Boxscore

I thought the Cardinals had this one and that the Brewers would fall to 2 games back of Chicago thanks to the Cubs earlier win. But now, I underestimated the mediocrity of Ryan Franklin.

Having watched Franklin with the Reds, you would think I would have been prepared for the homer Ryan Braun launched off him in the 9th. I guess LaRussa’s bullpen voodoo magic is wearing off.

The win was the Brewers 8th in a row and gave them the sweep of the 4-game series against St. Louis. This is the longest winning streak this century for Milwaukee, the hottest team in the Majors right now. And with pitchers like Sheets and Sabathia in the rotation, it’d be hard not to look over your shoulder if you’re a Cubbie.

The Cardinals look a little tired. At least, the pitchers do. LaRussa wants a trade, but now would be a bad time to trade away the future. Bullpen help is needed, but the best solution might be a starting pitcher who can go more than 5 innings on a regular basis. With Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper, the Cardinals have to use their bullpen for 8 innings every 5 days. That’s rough. If they can address that, they might hang in the race.

Boxscore

The Pirates took no time at all jumping to a lead against one of baseball’s worst teams. I know! I thought the Pirates would be one of those too, but they’ve won 10 more games than the Padres.

Pittsburgh also took the time to show off their players who are leading the trade rumors. Both Jason Bay and Xavier Nady homered, contributing 1/3 of the Pirates’ run total. Sure, it was only against the Padres, but don’t let that dissuade you, potential suitors. These players could totally hit homers against good teams to lead you to the playoffs.

Totally.

The Pirates also got a good outing from Yoslan Herrera, who pitched 6 shutout innings, with 4 strikeouts. That effort halved Herrera’s ERA. That’s right. Before the game, his ERA was 19.50 and now stands at 9.75. Sigh. Poor Pirates.