Wainwright Pitches Gem to Lead Cards Past Astros 1-0, Cubs are "Toast"

Adam Wainwright (16-7) pitched 8 shutout innings and Albert Pujols' RBI double in the first inning off Wandy Rodriguez was all the Cardinals needed to make a 1-0 lead stick against the Houston Astros at Busch Stadium on Tuesday.

Wainwright, now tied with CC Sabathia of the Yankees for the major league lead in wins, went eight innings, gave up no runs on 3 hits, 0 walks and 5 strikeouts. Wainwright was just plain nasty and continues to dominate opponents on the mound.

His counterpart on the mound Wandy Rodriguez (12-8) was a hard luck loser, giving up only 1 run over 7 innings. Rodriguez also only gave up 3 hits, with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. The difference was that the Cardinals were able to tally a run on two hits in the first inning. The first was a single by Brendan Ryan, and then Albert Pujols doubled him in to make it 1-0 after one inning.

Ryan Franklin came in to pick up his 33rd save in the ninth inning. His ERA continues to be very impressive at 1.09. Wainwright's ERA improved to 2.50.

The Cardinals, who improved their record to 73-54, a season best 19 games over .500, gained a game on the hapless Chicago Cubs (62-61), and the Cardinals now lead the Cubs by 9 whole games. ESPN's Baseball Tonight crew dubbed the Cubs "toast" after last night's embarrasing 15-6 loss to the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field.

Smoltz Dominates Awful Padres, Pujols Jacks His 40th, Cards win 5-2

Do you think John Smoltz was a good pick up? Well, at least against the San Diego Padres, who have scored the least amount of runs in the majors, but Smoltz was impressive, striking out 9 batters and 7 in a row to lead the Cardinals (72-54) to a 5-2 win over the Padres. The Cards, who won three out of four against the lowly Pads, have now won their last 5 series, and 13 out of their last 16 games. The Cardinals won the season series agianst the Padres 6 to 1.

The Cardinals maintain their 8 game lead over the Chicago Cubs (62-60) who beat the LA Dodgers 3-1 at Dodger Stadium.

In his bid for a triple crown, Albert Pujols hit his 40th homer of the season to lead off the 4th inning agianst Padres reliever Edward Mujica.

Although John Smoltz only went 5 innings, the Cardinals held a 5-0 lead when Smoltz left and five relievers were able to keep the lead and the Cardinals won 5-2. Ryan Franklin picked up his 32nd save.

LaRussa Works His Magic

Sometimes Tony LaRussa can be a little too aggressive when it comes to moving runners, but last night, his decision to send Albert Pujols on a 3-0 count against Broxton and the Dodgers ended up to be pure brilliance. Russell Martin threw his attempt to catch Pujols stealing in the dirt, which allowed Pujols to move to third, and all it took was a Matt Holliday sac fly to bring in Pujols. In two batters, the Cardinals didn't even get a hit (Pujols walked), but still went up on the Dodgers in the ninth 3-2.

Ryan Franklin came in and saved the game for the Cardinals, his 31st and although Wainwright pitched 7 great innings, Kyle McClellan gets the win to improve his record to 4-2.

The Cardinals keep their 6 game lead over the Cubs who defeated San Diego, and the Cardinals improve their record to 69-53.

Carpenter, Pujols, Ankiel Shine as Cards Win Series Opener vs. Dodgers

Chris Carpenter (13-3) gave up only 2 runs on 5 hits over 8 innings and recorded 8 stikeouts to lead the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Dodgers Monday at Dodger Stadium. Carpenter outpitched Dodgers minor leaguer Charlie Haeger, who was only pitching his second career start and his first with the Dodgers. Haeger, a knuckleballer, was baffling Cardinals batters. and gave up only 5 hits and no walks in 7 quality innings. The problem for Haeger was that he was pitching against Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter had a shaky start, and quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with one out. Casey Blake then hit a sacrifice fly to Ryan Ludwick to score Rafael Furcal, which made it Dodgers 1, Cardinals 0. Ludwick, though, instead of trying to get Furcal out at home, threw to third, and threw out Andre Ethier, who had tagged up and was attempting to get to third base. Mark DeRosa caught Ludwick's strike and tagged out Ethier before he reached third base. Suddenly, what looked like a big inning in the making for the Dodgers was over.

Albert Pujols tied the game in the fourth with his 39th home run of the season, which leads the majors.

The Dodgers took back the lead on Carpenter however in the fifth when James Loney singled in Matt Kemp, who had doubled to open the fifth. At that point the Dodgers led 2-1.

Everything came unglued for Haeger in the seventh when with one out Haeger hit Ryan Ludwick with an errant knuckleball and then gave up a towering home run to Rick Ankiel, his ninth of the season. The Cardinals led 3-2 and would never relinguish their lead.

Carpenter continued to pitch well and looked his best in the 8th inning. Coming in to relieve Carpenter in the ninth, Trever Miller pitched only needed one pitch to get out Andre Ethier, who grounded out to Albert Pujols. Ryan Franklin then came in and forced Manny Ramirez to pop out and then Casey Blake flew out to Colby Rasmus to end the game. Blake's shot by all accounts could have left the park, but the wind was clearly blowing in and the game of course was at night. If it was a day game, the game probably would have been tied, but the ball stayed in the park and the Cardinals won 3-2.

The Cardinals, who have won 9 of 10 and 15 of 19, now boast a 68-52 record, and are now six full games in front of the second place Chicago Cubs, who blew a 1-0 lead in the ninth to lose to the San Diego Padres 4-1 in San Diego.

Cardinals Go 4 Up on Cubs with Strong Performance from Carpenter

So what else is new? Chris Carpenter takes the mound and the Cardinals win. Tonight, Carpenter, who improved his record to 12-3, pitched seven innings, gave up 2 runs on 8 hits and 0 walks, and struck out 10 Reds batters. The three runs that the Cardinals got off Homer Bailey in the first inning were all they needed, as the Cardinals beat the Reds 5-2 and won the rubber match of their three game series. Albert Pujols hit his 38th homer, Matt Holliday went 3 for 4, and Ryan Franklin picked up his 28th save.

The Cubs, who entered the evening three games back of the Cardinals, got killed 12-5 by the Philadelphia Phillies. Jeff Samardzija (1-2) only was able to go 3 1/3 innings, and gave up 7 runs on 8 hits in his first start of his career. He was clearly no match for the vaunted Phillies lineup which hit him early and often. Pedro Martinez, who made his first comeback start for the Phillies, gave up 3 runs on 7 hits but struck out 5 and only walked one batter to get the win.

The Cardinals improved their record to 64-52, which ties their season high of 12 games over .500. They now hold a 4 game lead over the Chicago Cubs who with the loss fell to 58-54. The Cubs do not get a break as they go up against red-hot Cliff Lee tomorrow against the Phillies in a day game at Wrigley, while the Cardinals have Thursday off and will rest for their weekend series against the Padres at Busch Stadium.