Just Enough

After the Marlins scored two in the first off of Wainwright, it kinda seemed like it was going to be another one of those days.  After all, with this offense, there was no telling when or how long it'd take them to come up with two runs to tie.

Turned out, it didn't take too long, with David Freese getting an RBI single in the first, then the offense tacking on three more in the second.  After that, the bats did their customary shutdown, but with Wainwright clicking on the mound, that's all they needed.

The game story at the Post-Dispatch sheds an encouraging light on the outing of Matt Holliday.  (And it's from Joe Strauss, whose picture you won't find next to optimistic in the dictionary.)  Holliday seems to finally be getting a bit comfortable at the plate.  Whether this is from Albert Pujols hitting behind him or it is just about the time he starts to warm up in a year (remember, he was hitting in Oakland before the trade last year), I don't know, but it bodes well for the Cardinals if he can get on track.

This seems to be a good time to mention a new app for your iPhone and iTouch.  If you are a Holliday fan, LMK has created an app that focuses completely on him.  You get news stories that he's in and pictures that pop up on the web with #7 in them.  LMK provided me a free copy of the app and I've tried it out.  If you are a big Holliday fan, it's probably worth the couple of bucks to download this.  As I look at it now, the news stream has stories from the Post-Dispatch, the New York Post, and Sports Illustrated, among others.  Plus, if you find an article you like, there's a feature to save it to a different tab so you can refer to it later if you want.  As I say, the only thing I got out of this was a free review app, so this isn't a paid endorsement.  Search for Holliday or LMK at the App Store and take a look.

Goat for the game goes to Joe Mather for his 0-4 day.  Even tried to bunt his way on once, which was original, but not successful.  Hopefully Colby Rasmus used his day off to get straightened out, as he's looked a little lost lately at the plate.

It can't be all that good that this incarnation of the Cardinals is actually producing less at this point in the season than last year's version did.  A team with Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel and Joe Thurston in the lineup scored more runs than this one with Holliday and an every-day Rasmus?  That just doesn't make logical sense.  If the law of averages holds, this team is going to explode soon, just because they'll have to have a big run to make it to their norms.

The Cardinals get another taste of interleague play as the Angels come into town.  If you've read this blog for very long, you know every year when this comes up I express my dislike of interleague play.  I have heard a few others in the media think that it's time has come and gone, but I'm sure that as long as Bud Selig is commissioner, it's going nowhere, and I'm doubtful his successor would look at it either.

Anytime the Angels come into Busch, my mind goes back to that 2002 series, the first time they were in town.  It's a different stadium now and very few players are the same, but the emotional impact of that series, with Jack Buck passing on the evening of what turned out to be Darryl Kile's final start, has stayed with St. Louis for these many years.  If they are still doing this in 25 years, I'm sure that's still the first thing I'll think of when the Angels and Cardinals get together.

Former Cardinal Joel Pineiro returns to his old stomping grounds.  I'm sure Pineiro wants to show that the Cardinals should have at least made an attempt to resign him last year, but with his results and Brad Penny's results this year, I don't think the Cards are that disappointed.  It'll be interesting to see if having Pineiro on staff the last three years gives the Cards a bit of an advantage in knowing what he'll throw.  Here's what he's done against the current Redbirds:

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Felipe Lopez	22	21	5	1	0	0	0	1	4	.238	.273	.286	.558	0	0	0	0	0
Albert Pujols	7	7	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.143	.143	.286	.429	0	0	0	0	1
Matt Holliday	5	5	3	2	0	0	2	0	0	.600	.600	1.000	1.600	0	0	0	0	0
Brad Penny	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Jason LaRue	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Total	37