If you weren’t feeling worried before, it’s time to start. The Pirates have the second worst record in all of baseball, and they took three straight from the Cardinals. To make matters worse, the Reds took two of three so they now sit only a game and a half back of the Cards in the NL Central.
Juan Encarnacion singled home Albert Pujols in the first inning on Friday. The Cardinals would then be held scoreless over the final eight frames in a 7-1 loss. Jeff Suppan was knocked around again and he dropped to 9-7 on the season. Pujols finished the game with four hits which is impressive because the rest of the team matched him with four.
Yesterday’s game was the closest and it was the best the Cardinals got from their offense, which was sad because they scored only two runs. Albert Pujols hit a two run homerun in the fifth to give the Cards a 2-1 lead, but Jeff Weaver gave the lead up in the fifth and then lost it in the sixth with another run. Once again the Cardinals bats were stifled. They had only five hits the entire game.
Today’s game was pretty ugly. Jason Marquis threw six solid innings but Adam Wainwright was shelled. It didn’t matter though, because the Cards didn’t score a single run despite racking up ten hits and six walks. The Cards left thirteen men on base in the 7-0 shutout loss.
Next up is a huge three game series against the Reds at Busch Stadium. Anything less then a series win and the Cardinals NL Central lead will be reduced, if not given up. Hopefully Chris Carpenter will get the job done, although the Reds have their ace going in Aaron Harang.
