Lineups:

Philly

Rollins-SS
Lofton the clown-cf
Abreu-rf
Thome-1b
Burrell-lf
D. Bell-3b
Utley the rookie-2b
Pratt-c
Floyd-p

Birds

Eckstein-ss
Walker-rf
Pujols-1b
Rolen-3b
Edmonds-cf
Grudzielanek-2b
Sanders-lf
Bird debut for Einar Diaz-c
Suppan-p

Bad luck for Suppan, with the almost DP followed by the almost groundout ricocheting off his leg followed by the 2-out shot off Burrell's bat.

Nice job on the relay to nail Thome at home, but I can't tell who made the throw home---was it Rolen or Eckstein?

Is Al Hrabosky OK today? He's making more mistakes than usual. Jim Thome is the Cards' nemis and the opposing pitcher is Floyd Gavin.

Walker double, Pujols rbi single, and it's tied. And once again Eckstein worked the count to 3-2, before grounding out.

Ouch.... 10 hits, 1k, 2 home runs.

I checked here before the score and was expecting a tie game...

Pretty lame game. It's putting me to sleep.

Those two hits in the first are the only two the Cardinals have, Suppan got tagged for 10 hits in 4+ innings, and Diaz just allowed a passed ball to score the Phillies 6th run.

Maybe a nap will help.

Man, that's another one that got away from Diaz. He's really looking terrible today.

Jeez. Diaz isn't on the team for his bat---the only thing he needs to do is catch. He looks terrible.

Diaz can't hit. He's shown today he can't catch. And now he shows that he can't run the baes either, probably because he's so rarely on them.

Good use of $600,000.

Free Mike Mahoney!!

I just said to my wife, "Some days you're the bird. Some days you're the worm. Today the Cardinals are the worm."

And she said, "No, they're the turd left behind by the bird."

Diaz's performance behind the plate was pathetic but to accuse him of being a poor baserunner for getting doubled off when Cedeno pops up on a hit and run seems a little premature. If anything it was Cedeno's poor hitting that killed it.

My criticism of Diaz had nothing to do with being fair or being discerning in doling out the armchair slagging. It had everything to do with being down 6-1 (or whatever it was) and having those two passed balls fresh in my memory as Deinar was doubled off.

So, Einar: I am sorry. And actually, since he had two of our seven hits, I should cut him some slack, as painful as it was to watch the two-out passed ball on the strike three that allowed Thome to reach before Burrell hit the 3-run jack.