Where Have These Bats Been?

The On The Run people were probably pretty busy this weekend as the Cards really got serious in Kansas City.

When the Cards wind up scoring 29 runs in a three game set, there are a lot of offensive heroes.  Let's break down the series game by game.

Friday, while you have to love what Khalil Greene did in his first game back, smacking two extra-base hits, I think I want to give the Hero tag to Ryan Ludwick for making Kansas City pay for walking Albert Pujols.  Ludwick's grand slam may have helped lead to Pujols's big weekend, as it made KC gun-shy about walking him.

Add on to the fact that Pujols drove in two runs anyway early in the game, Skip Schumaker went three for four, Colby Rasmus four for five and Rick Ankiel even went yard and suffice it to say it was a great Friday night in Kansas City.

Finding a downside is pretty tough, but Chris Duncan did go 0-4 with two strikeouts and three left on base.  That and Tyler Greene's hitless night could be overlooked though, when you have everyone else clicking.

Saturday wasn't quite as explosive, but still was more offense than we have been used to seeing out of the Cardinals.  With Chris Carpenter on the mound, it's not like they needed a ton of it, anyway.  Carpenter was, well, Carpenter, and he pretty much had to be until the Cards put up a couple in the sixth then tagged Royals relief pitching in the ninth.

Pujols went yard again.  He's been on such a tear since I hinted he was slumping  (you're welcome).  Khalil Greene went yard for the second straight day, helping provide a lot of that ninth-inning insurance.  Yadier Molina and Ludwick had two hits each and Ryan Franklin continued his All-Star year (he has to go, right?  17 saves and an ERA of 1.00?) with another save of longer than one inning.

I love this quote from Royals pitcher Brian Bannister:

""And when he gets in the batter's box, if you pray, then you start praying. And if you don't pray, you think about starting."
"

About the only downside to that game, besides the inexplicable decision by Fox not to return to it after the rain delayed the start, instead leaving us in this area with Detroit and Milwaukee (which was nice, being that the Brewers lost and the Cards moved into first), was the fact that Rasmus went 0-4.

Then we get to Sunday's game.  Pujols.  Need we say more?

Actually, apparently we do, since now we know that Pujols called his shot on Sunday, a story that is making the rounds.  Not that he would hit a home run next time up.  Not that he'd hit it to center field, but that he'd hit the Royals HOF, which he did.  In case you ever wondered just how special that guy is.....  Perhaps Bernie Mikalsz is right, Pujols needs to be walked all the time.  Just hope people don't actually start doing that.

So, besides hitting a called-shot grand slam, he follows up with another solo shot after driving in two runs in the first inning.  Not hard to find a hero in that one, though you have to also like Khalil going deep yet again and Duncan and Ankiel each getting two hits.

The downside was Adam Wainwright.  I know he got the win.  I know he got 8 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter.  But eight hits and two homers?  Five runs?  Not exactly what we need to see out of the "co-ace."

You have to think Pujols was also very happy to help Tony LaRussa win his 2500th game.  Can you imagine that we'll ever see this again?  TLR started managing so young and has never taken a full year off.  The one year he was fired, he had another job within weeks.  He left Oakland in an offseason and was in St. Louis by the next opening day.  30 straight years, basically, and having very good ball clubs in that span as well.

He's 263 wins from second place.  Figure that he gets another 43 wins (just a guess--I could easily see them winning more) by the end of this year, he sits 220 behind John McGraw.  That's just three more solid years.  Would he stick around that long, especially since he'd have the best player in baseball on his team?  You'd like to think so.

The key now is to see if this offensive renassiance can be carried into the new Citi Field.  Todd Wellemeyer goes tonight, which is always a gamble.  His numbers against the Mets don't inspire a lot of confidence either, as David Wright (.700) is probably looking forward to getting jump-started.

The Mets counter with Tim Redding, who hasn't exactly been a Cardinal killer in his career either.  Albert has hit a home run off of him before, and the way he's swinging the bat now, Redding might want to be very concerned.

Most of you know that last week, I had the chance to interview Ozzie Smith.  In the same contact, the opportunity to interview Bruce Sutter was extended.  Being that Sutter was gone from St. Louis before I really got started following the Cards (and wanting to spread the wealth, as it were), I put this out to the other UCB members.  Mike at Stan Musial's Stance jumped at the chance, so you will be able to hear him talk to Sutter tomorrow morning on Blog Talk Radio at 10:30 Central.  It should be a great listen!

Also, a note of remembrance that today is the 7th anniversary of Darryl Kile's tragic passing.  The anniversary of Jack Buck's passing last week slipped past me and, honestly, Kile's might have as well without a Facebook status reminder.  So hard to believe that much time has passed.