Some Days Things Just Don't Go Your Way

You win some, you lose some, and some days you walk away scratching your head.  Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals today.  More specifically, just ask Mitchell Boggs and Mark Rzepczynski.  If you saw in a box score that a team scored nine runs in one inning, as the Reds did, the automatic assumption would be some horrendous pitching.  However, the St. Louis tandem did not pitch all that poorly.  Just call it a case of bad luck.

	Innings	Hits	Runs	Earned Runs	Walks	Strikeouts
Boggs	0.1	2	7	6	4 (2 IBB)	0
Rzepczynski	0.2	4	2	2	1	1
Total	1.0	6	9	8	5	1

Even looking at the stat lines, it still gives the illusion of poor pitching performances.  Sure, Boggs started with a four-pitch walk to leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo.  Chris Heisey followed that up with a popout to second.  With Joey Votto up, Boggs threw a very wild pitch that missed the catcher, Yadier Molina, completely and allowed Choo to advance to second.  With first base open and a 2-0 count, Boggs opted to issue Votto the intentional pass.

At this point, Boggs started to get unlucky.  The next hitter, Brandon Phillips, quickly fell behind 0-2.  The next pitch ran outside and Phillips managed to get weak contact and send it down the first base line.  The ball landed inches fair resulting in a double for Phillips and the go-ahead run (Choo) scoring.  With first base again open, Boggs issued a second free pass to Jay Bruce.

Boggs got ahead 0-2 again on Todd Frazier, but could not get another pitch across and walked him on a full count, forcing in another run.  Jack Hannahan pinch-hit for the pitcher spot and hit a weak ground ball that managed to get just under the outstretched glove of third baseman David Freese.  Pete Kozma was able to field the ball behind Freese, but could not make a play at any base and another run scored.  Ryan Hanigan fell behind Boggs 1-2 and hit a ground ball up the middle.  This time, Kozma pulled his glove too early and failed to field the ball cleanly.  Another run scored and the bases remained loaded.

Now that the Cardinals had fallen into a 4-run deficit, manager Mike Matheny decided to end the misfortunes of Boggs and bring in the left-hander Rzepczynski.  His first batter, Cesar Izturis, hit a single on a soft line drive through the right side of the infield, which plated another run.

That turned the lineup over and brought up Choo for his second turn.  Atoning for two early errors that led to three St. Louis runs, Choo managed the only hard-hit ball of the inning when he laced a double into the left field corner and cleared the bases.  Heisey managed to make the second out of the inning with a ground ball to second that moved Choo to third.

Joey Votto returned and hit a single past a diving Kozma that brought in Choo.  Brandon Phillips drew a walk putting runners on first and second for Jay Bruce.  Bruce hit a chopper back toward the mound that deflected off Rzepczynski and lost all momentum.  Daniel Descalso fielded the ball at second, but had no chance for a play.  Todd Frazier then struck out looking with the bases loaded.

So the Cardinals bullpen gave up nine runs in the top of the ninth.  However, they did so with one bad walk (the leadoff four-pitch walk to Choo) and only one solid hit (the 3-run double, also by Choo).  Two of the five walks were intentional.  Boggs gave up only two hits: the bad-break double to Phillips that barely stayed fair and the infield single to Hannahan.  Rzepczynski gave up four and one of them was the deflected infield single to Bruce.

The real ninth innings stats should read: 9 runs (8 earned) on a double, a Texas-league double, two infield singles, two regular singles, an error, three standard walks and two intentional walks.  Sure, Boggs got the loss and the ballooned ERA will stick with both pitchers.  Hopefully their coaches and teammates can help them realize that the cards were stack against them tonight and that their respective outings were not as bad as the line scores may read.