What happened to the Reds? A little over a week ago, we were tied with them. In the last ten games alone, the Cardinals have picked up five games to extend their NL Central lead to a comfortable six games. The Cardinals magic number now sits at 21.
Chris Carptenter was the man on Friday. He held the Pirates to one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in the complete game. Zach Duke was almost as good but the Cards tagged him for three runs. Preston Wilson homered and scored twice in the 3-1 win.
You hate to lose a game 1-0 and this was the only thing that stopped the Cards from sweeping the Pirates. Jeff Weaver threw one of his best games all season but he was outdueled by Shawn Chacon and the Pirates pen. The only run of the game came on a sac, fly by the Pirates in the seventh inning. Aaron Miles had three of the Cardinals eight hits.
Albert Pujols helped the Cards bounce back today. He homered three times and and drove in five of the six Cardinals’ runs. Anthony Reyes’ 6 1/3 shutout innings helped out the cause too and he walked away with win number five. He struck out nine batters in an impressive outing.
Next up is three against the Nationals who are one of the lower ranking teams. The Cardinals could wrap things up sometime late next week if they put together a winning streak although it’s unlikely. The Astros are also putting themselves back into the mix and they sit just a game back of the Reds so anything can and will happen.
September 4th, 2006 at 9:07 am
[...] Almost as appealing as Howard’s quest for 60 will be the tantalizingly close NL MVP race. Less than two weeks ago, we thought Carlos Beltran of the Mets was in the driver’s seat. In addition to Howard forging ahead of the Mets centerfielder, Albert Pujols would like to remind you he still exists. The key question for Pujols: how many more times will he face Pittsburgh’s Ian Snell this year? [...]