Friday, April 21, 2006

St. Louis vs. Chicago: Let's Try Again

Starters
Cardinals
Eckstein SS
Rodriguez LF
Pujols 1B
Rolen 3B
Edmonds CF
Encarnacion RF
Molina C
Miles 2B
Mulder P

Cubs
Pierre CF
Hairston 2B
Walker 1B
Ramirez 3B
Barrett C
Jones RF
Murton LF
Cedeno SS
Williams P

First inning: Pierre. Bunt 1-3 for the first out of the game. Hairston. 0-2. Grounded to Pujols who tags the base for the second out. Walker. 0-1. Grounded to Miles on the edge of the dirt for the third out of the inning.

Eckstein. 0-1. Grounded to short. JRod. 1-2. Base hit to shallow center. The Great Pujols at the plate. 1-0. There is a swing and a deep, fly ball, and that one is outta here! A home run to the visitor's bullpen for his 1,000th career hit and his 212th home run. He tied Todd Helton for the second fastest to 1,000 hits. That's his 11th on the season and a new Cardinal record for April. Cardinals lead 2-0. Rolen. 2-2. Flies out to Jones in right. Edmonds. 3-1. Flies out to Juan Pierre, who almost collided with Jacque Jones.

Second inning: Ramirez. 0-1. Lines out to JRod. Barrett. 2-0. That goes to the wall to break up the no-hitter and he gets a double. Jones. 3-2. Goes down swinging. Murton. 1-0. Grounded to short.

Juan. Roped passed Ramirez for a base hit. A base hit! He sure proved us wrong! Molina. 2-2. I swear that's 10 foul balls. Finally, a base hit and we have two men on. Miles. 3-0. Walk. Bases loaded for Mark Mulder (3-7). 3-1. The Cubs have some activity in the bullpen (Roberto Novoa) as Mulder is walked and it's now 3-0. That's Mulder's third RBI. Eckstein is back up. 0-1. Base hit to right center. 4-0 Cardinals and bases are still loaded. JRod is up with no outs and Pujols is on deck. 3-2. Sac Fly. Miles scores and the others don't tag. 5-0. Pujols is back. 1-2. Base hit passed the third baseman. Pujols gets a double and Mulder and Eckstein score. Pujols advances to third on the throw. Cardinals 7-0 as Williams is taken out of the game after pitching 1 and a third innings. Rolen. 2-2. Popped out to first in foul territory. Edmonds. 1-2. Called strike for the end of the inning. Wow, would would have thought Juan would lead off two innings in a row?

Third inning: Cedeno. 0-1. Flies out to right field. Novoa. 0-2. Strikes out swinging. Pierre. 1-2. 1-3 ends the inning.

Juan. Another base hit pased second base. He's got two hits today. Molina. 1-1. Flies out to Pierre. Miles. Swings at the first pitch he sees but flies out to left field. Two outs for Mark "Fox" Mulder. 3-2. Strikes out to end the inning after a check swing.

Fourth inning: Hairston. 2-2. Base hit goes passed Eckstein. Walker. Walker grounded to second and advances a runner. Ramirez. 3-1. That gets passed Rolen as runners are now on the corners. Barrett. Three run home run unfortunately. Cards 7, Cubs 3. Juan hustled but there was just no way he could have catched that. Jones. 1-2. Strikeout. Murton. 1-1. Base hit to right. What is going on here?!? Cedeno. 3-1. Grounds to Rolen to end the inning. Restovich was about to pinch hit so is Novoa still pitching when the game resumes.

Novoa stays in as Eck leads off the bottom of the fourth. 2-2. There's a high throw and Eck just missed the bag before getting tagged out. JRod. Flies out to left. Pujols. 1-1. Grounds to short to end the inning.

Fifth inning: Novoa Carlos Zambrano pinch hits. 0-2. Goes down swinging. He's no Jason Marquis. Pierre. 0-1. Popped a bunt to Miles for the second out. Hairston. 0-1. Lined to Pujols.

The new pitcher is David Aardsma. Rolen. 3-2. Walk. Edmonds. 3-2. Rolen goes to second on a wild pitch. Two-run home run as Edmonds hits his third of the year. He is now seven home runs away from having the chance to tie Mark McGwire for 220 Cardinal home runs. Cards 9-3 lead. Juan. 1-2. Strikes out. He's having a much better day than he usually has. Molina. 1-1. Grounded out to second. Miles. 2-1. Grounds to Cedeno to end the inning.

Sixth inning: Walker. 3-2. Walk. Ramirez. Straight to JRod in deep left field. Barrett. 1-1. Pujols unassisted. Jones. 0-2. Strikeout to end the inning.

Mulder. Flies to left field. Eckstein. 2-2. Blooper up the middle. JRod. 3-1. Take your base. Pujols is back with two runners on. 1-1. Flies out in foul territory to Jacque Jones. Two outs and Scott Rolen comes to the plate. 3-1. Grounds out to second.

Seventh inning: Three times, they have shown the Jimmy Fallon Pepsi commercial. Murton. 2-0. Grounded to short. Cedeno. 1-0. Grounded to Rolen. Two outs. Pinch-hitting for Aardsma, the former Twin Michael Restovich (Will Ohman warming up for Chicago). 1-1. Grounded to Pujols for the third out.

We have a slight delay in the game as there is a choir that was performing in the batter's eye in the middle of the seventh. I wonder if those two kids knew that they were on television. Edmonds. 2-2. A bit short as Pierre catches it. Encarnacion is 2-3 with a walk. 2-1. Long run for Jones who gets the second out of the inning. Molina. Hairston catches the fly ball.

Eighth inning: Mulder is still in with about 90 pitches. Pierre. 1-1. Back to Mulder for the first out. Hairston. 0-2. Edmonds takes care of the out. Two outs. Walker. 1-0. Lined to Pujols for the final out of the inning.

Bynum is in right field. Miles. 3-2. Walk. Mulder, 0-2 with a run and a RBI, will not be hitting so he's done. He lowered his ERA this evening from 4.05 to 3.90. Had he not given up the home run to Barrett, it would have been even lower. So Taguchi will be pinch hitting as Braden Looper warms up in the pen. 1-2. Called strike out. One out. Eckstein. 1-1. Blooper to left for a single. JRod. 1-0. Flies out to Pierre. Ohman is done and Dusty maks a double switch. John Mabry, who recieves an ovation, is brought in to play first and Scott Williamson is brought in to pitch. Pujols is up as 41,379 on hand. 0-2. He goes down swinging as WGN loses their signal and it's back.

Ninth inning: Looper is now in. Ramirez. 1-2. There's a fly ball to shallow right and Juan takes care of it. Barrett. Blooper to center. Bynum. 3-2. Base hit to left. Murton is up with runners on. 0-1. Popped up to Rolen who throws to Miles at second for the double play and that's a winner!

The Cardinals demolish the Cubs 9-3. The Cardinals had nine runs on ten hits. Mulder goes eight, strikes out five while giving up three runs and five hits but gets the run support to pick up the win. Looper relieves for one winning and gives up two hits. Offensively, Edmonds and Pujols both go yard as the Cardinals win 9-3 with much thanks to the five runs in the second inning. Pujols also became the fifth youngest to get 200 home runs and 1,000 career hits.

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