NewsRyan on verge of personal milestone
St. Louis (91-70) vs. Milwaukee (79-82), 1:15 p.m. CT
By B.J. Rains / MLB.com
10/03/09 7:57 PM EST
ST. LOUIS -- Even a 3-for-3 day at the plate couldn't keep Brendan Ryan out of manager Tony La Russa's dog house. Ryan was on second base in the fifth inning of Saturday's 5-4 loss to the Brewers after his RBI double had put the Cardinals in front, 4-3. But for the second time in as many games, Ryan tried to advance to third on a ground ball hit to short. The speedster stayed in the hot box long enough for Albert Pujols to get all the way to second before he was tagged out. "That's unacceptable," said La Russa. "That's two times in two days. I mean that's basic baseball. Every organization teaches it. We teach it. I guarantee you that you will see him working on that [Sunday] during batting practice. "He did a terrible job of getting in that situation. There is no plus that comes out of that. He should not have advanced. He shouldn't have made the mistake yesterday, but to make it two days in a row is unacceptable. It's just not good baseball." Ryan was pinch-hit for before his next at-bat in the seventh inning after having two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. "Awful base-running," Ryan said. "I was just trying to be aggressive. He smashed it and I thought maybe it would get through, but I was just being over-aggressive. No excuses. It won't happen again." The right-handed-hitting Ryan came into Spring Training fighting for a spot on the Cardinals' bench but became one of the key contributors to their NL Central title run. Ryan enters Sunday's regular-season finale with a .296 batting average and would reach .300 for the season with a 3-for-3 or 3-for-4 game against the Brewers. "Oh man, that would be awesome," Ryan said. "But if you get caught up in that, you will start taking bad at-bats. I just have to stay on top of the ball and try to find the barrel." In addition to his near-.300 average at the plate, Ryan has made several highlight-reel plays in the field. Some consider him the best defensive shortstop in the National League, and he's got an outside chance to win his first Gold Glove Award. But regardless of Ryan's breakthrough 2009 campaign, the shortstop is not ready to reflect. He'd rather focus on trying to win his first World Series title. "I'll have all winter to think about how this year has gone," Ryan said. "I'm just trying to separate each game and each at-bat and get the most of them. This year has gone pretty good, but I don't think now is the time to pat myself on the back for anything." Pitching matchupSTL: RHP Joel Pineiro (15-12, 3.44 ERA)
Pineiro gets one more chance to go into October on a positive note. He's been less effective in September than earlier in the year, and his last time out he got rocked. Pineiro needs to keep the ball in the park, and he didn't do that well his latest time out. Pineiro has been much better at home than on the road, which should benefit the Cardinals in the NLDS: Pineiro will pitch Game 3 at Busch Stadium. MIL: RHP Jeff Suppan (7-12, 5.30 ERA)
Suppan will work on short rest to reach the 30-start milestone for the 11th consecutive season. Among active pitchers, only Livan Hernandez (12 seasons) has a longer streak. Trouble is, Suppan has surrendered 15 earned runs and 22 hits in 10 1/3 innings over his past two starts. He'll probably pitch only a couple of innings before the Brewers turn to former Cardinals hurler Chris Narveson. Tidbits
La Russa passed John McGraw (4,769) for second all-time in games managed on Thursday. The Cardinals' skipper since 1996, La Russa has now managed 4,772 games. ... Rookie reliever Jason Motte appeared in his 69th game on Friday night and now sits in third place on the Cardinals' rookie reliever appearances list. Mike Perez appeared in 77 games in '92 and Todd Worrell had 74 appearances in '86. Motte passed teammate Kyle McClellan, who appeared in 68 games as a rookie last season. Tickets
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• Wednesday: Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, 17-4, 2.24 ERA) vs. (TBD) in NLDS Game 1
• Thursday: Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, 19-8, 2.63 ERA) vs. (TBD) in NLDS Game 2
B.J. Rains is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
