Cards Not Done Yet

The Cardinals were able to come away with a win last night in the first game of a three game series against the division leading Chicago Cubs.  Two key swings stood out in the win.  One, a rocket three run homer off the bat of Albert Pujols to tie the game in the sixth.  The other, a weak, check swing dribbler past the pitcher from Cesar Izturis to score the winning run from third.  Baseball is funny that way.

This was one of those games that I was waiting for what I thought was inevitable, a Cardinal mistake, and loss.  Instead, the Birds got solid contributions from all facets, and picked up an important win.

It started with Kyle Lohse.  After struggling  early on, he was able to settled in, coming within two outs of another quality start.  Aside from Ron Villone, who walked the only batter he faced, the bullpen pitched very well.  And the offense, held quiet for most of the game by Chicago starter Ryan Dempster, played a hard nine, ending the game in walk-off fashion, complete with an on-field celebration after Brendan Ryan’s fantastic slide.

The final score was 4-3.  Matthew Leach has the full recap, and here’s the complete box score.

The Cards have now matched their win total from a year ago, and have pulled to 3.5 games behind the Brewers in the Wild Card race.  It sure is fun to watch a team still in the hunt this late in the year.  Braden Looper will hope to keep the winning streak alive tonight in game two.  He’ll face lefty Ted Lilly.  I’m hoping last night’s win has added some fuel to the Cardinals’ hopes in the playoff race. Boo the Cubs!

Finally, a couple of links.  Over at Bird Land, Derrick Goold has a follow up post concerning the latest UCB project, where all the bloggers rated the team’s top prospects.  Also from the Post Dispatch, Joe Strauss has the latest news about Pujols’ elbow, and whether or not he’s planning on surgery this offseason.