Last week's homestand was very, very good to the Cardinals. Winning five out of six ain't half bad or even a quarter bad. Albert Pujols had a .450 batting average, three home runs, 11 RBIs, and three stolen bases. On the year, his OPS (Slugging percentage + On Base Percentage) is 1.137. If you want to witness history, catch a Cardinals game on most any night. In other news, local boy David Freese was sent to Memphis to make room for the recently acquired Blaine Boyer, leaving Kyle McClellan the only player on the team that knows how to find the best toasted ravioli in town.
Game 14 vs. NY, W 4-6: The match-up between two inconsistent (FJM jar) starters lived up to its billing. Both Colonel Wellemeyer and Oliver "Don't Call Me Ollie" Perez each gave up four runs in their shortish starts. Statisticians call these starts BLEGH (Batters Love Each Goshdarned Heater). It came down to the bought bullpen versus the bargain bullpen. Both pitched well before J.J. Putz proved he was a "true Met," by giving up two runs in the eighth inning. Coupled with his comments about Ichiro earlier this year, Putz has show he has the arm of Aaron Heilman with the lovely attitude of Billy Wagner. It'll be fun to watch unfold this year.
Game 15 vs. NY, W 2-5: Joel Pineiro continued his quest to make me look like an idiot. Under the premise that strikeouts are for posers, dude went eight innings throwing nothing but sinkers. After allowing an RBI from Dan Murphy, Pineiro retired 13 straight batters from the fourth to the eighth innings. After allowing a run in the ninth, Dennys Reyes and Ryan Franklin lightly closed the door.
Game 16 vs. NY, W 8-12: The Mets wheeled octogenarian Livan Hernandez to the mound and Lord Pujols took as an affront to his dignity. He, along with his mustachioed sidekick Rick Ankiel, hit home runs while nearly every other hitter collected an RBI for a total of a dozen runs. Kyle Lohse pitched only five innings due to twisting his ankle, but he allowed only one run. His successor Pajamas Walters allowed five earned runs and three unearned runs made the game closer and sloppier than we would have preferred but a win is a win and it will smell just as sweetly.
Article comments
1 - Aaron Whitehead
It is amazing to watch Pujols, almost as amazing as it is to watch Pineiro pulling outs out of a hat. I do still like the Cubs, though; nothing says intangibles like a silent "t" in your name, and there the Cubs have an embarassment of riches in Fontenot AND Theriot.