The best way to survive a best-of-seven series with such awful starting pitching is to face an opponent whose starters aren't any throwing any better.

NLCS pitching lines, ranked by IP.....

ST. LOUIS	G	ERA	IP	H	2B	3B	HR	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Garcia	2	7.27	8.2	13	4	0	2	7	7	3	8	1.846
Jackson	2	8.53	6.1	11	2	0	4	6	6	1	5	1.895
Salas	4	1.50	6.0	3	2	0	0	1	1	1	6	0.667
Lynn	5	0.00	5.1	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0.938
Carpenter	1	5.40	5.0	6	0	0	1	3	3	3	3	1.800
Motte	4	0.00	4.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0.000
Rzepczynski	5	1.93	4.2	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	4	0.429
Lohse	1	6.23	4.1	6	4	0	0	3	3	0	3	1.385
Dotel	4	2.25	4.0	2	1	0	1	2	1	1	5	0.750
Boggs	3	6.00	3.0	4	1	0	1	2	2	1	0	1.667
Rhodes	2	0.00	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1.500
McLellan	1	27.00	0.1	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	6.000
TOTAL		4.25	53.0	51	15	0	9	26	25	14	40	1.226

Anybody who predicted Lance Lynn would throw the fourth most innings of any St. Louis pitcher goes to the front of the class.

MILWAUKEE	G	ERA	IP	H	2B	3B	HR	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Greinke	2	6.17	11.2	15	3	0	1	11	8	4	6	1.629
Wolf	1	2.57	7.0	6	2	0	2	2	2	1	6	1.000
Gallardo	1	7.20	5.0	8	3	0	0	4	4	5	2	2.600
Marcum	2	16.20	5.0	10	3	0	2	9	9	2	2	2.400
Narveson	4	10.80	5.0	5	1	0	3	6	6	1	8	1.200
Saito	3	0.00	4.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.500
Axford	3	0.00	3.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0.667
Estrada	2	12.00	3.0	4	3	0	0	4	4	2	4	2.000
Hawkins	3	0.00	3.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1.333
Rodriguez	3	3.00	3.0	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	4	1.333
Loe	3	15.43	2.1	10	1	0	0	6	4	1	2	4.714
TOTAL		6.58	52.0	67	16	0	8	43	38	19	43	1.654

Today, Doug Melvin is saying "Give me my Lawrie back, I want my Lawrie back...."

But really, this is what says it all:

	RUNS	OUTS
STL starters	19	73
STL bullpen	7	86
MIL starters	26	86
MIL bullpen	17	70

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Chris F. Carpenter

+.770 WPA
9.0 IP
3 H, 1 2B
0 R
0 BB
1 HBP
3 K
110 pitches, 70 strikes (63.6%)
16 GO, 5 AO

Roy F. Halladay

+.240 WPA
8.0 IP
6 H
1 R (1 ER)
1 BB (IBB to Pujols)
7 K 126 pitches, 87 strikes (69.0%)
10 GO, 4 AO

time of game: 2:29

Everybody knew it was gonna work out like this, right? The only surprise is that anybody reached base at all, on either side.

IT'S ALL DENSE IN HERE

EDIT:
Game Score for Carp: 84
Game Score for Halladay: 72

Not much to say up here. Obligatory 75-word filler below jump.

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Let's review what we learned tonight:
Adam Wainwright is a horse.
Ryan Ludwick is not slumping any more.
Yadi left the game with a bruised knee, but this surprisingly led to a chain of events which resulted in everyone getting a free snowcone.
Ryan Franklin still sucks.
Joe Thurston really does suck, in a non-light-hearted, carefree internet sarcasm, ha ha chuckle chuckle wink wink nudge nudge kind of way.
"Shrinking violet" refers to a shy person.
They throw rolls at you in Sikeston.
Tony LaRussa is CRAZY WAZY.

Did I forget anything?

I went to Game 4, I'll be at Game 5 tomorrow night, I hope....

I looked thru the game threads and didn't see this mentioned (I would be shocked if it actually made it on TV):

Before the game there was a giant banner hung from the 2nd deck about even with 1st base that said CLONE SUPPAN. Next to it was another one with a bunch of small Cardinal logos....one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life, then I got nervous, thinking man I wish they'd shown that on a night when Soup wasn't actually pitching....after the top of the 3rd I was thinking they had jinxed him, but he was just good enough....

Also, in I think the 4th inning, with Wilson up, Bonderman met the trainer about halfway to the dugout. The mist had just started and Bonderman wanted something to scrape his cleats with....of course the fans didn't know what was happening so we started a chant of piiiiiiine tarrrrrrrrr.....piiiiiiine tarrrrrrrrrr....

Encarnacion sucked ass in that one AB. Any chance he can be traded in the offseason? It's not just that he strikes out, he does it so badly....Zumaya threw 4 straight balls to Molina, started off Miles 2-0, and went I think 2-0 on Gooch after Enc....Enc I think swung at three pitches and looked utterly helpless.