Luvofthegame
09-11-2006, 09:31 PM
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/11/2006
Right up to the final inning of this unsightly end to an odious trip, the Cardinals had a chance to slap spackle on the cracks in their journey, gloss over its ghastliness. A win would have masked many things.
Bases-empty homers slammed off reliever Jorge Sosa in the eighth inning sullied the Cardinals with a 9-7 loss to Arizona on Sunday at Chase Field. There were defensive mishaps -- poor throws and poor decisions -- to go with offensive misses throughout the game. Manager Tony La Russa was ejected for the first time this season and the lead produced by Pujols' two-run homer was squandered.
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But despite the warts, the Cardinals put the tying run at first base in the ninth with no outs and Pujols, Scott Rolen and surging Scott Spiezio set to sweep away the gunk with a timely swing. Diamondbacks reliever Jose Valverde got them out in that order for his first save since May 24.
The Cardinals had no deodorant for this loss. "It was an ugly game," said Pujols, who went three for five with his 45th home run of the season and two RBIs. "One thing that we've been doing all year, even when we've been playing poorly, is playing good defense. They scored two of their runs pretty much on us making little mistakes. It's over. It was an ugly game."
Since winning the first game of the series on the strength of two Spiezio homers, the Cardinals stumbled, bumbled and grounded out through three consecutive losses. They muscled-up for popups Friday against Livan Hernandez in an Arizona rout. They were riddled by Brandon Webb's sinker Saturday for the swiftest game in Chase Field history, a 1-hour, 54-minute one-hit shutout.
On Sunday, two botched rundowns and one choice of reliever sent the Cardinals home with a 2-5 record on the trip. Waiting for them at Busch Stadium are the resurgent Houston Astros, now five games back.
"I don't think we played our best baseball here in Arizona, or on this road trip," third baseman Scott Rolen said. "We can't expect to contend playing this kind of baseball or play this way and have good things happen for us at the end."
The Cardinals entered the game without closer Jason Isringhausen (hip) and without interim closer Adam Wainwright (home with his newborn child). But they were loaded with other options -- including Brad Thompson -- besides turning to Sosa with the score tied, 7 all, for the eighth inning. Sosa got the first two batters he faced to ground out.
That's when trouble, Tony Clark, approached. A lingering problem for Sosa this season has been home runs. Entering Sunday's game he had allowed 26, six in 21 1/3 innings since coming to the Cardinals from Atlanta. Three of those had come in his previous three appearances. Arizona had just rallied to tie the score with three two-out runs in the seventh before Sosa took over in the eighth.
The third batter he faced was pinch hitter Clark. The lefthanded batter had a history against Sosa: six for seven with four home runs and eight RBIs.
"It wasn't a good matchup for him against Clark, we knew that," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "That's why Yadi (Molina) went out and talked to him and told him not to give him anything to hit. I liked (Sosa) vs. their club because fastball pitchers are pretty effective against them. Wrong choice, I guess."
Sosa (3-11) stayed in the game to face Clark and on consecutive pitches gave up Clark's fifth home run off him and the 28th home run off of him this season. Eric Byrnes' homer off Sosa set the final score.
Arizona's last five runs came with two out.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on rookie Chris Duncan's 16th home run of the season. Two ramshackle rundowns lost that lead in the third. With Carlos Quentin hung up between third and home, a miscommunication between Rolen and Molina led to two errors by the Cardinals. Molina threw early to third as Stephen Drew slid in safe and kicked the ball away from Rolen. Jose Vizcaino, who started at shortstop, threw home but pegged Quentin in the back as he tied the game.
Two batters later, with runners at the corners, starter Jeff Suppan, who allowed four runs (none earned) in 51/3 innings, got Byrnes leaning off first. His pickoff went to Pujols and the first baseman slung it to second. Drew took off from third to steal home, the first Diamondback to do so since 1999.
Blown rundowns greased the way for four runs.
The next inning La Russa was tossed for the first time since Game 4 of the NLCS for arguing balls and strikes. ("We were having trouble identifying the strike zone -- and I went too far talking about it," he said.) In the fifth and sixth innings, Pujols and Spiezio cranked homers to wrench the lead back only to be tied in the seventh on Johnny Estrada's fair-by-an-inch two-run double.
All would have been forgotten had the Cardinals cashed in on the ninth. Skip Schumaker and Aaron Miles singled to open the inning. But Pujols' blast drifted back into play foul and was caught in the left-field corner. Rolen and Spiezio struck out to end the game.
Seven of the Cardinals' final nine outs were strikeouts
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/11/2006
Right up to the final inning of this unsightly end to an odious trip, the Cardinals had a chance to slap spackle on the cracks in their journey, gloss over its ghastliness. A win would have masked many things.
Bases-empty homers slammed off reliever Jorge Sosa in the eighth inning sullied the Cardinals with a 9-7 loss to Arizona on Sunday at Chase Field. There were defensive mishaps -- poor throws and poor decisions -- to go with offensive misses throughout the game. Manager Tony La Russa was ejected for the first time this season and the lead produced by Pujols' two-run homer was squandered.
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But despite the warts, the Cardinals put the tying run at first base in the ninth with no outs and Pujols, Scott Rolen and surging Scott Spiezio set to sweep away the gunk with a timely swing. Diamondbacks reliever Jose Valverde got them out in that order for his first save since May 24.
The Cardinals had no deodorant for this loss. "It was an ugly game," said Pujols, who went three for five with his 45th home run of the season and two RBIs. "One thing that we've been doing all year, even when we've been playing poorly, is playing good defense. They scored two of their runs pretty much on us making little mistakes. It's over. It was an ugly game."
Since winning the first game of the series on the strength of two Spiezio homers, the Cardinals stumbled, bumbled and grounded out through three consecutive losses. They muscled-up for popups Friday against Livan Hernandez in an Arizona rout. They were riddled by Brandon Webb's sinker Saturday for the swiftest game in Chase Field history, a 1-hour, 54-minute one-hit shutout.
On Sunday, two botched rundowns and one choice of reliever sent the Cardinals home with a 2-5 record on the trip. Waiting for them at Busch Stadium are the resurgent Houston Astros, now five games back.
"I don't think we played our best baseball here in Arizona, or on this road trip," third baseman Scott Rolen said. "We can't expect to contend playing this kind of baseball or play this way and have good things happen for us at the end."
The Cardinals entered the game without closer Jason Isringhausen (hip) and without interim closer Adam Wainwright (home with his newborn child). But they were loaded with other options -- including Brad Thompson -- besides turning to Sosa with the score tied, 7 all, for the eighth inning. Sosa got the first two batters he faced to ground out.
That's when trouble, Tony Clark, approached. A lingering problem for Sosa this season has been home runs. Entering Sunday's game he had allowed 26, six in 21 1/3 innings since coming to the Cardinals from Atlanta. Three of those had come in his previous three appearances. Arizona had just rallied to tie the score with three two-out runs in the seventh before Sosa took over in the eighth.
The third batter he faced was pinch hitter Clark. The lefthanded batter had a history against Sosa: six for seven with four home runs and eight RBIs.
"It wasn't a good matchup for him against Clark, we knew that," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "That's why Yadi (Molina) went out and talked to him and told him not to give him anything to hit. I liked (Sosa) vs. their club because fastball pitchers are pretty effective against them. Wrong choice, I guess."
Sosa (3-11) stayed in the game to face Clark and on consecutive pitches gave up Clark's fifth home run off him and the 28th home run off of him this season. Eric Byrnes' homer off Sosa set the final score.
Arizona's last five runs came with two out.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on rookie Chris Duncan's 16th home run of the season. Two ramshackle rundowns lost that lead in the third. With Carlos Quentin hung up between third and home, a miscommunication between Rolen and Molina led to two errors by the Cardinals. Molina threw early to third as Stephen Drew slid in safe and kicked the ball away from Rolen. Jose Vizcaino, who started at shortstop, threw home but pegged Quentin in the back as he tied the game.
Two batters later, with runners at the corners, starter Jeff Suppan, who allowed four runs (none earned) in 51/3 innings, got Byrnes leaning off first. His pickoff went to Pujols and the first baseman slung it to second. Drew took off from third to steal home, the first Diamondback to do so since 1999.
Blown rundowns greased the way for four runs.
The next inning La Russa was tossed for the first time since Game 4 of the NLCS for arguing balls and strikes. ("We were having trouble identifying the strike zone -- and I went too far talking about it," he said.) In the fifth and sixth innings, Pujols and Spiezio cranked homers to wrench the lead back only to be tied in the seventh on Johnny Estrada's fair-by-an-inch two-run double.
All would have been forgotten had the Cardinals cashed in on the ninth. Skip Schumaker and Aaron Miles singled to open the inning. But Pujols' blast drifted back into play foul and was caught in the left-field corner. Rolen and Spiezio struck out to end the game.
Seven of the Cardinals' final nine outs were strikeouts