Just Two Games

It's sometimes hard to stay focused on the here and now when the team has played so well in all facets these first two days.  Your mind start wandering to big summer leads and a postseason appearance.  It's hard to realize that things will change in the next 160 games, at least in some manner.

All that said, the Cardinals looked very sharp again last night, with only the bullpen (again) a source of any nitpicking.  While in the past, St. Louis might have scored some runs early and then been silent the rest of the day, last night they again added on late, feasting on the soft underbelly of the opponent's bullpen.  I was just reading Sports Illustrated's baseball preview where it pointed out that the Yankees last year outscored their opponents by only 10 runs in the first five innings, but by 152 thereafter.  Good teams get to those weaker pitchers, and so far St. Louis is looking like they'll be a good team.

I will give the Hero tag to Adam Wainwright, who got through his rough spring and flipped his go switch in time for last night's game.  The pitch that Orlando Cabrera hit out of the park looked like a darn good pitch, a pitch well inside that Cabrera was just able to turn on.  Without that, the Reds wouldn't have scored on him, and as it was he only gave up three hits.

However, I want to make special note of the season Colby Rasmus is having so far.  He's being patient at the plate, with three walks, he's got a double and a home run, and he's playing solid defense.  A lot of us thought he'd be the Cardinals' breakout guy and so far, we are looking pretty smart.

Give some kudos as well to Ryan Ludwick.  Making not one but two nice catches in the ninth inning will get you some Hero cred any day of the week.

The Goat selection will be Brendan Ryan for his 0-4 day.  The top of the lineup is two for 18 so far this season, which makes this offensive consistency even more impressive.  If Ryan and Skip Schumaker start hitting, this could be a lot of fun.

Ryan Franklin was in play for that Goat tag also, though.  His outing started well, getting ground balls, but after the one Scott Rolen hit off his foot, the balls started flying into the outfield, causing the great catches by Ludwick.  If those balls drop, that's a much tighter game that the team deserved after a day like that.

Early game today, as the first pitch will be before noon St. Louis time.  Brad Penny is going today and hopes to get a boost.  As with most Cardinal pitchers, look for the ground balls.  If he starts off getting a lot of grounders, it'll be be a good day.

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Orlando Cabrera	60	53	7	2	0	1	5	4	2	.132	.203	.226	.430	1	1	0	1	0
Scott Rolen	40	38	12	5	0	0	3	1	3	.316	.350	.447	.797	0	0	0	1	0
Aaron Miles	22	22	5	0	0	1	1	0	1	.227	.227	.364	.591	0	0	0	0	1
Brandon Phillips	13	12	5	1	1	0	1	1	2	.417	.462	.667	1.128	0	0	0	0	1
Joey Votto	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.167	.000	.167	0	0	0	0	1
Bronson Arroyo	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	.250	.000	.250	1	0	0	0	0
Ramon Hernandez	5	5	1	1	0	0	2	0	1	.200	.200	.400	.600	0	0	0	0	0
Aaron Harang	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	0	0	0	0
Micah Owings	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Total	156	142	30	9	1	2	12	8	13	.211	.261	.331	.592	3	1	0	2	3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/8/2010.

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Albert Pujols	57	49	16	5	0	3	11	8	2	.327	.421	.612	1.033	0	0	3	0	1
Ryan Ludwick	35	34	8	3	0	1	3	1	11	.235	.257	.412	.669	0	0	0	0	0
Felipe Lopez	32	29	13	2	1	2	2	3	1	.448	.500	.793	1.293	0	0	0	0	0
Skip Schumaker	27	25	7	2	0	0	1	2	5	.280	.333	.360	.693	0	0	0	0	0
Yadier Molina	25	24	7	1	0	0	1	0	2	.292	.320	.333	.653	0	0	0	1	1
Jason LaRue	16	14	1	0	0	0	2	1	2	.071	.125	.071	.196	0	1	0	0	1
Matt Holliday	12	12	2	0	0	0	0	0	5	.167	.167	.167	.333	0	0	0	0	0
Brendan Ryan	12	12	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	.417	.417	.417	.833	0	0	0	0	0
Colby Rasmus	10	9	4	3	0	1	2	1	1	.444	.500	1.111	1.611	0	0	0	0	0
Brad Penny	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Carpenter	3	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.333	.333