Joe Blanton made his third start since being acquired from the Oakland A’s for the Fightins, this time against the St. Louis Cardinals, in Busch Stadium, St. Louis. BLanton was very effective thru seven frames as he held the Redbirds to only one run on four hits. He had a shutout thru six innings but Ryan Ludwick, who is on a tear, tagged him for a long home run in the seventh.
Blanton was staked to a two run lead early in the game as Greg Dobbs hit a solo home run in the third inning and Ryan Howard slammed his 31st home run of the season in the fourth inning. Braden Looper pitched six very good innings for St. Louis as he only gave up three hits but two were the long balls.
Eric Bruntlett was picked off first base by Cards catcher Yadier Molina in the eighth frame, Molina has a cannon and it marked the 45th time in his career that he has picked a runner off first! The Molina brothers are surely very good defensive catchers, ( older brother Benji catches for the San Francisco Giants and younger brother Jose catches for the New York Yankees).
J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin pitched the eighth inning, Romero was touched for a single before getting a strikeout. He was pulled in favor of Durbin with right handed hitters coming up for the Cards. Durbin came in a coaxed a double play ground ball from Joe Mather to end the inning. He threw nothing but sliders to Mather as the young man looks like a dead red fast ball hitter. The double play was key as it left Albert Pujols standing in the on deck circle!
Brad Lidge pitched the ninth inning and earned his 27th save of the year. He struck out two batters in the inning. The Phillies are 49 and 0 when leading after eight innings this year. Lidge is perfect in save chances this year. Big win for the Fightins as they struggled offensively but the pitching came thru big time!
Chatter
Rudy Seanez was put on the disabled list prior to the Cardinal series and left hander Les Waldron was recalled from Triple A Lehigh Valley. Waldron has previous big league experience with the Cubs and Royals, seventeen games in total, most recently with Chicago in 2006. Despite a right handed starter on the hill for the Cards skipper Charlie Manuel chose to play Jayson Werth in right field rather than left handed swinger Geoff Jenkins. It is not a pure platoon and many times Charlie seems to play a hunch as to whom starts or even pinch hits in situations. He catches alot of flak when it doesn’t work but few accolades when it does!
