ST LOUIS CARDINALS @ ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS, 20:40 GMT, Live on NASN (Channel 417, Sky)

Crafty Stan will be trading the St Louis @ Arizona Diamondbacks at 20:40 GMT on 03/09/2008. Stan will be trading with a starting bank of 100 points.

 19:05
Good evening everyone. I am very much looking forward to this match-up. Feel free to have a look at my selections for today in my MLB Midweek Majors article. Once the lineups are announced, I will go into a little more detail on where I will be looking to go with my trading.

For the beginning, I will start by laying the D-Backs at 1.98 for 30 points liability.
 
19:53
The lineups are as follows:

St Louis Cardinals - 1. Izturis (SS), 2. Glaus (3B), 3. Pujols (1B), 4. Ludwick (RF), 5. Phelps (LF), 6. Molina (C), 7. Lopez (2B), 8. Lohse (P), 9. Schumaker (CF)

Arizona Diamondbacks - 1. Drew (SS), 2. Eckstein (2B), 3. Jackson (LF), 4. Dunn (RF), 5. Reynolds (3B), 6. Tracy (1B), 7. Young (CF), 8. Snyder (C), 9. Davis (P)

Perhaps a little surprising that Rick Ankiel misses out but other than that, a very powerful offensive lineup selected by the Cards. The D-Backs have not caused any major surprises with selection.

I will be looking for a quick start from the Cards in order to assist trading. 

20:06
Having been informed of the sorts of numbers being put on the Cards on exchanges and some of the bog standard bookies, I've decided to re-evaluate my stance and top up another 10 point liability lay of the D-Backs, this time at 1.99.

20:35
Well here we are, just about to start this contest. I just thought i'd explain how my pre-match book looks: 

St Louis = +40
Arizona = -41.03

20:50
The game kicks off with Izturis getting safe at first with an error by the shortstop Drew which is never a good sign early on. Letting the leadoff man on base is always an annoyance.
Troy Glaus was out on a fly but Albert Pujols singles to move Izturis to second and put some real pressure onto Arizona starter Doug Davis.
Ryan Ludwick is struck out and Josh Phelps follows suit and the innings is closed.

Middle of the 1st: 0-0

21:01
Lohse makes a confident start by getting Stephen Drew to ground out, but a long at bat from David Eckstein ended in a single. Having a long first inninngs of pitching is not great even if you do not conceded because it tires your starter which could lead to an earlier than planned change to put strain on the bullpen.
Lohse manages to recompose himself by striking out Conor Jackson and got out of the innings unscathed when big hitting Adam Dunn flew out to deep right.

End of the 1st: 0-0

21:10
Yadier Molina lined out to first to give Davis the first out of the innings going into the back end of the Cards batting line up. Felipe Lopez hits an infield single to give the Cards a baserunner so in steps pitcher Kyle Lohse to bat. Yes the Cards are strange, they bat their pitcher at 8.
The imposter with the bat does his job and sacrifices himself to move Lopez into second, ready to score on a base hit.
Skip Schumaker grounds out and the chance is gone.

Middle of the 2nd: 0-0

21:17
Lohse strikes out Mark Reynolds but Chad Tracy responds for the D-Backs by getting to first base on a routine ground ball.
Lohse ends the inning very sharply by inducing the double play, Tracy taken at second followed by Chris Young at first.

End of the 2nd: 0-0

21:27
Izturis gets a lead off single and life gets worse for the D-Backs when third baseman Glaus comes into bat and launches one to left field for a home run. Two run shot gives the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
Pujols is quickly struck out but Ludwick gets walked and this is all going so horribly wrong for Davis and so well for us and the Cards.
Phelps is struck out and Molina quickly nabbed on a ground out and the side is retired.

Middle of the 3rd: 2-0 St Louis.

Trade time: Lay St Louis @ 1.4 for 10 points liability.

Present position:
St Louis = +30
Arizona = -15.03

21:31
3 up, 3 down for Lohse as Snyder and Davis are struck out and Drew grounds out. Great stuff so far.

End of the 3rd: 2-0 St Louis

21:40
Lopez grounds out to third but amusingly Lohse hits a single to get on base! Love it when pitchers do that because it infuriates the opposing starter.
Schumaker hits a single to move Lohse to second and increase the heat on Davis.
Izturis flies out to decrese the pressure a little for the arrival of Glaus but ends the innings with a handy force out.

Middle of the 4th: 2-0 St Louis

21:54
A bad start in terms of control for Lohse as he walks Eckstein. Lead off walks can be telling long term in an inning.
So it proves as Jackon singles and moves Eckstein onto third. We have a man at third who has done nothing except for a bit of a sprint when Jackson connected.
Adam Dunn is struck out looking, much to his annoyance.
A massive moment potentially in the match occurs when Mark Reynolds (a man capable of doing a lot of damage) is also struck out, at least he went out swinging!
Lohse hits Tracy with a pitch to load the bases.. oh dear!
Getting Young on a force out ends the inning and lets me wipe the sweat off my brow!
On another note, for all you proud brits, you may or may not be pleased to learn that Murray is a set up on Del Potro in the US Open.

End of the 4th: 2-0 St Louis
 
22:01
Pujols and Ludwick are quickly retired. A little duel between Davis and Phelps is ended with a ground out to continue Phelps poor night.

Middle of the 5th: 2-0 St Louis

22:08
Snyder and Davis are quickly retired, bringing Drew out to bat. A determined Drew hits a double to induce a little panic onto the Cards, however this danger is quickly dismissed as Eckstein grounds out.
No need for trade just yet.

End of the 5th: 2-0 St Louis

22:19
This is starting to look routine as Molina flies out to right.
Lopez hits a single but manages to hit second base thanks to Reynolds error at third. Pressure builds as the pitcher Lohse comes in to bat.
Inexplicably Lohse shows that he is a dab hand when needs be with the bat and double, yes doubles to score Lopez.
Schumaker grounds out to short stop but only a base hit is required here to scre Lohse and give a four nil lead to the Cards.
Thankfully for Davis he gets Izturis and the side is retired.

Middle of the 6th: 3-0 St Louis.

Trade is 3.01 points liability lay of St Louis Cardinals @ 1.2

Position:
St Louis = +26.99
Arizona = 0.00

22:31
Jackson gets out on the fly to start the Arizona half of the inning.
Adam Dunn is walked by Lohse, something which occurs a hell of a lot for Dunn.
Reynolds is left annoyed at himself as he strikes out after a bit of a battle with Lohse.
Tracy singles to left centre field which gives Arizona two base runners as Dunn hits second. Finally a bit of pressure will be applied to Lohse, who has had a relatively stress free night so far.
All of the fuss is over when Dunn is out on a fielders choice at third.

End of the 6th: 3-0 St Louis

22:41
Doug Davis is replaced by Juan Cruz. It wasn't a bad outing by Davis, he got no runs support and fought his way out of jams. That double given up to the opposition pitcher will hurt him badly though.
Glaus grounds out to second. Pujols gets walked (frankly Cruz pitched to him as if he were scared of his power) but once again a pressure reliever is ordered as Ludwick flies out.
Aaron Miles ignores his 1-2 count and singles to right field getting Pujols to third base and ready for a score.
Another tricky situation is handled well as Molina is retired on a ground out.

Middle of the 7th: 3-0 St Louis

23:09
Kyle Lohse leaves the ball park. He deserves applause because he pitched well as six shutout innings suggests.
Kyle McLellan replaces Lohse.
Pinch-hitter (replacing Snyder) Augie Ojeda hits a double to left field because it was deflected by the centre fielder Schumaker.
Trouble looming? Possibly as Montero is walked leading to a big row which ends with the cards pitching coach Dave Duncan getting ejected by the umpire.
Drew grounds out, but more importantly he moves the runners along one spot to third and second respectively.
Eckstein is walked to load up the bases. McLellan could ruin all of Lohse's hard work here. What a plank.
A run is scored as Jackson hits a ground ball to the short stop and retires Eckstein. Ojeda is the scorer but Montero is up third and looming.
Kyle McLellan is out of here as Ron Villone replaces him.
Villone stupidly throws a wild pitch which scores Montero and moves Jackson to second, this gets worse...
An epic at bat from Adam Dunn is ended with an eleven pitch walk. Great patience from Dunn. Villone is really starting to irritate me now, much as McLellan did.
An expert lesson in why teams without great bullpens need long starts from their rotation pitchers.
Jason Motte comes on in relief of Villone, and Adam Kennedy enters playing second base.
A great job is done by the reliever as he strikes Reynolds out swinging, registering Reynolds fourth strikeout of the night and ending an epic 7th.

End of the 7th: 3-2 St Louis
 
23:20
Tony Pena replaces Juan Cruz.
After some time spent fighting the count, Lopez flies out to right fielder Dunn.
In all of the confusion I missed that Montero was pinch hitting for Cruz, therefore Montero now takes Snyders catching spot and Pena takes Reynolds spot in the batting line up.
Kennedy is struck out swinging but then a chance for the Cardinals as Schumaker singles.
On a wild pitch by Pena, Schumaker gets to second which is once again putting the heat back on the D-Backs.
Pena does hold his nerve unlike the Cardinals relievers, and duly retires Izturis.

Middle of the 8th: 3-2 St Louis

23:34
Chad Tracy continues his streak of hot hitting tonight by singling to right field.
Motte responds to this by striking out Young. Young has never looked like troubling anyone tonight.
An epic battle between Motte and Ojeda ends with Ojeda flying out to right but at times Motte was pitching at 99mph!!
Montero follows suit and the innings is at an end.

End of the 8th: 3-2 St Louis

23:41
Chad Qualls come on to pitch the ninth.
Glaus and Pujols come and go very quickly.
Ludwick works the count a little but grounds out to second to make it a very tense bottom of the ninth battle.
I want to even green but there isn't any value in it at present. At least I am a zero on a D-Backs win.

Middle of the 9th: 3-2 St Louis

23:43
Chris Perez has come on to close this out. Can he manage it? Or will the Cards choke? Find out here or tune in to NASN if you need pictures.

23:55
Stephen Drew triples. Unbelievable. How frustrating!!
Eckstein flies out to right field and is unable to move Drew in to score.
The whole thing has totally unravelled on St Louis. Jackson singles to score Drew, Lohse pitched really well and loses out on his 'W' thanks to some sloppy pitching from the Cardinals bullpen.
And there we go. Arizona win the game thanks to a double from Adam Dunn to score in Jackson.

FINAL SCORE St Louis 3 Arizona 4

Final Position
= 0.05 Profit

I have to say i'm pretty gutted by this one! I wonder what poor Kyle Lohse must make of this. Pitching six shoutout innings only for the bullpen to fold.
Congratulations to the D-Backs who never gave up on this.

I need a large whiskey. Catch you soon.