St. Louis Cardinals

By Al The Cardinals got swept out of their Division Series with the Dodgers and looked, in doing so, just about as bad as the Cubs did in a similar sweep a year ago. MLB.com Gameday MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview

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By Al This October, the Dodgers have a chance to sweep the Cardinals, who have inexplicably turned into the Cubs, right before your disbelieving eyes. And that was unpredictable. MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview

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By Al MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview Cardinals at Dodgers, 8:30 pm CDT. TV: TBS. Announcers: Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview

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By Al The Cubs were 47-32 against the NL Central in 2009. That's the best record for any team in the National League within its own division, slightly better than the Reds and Cardinals, who were 46-34. Why, then, could the Cubs post only a 30-37 mark outside the division? Of the other ten teams, thr...

By Al That would have made for a great story if those had been the only two runs of the game; unfortunately, Fuld wasn't the only player taking advantage of the wind. The Diamondbacks' Chris Young, who has made a career of hitting homers at Wrigley Field, hit his fifth lifetime home run at Wrigley o...

By Al During last night's rain delay, the Tribune's Paul Sullivan asked various Cubs, including Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly, what their wish lists are for 2010. Though all of them made good points -- and I think Dempster's wish of upgrading the facilities will...

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By Al 5. Stop handing out one-year renewal deals to players like candy. Chad Gaudin didn't throw very well and had a noted off-field incident in 2008. He didn't figure to play a major role in the 2009 rotation or bullpen, yet the Cubs signed him to a $2 million deal in December to avoid arbitration. The...

By Al Aramis Ramirez has had a heck of a half-season. And later last night, the Cubs were eliminated from the NL Central race when the Cardinals beat the Rockies in Denver, so the Cubs' string of consecutive division titles ends at just two. They'll simply have to start another streak next season.

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By Al Jeff Baker, home run hero. Who would have thought? Browse more photos » As the Cubs and their coaches and manager came onto the field for the handshakes and high-fives after their come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Giants, I saw something I don't think I've seen all year.

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By Al Chris Narveson is the very definition of a journeyman. Originally drafted by the Cardinals in the 2nd round in 2000, he was traded to the Rockies in 2004 as part of the deal that brought Larry Walker to St. Louis. Then Colorado sent him to Boston for Byung-Hyun Kim. He was later waived by the Red So...

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By Al I've heard guys like Eric Karros and Jason Kendall say if you're playing Major League Baseball over a long career, you have to play at least one year for the Chicago Cubs. It's a good thing, not a bad thing. I think all of us are really surprised that a player could come here and not have the time of...

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By Al by Al Behrman - AP View full size photo uploaded September 20, 2009 How about a win tonight, Z?

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By Al Five months and a day ago, the Cubs and Cardinals were supposed to meet on ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball. The Cubs were 7-4 and had won two of the first three games of the series; the Cardinals were 8-5. MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview

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By Al Today's 2-1 Cubs loss to the Cardinals, their fourth in a row, wasn't all Bobby Scales' fault, obviously. The Cubs did manage to tie the game up in the 9th inning before the Cardinals got three quick hits and the winning run off Carlos Marmol.

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By Al Cardinals10-8W-L16-43.84ERA2.45144SO13260BB3219HR7vs. StL--vs. Cubs W-LGGSCGSHOSVBSIPHRERHRBBKERAWHIP 2009 - Ryan Dempster 10-827270000171.0170867319601443.841.35 W-LGGSCGSHOSVBSIPHRERHRBBKERAWHIP 2009 - Chris Carpenter 16-425253100172.214048477321322.451.00 Chris C...

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By Al More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP That would have turned out to be correct. Holliday hit the next pitch for an opposite-field walkoff home run, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 win over the Cubs, yet another game in which the Cubs had plenty of chances to break it open and failed.

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By Al by Gene J. Puskar - AP View full size photo uploaded September 19, 2009 Beat those Cardinals, Ted!

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By Al Ted Lilly is 1-1, 2.40 vs. the Cardinals this year, losing on May 19 despite pitching well, in that series where the Cubs refused to score, and holding them to one run and four hits on July 11 in a 5-2 Cubs win. Current Cardinals are hitting .200 (44-for-220) off Ted. Lifetime he's 7-3, 2.89 in 13 star...

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By Al He played at the Double-A and Triple-A level in '02 for the Cardinals, appearing in 19 games with the Major League team. Being in the Minors gave him time to work on the language. He read books, but the biggest help was watching kids movies. A favorite? "Finding Nemo." Finding Nemo? Wonder if he s...

By Al Los Angeles Dodgers Chicago Cubs Let's go Cubs! MLB.com Gameday Baseball-reference.com game preview One final note on the game threads tonight. Playoff baseball can be very intense, with every play magnified. Please try to be nice to each other. Thanks.

By Al In the attached poll, I've put nineteen of what I think are the best games of 2008, and one for you in case I left one off that you think is better than the 19 I listed. Vote for your favorite, and if yours isn't on the list, leave it in the comments. Poll Vote for your favorite or most memorable game o...

By Al I'm sitting in my friend Jim's place directly across from the left-field bleachers with several other bleacherites watching the Cubs load on to their bus headed for New York. There's a small group, maybe 50 people, getting autographs from Reed Johnson and Ryan Theriot, among others, as t...

By Al Ryan Dempster has started only one game vs. St. Louis this year -- winning 6-2 at Wrigley Field on August 10. Albert Pujols has homered twice off him in 29 career AB, but is hitting only .276 lifetime off Dempster. Jason LaRue is 5-for-11 with a homer. Dempster will be going for his 17th win. He won't w...

By Al St. Louis Cardinals Chicago Cubs Who knows where the magical Fox wizard will send today's game? The other games are Brewers/Reds and Twins/Rays, so your guess is as good as mine. Site note: IF the Cubs win, today's recap will be delayed... possibly till tomorrow morning, as I intend to stick aro...

By Al That's about all there is to say about today's goofy 12-6 Cubs loss to the Cardinals. If you split the game into two halves, the Cubs lost the first 4 1/2 11-0, but won the second half 6-1. Finally, the Cardinals have a player named "Brian Barden" and also a player named "Brian Barton". Even thoug...

By Al The game was won in the 8th inning when, with a 3-2 lead, the Cubs turned two outstanding defensive plays; first, a tumbling catch by Alfonso Soriano on a line drive hit by Albert Pujols, and then, with two runners on base, a leaping grab by Kosuke Fukudome of a Felipe Lopez blast to the wall in...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Todd Wellemeyer is 2-1 vs. the Cubs this year -- who knew he could ever be an effective starter in the majors, after washing out as a Cubs reliever? That includes this blowout Cub loss at Wrigley Field on August 9, the only game St. Louis won in that series. No curre...

By Al Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said he had spoken Wednesday to Katy Feeney, Major League Baseball's senior vice president of scheduling, and she had no concrete plans for rescheduling games. Another possibility is playing the final two games in St. Louis because the Cardinals will be in...

By Al This is a strange month. There are 13 teams within five games of a playoff spot -- quite a large number for this late in the year -- and only five of them have winning September records: Astros: 7-1 Dodgers: 7-1 Red Sox: 6-2 Mets: 5-2 Cardinals: 4-3 Angels: 4-4 Phillies: 4-4 White Sox: 3-5 Twins...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Kyle Lohse has one good game (which the Cubs should have won anyway) and one bad game against the Cubs this year. Mark DeRosa and Mike Fontenot have homered off Lohse this season, but the Cub who hits him best is Alfonso Soriano (13-for-32, 3 doubles, 2 HR). Aram...

By Al Neither a Sonny & Cher nor a Britney Spears song, the Cubs nevertheless kept pounding rhythm through our brains with a 12-3 win over the Pirates last night before a crowd of 14,454 in Pittsburgh that seemed, as many road games do these days, about half Cubs fans. It put the Cubs over .500 on...

By Al Josh Johnson threw well two weeks ago at Wrigley Field, and left with a no-decision in a game eventually lost by Bob Howry. That's not likely to happen again tonight. Johnson allowed homers to Reed Johnson and Geovany Soto that day -- the only runs the Cubs scored. MLB.com Gameday

By Al The Cubs play 25 of the remaining 44 games on the road. They're going to have to play better there, especially with the Brewers finishing up a series with the horrid Nationals this afternoon and playing the NL West-trailing Padres at San Diego after that. Enjoy the off-day; you know the Cubs w...

By Al St. Louis Cardinals Chicago Cubs I don't think the career records of either of tonight's pitchers vs. the other team mean too much. Chris Carpenter is 7-2, 3.07 vs. the Cubs -- but hasn't faced them since 2006, and several current Cubs (Derrek Lee, .314/.351/.371, 11-for-35, 2 doubles; Alfonso So...

By Al Henry Blanco was the last batter both yesterday and today -- with very different results and impact. Yesterday he won the game. Today, he hit a comebacker to Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson in front of about half of the crowd, to end the Cubs' 12-3 blowout loss to the Cardinals, a game which m...

By Al St. Louis Cardinals Chicago Cubs The Grand Fox Wizard has decreed that the Cubs and Cardinals will be seen in 56% of the country; their other game, Yankees/Angels, goes to the rest. This means you won't have to listen to Buck & McCarver; instead you get Dick "I Can't Pronounce Aramis Rami...

By Al In fact, defense won this game for the Cubs. After the game was tied up by a Joe Mather (who?) HR in the 3rd, the Cardinals got Cesar Izturis to third after Edmonds made a bad throw following Izturis doubling. But the Cubs sniffed out a possible suicide squeeze with pitcher Braden Looper battin...

By Al St. Louis Cardinals Chicago Cubs If you happen to visit the SBN Cardinals site Viva El Birdos during this series, play nice. Larry runs a good site and there are good people over there. I enjoy the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry and though I want the Cubs to win every single game they play vs. St. Louis, th...

By Al The win puts the Cubs 22 games over .500 at 67-45. The last time the Cubs were this many games over .500 was October 1, 1989, the last day of the 1989 regular season, when they beat the Cardinals 5-1 in St. Louis to get to 93-69, 24 games over .500, their high water mark of that division title season.

By Al The Cubs scored in fine Chicago fashion today -- early and often, in six of the nine innings, and in many different ways, from an early Mark DeRosa single (DeRo's next RBI will give the Cubs four men with 50 or more), to three RBI from Aramis Ramirez, to a D-Lee RBI double, once on a Cardinal err...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Sunday, Jul 6, 2008, 2:15 PM CDT Busch Stadium There's an update on the upcoming sale of the Cubs in today's Tribune business section. Nothing we didn't already know, and I am glad to see Don Levin's name still on the list of potential buyers.

By Al What if Jim Edmonds scores on that fly ball in the 8th inning? Would you have sent him? I would have, especially after seeing Ryan Ludwick double-clutch. It took a perfect throw and a perfect block of the plate by Yadier Molina. Give the Cardinals credit -- they made the play. And if the Cubs had a...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Ted Lilly vs Kyle Lohse Why is this good? Because the Yankees/Red Sox game is Fox's only other game today. If that game is rain-delayed or rained out, Fox will have to send the Cubs and Cardinals to the entire country (except for NYC and Boston).

By Al Finally, a tip o' the BCB cap to Cardinals fans, who gave Jim Edmonds a long, warm standing ovation on his first at-bat last night. This is, I think, what distinguishes the Cub/Cardinal rivalry from, say, the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry. For me, at least, it is a healthy respect for the other team a...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Braden Looper has been a competent starter for the Cardinals, something I'd have never expected given his long career as a reliever before that. He made four starts vs. the Cubs last year and went 2-1, 1.67. Most of the Cubs had a tough time with him -- maybe Jim Edm...

By Al After 57 team games in 2007, Soriano had 17 RBI. He's more than doubled that after the same number of games this year, and already has half his 2007 season total of 70. For the month of May, Soriano hit .345/.386/.672 with 10 HR, 29 RBI, and 20 runs scored. He's a strong candidate to be named NL Player o...

By Al San Diego Padres Chicago Cubs Today's game is on CSN -- no San Diego TV, so Cub fans won't be subjected to the bleatings of the worst announcer in baseball, Matt Vasgersian. For more see the MLB.com Mediacenter. Baseball-reference.com game preview

By Al Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Cueto started out great this year, allowing one hit to the Diamondbacks and striking out ten in his major league debut. Since then he's gotten progressively worse, going 0-3, 6.43 and allowing 5 HR in 28 IP. Dusty let him throw 55 pitches in 1.2 innings in his last st...

By Al Jason Marquis is 4-1, 3.27 in seven career appearances (five starts) against his former team. In looking over his vs. the Cardinals stats, I was surprised to see Cesar Izturis as one who hits him well (7-for-17, 2 doubles, a triple). Troy Glaus is 4-for-6, and Albert Pujols a pedestrian 4-for-...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Kyle Lohse, if you don't recall the trade, was once a Cub farmhand. He went to the Twins in the Rick Aguilera deal on May 21, 1999 -- as a throw-in. The guy Minnesota wanted was Jason Ryan, at the time a top pitching prospect. Aguilera didn't do much for the Cubs and R...

By Al Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals' best pitcher, has been beaten like the proverbial drum by the Cubs -- four starts last year, and the Cubs went 3-0 against him, and Wainwright piled up an 8.72 ERA. The primary pounders were Aramis Ramirez (7-for-18, 3 doubles...

By Al NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST World Series: Cubs over Tigers. Because why would I pick the Cubs to make the postseason and NOT win it all... and, well -- it's time.

By Al Two years ago Willis dominated the National League, winning 22 games (he and Chris Carpenter, who won 21 that year are, in fact, the last NL pitchers to win 20 games) and losing out on the Cy Young Award to Carpenter, likely because the Cardinals made the playoffs and the Marlins didn't.

By Al In the meantime, this win gave the Cubs what they really needed in St. Louis, winning three of four (and winning the season series 11-5, with a 7-2 record in St. Louis), for all intents and purposes eliminating the Cardinals from playoff contention (seven games behind now with fourteen left...

By Al Jones smacked a two-run HR off Braden Looper in the last of the sixth inning after Albert Pujols' HR in the top of the inning off Rich Hill had given St. Louis a 1-0 lead. This was one inning after he made a fine running catch on a warning-track fly ball hit by the Cardinals' Brendan Ryan, who wears...