The game we've been waiting for this season finally came last night, when Mark Mulder went 8 innings and only gave up one run (unearned) for his first win in a Cardinal uni. It also ended a personal 9-game losing streak for Mulder, dating back to his unexplicably disasterous second half last year. I missed most of the game, but the box score alone was a beautiful sight. Mulder might have been able to go out for the 9th too, had it been needed, but the Cards offense 9 runs in the 9th inning. I often wonder what goes though a player's mind when he strolls to the plate in the top of the 9th, already up by a comfortable margin. Maybe So Taguchi and Roger Cedeno just wanted to make sure that Tony wouldn't be tempted to go to his worn out closer, so they combined for 6 RBI's in the 9th to ice the Pirates for LaRussa Insurance.

Also of note, Molina raised his average from .032 to .118 thanks to going 3-for-5. Some say that Yadier is going to turn out just like Matheny: all glove, no hit. But Matheny always seemed to do well in April, and I think it's safe to say that Molina is doing terrible this April. So maybe that means he'll do well the other 5 months of the season? Here's to hoping.

Today's oddity: the Cards scored 11 runs without a hit from either Pujols or Rolen. They did both walk and come around to score once a piece though. Maybe this is a better oddity: Pujols/Rolen 0-for-8 with 0 RBI, Cedeno/Taguchi 4-for-6 with 6 RBI