Cardinals-Phillies: Mulder Leaves Early, Phillies Score Late

St. Louis Cardinals' starting pitcher Mark Mulder faced just three batters before reinjuring his shoulder in tonight's 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The rest of the game went by normally, until the eighth inning.

Reliable reliever Kyle McClellan came into a tie game in the bottom of the eighth and quickly got an 0-2 count on Phillies' slugger Ryan Howard. The next pitch, however, found the right-field seats to put the Phillies ahead 3-2.

Reliever Chris Perez came on in place of McClellan and mowed down two batters before being taken yard by Pedro Feliz on a 1-2 count.

Those two pitches, both with two strikes, deflated the Cardinals' team after they mounted a comeback earlier in the game.

The Cardinals had three outs to put up two runs for the tie. After a Skip Schumacher walk, a Ryan Ludwick strikeout, and an Albert Pujols popfly, Troy Glaus drew a walk to make things interesting, but outfielder Rick Ankiel looked stupid on three straight pitches to end the game.

This loss puts the Cardinals another game behind the NL-best Chicago Cubs, after they defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 tonight.

The biggest news of the night, though, was the inadequate performance from Mulder. He may now be staring retirement straight in the eyes after aggravating an already lengthy injury.

There were few bright spots for the away Cardinals tonight, one of which was definitely Glaus. He battled incredibly hard in two at-bats, the first of which he laced into the outfield for an RBI, and the latter of which he drew a walk.

While manager Tony La Russa is never happy with a loss, this may not be so bad after all. The Cardinals were awfully resilient once Mulder went down, even though now the bullpen is in utter shambles. A fair amount of intrigue surrounded the ninth inning as the top of the Cardinals order was due up.

It would have been nice for Ankiel to make something happen, but ultimately, Phillies All-Star closer Brad Lidge threw three straight pitches that made Ankiel look downright silly.

Overall, this series now heads to a rubber match tomorrow afternoon, so if Braden Looper can defeat veteran lefty Jamie Moyer, the Cards will steal another road series from a first-place ballclub.

That, in a nutshell, would be a huge success, especially if the Cubbies take a loss in the series finale with the Reds.

For now, we will see what the diagnosis on Mulder is, but as far as I'm concerned, he won't be back to the Cardinals any time soon, and he probably won't pitch ever again.