Quotebook: Cardinals 4, Astros 3 (11)

That is a great situation because I was chasing a lot of balls before in my first two at-bats ... The pitcher has to pitch a strike, so I was just waiting middle.

-- So Taguchi

After So's semi-sombrero Tuesday, it was an apropos ending for the rubber game. Is it just me or has So become a classic Cardinal "feel-good reserve" in the mold of Jose Oquendo, Rex Hudler and Joe McEwing?

Another great game. All around. We all had to battle hard to win that game. The bullpen did an outstanding job. And it came down to an extra-base hit by Yadier, and So came through to win it all.

-- Jeff Suppan

That's what we got accustomed to seeing. Wainwright was tough. What was it, five innings? Just a lot of good stuff with great location. It was a big pick-me-up.

-- TLR

As I alluded yesterday, Cardinal relievers are most effective when they can enter the game with no one on base. While that's generally true, the Cardinals don't have any one relievers who is particularly adept at pitching with runners on.

Yadi got it started, a clutch double to get into position. Great at-bat from Miles, great at-bat from Luna. We had good at-bats from everybody. Even [reliever Braden] Looper put it in play. And then So capped it off. Those are a whole bunch of great at-bats, and they're all winning at-bats. Something found a hole.

-- TLR

Indeed, YaMo's double was key. Here's how the Win Probability played out in that final frame:

Play	WinExp	Change
B. Looper grounded out to second	59.6%
Y. Molina doubled to deep center	70.3%	10.7%
A. Miles singled to third	73.3%	3.0%
H. Luna lined out to third	62.6%	-10.7%
D. Eckstein hit by pitch	66.4%	3.8%
S. Taguchi singled to center	100.0%	33.6%

It's been a tough, tough road trip. I'm glad to get it over and get home for a while.

-- Phil Garner

Garner can partially blame himself for the loss yesterday, inasmuch as he mismanaged the endgame for the Astros. As I've said before, the bullpen strategy in a close game needs to be "downhill"; that is, you use your best relievers first, then gradually move down the list to less- and less-qualified pitchers. The idea is that you essentially ensure that if you do go down in ultimate defeat, you've at least used all your bullets. Garner foolishly had Mike Gallo on the mound (no disrespect, Mike -- you're a better pitcher than I'll ever be) when the game ended, which leads to this observation: It's seldom a good idea to have your LOOGy pitching to six consecutive righthanded hitters in only the 11th inning. If it's the 17th inning, and Gallo's got to extend, well, at that point it's a war of attrition. Garner left his second-best reliever -- Chad Qualls -- and his former best reliever -- Brad "Leonard Shelby" Lidge -- on the bench to watch the team's worst reliever expose himself to game-ending trauma. Unless they had undisclosed injuries that I'm not aware of, Qualls -- who last pitched Monday -- and Lidge -- who worked one quick inning Tuesday -- couldn't have been fatigued. Here's a little chart of the 'Stros' relievers, from best to worst according to Expected Wins Added, then the order in which they were used yesterday and the number of innings they pitched (DNP: Did Not Play):

NAME	WXRL	Order	IP
Dan Wheeler	0.780	3	1
Chad Qualls	0.695	DNP
Dave Borkowski	0.645	2	2
Trever Miller	0.436	1	1
Russ Springer	0.310	4	1
Brad Lidge	0.283	DNP
Mike Gallo	-0.955	5	0.2

LaRuncan, on the other hand, managed their 'pen perfectly, inserting each reliever at the beginning of an inning and working downward from the best (thus, Josh Hancock was only going to make an appearance if the game got to the 17th inning):

NAME	WXRL	Order	IP
Jason Isringhausen	1.818	2	2
Adam Wainwright	1.175	1	2
Braden Looper	0.631	3	1
Randy Flores	0.331	DNP
Tyler Johnson	0.258	DNP
Brad Thompson	0.189	DNP
Josh Hancock	-0.372	DNP

Again, you never should never lose a game with your best relievers on the bench. After showering, Garner might've watched the Mets-Diamondbacks 13th-inning affair yesterday, in which both teams used their best relievers first. The Mets, like the Cardinals, got more innings per pitcher and won the war of attrition by forcing the Diamondbacks' Bob Melvin to use his worst reliever in the fatal 13th inning. Kudos to the Cardinals -- both their relief staff and the coaching staff.