Straightforward stuff – and I promise I won’t only post about wins in the future.
Lohse was excellent, and Duke was actually half decent. The five consecutive baserunners in the third weren’t helpful, and a solo bomb from Ludwick and an RBI single finished off the night for the Pirates.
Now, for a theme that spans the whole of the last three games: approach, approach, approach.
A key to the Cardinals’ unexpected success this season has been the propensity of the hitters to draw walks. It’s a really important element of success – even an extra 20 or 30 points of OBP across a roster can lead to a big jump in run production. On Wednesday, Rick Ankiel approached the plate with a chance to win the game, and waved at three consecutive pitches, one of which only made it fifty seven feet. He knew he could tie the game up with one moon shot, and tried to hit it immediately. It was something that I sort of saw coming – he’s not been around long, and it’s a difficult situation to judge. By contrast, Troy Glaus had a high quality at-bat to draw the walk that sent Ankiel to the plate in that situation. It’s all about approach, particularly when dealing with a guy like Brad Lidge that throws a lot of dominant pitches that aren’t necessarily in the strike zone. The Cards didn’t give up on at bats tonight, and even though they left too many on base, they scored enough to get the win, with most of the damage coming with two out. Good stuff, and I hope we see some more of it tomorrow.
With the Milwaukee loss, the Cardinals regain control of second place, 4 1/2 behind Chicago and 1/2 ahead of the Brewers. Wellemeyer and Dumatrait tomorrow, 6:05 our time.
