Molina Kills Another Would-be Rally
Ryan Ludwick did his job in the No. 2 hole, driving a one-out single into right field to give Albert Pujols a baserunner.
And Albert dumped a single into right field, putting runners at first and second base and giving Matt Holliday an early opportunity at redemption.
Holliday didn’t deliver — although his little chopper in front of the plate allowed Ludwick and Pujols to move up a base.
This put rookie Colby Rasmus. Tony La Russa moved him into the No. 5 spot against Dodgers right-hander Vicente Padilla. Rasmus diligently worked Padilla to a full count and drew a walk.
The rookie is 3 for 6 in this series with two walks. He is making the most of his first postseason opportunity.
Up came Yadier Molina with the bases loaded. And once again Molina failed to deliver in this situation — stranding three more Cards runners by hitting slow grounded to short.
Molina, you may recall, went 1 for 15 with the bases loaded during the regular season. Why is he batting ahead of Mark DeRosa? All DeRosa has done is go 5 for 9 against the Dodgers in this series.
Ridiculous! You put our worst, slowest hitter in the RBI #6 spot? Ditto, DeRosa has been our best hitter. Move them all up and put Molina at eight. And then Molina swings at the first bad pitch after the pitcher is struggling and just walked Rasmus. MAKE THE PITCHER WORK!!!! This team hasn’t got a big hit in a month. Let’s see what excuses are used after this game. The Cardinals are the better team…this falls on the manager and the players.
OVER!!!!!
Down 3-0. Pinero throws as hard as my grandma…and drops the ball at first. The fans should walk out now…I would if I was there. The Cardinal players should send refunds to all the fans for being idiots.
This team is playing with NO emotion tonight. I cannot believe this. You would think it’s as spring training game watching the Cardinals now. This is a national embarrassment.
Molina is a human ground-ball-double-play-inning-ending machine. He should be batting 8th, 9th, or put his slumping butt on the bench.
I don’t think the Cardinals leadership in the front office has the gonads to fire or let LaRussa and Duncan walk, even if they end up in Houston. It would be fun to kick their butts if they go there. I see no future for them in St. Louis… isn’t 15 years enough already?