Cardinals 2- Cubs 1

As I told my mom in about the 8th inning tonight, this a game the Cubs never seem to win. It held true as David Eckstein was able to squeeze home the winning run. This was after John Mabry hit a ball that richoted so badly for the Cubs, it turned a maybe single, probably double, into a stand up triple. The Cubs, other than Carlos Zambrano, had no business winning the game anyway. They wasted oppurtunity after oppurtunity. This includes the "was-hot" Todd Walker, with his 2 GIDP and another ground out with Hairston on 3rd and an out in the 10th. I thought that play in general was poor baserunning. Hairston is a fast guy. It's not like Aramis and his 50 MVP Baseball speed is standing on 3rd. I really thought Hairston should have gone home on the grounder. Here are the situation's that you have: 1. Hairston scores, Walker is out at first. 2. Hairston is thrown out at home, Walker's at 1st with 2 outs. Remember then first base is not open for Lee and the Cardinals might be more inclined to pitch to him. 3. The situation that happened. 4. Hairston scores, Walker is safe at 1st. The Cubs obviously took the least aggresive approach to this situation. Lee was going to be intenionally walked either way, if first base was open.

I have to give good comments to Baker for pitching to Pujols in the ninth. I would have walked him. He also used Murton against Reyes in the 11th, instead of the switch-hitting Macias. Hopefully both of these situations are continued in the future.

Injury Update: Kerry Wood is going to get a cortisone injection. A fellow student therapist and I were talking about this subject today at work. He had been instructed that no eccentric muscle activation should follow a cortisone shot for six weeks. Cortisone basically destroys collage, the stuff that makes up tendons. I remember hearing our Orthopaedics teacher describe this very thing vaguely. I looked up and the results online are mixed. I should do a better literature search, but it's too late. I do, however, feel that there are some major risks for tendon rupture, especially with all of the arm problems that Wood has had and the fact he is a major league pitcher. I'm assuming the Cubs doctors know this and are taking every precaution to get him back to the field soon.