Daily Rant: Sweep By Padres Gives Cards A Chance to Re-Focus
By James Benoit
The St. Louis Cardinals got swept at the hands of the San Diego Padres of all people. It’s yet another tale in the story of how the Redbirds are in a nose dive that might just eventually take them right out of playoff contention. For now, we have something more pressing to worry about – the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town looking to wrestle a Wild Card spot from the grasp of our beloved Cardinals.
Box Score:
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | |
St. Louis Cardinals | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
San Diego Padres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 3 | 5 | 1 |
WP | Clayton Richard (13-12, 3.74) | |||||||||||
LP | Kyle Lohse (14-3, 2.81) |
Behind the Box Score: Kyle Lohse turned in his 22nd quality start last night, but the St. Louis Cardinals could manage just 3 hits and 2 runs off San Diego Padres starter Clayton Richard. It’s tough to see a pitching line of 6 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, 8 Ks and know that wasn’t good enough to take home a W. With runners in scoring position last night, the Redbirds were 0-6.
Maybe this latest loss will be the wake-up call that the St. Louis Cardinals need, because time is running out. A 4 game series against the Dodgers means that the Cardinals have to start winning if they want any hope of maintaining their 2nd place Wild Card lead.
Other than a Logan Forsythe homerun, Cameron Maybin run-scoring double, and Yasmani Grandal run-scoring single, the Cardinals stayed out of trouble.
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It looked as though they might pull at least even in the 9th inning, when Allen Craig hit his 30th double leading off the inning. Yadier Molina then sacrificed Craig to 3rd, but David Freese followed that up with a groundout to 3rd, which meant that Craig had to stay put. After a Carlos Beltran walk, the St. Louis Cardinals had the winning run on and the tying run just 90 feet away. Skip Schumaker stepped in as a pinch hitter for Pete Kozma, and after a 5-pitch at bat, put a Luke Greggerson slider in play right to Yonder Alonso at 1st to end the game.
So close, but yet so far. That seems to be the story lately for the St. Louis Cardinals. Perhaps they’ll “get up” for the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Maybe all they need is for a contender to come calling to make them liven up once more.
Quick Look at the Standings: The Cincinnati Reds continued their winning ways, as they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates behind 7 dazzling innings from Homer Bailey. The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their skid, falling 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who scored 2 of their 3 runs in the 6th off singles by Justin Upton and Gerardo Parra. If nothing else, these recent woes for the Cardinals hasn’t cost them anything – at least, not yet. My hope, though mostly unfounded, is that the St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Dodgers this weekend.
Things can only get worse for the Redbirds if they let the Los Angeles Dodgers off the hook. A 4 game skid against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium certainly doesn’t bode well for the Cardinals, but let’s not forget the fact that our home team is defending World Series Champions until someone else takes that title from them. I’d like to think that they’re not just going to roll over and give it away.
Lance Lynn returns to the rotation tonight as the Redbirds look for an answer to their recent pitching woes. He will face off against Josh Beckett, who has seen his ERA rise over a run since June 6. His record in that span is 2-8, as well. It looks as though for at least tonight, whichever pitcher finds his spots earlier will get the better of things tonight. Both teams are capable of hitting, though they haven’t. Both teams are capable of winning streaks, though that has been lacking. I’d say that whoever wins tonight will begin a streak that carries them to that 2nd Wild Card spot. Let’s hope it’s our Redbirds!