OK So Sometimes Great Pitching Isn't Enough!

Pitching wins in baseball as top flight defense wins in football. Sometimes both teams have it and somebody still loses.

That is exactly what happened to the Astros in St. Louis Tuesday night. Wandy Rodriguez (and LaTroy Hawkins) could hardly have been better. OK, Wandy could have been slightly better by not allowing a single by Brendan Ryan and a double by Albert Pujols in the first inning. Then the Cardinals wouldn't have scored a run either.

As it was Adam Wainwright didn't allow any runs so the Cardinals won 1-0.

It looked like the Astros might actually score first when Michael Bourn led off the game with a double to deep left center. From high atop the stadium it appeared Michael remembered the rule about not making the first or last out at third base so he wasn't thinking triple all the way. Perhaps after a glance at coach Dave Clark he pulled up at 2nd. Whatever the case the ball was a possible triple but circumstances didn't call for the stretch.

As it turned out getting Michael to third with no outs wouldn't apparently have mattered. The Astros couldn't get him over when Hunter Pence was unable to handle any of the sliders away and hit to the right side. When Wainwright jammed him he hit a routine grounder to third and Bourn had to stay put. When Lance Berkman popped to third and Carlos Lee struck out it was apparent getting to third was not a factor. Wainwright was ready to deal.

In fact he didn't stop dealing until he had retired the next 17 in a row. That was when Bourn singled for his second hit with two out in the 6th. He never moved off first this time.

On the other side the Cardinals never mounted another threat against Wandy. The Astros did get a runner as far as third in the 8th after a lead off single by Geoff Blum. That was it.

It is hard to complain about a loss so close and so dominated by pitching on both teams. If anything it is positive that Wandy hung with Wainwright so well. He actually had fewer well hit outs than did Wainwright who surrendered deep fly outs--two by Tejada and two by Lee--his last coming in the ninth for the final out with a runner aboard.

In fact, Lee thought he had hit two home runs when the balls left the bat. Wind wasn't a factor but perhaps "dead air" was. They ust didn't carry enough.

So the Astros lost and are now 11 games behind the Cards. We all must be realistic. They won't and can't catch them. St. Louis has a better team this season. When the season began not many people were sure of that. Chris Carpenter came back from essentially a two year absence. Other pitchers are doing things they never have or had not for years. Sure, Albert Pujols is still here, but changes at 3b, LF, CF and often at 2b have taken place since the season began and the Cards are a very good club. If they did it almost overnight so can others--including the Astros--in 2010