Starting Off Right

""Great, kid!  Don't get cocky."--Han Solo"

The Cards had a nice inning yesterday.  Skip Schumaker hit a fly ball in the right place at the right time and when you have Chris Carpenter on the mound, you don't really have to worry about giving up a seven run lead.  It was all that you could want out of the first game of a real big series.

All that said, it was one game.  Without the extreme rarity of Skip's homer, it could have been a 2-0 game for most of the contest.  It'd have been nice to see the Cardinals do something off the Reds bullpen, even if it was just an extra run or so.

Yesterday, BJ Rains wrote up a preview at the Fox Sports Midwest site.  In it, he opines that there would be nothing to worry about if the Cardinals lose the series, because as long as they aren't swept, they'd just be back three games with 52 to play.  Not only does that disregard everything that has happened in 2010, relying on a lot of preseason expectations, but it also ignores what this series means.

If the Reds are able to win two of three against Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and Adam Wainwright, what does that say to them?  Why would you think that they'd come back to the pack, or the Cards could make up that ground against them?  The next two games are very big from the Cardinals' perspective, in my mind.  They have to at least split them and stay one game back or it is going to be an uphill climb for a team that takes as many steps backwards as it does forwards.

Our Goat from yesterday would have to be Brendan Ryan.  Not only did he go 0-4, which thankfully is becoming more rare, he irritated his starting pitcher, and that's never a good thing to do.  Hopefully the highlight of Carpenter taking Ryan to task in the dugout doesn't split up the Cardinal Diamond Diaries ladies.  That'd be such a shame right after their 100th post!  I think, though, Carp's frustration with Ryan seemed to be misplaced after the ball hit in the seventh.  I doubt Ryan positioned himself that close to second without some dugout suggestion.

The Reds brought in an old face yesterday, which meant that just like the heyday of the MV3, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds were batting back to back.  That probably made for a rough day for noted Cardinal hater Brandon Phillips, but it's not like there are any other former Redbirds over there.  Oh, wait.....

Jaime Garcia goes against Johnny Cueto this evening.  Garcia has faced the Reds a couple of times this year, posting an ERA just under three and winning both starts.  He did give up his first home run in Great American Ballpark, though, and he hasn't seen the Reds since May 31.  It's a tough test for him, but one that he has shown he can handle.

Cueto's been tough on the 'Birds in the past, but in his three appearances against St. Louis this year, they reached him for 12 runs in 16 innings.  If they keep that kind of approach going, they'll have a really good chance of taking the game.  Cueto's been pretty dominant since about the middle of June, though, so it's not likely they'll score eight on him like they did last time they faced him.