News
Loss assures Cards of hitting NLDS road
Errors hurt Lohse in final regular-season audition
By B.J. Rains / MLB.com
10/04/09 1:12 AM EST
ST. LOUIS -- This wasn't quite how manager Tony La Russa and the Cardinals wanted to finish the regular season as they gear up for Wednesday's playoff opener.The Cardinals suffered a second straight sloppy loss to the Brewers on Saturday afternoon, 5-4, at Busch Stadium, losing for the fifth time in six games since clinching the National League Central crown last Saturday in Colorado.
With one regular-season game remaining, St. Louis is assured of opening the playoffs on the road, which will be against the Dodgers, who clinched the NL West with a 5-0 win over the Rockies on Saturday night.
"We're definitely not firing on all cylinders," La Russa said. "But we're going to end up with 91 or 92 wins and we're going to be playing in October. We have to make sure we understand where the priorities are.
"This is a very tough-minded group and we really made it a point to keep our focus and our edge. And I think there have been a lot of games since we have been in a really good position where it has been there. But it has slipped at times, there's no doubt about it."
Kyle Lohse made a final bid to earn a postseason start and gave up two earned runs in six innings. He took a 4-3 lead into the sixth until a fluke play pegged him with the loss. With the bases loaded and two outs, Lohse got a grounder to Julio Lugo at second that should have ended the inning.
But first baseman Albert Pujols, who started after the ball and had to hurry back to first, arrived at the bag at the same time as Lohse, and neither caught the ball. Two runs scored as the ball sailed into the Cardinals' dugout and the Brewers took a 5-4 lead.
"I tried to let him know that I'd get there, but he kept coming and we basically met at the base at the same time," Lohse said. "There's not much else you can do. Lugo had to throw the ball or else the guy was going to be safe. It was right over Albert's head and I was kind of screened, trying to figure out how I'm going to catch this, avoid him, avoid the runner and tag the base. It was kind of a messed-up play.
"It was tough being that that was basically what lost the game for us."
Pujols later tied the Major League record for assists by a first baseman with his 184th of the season on a flip to pitcher Blake Hawksworth at first in the eighth inning. Bill Buckner also had 184 assists at first base for the 1985 Boston Red Sox.
A night after blowing a 6-0 sixth-inning lead, the Cardinals fell behind, 2-0, in the first on a Ryan Braun homer to left. But a two-run single by Ryan Ludwick in the bottom of the first quickly tied the game at 2.
St. Louis took a 4-3 lead in the fifth when Brendan Ryan's double scored Lugo from first. Ryan was 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and the RBI but was lifted for a left-handed pinch-hitter to start the seventh. Lugo and Ryan were on base five times in the first four innings from the top two spots in the batting order and scored all four of the Cardinals' runs.
Matt Holliday -- who threw out Prince Fielder at home plate in the ninth -- was on base four times, but Ludwick and Rick Ankiel combined to go 1-for-8 behind him. Ankiel was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and got caught looking with the bases loaded to end the fifth.
"More than anything, it's just nice to win," said the Braun, who joined Cecil Cooper, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount as the only Brewers to notch 200-hit seasons. "It's nice to finish the year winning this series on the road against a great team. It's certainly uncharacteristic of how they play the game.
"It's a tough situation, though, because they clinched so long ago and everybody is looking ahead to the postseason. At the same time, you want to go into the postseason with some momentum, and it's kind of nice to take that away from them."
Lohse finished a disappointing 2009 regular season with a 6-10 record after spending two different stints on the disabled list. The righty, who signed a four-year, $41 million contract extension last September, will now wait to hear if he will be the team's fourth starter in the playoffs or be moved to a role in the bullpen.
"Obviously I want to start, but it's not up to me," Lohse said. "I just have to wait and see what decision is made. [John] Smoltz and I are both kind of sitting here waiting to know what we are doing. [Regardless,] we're going to go out there and get outs when we get the ball.
"I just wanted to go and have a good start and throw the ball the way I wanted to, and prove that I could throw 100 pitches and finish strong. ... I felt that I was able to do that."
After losing seven out of their past nine games, the Cardinals will send Joel Pineiro to the mound on Sunday afternoon in the regular-season finale as they try to enter the playoffs on a winning note.
"We haven't been playing too clean of baseball," Lohse said. "Hopefully, we can get it cleaned up. Sometimes it's hard to keep that level that we were at and you don't want any kind of a letdown, but obviously that has happened. We just have to regroup and get back to what we were doing."
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.
