Redbird Rants | A St. Louis Cardinals Blog » Lohse

Cards drop last three to Phils: Halladay all business, Lohse struggles

Ryne Gery — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:47:35 +0000

The Cardinals dropped their third straight game after losing to the Roy Halladay and the Phillies 7-2 Thursday afternoon. St. Louis managed just three runs in the final three games of the series despite playing in the hitter’s friendly Citizen’s Bank Park. The struggles today may have had to do with the fact that Roy Halladay was on the mound for Philly. The newest Phillies ace threw seven strong innings, allowed one earned run and struck out nine. For the Cards, Kyle Lohse ended the rotation’s three-week streak of quality starts. He got off to a bad start on a windy day, giving up a three-run shot to Jayson Werth in the first. The Phillies were in control from there and finished off the Cards.

St. Louis answered in the second after David Freese tripled and scored on an error.

The Cards had a golden opportunity in the fifth with Matt Holliday at the plate and the bases loaded, but Halladay rose to the occasion. With a full count and two outs, Halladay broke off a curveball to send Holliday to the bench and end the St. Louis rally. I guess that’s why the Phils went out and got the Doc who now has six wins.

The Redbirds can take a valuable lesson from this series. Although they had jumped to the top of the National League standings, the Phillies are still the top dog. The road to the World Series goes through Philadelphia. With about five months left in the season, the Cards will gain the experience needed to stand toe-to-toe with the champs come October.

Lohse great, Schumaker clutch in Cardinals 6-3 win

Ryne Gery — Sat, 01 May 2010 22:15:57 +0000

Skip Schumaker came up big with a two-out RBI single in the eighth inning to spark the Cardinals to a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. The Cards led 1-0 and 3-1, but the Reds knotted the score both times. In the bottom of the eighth, St. Louis broke free with three runs, starting with Schumaker’s single. The other two runs came on bases-loaded walks. Ryan Franklin closed things out in the ninth for the win.

Kyle Lohse was lights out for seven innings, but is still searching for his first win. Lohse gave up one run, struck out eight, and walked none in his best start of the season. David Freese started the scoring with a solo shot in the fourth. Albert Pujols had an RBI-double for the other run.

The Cards now have a four-game lead in the division and are the lone club with a winning record again.

St. Louis falls to Cincinnati 3-2 after rain delay

Ryne Gery — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:51:00 +0000

The Cardinals’ calendar flipped from April to May as they finished up their game with the Reds following a long rain delay. The Cards couldn’t get anything going after the delay and lost 3-2. The delay lasted for about 2 1/2 hours and when the lights went out at Busch, it was after midnight. So, April showers brought us May baseball a little early. The showers also gave the Reds a little bit of an advantage in the sixth when they plated two runs to take a 3-2 lead.

Lightning, thunder, and hard rain all combined to make conditions tough in the top of the sixth, but the game continued until the inning was over. Brad Penny took the loss despite throwing well. He went six innings and gave up three runs. His ERA now stands at 1.56. Johnny Cueto got the win after pitching five innings. Both teams were silent after the storm and the final score was the same as before the delay.

A strange night in St. Louis ended the Cards’ five-game winning streak and extended the Reds’ streak to five. The Cards will try to end Cincy’s hot streak today at 12:10 CDT. Late night and early turnaround should make for an interesting contest. Two struggling pitchers face off, too. Kyle Lohse and Homer Bailey have yet to find a rhythm or the win column in 2010 and both have sky-high ERAs. Lohse sits at 6.55 and Bailey at 7.06. We’ll see if one breaks out or if the offenses have a party in St. Louis.