***Official 2009 N.L. Central Thread*** Congrats to the Cardinals***

this man soriano is such a frustrating player to watch, he's batting like .100 with runners on base and just when ur ready to write him off after 3strikeouts he'll hit one out
 
Come on *%##..
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Man I thought Micah gave that ball a new home.... close one and he still got the RBI. pretty good inning by the Cubs. My wife changed the channel to celebritydance off, or whatever, halfway through the inning and I had to whoop her.
 
Originally Posted by wildKYcat

we're the worst hitting team in baseball.

BP is in a serious funk.
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qft, he hasnt been the same since losing Dunn and Jr's protection.
 
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[h3]Cards capitalize to win battle of 'pens[/h3]
Misplay leads to Ryan triple; Ankiel hits go-ahead double


By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

04/22/09 12:54 AM ET
Box >
ST. LOUIS -- For one night, homegrown and gently tweaked beat high-priced and completely overhauled.

The Cardinals' no-name bullpen outlasted the Mets' famously upgraded relief corps on Tuesday night, giving St. Louis a 6-4 win over New York in the opener of a three-game series. Four Cardinals relievers combined to pitch four near-perfect innings, allowing a hit and a walk but no runs against a potent offense. St. Louis trailed, 4-0, in the fifth inning before rallying for the win.

"Especially against a team like that, knowing that they stepped up their bullpen, for us to come back and get some runs back there and take the lead again is huge for us," said Rick Ankiel, who drove in the winning run.

Neither starter was particularly sharp, and before the sixth inning had started, both clubs had put the game in the hands of their bullpens. And both 'pens were at least OK, but the Cards' was better. Meanwhile, the Mets cost themselves mightily with defensive and baserunning mistakes that undermined whatever they were able to accomplish on the mound and at the plate.

Facing J.J. Putz, New York's second-most prominent offseason bullpen acquisition, the Cardinals assembled the winning rally. Brendan Ryan led off the eighth inning with a triple on a ball that Mets left fielder Daniel Murphy misplayed. Murphy came in on the ball, realized it was going deeper than he thought, and slipped as he tried to change directions.

Ankiel, who entered the game in a 2-for-19 slump, followed by smoking a double into the right-field corner that scored Ryan. Two batters later, Ryan Ludwick provided an insurance run with a sacrifice fly. And while Putz certainly allowed a great deal of hard contact in the inning, he might have escaped unscathed if not for Murphy's misplay.

"That's about as hard as I can hit a ball," Ryan said. "When I hit it, I looked at him and I saw him coming in, and I thought, 'This has zoo maybe written all over it.' It could have gone in the lights. I don't know if he was trying to stop to reach. I think he was probably trying to brace himself to jump or reach. I'm just glad it sat down."

Those runs made a winner of right-hander Jason Motte, who faced only one batter in the eighth inning. Motte benefited from a bizarre play on which the Mets' Carlos Beltran was thrown out at home.

With one out and Beltran on second base in the top of the eighth, Ramon Castro flied out to right field. Beltran advanced to third, and when Joe Thurston couldn't corral the ball, the speedy outfielder tried to score. But Thurston got a throw home in time, and Beltran didn't slide, allowing catcher Yadier Molina to tag him for the third out of the inning.

"Right when I saw the ball fly out, my first thought was I've got to go hustle to get this guy," Thurston said. "If I go hustle to get it, maybe he won't try to score. I saw him try to score, and the thing to do in that situation was just trying to get a throw to Yadi and maybe get him out."

Even with a fine throw from Thurston and an excellent play by Molina, Beltran likely would have been safe if he had slid.

"When I took off to home plate, I was watching the ball," Beltran said. "And when I looked at home plate, I was too close to slide. Molina was on top of the plate and I tried to go over his foot, but I stepped on it and I wasn't able to touch [the plate]."

Ryan Franklin pitched the ninth inning for his third save in as many chances, capping off the hard-earned comeback win. Kyle McClellan pitched two shutout innings of relief, followed by Dennys Reyes, Motte and Franklin. That allowed the Cardinals to come back after starter Todd Wellemeyer spotted New York an early 4-0 lead.

"We pitched a lot the last four games before tonight, and guys went out there and did their best," Franklin said. "Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it wasn't, but it wasn't because they weren't giving it their best. But tonight's win, after starting out kind of shaky, it just shows what kind of heart guys have on this team.

The Cardinals improved to 9-5 on the season and avoided what would have been their first three-game losing streak of the year.

Matthew Leach is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs

That comeback was bananas
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, hopefully this is what Ankielneeded to get things started for him.
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Aramis needs to be battin 3rd. That guy can flat out hit and rarely gets mentioned amongst the best in the league.

Both times last night he just battled and battled and goes the other way with the base hit to drive in runs. I love the way this dude approaches at bats.
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What's the whether lookin like for tonight?
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Originally Posted by CP1708

Aramis needs to be battin 3rd. That guy can flat out hit and rarely gets mentioned amongst the best in the league.

Both times last night he just battled and battled and goes the other way with the base hit to drive in runs. I love the way this dude approaches at bats.
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What's the whether lookin like for tonight?
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THANK YOU! aramis been needed to be third, he is a point producer, ima big aramis > d. lee supporter move d.lee down to 5th or clean up

sometimes i feel lou is scared of changing the order around
 
man ted lilly is workin extra slow tonight, btw soto is improvin, I'm expectin him to break out soon
 
Good win for the Cards........Goin for their second sweep of the season tomorrow.

Pineiro looked really good tonight. 3-0 on the season, pretty good ERA.......But the jury is still out in my mind, im not really sold on him yet.
 
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