Nursing a 2-1 lead with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals looked like they had Game 2 of the NLDS wrapped up, especially when Ryan Franklin got Dodgers first baseman James Loney to hit a routine line drive to left field.

Then Matt Holliday forgot which way to turn his glove.

Holliday muffed the line drive, which turned into a double and put the tying run in scoring position. Two walks and a Ronnie Belliard RBI single later and pinch-hitter Mark Loretta became a hero by driving in Casey Blake with a single up the middle.

The Dodgers took Game 2 of the series and the Cardinals’ hopes along with them.

From MLB.com:

What the loss did to the Cardinals’ psyche will be determined later. Manager Tony La Russa tried to put it into words.

“I think it’s about as tough a loss as you can have,” said La Russa, although he noted that at least his club hadn’t been eliminated. “Right now we’re feeling disappointed. But we’re not discouraged. There’s a big difference in the two.”

People are going to pin this loss squarely on Holliday, which is fair given that he should have caught the ball and had he, the game would have been over and the Cards would be going back to St. Louis tied 1-1 in the series.

But Holliday wasn’t the only one to make a mistake for the Cards in this game. The biggest (well, the second biggest after Holliday’s plunder) was probably La Russa not allowing Adam Wainwright to come out in the ninth. Wainwright had thrown more pitches in more outings this year than he did last night and came out for the ninth before. So unless Wainwright told La Russa that he was done, the skipper should have allowed his horse to continue throwing his gem.

Colby Rasmus also made a base running error during the game and was thrown out at third by Loney. Rasmus was hung up in no man’s land on the play and cost his team a runner in scoring position.

But give credit to the Dodgers – they’ve found a way to make Albert Pujols a non factor and the Cardinals haven’t found a way to make them pay. That said, St. Louis should have won this game and it’ll be interesting to see how La Russa’s club bounces back. (If they can, that is.)

We are now in September, which means pennant races are becoming reality and every game is more meaningful.

Pennant races this season are not quite as exciting as last season, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have a few good races in September. The power rankings this week have not changed much, but the Rockies and Rangers swapped places. The Rays, who were on the cusp of cracking the Top 10, traded Scott Kazmir to the Angels yesterday, making us all scratch our heads and wonder if they are conceding the race.

1. New York Yankees (80-48)—The first team to 80 victories is officially in cruise control. The question is, can they carry it over into the postseason? Because we all know how you-know-who performs in October.

2. Los Angeles Angels (76-51)—If newly acquired Scott Kazmir stays healthy, this scrappy Angels team could be wearing new jewelry. Then again, October has been none to kind to them recently as well.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (75-55)—The Cardinals now have a 9 game lead on the woe-as-me Cubs. The good franchises always add the right parts when they are in a pennant race, and Matt Holliday and John Smoltz are those guys for the Redbirds.

4. Philadelphia Phillies (74-52)—The Phils may have given the slightest ray of hope to the Marlins and Braves, but then they remembered that they were the world champs.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (76-53)—Their lead over the Rockies shrunk to 2 games this past week. It’s now back to 4, but this NL West race is not going to be a landslide as everyone thought. In fact, it’s now a 3-team race.

6. Boston Red Sox (74-54)—Don’t think the Sox can’t still catch the Yankees. If not, they should be able to hang on to the wild card, and adding Billy Wagner certainly doesn’t hurt their chances.

7. Colorado Rockies (72-57)—The wild card is not what these Rockies have in mind, and they just keep right on winning and closing the gap.

8. Texas Rangers (71-56)—Slipping in the power rankings and slipping in their quest for a wild card berth.

9. San Francisco Giants (70-59)—Got a big lift from Lincecum last night against the Rockies, but Giants need to sweep this weekend if they want to remain in contention.

10. Detroit Tigers (68-59)—T-men hanging tough, but watch out for the surging Twins, is all I’m sayin’.

Matt Holliday told KSLG 1380 AM in St. Louis that he’s hoping to stay with the Cardinals long-term. Holliday is a free agent after this season.

From MLB Trade Rumors.com:

“That would be really exciting for me to get a chance to be here and play next to Albert [Pujols] along with the rest of these guys and to do some special things over the next however many years,” Holliday said. “Hopefully this will be a long-term relationship.”

He hasn’t begun negotiating an extension with the team, but says there’s a chance he signs one before the season’s over.

“Hopefully there’ll be some progress and hopefully I’ll be able to stick around here for a long time.”
Holliday, who will turn 30 this offseason, makes $13.5MM this year. His improved offensive stats and strong outfield defense will likely make him one of most highly coveted free agents after the season if he doesn’t sign an extension first.

With how well Holliday has played since arriving in St. Louis, it appears that he and the Cards are a match made in baseball heaven. He offers the club protection behind Pujols in the lineup and also gives them a major upgrade defensively over Chris Duncan, who had been the Cards starting left fielder before Holliday was acquired.

Unless another team (the Yankees?) swoop in and blow Holliday away with a contract, it appears that he’ll be a Cardinal long-term.

It’s getting down to pennant race times and there are some incredibly tight races and a lot of teams that are at least in contention. Here we’ll take a look at who we think the Top 5 teams are right now and who the Bottom 5 are as well.

Top 5

1. New York Yankees (73-43)—Not only did the Yankees sweep the rival Red Sox last weekend and make quite a statement, they’ve won 10 of 11 and are 22-6 (.786) since the all-star break. That is just scorching.

2. Los Angeles Angels (68-45)—You have to feel for the surging Rangers and even the Mariners, because neither one is going to catch this fundamentally sound team. If Mike Scioscia isn’t the best manager in baseball, he’s surely the most underrated.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (65-52)—The Cards grabbed Matt Holliday before anyone else could and he’s batting .493 with a slugging percentage of .813 in his first 75 at-bats with St. Louis. Pujols/Holliday has got to be the most fearsome 3-4 tandem in baseball.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (69-47)—The Dodgers hung on without Manny for a few months, and then cooled off when he returned. They’ve lost 7 of 11 but still lead their division by 5 games and are 32-14 against NL West opponents.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (65-48)—Suddenly with Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, and Jimmy Rollins finally finding his stroke, the defending champs are poised to make another run deep into October and possibly November.

Bottom 5

1. Washington Nationals (41-75)—They recently won eight in a row but still trail the Phillies by 25.5 games and the fourth place Mets by 13.5. So yeah, they’re still the worst team in baseball.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (46-69)—The Pirates actually looked half decent early in the season, but they did what they always do in July—made a whole bunch of trades and pretty much surrendered the season as well as the next three seasons, as they’ve lost 11 of their last 13 games.

3. Kansas City Royals (45-70)—Remember the Royals were 14-12 and everyone started talking about this team being decent for the first time in two-plus decades? We remember, but then they remembered that they were the Royals.

4. Baltimore Orioles (48-67)—This team has some great young players like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis, but playing in that division is almost unfair.

5. Cleveland Indians (49-66)—Once again, the Indians have disappointed and started selling off players. Cliff Lee, like CC Sabathia last year, is the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and the Tribe also dumped popular catcher Victor Martinez and infielder Ryan Garko. Next year sure has a familiar ring on Lake Erie.

Think Matt Holliday likes his new surroundings?

On the same day he was traded to St. Louis, Holliday went 4 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI in the Cards’ 8-1 victory over the Phillies on Friday night. Granted, three of his four hits were of the cheap variety (he reached on a dribbler to third, a blooper to right and a weak grounder up the middle), but he also almost went yard in the seventh and also stole a base in the second.

Obviously this was only one game, but you get the sense that this was one of those trades that’s going to make a huge difference for a club. The Cards are only 1.5 games ahead of the Cubs and Astros in the NL Central, but the deal for Holliday could potentially ignite St. Louis for the rest of the second half.

The St. Louis Cardinals have finally found slugger Albert Pujols some protection in the lineup, as the Red Birds traded three minor league prospects to the A’s in exchange for outfielder Matt Holliday according to ESPN.com.

One of those three minor leaguers was Brett Wallace, who was Baseball America’s 40th-best prospect entering the season, while the other two were 24-year old right-hander Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson, who was a second rounder in 2008. Apparently Oakland will also chip in $1.5 million to help pay for some of the $6 million still left on Holliday’s contract.

After a slow start, Holliday is now hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. He instantly makes the Cardinals the favorites to win the NL Central and challenge the Dodgers and Phillies for the NL Pennant by adding much-needed protection behind Pujols in the lineup. His presence in the order should also make players like Mark DeRosa and Ryan Ludwick better as well.

Billy Beane once again did well in a trade. The Oakland GM wanted to get Holliday’s contract off the books (or as much of it as he could), but he also didn’t want to just stick a for sale sign in Holliday’s forehead and give him away for free after trading multiple players to acquire him from Colorado last winter. With Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the season, Beane did well to not only shed salary, but also get one of the Cards’ best prospects in Wallace.

What will be interesting to keep an eye on over the next two weeks as the trade deadline approaches, is whether or not the Cubs or Brewers will make a big move to counter this trade. Chicago doesn’t have much to offer in its farm system, but Milwaukee, as usual, is stacked and could look to add a pitcher. Although it would require giving up a haul, it’ll be interesting to see if the Brew Crew makes a run at Roy Halladay or the Tribe’s Cliff Lee.

Jon Heyman of SI.com writes on his Twitter page that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa “badly� wants A’s outfielder Matt Holliday. And that’s not all, apparently St. Louis would also be willing to part with minor leaguer Brett Wallace, who was Baseball America’s 40th-best prospect entering the season.

Holliday-to-St. Louis is starting to pick up steam and it appears that the Cardinals have jumped in front of other teams to acquire his services. With Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the season and still owed $6 million on his contract this year, Oakland GM Billy Beane would like to move him before the July 31 trade deadline. So if he can acquire a top prospect like Wallace, then it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t pull the trigger.

What helps Beane in this case is that Holliday is starting to swing a hot bat. Through Thursday night’s action, he’s hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. That’s a stark improvement from earlier this season, when he was struggling to even top .260.

Holliday would be a solid addition to the Cardinals’ lineup, one in which needs a bat to help protect Albert Pujols in the lineup. And Holliday would not only make Pujols better, but also other contributors like Mark DeRosa and Ryan Ludwick as well.

According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cardinals are once again showing interest in A’s outfielder Matt Holliday.

Holliday to Cards, redux: For the second time, rumors are swirling about the Cardinals’ interest in the A’s Matt Holliday, below. One NL source said Wednesday that St. Louis might be edging closer to Oakland’s asking price, minor-league third baseman Brett Wallace, because the Cardinals need a left fielder and their other option essentially would be Washington’s Josh Willingham.

Nothing has changed much for St. Louis since before the All-Star break. They’re still in first place (granted, only by a game over the Cubs and Astros now), their pitching is still solid, and they have nobody to protect Albert Pujols in the lineup, although Ryan Ludwick has shown flashes that he could take over that role at some point in the second half.

There are a couple of things working in the Cardinals’ favor when it comes to Holliday. One is that they’re dealing with the A’s and GM Billy Beane, who hates trading in his own league and usually works with NL teams on bigger deals (see Dan Haren, Mark Mulder and Milton Bradley).

Another factor in the Cardinals’ favor is that Holliday is a free agent at the end of the year and isn’t hitting that well. So while Beane isn’t going to hand him over on a silver platter, he also might have to take a deal of lesser value to make sure he gets something out of the deal he made for Holliday, which is essentially turning out to be a major bust.

We’ll see if St. Louis can put enough of a package together to entice Beane to deal Holliday.

The second half of the 2009 MLB season has kicked off and with that, I’m going to make some predictions that are sure to be proved wrong in a couple months.

Feel free to whip out your crystal ball in the comments section but before you do, please do everyone a favor and take off your favorite team prescribed glasses and be objective for once in your life, will ya?

1. The Blue Jays will trade Halladay…to the Phillies.
Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is reminding everyone who will listen that he doesn’t absolutely need to trade Roy Halladay – which he doesn’t. But the bottom line is that he’ll probably get more in return for the “Doc� this season than he would next when Halladay is set to become a free agent after the 2010 season. And despite Ricciardi stating that he’s open to trading Halladay within the division, he’s not stupid. He’s not going to trade Halladay to the Red Sox or Yankees and risk becoming public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jays fans for not only getting rid of their best and most popular player, but also trading him to a division rival in the process. In the end, I think Ricciardi will trade Halladay to an NL team and my guess is that it will be Philadelphia that will eventually puts a package together to acquire him. Although they might balk at the $7 million that’s remaining on Halladay’s contract, the Phillies are built to win now and need more starting pitching to make another run at a World Series. They also have enough appealing prospects to entice Ricciardi to make a deal.

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