Did it ever occur to you that it's neither

A) Pujols can't hit a knuckleballer
B) Pujols fragile

But rather

C) Tony LaRussa is a ****ing moron

??

I'm leaning towards

D) All of the above

I'm leaning towards this was Tony's standard "play the scrubs" day given that we have a day game after a night game. This time, he merely did it in reverse, playing the scrubs first.

He grounded into 2 more double plays yesterday and looked like a child against Izzy tonight (after popping up weakly to 1b against Byrdak). Something tells me that he could probably use a little time off.

He got 2 ABs and looked like boiled shit in both of them.

I'm not sure why he gets a pass from you while Motte, who did nothing more than give up a single (off an okay pitch at that) gets blamed in a game where our infield defense led directly to 3 runs prior to him even stepping on the bump.

At best, the two share equal cuplability, IMO.

He gets a pass because he's had a bad three days while putting up a first decade that is comparable to anyone in the history of baseball.

Besides, everyone expected him to still be on the DL for another 2+ weeks at this point, so getting him back and having him be a more than productive bat since his return isn't just gravy, it's Natalie Portman's smegma.

:facepalm: We are 1.5 games out and we have lost 4 of 5 lately. 86-88 wins take this division.

Great attitude.

OK to suck, because the rest of the division sucks.

Mo is going to have to make some serious moves to even make the playoffs, much less make sure we don't get curbstomped when we get there.

There's really nothing he can do to make this team a WS contender - so I'd rather start building for 2012, rather than pissing away pieces now for a run destined to come up way short.

Hey, it worked in 06 LMAO Get in, you have a shot.

The odds of this team beating the Phillies in a playoff series are about as good as my odds of hooking up with Salma Hayek.

I don't think the Cards even make the postseason, but seeing that POS Jeff Weaver morph into Greg Maddux in 06....

Any team can be beat in a 5 or 7 game series.

The '06 team ran out of gas down the stretch, but it was basically the same 100 win team of the past couple of seasons. Sure, they nearly choked it away (and had the regular season gone on another week they probably would have), and the media immediately wrote them off, but once they got there the talent and experience quickly got them back on track.

This team is not that team, and these Phillies are not those Mets. Albert now seems to be a shell of what he was then, Rolen and Edmonds are long gone, and Wainwright won't be coming out of the bullpen to save us.

I don't think this team has a chance to make the playoffs. I really didn't think they did when they were winning, and I certainly don't now that they're losing. As long as it's not Cincinnati, I really don't care who wins. I don't really mind the Brewers, although I would laugh my ass off if they lost the division to Pittsburgh after all the money they've spent.

It would be quite awesome if the Pirates made it.

All I'm saying is, over the long haul a team with consistent starting pitching like the Phills is going to produce W's at a high rate. A short series and all it takes is a couple fluke plays and lucky breaks to end the season of a better team. It's happened all too often in this unforgiving game. (no I'm not entering super homer mode, but speaking in general for any team that gets in the postseason)

Good start tonight.

No idea why you'd give him anything to hit there, dude's only batting .570 in his career in Pittsburgh.

That should be enough for Carp.

4-0 in the 1st.

I thought the delay was until 7:30 Central.

What did I miss?