Alright---a four-pitch inning for Carpenter, and that includes a baserunner!!! I hope the Cubs keep up their free-swinging ways.

Walker is the one hitter in this lineup right now that we need to get going... he's KILLING us in the middle of the order...

Wasn't someone complaining yesterday on this board about Walker and all his feeble groundball outs??

And so it continues ...

That was me--I think I made 35 of the 38 in-gane comments last night.

Yeah, the last Cardinal hitter I remember with such a procilivity for weak grounders to the right side was Fernando Vina as he moved rapidly into his Decline Phase seemingly before our very eyes....

Whoops---I missed a batter (and a hit) in my pitch counts for Carp in the 1st. But still, nine pitches ain'y bad, especially when there are two hits in there...

Salvo: The game was on tivo in the evening so I watched 2 hours late. In game comments would have been a little fractured :)

Way to go, Scottie!! That's two doubles to left and a walk in Rolen's last three plate appearances... it would be good to see him come around---has the average up to .218 now.

Boy, Grudz is having a rough day...GIDP and now fans on a ball in the dirt with runners at 2nd and 3rd...you gotta hit the ball, at least, right there....

I hate to type this but:

Carpenter is cruising, he's retired 11 in a row.

As soon as I typed that Lee hit a single.

Something just happened with Henry Blanco batting with runners on 1st and 3rd...but I can't tell what...

Ah yes---appears to have been either a rundown or the old 1-5-3 out at the plate.

And now we got the pitcher up, and he grounds out, and Carpenter has extricated himself nicely...

C'mon Larry---you need to get a hit!!!!

Well, I guess a Larry walker flyout is better than a Larry Walker weak-ass groundout, especially with a runner on first....

Man, Eckstein's hustle made that force at second veeeeerrrrryyyy close.... the choppy video I'm getting, about 2 fps it seems, makes it hard to tell for sure....

Catcher's interference?? Geez, Yady, killing us with the bat isn't enough for you??

Poor Yady. Growing pains are tough to watch.

Dang, is that one run going to hold up??? It's the bottom of the 8th already!

So.... Does LaRussa leave in Carpenter, cruising through 8 innings on just 94 pitches...

or

..because it's a "save" situation, and Izzy's "role" is the "closer," and it's important for Tony's players to know their role and to be used in that role, does Tony yank Carpenter and let Izzy start the 9th?

I say Tony will yank Carpenter. He'd leave him in if the score were 4-0, but not 1-0. If it's 1-0, that'd be a save, and you need to use the closer when there's a save at stake.

An out by Larry Walker here will drop his average below .200....

Never mind, Walker just redeemed himself!

Finally. And the average stays above the Mendoza line.

Double by Pujols, now let's get another for a little more insurance...

Well, salvo, it's 4-0...

So now that it's 4-0, maybe Carp gets to finish it. :)

YEOW ROLEN!!! Now there's the 4-run lead---that should Carpenter in there!!! They are teeing off this raggedy-arm Cub bullpen here in the 8th!!!

All it took was getting to the Cubs bullpen. Hopefully this sinks in and the Cardinals start taking some pitches early.

I hope carpenter stays in, he's only thrown 94 pitches and he's got room to squirm.

The Cards have two guys up in the bullpen. C'mon, Tony, let Carp try for the shutout.

Only having to throw 2 pitches for the first two batters makes it a lot easier for Carpenter.

Cmon complete game shutout.

C'mon...give him one more...

C'mon Carp!!! Finish these guys off!!!!!!!

There we go! That's a winner!

Wow, 8 total runs scored in these two games. Good pitching all around (except for the Cub bullpen).

Attaboy, Carp!!! With 2 out, he gets three straight hitters at two strikes, and then finally freezes Barrett!! Outstanding effort by Carpenter---our first 3-game winner of the young season!!