That was an interesting game to say the least. Jaime Garcia looked mortal but on a day that you would have expected the Cardinals to have the game well in hand with a 7-3 lead.  The bullpen decided to rear it's ugly head with Batista allowing 2 runs followed by runs from Tallet and Sanchez to tie the game. Indeed, even at the end of the game Salas looked a little shaky closing the door allowing a run of his own to bring the Royals within one.

The story of the game will undoubtedly be the 13 walks issued by the Royals pitching corps including the two by Tim Collins which pushed home some inherited runners. (As the previous pitcher, that's got to be grating as hell. I understand that Chris Coleman was responsible for those runners but to watch the walked home. Ugh.)  The walkapotamoose made himself felt today walking 5 times of his 6 plate appearances including the go ahead run in the 10th.

Another unfortunate sub-thread to this game is the loss of Gerald Laird who suffered a broken bone (as described by La Russa in a post game interview) that will send him to the disabled list. The Cardinals will choose between left handed hitting, and seemingly perennial option Bryan Anderson, and right handed Tony Cruz.  It's nice to see Yadier Molina hitting well again this year and you have to wonder how much of that is from getting some down time with Laird on the roster.  It's unlikely he'll get many additional days off behind the plate with Cruz or Anderson as the backup.

Despite all the questionable aspects of this game -- how does Albert F. Pujols fail to walk when his teammates walk 13 times?!?!?! -- a win is a win and it's a sweet win when combined with a Cincinatti Reds spanking.