The only thing worse then getting swept is getting swept by the Cubs. Things got off to a rough start on Friday when Greg Maddux shut down the Cardinals’ bats. In all, the Cards only managed four hits in the series opener and the lone run was scored on Jim Edmond’s solo homerun, his first dinger of the season. More on Edmonds in a second.
On Saturday, we still couldn’t get the bats going. We actually took the lead in sixth inning, but that was mostly because of a throwing error by rookie Ronny Cedeno. In all, the Cardinals could only manage two runs on five hits despite the Cubs making three errors. A solid start by Chris Carpenter went to waste. Michael Barrett hit a two run shot off of Josh Hancock to tie the game up then Derek Lee hit a solo shot off of Brad Thomspon to give the Cubs the lead.
Last night’s game was ugly. The Cardinals had a 2-0 and a 4-3 lead in the game but the Cubs opened things up in the eighth inning with five runs. Again it was the pen, and this time it was a reliable reliever. Jason Isringhausen gave up four runs on two hits and two walks without getting a single batter out. Ricardo Rincon didn’t fare much better. He was credited with a single run in only 1/3 of an inning.
Scot Rolen hit his second homerun of the season and went three for four with two RBIs. Albert Pujols drove in two runs, and Hector Luna had two hits.
Two things have troubled me so far this season. The first is the bullpen. Out starters are 2-1 while our pen is already 1-2. And it’s happening when three of our five starter have sub-4.00 ERA’s. The other thing that’s troubling is Jim Edmonds horrible start. He’s hitting .174 with nine strikeouts in 23 at bats. He’s the guy that’s there to keep pitchers honest when Pujols comes to bat, and so far he hasn’t gotten the job done.
The Cardinals open up their new stadium against a red hot Milwaukee Brewers team. Hopefully the (new) friendly confines will get the Cardinals back on track.
April 11th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Edmonds performance at the plate was troubling for a good part of last year. He showed flashes of his old self, but there was a definite decline. This year just continues that concern. The strikeouts are particularly disturbing.