailable, I'm sure, after three days of work, but other than that most everyone should have been fresh.

Tony doesn't make the move, though, and Marlon Byrd drives in two more to make in 4-0.  That became really big in the bottom of the sixth, when Hero Lance Berkman smashed a three-run home run.  (Good to see Berkman back, though he did strike out three times so he may have still been a bit rusty.  Looks like he plans to be back for the long haul.)  Instead of possibly giving the Cards the lead, it left them trailing by one.  Still, it was good to see the Cards respond quickly after having been shut down by Ryan Dempster to that point.  Dempster is one of those guys the Cards have hit in the past--the ESPN guys were making such a point of how Albert Pujols owns him--but he had their number last night.  Pujols especially had a terrible first at-bat against Dempster and the second wasn't much better before he was more patient and then doubled in the sixth.  (Side note: AP is up to .283, his highest batting average of the season.)

The bottom of the seventh is the other spot where TLR got away from his normal managing style.  Yadier Molina and Daniel Descalso both single to open the inning.  It's a one run game late and the pitcher's spot is up.  Now, Jason Motte had come in for Westbrook in the top of the inning, so I understand not sending him up to bunt.  And, personally, I think teams (including the Cards) sacrifice bunt more often than they should.  But late in a game, especially in a game like this, you have to get the runners over, especially with the top of the lineup coming up.

This is where Tony sends up Rafael Furcal to make his St. Louis debut.  OK, I can understand that.  I don't know personally Furcal's bunting skills, but he's a leadoff man with some speed, so you figure he's done it enough in the past and could get the job done.

Except that he doesn't bunt.  Why, with the knowledge that this team is so susceptible to the  double play he doesn't, I don't know.  Furcal grounds into a force out, beating out the double play ball.  That also proves he's a step better than the man he's replacing, as TLR sends up Ryan Theriot to pinch hit for Skip Schumaker since the Cubs have brought in lefty Sean Marshall and Theriot promptly gets that double play.  Two on, nobody out and the Cards can't score.

Cards threaten again in the eighth when Pujols singles, then Matt Holliday, who had the worst game out there with three strikeouts (two looking), finally hits the ball, but Kerry Wood makes a spectacular, reflex-only play and gets the double play.  Kyle McClellan (who, for some reason, was going two innings) allowed a two-run homer in the ninth and that was all for the sweep chances.

(Painful stat in the Post-Dispatch writeup: Cards have hit into 116 double plays.  For context, they've only played 108 games and the second-most in the NL is 28 behind them.  With the additions of Furcal and Corey Patterson, will we see a little more of the running game going forward?)

The last time the Cards swept anyone was the last series in June when they faced the Orioles.  In July, they had three (not counting the four-game Houston series where they won the first two) chance to do so and weren't able to get the last game.  Finishing teams off is going to be key if this team wants to have a shot in the division.

Will the moves at this deadline be meaningful or will it be shuffling deck chairs?  I remember 1997, when the Cards waited until after a big series with Houston to make the Mark McGwire trade and the team continued to sink even with that move.  Some of the facts put out there by people like Jayson Stark this year, about how it has been a long time since a team made a move at the deadline that pushed them over the top, makes you concerned about which direction this team is going.

They've got the Brewers for a three game road set starting tonight and it is vital they win at least two of three, with a sweep a much better result.  They sit 2.5 behind the Brew Crew as there has been some separation in the Central the last few days.  The Pirates are now 4.5 out with the Reds a distant 6.5.  Winning two of three will cut a game off of that lead while, obviously, a sweep will get them into first.  If they leave Milwaukee farther behind than they arrived, though, it's not a great sign for the next two months.

If the Cards are going to make a statement, at least they have the right pitchers to do it with.  They run out Jaime Garcia and Edwin Jackson as well, but the opener is started by Chris Carpenter.  If there is anyone who steps up in big games, it is Carp and I have no doubt that he'll be competing hard again tonight.  Here are his numbers against the Brew Crew:

Cardinal fans like the look of that. He's going to have to be careful with Prince Fielder, but anytime Fielder comes up late the Cards will likely go to their new weapon, Marc Rzepczynski. (Hey, I spelled it right without looking it up!  Where do I get my "True Cardinal Fan" badge?)

Unfortunately, the Brewers have some pitchers of their own. Tonight, it's their big offseason acquisition, Zack Greinke. Not a lot of exposure to him and he's pitching better now than when the Cards saw him earlier in the year, but here are the numbers:

  Interesting that Gerald Laird has such a good history against him. Molina does too, of course, but in a smaller sample size. Will we see Laird behind the plate tonight? Nobody has bad numbers against him, really, but again, the Cards haven't seen him much.

The Cards may talk about this not being that big of a series, that there's still a lot of baseball to be played, that we see these guys a lot down the stretch.  I don't buy it.  The pennant race starts tonight.  Will the Cardinals answer the gun?