4 Pitches

It took 2 hours and 55 minutes for the Cards to defeat the Braves tonight at Busch Stadium by the score of 5 - 2. The two most memorable moments for me in tonight's game/telecast were the back to back ejections of a Cardinals player and their manager and a 4-pitch top of the 8th inning. The ejections were memorable because they could almost have been predicted. The home plate umpire was very inconsistent all game long especially with the low strike. The Redbirds player who was ejected was actually 20 feet away from the umpire AND walking away from him. Total BS in my opinion. Well, that must have been the opinion of the Cards manager as well and after voicing his objection to the ejection, he was tossed from the game as well. The reason for what was the 2nd most memorable moment of the game to me was the fact that the Braves were down 5 - 2 in the top of the 8th inning and the Cardinals were working with a depleted, overworked bullpen. The Braves batters face 4 pitches, 4 pitches - count them in the inning. A classic example of how the quality of play in the game today is suffering.