Cardinals 11 (ELEVEN!!!) Pirates 1

The amazing thing is I don't think we've even hit rock bottom yet.

Tonight was a joke, plain and simple. Rob Mackowiak sits because he can't hit lefties, but Daryle Ward plays (Mack was 4-for-13 against lefties going into tonight, Daryle Ward has 5 hits all year), but somehow Mackowiak is good enough to hit against Mulder in the bottom of the 8th when Lloyd wants a homer. I'm honestly so upset about this I'm shaking with rage just thinking about it.

Anyways, unsurprisingly Mark Mulder found the form that has eluded him since the All-Star break LAST YEAR. It's not hard for pitchers to hit their stride against the Pirates this year. Gary Glover did it, so it's not exactly a shock Mulder did. (When the Cards went up 2-0 in the second I commented that they might as well stop playing because the Pirates wouldn't score 2 runs all game, and I was right).


Then there's the ninth inning. After Rick White had a career 2 innings (6 up, 6 down, dropping his ERA to 7.94), Brian Meadows came in to hold down the fort in the 9th. He instead gave up 6 runs in 1/3 of an inning. With three runs already in and the bases loaded with no outs, McClendon decided it was an ideal opportunity to give Ryan Vogelsong his first work in a week (Vogelsong and Bobby Hill must attempted to kill Lloyd's entire extended family or something; Hill sat the entire game again, and is 0-for-0 with a walk since going 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, 2 runs score, and a game winning double on Friday). Anyways, as anyone that knows baseball already knew, bringing Vogelsong in at this point could only end badly, and it did. He allowed all three of Meadows runners to score, as well as three he put on base all by himself. The fielders pretty much quit attempting to get to balls out of their immediate reach and the end result was nine in the ninth.

Poor Dave Williams makes a solid start only to watch the offense stand around with their hands in their pockets so the bullpen can make the lead big enough they don't have to try. Lloyd called an immediate team meeting after the game, but he emerged to talk to the press 10 minutes later which unfortunately means the players didn't lynch him on the spot. I'm sure he had some inspiring words for the team tonight. Like I said, things are only going to get worse.

ESPN link for all the masochists here