Still in first place and coming off a seven game road trip and 13 consecutive games without a break, the Cards get much needed rest today to gear up for a big home series against the Brew Crew in a Central Division showdown. Here’s how the series against the Giants played out:
Game 1- Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings and gave up four earned runs in his first loss of the season. The Cardinals couldn’t produce much on offense and scored only one run in the ninth inning. Cardinals 1 Giants 5
Game 2- Kyle Loshe saw his scoreless inning streak end at 15 but gave up only two runs in 5 1/3 innings as the Cards bats finally came to life. Pujols and Ryan Ludwick hit homeruns and the 1-2 combination of Schumaker and Barton at the top of the order gave Pujols opportunities to put men across as his homer in the fifth was a three run shot. Cardinals 8 Giants 2
Game 3- Giants pitcher Matt Cain pitched a no hitter into the seventh inning until Albert’s double broke it up. He left the game with a 5-0 lead, but the Giants bullpen fell apart as the Cards capitalized in extra innings. Duncan, Ankiel, and Ludwick all homered and Duncan also put across the deciding run with a double in the tenth inning to top off a miraculous come back victory. Cardinals 8 Giants 7
Game 4- Looking to give some of his starters some much needed rest, Tony LaRussa gave Albert Pujols and Troy Glaus the day off while moving his lineup around. Joel Piniero came off the DL but gave a rocky start pitching only 3 2/3 innings and allowing six earned runs. Ryan Ludwick provided the only bright spot as he connected for his third homer in as many games. Cardinals 4 Giants 7
Thoughts
The Cardinals were unable to win four consecutive series to open the season, but still remain on top of the Central Division. Joel Piniero is back but looked rusty in his first start, but hopefully he’ll get better and give us the quality pitching we’re going to need to continue our winning ways. The good news is that we still haven’t lost a series yet going 3-0-1 thus far. Another good thing to see is Chris Duncan finding his stroke and Troy Glaus continuing to put things together. Glaus still hasn’t hit a homerun yet, but he’s hit a few that have bounced off the wall and has been improving his batting average while pushing runners across.
With Ludwick coming to life over the past three games the Cardinals have seen a lot of power bats early on. Here’s a list of the current top three home run hitters on the team:
Rick Ankiel 4
Albert Pujols 3
Ryan Ludwick 3
The hope is that these three will continue to put up these kind of power numbers while Duncan and Glaus should be adding themselves on to this list shortly.
I can’t believe how well we’ve started off this year, admittedly against sub-par competition. The real test will begin tomorrow as the Cardinals start a three game home stand against the Milwaukee Brewers. Most people had the Brew Crew winning this division in a battle against the Cubbies, and no one expected the Cardinals to be much of a player in the division. This will be the first real test for the Redbirds against a quality team with good starting pitching and a mean power lineup. Honestly, this series has the potential to be real ugly unless the Cards can continue to improve on their hitting and the pitching can continue to hold steady. Currently the Cards rank first in team ERA, ninth in opposing batting average, eighth in OPS, first in saves, seventh in WHIP, and eighth in quality starts (all rankings are in the NL). The steadily improving offense is fifth in batting average, runs scored, and slugging percentage while ranking second and third in on base percentage and OPS respectively. Let’s hope these numbers hold up in against Milwaukee who are only a half game out of first place behind the Cards.
The good news is that no matter how this series with the Brewers turns out the Cardinals face a relatively easy schedule the rest the way through April. Of the remaining 16 games in April, the Cards face the Brewers five times (three at home and two on the road). Of the remaining eleven games the Cards face San Francisco at home for three, two away at Pittsburgh, and three home games apiece against Houston and Cincinnati. With Mulder hopefully coming back in the first-second week of may and Clement coming later that month this is good news for the Cards and a good chance for them to pad their Central Division record before the real competition starts.
NL Central Division Standings
St. Louis 9-4
Milwaukee 8-4
Chicago 7-5
Pittsburgh 6-6
Cincinnati 6-7
Houston 5-8
Next Up: Milwaukee Brewers (3 Games)
149 games to go
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