the cardinals continue their improbable bounceback from a dreadful start, putting together the first winning record of the season. they're now 8-7. let's hope we don't regress below .500 again.
kyle mcclellan managed a great result. he went 7 innings, allowing no walks and scoring only 2 strikeouts. instead, he put together a 1-run performance with a lot of in play outs, with more air outs than grounders. let's just say colby rasmus is probably pretty worn out this evening. craig also saw a lot of balls driven to right field. of note, and probably a significant factor, joe west appeared to have decided that it would be easier to call strikes if the bottom of the strike zone was the batter's waist.
the zone took a bigger toll on clay kershaw. he was tipping 80 pitches at the end of the third, and only made it part way into the fifth, a run which ended with a beautiful 3-run homer by allen craig, who was seen to mutter visibly "i am NOT going back on that milk carton" as he rounded the bases.
a lot of the cardinals' runs were of the make shift variety. one required nothing but baserunning skill. tyler greene got hit by a pitch, stole second, then stole third and scored on a throwing error by the pitcher, scoring without anybody putting bat to ball all inning. a very nice ninth inning saw 5 hits, with the team trying hard to reach the 14-hit mark, but coming up one hit short.
batista did not look good at all tonight. he allowed one run and looked like he was going to give up more, with a walk and two his in the eighth. age came before beauty, as sanchez followed batista with a 9th inning in which he got three more strikeouts, as well as a single. that means sanchez is now tied for total number of strikeouts (in three innings pitched) with jake westbrook (in 3 STARTS). without adding in tonight 3 K's, he had an FIP of -1.42. [should read "-1.92"] that's a MINUS sign, there. fun with small sample sizes.
kudos to k-mac, congrats to craig, and salutations to sanchez! if you are still awake and you don't live in thailand or korea, go to bed!