The Gas House Gang

Todd Wellemeyer’s return from the DL did not go nearly as smoothly as Joel Pineiro’s as everything seemed to go wrong for him, his teammates, and coaches in their 20-2 loss last night, including a few ejections. Russ Springer was tossed in the 8th after hitting Ryan Howard, who had hit 2 home runs to that point, and Tony LaRussa was thrown out trying to defend him. Then, after Phillies’ reliever Rudy Seanez was not thrown out for throwing behind Brendan Ryan in the bottom half of the inning, 3rd base coach Jose Oquendo was ejected, putting a cap on an all-around frustrating day for St. Louis. The Phillies’ big guns did all the damage, with Chase Utley hitting his league-leading 22nd home off Wellemeyer in the 1st. Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell added homers of their own in the inning to put the game away early. The Phil’s offense would not stop there, however, as they scored runs in every inning but the 3rd, 7th, and 9th and scored 9 runs in the 4th. The only pitcher to escape the wrath of the Phillies’ offense was 2nd baseman Aaron Miles, who pitched a perfect 9th in relief.

The Cards will try to stop the bleeding and get back on track today at 2:55pm (Central time) as Kyle Lohse (7-2, 3.92 ERA) will try to tame the Phillies offense against righty Adam Eaton (, 4.62 ERA).