St. Louis Cardinals 5 at Washington Nationals Lohsed

Now that his K:BB ratio is 22:4 I think I will spend the next week or so not complaining about Kyle Lohse's contract. It's really impossible to overstate how good he's been compared to how bad he was, especially because he's just never been this good; his outstanding start to 2008 was in part a trick of peripherals and an especially striking first-half win-loss record. The last time he pitched remotely like this in the FIP-diehard sense he was allowing 21 runs in 30 midsummer innings that year, with a K:BB ratio of 5.0 but six home runs allowed.

In 2010 his best four-start run involved two quality starts, seven unearned runs, and an ERA of 4.50 across 22 innings. 

I thought it was foolish for the Cardinals to rely on Kyle Lohse for anything at all this season. It turns out they had to, and he's managed to justify it, at least this month. 

Meanwhile, Albert Pujols's OPS has topped .800, hopefully for good. He's now hitting .247/.314/.494, on pace for nine doubles and 51 home runs. Who knew that decline-phase Albert Pujols looked so much like Jose Bautista?