Cardinals Now One Game Away From Third World Series In Seven Years

The Cardinals have put together a little mini-dynasty and yet no one seems to notice. Perhaps because they play in St. Louis, maybe because their most recognizable faces, namely Albert Pujols, Tony LaRussa, and Fernando Vina are all gone, or maybe because their regular season performance hasn’t been up to snuff the last few years, no one really notices that the Cardinals are consistently challenging for championships like no one but the Yankees of lore.

The Cardinals quickly jumped to the lead in this one, scoring two runs in the first inning off the same TIm Lincecum that we saw all season and not the one who showed up for short relief bursts this postseason. It makes me sad to think that The Freak is now merely The Meek (see what I did there?), so I can only imagine how Giants fans are feeling. Grant Brisbee did a pretty great job summing it up though. Lincecum failed to finish the fifth, walking three, striking out three, and giving up four runs. They never even had a shot.

Adam Wainwright, who had his own struggles at the beginning of the season, was dominant, pitching seven innings of one run ball, walking no one and striking out five. Not to harp on Lincecum, but do you remember a time when having him start seemed like an automatic victory? Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it (see what I did there?)

The Cardinals also got plenty of offensive support with every starting registering a hit, with Jon Jay, Matt Holliday, and Yadier Molina all supplying two hits and two RBI. You couldn’t draw up a victory any more easily than that.

The Giants will fight for their postseason lives tomorrow when Barry Zito takes on Lance Lynn. Not quite the matchup you want in a do-or-die game, but we don’t all get what we want in life anyway. While the Cardinals are certainly favored at this point, should the Giants win tomorrow, they’ll be right back in it with Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, and Madison Bumgarner all potentially available to take the hill.