"The Cardinal Way" St. Louis Cardinals vs Los Angeles Dodgers August 7th, 2019
Los Angeles-- The magic continues in Los Angeles day after day and night after night.
Is anyone even surprised anymore?
The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled another rabbit out of their hat in a 2-1 win against the reeling St. Louis Cardinals.
It was L.A.'s 10th walk-off victory this season.
It's been a rough road trip for the Cardinals in the sunny golden state of California going 0-5, with two in Oakland and continuing with three against the Dodgers, the best team in the Major leagues.
Making matters worse, they started the road trip in first place in the Central division. Now, they are a game behind Philadelphia for the second wild card.
John Mozeliak, President of Baseball Operations for the Cardinals, expressed that he had a “high level of frustration" after failing to acquire a starting pitcher at the MLB trade deadline last Wednesday. He reiterated numerous times he would refuse to trade top prospect Dylan Carlson for a starting pitcher that would maybe make 10 or 11 starts during the remainder of the season.
Even though the Cardinals are lacking starting pitching, they have a young hard-throwing stud that will benefit them very nicely if he plays to his potential. That hard-throwing righthander is named Jack Flaherty.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, the Harvard-Westlake product has undoubtedly been their number 1 ace this season as a 23-year-old.
And that continued this afternoon, dazzling the highly potent Dodgers lineup with ten strikeouts in seven magnificent innings and allowed only four hits. His slider baffled Los Angeles hitters all afternoon.
Dodgers prized rookie Dustin May did his best to match Flaherty by working 5 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts, and four hits. Like his last start, he finished this start with a bad taste in his mouth after allowing a home run to Marcel Ozuna in the 6th inning.
Both offenses remained stagnant this afternoon. The Cardinals went 1-7 with runners in scoring position through the first nine innings and the Dodgers were 1-6.
It also does not help that the Cardinals scored two runs in the three-game sweep in Los Angeles.
You will not be able to compete with postseason teams, let alone even make the postseason if you are going to continue to slump offensively.
The ninth inning started with southpaw Andrew Miller facing Cody Bellinger, whom he dispatched immediately with a groundout to the shortstop. Next batter, Miller slings a 94 MPH fastball into Corey Seager's back sending him into agony.
It was no way in hell it was on purpose, but it was at a horrible time. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt removed Miller to put in a former starter, now closer Carlos Martinez. Will Smith rudely greeted Martinez with a single to left to put runners on first and second with one out.
Now Cardinals fans are starting to feel extremely nervous. Every game means everything when it comes to the wild card.
Martinez then made Edwin Rios look foolish with a 90 MPH changeup that not even Stan Musial could hit.
With one more out and one strike left, Russell Martin slapped a single up the middle for the game tying and game winning runs to complete the sweep.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win their fifth straight game, improve to 77-40 on the season, 46-15 at home, and an 18.5 lead in the National West.
The Dodgers resume their homestand against the Diamondbacks for a three-game series starting Friday night.
Walker Buehler vs Robbie Ray, first pitch at 10:10 EST.