What to say? The Cards lost another game they could/should have won. They’ve now lost five of the last seven and fell from first place to third in the NL Central. (Both the Cardinals and Pirates are one game back, but Pittsburgh is percentage points ahead so in second. Yeah, the Cardinals trail the Pirates on July 9.)
So, a poem. Maybe all this frustrating baseball has me missing Miguel “The Poet” Batista … or at least writing a haiku.
One bad decision:
Leaving Lohse in far too long.
Comeback not enough.
Tony La Russa made his admittedly “bad decision” to leave Kyle Lohse when Kelly Johnson was up with the bases loaded and K-Lo had already thrown 115 pitches. And even Johnson was surprised at that, as Matthew Leach writes:
“It just felt like one of those situations where generally a move is made,” Johnson said. “When I was digging in and [catcher Gerald] Laird goes out there, I was expecting to see Tony making a move. It worked out for us.”
That grand slam gave the D-Backs a 7-3 lead.
The Cardinals chipped away at that, with Matt Holliday hitting a solo homer and Daniel Descalso doing what he does — getting clutch RBI-hits late in games. (This time a two-run double that made it 7-6.) But they seemed to run out of patience also — swinging at the first pitch when you have the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth?
Ugh.
More frustration — something we’ve seen far too much of lately.
Tonight Chris Carpenter attempts to make us all happy and stop the frustration. Game time is 6:15 p.m.
Christine Coleman is the senior St. Louis Cardinals reporter for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @CColeman802, or email aaronmilesfastball@gmail.com. Also follow @AMilesFastball for the latest updates.
