Ollie and Soup

Not sure why, but I have a good feeling about Perez taking the mound tonight. It seemed to me that his last outing was decent, even if the numbers didn't bear that out (great against some hitters, awful against others). The Cards will probably trot out a lineup similar to the one they did last night, one that amounts to Albert Pujols and a bunch of stiffs (well, there's that Rolen guy too, but Pujols is just on a different planet right now). Anyways, given Perez's propensity to give up the long ball in recent years, I suggest treating Pujols like he's a certain former Pirate outfielder with the initials BB (and I don't mean Bobby Bonilla). Does anyone remember the Jim Tracy Test that ran in the PG about three weeks ago? In it he said he'd walk Barry Bonds in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and the bases loaded with a two run lead. It's time to start pretending Pujols is Bonds, though 15 years from now we may look back at that statement as an insult to Pujols. Still, if Perez can avoid trouble from Pujols, I think this may be the outing that gets him back on track. He's facing off against Suppan, another solid righty starter that isn't spectacular but gets the job done. Of course, Marquis dominated us last night, so maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up for tonight, either.