Yesterday I went to the Cubs vs. Cardinals game in St. Louis with my wife and her family. It was a lot of fun. I always enjoy going to the ballpark in St. Louis, eventhough I don't like the Cardinals. In fact, I can't stand the Cardinals, and it's mostly because they are always good. Since I was a kid it seems like they have been right there at the top of the N.L. Central. I can't remember the last time they just sucked.
Anyways, the new Busch Stadium is a very nice place to watch a baseball game. There is not a bad seat in the stadium, most seats put you right on top of the action, and you have the St. Louis Arch in the background, which is pretty cool too. I still love Wrigley Field, and would much rather go there to watch the Cubs play, but St. Louis closer, and much, much cheaper.
The game was actually pretty exciting. It was unbelievably hot, and you could tell it was affecting some of the players on the field, most notably Chris Carpenter, starting pitcher for the Cardinals. He just didn't look right. Normally he is very sharp, getting ahead in the count with 4-seam and tailing fastballs, then finishing off hitters with a good change-up, and a devastating curve ball. However, in yesterday's game he fell behind quite a few hitters early, and couldn't seem to put anybody away when he got two strikes. He didn't pitch horribly, but you come expect Carpenter to bring his best stuff to each game, and to me it was pretty clear that he didn't have it in this game. After having a 1-0 lead on the Matt Holliday sac fly going into the second inning, Carpenter gave up a first pitch lead off homer to Aramis Ramirez in the second inning, a one out Marlon Byrd double, and then a two out RBI double to Koyie Hill. That is when I knew something wasn't quite right with Carpenter. The homer to Ramirez didn't surprise me, it was a hot day, the ball was jumping in batting practice, and Ramirez has good power to all fields. But giving up an RBI extra base hit to Koyie Hill (who struggles to hit against any other team's worst starter) made me think that the heat was getting to Carpenter.
Derrek Lee also hit a solo homerun in the third inning (his second homer of the series), and that was all the Cubs would need. I was hoping to get a better showing from Starlin Castro, who looks like he could be a perennial all-star for years to come. I was also hoping to see a good performance from the pitching staff, and (holy crap) it actually happened.
When I originally saw the pitching match up for the game (Capenter, 13-3, 2.95 ERA vs. Zambrano, 3-6, 5.70 ERA) I expected the Cardinals would win by at least 3 or 4 runs. However, Zambrano pitched a fantastic game in just his second start back from his trip to the restricted list in June. He was getting ahead of hitters all game, and only ended up with 2 walks in the game, which doesn't sound fantastic when you consider that his counter part didn't walk any Cubs hitters, but Zambrano has struggled with control all season. Yesterday he started to look like the Carlos Zambrano of 2-3 years ago, which was refreshing to see.
Big Z did get into some stressful situations during the game. In the first inning he had runners on second and third with only one out and Matt Holliday at the plate. He managed to give up only one run (a Holliday sac-fly), and really kept his team in the game early. After getting 3 runs of support in the next two innings, Zambrano cruised through 4 innings, and got the first 2 outs of the fifth inning before a walk and back-to-back singles loaded to bases for Holliday again. He kept his poise on the mound, talked to his teammates and pitching coach, and eventually got Holliday to ground out to third. Zambrano did give up one run in the sixth inning on a Randy Winn RBI base hit with two outs. He exited the game at that point with 5 2/3 innings pitched, 2 runs allowed, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He lowered his ERA from 5.70 to 5.27. All signs of a positive outing from Big Z.
Then came the bullpen. Marcos Mateo retired his only batter faced to get out of the sixth inning. Sean Marshall pitched a solid 1 1/3 innings, hi-lighted by a strikeout of Albert Pujols to end the seventh inning. Carlos Marmol looked pretty dominant. He recorded a 5 out save, which included an overwhelming strikeout of Allen Craig (3 straight sliders down and away) with Pujols on deck to end the game. The only blunder of the game happened in the bottom of the ninth, when Aaron Miles took second base on a wild throw to first from Ramirez. At that point many Cub fans (myself included) were just waiting for the implosion, but it didn't happen. Carlos Marmol looks like he could be the most dominant closer in the N.L. Central, if not the entire N.L., when he has control of his pitches. If he can throw his fastball for strikes and locate it well, nobody can hit him. That slider is nasty.
Overall it was a very fun game. If you ever get a chance to go to the Cubs/Cards rivalry in St. Louis, do yourself a favor and go. The stadium is state of the art, and most of the Cardinal fans are really pretty good about the rivalry. Lots of friendly fire and jokes about the baseball teams, but not a whole lot of truly ridiculous hate. Also, while the beer prices seem awfully high ($8.50 for one), it is a 24 oz. can if you leave your seat and go to the vendors on the concourse. Not bad for a big beer at the ballpark.
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