I'll cry if that's the case.

Same lineup for StL as on the other Opening Day:

Eckstein-ss
Walker-rf
Pujols-1b
Rolen-3b
Edmonds-cf
Grudzielanek-2b
Sanders-lf
Molina-c
Mulder-p

for Philly:

Rollins-ss
Polanco-2b
Abreu-rf
Burrell-lf
Thome-1b
D. Bell-3b
Michaels-cf
Lieberthal-c
Lidle-p

Okay, it was against A-ball competition, but Matt Morris pitched 4 innings for Palm Beach last night and while he did allow 2 runs on 4 hits, he also fanned 9 and threw 52 strikes in 67 pitches.

I guess, all in all, that's good news....

And here comes Mulder's first pitch as a Cardinal...

BASE HIT line drive to left.

Can only get better. Unless it gets worse...

And now a walk to Polanco.....

That's OK, you gotta get used to working out of jams.

Okay, error by Grudz, new guy jitters, that's OK, base loaded nobody out, it's just the first, we got 9 innings we got 159 more games...

Okay, bobble by Eckstein, more new guy jitters, that's OK, we didn't get the DP but we got the force, it's only 1-0, we'll get 'em in our half.

That's OK, shot by Bell down the third-base line, run scores, got the slow guys on base, Thome and Bell clogging things up, c'mon guys keep fighting...

Hey alright ScottyRolen!! Waytogo DEFENSE!!

Now let's beat this punk up!!!

Attaboy ECK!! HBP! Giving up the body for the greater good!!

WoooEEE, rope by Walker offa Thome....2 on, 0 out, c'mon Albert, let's do some damage!

Sending Larry Walker avoided the DP there... Birds need a hit here, or at least a "productive out".... which they just got from a first-pitch-swinging Scotty Rolen, rbi ground smash to Bell.

Okay, this is just kind of ugly.

Mulder, in 1+, has now allowed as many hits as Danny Haren did in 6 innings last night...

Alright, nice job by Mulder wriggling out of a jam by getting Polanco to whiff. 35 pitches in two innings, though, isn't so good...

8-pitch inning for Lidle, and with a base hit in there, no less. And now we get Mulder leading off next inning.

C'mon, Mulder, how 'bout a 1-2-3!!!!

Christ. Another 3-2 count...

Groan. He's not fooling anybody out there today. Long at-bats, lots of pitches, lots of hard-hit balls...

whoah, and the 55-foot breaking ball that bounds past Molina. This is brutal.

I hate it when they make me work on game days....

I take it back, Mulder is fooling somebody. Pat Burrell just swung over the top of three pitches.

2005 DER aren't up anywhere I can find yet, but it seems like the cards are giving up lots of hits this year. (2 and 1/3 games into the season).

And yet another multi-baserunner inning. Let's see if Mulder can escape without either allowing multiple runs OR throwing at least 25 pitches.

Well, after another David Bell rbi, that's 15 pitches and still just one out...

the strategy of giving up hits and throwing out the runners is riskier than I'd like to see.

God, the Phillies are just pasting Mulder. That's another hit, another run, and head-up D by Pujols to nail Bell trying to advance to 3rd.

Mulder can still get out of the inning with fewer than 25 pitches, unless he's yanked before then...

Okay, that wasn't so bad, just 2 more runs, and now 53 pitches through three.

I'd be more encouraged if the Phillies didn't already put 9 guys on base.

Mulder looks much better at bat than he has on the mound so far. That was a decent drive to left.

Ball 1.
Ball 2.

Mulders killing me.

Finally a strike.

awesome. He brought it back. First time in the game the lead runner hasn't made it on.

Okay, there's the 1-2-3 inning!! With just 12 pitches!!

Now let's score a few runs!!

So much for the shift to get Mulder facing the Phils' lefties.

Here we go again...fisrt 2 on, fourth time in 5 inninsg with at least 2 on, now it's nobody out and the heart of the order up.

It looks like we got the Mark Mulder from the second half of '04...although I don't know why we expected something else... half a season is an awfully long "slump"

Now that was a nice sequence:

Swinging strike
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Swinging strike

And we finally retire David Bell.

I told you the allow the hit then throw the runners out method was risky.

Abreau scores when molina drops the ball. Molina, unsatisfied with not hitting, has decided to not catch either.

But then a rope to right.

Another run.

Please. Make it stop.

Come and get him, Tony.

On the plus side, Mulder hasn't allowed a homer yet, and his pitch count of 89 through 5 innings is a little inflated by that intentional walk---those 4 shouldn't count.

Er, why did Mulder bat there?

maybe he's 1-2 lifetime against lidle.

That was pretty odd. I think Tony's all about building people up this time of year. He wants mulder to go 5-6 so his confidence doesn't get destroyed.

Get on walker. Bring pujols up.

I suppose, but Mulder's confidence isn't going to be much better if (when?) he gets removed in the top of the sixth.

On the search for the silver lining... at least Eck and Albert made Lidle work that inning...

Wow! A six-pitch, 1-2-3 inning for Mulder!!!

The Birds didn't score in the 5th, but they had some nice extended at-bats and made Lidle work.

Now they need to get BUSY!!!

I'm not saying Tony should have left mulder in, I'm just trying to guess why.

Alright, 2 on, 1 out for Reggie.

Reggie needs to get a hit. Maybe even a homer.

Man, that was the first ugly hack I've seen Sanders take so far in 2005.

I know, Josh. But I'd guess 50% of the time when TLR lets his starter hit for himself with a pitch count at 85+ that he then takes his starter at most an inning later. I don't think TLR has figured out that it's OK every once and a while to let your starter leave work a half hour early.

HEYYYY!!!! An extra-base hit!!! That ball JUST MISSED being a 3-run homer.

Lidel went to the well once too often there---the third straight soft toss on the outer half, and Reggie swung and missed the firts two.

But he put the third one just under the yellow line 400 feet away.

Rob: I agree, I think he doesn't look that far ahead. It's endlessly frustrating to see the pitcher bat and then get pulled int he next inning.

So close by sanders... so very close.

Who'da thunk Lidle gets pulled before Mulder? And that he'd have thrown just one fewer pitch than Mulder?

Molina needs a hit to make Lidle have allowed just one fewer run than Mulder as well....

Why Luna and not Mabry there?

Is the cards bench really so weak that Hector Luna was our best pinch hitting possibility?

Roger Cedeno and So Taguchi were the other two options from the right side.

You know why that was Hector Luna pinch-hitting instead of, say, John Mabry?

That's right---because Tony's index card says so.

I wonder what John Gall is doing right now.

I just checked Terry Adams' splits, and righties consistently do better against him than lefties---huge difference last year, as well as a significant split the past 3 yaers.

Ma, nice inning by Al Reyes!!! Two swinging strikeouts!!!

All RIGHT!!! Now we're cookin!!!!

Eckstein has been great so far---great at-bats, the only gut getting on base at a consistent clip. That's four times on base today!!!

No outs, 2 on. Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds due up. Things are looking up.

4 groundouts for pujols today.

That was really anticlimatic.

Sh*t!!! Well, at least it's a run.

Albert hasn't had a very good day.... Eckstein and Walker have been on base 6 times in front of him, including twice when both were on with nobody out, and Albert keeps hitting meek little ground balls.

He needs to strike out once to get that out of the way so he can go back to being a monster.

Well that was a dumb baserunning play. They'd have had 1st and 3rd, nobody out....

Clever move by Al Reyes to get Madson running the bases?

Reyes would like me to point out his ERA is below 10 now.

C'mon reggie. A home run here would be mighty nice. A hit would be great.

there's mabry

Bases Loaded for Roger Cedeno!

hmmm.... only one out avoid the double play. Get to eckstein.

Why is marquis running?

The roster dregs have had a great day all-around. The kingpins obviously have not. The way the day's gone, Cedeno will homer here, then Isringhausen will blow the lead.

I don't know that I've ever said anything bad about David Eckstein, but if I have I take it all back.

Cmon walker any hit and cards lead.

That was an impressive comeback.

Kenny F. Lofton to finish it.

damn it! Keep getting pulled into meetings at the best parts of the game.

Awesome comeback.

Wow!! They came back!! I had to leave work after the 7th, and I flip on the computer to check out the status---I figure the game's over---and I see that the Birds picked up three in the 8th!!!

But it's not over yet---Izzy iz in for the 9th. And as usual, it gets hairy: Izzy loads the bases for the second time in a row, but squirms out of it.

Eckstein reached base, what, five times today?

Even though it took a Philly bullpen meltdown---as opposed to pure Cardinal skill and talent---to win the game, that was a great victory.

Mulder REALLY struggled, but stayed in for 6, and had a good inning in there towards the end, and then Reyes looked sharp and our hitters wouldn't swing at balls.

An ugly game that becomes a win, and we're 2-1.

Go Birds!