It was a late game, but a good late game to stay up for Cardinals fans!

Three very awesome things transpired:

*Jaime Garcia pitched like a rock-star. On the road, even! Garcia has never fared well away from Busch Stadium. Wednesday night, Jaime wanted to buck his own trend. And buck it, he did!

Garcia, now 3-2 on the season, pitched 7.1 innings and gave up one earned run. Get this? He struck out 9 batters. NINE!  That equals a career high for him, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Fernando Salas and Marc Rzepczynski helped Garcia finish off the eighth inning, facing a batter each. Jason Motte got his 7th save of the season for pitching the ninth.  Motte got two strike outs.

* David Freese broke an 0-17 streak. Freese was 3 for 4 on Wednesday. In the fourth inning, David singled to left but was called out at second base. In seventh inning, he launched his eighth home run of the season with a bomb to left field. The blast broke a 1-1 tie game. And in the ninth inning, Freese hit a double to right field. Very nice to see him getting back on track and hitting well.

*Skip Schumaker was clutch off the bench. In the eighth inning, Schumaker was brought in for Tyler Greene. With Jaime Garcia at third base and Rafael Furcal at second after hitting a double, Schumaker was at the plate. Skip hit a fly ball double to left field, scoring Garcia and Furcal to make the score 4-1.

The Cardinals play the Giants again this afternoon at 2:45 p.m. CT, at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Adam Wainwright takes the mound for the Cards as Matt Cain goes for the Giants.

Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also senior reporter for Aerys Offsides in the NFL section. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda. 

Maybe you didn’t know about Yadier Molina’s new look until yesterday’s game-winning hit.

Once his helmet was off, there it was: a mohawk.

I noticed it the other night and had an immediate reaction: yuck. But that’s just me. You could love it.

So there’s today’s hard-hitting question, as we wait all day for baseball to begin in San Francisco tonight:

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Also, for more on Yadi’s mohawk, check out the latest Legopiece Theater entry at SB Nation St. Louis. It made me literally laugh out loud. Of course, most of them have. Catch up on the whole series if you haven’t read them yet.

The Cardinals take on the Giants tonight, with Jaime Garcia facing off against Madison Bumgarner. Game time is 9:15 p.m. Central Time.

After Jon Jay was placed on the DL, shifting today’s starting lineup once, it changed again when Lance Berkman was scratched at the last minute. Instead, Matt Carpenter slid to first, and David Freese didn’t get the day off after all.

With Kyle Lohse on the mound, the Redbirds desperately needed to snap a four-game skid … especially against the Cubs.

Trouble is, when the Cardinals went 14-8 in April, they had a team ERA of 2.61. Sitting at 6-7 in May headed into today’s game, that ERA had vaulted to 4.88 (thanks to B.J. Rains for that tidbit!).

This was me watching today’s Cubs/Cardinals game:

Kyle Lohse gives up three runs in the first.

» Continue reading “Cards Walk-Off In Wild Finale With Cubs”

It seems Jon Jay just can’t shake the pain in his shoulder after he slammed into the outfield wall last month. It was a surprise that he wasn’t put on the disabled list then, but it appears he’s headed there now.

According to Rick Hummel at STLToday.com,

Manager Mike Matheny said this morning that Jay likely will go on the 15-day disabled list because of recurring problems with his right shoulder …

Shane Robinson, who was only recently sent down to AAA Memphis, was back at Busch Stadium today as arrangements were made for him to take Jay’s spot. It seems, though, that his equipment didn’t make the trip back to St. Louis as easily as Robinson did.

If Robinson plays today, he may be borrowing a glove from a teammate!

Today, Skip Schumaker will start in center field, with Allen Craig in right field for Carlos Beltran, and Matt Carpenter at third for David Freese, who is getting a day off.

More bullpen help is on the way from Memphis.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today they were giving left-hander pitcher J.C. Romero his unconditional release and recalled right-handed pitcher Eduardo Sanchez from Triple-A Memphis to fill the vacancy on the 25-man roster.

Sanchez, 23, was 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA in 14 appearances in Memphis.  Despite a tough start, the right-hander did not allow a run or hit in his last five appearances.  He also did not allow a run during seven Spring Training appearances, striking out 14 batters over eight innings.

Last season, Sanchez made 26 Major League appearances compiling a 3-1 record with a 1.80 ERA and struck out 35 batters in 30.0 innings with five saves.  He finished the 2011 season with 10 consecutive scoreless appearances over 12.0 innings.

Romero, 34, appeared in 11 games this season for the Cardinals posting an 0-0 record with a 10.13 ERA in 8.0 innings.  The Cardinals were his sixth team over the course of 12 Major League seasons.

It’s Monday. The Cardinals went from sweeping the Diamondbacks to being swept by the Braves. (Just in case we needed further proof that it’s now 2012 and not late in the 2011 season.) The Cubs are in town for a bizarre tonight/tomorrow afternoon series before the Cards head back West.

We need something to perk us up.

One of the bonuses of the Tony La Russa number retirement festivities was seeing so many clips from throughout his Cardinals career — the playoff teams of the early 2000s, for example. Which, of course, included current Cards manager Mike Matheny.

With that in mind, here’s a look back to those playing days to get us all going this morning.

» Continue reading “Matheny Monday: Boost-Our-Spirits Edition”

The St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Atlanta Braves tonight 7-2. Here’s a very quick summary of the game.

1. Adam Wainwright did not pitch well — giving up five runs in 4 2/3 innings on nine hits with five walks (including three straight to walk in the first two runs of the game) and five strikeouts.

2. Brandon Beachy did pitch well for the Braves, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning and giving up one run on two hits in six innings despite four walks.

3. The Cardinals have now dropped the series to the Braves with the back-to-back losses.

Tomorrow is the Mother’s Day series finale at 1:15 p.m. Lance Lynn, who celebrates his 25th birthday today, will be going for win No. 7. Tommy Hanson will start for the Braves. And Lance Berkman might be back, which will make the LB Fan Club and mothers everywhere very happy.

Tony La Russa (Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The night to honor Tony La Russa and retire his No. 10 definitely had its great moments. It had its not-so-great, very frustrating moments too as the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Atlanta Braves 9-7 in 12 innings.

Here are 10 comments on No. 10′s night.

1. The participants in the pre-game ceremony were a representation of La Russa’s 33 years as a manager, as well as a cross section of baseball history. In addition to Cards Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Bob Gibson and Red Schoendienst, two other Cooperstown inductees who played for TLR were there: Dennis Eckersley and Tom Seaver. It also was a nice tribute that Walt Jocketty returned to Busch Stadium, as well as Joe Torre. Actually, it was great that every one of those people were there — all had a significance to some portion of his career. But when did Matt Morris get so old?

2. Is it a surprise that TLR mentioned David Eckstein (who was there) during his own remarks?

» Continue reading “10 Comments About The Night Honoring No. 10″

We haven’t said much about That Guy Who Used To Play First Base in a while — probably because, well, he’s gone. And he hasn’t really done much for his new team.

He did hit a home run on Sunday — I heard about it when it was announced over the PA system at the Denver Airport* — and he had two singles on Wednesday night in the Angels 6-2 win over the Twins. Things are looking up, right?

Not exactly.

Check out his reaction toward teammate Erick Aybar after that game here. And then look at how MLB spins it — “Angels playfully celebrate”? Really? “Erick Aybar and Albert Pujols goof around”? Um, OK. Flinging your glove at your teammate, looking at your elbow and then glaring? Fun! Light-hearted! Impish!

Yeah.

» Continue reading “My, Albert, What A Big Temper You Have”

Jason Motte. He's The Closer.

Finally. A sweep!

The Cardinals earned the sweep Wednesday night with a 7-2 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Despite the score the  game was interesting throughout. Let’s discuss a few things!

* Oh Lohse. Kyle Lohse was pulled from his sixth inning batting appearance for Matt Carpenter, according to MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch, for precautionary reasons after appearing to have aggravated his hamstring making an awkward lunge at third base in the fifth inning. The pinch hit turned out more beneficial than expected when Matty Carp knocked a two-run double, giving the Cards a 3-1.

* Boom! Going into the ninth it was 3-2 Cards. And then … there was a mini offensive explosion for our team. Matt Holliday doubled to center, allowing Rafael Furcal and Carlos Beltran to score. And Allen Craig hit his third homer of the year, scoring Holliday, and boosting the score to 7-2. It’s always good to have insurance runs. You’ll see what I mean here in a moment …

* Boggs And The Rest Of The ‘Pen. Lohse pitched five innings, giving up seven hits and one run. He struck out three and walked one. Pretty good for Lohse and after appearing to have injured his hamstring running, Mike Matheny obviously felt comfortable turning to his bullpen.

Let’s see about that!

Kyle McClellan got a hold after pitching one inning, giving up two hits and one run. He also walked one and struck out one. Victor Marte got his fourth hold of the season after pitching the seventh. Marc Rzepczynski earned his fourth hold of the season pitching the eighth inning and striking out two.

Whew! So, with a 7-2 lead going into the ninth inning, Matheny decided Mitchell Boggs should be given a chance to earn back some confidence and pitch the ninth. Why not, right? Right? RIGHT? Boggs faced three hitters in the ninth and all three were on the base paths when Matheny pulled him immediately for … The Closer!

Jason Motte trotted out to the mound and just took over. The first batter faced? Motte struck out Gerardo Parra. Lovely, just filthy pitching from The Closer. Yes. Next up was Willie Bloomquist. He grounded into a double play and Motte earned his sixth save of the season. And a sigh of relief was exhaled!

* What’s Next? The Cardinals are headed back to STL for a three-game series this weekend with the Atlanta Braves! It’s the last time fans will get to see Chipper Jones at Busch in the regular season. Tony LaRussa’s No. 10 will be retired and … and … David Freese Bobblehead Day is Sunday!

Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also senior reporter at Aerys Offsides. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.