Cardinals 1, Phillies 0: But Mostly I Still Hate J. P. Ricciardi

A tough one to leg out, especially if your leg explodes en route

After giving up a lone run in the first off a leadoff Rafael Furcal triple and a Skip Schumaker double (lol wut?), Roy Halladay totally pitched like Roy Halladay the rest of the way, even working his way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth without allowing a run. He was terrific, but not as good as Chris Carpenter, who opted instead for the three-hit, complete-game shutout (an excellent selection, sir, if I may say so). In the buildup to this one, there was a lot of talk in the national sports media about how Halladay and Carpenter are quite close friends dating back to their time together in the Blue Jays' minor league system. Closer to home -- like, literally in my house -- there was also a lot of talk about how galling it was/remains that J. P. Ricciardi wouldn't offer the then-injured Carpenter a league-minimum contract, and instead let a future Cy Young Award winner just walk for nothing when he totally wanted to stay. That is the lens through which I watched last night's game, from earliest goings-on to Ryan Howard blowing out his leg while making the last Phillies' out for the second year in a row. Thanks again J. P. 


Hey, isn't it odd that there are no teams from either the AL or NL East left now? We would have all agreed that those were the two best divisions in baseball this year, right? But the playoffs, man: just a crapshoot, a rad, rad crapshoot.


Finally, look at how sad this Phillies fan with the profane flask is:

The flask is asking to much of this man right now

KS

Life is Meaningless: Giants Lose, 4-3

For the first half of the game, it was the best the Giants had played in weeks. They kept moving the line. They took advantage of Cardinals mistakes. They got a hit with a runner in scoring position! Their young guys, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford, got starts. Aubrey Huff sat this one out. The Brandons got hits and took walks. The Giants hitters went deep into counts and made Chris Carpenter throw a ton of pitches. They made an opposing starter toss 100 pitches through five innings.

Then, it became the worst Giants game since Scott Cousins took Buster Posey into a back alley and pumped rounds into his kneecaps. The Giants wasted leadoff doubles. They brought Huff into a pinch-hit situation. They brought Rowand into a pinch-hit situation. Eli Whiteside struck out a bunch of times and said a bunch of cusses. The Giants bullpen imploded, giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Brandon Belt is probably injured.

Does Bochy learn that Michael Tejada should not bat second in the lineup? Does he learn after this that "LOOGY Javier Lopez" means "Left-handed one-out guy Javier Lopez" and not "This guy can probably get three outs from St. Louis's right-handed Murderer's Row Javier Lopez?" No, I would bet any sum that he does not. I'm guessing tomorrow night we get Tejada back in the two-hole, Huff back in the three-hole, Belt on the DL, Burrell playing shortstop, and Time Lincecum throwing a one-hitter that the Giants lose, 6-0.

That's my prediction, anyway.