Who would have thunk it? Braden Looper pitches 7 innings and gives up 2 hits for the win. A great performance from Looper. Does this early return make you want to consider LaRuncan as “real men of genius”? Back to back with Wells and Looper was good stuff. Only one game under .500. Woo Hoo!

Preston, I am beginning to warm up to you if you can clutch hit like that more often. A few scattered hits from Pujols and Rolen makes things look up.

Randy Kiesler. (see picture of him in A’s hat below) The lefty will start for the Cards. I guess he started a few games for the Reds in 2005. Keisler has made 17 career big-league starts, going 2-4 with a 6.19 ERA. Sounds as if they didn’t want to use Hawksworth LAST option yet. Maybe later.

Winning pitcher- Looper     Losing pitcher- Snell

Let’s get another win tomorrow!

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Lefthander, righthander or no hander, Chris Duncan needs to be in the lineup at almost all times. Roy Oswalt is no exception. Chris plays. Did you see him smash that ball? The kid can hit. Now as far as taking another base, probably not. We will at times take our lumps in the field. It is a trade-off we can live with.

So Taguchi. The people around me are telling me to lighten up and quit doing a knee jerk reaction about how bad he is. I will try to be patient with him. But I will not give up on my pursuit to rid ourselves of Preston Wilson. No bat, no field. Let’s get younger on this and let John Rodriguez play.

Wainwright was phenomenal. Good outing and this could be something special. He made a very athletic play when he started that double play. How about Yadi and his quick thought to finish it out. Molina is in EVERY play. He handles the staff quite well. I love to see him going to the mound with his “I’m in charge” attitude.

Albert Pujols. Patience. Patience.

Ryan Franklin might be our regular 8th inning set-up man. Good job by him.  Izzy came in and threw strikes with no damage. How many nights can we count on that?

Recap: the hitting was not spectacular but was timely. Pitching was very good. It’s fun to win!

Final: Cardinals 4   Astros 2          Winning pitcher- Wainwright    Losing pitcher- Rodriguez 

Save- Isringhausen

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Kip Wells- The Kipster as I will call him. Throwing hard here at the beginning of the game. VERY close pitch to Reyes for Ball 4… then the attempted pickoff. I can’t say I was to upset . It is likely Reyes is going to do some running. A gift run for the Mets.

 Welcome to my “live blog”.

Eckstein gets on. Do you run on LoDuca even though Albert is up 3rd? YES. David needs to be on the move. Chris Duncan hits into the Cards 5th DP. Albert battled ElDuque and won this battle with a double. Rolen crushed it to the second baseman.

First strikeout as a Card player for Wells is David Wright. Then a crushed fastball to Moises Alou went foul…. memo to Cardinal pitchers… no fastball to Alou…A very good play on a short hopper by David Eckstein to get him out. Nice 1-2-3 inning for The Kipster.

Another DP…5th of the season. WOW.

3rd inning sees Wells throwing harder and leading with a K. I don’t mind El Duque getting a hit in front of Reyes. Slow the man down! I wish Adam Kennedy would have taken the ball himself for the DP chance and he might have gotten the speedy Jose, Jose, Jose.

Joe Buck calls it “another clunker”. We haven’t been able to hit a thing in 12 innings so far. BUT it will get better. YES, run David, run. Cardinals can threaten but can’t score…YET. Carlos Beltran is quite a hitter..Skip does a  good job limiting him to a single. Nice, very nice pitching to get the tough Delgado! I am not unhappy to see a walk to Wright with first open for a potential DP on Alou. Got out of that.

PUJOLS-ROLEN-EDMONDS… time to get some runs! Good jam job by Hernandez to keep Albert from extending his arms. A 4 pitch walk to Rolen has to mean something other than another DP, doesn’t it? Almost was a DP. Beltran again shows his strong arm. Let’s run, Scottie. Ok, because I typed that, he got picked off! MY BAD.

I like Kip Wells. He throws hard and seems cool and calm. Gets K’s #4 and #5 this inning before the single by Reyes. Molina goes out to talk to him. I wonder if Yadi says…”let him go and I will throw him out for you.”  :)  But the double  clutch doesn’t get him. Skip, use your glove. You almost got conk on the beaner! E-9. Nice K on Beltran and a bad break for the Cards this inning….after 4 and a half, we trail 2-0.

Cy El Duque Orlando Hernandez Young- we make him look like it.

Mets 6th—Walk-hit-WOW, I thought that fastball to ALOU was gone. WP… nice pitch on the inside corner for a K looking. Intentional walk here is good….. pitcher up. What a crappy hit by the pitcher for 2 more runs.

Spiezio, let’s go. Maybe the Cards ought to get some runs. Get a hit for your dad in the crowd. We will take that bleeder, Scott. That starts the inning! David “World Series hero” Eckstein- another hit needed.  3rd of the night, 7th of the Series… yep, you guessed it, a double play. Nice hustle Chris Duncan to first base. ALBERT, ALBERT, ALBERT. Popped it up. Inning over…NO RUNS.

Ryan Franklin- his Cardinal debut.  Reyes grounds out and Lo Duca flies out. Ground out for Beltran. Good inning for the newbie!

Rolen leads it off. I need a hit (yes, he is on my fantasy team). I GOT IT….. a HOME RUN!!!!!!! Jimmy grounds out. We need MORE Runs. Kennedy puts a charge into…FOUL. Shot to center but caught. Yadi also flies out to CF.

Ring ceremony had a neat aspect to it tonight. Ed Spiezio, Scott’s dad, presented his son with a WS ring. Ed and Scott are the first father and son to receive WS rings from the same franchise.

Tyler Johnson in to pitch. Aaron Miles in the double switch. Delgado to lead off…come on Tyler, need a good curve here. Got the curve but a broken bat looping flyball gets him a hit. Brad Thompson in to face Wright. …and he WALKS him. Moises, insert your own urinating joke here, Alou is at bat and please, oh please, don;t give him a fastball to hammer.

Thanks Carlos for the 8-4 double play. We got our OWN DP. Nice. Ground out to Miles. No more runs that inning. Let’s get some runs!

The sticks, the bats, the lumber, all seem to be be missing in these first two games to this moment. Anemic.

Taguchi, I have been hard on you after the first game and wanted to let you go but many comments are telling me not to be so hasty. Ok, you weakly ground out. Yuck. Miles hit one all the way in the air to the first baseman. Sorry, I am being sarcastic now. Two out walk to Eckstein….never too late…keep it going, Dunc! Maybe there is a reason Duncan doesn’t bat often with a lefthander on the mound. Give Albert a chance this inning. BASE HIT. I eat crow!

ALBERT! Flied out.

To the 9th. Flores in. Valentin flies out and So caught. Springer is getting loose. I think Russ Springer is a waste of a roster spot. I was hoping Dove would be kept instead of going to Memphis. Endy (great catch) Chavez singles. Reyes hits into a fielders choice. Springer comes in. Did you hear me boo? K’s Lo Duca.

Bottom of the  9th inning…Rolen pops up. Wilson pops up. Bennett pops up. Game over. Ballgame.

Hernandez winner 1-0   Wells loses 0-1

Pitchers pitched behind all night and hits were not timely.

Tomorrow night will NOT be a “live blog” but a recap. Maybe I can change our luck.

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Get Taguchi out of there. First he let’s 40 yr old slow moving Moises Alou go from 1st to 3rd with a weak wimped throw and off line to boot. Later the Delgado ball should have been caught. Just get to the fence and catch it. Even if Duncan couldn’t have caught it, at least he can hit the ball. Please Walt, let So Taguchi go. Adam Kennedy crushed the ball. I am looking forward to his play year long. He was a bit shaky on the first two ground balls hot to him but, HEY, it is Opening Day.

The Carpenter bunt. Get it away from the plate, not in front of the plate.

By the way, no more first pitch fastballs to Moises Alou. He is looking for it. TLR says Carp is not struggling it is that the Mets are just good hitters. Bosh!

5th inning sees Taguchi weakly hit the ball back to the pitcher. Let’s keep JROD and outright TAGUCHI.

Now he misses a Reyes fly ball…. no excuse! Duncan could have done that. Sayanora, So!

Nice hit Skip.

TONY, why not Duncan instead of Preston in that 7th inning ? He’s a left handed batter. Force their hand. Duncan led the team in Spring Training. Come on, wrong choice.

Some good Mets defense tonight. But Joe Morgan could shut up and I would be happy. Joe wants a balk called cause his favorite guy got picked off. Joe Morgan has a man crush on Jose Reyes.

Are we going to watch teams go first to third on grounders to the outfield all year? Hopper to right and away they go. The Cards just seem to have some void this first game. Not fired up for the opener after winning the whole enchilada last year. Peter Gammons has declared the Mets as the winner for the National League after one game. Of course earlier he said the Mets will be playing his beloved Red Sox in the World Series with Schilling out dueling Pedro for the title of World Series.

9th inning and the So-man gets a hit when it doesn’t mean much. Bennett pops up in a weak fashion.

Short recap: the bullpen looked good. Nothing else really sticks out after game 1.

Glavine has 291 wins. Final Mets 6 Cards 1

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Today I talk a little bit about the ‘projected’ Cardinals opening day lineup. Now remember, nothing official here – just what we feel should be the lineup! It’s more fun to watch and listen below.

Other thoughts or comments on the lineup?

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