It was defiantly the Cardinal’s hitting that stopped the San Diego Padres pitching yesterday in a Cards win 10-5. The Cardinals had an incredible 5^th inning in which they scored all 10 runs. It started off with staring pitcher Braden Looper. Looper singled and so did the next 5 people in front of him, scoring 4 runs. But that wasn’t all. No, not even close. Scott Rolen hit next and hit a two-run-homerun to left field. But the hits kept coming. The next batter, Ryan Ludwick, made it back-to-back at-bats and games with his 9^th homerun of the year. Now your saying "Could it get any better!?!". And yes, it could. The next batter, Yadier Molina walked. The man that lead off the inning, pitcher Braden Looper got his second single of the inning. Then Aaron Miles singled in Molina. That was the 10^th strait hit, tying the record. The next batter ended the streak but with a good cause. David Eckstein sacrificed flied to center to score Braden Looper. So Taguchi batted next and grounded into a double play, ending one of the greatest innings in Cardinal history.

So what about the pitching? It wasn’t quite as good but still note worthy. Starter Braden Looper as you know did well with his bat, but also did pretty good on the mound. He pitched 6.1 innings with in 6 hits and 4 runs. Russ Springer finished the inning Looper started in the 7^th hitless. Troy Percival pitched the 8^th and also did it hitless. Randy Flores came in to pitch the 9^th but had a little trouble. In that inning, he allowed 3 hits and a run. Looper earned his 9^th win and evened out his record 9-9.

Besides that 10-hit inning, the Cardinals only had 5 hits. David Eckstien leadoff the game and went 1 for 4 with a run scored and 2 RBIs. So Taguchi followed after him in the #2 hole and went 2 for 5 with a run scored and a RBI. Juan Encanacion did the same as Taguchi. Albert Pujols went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a RBI and a walk. Scott Rolen went 1 for 4 with his 7^th homerun of the year and 3 RBIs. Ryan Ludwick went 2 for 4 with a homerun. The #8 man, pitcher Braden Looper helped himself going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. And the #9 man Aaron Miles went 2 for 4 with a homerun and a RBI.

Today the Cardinals will try to repaet the game before against the Padres at 7:10 CT. Anthony Reyes (1-10 6.07 ERA) for the Cards and Jake Peavy (11-5 2.30 ERA for the Friars.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW