Game Two in the Books

The Cards surely didn't tie their second exhibition game against Baltimore today. They got crushed 11-3, however, many of their regulars did not make the trip to this away game.

Yadier Molina in his first preseason game was had a two out, two run double. Joe Thurston, trying to remind the team that he wants that spot at second, hit a solo home run in the eighth. I wish there was more to write about the Cards' offensive output, but I just recapped all three runs scored as well as 1/3 of the hits today. Remember, the only starters in the lineup were Ludwick, Molina, and possibly Duncan (some say he's a starter, some say no).

Kyle Lohse was roughed up for four runs in only two innings of work. After a perfect first inning, all four runs came in the second and all came courtesy of the long ball. Despite the negative outcome of the game, Lohse remained positive about his performance. "I felt like I went out there and made the pitches that I need to get myself ready," Lohse said. "There's not much you can really take out of your first one. You just go out there and get the rust out and do what you can. Just keep going, building up for the real ones that count."

Lohse also examined the two pitches hit for homers: "Obviously, the results on those two pitches weren't good, but the location was good. They were down and in, right on the corner. A couple young guys were looking down and in, I guess. You just go out there and worry about making pitches and location, and I felt like I was able to do that."

Chris Perez, however, had good results in today's game. He pitched one scoreless inning giving up only one hit. Last season, Perez was a fastball pitcher, but this spring he has been working on finding his slider once again. And today he found it.

"It's not like I never had a slider," Perez said. "I just lost a feel for it last year. It's hard to get that feel in the big leagues, especially being a rookie and just trying to survive up there. It's hard when you only have one pitch. Especially during the season, relievers, we can't throw bullpens. So I was working on my slider during games.... They want me to throw it ahead in the count, behind in the count, even in the count, all the time. So today, I threw it first pitch to a guy, I threw it full count to a guy, threw it 2-2 to a guy. That's what I need to do right now. I worked it in a lot today, and it's the best it's been since I was in the minors."

That's all for today - Next scrimmage for the Cards is the Mets on Friday. Expected starters are Todd "Don't Call Me Crabby" Wellemeyer vs. Livan Hernandez.