Slip sliding away?

The Cardinals lost another one run came to the Phillies. They twice had the bases loaded with one out and did not score (in the 8th and 9th).

They are now SIX behind the Cubs. They can't afford to lose any more ground to them.

Hopefully the off day will help and they'll reel off a winning steak.

Cardinals lose...

The Cardinals lost 2-1 to the Phillies last night to fall to 5 games out of first and 1 out of the wild card. There was an extremely curious managerial decision in the 8th. Aaron Miles led off with a single. There was a lhp on the mound so Tony Larussa sent Ceasar Izturis up to bat for Skip Shumaker. He failed to bunt twice then took a called third strike. Joe Mather grounded into a double play and the brief glow of a rally was gone..

The Cardinals ended up playing Adam Kennedy (a 2b) in left field since they had Rick Ankiel unavailable with an abdominal pull and they'd used their only backup outfielder as a pinch hitter the inning before. Fortunately, that didn't hurt them.

Carrying 12 pitchers causes these type of issues especially when you have a player (Ankiel) who isn't on the DL but can't play.

We are under 60 games left, they don't need to give away wins (especially at home) like this.