Boxscore

Apparently, I missed the Diamondbacks acquiring David Eckstein for their infield needs down the stretch. Yesterday, both the former Cardinal and the former Red Adam Dunn patrolled the same side of the infield for Arizona.

Dunn hit his 35th home run of the year and Eckstein drove in a couple against his old team to propel the team to a come-from-behind win.

The win kept Arizona 2.5 games ahead of Los Angeles, who also won today. The loss for St. Louis, has me calling their season done. They’re a good team–better than expected, by far–and they’ve put in a good 2008, but I think it’s over now. Time for them to start playing spoiler. I imagine they’ll do a far better job of it than the Reds.

Boxscore

The Cardinals found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot last night: everyone saying their season was finished. So of course, the Cards scored 4 runs in the 8th and beat the Brewers 5-3.

Aaron Miles knocked in what would be the winning run, while Felipe Lopez added another for good measure. The win keeps St. Louis in 2nd place in the wild card, 3.5 back of Milwaukee with Philadelphia nipping at their heels.

It’s been a wild and crazy season for the Cardinals. They continue to surprise, finding ways to win, much like Dusty Baker’s teams find ways to lose.

Boxscore

The Cardinals were hoping to sweep the Reds yesterday, but that failed when they ran into the awesome might of young Edinson Volquez. Not even the wizardry of Kyle Lohse could save them.

Volquez had a no-hitter going for a while, so powerful were his pitches. He left the game after allowing 3 in 7 innings. He struck out 4 and allowed no runs, lowering his ERA to 2.73. Even the suckitude of the Reds was no match for Volquez today.

You know I think Edinson himself might keep the Reds from losing 100 games this year.

As much as this season sucks for Reds fans, it’s got to suck even harder for the players. I mean, sure, they’re making the big bucks, but I can escape the games by going to work. For them, the games are the work. When I’m in the office, only a handful of people give me grief about how bad the team is; for them, all 10,000 people who bother to show up let them know about it. And if I really need my decent-team fix, I can just look at the Cubs, Brewers, or Cardinals, all of whom are within the scope of my blog and none of whom are rotten. All the Reds players can do is hope to be traded to Arizona.

In fact, what I actually do is get so busy doing other things, that I end up stocking up almost a month’s worth of content to cram into on podcast. Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Boxscore

Whoever had chosen the number 3 has won the “How many games before Chris Carpenter’s injured again sweepstakes.” Congratulations.

The Cubs pretty much ended the Cardinals season on ESPN for all the world not watching the Olympics to see. Chicago won the 3-game series and dropped St. Louis to a distant 3rd place. Yes, the Cardinals, who have defied the odds all season, are now 7 games back. They’re now closer to fourth place than first, and I’m afraid that they’re magical run is nearly done.

Not even the amazing Felipe Lopez can save them now.

Chicago was pretty much awesome. Sure they got blown out in the second game of the series, but that happens. The Cubs, as difficult as it is to believe, are a very good team managed by a crazy, but very good manager.

You know, the Reds had the opportunity to get Lou Piniella. I believe they stayed pat with Jerry Narron instead. Good call, Castellini.