Cubs 4, Cardinals 3

If you follow baseball -- particularly the Cardinals -- at all, then you know exactly what this week means. 7 games against the teams directly ahead of us in the standings, finally a chance to directly impact what happens to us. I've been excited for this stretch of games for some time now, and I still am to an extent. I think we probably need to win the last 6 or 5 of them to feel like we're still in the race, and also have some help from the Reds, playing the Brew Crew for the first half and the Baby Bears for the second half of the week. It's unfortunate (to say it kindly) that we lost tonight's game, but you have to look at it as it is:

1. The starting pitching matchup tonight was Kip Wells vs. Carlos Zambrano. That is the epitome of a mismatch, as one brought in a 4-12 record with a 5.75 ERA and the other brought in a 12-7 record with a 3.69 ERA. However, I will say this: Kip Wells outpitched Carlos Zambrano. He took the loss, but considering the difference in talent level and quality of pitching thus far this year, Kip did a hell of a job. He was hurt by bad fundamentals, which leads me to my next points...
2. In the crucial 7th inning, both teams made an error with 2 out in their defensive side of the inning. The only difference is that the Cubs scored a run on Scott Rolen's error, while the Cardinals did not capitalize on Ronny Cedeno's. That made the score 3-2, and would basically provide the decisive run.
3. Ryan Theriot was caught stealing by Yadier Molina in the top of the 6th inning. However, he (and Lou Piniella) stayed aggressive and went for a steal in the top of the 9th with two out and a one-run lead, and made it. The batter, Derrek Lee, drove him in with a single, pushing the score to 4-2. This is just sound fundamental baseball, and is to be commended.
4. In the aforementioned 7th inning, there was much discussion at Viva El Birdos (my personal favorite Cardinals' blog) about whether to get Kip out at the beginning or not. My personal feeling on the matter is that La Russa did the right thing to start with, meaning leaving Kip in until the first baserunner. Kip got two quick outs, but then Ryan Theriot reached on an error (also aforementioned). At this point, La Russa should have pulled Kip and gotten Russ Springer in there. His mistake was to try and leave Kip in to "get the win" (or so the announcers said) and Kip ended up giving up consecutive singles to bring Theriot in and give the 3-2 lead. That was my only problem with La Russa's managing tonight.
5. All ten of the Cubs' hits were singles, while of the Cardinals' eight, one was a double and one was a triple. This says to me that the Cubs were more efficient and had better timely hitting. These are two qualities that the 2004-2006 Cardinals thrived on but has been lost on the 2007 Cardinals.
6. Lastly, the Cubs have three above-average power hitters, while the Cardinals have two. Albert Pujols and Chris Duncan were mostly kept in check (combined 1/9), and two of the Cubs' three were as well (D-Lee and Soriano combined to go 2/9 with 1 RBI) but their third, Aramis Ramirez, went 4/5 with 1 RBI. The Cardinals don't have anybody to counter their third big power bat, and it cost them.

Overall, kudos to the club for giving it a great shot. This was about the best I could have hoped for, and when you have Kip Wells pitching, who knows, you could lose 17-8. Eking out 2 runs off of Carlos Zambrano in 6 1/3 innings pitched is a positive as well for the 2007 Cardinals. It just didn't happen tonight.