Phillies Squeak Past Cards 20-2

I really thought the Cardinals had a chance there in the bottom of the ninth.  All they needed was to bat around twice and have all eighteen score.  It seemed doable.

20-2!  Really!?  Not much of a nail biter. I know what you’re thinking…but no, Kip Wells or Mike Maroth didn’t pitch. The Colonel was on the mound for the Redbirds. Unfortunately, he was a bit rusty.  The Phils jumped on him early with three consecutive solo home runs in the first.  The Cards were still in the game when he departed in the fourth, but not for long.

There’s no need to discuss what went wrong with the bullpen.  All you need to know is that the Phillies kept knocking the shit out of the ball, and ran out of bases to run to before scoring.

Seriously, I don’t have a problem with Cardinals getting their asses handed to them, as long as it doesn’t happen with the frequency of last season.  After all, a loss is a loss, whether they lose by a run or eighteen.  Luckily for us, there were plenty of reasons to keep watching tonight:

• Russ Springer hit Ryan Howard and was ejected.
• Tony La Russa argued and was ejected.
• Rudy Seanez threw behind Brendan Ryan – no ejection.
• Jose Oquendo argued and was ejected.
• Aaron Miles pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Granted, at least for me, when I think of Russ Springer, I think of the time that he intentionally threw at Barry Bonds back in May of ’06, missing him on four pitches before finally plunking him on the fifth.  However, I don’t think he was intentionally throwing at Ryan Howard tonight.  He was tossed without warning from home plate umpire Larry Vanover immediately after the ball hit Howard in the leg.  Fine.

Later, when the Phillies’ Seanez missed with a pitch that flew behind Brendan Ryan, Vanover had absolutely no reaction.  What the hell was that!?

Here’s my take.  Why the hell would La Russa want to throw at Howard and risk having to waste another reliever in a blowout game?  Don’t you think that he just wants to get the third out, and get the game over with as quickly as possible?  Why does Seanez and the Phillies get a pass for their retaliation?  Until that point in the game, I thought there wouldn’t be any carryover into tomorrow’s matchup.  Not any more.  We’re sure to see some inside pitches and some hard slides in game two of the series.

One other note from the game.  I thought it was awesome to see the fans at Busch give a standing ovation to So Taguchi.  He was a fan favorite for many years, and definitely deserved the praise.  It made me wonder what I’ll see in Jim Edmonds’ return to St. Louis during the 4th of July weekend.  I’m flying in from Miami for the series!

Anyway, if you want to puke, here’s the box score.  Hopefully there’s a better outcome tomorrow.