Game 2: Cardinals 5 – Nationals 3

Complete Recap

Jaime Garcia was just the medicine the Cardinals needed to get the taste of the first game out of their mouth. By his standards, his outing got a little rocky come the 5th and 6th inning before he got pulled. In his brief outing, he still only gave up 3 runs on 4 hits, leaving the strong bullpen to finish off the Nationals.

Eduardo Sanchez made yet another stunning appearance and has the fans thinking this may be our guy. He came out of spring training with an ERA around 4, but since being called up within the last week do to Augenstein and Tallet’s injuries, he has given up no runs and has been just incredibly dominant. Many fans have been making it clear this 22 year is the guy they want the Cardinals to groom for that currently vacant closer role.

Mitchell Boggs ended up getting the save for tonight and the Cardinals continued to look really good. The nightcap did not see any HRs but it was still quite the exciting affair.

Lance Berkman once again took on the role of hero in this one, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. The level of production Berkman has played up to thus far is simply astounding. The man left Houston last season midway through as his numbers dropped off very steeply and everyone figured he was done. He finished up the season with the Yankees and closed out with a .248 batting average and 14 HRs.

Many thought the Cardinals were crazy to extend a 1 year, $8 million deal his way to play right field, a position they think even he could no longer handle. The Cardinals have of course been known in the past to take some risky chances with Tony LaRussa at the helm and this is just looking like another one of his genius revamp of a greats career.

The Cardinals and Nationals will play the rubber match tomorrow at noon to decide who will run away with the series before the Big Red Machine comes to town.