Today’s rubber game against Cincinnati was the final game of the month, and the Cardinals earned a franchise record 18 wins to start the season with their victory today. In two other seasons, St. Louis won 17 games in April.
Cardinal starter Braden Looper saw his last outing end in a no decision after a blown save by closer Jason Isringhausen.  Today, he was less sharp, but still handed it over to the bullpen with the lead.  Isringhausen closed this one out for Looper, earning his ninth save of the seaon.
Rick Ankiel continued  to swing the bat well, with multi-hit games [...]

The Cardinals hoped to even the series tonight against the Reds, and with rookie Johnny Cueto on the mound for Cincinnati, it appeared to be a tough assignment.  A few quirky plays later, the Redbirds found themselves up by seven, and ended up winning the game 7-2.
After a bit of a rough start, Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro settled in, allowing just one hit through seven innings.   Despite his four walks, the Reds stayed off the scoreboard with some bad base running in the first.  Later, Pineiro again used his foot to help record an out.  If you missed his [...]

First and foremost, welcome to the new site. This is the first post for the new dig, and although the layout has changed, you’ll still find a very opinionated writer in control of the keyboard, after all, I’m Mike, and this is Mike on the Cards. You should notice that I’m part of the MLB Hub network. For those unaware, The Hub is a new blog network dedicated to providing all the news and happenings from around the league. Without the help of Matt and the crew at MLB Hub, this new site wouldn’t exist. [...]

Everyone knew before this game started, there were bound to be some extracurriculars.  A handful of incidents, including yesterday’s bench clearing episode in the third, clearly spilled over into today’s rubber match between the Cards and ‘Stros.
Interestingly, Houston’s Brandon Backe seems to always find himself in the middle of these disputes, and today was no different.  After pitching a scoreless four, Backe got shelled in the fifth, which included Troy Glaus’ first home run as a Cardinal.  A couple of batters later, when Yadier Molina was granted time in the middle of the pitcher’s delivery, Backe took offense.  He immediately starting [...]

The Cardinals lost last night’s game to the Astros in the ninth inning, but returned the favor today with a strong performance from starter Adam Wainwright, and some much needed clutch hitting.
Coming in, St. Louis was hitting .257 with runners in scoring position in 296 plate appearances. That lack of production partially attributed to last night’s loss.  Today, Albert Pujols hit a two run double in the third, followed by an RBI sacrifice fly by Troy Glaus, and Skip Schumaker had the game winning RBI single in the ninth.Wainwright outlasted his counterpart, Roy Oswalt, getting the first complete game of [...]

Typically, after a ball game, I’ll spend some time online perusing all of the Cardinal forums and message boards.  Last night, because of the rain delay, the game ended late, so I went straight to bed.  This morning, before work, I checked in on all my usual web stops, and one thing was common across the board. Everyone was Izzy bashing.
I understand the frustration from fans.  The Cardinals were up 2-0 heading to the ninth after a brilliant performance from their starter Braden Looper.  Jason Isringhausen blew his second save of the year, and has now allowed 8 runs on 13 [...]

Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro continues to improve with each outing.  He was activated from the 15-day disabled list to make his first start on April 13th against the Giants, but gave up 6 runs in 3.2 innings.  In his second start, also against San Francisco, he lasted 6.1, and allowed just 3 runs. Tonight was his third appearance, and easily his best so far.  Pineiro held the Pirates to just 1 run on 4 hits, while striking out 6 in 7 innings, and improved his record to 1-2, and his ERA to 5.29. He also made a dazzling kick save, [...]

It didn’t take long for the Cardinals to encounter their second string of back-to-back losses.  Monday’s win against Milwaukee separates the two short losing streaks.  The loss is tougher to take, not only because of the turn of events that transpired in tonight’s game, but also because it came against a Pittsburgh team was predicted to finish at the bottom of the division.
The game couldn’t have started off better for the Cards.  They put up four runs in the top of the first, while sending nine men to the plate.  Things were looking good when starter Todd Wellemeyer cruised through [...]

Here’s the next commercial from the “Play Like A Cardinal” ad campaign.  If you missed the first two, check out them out here, and here.  This spot features starter Adam Wainwright, and closer Jason Isringhausen. Enjoy!

Cardinals Win!  And it comes against a division rival Milwaukee Brewers team that many picked to win the Central.  With the Cubs win over the Mets, they maintain a half game lead over the Redbirds.The win tonight put an abrupt end to the Cardinals’ first losing streak, albeit only a two game streak.  The game was unspectacular, but did offer some nice positives:

Adam Wainwright has now pitched at least 7 innings in every start this year.
Troy Glaus had 2 RBI, and improved his average to .250.
Albert Pujols walked 3 times, and leads the Majors with 6 intentional passes.
Brian Barton’s double [...]