The Cardinals began a three game series with the Reds tonight in Cincinnati, the third city of their ten game road trip.  After taking three of four from the Marlins, the Cards looked to keep things rolling at Great American Ballpark.
Brad Thompson got the start in place of the injured Chris Carpenter.  Despite giving up a leadoff home run to his first batter, Thompson pitched fairly well.  He lasted five innings to notch the win, allowing 3 runs, on 3 hits, while striking out 4.  One of the runs was unearned.  Jaime Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Ron Villone, and Chris Perez [...]

I was in attendance for both of the first two games of this four game series, and although the Cards were able to win the first one, the second left a lot to be desired.
On Monday night, I had field level seats, right behind the tarp in the first row down the third base line.  Third base coach Jose Oquendo was literally ten feet away.  The view from there was awesome, especially on ground balls to the left side of the infield.  I had a shot at several foul grounders, and a bat that got away from Albert Pujols on [...]

Not much has gone right for the St. Louis Cardinals lately.  After losing tonight’s series finale against the rival Chicago Cubs, the Cards fall to 65-55, and 7 games back in the division standings, 3 behind the Brewers for the Wild Card.  Since sweeping the Padres in San Diego in the first series after the All-Star break, the Cards have gone 8-12, while the teams they’re trailing have continued to play good baseball.
In tonight’s game, staff ace Chris Carpenter was removed in the sixth inning after experiencing some tricept discomfort.  Matthew Leach has more on that story.  The Cards went on [...]

YES!  You know him.  You hate him.  The ace of the Chicago staff, Carlos Zambrano, and all of his cockiness, were at the center of some extremely entertaining television this afternoon when the Cardinals’ offense put on a hitting clinic.
After losing game one of the series with a subpar showing from the offense, the Redbirds showed up at Wrigley today ready for redemption.  Facing Zambrano in Chicago is no easy task.  Before today’s game, he was unbeaten at home in ‘08.  The Cards were able to chase him out of the game after only 4.1 innings, in which he gave [...]

Dammit Jimmy!  Stupid Cubs!  This is no way to start a road trip.  Even though it took 11 innings, the Cardinals came up on the short end today at Wrigley, and now sit seven games back in the NL Central standings.
Braden Looper turned in a fine performance, allowing just two runs in seven innings.  Ironically, the two runs came off the bat of Looper’s former teammate, Jim Edmonds, via a pair of solo home runs.  What a kick in the nuts.  The bullpen turned in three scoreless innings before losing it in the eleventh. The culprit:  Ryan Franklin.  Again.
This is [...]

Four hits?  That’s it?  Really?  Since the Cardinals couldn’t seem to put any good wood on the ball today, they relied on the free passes to put runners on base. Unfortunately, only one of their nine base runners came around to score, and the Redbirds fell to the Dodgers 4-1.
On paper I thought St. Louis had the advantage.  Their best starter, Kyle Lohse, was on the mound, and the Cards were coming off a pair of wins, trying to sweep the Dodgers right out of town.  Lohse wasn’t bad, allowing four runs in seven innings, while striking out five.  Too bad [...]

After an extra innings win to combat another blown save in the first game of the series last night, the Cardinals poured on the offense and shut the door on the Dodgers in game two tonight.
The star of the game was Albert Pujols, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 4 for 4 with a walk.  His hits included a pair of singles, a double, and a grand slam.  Keeping pace was the hot hitting Ryan Ludwick, who had three hits of his own, including going back to back with Albert in the fourth with his team leading [...]

The Cardinals unveiled the logo for next year’s All-Star game yesterday. Matthew Leach has the full story.