Pujols The Great

Before the game last night, there was a lot of discussion (or whining, depending on your point of view--since I was part of it, I'm going with discussion) about the unorthodox lineup that Tony La Russa put out there.  No Colby Rasmus, which was pretty surprising with Ryan Ludwick hurting and David Freese on the DL.  No Skip Schumaker, which mean Aaron Miles had to start.  On paper, it looked like one of the worst lineups the Cardinals had run out there in years.

However, when you've got Albert Pujols in the lineup, odds are things are going to be all right.

(As an aside, I really enjoyed seeing Cal Eldred in with La Russa on the pre-game show talking about how he constructed the lineup.  After hearing TLR talk about how tough Willis was against lefties, justifying Rasmus and Schumaker sitting, I went and looked it up.  Sure enough, Willis, for all his problems, actually is curtailing lefties to a .188 average and was hardly walking them at all.  Sometimes the skipper knows things, huh?)

Pujols hit two two-run home runs, plus an RBI double, showing that even when we think he's struggling, he's not.  As we close in on the midpoint of the season, doubling his numbers would give him 36 HR and 114 RBI on the season.  That's a good season, even if those are low for him (and his batting average is below the norms as well at .312).

I don't think we necessarily quit pointing out where AP isn't meeting his standards--that first inning strikeout was an ugly at-bat--but we have to recognize that struggling for supermen is cruising for mere mortals.

Adam Wainwright finally had a game where he didn't allow a run in the first and he kept that going until he left in the seventh.  He had seven strikeouts, which was good but did run up his pitch count some.  Still, a fairly dominant outing and one more in line with what we have come to expect from him.  Good work by the bullpen as well, though in admittedly less than a pressure situation.

On the down side, Yadier Molina wasn't able to build on his two hit night from Monday, going 0-5.  But my Goat goes to Brendan Ryan.  With a player that struggles with his control like Dontrelle Willis does, the leadoff man has to be patient.  In his first at-bat to lead off the game, he takes one strike, then swings and grounds out on a pitch that appeared to be out of the strike zone.  In his second AB, after Willis has walked both Wainwright and Miles, he swings at the second pitch again and grounds out.  With the way Willis has thrown this year, the odds of him throwing three strikes in seven pitches is on the small side.  It didn't matter much due to Pujols's night and Felipe Lopez getting four hits from the 2 hole, but on a different night it could have been the difference.

As noted, Lopez played third because David Freese was placed on the DL.  Even though I read the theory on the net that the recall of Fernando Salas was an insurance move for the next couple of days and Tyler Greene would come up this weekend, it appears that Lopez is going to be playing the corner for a while.  I know TLR likes to have plenty of relievers and that to some degree it is necessary due to Jeff Suppan being in the rotation plus having bullpen games started by Blake Hawksworth on the horizon, but having a regular bench of Miles, Jason LaRue (whom will likely never be used), Randy Winn and Nick Stavinoha is just asking for troubles in close games or extra inning affairs.  And even that bench will be depleted until Ryan Ludwick is able to get back into the lineup.

I've never been a fan of the 12 hitters/13 pitchers makeup of the roster.  I think that there are a few too many options in the pen at times.  Salas pitched well yesterday and hasn't shown that he's going to have major problems in the big leagues, but do we really need another right handed arm down there?  Seems like a bit of overkill at the cost of offensive production that could win a ball game.  Then again, it's not TLR's first rodeo.

Some of the concern is also due to the fact that, at least before yesterday, the idea was that Chris Carpenter was going to have his start pushed back due to that liner he took off his arm in the first inning yesterday.  However, it has improved and it looks less likely that will happen, though it is still a possibility.  

Cards get an afternoon game today, as Jeff Suppan goes up against Barry Enright.  I've never heard of Enright, which is mainly because he'll be making his major league debut in this game, coming up from Arizona's AA team.  Obviously, that is a concern because the team has no knowledge of him, but at least he's a right-hander, so they are more likely to be able to hit plus Rasmus will be in the lineup.

I'm interested to see how Suppan does today.  Arizona's no powerhouse, obviously, but they are seventh in the NL in runs, though 13th in batting average.  Still, they should be more familiar with Suppan than the AL teams that he's faced since being signed by the Cardinals.  That familiarity could be a concern, especially when you factor in the Cardinals are going for a sweep, and you know how that's gone for them lately.

Before the game, though, you can listen to me around 11:30 Central on Baseball Digest Live, talking about baseball in general in my role as founder of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Tonight, Bill Ivie will be doing the United Cardinal Bloggers Radio Hour, talking about today's game as well as a new project he's going coming up, so be sure to listen in to that as well!