…by umpire Dana Demuth and the Nats’ grounds crew last night, to get that game through five full innings, much less finish the thing. It would’ve been horrible for the Cards to explode offensively like that in the first inning and have it all be for naught.
A few notes from the game:
- I hope Albert’s calf is ok. He was removed from last night’s game after getting plunked by a pitch that was suspiciously nowhere near the plate. The pitch didn’t seem to affect him, but he immediately left with what was explained as calf tightness. Hopefully just remnants of two long rain delays.
- Tony’s got a real pair on him to send Kyle Lohse out there after not only the first rain delay, but also the second! I understand his loyalty to his team and his pitchers, but it just didn’t seem worth it risking injury to Lohse just to get him the win.
- Loved – LOVED – the double-steal to score the fifth run. Cesar Izturis definitely has some speed, and it’s good to see Tony putting that to use. Hopefully we’ll see some more straight running going forward rather than the hit-and-runs that TLR has fallen so in love with.
- Big games last night for Yadier Molina and Iz2. Yadi’s home run in the first definitely was a big statement after the gut-wrenching loss to Pittsburgh Monday night. Iz2 just continues to out-perform his career numbers, currently getting on-base at a clip .053 points better than his career OBP of .299.
- It took a lot of pitches to get it done, but congrats to Mark Worrell on a successful major league debut. Hopefully now he’s got the butterflies out of the way and can freak out more professional hitters with that unorthodox delivery.
One last note from last night, Matt Clement had an excellent outing in his first rehab start at high-A Palm Beach. Derrick Goold has encouraging news that goes deeper than the stats – Clement’s velocity was consistently in the 85-88 mph range.
Encouraging, yes, especially taking into account that according to the Cardinals, Clement’s rehab is not because of injury, but rather that his arm just wasn’t ready to pitch to MLB hitters. Keep in mind, however, that Mark Mulder was dominant at Palm Beach also.
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