The Game, The Story

The Reds defeated the Cardinals tonight at Busch Stadium by the score of 7 - 4. There was no miraculous comeback in the cards, excuse the pun, tonight in this 2:57 game. That is about all can say about this game. However, the story of the game was the appearance of the phenom pitcher for the Redbirds that was called up from the minor leagues. This pitcher threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning and struck out his first batter with a 101 mph fastball. Two week groundouts ended the inning. This player was poised and in control. This should provide a boost for Cardinal Nation as this season hasn't provided many sparkling moments. Tonight being an exception.

What The Heck Just Happened?

What the heck just happened? The Cardinals have been playing less than inspiring baseball for the past week or so and the first eight innings of tonight's game at Busch Stadium versus the Reds was no different. In fact, going into the bottom of the ninth inning the Redbirds trailed 4 - 0 and were, quite frankly, a tad bit listless. The Cards proceeded to send 10 men to the plate and scored 5 runs for the victory. This was a classic example of a team losing a ballgame more than a team winning it. Why do I say that you ask? Well, the tying run came on a bases loaded walk and the winning run scored when the very next batter was hit by the pitch. Now I ask the baseball Gods once again; what the heck just happened?

Another THUD!!

Unlike last night's Braves/Cardinal game which ended with a THUD!! for Cardinals' fans, today's Braves/Cardinals game began with a Thud!!. Going into the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Braves led 6 - 0 and they were facing the Redbird's ace. At that point in the game it seemed like the starting pitcher for St. Louis had thrown 1000 pitches. After the first 2 innings the game moved at a nice pace and the Cards threatened in almost every inning. They just couldn't bounce back. Understandable. It would be hard for any team to bounce back after back to back THUDs!!

THUD!!

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Cardinals tonight by the score of 13 - 5 in 3:21. Until the ninth inning this was a fairly entertaining game. Until the ninth inning I really enjoyed cutting this game. There were 5 homeruns which are always fun to cut. Going into the ninth inning the Braves led 7 - 5 and it felt like one of those games where the Redbirds were going to win. They score 2 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and it looked like they had the momentum. Then the game went THUD!! You could almost hear the THUD!! The Braves scored 6 runs in the inning and the rather entertaining and fun game/telecast was squashed by the THUD!!

A Nice Day

A nice day. This was a nice day. I spent some time with a minor league teammate of mine from 1977 & 1978. We both played in the Atlanta Braves organization. Now, it just so happens that he is the Braves' manager. The visit was the first nice event of the day. The second nice event was the Cadinals' 1 - 0 victory in a game that was played in 2:28. This leads to the final nice event of the day - I made it home early enough to spend time with my 8-year old grandson. He even liked the Redbirds giveaway at the game tonight - a red Cardinals fedora.

Making Sense

The Reds defeated the Cards in Cincinnati today by the score of 7 - 0. This beat down only took 2:33 to play which was nice because I was home fairly early after a 3-city roadtrip. Yes, this time of game was really nice but a 7 - 0 game seems much longer for the losing team than the winning team. This 3-city trip also seemed longer than it was because I had Saturday, Monday and Tuesday off. Trust me, off days on the road suck. The days drag on and on. A long trip seemed longer and a fast game seemed slower. Does that even make any sense?

Speed It Up

The Cards beat the Reds tonight in Cincinnati 5 - 4 in 2:59. This was our first game/telecast since Sunday. 2 days off on the road are brutal so it was nice to sit in the chair again and do baseball. This game started off in a terrible manner. The score after 1 inning was 4 - 2 and the Reds pitcher threw 36 pitches in the top of the first and the Cards pitcher threw 32 pitches in the bottom of the first. Not a good start. But, the pace of the game picked up and the telecast proved to be uneventful. I have always believed that umpire calls should be corrected by the use of replay. However, tonight's game telecast had 3 "reviews" in one inning. 2 of the reviews should have taken no time to overturn but they took a good while. Major League Baseball must refine it's review process to let the game continue at a good pace. Tonight's Cards/Reds game could be an example to use to expedite the process.