Now that’s what I call a winning streak!

Two in a row counts as a streak, right?

I guess the team was tired of my recent whining about how they aren’t hitting and busted out in a big way Sunday against the Astros.

Slow-starting Scott Rolen, Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols, who started this season worse than any of his previous six, each had a couple of big hits to plate some runs.

And poor Brad Lidge. Dude thought he got Albert to hit into an inning-ending double play in the ninth, only to have Mark Loretta kick an easy grounder to load the bases for Rolen, who became the latest hitter to flush a few more crumbs of his disintegrating psyche down the crapper by stroking a bases-clearing double.

Lidge’s truly is a sickness that is contagious; this is Loretta’s first year on the team, and he also seems to be fearful of The Great Pujols. Perhaps Loretta was spooked by Albert’s ownership of Easter.

Speaking of daddy issues, Monday saw the Cardinals open a set in Pittsburgh, where the team has enjoyed some success, batting a collective .294/.361/.473 in PNC Park since it opened in 2001. Pujols and Rolen probably had this series circled on the clubhouse calendar, as both have destroyed Pirates pitching in PNC Park.

Pujols especially had to be salivating to get to face Ian Snell again. You might recall that the last time El Hombre and Snell squared off, Pujols took Snell deep three times.

While we didn’t see a repeat of that scenario Monday, Pujols did get two more hits off of Snell, including a double to lead off the fourth inning. Rolen, who’s walked three times in four career plate appearances against Snell, then doubled to score Pujols. Even the barely useful Preston Wilson got in on the fun, cracking a pinch-hit double in the eighth to plate two insurance runs.

Nearly lost in all the glee of jacking the ball the past two days were the performances of starting pitchers Kip Wells and Braden Looper.

In seven innings Sunday, Wells walked only one and struck out seven, all swinging. While that says something about the quality of his stuff so far, LBoros urges caution:

the nice thing about wells is that his stuff is so good he can get away with mistakes; the bad thing is that he makes a lot of mistakes. all game long he was missing molina’s target, at times by a mile — yadi would set up inside, and the pitch would be a foot off the outside edge; he’d be low in his crouch and tapping the ground with his glove, and the pitch would sail in nipple-high.

Looper, meanwhile, also went seven innings, striking out only three but allowing only five baserunners and inducing two key double plays during his outing Monday.

Perhaps more importantly, those 14 innings limited the exposure of the bullpen, which is certain to be tested Tuesday as Randy Keisler will start in place of Chris Carpenter, who’s been placed on the disabled list with elbow issues.

One step closer

(Morry Gash/AP)

Wednesday night during the rain delay, in order to focus on anything but the horror that was Fox’s “War at Home,”‘ I was running various scenarios through my little peabrain.

The one that sounded most appealing was that the Cardinals win Game 4 in a come-from-behind-late fashion and then ride the emotional high to beat fiercely about the head and shoulders whomever Jim Leyland trots out to start Game 5. Score a bunch of runs early, then get our man Sno Cones out for the last few innings to get him, Gary Bennett, his first taste of World Series playing time.

First part? Check.

In yet another fantastic, well-pitched World Series game, the Cards indeed came from behind once and went ahead again on a tie to take Game 4 in St. Louis. It’s a shame that nobody else is watching. They are missing some great baseball.

Other things I think:

• David Eckstein has had a terrible postseason. Except for the past two games. After batting .133 and .231 in the LDS and LCS respectively, and going o-fer in the first two games of the World Series, Eckstein has come on like a man possessed. He’s gone 6-for-9 combined in games 3 and 4 and, more importantly, drove home the game winner Thursday on a liner just inches above the webbing of Craig Monroe’s glove.
• Scott Rolen apparently has taken his NLCS benching like a man. Miffed after he sat out NLCS Game 2, Rolen’s played with a chip on his shoulder. He’s hitting at a .438 clip and slugging .563 in the small sample size that is the World Series. His hustling double in the bottom of the fourth inning Thursday set him up to get the Cardinals within one run.
• Preston Wilson has taken some bad at-bats during the World Series, but his temporary go-ahead single in the seventh was the biggest hit of his life, precisely when the team needed it. And how many times have you seen a player make a great play in the field, as P-Dub did on Monroe’s sinking liner in left, and come up with a big hit in his half of the inning?
• Speaking of the seventh inning, I felt badly for Curtis Granderson after he slipped on Eckstein’s gapper. I mean, it was nice that it led to a Cardinals run, but on a human level it was unfortunate for Granderson. After being surrounded by the postgame media horde, he took all the questions about it politely and gracefully. Mad props to you, Curtis.

Well, Cardinal Nation… just one more win. That’s all. The weather doesn’t appear especially friendly for today; here’s to hoping it clears.
Go Cards! Go beards!

Maine source

In the biggest game of his life, Mets starter John Maine delivered.

After a shaky first inning in which he allowed two hits and hit a batter to load the bases, Maine did to the Cardinals what Chuck D does to corny MCs: He shut ‘em down. Typing this in the bottom of the eighth, you have to figure that he’d be the player of the game. (update 10:16 p.m.: Yup.)

At least the Cardinals made it interesting in the ninth. So Taguchi, you rascal, you.

Other pointed observations:

• Maine’s Cardinals counterpart, Chris Carpenter, had a good outing, at least statistically speaking: Two runs on seven hits in six innings pitched with four strikeouts on only 76 pitches. But watching him pitch, he didn’t look like he was comfortable on the mound. He also didn’t seem to have brought his Uncle Charlie with him. Perhaps it was part of the game plan, but during the first two innings, Carpenter threw what seemed like 95 percent fastballs. After getting Carlos Delgado to fly out in the first inning on his first curveball (his 11th pitch), he threw it only sporadically until the sixth, when it seemed he had gotten the handle on it. By then, it was too late.
• The bottom of the seventh turned out to be the defining inning. After Michael Tucker singled with two outs, it seemed fairly obvious that he was going to attempt a steal. A pitchout was called, but Yadier Molina airmailed the throw. David Eckstein’s diving play to keep Jose Reyes’ single in the infield temporarily saved a run, but inexplicably (at least to me), no one covered when Reyes took off for second. Why would you let another potential insurance runner get into scoring position like that?
• Speaking of Molina airmailing throws, Reyes’ first stolen base attempt provided a bit of levity in the third inning. Molina’s throw was high and got by Belliard, who ended up falling on top of Reyes. Replays showed that Belliard purposely landed on Reyes to keep him from advancing to third. No one in the Fox booth mentioned it, but it was as obvious as it was comical.
• Albert Pujols fell into his old habit of chasing offspeed stuff low and away, striking out on such a pitch in the fifth. He did manage a single on another such a pitch in the eighth. The first couple seasons of his career, offspeed stuff low and away was the lone hole in his swing, one that he eventually learned to close. But when he’s swinging at that stuff now, you know he’s pressing.
• Scott Rolen may be on a game-to-game basis when it comes to starting. After leaving the bases loaded in the first and grounding into a double play to end the sixth, his double in the ninth may have bought him one more start. He looks helpless when swinging at anything above the knees. I’d hate to see him become a really expensive defensive replacement.
• Willie Randolph opting to use Guillermo Mota instead of Pedro Feliciano to face a pinch-hitting Chris Duncan in the seventh seemed to be a TLR-esque calculated risk. After Duncan was the top of the order in Eckstein, Scott Spiezio (who sports a .251/.363/.555 line vs. RHP) and Pujols. Had Duncan gotten on, Mota still would have had more or less favorable matchups, which were rendered moot when Duncan grounded into a double play.

And finally, it seemed like the fans at Shea Stadium came correct, in full effect with all their hoes in check. On virtually every two-strike count, no matter how many outs, no matter the inning, they were on their feet screaming.

That said, there also was a very vocal and very stupid contingent of fans in attendance. The first six batters that came to the plate in the bottom of the first were met with mad boos. I can understand booing Pujols, and Eckstein might be marginally booable, too, but why Juan Encarnacion and Rolen too? Those guys have done jack squat this series. It seemed like a subset of fans felt the need to uphold the stereotype of jerkweed New York sports fans. In one of the few non-game camera shots that didn’t show Jose Reyes in the dugout, I caught a glimpse of one fan’s T-shirt, which read: “Cardinals fans take it in the Pujols.” Gee, I’d never heard that one before… you come up with that on your own, chief?

Whatever. All that matters is that we didn’t close out the NLCS early. Thursday we face Darren Oliver Perez. Let’s go get ‘em, boys.

Chris Young award

(Kyle Ericson/AP)

Saturday’s game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. It could have (and probably should have) been much worse: the Padres left an astounding 27 men on base (14 if you only count those left with two out).

Chris Young was outstanding for the Padres, getting rally-stifling strikeouts in the first and sixth innings, the latter of Albert Pujols with two runners on, and an inning-ending double play in the fifth. Young wasn’t at his best today, missing high with several pitches. But the Cardinals batters obliged him by swinging through those pitches for strikes. In fact, all but one of his nine strikeouts were of the swinging variety. Other things I think:

Chris Duncan: He might just have played his way into a pinch-hitting role for the duration. Duncan made Manny Ramirez look like a Gold Glover with his defensive performance Saturday: he took bad routes on some flyballs and hesitated/froze on some liners. He’s lucky his mistakes didn’t directly lead to runs.

Albert Pujols: Two strikeouts and then a critical double-play groundout in the eighth. He still gets a pass. He is Albert Pujols.

Scott Rolen: I hate to say it, but maybe it’s time he gets benched. The defense is still there, but he’s an albatross on offense, batting .091 in three NLDS games.

Jeff Suppan: He obviously wasn’t at his best Saturday, but he did pitch his way out of a couple of jams. That last one, however, proved to be his and the team’s undoing.

When in Rome…

… play ball as crappy as the Romans do, I guess.

Seriously, this series has been uncharacteristically poor defensively. Have we ever seen Scott Rolen commit defensive lapses three games in a row? My poor memory (must run on Windows, I guess) can’t conjure up such an event.

First, he gets eaten up by a routine grounder Thursday. On Friday, his double clutch and high throw on the Marmol grounder extended the inning (although the argument could be made that Hector Luna also was at fault by not being at the bag in time).

But Saturday’s gaffe was just plain kooky. With two on in the bottom of the second, Ronny Cedeno bloops a single, and Angel Pagan, originally on first, is motoring for third base. Which is bad news for John Mabry, who’d made just a short turn around third and is now forced to run home.

Except Rolen spaces him. Run scores. Tie ballgame. Had Rolen looked up, he would have had Mabry by 20 feet. Yeah, I was exasperated, too.

Then, somehow, the ol’ fake-to-third-fake-to-first move by Anthony Reyes actually works, catching Cedeno breaking for second. But David Eckstein is just a second too late to catch Pagan breaking for home, and Pagan is credited with a steal of home. Cedeno was safe, too. What a revolting development.

That inning could have gone into the pooper from there, but Juan Encarnacion’s throw and Yadier Molina’s guts for absorbing the hit from Cedeno ended the inning. Hey Michael Barrett, were you paying attention? When someone barrels into you at home, don’t punch him in the face. I sure hope you were watching, the same way you got caught watching at second base. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get picked off second by the catcher.

Like I said… weird game.

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered

Um … is this happening? Seriously. It’s either Bizarro Jerry or Negative Zone time in St. Louis. It sure feels like a nexus of negativity anyway. Maybe there was something we weren’t allowed to see in all that Cubs pre- and post-game talk in May of “This (insert flubbed cut-off throw / stupid two-outs-in-ninth-inning bunt / bad matchup / Michael Barrett backalley bare-knuckle brawl here) is what happens when things aren’t going your way” on the radio. Clearly, everyone, from “Jughead” Marshall on down to G-Unit (Dusty’s nickname for him on the radio today, not mine), was holding voodoo dolls of Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jason Isringhausen and Mark Mulder and jabbing pins in them faster than that weird prince dude did to poor Indy.

Cover your heart, indeed. And there is no time for love in St. Louis right now, Dr. LaRussa.

Where to begin? Let’s start with Spooky, for whom this is the third straight loss off the mound. The general nervousness in Cardinal Nation over this guy has to be rising again. 16 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings since May 17. My thought is that Jockitchy went a little overboard for this guy when he went after him. In fact, I’m surprised that he didn’t end up with the Cubs, where his suckitude would likely be greater. Seriously, methinks your pitching could be in trouble.

Signature moment

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

Marq it 8.1, Dude

Jason Marquis’ performance Tuesday lent even more credence to the theory that he needs about 20-25 pitches under his belt to settle down.

His first inning Tuesday went as such: 2B, L9, 3B, 1B, K, F8, with a coupla runs scored. That was followed by three perfect innings. The homer he gave up in the fifth wasn’t that bad of a pitch; just a curveball on the hands that Randy Winn turned around. It was more a fine piece of hitting than it was a bad pitch. Then three more perfect frames, followed by a ninth inning that started to get away from him a bit.

For whatever reason, Marquis really does seem to settle in once he’s past a certain amount of pitches. The obvious solution: Make him get those 20-25 pitches out of the way in the bullpen, before the game starts. That way, we have 18-20 outs worth of Good Jason when it counts.

Scott Rolen: With a three-hit night, Scott Rolen is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, going 11-25 (.440) during that time. He’s still sitting on just the one home run since his return from a bout of cholera, but I expect that to change soon. I have no science to back up that assertion other than he’s Scott Rolen and is a big, burly guy who probably beat up nerds like me when he was in high school.

Matt Morris: Good to see you again, MattyMo. It’s also good to be on the receiving end of one of your patented six-run, six-inning outings for a change. Save for his most recent start against Houston and his first two this season, he’s shown ample evidence why Walt Jocketty didn’t go hard after him. Tuesday, his deuce was looking vintage MattyMo at times, but he kept leaving other pitches up and over the plate to get smacked. Hard. Albert Pujols’ home run in the first inning reminded me why I used to call Morris “Chef Boyardee.”