Cards Capt a 20-6 August with a Win vs. the Nationals, Wainwright Earns 16th Win

The Cardinals continued their winning ways on Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals. Adam Wainwright was effective but not spectacular as he gave up 3 hits and 3 walks but only one run over 6 innings. An Albert Pujols RBI single driving in Colby Rasmus in the sixth gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead, and the bullpen kept the lead the rest of the way to give Adam Wainwright (16-7) his MLB leading win total. Ryan Franklin came in in the eighth with two outs and recorded a four-out save, his 35th of the year.

The Cardinals, who improved their record to a season best 22 games over .500 at 77-55, completed a sweep of the Washington Nationals and are currently 5-1 on this homestand. The second place Cubs, who lost to the New York Mets today 4-1, now own a record of 65-63 and are 10 full games back of the Cardinals.

the Cardinals are off tomorrow, and finished the month of August with an amazing 20-6 record. The Chicago Cubs on the other hand, who play Houston on the last day of August tomorrow, have gone 11-16 in August (so far), so the Cardinals have gained 9.5 games on the Cubs just in August. At the beginning of the month, the Cardinals were in first place but only a half game ahead of the Cubs. In an amazing month, the Cardinals have basically put the Cubs away.

the Cardinals now have September to prepare for the playoffs and hope to earn the best record in the National League in order to secure home field advantage. The Cardinals trail the LA Dodgers by 1.5 games for the best record in the NL, and with an easy schedule, the Cardinals have a good chance of catching them. Go Cardinals!

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.

Astros vs. Cardinals Series Preview

The streaking St. Louis Cardinals (72-54) begin a nine game homestand when they take on the Houston Astros (61-63) who are 10 games behind but have won 4 out of their last five games and do not fear the Cardinals. Although the Astros are 4-5 against the Cardinals this season, the Astros swept the Cardinals a little over a month ago in Houston, and are 4-2 in their last six against the Cards.

The series will feature three great pitching matchups. On Tuesday, Wandy Rodriguez (12-7) will face Adam Wainwright (14-7). On Wednesday, Roy Oswalt (7-4) will face Joel Pineiro (12-9). On Thursday in the finale, the Astros will pitch Brian Moehler (8-9) against staff ace Chris Carpenter (14-3). The Cardinals have an opportunity to give both Wainwright and Carpenter their 15th wins of the season, which will most likely continue to tie them for the league lead.

The Cardinals need to win, because the Cubs have an opportunity to gain ground as they host the Washington Nationals for a three-game series.

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.

No One is Coming to the NL Central Party

Have you ever had a party where you invited a bunch of friends and no one showed up? That situation describes the St. Louis Cardinals and the National League Central Division race.

Only a month ago, many thought that the NL Central race would go down to the very last day. After July 22nd, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Houston were all within 2 games of each other and Pittsburgh, the last place team in the division was only 7.5 games out.

Since then, the only team to show up to the party has been the St. Louis Cardinals. Since July 22nd, the NL Central teams have the following records:

Cardinals 19-8
Chi. Cubs 13-15 (6.5 games lost)
Milwaukee 11-15 (7.5 games lost)
Houston 11-16 (8 games lost)
Cincinnati 7-20 (12 games lost)
Pittsburgh 8-18 (10.5 games lost)

The Caridnals, who own a record of 70-54, are now 7.5 games ahead of the second place Chicago Cubs ((61-60). Although the Cardinals of course have had a great run, nobody else in the division has even come close to keeping up with the Cardinals. The Cardinals don't seem to be winning it so much as the rest of the division is losing it. With one good month, the Cardinals have put themselves in a very good spot to win the division with ease.

It's a shame noone came to our party.

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.