Braves 8, Cardinals 6

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – September 10, 2010 – ESPN.

You gotta love the big inning.

Mike Minor was victimized, primarily, by the opposing starter. (See, LaRussa knows it’s a good idea to hit the pitcher eighth!) In the second, Chris Carpenter gave the Cards the lead with a two-out single. Nate McLouth tied it up with a solo homer in the second.

Then it was the Cards’ turn to get homers, a two-run shot in the third, then a solo shot by Carpenter in the fourth, making it 4-1 at the time. Brian McCann singled in Martin Prado in the bottom of the inning, cutting it to 4-2. Minor left after pitching to one man in the sixth. In the bottom of that inning, the floodgates opened.

Brooks Conrad, Folk Hero, hit for Peter Moylan and singled. Omar Infante reached on one of his many infield singles, and Jason Heyward drove Conrad home with another single to make it 4-3. Prado came up with the big blow, a double to score Infante to tie it, moving Heyward to third. McCann hit what should have been a go-ahead flyout, but the outfielder botched it and both Heyward and Prado scored, with McCann getting to second. Derrek Lee singled him in to make it 7-4. Because things were going so well, Bobby had McLouth bunt (the Cards can’t get an out, let’s give them one!), Alex Gonzalez singled Lee to third, and he scored on a Melky Cabrera sac fly, 8-4.

Since nothing is ever easy, Jonny Venters allowed two runs, one “unearned”, in a flaky seventh where he didn’t allow any hard hits but the defense didn’t do him a lot of favors. As designed, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner mowed the Cards down in the eighth and ninth respectively. Bleeding stopped, for now.

278 thoughts on “Braves 8, Cardinals 6”

  4. Haikus are not the answer.
    Neither are the Mets.
    Burn a Koran. And you are the infidel.
    Burn a Bible. And no one notices.
    Oops. Too much politics.
    Let’s burn the tips of the wings of a Cardinal.
    And nail the bird to the damn wall.
    And miles to go before we sleep.

  5. Twenty-three innings
    Or a bunch of injuries
    In San Diego

    That would help a lot
    To ensure our playoff spot;
    I don’t care who wins.

  9. Animal Collective : Summertime Clothes ::
    Beach Boys : Good Vibrations

    Except that the Paws had better songs in their sleeve and didn’t implode to make said song. Discuss. In haiku form.

    Oh, and also, what a friggin monster win. and I’ve really little more refined to say about it. We end up at least splitting this thing and this is an off-the-mat moment that we’ve lacked for quite a while in the late months.

    If, if, if. I jinx nothing. We’re losing tomorrow, big.

  10. Tulowitzki seems to have taken up where Cargo left off. Colorado may end up being the primary WC challenger–assuming the Phillies keep rolling and the Padres keep tanking.

  11. Shorter all Rockies hitters:

    – Straight half-a** standing stance
    – Semi-interested leg kick
    – Decent swing
    – 500 feet

  14. Our best chance really is if the Giants and Padres split the series they’re currently playing, and the Rockies sweep their series against each of those teams.

    It’s all academic unless we handle the Phils. Four of 6, and we can win the division. Split or worse, we might be out no matter what happens in the west.

  16. If I had my choice, I would much rather the Padres make the playoffs. Their pitching doesn’t scare me and their only godd hitter is A. Gonzalez.

    Basically, anybody but the Rockies.

  17. It’s 2:30 am and in a sleepy little bar in Counce,TN tonight I watched as a Philly fan got his ass beat. It was quite the scene complete with crying, god what a good night.

  20. Marc @ 16 –

    I have spent a lot of time in Counce. Do you live there? If not, what brings you to such a small (though charming) place?

  26. @15 “anybody but the rockies”
    truer words have never been spoken. Unless some how the marlins miraculously made the playoffs.

  32. Come on, you Bulldogs!
    Carolina ain’t that good.
    Hunker down once more!

    (I apologize
    But we’ve got some time to kill
    Before the Braves start)

  36. Poor Aaron Murray
    Has no good wide receivers
    To throw the ball to

    Marcus Lattimore
    Is a big, bad, burly beast
    Like Herschel Walker

  43. Wow QB draw on 3rd and 9. Pretty much Richt announcing “I’m happy with the field goal”. He should trust that QB a little more. He looks pretty good.

  45. SEE HOW A FUMBLE AT THE GOAL LINE FEELS, GEORGIA?!?!?!

    (For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Carolina lost 2 games close to the end of the game like that)

  47. 1. Infante 2B, 2. Heyward RF, 3. Prado 3B, 4. McCann C, 5. Lee 1B, 6. McLouth CF, 7. Gonzalez SS, 8. Cabrera LF

  48. I’m starting to think Alex’s Georgia preview oversold the Dogs a little.

    (Actually I thought that at the time, but you know what I mean)

  52. Hell of a showing in Kansas today. That game was pretty irritating to watch. Georgia losing eases the pain, but only a little.

  54. #50 – but with the best offensive line, the second best tandom of backs in the SEC and the deepest pool of tight ends…only six points? Mostly kidding of course. I hope Alex isn’t reading this.

    I see that my Trojans opponent next weekend, Minnesota, was downed by mighty South Dakota today. It seems like the D-II teams are doing better this year.

  58. Another QB draw on third and long. Jim Tressel joins Mark Richt on Team ‘I don’t really trust my QB, give me the three points’.

  69. Anyone blocked out on mlb.tv and/or Extra Innings? Any fancy work arounds? I’m in NY and should be able to see it…

  70. very good AB’s from Prado, Bmac, Lee, and Nate. AAG killed it with three pitches, only one was a strike

  74. @71, I get the audio feed through my MLB iPhone app and was just wondering if there was a way to get video. But thank you!

  75. At the end of the 1st inning, Jim Powell said:

    “And so the Braves strike first…well, I don’t know if strike is the right word.”

    He’s a pretty funny guy.

  80. Every pitcher facing the Braves should intentionally walk the bases loaded at the beginning of every inning.

  82. The drop id Tommy’s velocity over the past year is pretty damn alarming. His fastball sat at 94-95 last year. Now he’s hitting 89-91.

  83. @76, No problem. Fox Saturday games are usually blacked out. I can’t believe Extra Innings hasn’t figured a way around that by now considering I’m not in the area.

  86. @82

    That Fox has exclusive rights over multiple games is pretty infuriating. I pay extra money to watch every Braves game, not to watch every Braves Game as long as Fox says it’s okay.

  88. I do think Hanson was throwing harder earlier this year. Look at his K rates since the ASB, though he’s still been successful.

  89. he hit 94 twice last inning, seems like he always picks up his velocity the further he gets in games

    and 95 here to Pujols

    he’s fine

  105. Bethany, the radio link that you gave is now playing some hard hitting political talk. Does anybody have a radio link that is working by chance ?

  124. @110

    When I’m at the ballpark I will yell relentlessly at the people attempting to start the wave. I’ve found that the same sheep who go along with the wave are equally discouraged to start a wave if some drunk guy is screaming that the wave sucks, and that anyone who participates is an asshole.

  129. Against righties, Ankiel has an 800 OPS. Against lefties, Diaz has an 813 OPS. Both are decent left fielders. If we’re going with McLouth in center, just platoon those two guys and relegate Melky and Hinske to the bench, where they belong. This is such a no-brainer.

  131. I don’t mind Heyward leading of the next inning. With the way we are scoring runs, we should try to steal some.

  141. @136

    Except that it was a different pitcher out there in the sixth inning. Jason had already had a HR off of Reyes earlier in the year. So Infante getting thrown out actually probably resulted in a more favorable pitching matchup for Jason (though admittedly with the bases empty)

  155. @ 151

    Problem is Saito pitched yesterday too, and we all know how he is pitching when pitching two days in a row. The 8th inning alternatives are probably Farnsworth or Moylan. I think I’d take Venters..

    Ugh, that boot by Prado is going to cost us..

  157. Sucks sitting through the commercial when you know Pujols is going to kill us when the game starts back.

  158. The Escobar trade is going to suck forever and it will be the reason I stay bitter and hateful for the rest of my life.

  161. Wow Prado, that error couldn’t have been more poorly timed. Pujols’ AB is going to decide the game, one way or another, I think.

  167. True. Had just clicked back and didn’t know the situation. I recant my comment on Venters tiring. (in this case)

  169. And Melky still in the game. You’d think that with Cox’s propensity to make moves every three minutes he’d manage to get the worst player on the roster out of the game.

  177. I like how the Fox announcers are acting like putting Wagner in the game to pitch a tie game in the 9th at home is a desperate, unorthodox move.

  200. braves14 (or anybody else in the Columbia area) – what the hell is up with the Dale Murphy commercial?

  204. And that’s 0-5 for the Melkiest Man in the World.

    203- Bottom of the seventh in a double switch, to put Venters in the game.

  207. This is perilously close to having me miss the beginning of the race. I demand the team win it next inning.

  209. Does anyone else mentally check out of the inning when you see Ankiel with two out, or Gonzalez followed by Melky with one out?

  233. Bobby, see using that guy can make your life easier. Please remember this going forward this month.

  234. If he can get the walks under control he will be a very good reliever. He just hasn’t shown he can do it consistently yet.

  236. Geez, what the hell got into Kimbrel? That was impressive.

    McCann, batter, batter….end it Brian, please.

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