Cardinals v. Brewers (3 Games)

The Cardinals still have not lost a series so far this season and they had this one wrapped up before Game 3 against the Brewers in their first meeting of the season.

Game 1- Braden Looper pitched 5 innings and gave up only one run as the Cards welcomed the Brewers into St. Louis with a reminder that they’re not conceding the division without a fight despite the preseason predictions of baseball know it alls. Cardinals 6 Brewers 1

Game 2- Adam Wainwright pitched 7.2 innings as he continues to look like a real top of the rotation ace giving up only two runs. He also helped himself out by hitting the third homerun of his career. Skip Schumaker hit a homerun as well, and that’s a good thing for him because for about an hour he and Wainwright had the same amount of home runs in their careers at three a piece. Izzy got the save but looked shaky allowing two Brewer runs to score before shutting them down for the win. Cardinals 5 Brewers 4

Game 3- Kyle Loshe again pitched a stellar game leaving after seven innings after allowing only two runs. But the Cardinals offense couldn’t provide enough support and the bullpen collapsed to squander a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth. Brad Thompson allowed the game deciding home run to Prince Fielder in the top of the tenth.
Cardinals 3 Brewers 5

Thoughts
Well we couldn’t complete the sweep, but luckily we had the series wrapped up after game two against the vaunted Brew Crew. The Cards remain a game and a half up on the two teams that most people had competing for the division title this year- the Cubbies, who lost last night to the Reds, and the Crew.

Loshe has continued to look like a stud and pitched into the eighth inning last night before back to back doubles broke the shutout bid and chased him off the mound. Loshe left the game at 3-1 but was charged with another earned run after the man he left on base was allowed to score by Franklin. Loshe is 2-0 and has now given the Cardinals 4 quality starts, two of which have been lost in the late innings by the bullpen. He sports a ridiculously low ERA of 1.48 and if you took away the runs he left for the bullpen to clean up his ERA dips to somewhere around 1. WOW. And we’re only paying this guy 4.5 million? I couldn’t be more pleased with his play thus far. He gives us a chance to win every game and he has looked dominate. If he continues to pitch like this well into the season I think it would be best for the Cards to lock him up for a longer term contract rather than allow him to hit the free agent market. With Loshe the Cardinals can have a power rotation of Wainwright, Loshe, Piniero, Mulder, and Clement. Once ace and former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter comes back in mid season that would give the Cards a surplus of starting pitching and they would have their choice of the best five starters available. Is it possible for a team to have a starting rotation of six guys? That would give everyone an extra day off between starts, but I’m not sure how it would work into their routines. It would also take up a spot on the roster that would be better served with a reliever in the bullpen, but you gotta dream right?

I mentioned it in my last post but I’ll say it again. Ludwick is on a fucking tear right now. That gives him four consecutive games with a homerun (unfortunately, he doesn’t play every day so this means four consecutive games in which he’s played). He is now tied for the team lead with four dingers. This guy is hitting the shit out the ball right now, and he’s helping to make up for a few Cards batters who are slumping or haven’t quite found their stroke yet.

Speaking of homeruns: what the hell is going on with Glaus? He’s been non-existent and his batting only seems to be getting worse. His average is now .218 and his RBIs, which is why I gave him a pass on his low average earlier in the season, have also fallen off. Look at the current list of team homeruns and ask yourself why Molina, Skip Schumaker and a pitcher can hit homeruns, but Glaus can’t. Maybe those allegations of steroids are true?

Ryan Ludwick 4

Rick Ankiel 4

Albert Pujols 3

Chris Duncan 1

Yadier Molina 1

Skip Schumaker 1

Adam Wainwright 1

Honestly, I’m still optimistic Glaus will pull him self out of this shortly, but with an easy schedule and a division lead it would be nice to see him come alive and start helping us pile on a few more wins to help widen the gap before the schedule gets harder and while we’re still waiting on starting pitching to get back. I was, and still am, a huge fan of the Troy for Scotty trade earlier in the year mainly because I think he’s a better bat and the rift between Scotty and LaRussa had become a cancer in the locker room. Sure, I told myself, his glove isn’t the same as Scotty. He’s definitely a downgrade there, but at least he offers a right handed power bat behind Albert. Come on Glaus please pick it up and stop sucking!

The Cardinals get to take on the lowly Giants again and hopefully can extend their lead. They also need to take care of business at home as 12 of their next 16 are in the friendly confines of Busch. They are currently 4-0-1 in series play this season and the one split came in a four gamer in San Fran.

NL Central Division Standings

St. Louis 11-5

Milwaukee 9-6

Chicago 9-6

Pittsburgh 7-8

Cincinnati 7-9

Houston 6-10

Next Up: San Francisco Giants (3 Games)

146 games to go