Daily Rant: Cardinals finally get to Bud Norris in defeat of Astros

Even though Bud Norris struck out twelve Cardinals, the Cardinals finally were able to slay the Cardinal Killer. The Astros tried to storm back late, but the bullpen held them off for the victory. Click the jump for more details on the game.

Box Score

	Final		1		2		3		4		5		6	7	8	9	R	H	E

	St. Louis	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	7	3

	Houston	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	12	0


WP: A. Wainwright (5-6) S: J. Motte (10) LP: B. Norris (5-3)

	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	BB	K	SB	LOB	Season Avg
R. Furcal ss	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.312
D. Descalso 2b	4	1	1	1	1	0	3	0	1	.227
J. Motte p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Beltran rf	4	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	.275
A. Craig lf	4	2	2	2	1	0	1	0	0	.366
D. Freese 3b	4	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	0	.267
Y. Molina c	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.326
M. Adams 1b	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	2	.278
A. Chambers cf	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.273
A. Wainwright p	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.038
V. Marte p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
S. Robinson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.256
E. Sanchez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Rzepczynski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Boggs p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
T. Greene 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.212
Totals	33	4	7	4	2	0	15	0	3

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	WHIP	Season ERA
A. Wainwright (W, 5-6)	5.2	7	3	3	1	8	0	1.36	4.97
V. Marte (H, 8)	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.22	4.10
E. Sanchez (H, 2)	0.2	0	0	0	1	1	0	1.11	3.00
M. Rzepczynski	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.22	5.06
M. Boggs (H, 8)	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1.17	2.10
J. Motte (S, 10)	1.1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0.97	2.92

The Positives

Rafael Furcal had a single and kept his average above .300.
Daniel Descalso his his third home run of the season in the first inning.
Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina each had hits. Beltran’s average sits at .275 while Yadi sports a .326 average.
Allen Craig had two hits including his seventh home run in the third inning and another RBI single.
Wainwright was one batter shy of the quality start. He lasted five and two thirds and struck out eight batters. Wainwright has still shown concerning inconsistency
The bullpen was stellar. They pitched the remaining three and a third innings of shutout baseball.

Justin’s Jeers

Not really a lot to complain about in this game. Matt Adams and Adron Chambers went hitless, but the Cardinals only left three Cardinals on base.
The only big complaint would obviously be the abundance of strikeouts. Norris had twelve strikeouts and the bullpen had another three. Fifteen strikeouts shows an alarming lack of patience.

Three Stars

3) The Bullpen – Victor Marte, Eduardo Sanchez, Marc Rzepczynski, Mitchell Boggs, and Jason Motte combined for three and a third innings of shutout baseball to keep this a one run game.

2) Daniel Descalso – Descalso hit a solo shot in the first inning that meant the difference between a one run game and a game going extra innings.

1) Allen Craig – Craig had two RBIs including a solo home run in the third inning that ended up being the winning run.

Standings

Cent		W	L	GB	SRS
CIN	F	31	24	—	0.1
PIT	F	28	27	3.0	-0.6
STL	F	29	28	3.0	0.3
MIL	F	25	31	6.5	-0.9
HOU	F	24	32	7.5	-0.5
CHC	F	19	37	12.5	-1.1

Today’s Game

The Cardinals face the Astros at 7:05 in the deciding game of the three game series. The Cardinals send out 8-2 Lance Lynn against 4-5 J.A. Happ. Lynn is making his second attempt at becoming the game’s first nine game winner. He has a 2.63 ERA and six of his last ten outings have been quality starts. J.A. Happ has a 4.31 ERA on the season and has not shown much success against the Cardinals. In nine starts against the Birds in his career, he has seven losses and a 6.70 ERA.

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