St. Louis vs. Philadephia

Blogger will be out for 45 minutes starting at 5 PM PST but aside from that, I will be blogging the game. Here are Matthew Leach's Cardinal notes.

Starting Lineups:
St. Louis
David Eckstein SS
Juan Encarnacion RF
Albert Pujols 1B
Jim Edmonds CF
Scott Rolen 3B
Skip Schumaker LF
Yadier Molina C
Aaron Miles 2B
Mark Mulder P

Philadelphia
Jimmy Rollins SS
Aaron Rowand CF
Bobby Abreu RF
Patt Burrell LF
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
David Bell 3B
Mike Lieberthal C
Brett Myers P

Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser are calling the game for ESPN. The game is blacked out in the St. Louis and Philly markets. The Philly market can see the game on CN8. Cardinal fans can watch it on FSN Midwest.

First Inning: First pitch to Eckstein is in the for a ball. Strike. Eck grounds out to second for the first out. Juan Encarnacion takes a strike and a ball. 3-2. Larry Walker is the interim bullpen catcher. Walk for Juan. Pujols at the plate. 0-2. Strikes out looking. Two outs for Edmonds. 3-1. Walk. Two on, two out. Rolen is coming up to a lot of booing. 3-2. Flies out to center.

Rollins at the plate. First pitch is a ball. There's a hit to left field that slides behind Scott Rolen. His streak extends to 38 consecutive games. Rowand sacrifices to Mulder but Rollins advances. Abreu is up. 1-2. Flies out to left as Rollins scores from third. Pat "The Bat" Burrell at the plate. 1-2. Burrell keeps the inning alive by hitting a grounder towards center. Utley takes a strike. 1-2. Molina drops the ball but throws to first for the third out.

Second Inning: Skip leads off the second. 1-1. Hits a grounder to left field. Molina takes a strike as Skip steals second. 0-2. Base hit to left. Miles is up. Runners on the corners. 1-1. Drops in front of Abreu and the Cards tie it at 1. Mulder up. 3-1. Pop-up. Eck lines to second for the 2nd out. Encarnacion is up. 2-2. Grounds out to second for the final out.

Ryan Howard grounds out to Pujols. Bell is up. 0-2. Bell grounds out to Rolen. Lieberthal grounds out to Rolen. That's the end of the second inning.

Third Inning: Pujols. 3-1. Pujols could go down "as one of the greatest players to ever live." Pops up to center. Edmonds up. 3-2. Finally, he walks. Rolen back up to the boos. 0-1. Double play.

Myers comes up. 3-2. Ground out to second with a broken bat. Rollins is back up. 2-0. Off the wall in left and that's another double. Rowand is up. 2-0. Grounds out to Rolen. Rollins stays at second. Abreu at the plate. 0-2. Grounds to Albert to end the inning.

Fourth inning: Skip leads off the 4th. 1-1. Adios, senior pelota, a home run! 2-1 lead. That was his first major league home run. Molina. 2-2. Strikeout. Miles. 3-1. Grounds out to third. Two outs. Mulder back up. 3-1. Walk. Eck. 3-2. Walk. Juan E. 1-1. Pops up to center with a broken bat.

Burrell. 3-2. Flies out to Skip Schumaker. Utley. 2-2. Lined into right for a base hit. Howard. 2-2. Double play!

Fifth inning: Pujols at the bat. 0-2. HOME RUN!! That's his third this season. Edmonds flies out to left. Rolen flies out to right center. Okay, how many updates with Scott and Tino do we need? Skip 0-2. Skip ends the inning on a grounder to the pitcher.

Bell leads off the inning for the Phillies. 2-2. He hits it to Mulder who gets the out. Lieberthal due at the plate. Right past Mulder into center. Geoff Geary warming up in the bullpen. Alex Gonzales pinch hits for Myers. 1-0. Rolen to 2nd to 1st. Double play to end the inning.

Sixth inning: Molina. 1-2. Flied out to right field. Miles. 1-2. Strikeout. Two outs for Mark Mulder. 2-2. Base hit to left. Eckstein. 2-2. Base hit to left field. Rheal Cormier is warming up in the Phillies bullpen. Two outs for Juan. 0-2. Juan strikes out this time to end the inning.

Rollins flies to Encarnacion. Rowand. 0-1. Eck to Pujols. Two out. Abreu. 2-0. Grounds to Miles who misfields the ball and still manages to make the play.

Seventh Inning: Ryan Franklin now pitching. Pujols leads off the inning for the third time tonight. 1-2. Grounds out to Rollins. Edmonds. 1-0. Grounds to first. Rolen. There's a ball close to his chin. 3-1. Grounds out to David Bell. It's stretch time.

Burrell pops up to second. Mulder still in the game. Utley hits a grounder to first. ESPN2 is starting to have feed problems with the audio part of the feed. Howard. 1-1. Base hit. Bell. 1-1 Home run for Bell and he has tied the game up at 3. The same kid has caught the ball from the Bell home run as the Pujols home run. He gives it to a Phillies fan. Lieberthal. 0-1. A bouncer to second ends the inning.

Eighth inning: Skip to lead off the inning. 1-2. Flies out to center. Molina. 0-1. Grounds out to third. Miles. 3-0. Walk. J-Rod pinch hits for Mulder. 3-1. Brad Thompson is warming up in the bullpen and will most likely enter the game in the bottom of the eighth. Walk for J-Rod. Eck at the plate. Two outs. 1-2. Rollins makes a diving stop but the bases are now loaded sinc ethere was no play. Juan at the plate. He's 0-3 with a walk this evening and has made the last out the past few innings. Arthur Rhodes warming up. 2-0. There's a broken bat with a grounder to second. Three left on. Juan is not doing so well this evening.

Brad Thompson now in the game. David Dellucci pinch hits. 1-0. Grounds to short. Rollins. 3-2. Flies out to Edmonds. Two outs. Rowand due up. Tom Gordon throwing in the pen. 1-2. Lined back to Brad Thompson.

Ninth inning: Gordon to come to the mound. Pujols leads off yet again. 3-1. Walk. Edmonds. 1-2. Strikeout. Rolen gets booed again. One on, one out. 1-1 Jason Isringhausen is warming up in the bullpen. Pujols steals second and the throw gets away from Aaron Rowand! The center fielder misplays the ball and Pujols advances to third! 2-2 to Rolen. Fielder's choice and Albert is out. Rolen on first. Two outs. Skip due up. 11 players left on, mainly due to Juan Encarnacion. 3-1. Walk. That's the ninth walk of the night. Two on, two out. Yadier due up. He's 1-4 with a single. Base hit to left field as the ball drops just in front of Pat Burrell. Rolen scores and it's 4-3. Miles due up. 0-1. Grounds out to the first base man.

Jason Isringhausen heads to the mound to pitch to Abreu, Burrell, and Utley. Abreu. 3-1. Grounder to Eckstein and that's "just enough" for the out. David "Just Enough" Eckstein. Burrell. Burrell is 2-7 against Izzy with 2 K's. 2-2. Burrell lines to center for a base hit. Utley due up with one on and one out. Shane Victorino is pinch running for Pat the Bat. 0-1. Pujols beats Utley to first for the second out as Victorino advances to second. Ryan Howard, the 2006 Rookie of the Year, is at the plate and David Bell is on deck. Two out. Runner on. 3-1. Walk. That brings up David Bell who tied the game in the seventh inning with a home run off of Mark "Fox" Mulder. He's 3-7 against Izzy. 3-2. Bases loaded as Lieberthal heads to the plate. Anything could happen. Lieberthal is 3-10 against Izzy. 0-1. Pujols throws to Izzy for the win!

W - Brad Thompson
L - Tom Gordon
S - Jason Isringhausen

Home runs: Skip Schumaker (1), Albert Pujols (3)

As the late legendary broadcaster Jack Buck would say, that's a winner!