This afternoon as the work day was winding down, my wife, who is back at work after a two week period of bed rest, called to tell me that one of her coworkers had tickets to the Cardinals game against the Cincinnati Reds. She wanted to know if I wanted to go, because the seats were in a good location and the coworker was giving them away. At first I was a bit hesitant…it’s been a very rough couple of weeks (for those aware of our situation), and coming home to quiet evenings has been a nice haven in the storm, so to speak. However, Chris Carpenter was scheduled to start tonight for the Cardinals, so I thought the game should be a fairly good one, and with the promise of good tickets for nothing, it was too tempting to pass up. My boss, who is always generous, let me leave early, and at 5:45 this evening, Heather and I headed off to Busch Stadium in hopes of seeing a decent game.
I’m glad I didn’t pass it up. The seats were more than good, they were fantastic, the best seats I’ve ever had. They were in the diamond box in section 156, just five rows behind the visitor’s dugout, which is on the third base side of the field. We were close enough to see the player’s jock straps through their uniforms. It was fabulous. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, but suffice it to say that I would have got some great pictures had I had it with me.
The closeness did have it’s drawbacks. In the second or third inning (I can’t remember which), Alex Gonzalez, the Reds shortstop, swung at a pitch, missed, and lost his grip on the bat. It went flying into the stands, glancing off a lady caddy-corner to us and SLAMMING into the seats directly in front of us before being snatched up by some doofus sitting another row up. The bat came very close to hitting Heather, so we were lucky the seats were there. Further, we were just beyond the foul screen, so a couple of screaming foul balls flew over our heads…any lower and we might have left plenty bruised up.
The game was great. Carpenter pitched a gem, giving up only three hits and one run, and that run wasn’t even until late in the game. The Cardinals offense continues to have its fair share of struggles…they hit into something like four double plays, and Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel just looked lost at the plate. But when its crunch time and the Birds need production, who can they count on? You guessed it. Albert Pujols drove in the only three Cardinals runs, with a two run homer and then later on a run scoring double. Colby Rasmus got another hit, and even Carpenter got his first hit of the season. Unfortunately, the Cardinals didn’t do enough to capitalize on some of their opportunities, but with Carpenter pitching, and with Pujols bat, they got just enough done.
I’m hoping Ludwick can turn it around soon. He really looked bad at the plate…struck out twice, and the final one he was swinging at pitches down in the dirt. I know he’s coming back from both an injury, and before that a severe bout of the flu, but he needs to start showing some signs of life. Right now the Cardinals outfield, save Rasmus, is massively underachieving. Ankiel is batting just above .200, and even though he had a long drive into straightaway center field tonight, he also struck out with runners on and just does not look like the Rick Ankiel we saw last year.
The good news is that the pitching is still doing well, and it can’t be overstated how much having Carp in the rotation means to this ballclub. It’s like chalking up an automatic W in the win column every fifth day, and Adam Wainwright is almost as good. Kyle Lohse is on the DL, but Pinheiro should be back this weekend, and he’s had some solid starts lately. As for Lohse, the Cardinals called up Jess Todd, but I think they should start Brad Thompson until Lohse comes back. In the last five years, the Cardinals are 18-7 in games Thompson has started, and he pitched five solid innings the other day after not having pitched for 16 days. They at least ought to give him a chance.
Anyway, very glad Heather and I went tonight, it was a welcome respite from all the stress we’ve been under lately.
“We were close enough to see the player’s jock straps through their uniforms. It was fabulous. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, but suffice it to say that I would have got some great pictures had I had it with me.”
Pervert.
ha…I didn’t think about how that sounded when I wrote it.
Just to clarify, the great pictures would NOT have been of the player’s jock straps. I was just trying to give an idea of how close we were…