Cardinals 8 – Diamondbacks 2

Complete Recap

I hope not to be forced to eat my words and retract that statement, but wow the Cardinals are finally beginning to look like the team we know they are. Not only are we seeing the starting pitching look terrific, we are now getting that run support instead of the stranded runners we have become accustomed to seeing.

Now granted, Albert is still not producing anywhere near what you would expect, but we have a team full of fire and ready to explode. You would have to think at some point the losing would get to them, even if it was a few days. St. Louis is baseball city USA and the organization does not take kindly to losing, this right here needs to be their turning point and a motivational factor of sorts going into the rest of the year.

Kyle McClellan came out and displayed a wonderful showing yet again, Berkman goes deep TWICE, Jon Jay brings another long bomb in the 9th and Boggs comes in to strike out the final 3 batters in the bottom half of the 9th.

Speaking of which, I cannot help but talk about what Berkman is bringing to this team. I was in Jupiter at Spring training a month ago and could not believe how much of a physical presence this guy still brought to the field. After his stint with the Yankees, everyone thought he was done for. Granted he may no longer be a threat to hit .315, swat 40+ hrs, or drive in 130 RBIs like he once could with the Astros, but he is going to prove very important in some tough spots. He looked slimmer and faster than I have seen him in years, and apart from that, if he can get us some runs here and there like today and provide that much needed senior leadership, he was definitely worth the risk.

It may be a little premature to think so, but we all hope this is the turning of the tide where we finally put ourselves in a position as the team to fear, the team that could beat the heavily favored Reds, the team that could outright dominate the Central as we all know they have the skills to do so.