The Cardials proved that they are the scrappiest team in Major League baseball and just might be stubborn enough to stay in the NL Central race no matter how many of their players go down to injury, bouncing back from a 20-2 loss Friday night to win 2 straight and take the series from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Former Phillie Kyle Lohse pitched a gem Saturday, allowing 2 runs over 8 innings to earn his 8th win of the year. Adam Kennedy provided the early offense with a 2-run homer in the 1st and Ryan Franklin sut the door in the 9th to secure a 3-2 win.
The Cardinals won in a much more unconventional fashion today. Rookie Mitchell Boggs was decent in his second start, giving up 4 runs in 4+ innings. St. Louis took a 6-4 lead into the 8th off the strength of home runs from Skip Shumaker and Troy Glaus, but the relief corps had trouble finding the plate and the Phillies tied the game up. They would have taken thee lead were it not for a phenomenol tag at home by catcher Yadier Molina (who is far too valuable to this team to ever trade, I’m sorry for ever even bringing it up). Chris Duncan made a bad throw home after a grounder was hit to him at first and Molina tagged the runner with his back to the plate just before being run over and taken off the field on a stretcher with neck and back pain. The Cards won in the 10th on a couple of errors by the Phils, with Rick Ankiel (who reached on an error) scoring after Chrs Duncan reached on an error and the ball got away from the pitcher covering first base. No news on Molina aside from the fact that he never lost consciousness during the ordeal. Obviously the last thing the Cards need is another member of their core going down, but any time you’re dealing with neck injuries and stretchers you just have to hope that everything is okay and baseball (or any sport) takes a back seat.
The Cards will open up a series tomorow night at 7:15pm (Central time) in Kansas city as Braden Looper (8-5, 4.34 ERA) takes on Royals’ righty Kyle Davies (2-0, 1.53 ERA). Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, no offers from the St. Louis front office, guess I have to wait for July like everyone else to see Batman in action, Erin Andrews was busy covering the College World Series this weekend, and I apparently get a little grumpy when I have to work on Saturday mornings…such is life.
