Cards at Padres - Game 1

Yep, it's time for the annual trek to the Litterbox and the Cardinals' lone series in San Diego. Since virtually everyone who cares about the Cardinals is aware of their 7-0 loss last night, and has probably digested all the info there is on the game, here's some tidbits for you from last night:

- Kip Wells is just as awful in person as his stats would suggest. Rarely tops out above 90 on the radar gun with his fastball. He followed a great job striking out Adrain Gonzalez in the 3rd by hanging a slider to Khalil Greene - who promptly belted it into the leftcenter field stands. Nice lapse of concentration, Kip.

- Russell Branyan must star in Wells' nightmares. I can't believe the HR he hit in the second inning had enough juice to get out. Off the end of the bat down the LF line. When you're going bad, even luck laughs at you.

- Padres fans started the wave in the top of the third inning with the score 2-0, cementing their place among baseball fans as the most ridiculous. Wave started in the upper deck.

- I sat in the upper deck.

- It was 70s retro night - and the best part of it was the dance off before the start of the 6th inning. Winner - the girl with the Beyonce' glasses and hair from 'GOLDMEMBER', boobs flapping in the wind (not exposed, which was probably a good thing), and the Oh-so-classy spider tattoo between the breasts. There's a nice girl to take home to Mama.

- To his credit, Tony LaRussa is trying to jump start this offense. Two stolen bases last night (Duncan, Rolen). Hit and Run on a 2-0 count with AP at the plate and Kennedy on first. And so on. But there's not much you can do when:
(a) the ball hardest hit by a Cardinal was Kip Wells' double;
(b) the other hard hit ball landed in Brian Giles' glove (Duncan's liner in the 6th);
(c) the Cardinals only got one guy to third all night (Wells);
(d) Jake Peavy is pitching. Usually the Cards look feeble against Jake, as do most all NL teams. But I always had that feeling in years past that the Cardinal offense was capable of hitting Jake in any inning or situation. Not last night.

So on to game 2. Chris Young hasn't lost at home since last 22 Sept, and the Cardinals have now gone 24 innings on the road without scoring a run. Looper, our best starter (!), faces Young tonight, so the offense won't have to do much. Which is good, because they probably won't.