Cardinals a Contender; Phillies? Not

St. Louis Cardinals

Final

Philadelphia Phillies

The Saint Louis Cardinals (15-6) defeated the Phillies (8-15) for the third straight day at Busch Stadium, and in the process not only won the series by taking 3 out of 4 games, but also clearly demonstrated the difference between a contending team and a non-contender.

The Cards won these last three games by a combined score of 25-10, outhitting the Phils by 36-25. They showed power with 8 doubles, 2 triples, and a homer. They played stellar defense, committing just 1 error over the entirety of the four game series. Iin the end, the 3 wins stretched their record out to 15-6, and upped their NL Central lead to 2 1/2 games after the season’s first month.

On this gorgeous Thursday afternoon in what the locals consider “baseball heaven”, it was young David Buchanan who was victimized by the Cardinals relentless excellence. Buchanan (0-5) was awful during the month of April, and frankly is only holding on to his job in the starting rotation because there simply are no better options at the moment. He was smacked around for 7 earned runs on 8 hits and 3 walks allowed before getting yanked after just 4.1 innings.

By the time Buchanan was pulled, the Phils were down 7-3, and the game, though just half-finished, was already effectively over. The Cards jumped up fast, scoring 3 times in the bottom of the 1st when, with one out, Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday, and Matt Adams all registered consecutive hits, the first two as doubles.

In these four games, those 3 Matt’s batting out of the 2-3-4 spots in the Cardinals lineup absolutely destroyed Phillies pitching. Carpenter went a collective 6-15 with 3 doubles and a triple, scored 7 runs, and knocked in 3. Holliday went 6-13 with 4 walks and 3 doubles, scored 7 times, and knocked in 4 runs. Adams went 8-16 with a walk, a sac fly, 3 doubles, and a homerun. He scored 3 runs and drove in 6. Combined they went 20-44 (.455) with 17 runs scored and 13 driven in across the series.

The Phillies actually battled back to briefly tie this one up. They got a single run in the top of the 2nd when Cesar Hernandez led off with a walk, was followed by a single from Cody Asche, and scored on a 2-out base hit off the bat of Odubel Herrera. In the top of the 3rd, Darin Ruf led off with a solo homer cutting the Cards lead to 3-2. Ryan Howard followed with a double, and would eventually score to tie it on a sac fly by Asche.

But in the bottom of the 3rd, a couple of those Matt’s did it again. Carpenter drew a one-out walk, and scored ahead of a two-out homerun off the bat of Adams. The Cards were up 5-3, and the Phillies bats would go completely silent, registering no more hits the rest of the way until a 2-out triple in the 9th by Cameron Rupp.

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The Cards chased Buchanan in the 5th, again with the damage coming from the Matt’s. Carpenter again started things with another 1-out walk, and he came around to score when Holliday followed with a double to left. The Phillies brought in Jake Diekman to face the lefty hitting Adams, and has been the case so often this first month with the Phillies lone bulllpen lefty, he gave something up. Adams lifted a single to left, scoring Holliday and making it a 7-3 ball game.

Saint Louis finished up the scoring in the home half of the 8th when, with two outs, some of their players not named Matt decided to get in on the action. Phils reliever Luis Garcia walked Pete Kozma, allowed a base hit to Peter Bourjos, and then Jon Jay singled to score Kozma. Carpenter then singled to load the bases, and Garcia then walked Jhonny Peralta to force in Bourjos with the final run of the 9-3 game.

On the Cardinals mound, young Tim Cooney made his major league debut. The 25-year old from Collegeville, PA and Malvern Prep had grown up a Phillies fan and got to face Howard, one of the heroes of the 2008 World Series team that Cooney had rooted for as a teen. He coaxed a fly out in the first, but allowed a double to The Big Piece in the 3rd.

While the outing against the team for whom he rooted as a kid had to be special, especially as his first-ever MLB appearance with family and friends in the stands, he was not especially sharp. The Phils got to him for 3 earned runs on 7 hits in just 2.1 innings. He struck out 3 and walked 1 before being pulled.

Carlos Villanueva (2-1) came on for Saint Louis and shut the Phillies down completely for most of the next four innings, and four different Cardinals relievers finished up the day allowing virtually nothing the rest of the way.

The Phils now move on to the 2nd leg of their 3-city, 10-game road trip, travelling down to Miami to take on the Marlins, with Jerome Williams taking the mound in the Friday night opener.

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Schedule