Ending the Streak
The 8-game skid is finally over after yesterday's 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Here's a look at the losing streak:
In 7 of the 8 games, the starting pitcher for the Cardinals took the loss, meaning their starting pitching was absolutely abysmal and was giving up early leads to the other team, all of which turned out to be insurmountable leads.
In the other game, the first of the losing streak, Jeff Weaver pitched poorly as well, giving up 4 ER in 5 2/3 innings. Tyler Johnson took the loss giving up an unearned run without recording an out in the 6th.
The Cardinals fell from 16 games over .500 to only 8 games over .500 before yesterday's loss. Amazingly, they retained their NL Central lead and still lead the Wild Card leading Cincinnati Reds by 2.5 games.
Also in 6 of the 8 games, the Cardinals pitchers gave up innings of 3 or more runs early in the game(first four innings). Two of these instances included 5 ER in the first two innings by Chris Carpenter in the closing game of the series vs. the Cubs and a 6-run 4th inning in the 2nd game of that same series, with Jason Marquis on the mound.
In the 8 games, the Cardinals committed 6 errors(one was questionably not an error, in the opening game vs. the Cubs, where an incredibly bad hop led to the Cubs scoring a key run that probably cost the Cards the game). The defense was incredibly shaky and the Cardinals are a defense and pitching team. They didn't have defense and as you see above, they certainly didn't have pitching.
The key offensive players weren't coming through. Albert Pujols was 7 for 31 (.226) over the stretch with 0 Home Runs. Edmonds and Rolen each had one run home over the stretch, but it came in the 16-8 debacle against the Phillies. Great timing, no? 8 runs in any other game during the stretch would have been a win or at least extra innings.
Eckstein also had trouble scoring runs, partially because he struggled to get on base and partially because no one behind him could drive him in.
Now, for last night's game: The pitching was reasonably good. Rookie Anthony Reyes went 5 and gave up 3 ER, not a great start, but he kept the team in it. Bullpen arms Braden Looper and Jason Isringhausen were excellent, taking 3 innings between them and giving up 1 hit and 1 walk only(both by Looper). Pujols broke his homerless streak, which has reached 33 at-bats. Rolen and Edmonds were each 1-3, with Rolen driving in a run and Edmonds scoring one. Eckstein still struggled, but the other good news: No errors!
Amazingly, they're still playing .500 ball since the break as they were 10-3 prior to the skid(thanks primarily to being 7-0 against the Dodgers, can we trade the Cubs or Reds to the NL West for the Dodgers?)
They are an overall 11-11 since the break and 3-3 in the 6 series they've played so far. Today they go for the series win against Milwaukee with Jeff Suppan on the mound.
Here's a look at the losing streak:
In 7 of the 8 games, the starting pitcher for the Cardinals took the loss, meaning their starting pitching was absolutely abysmal and was giving up early leads to the other team, all of which turned out to be insurmountable leads.
In the other game, the first of the losing streak, Jeff Weaver pitched poorly as well, giving up 4 ER in 5 2/3 innings. Tyler Johnson took the loss giving up an unearned run without recording an out in the 6th.
The Cardinals fell from 16 games over .500 to only 8 games over .500 before yesterday's loss. Amazingly, they retained their NL Central lead and still lead the Wild Card leading Cincinnati Reds by 2.5 games.
Also in 6 of the 8 games, the Cardinals pitchers gave up innings of 3 or more runs early in the game(first four innings). Two of these instances included 5 ER in the first two innings by Chris Carpenter in the closing game of the series vs. the Cubs and a 6-run 4th inning in the 2nd game of that same series, with Jason Marquis on the mound.
In the 8 games, the Cardinals committed 6 errors(one was questionably not an error, in the opening game vs. the Cubs, where an incredibly bad hop led to the Cubs scoring a key run that probably cost the Cards the game). The defense was incredibly shaky and the Cardinals are a defense and pitching team. They didn't have defense and as you see above, they certainly didn't have pitching.
The key offensive players weren't coming through. Albert Pujols was 7 for 31 (.226) over the stretch with 0 Home Runs. Edmonds and Rolen each had one run home over the stretch, but it came in the 16-8 debacle against the Phillies. Great timing, no? 8 runs in any other game during the stretch would have been a win or at least extra innings.
Eckstein also had trouble scoring runs, partially because he struggled to get on base and partially because no one behind him could drive him in.
Now, for last night's game: The pitching was reasonably good. Rookie Anthony Reyes went 5 and gave up 3 ER, not a great start, but he kept the team in it. Bullpen arms Braden Looper and Jason Isringhausen were excellent, taking 3 innings between them and giving up 1 hit and 1 walk only(both by Looper). Pujols broke his homerless streak, which has reached 33 at-bats. Rolen and Edmonds were each 1-3, with Rolen driving in a run and Edmonds scoring one. Eckstein still struggled, but the other good news: No errors!
Amazingly, they're still playing .500 ball since the break as they were 10-3 prior to the skid(thanks primarily to being 7-0 against the Dodgers, can we trade the Cubs or Reds to the NL West for the Dodgers?)
They are an overall 11-11 since the break and 3-3 in the 6 series they've played so far. Today they go for the series win against Milwaukee with Jeff Suppan on the mound.
posted by Matt at 10:33 AM
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