Cards put pressure on Reds

August 24, 2010

Well, Kyle Loshe obliged my request.  He did not blow the lead.   And I gotta give him credit.  He was good.  Not great.  But he was good.  Granted, he was pitching against the Pirates, a team who is well on their way to a 100 loss season.  Nevertheless, he was good.  Do I trust him in the postseason with the NLCS on the line?  Not by a long shot.  But maybe he can spot start against poorer teams on occasion until we get there.  Because in a short series in October, Carpenter, Wainwright and Garcia is about as good as it gets.  (Ain’t that right Cincy?)  And by then hopefully Suppan will be back from the DL.  I think Soup having the postseason experience and pitching again in St. Louis, he would do well as a number 4.

So Loshe ended up the winner by throwing 5 1/3 innings, giving up 2 earned runs, walking 2 and striking out 4.  Luckily, it was more than enough, thanks to another rousing day by the Cardinal offense.  The Redbirds got it started early in the 1st inning.  A couple singles, a double, a couple walks and an Albert Pujols long ball later and the Cards had batted through their lineup.  As good as it was, they really could (and should) have gotten more than 4 that first inning.  But, hey, I’ll take it.  Especially because, before the game was over, the Cardinals would tack on another 6 insurance runs.  But that first inning of offense was more than enough to beat Pittsburgh who only managed two runs in the 6th inning on a Garrett Jones homer.

The bullpen picked up where Loshe left off and pitched a scoreless 3 2/3 innings to make this the second game in a row that we have won pretty easily.  (And by easily, I mean that the bullpen isn’t walking the bases loaded while I’m breathing in a paper bag.)

The best part of these last two games is that all of these runs are being scored without Colby Rasmus, who figures to be a big part of the postseason push.  But as long time Cardinal fans know, you can’t only depend on your 3-4-5 guys for the runs.  True playoff contenders get production up and down the lineup, as well as those unlikely guys who step off the bench into history.  Remember Scott Spiezio’s torrid hitting in late 2006?

The end result of this game is not only our third win in the row, but it’s a win that puts the pressure on the Reds whose game started moments ago.  We know we can’t drop in the standings and have a shot to gain a game on Cincinnati.  We also gained one game on Philly thanks to a Houston win, although I’d certainly rather take the Central than the Wild Card.

Side notes: Albert upped his MVP candidacy by going 3-5 and belting his 33rd home run of the season.  He leads in home runs, RBI and is now batting .319, good enough for 2nd place, depending on what Prado and Gonzalez do.  That’s serious contention right there for the Triple Crown.  Votto’s putting up killer numbers, but how can you not give the MVP to a guy who’s seriously competing for the Crown?  Also, his home run brought him within one home run of the milestone #400.  Good money says it happens this series.  Albert loves hitting against the Pirates.  He’s now .425 with 10 home runs against Pittsburgh over the last 3 years

Lovin’ watching the Redbirds roll,
Tiffany

Written by mlblogsredbirdfever Posted in Dailies Tagged with Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols, Astros, Cardinals, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Carpenter, Colby Rasmus, Jaime Garcia, Jeff Suppan, Kyle Loshe, Martin Prado, Pirates, Reds