Daily Rant: Rain-Soaked Marathon Ends In Cardinals Loss

After a rain delay of more than 2 hours, the St. Louis Cardinals finally took the field against the Milwaukee Brewers last night.  A few troubling outings by Redbird relief pitching quickly ended any hope of a win, but there were at least a few positives Friday night.

Box Score:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

R

H

E

MIL

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

2

0

0

0

0

1

5

13

0

STL

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

4

10

1

Behind the Box Score:  The St. Louis Cardinals squandered a fabulous start by Kyle Lohse, losing in 13 innings last night.  Lohse went 6 1/3 innings, and allowed just 2 earned runs, 5 hits, and 2 walks, while striking out 5.  After getting into a sticky situation in the 7th, Lohse was pulled, and Edward Mujica gave up a game-tying hit to Travis Ishikawa.

If not for 2 earned runs given up by Mitchell Boggs, chances are that Yadier Molina‘s 8th inning 2-run homerun would have been the game winner.  Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter had RBI, but it wasn’t enough, as the NL leader in homeruns and RBI did what he does best.

‘s Late Homerun Leads To Another 1-Run Loss For Redbirds

Ryan Braun hit what would turn out to be the game winning jack off Lance Lynn, who lost for the 7th time this season.  His ERA now sits at 4.07 on the season, and he has given up 9 earned runs in his last 8 innings of work.

What will fall by the wayside here is both Molina’s 18th homer, and Kyle Lohse, who turned in his 21st quality start of the season.  For those of you who don’t know what determines that stat, it means at least 6 innings pitched, with no more than 3 earned runs in a starting pitching performance.

Mike Matheny was quoted as saying this morning following the game, “It is extremely frustrating.  We had our chances, and we just couldn’t come through.”  I’d say that is quite the understatement.  It marked yet another 1-run loss for the St. Louis Cardinals, in a season that has been full of disappointing games like this one.

When you factor in the rain delay and the lengthy game, I’m sure the emotional toll that a loss like this takes on players is pretty devastating.  One of the great things about the Matheny-led Cardinals though is that they don’t dwell on the past or what they could have done better.  They move forward, knowing that the next day is a chance for redemption.  Though the game ended at 2:05 AM Central time this morning, the Redbirds will be ready for tonight!

Quick Look at the Standings:  The Cardinals didn’t lose any ground last night, thankfully, as the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Chicago Cubs 12-2 after a very embarrassing night that included 7 errors by the Buccos.  The Cincinnati Reds weren’t much better, losing to the MLB’s worst team 5-3 after a 3-run homer in the 9th inning by the Houston Astros off the bat of Matt Dominguez.  The Los Angeles Dodgers also fell, as Josh Beckett & Co. couldn’t take advantage of the 7 walks allowed by Tim Lincecum on the night.

Later today, Jake Westbrook (13-10, 3.93) takes on Mike Fiers (8-7, 3.11), as the St. Louis Cardinals look to break out of their recent funk that has them continuously hovering around 10 games over the .500 mark.  It would be nice to see the start of a run here, as the Redbirds face lesser competition until the last weekend of the month, when the Washington Nationals come to pay the Cardinals a visit.