Cardinals teach the Dodgers a winning lesson

I'm glad the schedule does not have anymore games against the Cardinals this year.

After hitting a couple solo homers to tie the game in the seventh, the Dodgers watched helplessly as the Cardinals once again made the big play late to win, 3-2. On the season, the Dodgers went 2-5 against a team they could very well see in the playoffs.

The game was a matchup of two stud pitchers in Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright. Unfortunately for L.A., Kershaw had one of those erratic nights in which the strike zone couldn't be found with a telescope. He lasted only 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and four walks. Yet somehow, he only surrendered two runs.

Wainwright, on the other hand, was simply brilliant. He had a no-hitter going into the sixth, when Orlando Hudson mercifully singled up the middle with one down. The rest of the lineup was just pathetic.

With such a large difference in the effectiveness of the starters, it was a shocker that the Cardinals were only up 2-0 entering the seventh. The Cards left 12 on base for the night, so there's your reason why.

The bats finally came to life in the seventh. With one out, Andre Ethier connected for a homer to center to go down 2-1. After Manny Ramirez flied out, Casey Blake crushed one to deep left, and Dodger Stadium was rocking with the score tied at two.

Here is where the real difference between the two teams came into play. The Cardinals proved they knew how to get the job done late, and the Dodgers did not.

Albert Pujols was down 0-2 in the count against Jonathan Broxton to lead off the ninth, and then slowly worked a walk. That was a killer, as Pujols stole second and took third on a horrible throw by Russell Martin. Matt Holliday lifted a sac-fly RBI, and it was 3-2.

Ethier tried to start a rally in the bottom of the frame by getting plunked on the first pitch. It didn't matter as Manny, Blake, and James Loney couldn't score him, and that was it.

The Dodgers have had their fair share of late-inning heroics this season, no doubt. But the Cardinals have taught them a lesson this season in how to be a great team. It's safe to say that the Cards are the cream of the crop in the NL right now, and the Dodgers have some work to do to regain lost momentum from early in the season.

To make matters worse, both the Rockies and Giants won again in one-run games. Now the lead in the NL West is down to 3 and 1/2 and five. Maybe the Dodgers should start keeping an eye on that Wild Card slot just in case.

Two struggling teams will lock up for four in L.A. as the Cubs come to town. They've been off and on all year, and have recently suffered a five-game slide. So both teams will look to get something positive going. Jeff Weaver gets another spot start.