UCB: 6th Inning Coverage

It's time for Rockin' the Red's coverage of the 6th inning of today's Cards-Cubs game, brought to you by the United Cardinals Bloggers. Cardinal Nation Globe has the 5th inning coverage of the game, while Fungoes has the 7th.

Kyle Lohse looks good going into the 6th inning - his velocity is starting to tail off, but he still has movement on pitches. The fact that Kyle doesn't strike hitters out at a very high rate - especially this year - could have contributed to the big 6-run inning of the Cubs. One of my favorite rate stats for evaluating pitchers is K per 9, and Kyle certainly hasn't wowed from that aspect so far - only 3.67 K/9 this year and no strikeouts through five innings today. Still, he has matched up well against tough hitters; a home run by Fontenot can be regarded as nothing more than a mistake pitch. Bad timing.

Glaus makes an amazing play to rob Soto, moving to his left to make a Rolen-esque pick and throw. Glaus' defense has been one of the pleasant surprises in the early part of this season.

Lohse's pitch count is nearing 100 as he faces Reed Johnson with two outs, but he is looking to finish strong. He hits Reed with three off-speed pitches to the outside of plate, still doing a good job placing his pitches this high in his pitch count. Reed tries to pull the third pitch and can do nothing more than hit a weak grounder to Glaus, who, subsequently, makes another great pick and throw to end the inning.

End top of 6th.

Brendan Ryan, Albert Pujols, and Ryan Ludwick should get some runs here. Ryan is showing a lot of patience at the plate lately, but he ends his at-bat with a flyout to Fukodome. Ted Lilly doesn't look very strong, missing some locations on his pitches. Very slow curveballs. We should get some meatballs in this inning and next.

THERE IT GOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whaduyaknow, Albert Pujols gets a fat one over the middle of the plate and sends it to the left field seats. The Cardinals are now at 3 runs, leaving just 3 more to go. Lilly is at 82 pitches, but he looks like he's nearing 100.

Ludwick at the plate, and he misses his pitch, mostly due to Lilly's very slow velocity. Our hitters have been ahead of the pitch in nearly every at-bat. Sometimes you have to make adjustments, and we're not making a whole lot at this moment. Troy Glaus is up, and Lilly is starting to miss
locations by a margin. Glaus is ahead of his pitch, AGAIN. Hold up, son. This 3-2 pitch could mean a lot... Lilly looks a little scared... That drop by Derrek Lee could be huge... and... Glaus misses the pitch, popping out to Theriot to end the inning. Tough luck.

Still, a good half-inning by Lohse and a home run from Pujols have the momentum swinging in the Cards' direction. We'll see what happens in the 7th.

Thanks for reading, and make sure you check up on the rest of the innings provided by the United Cardinals Bloggers.