Boxscore

Skip Schumaker had a walk-off hit to send the Cardinals to their second win in a row and to keep them 2 games behind the Cubs.

Ryan Ludwick continued his torrid home run pace by hitting his 11th of the year, despite being used as a 4th outfielder. How long can he keep that power up?

And Kyle Lohse unearthed a vial of his Dr. Jekyll potion, allowing him to keep the Cardinals in the game against the Rays. It’s been a rocky May for Lohse, but he’s shown improvement in his last few starts. The Cardinals need him to continue pitching well to have any hope of continuing their surprising start.

Like the Reds, the Cardinals head west, young man, sending the strike-throwing Todd Wellemeyer out against the Padres’ Wilfredo Ledezma at 10:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Pirates have been very good so far this month. Obviously, it’s unsustainable–it is the Pirates, after all–but it’s nice to see them win some games for a change. Since sweeping the Giants early in the month, they’ve won three straight series. The Cardinals were their latest victims yesterday.

The game wasn’t a pitchers duel, with both starters leaving around the game’s halfway point and allowing way too many runs for a Quality Start. Instead, they both received a Crappy Start, which I think should be added to the official statistical lexicon.

Then it became a battle of the bullpens, and unfortunately for St. Louis, they have Jason Isringhausen, who is in a huge black funk right now.

The Cardinals try to regroup and uncover the magic elixir that helped them so much in April when they start interleague play against the Devil Rays at 8:15pm EDT, starting Braden Looper against Andy Sonnanstine. The Pirates travel to Chicago at 2:20pm EDT where Tom Gorzelanny will attempt to beat Sean Gallagher and pick up some games in the standings.

Boxscore

As Pat pointed out, Cesar Izturis went 3 for 5 against the Pirates last night, and that never portends good things.

It didn’t for the Pirates, who lost to the Cardinals. Paul Maholm was not sharp, allowing 11 of St. Louis’ 15 hits and getting the loss. Todd Wellemeyer continued to do what he’s done all year, which is pitch surprisingly competent baseball to pick up the win. It’s like Todd is the 2008 St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals needed the win after struggling of late. We get to see the two teams fight again today at 1:15pm EDT when Ian Snell starts against Joel Pineiro.

Boxscore

I meant to write about the Cardinals and their returning to earth yesterday, but couldn’t find the time. It’s a good thing there are games every day.

The Cardinals continued their descent back to expectations, losing to the Pirates in 10. Former Red Kyle Lohse was closer to finding his April doppelganger, but he was still bettered by former Red Phil Dumatrait. Neither starter got a decision, thanks to a game-tying Albert Pujols home run in the 8th.

All that did was send it to extra innings where former Red and Pirate Ron Villone came in for the Cardinals. Villone had been amazing in relief up to this point, but today was not his day. Plus, the Pirates are playing great right now, and there was no stopping the Buccos. Villone gave up four to get the loss.

The two play again tonight, with Paul Maholm for the Pirates and Todd Wellemeyer for the Cardinals, at 8:15pm EDT.

After much delay and many false starts, we finally recorded our 100th Red Hot Broadcast this evening from the left field seats in Victory Field in Indianapolis. Due to the Mother’s Day game being rained out yesterday, the Indians scheduled a double-header, with each game intended to be only seven innings long. Of course, the game was tied at the end of seven, sending the game into the regular number of innings and beyond. At the end of ten (a game and a half), the Indians lost 2-1.

This week on the podcast, we talk about batting out of order, the order of the NLC teams, and our wacky fun weekend of partying.

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