Cardinals' bats silenced by Big Unit
ST. LOUIS -- There are scuffles, and then there are struggles. Randy Johnson's career against the Cardinals? Five wins, six losses, a 3.87 ERA entering Saturday -- that's scuffling a bit for a future Hall of Famer, but it's not struggling. Mark Mulder against the Yankees? Try a 6.57 lifetime ERA. That's struggling.
Mulder's career-long difficulties against New York surfaced again on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, as the left-hander was sidled with the defeat in the Cards' 5-0 loss to Johnson and the Bronx Bombers.
Mulder wasn't terrible by any stretch, but he was unable to rise to the occasion against Johnson. Facing a Cooperstown-bound starter for the second straight game, Mulder permitted four runs and 11 baserunners in six innings as he fell to his third consecutive loss. Mulder had won seven in a row before his current skid.
On Saturday, he allowed seven base hits, though the vast majority were of the ground-ball variety. More frustrating were the three walks and a hit batter.
"That's more what I was upset about," he said. "It's not the ground-ball hits. That's what I'm trying to get. I've had games before where balls have gone in holes. ... The hit batter and the walks, that's something you can't let happen."
Five days earlier, Mulder went toe-to-toe with Roger Clemens, another of the greatest pitchers of his generation. Handed a three-run first-inning lead, Mulder got just nine outs before being chased. There was no early lead this time, however.
That's because the National League's most prolific offense had nothing for Johnson. The "Big Unit" has had more trouble in his career against St. Louis than against most teams, but when Johnson is sharp, there aren't many teams that are going to hit him hard.
Johnson was sharp on Saturday.
"He wasn't trying to blow it by anybody," said Abraham Nunez. "He was pitching. He was moving the ball in and out, mixing in some good offspeed pitches off the plate. He kept us off balance all day."
Johnson struck out three of the first five batters he saw, and five of the first 10. St. Louis didn't manage any kind of a threat against him until the fourth, when Reggie Sanders singled and stole second with two outs. Mark Grudzielanek singled, and third-base coach Jose Oquendo decided to risk sending Sanders even on a shallow ball to left.
Sanders was easily gunned down, but with the way Johnson was going, it was a defensible risk.
"I thought Cheo [Oquendo] made the exact right call," said manager Tony La Russa. "You've got a left-hander on deck, you've got to push and try to get on the board. The left fielder made a perfect throw."
The Cards picked up just one more baserunner against Johnson, a two-out Grudzielanek single in the seventh. They did threaten against reliever Tom Gordon, putting two men on in the eighth, before Yankees manager Joe Torre called on his hammer. Mariano Rivera got Larry Walker looking as Albert Pujols waited on deck, effectively ending the game.
Even so, the odds had been long for the Cardinals for quite a while before that. Mulder allowed a walk and a single with one out in the first, and then let the runners advance with a wild pitch. He induced a groundout from Alex Rodriguez, but that scored the go-ahead run.
Mulder hit Robinson Cano with a pitch in the second, and in the third he permitted a hit, a walk and an infield single before Derek Jeter was thrown out between third and home to end the inning. He was unable to elude trouble in the fourth, though.
John Flaherty led off with a single, and Cano walked. The rookie had been behind in the count, 0-2, before earning the free pass, and the walk changed the entire complexion of the inning. Johnson's grounder to third put two men in scoring position, setting up Jeter.
"He's trying to make pitches," La Russa said. "That's the bottom line. He just missed, so he walked them, and they scored."
Jeter rapped a two-out, two-run single to make it 3-0, and Hideki Matsui followed with a double for the fourth Yankees run. Mulder allowed only one more baserunner over his final two innings before handing it over to the bullpen, but the damage was done.
"When you look at the game, how many hits did he give up? Seven," said pitching coach Dave Duncan. "Six of them were ground balls. That's what he is. He's a ground-ball pitcher. It was just unfortunate for him. It seemed like they kept getting ground balls that were just barely out of reach of the infielders. All in all, with the exception of the walks, I thought he did his job."
The Cardinals fell to 39-22 on the season, and their lead in the National League Central shrunk to 5 1/2 games over the Cubs. St. Louis is 5-3 in Interleague Play this season.
Source: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/
Mulder's career-long difficulties against New York surfaced again on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, as the left-hander was sidled with the defeat in the Cards' 5-0 loss to Johnson and the Bronx Bombers.
Mulder wasn't terrible by any stretch, but he was unable to rise to the occasion against Johnson. Facing a Cooperstown-bound starter for the second straight game, Mulder permitted four runs and 11 baserunners in six innings as he fell to his third consecutive loss. Mulder had won seven in a row before his current skid.
On Saturday, he allowed seven base hits, though the vast majority were of the ground-ball variety. More frustrating were the three walks and a hit batter.
"That's more what I was upset about," he said. "It's not the ground-ball hits. That's what I'm trying to get. I've had games before where balls have gone in holes. ... The hit batter and the walks, that's something you can't let happen."
Five days earlier, Mulder went toe-to-toe with Roger Clemens, another of the greatest pitchers of his generation. Handed a three-run first-inning lead, Mulder got just nine outs before being chased. There was no early lead this time, however.
That's because the National League's most prolific offense had nothing for Johnson. The "Big Unit" has had more trouble in his career against St. Louis than against most teams, but when Johnson is sharp, there aren't many teams that are going to hit him hard.
Johnson was sharp on Saturday.
"He wasn't trying to blow it by anybody," said Abraham Nunez. "He was pitching. He was moving the ball in and out, mixing in some good offspeed pitches off the plate. He kept us off balance all day."
Johnson struck out three of the first five batters he saw, and five of the first 10. St. Louis didn't manage any kind of a threat against him until the fourth, when Reggie Sanders singled and stole second with two outs. Mark Grudzielanek singled, and third-base coach Jose Oquendo decided to risk sending Sanders even on a shallow ball to left.
Sanders was easily gunned down, but with the way Johnson was going, it was a defensible risk.
"I thought Cheo [Oquendo] made the exact right call," said manager Tony La Russa. "You've got a left-hander on deck, you've got to push and try to get on the board. The left fielder made a perfect throw."
The Cards picked up just one more baserunner against Johnson, a two-out Grudzielanek single in the seventh. They did threaten against reliever Tom Gordon, putting two men on in the eighth, before Yankees manager Joe Torre called on his hammer. Mariano Rivera got Larry Walker looking as Albert Pujols waited on deck, effectively ending the game.
Even so, the odds had been long for the Cardinals for quite a while before that. Mulder allowed a walk and a single with one out in the first, and then let the runners advance with a wild pitch. He induced a groundout from Alex Rodriguez, but that scored the go-ahead run.
Mulder hit Robinson Cano with a pitch in the second, and in the third he permitted a hit, a walk and an infield single before Derek Jeter was thrown out between third and home to end the inning. He was unable to elude trouble in the fourth, though.
John Flaherty led off with a single, and Cano walked. The rookie had been behind in the count, 0-2, before earning the free pass, and the walk changed the entire complexion of the inning. Johnson's grounder to third put two men in scoring position, setting up Jeter.
"He's trying to make pitches," La Russa said. "That's the bottom line. He just missed, so he walked them, and they scored."
Jeter rapped a two-out, two-run single to make it 3-0, and Hideki Matsui followed with a double for the fourth Yankees run. Mulder allowed only one more baserunner over his final two innings before handing it over to the bullpen, but the damage was done.
"When you look at the game, how many hits did he give up? Seven," said pitching coach Dave Duncan. "Six of them were ground balls. That's what he is. He's a ground-ball pitcher. It was just unfortunate for him. It seemed like they kept getting ground balls that were just barely out of reach of the infielders. All in all, with the exception of the walks, I thought he did his job."
The Cardinals fell to 39-22 on the season, and their lead in the National League Central shrunk to 5 1/2 games over the Cubs. St. Louis is 5-3 in Interleague Play this season.
Source: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/
