It was a frustrating night for Cardinals pitcher John Smoltz.  He complained the baseballs were not rubbed down enough with mud to take the gloss of new baseballs.  Smoltz walked five and gave up six runs in four innings as the Cardinals lose again 6-1.  It’s their third loss in a row since clinching.

On top of that, Philadelphia won, so now the Cardinals two games behind them and the opportunity to have home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs is beginning to slip away… like a new baseball.  By the way, Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo didn’t have any issues with the grip holding the Cards to one run on four hits in eight innings.  Pitching coach Dave Duncan said "I’m sure he (Arroyo) had pine tar on his cap.  He didn’t have any problems getting a grip."  C’mon give me a break.  Don’t start the whining.  Shame on you Dave Duncan.  If you were so convinced Arroyo was using pine tar, why didn’t you push the umpires to check him?  Quit making excuses for Smoltz.  Let’s face it.  Smoltz got a nice little bump when he made his first start with the Cardinals and he gave them an extra shot in the arm when they were tearing up the league, but let’s face it…Smoltz is done.  His 42 year old arm that has thrown close to 3,500 innings has worn down.  Don’t make excuses about the balls being slick.  Again, Arroyo pitched a near complete game and the three relief pitchers who came in for the Cardinals didn’t have any issues with a glossy Rawlings.  They combined for one walk and two hits in four innings.

Let’s slap a little more pine tar on those bats.  The Cardinals continue to struggle.  The only guy who isn’t struggling is the one who said he wanted to keep playing with minimal rest because he was struggling…that of course would be Albert Pujols.  The Cardinals have only scored three runs in the first two games, two of those driving in from Pujols.

The series wraps up today at Chris Carpenter takes the mound for an 11:35 start this morning from Cincinnati as he faces Kip Wells