It wasn't pretty, but it was dramatic. Down 5-1, the Cardinals scored a run in the 6th when the ball popped out of CF Jason Michaels' glove as he collided with the wall, scored another run in the 7th on an Albert Pujols GIDP, and capped the scoring with three in the 8th. The 8th inning could've been very different. After Jason Michaels ruined a potential big eighth inning for the Phils by getting gunned down at third with nobody out, the Cardinals half featured three little singles, a sac fly, a scrappy 8-pitch walk from David Eckstein to load the bases, a not-even-close walk to Larry Walker to tie the game and a walk to Pujols to drive home the winning run (scored by Jason Marquis). Charlie Manuel got a little bit cute and kept his ace Billy Wagner in the pen, opting for lefty Aaron Fultz against Walker and Pujols. Jason Isringhausen loaded the bases in the 9th, but K'd the evil Kenny Lofton to finish the game.

That whole paragraph is just ugly.

Mark Mulder started and he wasn't sharp. It looked like that would be the big story, but don't let the line of 4 ER, 5 R in 6 IP fool you. In the first inning the Grudzielanek error was a tailor-made 4-6-3 and Thome's grounder should've been an inning-ending 6-4-3. Lieberthal's double in the second was more about placement than power. They both would've been good plays, but Grudzielanek could've caught Bobby Abreu's line drive to lead off the third inning and Sanders could've caught David Bell's RBI knuckler. Yadier Molina dropped the ball on the play at the plate for the final Phillies run in the fifth. One of Mulder's walks was intentional and the only ball really hit hard was Abreu's double to deep center. In short, it certainly wasn't a good outing, but we're not any closer to knowing whether we'll get the Good Mulder or the Bad Mulder.

Star of the game goes to Eckstein as he reached base all five times today, although points should be deducted since he runs to first on walks. While the two pitchers with big contracts struggled, Al Reyes looked sharp, perhaps due to the absence of Ed Montague. Tip your cap to Pat Burrell, who plays pretty good defense in left considering his eyes are closed.