The Rivalry Continues: St. Louis Cardinals

The I-70 series begins tonight with 3 in St. Louis followed by 3 more in KC next weekend.  I'm very pumped for these games because one of my close friends is a big Cardinals fan.  Plus, we always seem to play second fiddle to the redbirds in this area and it just feels so good to beat the most pompous fans in baseball. 

2007 was a 3-3 split between the two teams.  I'm hoping for nothing less than a 4-2 series win.  Let's take a look back at 2007.

The 2007 Royals came into the I-70 series with a 24-40 record.  I'm pretty sure I was at the first game.  An 8-1 win by the Royals.  The Royals scored 5 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, and 1 in the 3rd for all of their total runs for the game.  That is all they needed, though, as Brian Bannister pitched a great game, going 7.0 IP without giving up a run.  Mark Teahen had a great game, going  3 for 5 with a single, double and a triple.  A few annebriated friends and I swore that if Teahen hit a HR for the cycle that we would buy his jersey when we got home.  It didn't happen but the Royals still had a nice victory.

Game 2 was rediculous.  I was also at this game which was not fun at all.  The Royals lost 3-7 but the worst part about it was how we lost.  Adam Wainwright had a no-hitter going through 5 or 6, I think.  He went 8.0 innings, giving up only 1 hit.  The Royals managed 3 runs in the 9th.

The final game in KC was one that all Royals fans could really brag about.  Looking at the matchup before the game, you knew this was going to be a bad one, Kip Wells vs. Scott Elarton, resulting in a 17-8 Royals victory.  Everyone got into the act in this one.  After each team put up a run in the 1st, St. Louis took a nice lead in the 2nd with a 3 run inning making it 4-1.  Thanks to Kip Wells, the Royals took the lead back in the bottom of the inning, putting up 8 runs on Wells and reliever Flores.  The Royals went on to score 8 more runs over the game and Zack Greinke got his 4th win of the season by throwing 4 innings in relief.  Teahen went 3-5 with 2 3B and 5 RBI's.  Alex Gordon went 2-5 with a HR and TONY PENA JR. went 4-5 with 3 runs scored and an RBI (amazing).  What a game.

In St. Louis, our Royals didn't have as good a luck.

Game 1 was great.  The Royals avenged their Adam Wainwright beat down by beating the Cardinals ace 5-3.  John Buck hit his 13th homer of the year, and Odalis Perez had a nice outing, going 6.0 IP and only giving up 3.  The stellar 2007 bullpen took over form there, as Riske, Soria, and Dotel each threw an inning, giving up 1 hit each and nothing more.

The curse of Scott Elarton took over for Game 2 (what the hell were they thinking!) as he went 2.2 IP, giving up all 5 runs.  Musser and Peralta combined to go the rest of the game, giving up 0 runs.  (where is that this year?)

Game 3 was a heartbreaker that I still remember pretty well.  It was the first chance that the Royals had to face their old teammate, Todd Wellemeyer.  Gil Meche opposed him.  The Royals got to Wellemeyer in the first, scoring 3 runs and chased him out after the 5th with a 4-4 tie.  After scoring 2 more in the 6th, the Royals claimed a 6-4 lead.  Greinke gave up 1 run in relief and Soria went 2 innings without giving up a hit to turn it over to Dotel with a one run lead.  Octavio didn't have his stuff and gave up the lead, only to have Peralta save the loss by coming in and forcing extra innings.  With depleated bullpens and scoreless extra innings, the managers were forced to go to some starters.  The Cardinals went with Kip Wells and the Royals with Jorge De La Rosa.  Wells went 2.0 IP and didn't give up anything, and De la Rosa faced one batter, Ryan Ludwick who hit the ball over the fence to end the game.

So a tough ending to a series that the Royals could have easily won 4-2. 

This team has played well as of late and with no Pujols and a pitching staff littered with injuries, the Cardinals are very beatable.  Let's go out and do this.

Also, I'd like to hear any other Cardinal vs. Royals memories, from other Interleague series or the great one that I don't remember because I was 6 months old:  The 1985 World Series.  Let's get pumped!