The Cardinals were 2 outs away from pushing their magic number to 17 and going 7 games up on the Reds on Wednesday. That was when Jason Isringhausen decided to continue to be the lackadasical, overpaid closer he is, and blow another game, and send his record to 4-8 on the season and a 7-6 Nationals win. Our man Albert went 2-5, with 2 singles, to push his batting average up a bit. He also remains tied with Soriano for 2nd in the NL in homeruns.
This weekend the Cardinals face the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were 
just no hit Wednesday night by Florida pitcher Anibal Sanchez. Overall the Diamondbacks have lost 8 of their last 10, and fallen out of contention for both the NL West and the NL wildcard. Here are the pitching matchups for the series:
Thursday: Jeff Weaver v. Miguel Batista
Friday: Anthony Reyes v. Livan Hernandez
Saturday: Jason Marquis v. Brandon Webb
Sunday: Jeff Suppan v. TBA
Let's hope Albert has a great weekend in the desert!
- APCman