Sigh, it’s come to this. We’re in late August, and the Reds have caught the Cardinals. Not because they’ve caught fire, but because the Cardinals are struggling. I’m really worried about this rotation. Outside of Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals have no consistency.
Tuesday’s loss was probably the toughest. Jason Isringhausen gave up a two run homerun to Carlos Beltran in the bottom of the ninth and he lost his seventh of the season. Albert Pujols was simply on fire. He drove in all seven Cardinal runs and homered twice. Unfortunately, he can’t do it all though.
Mark Mulder was shelled on Wednesday. He gave up nine runs in three innings in a 10-8 loss. Preston Wilson homered and drove in two runs while Scott Rolen and Wilson scored twice. Give some credit to the pen. They gave up one run through six innings and that allowed to the Cards to make it close. Who knows, with another inning or two, we might have won this one.
Thursday’s game looked like a rollover. After a rain delay, Dave Williams of all people shut us down. Jason Marquis was pretty mediocre in six innings and he dropped to 13-12. Gary Bennett accounting for both Cardinals’ runs with a homerun in the fifth inning.
Next up is the Cubs. We handled them last time, so hopefully we can handle them again. The Cardinals have put themselves into a situation where ever series is a big series from here on out.
