The Cards sure seem to like the friendly confines of New Busch. After getting swept in Wrigley, they’ve returned home to post two straight wins, including last night’s 8-3 win over the Brewers. The offensive key was Jim Edmonds’ bases-clearing double in the fourth. Edmonds was the beneficiary of some very favorable scoring on that play, which featured two errors, the latter of which allowed him to score as well.
More encouraging for the Redbirds was the performance of Juan Encarnacion. Coming into the game in a miserable 4-for-26 slump, with no extra-base hits, no RBIs, and 23 runners left on base. Last night, however, Encarnacion had two singles in four at bats, including a hit-and-run single moving David Eckstein to third in the two-run third inning and a single in the fifth ahead of Edmond’s Little League grand slam. Encarnacion may be ready to settle into the two hole in the order - up to now, he’s just looked lost, leading to some calls to move someone else into that spot in the order (perhaps Skip Schumaker, hitting .316 with an OPS of .855).
Jason Marquis had six fairly strong innings, giving up all the Brewers’ runs on Carlos Lee’s three-run homer in the fourth that cut the Cards’ lead to 4-3. Braden Looper pitched a scoreless seventh, suggesting he may be ready to fill the setup role LaRussa envisioned when he was signed. Brad Thompson pitched out of trouble in the eighth, as a single, error by Scott Rolen and hit batter loaded the bases for Prince Fielder. Thompson induced an infield popup to end that threat. Josh Hancock then pitched a scoreless ninth marred only by a throwing error by Aaron Miles.
Next up: the Cards go for the sweep in an afternoon start at Busch. Jeff Suppan (0-1, 7.20) gets the start for St. Louis, facing the Brewers’ Doug Davis (0-1, 4.91). It’ll be my first personal taste of the new stadium.
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