The Cardinals had their ace on the mound in Chris Carpenter on Monday night. Combined with not getting an off day to travel from L.A., it looked like it could be a long night for the Dodgers.
But, the Dodgers responded by putting at least one baserunner on each inning Carpenter was in there, giving them plenty of chances to score.
But (again), four double plays and 11 men left on base doomed all chances. The Cardinals cruised, 6-1.
The final line for Carpenter looks really good, as he only gave up one run in seven innings. A deeper look at his stats shows he also surrendered nine hits, two walks, and hit two batters. It seemed like every time the Dodgers put men on, you'd just wait for them to screw up. It just wasn't their night.
Randy Wolf was the Dodgers' starter, and he ran into trouble right away. He beaned Mark DeRosa with one down. Matt Holliday ripped one off the wall in center for the 1-0 lead. The next inning, an infield hit by Julio Lugo made it 2-0.
From there, Wolf settled down, and ended up with a really good start. His final line was six innings pitched, seven hits, two runs, two walks, and four strikeouts. At 98 pitches, he probably could have gone longer had he not thrown so many the first couple of innings.
The Dodgers were able to cut the lead in half in the third. Matt Kemp singled to lead off, went to second on Wolf's sacrifice bunt, and to third on a wild pitch. Rafael Furcal lifted a sac-fly RBI to right to make it 2-1.
When Wolf exited in the seventh, everything pretty much went to hell after that. James McDonald came on and got rocked. DeRosa greeted him with a home run. Albert Pujols singled, and Holliday reached on Casey Blake's throwing error. Yadier Molina walked an out later, and McDonald was out of there.
Brent Leach came on and promptly gave up an RBI single to Rick Ankiel. Exit Leach, enter Guillermo Mota. Didn't matter, as Brendan Ryan doubled home two, and the final tally was Cardinals up 6-1.
In the eighth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two down, prompting Tony LaRussa to call upon his closer, Ryan Franklin. Kemp grounded into a fielder's choice to end it.
The seventh inning turned the game into a blowout, but the truth is that the Dodgers had so many opportunities, and just could not get that big hit. Manny Ramirez hit into two double plays, and Orlando Hudson and Russell Martin one apiece. It was pretty amazing that it just kept happening over and over.
One good sign from this game was the return of Hong-Chih Kuo. He pitched the eighth and got Lugo, DeRosa, and Pujols in order. Who knows how long this will last, but it's a welcome sight.
Both teams are right back at it tonight, as Chad Billingsley takes on Adam Wainwright. Bills finally put in a good start to get his 10th win last time out, so he'll look to build on a positive.
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