Yadi's fun to watch. He isn't going to break any land-speed records, but he runs as hard and tries as hard as anybody playing the game. If you didn't see it, he hit a double to the wall and then scored on a wild throw/error. He just barely beat the tag, but he slid right where he needed to and (including the two he drove in on the hit) increased the Redbirds' lead to six runs in the third inning. I almost expected to see him with an oxygen mask in the dugout.
Looper gave the bullpen some relief by pitching seven innings, and then when the 'pen did take over, they were able to (miraculously enough) hold on to the lead and close it out for the win. Unfortunately, a nine-run lead does not qualify for a save situation, and so we didn't see Izzy. The good news is, we had a nine-run lead going into the ninth. Even better, we came out the other side of the ninth with the nine-run lead intact. (I just can't say "nine-run lead" enough.)
Ankiel is still dealing with the sore abs (or whatever), so he didn't play, but Mather had a three-hit night (including a two-run shot), so all was well. Glaus seems to have cooled off a bit, but with everyone else contributing you don't notice it quite as much. He is very streaky.
It's fun to win. It's funner to win by nine. I'm not going to let the fact that the Braves are in a slump right now bring me down. We needed this win, regardless of who it came against, and considering that the Brewers and Cubs are playing each other right now (which means that one or the other is going to lose) the fact that we're playing a team we have a chance to beat is, well, remarkably o-k-a-y with me. But I don't want to jinx it, and no win is ever guaranteed, so I'll just stop right here.
