Cards Continue Cruising, Win 7th Straight: An 8/11 Recap

Last i spoke with you, the Cardinals lost to Homer Bailey and looked like they were probably done for the year with winning baseball games. Lost to the Reds 3-2 despite a solid Lance Lynn outing.

Today, as I live and breathe, .513. We are fully 3 games over .500, and i never thought this team would agree to do that. It’s gotten so stupid that we are 1 game behind the stinking Cubs.

Baseball is weird and unpredictable, and not just in the aggregate. Baseball is weird and unpredictable in the 7-day stretch. Even in the individual game. I love baseball.

Folty vs. Waino Resurgent tonight.

The Game

Inning 1

Ender Inciarte singled, but Brandon Phillips GIDP 3-6. Freddie Freeman walked, but he relied upon noted bad player and Cleanup Hitter Nick Markakis to drive him in. Markakis flied out to right.

Los Cardinales threatened in the 1st. Matt Catpenter walked, but was erased on a Pham FC 6-4. Dejung got Tommy Pham out on another FC, but following a Dexter Fowler walk, Yadi mooted everything with a mighty strikeout.

Inning 2

Nothing important happened in the top of the frame, but if it wasn’t clear in the first, it became crystalline in this inning that something is wrong with Adam Wainwright. He maxed out with an 84 mile-per-hour fastball and a 61-mile-per-hour curveball in the top of the frame.

In the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals scored 4 runs. For context, Folty hits like 99 regularly on the radar. I have a rough time hitting 80 mph in the cage. This offensive explosion went as follows: Jedd Gyorko walks after a 1-2 count, Kolten Wong doubles on the sixth pitch and a 1-2 count, Randal Gricuk singles on a 1-2 count, Waino lays down a sac bunt to move Randal over to 2nd, Pham walks, DeJong doubles. 4-0, Cardinales.

Inning 3

The Barves struck back, but not very hard. Waino gave up quick singles to Foltynewicz and Inciarte, then a walk to Brandon Phillips. Freddie Freeman drove in Folty by grounding into a 3-6-1 double play, which has to be the worst way to get an RBI that I can think of. Braves are on the board now, but the Cardinals still lead 4-1.

In the bottom of the frame, Wonger was HBP, then driven in by a RANDAL GRICHUK triple. Waino drove Grich in with a single of his own. “At least Wainwright can still hit,” said someone. Cardinals lead, 6-1.

Inning 4

Six up, six down. Nevermind that Wainwright never broke 90 MPH with a single pitch. Foltynewicz struck out the heart of the Cardinals order.

Inning 5

Also 6 up, 6 down. Why haven’t any feral animals rushed out onto the field? Wainwright needed 12 pitches for his half of the frame. Gameday erroneously called all of his fourseamers changeups. Worried about the guy.

Inning 6

The bullpen was finally called, and Brett Cecil took over. You know what that means. Cecil walked Freeman and gave up singles to Kurt Suzuki and old friend LF Matt Adams, then Ozzie Albies turned on a middle-high fastball and put it in the seats. and just like that, the Cardinals lead was cut to 1 run. John Brebbia took over for Cecil and ended the misery.

The birds went down in order in the bottom of the frame against old friend Sam Freeman. Cardinals still lead, but only 6-5.

Inning 7

Old friend Jason Motte took over for old friend Sam Freeman in the bottom of the frame. The Braves sure do like collecting our old friends. Nothing else really happened.

Inning 8

Rex Brothers pitched for the Braves, which is an easy 80-grade name for a WWE tag team duo. Randal and Spring Training Hero Jose Martinez (who has surprised me by sticking this long but hey, good job Jose) struck out. Brothers walked Matt Carpenter on four pitches and Tommy Pham on 5, and Paul DeJong drove them both in with a solid double, his 16th of the year. Cardinals lead, 8-5.

Inning 9

Matt Bowman closed the game out for the Cardinals. Cardinals win 8-5!!!

Postgame

The Cubs and Pirates won and the Brewers lost, so the division standings now look like this:

As you might have guessed, Wainwright looked like a well-done steak, hold the ketchup tonight.

The Cat (Jim, not his cousin Rally Kitty) caught up with Matt Adams in the pregame and it’s worth a watch:

Particularly fun seeing Lynn interject himself into the interview. And Matt’s not wrong when he says that Waino is back to being Old Waino, but not in the way he meant I think. Adams got an ovation tonight.

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Wish you all the best, buddy.

Tonight’s win extended our current streak to 7, and marks the sixth game in a row that we have scored at least 8 runs. Absolutely torching the competition. This tweet has a couple days on it now, but it’s a good one—

Make that 62 runs now.

Tune in tomorrow (Okay, tonight) and see “Tsunami” (whoever that is) take on Lucas Sims. 6:15 Central. Be there.