In today’s post, I’ll break down the three most important objectives that often times, winning teams overlook during a pennant race.  In the game of baseball, sometimes these simple tasks get lost in the long, 162 game regular season.  By sticking to the following guidelines, no team, regardless of their talent, should ever find themselves in the playoffs come October.  In this example, I’ll use the St. Louis Cardinals as the ideal scenario.
1.  Score as few runs as possible.
They say you can’t win if you don’t score, but even the least likely candidates are capable of plating a few runs [...]

Tonight the Cardinals open a series at home against the cross-state Kansas City Royals.  KC comes in with a 28-42 record, good enough for the second worst record in baseball.  St. Louis still maintains the second best record in the National League at 42-29, trailing the Chicago Cubs by 3.5 games.  The Baby Bears begin a series in Tampa Bay tonight, so this seems like a good opportunity for the Cardinals to gain some ground before heading off to Boston.
Joel Pineiro makes the start tonight for the Cards, with Kyle Davies starting for Kansas City.  Tomorrow night it’s Braden Looper [...]

Yesterday, the Cardinals ended the series against the Phillies with a 7-6 win in extra innings.  It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.  Here’s the full recap and box score.
The wins keep adding up for the Redbirds, who now have the second best record in the National League at 42-29.  They still trail the Cubs by 3.5 games.  Out of the 23 series the Cards have played so far this season, they’ve lost only 3.  That’s an amazing accomplishment for a team that many thought wouldn’t compete.
No game today.  The Cardinals could use the day off, as several players are nursing some injuries. [...]

After taking a severe beating on Friday, the Cardinals bounced back with a win yesterday. Led by starting pitcher Kyle Lohse, they evened the series at one game a piece.
Lohse was brilliant, lasting eight innings on 116 pitches.  He allowed only four hits, and limited the damage to just a two-run homer by Pat Burrell in the fourth.  On the season, Lohse is now 8-2, with a 3.77 earned run average.
With the performance from their starter, the Cardinals didn’t need much offense. Adam Kennedy’s first home run of the season got the Cards on the board in the first, and Ryan [...]

I really thought the Cardinals had a chance there in the bottom of the ninth.  All they needed was to bat around twice and have all eighteen score.  It seemed doable.
20-2!  Really!?  Not much of a nail biter. I know what you’re thinking…but no, Kip Wells or Mike Maroth didn’t pitch. The Colonel was on the mound for the Redbirds. Unfortunately, he was a bit rusty.  The Phils jumped on him early with three consecutive solo home runs in the first.  The Cards were still in the game when he departed in the fourth, but not for long.
There’s no [...]

In the final game of both the series and the road trip, the Cardinals four game winning streak ended tonight with a 6-2 loss to Cincinnati.
In his first game back from the DL, Cardinal starter Joel Pineiro cruised through five innings with 70 pitches.  He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, while striking out 6.  He yielded to the bullpen with the game tied at two.  After last night’s complete game shutout from Braden Looper, the relief crew should have been well rested.  Mark Worrell and Randy Flores struggled in the seventh as the Reds tacked on four more runs.
The [...]

After seeing Albert Pujols being helped off the field in last night’s win, we knew a roster move was inevitable.  Today, the Cardinals added Pujols to the disabled list, and recalled Chris Duncan from AAA Memphis to take his roster spot.
The Cardinals’ slugger is expected to miss at least three weeks with a strained left calf. An MRI revealed the strain to be between a Grade I and II. A Grade III indicates a complete tear.  Brandon Harris has more on the story.
The news on Pujols comes just days after the Adam Wainwright injury.  With two of their most important players sidelined, the Cardinals [...]

The Cardinals made it official today.  After meeting with team doctors to diagnose the finger injury that took him out the game in his last start, Adam Wainwright is added to the long list of disabled Cardinal pitchers.
Although fellow starter Joel Pineiro will be reactivated, Wainwright joins pitchers Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Matt Clement, Jason Isringhausen, Brad Thompson, Tyler Johnson, Josh Kinney, and Kelvin Jimenez on the shelf. Todd Wellemeyer will miss his next scheduled start, but won’t need extended time off.
Luckily, the Cardinals have so many arms in which to try to fill the rotation.  The scheduled starter for [...]

The Cardinals have been racking up wins all season long, but have mysteriously struggled in the game immediately following getting to ten over even.  Until today.  Their win over the Astros in Houston this afternoon brought their record to 38-27, and to eleven games over .500 for the first time this year, despite several close encounters.
Kyle Lohse got the win for the Cardinals, even though he left the game trailing by three. He pitched six solid innings with the only real blemish being a three run homer to Lance Berkman.  Five other pitchers were able to get the last nine [...]

Troy Glaus has been on an offensive tear lately, which is very nice after his slow start.  He’s hit four home runs in the last eight games, bringing his total up to seven. They said he heats up during the summer, and hopefully he’ll continue to pound the ball to the delight of Cardinal fans for the rest of the season.
Here’s a clip of Glaus going yard way back in July of 1996, at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Enjoy!