Cards Take First Two

Last night, the Cardinals used their old motto, “Play a hard nine” to win the first game of the series against Colorado.  Tonight, they held off a late comeback from a Rockies team that seemed to be living by the same slogan.

A few highlights from last night:

• Ron Villone continued to impress with 2 scoreless innings.
• Mike Parisi made his ML debut with 2 of his own.
• Yadier Molina had a three hit night.
• Albert Pujols scored from second on a ground out!

Some from tonight:

• Braden Looper came within 2 outs of a complete game.
• Rick Ankiel had 2 unbelievable outfield assists.
• He also hit his 6th home run of the season.
• Ryan Ludwick had 4 hits and a walk.

In my opinion, Ankiel has the best outfield arm in the league.  We saw some great throws from him last season, and the two tonight were just as good or better.  He’s a lot of fun to watch out there.

With the win, the Cardinals move to 22-12, ten games over .500, and keep a 2.5 game lead on the Chicago Cubs.  Tonight’s win also guarantees at least a series split.  Out of the twelve thus far, the Cards have only lost one series, dropping 2 of 3 at home to San Francisco last month.  At some point, we’re going to have to declare this team legit.

Tomorrow night, Adam Wainwright goes against Jeff Francis in a rematch of the Opening Day rainout.

Now, a few links.  If you haven’t heard, rehabbing pitcher Mark Mulder has had yet another setback.  The news conveniently comes after his second poor outing for AAA Memphis.  Find the full story here.

Secondly, Bernie Miklasz, of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, points out Chris Duncan’s power outage in his latest column.  Duncan had an awful night at the ballpark in the series opener.

Finally, a tribute to Matthew Beaudoin, the Red Sox fan who was tragically killed last Friday. 2672243457