It’s been a long five days since I’ve written. I’ve been involved with high school golf, but it’s finished now. My team and I did not advance past regionals today. We needed to finish in the top three teams or needed to have a player be in the top five individuals whose teams did not make it. One player of my team’s shot 75, but needed to shoot 74 or better to make it to states.

Anyway, the Cards are back in first. I was very happy to learn that they won yesterday 3-2. The Cards scored in interesting ways – a force, sacrifice and single. Todd Wellemeyer had another strong start despite going 5 1/3, allowing 6 hits, two runs, a walk and 5 K’s. The bullpen (Trever Miller, Chris Perez, Jason Motte, Dennys Reyes and Ryan Franklin) went 3 2/3 and allowed just two hits.

St. Louis is playing the first of a three game series in San Francisco tonight, with Joel Pineiro (5-4, 3.52 ERA) facing young gun Matt Cain (5-1, 2.40). The game is going to be on late tonight, starting at 10:15 PM Eastern. This is one of those times where living in the East really stinks – because I hate late games.

I was hoping for better, but it was not a terrible loss. I am only hoping that the offense gets going a little more, and that Milwaukee loses tonight.

Kyle Lohse dominated Kansas City’s lineup, pitching 8 innings of shutout ball – allowing just four hits and striking out 6. St. Louis struck again early, with Nick Stavinoha driving in two runs. Skip Schumaker hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot, in the 3rd off of Royals starter Luke Hochevar. The Cards had the bases loaded in the 8th but managed to get just one run.

Right now, the starters for St. Louis are making a complete turn-around from last week. Last week at this time, the starters were going no more than 6 innings and really struggling. In the I-70 series, Todd Wellemeyer and Kyle Lohse have gone for a combined 14 innings, allowing just 8 hits and striking out 9. The more important part – neither have allowed runs. Tomorrow’s starter, Joel Pineiro, pitched a complete game three-hitter against the Cubs last Tuesday – so maybe the fact that the starters are pitching really well plus Pineiro’s last game will be a good sign.

If Minnesota manages to beat Milwaukee again tonight, the Brewers and Cards will be tied for the NL Central lead. Milwaukee and St. Louis play a three game series starting on Monday.

The Cards have now won 5 straight games and are going for the sweep tomorrow, with KC’s Brian Bannister (3-1, 2.75 ERA) taking on Pineiro (5-3, 3.48).

That’s four straight wins for St. Louis after getting swept by the Brewers. St. Louis beat Kansas City 5-0, and it seemed that Todd Wellemeyer (a former Royal) was back into May 2008 form. Welly pitched 6 innings and allowed just four hits, three walks and K’d three. For once, he didn’t allow a run.

Nick Stavinoha got the Cardinals on the board in the first with a two-run RBI single. Tyler Greene hit a solo home run in the 7th, his second of the season. The bases were loaded in the 8th when the other Greene (Khalil) knocked in two with an RBI single.

Overall, it’s nice to see the Cards rebounding from that ugly series with the Brewers. I wouldn’t mind seeing the streak continue – not a bit.

The last time I was writing, the Cards just got swept by Milwaukee. Since then, they turned the table on their rival Cubs, sweeping them and finishing it off last night. St. Louis won behind Albert Pujols, Brian Barden and Adam Wainwright, 3-1.

Pujols hit a big solo shot that knocked out one of the lights in the “Big Mac Land” sign. Colby Rasmus knocked in an RBI on a single in the fourth. Barden also had a solo homer. Wainwright pitched 8 2/3 innings of strong baseball, allowing just one run.

In my opinion, this is the turn-around St. Louis needed after getting swept by Milwaukee. The Redbirds are hanging in there, just two back of the Brew Crew.

The Cards will face Kansas City shortly, with KC’s Kyle Davies (2-2, 5.01) taking on Todd Wellemeyer (3-4, 5.87) in interleague play.

(On a side note, I’ve been busy golfing. My high school’s boys team, which I’m playing on right now, made regionals for only the third time in school history yesterday. Regionals are next Friday in Marshall, Mich., where I lived from when I was 2 to when I was 4)

What a relief. The Cards finally won a game, and I’m not as worried anymore. Joel Pineiro pitched a masterful game – a complete game shutout, his first since 2003 when he was with Seattle.

Yadier Molina knocked in Brendan Ryan to put the Cards up 1-0. Molina batted cleanup for the second time this season. Colby Rasmus hit a two run home run later in the game, a 417 foot shot that was his third of the season.

The Cardinals are now 2.5 games back of the Brewers, who swept St. Louis this past weekend.

I don’t even know what to say, other than “How could this happen?”. I thought the team was back on the right track, then they have come crashing back to reality. You know it’s bad when the Brewers’ bottom three beat your team’s aces (or, as close as you can get to the team’s aces). Now the Cards find themselves three back in the NL Central and on a three game losing streak.

Shortly, the Cards and Joel Pineiro (who deserves the nickname “Pinata” once again) will take on Ted Lilly and the Cubs. I’ve got a feeling in my gut that this will be an ugly game, much like the last three – Lilly shuts out the Cards, and Pineiro and the ‘pen have another bad game. Crossing fingers…

Todd Wellemeyer is not near what he was last May. When Welly has struggled, it’s always been early. It sure was today, when he gave up four runs in the 1st inning alone. St. Louis struggled offensively – Nick Stavinoha knocked in two runs in the 7th, which turned out to be the team’s only runs in the game.

Braden Looper (3-2, 4.70 ERA) squares off against Joel Pineiro (4-3, 4.17) tomorrow at 7:15 Central. Monday was supposed to be an off day for the Redbirds, but Friday’s postponed game ended up being rescheduled for that day.

Just a guess – I’m betting that Looper will throw close to a shutout and Pineiro will get hammered. The Cards are starting to get as predictable as they were last season.

What a game. Adam Wainwright pitched 8 innings of great baseball and DIDN’T get the win because of one pitch – a home run to Corey Hart in the 2nd inning. ONE PITCH!

Jeff Suppan notched his 7th win against St. Louis, and has not lost to the team since leaving after the 2006 season. He pitched 7 innings of shutout ball, not giving up many hits.

I don’t usually say anything about the team other than the stats, but here, I just can’t resist. The Cards offense was HORRID. Every time they had a chance, they couldn’t get it done. They were very streaky in this game. Either the offense had it going and couldn’t catch a break or just flat out stunk.

The NL Central lead now belongs to Milwaukee, with St. Louis a game back. The Cards had the Central lead up until earlier this week.

Tomorrow, the Brewers’ lefty Manny Parra (2-4, 4.82 ERA) faces the Cards’ Todd Wellemeyer (3-3, 5.80) at 1:15 Central.

Last night’s Cardinals game was postponed because of rain. Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer to give the Cards a 2-0 lead before rain showed up in the second inning. The game was called after an hour and a half rain delay.

Former Redbird Jeff Suppan (2-3, 5.50 ERA) faces Adam Wainwright (3-1, 4.35) at 12:10 Central.

My dad, who was flying to Springfield (MO) last night, was stuck in Dallas because of the combination of weather and the fact that the planes they tried had mechanical issues. Now, he and my uncle (who is also going to Springfield) will fly into Fayetteville, Ark. and get a ride to Springfield. It was quite a mess, apparently.