In the eighth inning, when Colby Rasmus hit a sinking liner into left with the bases loaded, he should have had at least a single, possibly a double, and two RBIs. Instead, thanks to Randy Marsh, the umpire at third who missed the call, Colby has a lineout to his credit. The replay clearly showed the ball was trapped, not caught, but the fact is, the replay wasn't even necessary.
John Rooney called a trap when the play happened, and whatever else John Rooney may be, he isn't exactly a spring chicken. I have to imagine his eyes aren't exactly up to Ted Williams standards, yet he managed to make the right call from the press box, while the umpire standing 40 foot from the play couldn't get it right. Makes you wonder about the overall quality of umpiring in the game, doesn't it?
With Ludwick hitting, though, even an off series from Albert can't totally sink what is really a pretty decent lineup. Of course, the sheer magnitude of the black holes at third base and in left field threatens to drag the whole enterprise down, but even just that one other bat in the lineup besides Albert and Colby-Wan makes a world of difference.
-- Adam Wainwright is dreamy. His ERA so far in July is 1.07. I want to take his curveball behind a middle school and get it pregnant.
-- Speaking of black holes, both Dick Ankiel and Joe Thurston need to get off my team. Now. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen a pair of major league baseball players who looked so little like major league baseball players. Seriously.
Anyone remember a couple years back, when Brendan Ryan swung at a 3-0 pitch and popped out? Remember the ass chewing he got from the manager, who then removed Ryan from the game entirely? I wonder if the same thing is going to happen to Thurston for making two outs on just two pitches? I mean, at least Ryan made the guy throw four whole pitches. Thursty Joe is lucky to see four a game most days.
And as for Ankiel, I'm ready for Chris Duncan. Stop and consider that for a moment. Think of just how awful Duncan has been. Think of the way he looks in the outfield. Now consider I just voluntarily said I prefer him to play pretty much every day. Do you understand what kind of a sacrifice I made in saying that? Nonetheless, it's true. At least Duncan can stand up there and take the occasional walk. I suppose in the absence of all else, standing still and doing nothing is a pretty good skill. After all, rabbits have been surviving that way for thousands of years.
-- And lastly, because I simply can't help myself, what the fuck was Tony La Russa thinking using Todd Wellemeyer in the first game of the doubleheader? I know, this is supposed to be about the good game, the game the Cardinals won, but still. What the hell? What in all the history of all things under the sun made Tony think that Wellemeyer had any shot at being anything but awful there? The guy has always been brutal in relief, hasn't thrown a relief inning in almost two years, and has pretty much generally sucked ass this season overall. Just an awful, unfathomable decision.
There. I feel better now.
