Before I get started, let me first congratulate Paper Boy for getting a win on which to pop his blog cherry. You lucked out, son. Scott Rolen makes that play, oh… only about 4,079 times out of 4,080.
On to the things I think:
Josh Hancock: Something tells me ol’ Cabbage Patch won’t be available for Saturday’s tilt. Indeed, Hancock gave the yeoman’s effort and pitched the last four innings, yielding just one hit and walking two while striking out four. He’s officially debited with the big red “L”, but you can’t put the blame on him. In fact, he deserves nearly all of the credit for giving Cardinals hitters repeated chances to win the game. I was listening in the car on my way to Shop ‘n’ Steal to get beer during the bottom of the 12th. When Hancock’s turn at bat came, Shannon noted that Tony La Russa had said something to Hancock. The Moonman insisted, over and over, that TLR told Hancock not to swing with one out and the bases loaded. Sure enough, Cabbage Patch is called out looking. Too bad; the way he had pitched, it would have been quite tasty for him to get a walkoff doowhacky.
Rolen: Dude. How badly he must feel for letting Todd Walker’s potential double-play grounder five-hole him. That two-run error negated his two-run, go-ahead double in the seventh. Again, you can’t saddle ScoRo with all the blame; had Izzy not revived his “Baron Von Isringhausen” act, the aforementioned five-hole wouldn’t have been a big deal. Rolen also continued his torrid hitting, going 3-for-6. For those of you scoring at home (you’re Cardinals fans; why wouldn’t you be?), he’s hit safey in his last seven games and 15 of his last 16.
Yadier Molina: His four hits Friday night were nearly 20 percent of his total for the season. Three of those were in key situations, especially his single in the eighth that moved So Taguchi to third base, which set up Aaron Miles’ sacrifice fly to give what was then an insurance run. His hit in the 10th came with two outs, keeping the inning going. And his single in the 12th put Juan Encarnacion on third, keying that exciting inning. And his three hits with runners on further solidifies his ridiculous split in that regard.
Albert Pujols: This just in — Albert is… human? Admit it; everyone fully expected him to go deep in the ninth to win it. Aardsma busted him in for a swinging strike three. Whichever kind of pitch it was, it was straight nasty. And Sean “Jughead” Marshall even struck out Big Pu… on three pitches. Been a while since I’d that. He’s struck out seven times in his last 5 games after whiffing 11 times in the previous 39.
With the quickness: So Taguchi is 14 for his last 30 … Aaron Miles walked for just the second time in 12 games … Why did Adam Wainwright get only a third of an inning? … Sean Marshall “out-ratioed” Sidney Ponson 10-4 to 10-5 … Infield turned four double plays.
