Cards vs. Brewers

Some nice quotes from Morris and Carp about Izzy were in the paper today.

San Francisco righthander Matt Morris, a longtime teammate, and Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter expressed disappointment with the news that Isringhausen will be out the rest of the season, if not beyond.

"All that he put into the game with this city and you kind of leave on a sour note ... it's too bad," Morris said.

Carpenter said, "At some point, enough's enough. He did everything he could. It was just not working out."

Speaking of class, here's a recap of the dinner with the Carpenters, Isringhausen and Morris's.

In a baseball rarity, the two starting pitchers for Saturday's game here -- the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter and San Francisco's Matt Morris -- went to dinner, along with their wives, Saturday night, joining injured relief ace Jason Isringhausen and his wife at a Clayton restaurant.

Inasmuch as Carpenter and the Cardinals beat the Giants 6-1 Saturday, Carpenter had most of the bragging rights. "He felt sorry for me," Morris said Sunday.

But Morris did connect for a double off Carpenter. "That was about the only thing I could mention," joked Morris, but it was an accomplishment that prompted passerby La Russa to chide Carpenter for allowing the hit and Morris, in turn, to chide the Cardinals' manager.

"It was 4-0 at the time," Morris said. "Otherwise, (La Russa) would have been slamming the phone and punching stuff."

Monday
Rookie pitcher Anthony Reyes (5-7, 5.03) takes the mound for the Cardinals against All-Star Chris Capuano (11-11, 3.66). Reyes makes his second start against the Brewers. In his career, he is 1-0 against them with 6 Ks and 3 ER through 5 IP. Capuano, who was 10-4 before the break, has struggled since the midseason classic. He's gone 1-7 with a 4.44 ERA since. In two starts against the Cards this year, he's 0-1. In his career, he's 4-2 in seven starts with a 5.05 ERA.

Lineup
So Taguchi CF
Preston Wilson LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Juan Encarnacion RF
Scott Rolen 3B
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Gary Bennett C
Aaron Miles SS
Anthony Reyes P

Reyes didn't do bad at all. Nine strikeouts and two earned runs. Pujols put up some MVP numbers with his three run home run in the 7th to keep the Cards in the game.

St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 4
Losing pitcher - Braden Looper (9-2)
HR: Albert Pujols (46)

Tuesday
Jason Marquis (14-15, 5.82) takes the mound against Ben Sheets (5-6, 4.08). Marquis is 1-0 in two starts this season against the Brewers. In his career, he's 4-5 in ten starts against the Brewers with a 3.74 ERA. Sheets is 4-12 in 19 starts against the Cardinals in his career so it's pretty safe to say that we own him. Against us, he has a 4.15 ERA while throwing three complete games (one SHO). This season, he's 0-1 against us but he only lastest one inning in his only start against us this season. Scratch Marquis, Jeff Weaver (3-4, 5.48) is now starting instead. In four games against the Brewers, he is 1-3 with a 4.55 ERA.

Lineup
Aaron Miles SS
Chris Duncan RF
Albert Pujols 1B
Scott Spiezio LF
Scott Rolen 3B
Ronnie Belliard 2B
So Taguchi CF
Yadier Molina C
Jeff Weaver P

Good thing that Marquis was bumped because this game was a great one. In a sad note, Bill Hall had to leave the game in the 6th inning with an undiclosed injury. In the 7th inning, the Cardinals batted around and scored 6 runs alone.

The in-game box score from the game.
Miles 4-6 with a run and 3 RBI
Duncan 2-5 with R and RBI
Pujols 2-5 with 2 RBI
Speezer 0-5 with a run
Rolen 1-4 with a run
Belliard 3-4 with 3 runs and RBI
So 1-4 with 2 runs and RBI
Molina 2-3 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and an SB
Weaver 1-3 with RBI

St. Louis 12, Milwaukee 2
Winning pitcher - Jeff Weaver (7-14)
HR: Ronnie Belliard (10)

Wednesday
Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.23) takes on Carlos Villanueva (1-1, 4.05). Suppan is 1-0 in three starts against the Brewers this season. Soup is 12-2 in 18 career starts against the Brewers with a 3.53 ERA. At Miller Park alone, he is 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA and has limited opponents to a .211 average. Villanueva is making his first start against the Cardinals.

Lineup
Aaron Miles SS
Chris Duncan LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Juan Encarnacion CF
Scott Spezio 3B
Preston Wilson RF
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Yadier Molina C
Jeff Suppan P

Soup had a great start. That said, offense didn't show up at all.

St. Louis 0, Milwaukee 1
Losing pitcher - Tyler Johnson (0-3)

Milestone watch:
Albert Pujols needs 8 home runs to tie Ken Boyer for 2nd on the Cardinals all-time home runs list with 255.
Jim Edmonds needs 1 home run to pass Ray Lankford for 4th all-time as a Cardinal.
Jason Isringhausen needs 1 saves for 250 career saves.
Albert Pujols has his sixth consecutive season with 100 runs, 100 RBI, 30 home runs, and at least a .300 batting average. He is the only player to do so in the first five seasons of a MLB career. With less than a month to go in the season, Pujols is batting .328.