The St. Louis Cardinals have crept back into the playoff picture, with 7 weeks to go in the season. By beating the San Diego 3 of 4 and the LA Dodgers 2 of 3, the Cardinals are now only 5.5 games out. After a disappointing 1-5 road trip, including getting swept by the Washington Nationals, the Cardinals were all but dead in the NL Central. Then the electricity was turned up a notch starting on Monday, when the Cardinals scored 10 runs in one inning, on 10 straight hits in beating the Padres lefthander David Wells 10-5. The Cardinals then were beat by Cy Young candidate Jake Peavy on Tuesday in a 4-0 loss. Anthony Reyes did pitch well in that outing, but the offense was no where to be found. Then on Wednesday, the Cardinals were able to beat future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux 2-1, behind a great pitched ball game by Kip Wells. Thursday, was Rick Ankiel’s debut, and it was a great one, blasting a three run homerun to cap a 5-0 win, started by Joel Pinero, and beating Chris Young. Friday was a tough loss as Adam Wainwright threw a complete game, but was knocked off 2-1 by Dodgers ace Brad Penny. Saturday and Sunday were big wins for the Cardinals, as Braden Looper and Anthony Reyes both pitched well, and Ankiel hit more homeruns as the Cardinals won 6-1 and 12-2 to finish the 5-2 homestand. Albert Pujols was pretty quiet, but he is primed for a bust out week soon!
