Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Cards vs. Marlins

The Cardinals take on the Florida Marlins for the next three games at Busch Stadium. This is the second and final series between the two teams in the 2006 season. Against teams in the east, the Cards are 13-12 overall, and 6-7 at home.

Just in case you are wondering, Gary Bennett is one of three players to win two consecutive games with a walk-off hit. The other two are Nomar Garciaparra and David Ortiz.

For the Cards to pass the century mark for the third year in a row, they'll have to go 31-2 the rest of the season. Last week's Mets series was the first since September 27, 2003, that the Cards faced someone with more wins then them.

Mark Mulder (6-6, 6.77 ERA) takes the start against Scott Olsen (10-7, 4.42 ERA).

Cardinals lineup
Preston Wilson RF
Scott Spiezio LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Scott Rolen 3B
Juan Encarnacion CF
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Aaron Miles SS
Gary Bennett C
Mark Mulder P

Today's game was rather depressing to where it makes you wonder whether Mulder should go back on the DL or just retire from baseball all together. It's sad when you have a pitcher who is of All-Star caliber go out like this. Mulder just hasn't been the same all year. The Cardinals need to win the next two games or it will be neck and neck with the Reds for the rest of the season. I saw the highlights during BBTN and you can tell that Mark Mulder is hurting. He's lost 4-6 miles per hour in his fast ball.

Florida 9, St. Louis 1
Losing pitcher - Mark Mulder (6-7)
HR: Preston Wilson (12)

Jim Edmonds is likely not to start on Wednesday.

Mark Mulder is likely to have season-ending surgery.

Wednesday
Cardinals Lineup
Aaron Miles SS
Chris Duncan LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Scott Rolen 3B
Juan Encarnacion CF
Preston Wilson RF
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Gary Bennett C
Jason Marquis P

Winning pitcher - Jason Marquis (14-12)
HR: Albert Pujols (39)

How they scored:
3RD - Aaron Miles out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Josh Willingham. Ronnie Belliard scores. Jason Marquis to 2nd. FLA 2-1
4TH - Preston Wilson doubles (24) on a line drive to left fielder Josh Willingham. Scott Rolen scores. Juan Encarnacion scores. FLA 5-3
Jason Marquis singles on a ground ball to left fielder Josh Willingham. Preston Wilson scores. Yadier Molina to 2nd. FLA 5-4
Aaron Miles reaches on fielding error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Yadier Molina scores. Jason Marquis to 3rd. TIE 5-5
5TH - Albert Pujols homers (39) on a line drive to left center field. STL 6-5
Preston Wilson singles on a ground ball to right fielder Jeremy Hermida. Scott Rolen scores. Juan Encarnacion to 2nd. STL 7-5
6TH - Juan Encarnacion out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Alfredo Amezaga. Aaron Miles scores. Chris Duncan to 3rd. STL 8-5
7TH - Chris Duncan singles on a ground ball to center fielder Alfredo Amezaga. Adam Wainwright scores. Aaron Miles to 3rd. STL 9-5
With Albert Pujols batting, wild pitch by Randy Messenger, Aaron Miles scores. Chris Duncan to 2nd. FLA 5-10
Albert Pujols doubles (27) on a fly ball to right fielder Jeremy Hermida. Chris Duncan scores. FLA 5-11
Scott Rolen doubles (42) on a fly ball to right fielder Jeremy Hermida. Albert Pujols scores. FLA 5-12
Juan Encarnacion singles on a line drive to left fielder Josh Willingham. Scott Rolen scores. FLA 5-13

So Taguchi had a double in the bottom of the 8th inning to give the Cardinals 20 hits.

Thursday
Cardinals Lineup
Preston Wilson RF
So Taguchi LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Scott Rolen 3B
Juan Encarnacion CF
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Aaron Miles SS
Yadier Molina C
Jeff Suppan P

Mike Rose was called up today. He's a catcher and with Bennett injured right now, the Cardinals needed a backup.

The Cardinals won in a 4 run 8th inning following a superb performance by Jeff Suppan. Suppan went deep into the 7th inning, striking out 5, while allowing one run. Rookie Chris Duncan homered to lead off the 8th for his 15th home run of the season. Braden Looper picks up his 8th win--which shows there is no justice in baseball because Soup deserved a win with his outing. Jason Isringhausen picks up the save.

St. Louis 5, Florida 2
Winning pitcher - Braden Looper (8-1)
SV - Jason Isringhausen (32)
HR: Chris Duncan (15)

Milestone watch:
Albert Pujols needs 15 home runs to tie Ken Boyer for 2nd on the Cardinals all-time home runs list with 255.
Albert Pujols needs 3 runs to have his sixth consecutive season with 100 runs, 100 RBI, 30 home runs, and at least a .300 batting average.
Jim Edmonds needs 1 home run to pass Ray Lankford for 4th all-time as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 2 saves for 250 career saves.

Farm watch:
Anthony Reyes was named the PCL Player of the week for going 2-0 while striking out 17 in 13 innings.
Skip Schumaker is hitting .538 (7-13) for Team USA in the 2006 Olympic Qualifying Trials. He's scored 8 times.
Short stop Brendan Ryan has been promoted to the Memphis Redbirds and should be up with the Cards after Labor Day.
Mark McCormick debuted in high class A last night. He pitched two solid innings of a double header.
Cardinals Top 20 as ranked by DJ87.

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