Trying to overcome nine walks from your pitching staff in one game is pretty difficult, yet there the Cardinals were, with the bases loaded and Yadier Molina at the plate.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
As Brewers beat-man Tom Haudricourt Twittered during the game:
Brewers-Cards, 4-4 in the 8th. If Brewers win, they pull within one. If they lose, they fall three back. Pretty big difference.
Indeed, it is a big difference. Cards could’ve headed into tomorrow with a start on a big time lead, and a chance to go into Chicago with a full four games on the Brewers. Instead, they’ll have to pull it together tomorrow to leave Milwaukee still alone at the top.
Colby Rasmus wouldn’t have been bunting with Skip Schumaker on second with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, if I were manager.
Look at it this way. The Brewers are going to walk Albert Pujols whether you sacrifice Skip to third or not. He’s not going to be forced into an out. Why not let arguably your hottest hitter right now have a crack at Trevor Hoffman?
As it turned out, nothing productive came of Colby’s at-bat, and they found themselves with Pujols walked anyway and one less out.
Hey Joe Thurston – I’m really happy you got that bunt single to extend your hitting streak to four games tonight.
Unfortunately, it was just another in a long line of plays indicating that you do not know and will not learn, the game of baseball. Physical talent? Sure, enough to hang around professional ball for a while. Smarts and a know how for the way the game is played? None.
I’m flabbergasted. No idea how this guy sticks on this team with this manager in this divisional race.
Random
Lots of ‘Houdinis’ for Cardinal pitchers tonight. More on that tomorrow. (Hat tip to @dgoold for the vocabulary lesson 🙂 )
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The UCB Radio Hour was busy again this week. Mike from Stan Musial’s Stance interviewed former Cardinal great Lou Brock on Tuesday and the regular Wednesday show was recorded live as well. Get them on iTunes via the UCB logo link in the top right here, or via the BlogTalkRadio player on the United Cardinal Bloggers homepage.
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Still lots of chatter about Roy Halladay and whether the Cards could come up with enough capital to land him via trade. I don’t see it happening, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised. Would that be enough to put the FO-haters out to pasture?
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So let’s start a PH8 poll…
[poll id=”4″]
Tomorrow
Day baseball! 1:05p CT first pitch, Joel Pineiro versus Manny Parra.
Parra is returning from a “get your stuff straight” stint at AAA. Of course, he’s left-handed, which could cause problems.
While I’d love to see Mark DeRosa at third base tomorrow night, I’d settle for a Brian Barden. Please, Tony?
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