now that was a save. isringhausen, so accustomed to pitching out of his own jams, applied the practice in the 9th to clean up someone else's mess. i actually wasn't that surprised; for no reason in particular i was confident that he would come through there. he threw nothing but fastballs and cutters, had good velocity (as high as 93, per espn's gun) and great location. here's his pitching line over the last month:
| ip | h | w | k | era | whip | w-l-s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 1.64 | 1.091 | 1-0-9 |
that outing settles the account izzy has been carrying with mulder since this game, when he blew a save and cost his starter a win. as for mulder, he threw one of his best games as a cardinal, surpassed only by another 1-0 victory (last april vs roger and the astros); damn near outhit the mets all by himself. for the 2d straight game his fastball was lively -- even in the 9th the gun showed him at 88, 89 mph -- and his curveball was sharp, as it has been all season. whereas last year everything he threw seemed to float up there between 82 and 86, this year mulder is actually changing speeds, which enables him to use more of the plate. he's getting more outs on pitches in the strike zone and relying less on slop off the corners and at the ankles (his crutch in 2005). mulder's back appears sound again; i'm starting to gain some confidence in him, too.
in the end, a couple of gappers decided it; rolen's got through to the wall in the 6th, driving home a run; reyes' didn't leading off the 9th, keeping him from scampering to 3d with nobody out. encarnacion showed off his hacky-sack skills on that play -- kicked it directly to edmonds, who relayed the ball back to the infield. . . . . i guess we give the guy credit for getting in front of the ball.
it's official: anthony reyes will start saturday. and all of america will be watching. . . . also official: pujols does not juice. miklasz posted a lengthy segment of albert's unedited remarks at the pressbox. . . . hardball times has win share leaders at the quarter pole . . . .
