No ring around the collar

On Sunday, the Cardinals won the game but also officially lost Albert Pujols.

Thank gravy for Sunday’s win. Another sweep would have been tough to take.

At least Jason Marquis was thinking of El Hombre; for his fifth straight win he went five innings, gave up five runs, walked five and struck out five. He even threw 55 strikes. Five Alive!

With the quickness: A strong performance by the ersatz 2-5 hitters was nice to see in lieu of the Big Fella … looks like Chris Duncan is up for the time being; his single Sunday was a fine piece of two-strike hitting … Scott Rolen is climbing the NL batting leaders list.

p.s. Many thanks to Paper Boy Nick for the vile filth he posted. I’ll see you again next series.

Filling the Puhole

So much for that thought of lacking Redbird offense … at least for one day anyway. Rolen, the Gooch, Encarnacion, even Gary Bennett all having good days at the plate. And then there’s Hollywood Jimmy E., who finally decided to be a freaking man and play. (OK, so I know there’s debate whether it was a sports hernia or not, and I’ve never had one. So is this an unfair joke? Sure. But I’m a Cubs fan, and I’m not on here that much.) 3-3 with 2 RBIs and a walk, the most impressive being the Walker-Cedeno bungle on which he scampered home. Apparently, he loves to show off at the plate, too.

Truth be told, it was a game where both teams were hitting the ball well. Goddamnit, I love Tony Womack. The guy hustles his ass off, clearly loves to play and there had better be room made for him somewhere in the lineup once D-Lee comes back. Again, Barrett scrambling to pad his stats before he goes all Cool Hand Luke. Walker hit well today, too. Jones seems to be turning things around. It’s nice to see Ramirez turning his funk into a quasi-funk, and Cedeno clearly loves hitting against the Cardinals – 7-15 in the series. Watching Matt Murton go oh-fers today, leaving 7 men stranded wasn’t fun, though. Oh well. I just hope this isn’t the usual manning-up that comes against the Cardinals. Prior actually seems to be on his way back (provided he doesn’t eat anything at Jack in the Box or something.

In the meantime, it’s been a pleasure guest-posting this weekend. Who knows if Jam Master Jeff will retain my services in perpetuity should the need for Cubbieland comment arise again, but I hope I was at least more interesting than I was ignorant or insulting. In the mean time, peace out and may Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols meet again some time this season.

Well, that sucked v2.0

For the love of Pete.

I turned the game off after Phil Nevin’s home run made it 7-1. I see that we made somewhat of a game out of it late.

For the record, Mark Mulder is officially dead to me. Sorry for stealing that bit from CardNilly, but I’ve had it with “Spooky,” or whatever it is that Paper Boy is calling him. I’ve always had it in for that guy, so those three errors in the fourth inning don’t matter.

And now this:

Albert Pujols strained his right oblique going after a foul ball and likely will go on the disabled list.

“Obviously, we have significant concerns about the severity,” team physician Dr. George Paletta said. “This injury can put you out for weeks.”

*Gulp*

I don’t like the sound of that. This team already was on shaky ground offensively, though not yet to the depth of the Cubs, the last two games notwithstanding. One would have to think a trade is sorely needed at this point. Anthony Reyes, we hardly knew ye.

Wow. The lineup possibilities are endless and intriguing, to say the least. Hey Brian Daubach! Come on down! His walk rate this season with Memphis is a thing of beauty, and hopefully some of the pop he’s shown can translate to the big club. If you get the call, B-Daub, make downstate Illinois proud.

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

Izzy-n’t it nice?

Paper Boy here, just chiming in to bask in the glow of a game-and-a-half victory over the Rejects in Red. Looks like the Buckner bug moved to the heart of middle America and over a couple more bags tonight, eh? Sure Izzy loaded the bases, but he always does that. His guys know that. Not getting down on grounders costs Paperboys runs, but not usually the Cardinals. Anyways, it was good to see The Dumpster pick up the win and to see Juan Pierre scamper across the plate for the winning run, and there will be more analysis tomorrow. Tonight might have been the start of the doormat shaking itself off … or maybe not.

The Enemy in our midst

Taking a peek at the ol’ schedule, I see that Our Crimson-Clad Superheroes play host to the Blue-Hued Villains this weekend at Busch.

To mark this occasion, I am pleased to announce what may become a semi-regular feature at The 26th Man:

The Rivalry.

Ladies and gentleman, joining the ranks of our crack(-addicted) writing staff is Paper Boy, a lifelong Cubs fan who will provide the perspective of The Enemy as it pertains to what we all consider the finest rivalry in baseball. I’ve given him only one restriction, and that is to refrain from using the F-word. Much.

Loyal readers (all four of you) might remember Paper Boy’s dispatch from our softball team’s shellacking at the hands of the Heavy Hitters. I bring that as evidence of his crisp writing style and witty turns of phrases.

Perhaps he can enlighten us on how it feels to have, as a leadoff man, a player getting on base less than 30 percent of the time. Or how it feels to have finally acquired that slugging Derrek Lee replacement. Which was a month late. And turned out to be Phil Nevin.

Series with the Cubs are always fun, and now that we have Paper Boy on board, it should be quite entertaining here, as well.