Moonlit Jazz

Mulder on his way to his 13th win of the season…

Pitching on his birthday for the first time in his career, Mulder (13-5) scattered seven hits in seven innings with three strikeouts and two walks to win his fifth straight decision over eight starts. The 28-year-old has a 2.05 ERA during the streak.

“It was a little weird,” Mulder said. “My parents and everybody is here, so I’m glad I pitched well or I’d be in a bad mood right now.”

ESPN’s game recap

I got to watch the Cardinals game today. 😀 But no A’s on TV for me. Alas.

Oakland 5, Kansas City 4 at Kauffman Stadium

Winning pitcher – Joe Kennedy (6-8)
Losing pitcher – Jeremy Affeldt (0-1)

SV – Huston Street (13)

Oakland Runs: 5, Hits: 8, Errors 0
Kansas City Runs: 4, Hits: 8, Errors 0

HR: OAK: D. Johnson (9) KC: J. Buck (7)

Oakland Record:(62-47)

Fifteen freakin’ games over .500!!! The A‘s are awesome, no matter what. But their second half surge of winning makes me smile. It’s baseball heaven for this A’s chick. 😉

And what else is baseball heaven? A win for my favorite player. 😉

Atlanta 3, St. Louis 11 at Busch Stadium

Winning pitcher – Mark Mulder (13-5)
Losing pitcher – John Smoltz (12-6)

Atlanta Runs: 3, Hits: 10, Errors 1
St. Louis Runs: 11, Hits: 11, Errors 0

HR: ATL: STL: J. Edmonds (21) A. Pujols (30) S. Taguchi (7)

St. Louis Record:(69-40)

The ones with bat in hand make me smile…

It was a good game for Mulder. He was sharp on the mound. I love watching him no matter what, but when he’s doing well, it’s even better. 😉

Taking shots of the tv during a game keeps me out of trouble… truly!

Albert Pujols hit his 30th home run, “making him the first player in history to start a career with five straight 30-homer seasons.” Impressive! And it was great shot.

Two doggies back to back… the little dog doing her thing… an “artistic” self portrait… my current favorite piece of technology…

See, I’m perfectly capable of taking pictures of more than the tv. 😉 I seem to take lots of doggie pictures though. Is that weird?

Yesterday I finished reading the last story in a book called Undressed. Sexy novellas! Sometimes it’s good to read modern romances. The sex stuff is more real and less imagined. 😛 I don’t know if I could write that kind of stuff (much too descriptive!), but it certainly inspires me to work on my own stories. Reading rocks!

[edit to add the following]

Mulder celebrates birthday with 13th victory
By Joe Strauss
Of the Post-Dispatch
Friday, Aug. 05 2005

Mark Mulder started on his birthday Friday for the first time in his big-league
career. For only the second time in 173 starts, he was facing the Atlanta
Braves. And most powerful of all, he was pitching in front of his mother,
father and two brothers.

Opposing Mulder was the Braves’ John Smoltz, the former closer and Cy Young
Award winner who has resumed his previous role as every-fifth-day monster for
manager Bobby Cox.

Smoltz carried an eight-game win streak into the start, tying Cardinals ace
Chris Carpenter for the league’s longest active run. Mulder brought along
something heavier.

Seated in the family section behind home plate, Phillip and Jonathan Mulder
watched their big brother plow under the Braves for seven innings of what ended
as an 11-3 Cardinals victory before 47,838 at Busch Stadium.

When Jonathan was 18, Mark spent part of his signing bonus from the Oakland A’s
so his younger brother could take flying lessons. Jonathan joined ROTC at
Western Michigan and majored in aviation flight science and graduated a
lieutenant. Then war broke out. Jonathan placed at the top of his class at Fort
Rucker, Ala., then was reassigned to Fort Campbell, Ky., where he awaits
deployment to Iraq as a scout helicopter pilot.

“He almost can’t wait, but the rest of us in the family can wait,” Mulder said.
“Yet we know how much he loves what he does. That’s awesome. This is what he
wanted to do ever since he was a kid, and now he’s doing it. That says a lot.
I’ve always wanted to play baseball. This is what he wanted to do. And we’re
doing it. . . . I grew up with pictures of baseball players on my wall; my
little brother had posters of helicopters on his wall.”

Jonathan reached town Friday on leave. Phillip and his parents, Ross and Kathy,
arrived from the Chicago suburb of South Holland. And on Mulder’s 28th
birthday, gifts passed in all directions.

“This is the first time I’ve ever done this, so it’s a little weird,” Mulder
said. “But it’s nice. Everybody’s here. I’m glad I pitched well, or I’d be in a
bad mood right now.”

The Cardinals reached Smoltz for five runs in six innings, his worst start
since surviving just five outs against the Florida Marlins on opening day. The
Cardinals hadn’t scored that many runs behind Mulder since June 17. Mulder
threw 12 ground-ball outs, and his defense turned two double plays. Five times
the Braves’ leadoff hitter reached, but Mulder held them to one for eight with
runners in scoring position.

Mulder rarely had looked more forward to a start, even the one in April when he
paired off against his good friend Tim Hudson in Atlanta. Mulder won that game
with seven serviceable innings. Friday, he offered seven more effective ones.

“He made pitches when he had to,” said manager Tony La Russa. “I thought he was
excellent.”

Given a 2-0 first-inning lead on first baseman Albert Pujols’ 30th home run,
Mulder allowed the Braves nothing more than a fourth-inning run on third
baseman Wilson Betemit’s two-out single.

Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds responded, extending his hitting streak to
nine games with his fifth home run since July 24, a solo shot good for a 3-1
lead.

The Cardinals’ early breakout represented the first time since June 16 and only
the second time this season that Smoltz (12-6) had surrendered multiple home
runs in a game. The Cardinals (11-9) and San Francisco Giants (14-10) are the
only National League teams with winning career records against the 175-game
winner.

No longer slumping, the Cardinals have scored 63 runs in their last nine games,
mostly against strong starting pitching. Friday, they hammered three home runs
in the first seven innings before blowing open the game with a five-run eighth.

“It’s still a real good lineup. Just think about it when they have everybody.
It’s really scary,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox.

Powered to left field on the first pitch he saw, Pujols’ home run made him the
first player in the game’s history to hit at least 30 home runs in each of his
first five major-league seasons. Pujols has also hit in 10 of his last 11 games
and has eight home runs, 23 runs and 19 RBIs in 21 games since the All-Star
break.

Pujols merits enough respect from Cox that he was intentionally walked in the
sixth inning with first base open, though Edmonds had homered off Smoltz two
innings earlier.

The sixth-inning opportunity grew when Smoltz allowed David Eckstein and Pujols
to advance on a wild pitch. Edmonds was then also intentionally walked to load
the bases for second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, eight for 35 lifetime entering
the box against the Braves righthander.

Smoltz toyed with Grudzielanek before striking him out on a split-finger pitch
that bounced. Third baseman Abraham Nunez then lined a two-strike pitch to
left-center field to score Eckstein and Pujols for a 5-1 lead.

Whatever worries followed Mulder into the All-Star break have dissipated. He is
5-0 in his last 10 starts and has not allowed more than two earned runs in six
starts since July 3. His pitches have regained the life they frequently lacked
during a troubled June. Consistent command remains Mulder’s last hurdle. He
walked 17 against 13 strikeouts in July and has struck out at least two more
hitters than he has walked only twice in 12 starts since the end of May.

But such quibbles, especially under Friday’s circumstances, are fly specks.

“I feel good. When I get guys on base, I’m keeping it to a minimum,” Mulder
said. “Even the one run I gave up, I easily could’ve gotten out of that. It’s
just little things, like trying to keep my walks down and not giving up the big
hit.”

The Cardinals stretched the lead as soon as the bullpens became involved. Two
nights after hitting a game-winning home run against the Florida Marlins, right
fielder Taguchi hammered Jim Brower’s first pitch for his sixth homer and a 6-1
Cardinals lead.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 5th, 2005 at 22:33 and is filed under Baseball, Off the top. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.