Good pitching performances by the St. Louis Cardinals? Always welcome.
Holding the Colorado Rockies hitless in seven of the nine innings? Definitely welcome too, particularly when three of those innings are from the bullpen.
Giving up only three runs on five hits for the night? Not a bad night for Joe Kelly.
The Cardinals offense scoring only two runs on a first inning Matt Holliday homer despite nine hits and three walks and going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position? Not good. Terrible, as a matter of fact.
Yet all of that is exactly what happened last night, meaning that Tyler Colvin’s three-run third inning homer topped Holliday’s two-run first inning blast. It was only the sixth win from the Rockies in their last 25 games.
Ugh.
Last night also was game No. 81 for the Cardinals, giving them a record of 42-39 halfway through the season. On the plus side, they are in second place — only because a Reds loss and Pirates win means those two teams are once again tied for first with identical 44-36 records.
There’s some work to be done in the next 81 games.
On the plus side from last night, one of those scoreless innings was from Barret Browning. And our new guy continued to impress.
Poem for the New Poet — July 3
Two pitches, one out.
Four-pitch K and a ground-out.
Perfection again.
Hard to do much better than Barret’s done so far — nine batters faced in three innings, nine batter retired in order.
Also doing very well: Fernando Salas. He pitched the eighth and ninth innings, striking out three with a walk.
Good pitching is also a plus on the night when we all knew definitively that Chris Carpenter wouldn’t pitch in 2012. And Laura perfectly captured what is undoubtedly CC’s sentiment going into surgery in a couple weeks. (Thank you, Laura!)
Remove a rib and some muscles to alleviate the nerve issue in his shoulder? Yeah, whatever.
That’s our BAMF.
Christine Coleman is the senior St. Louis Cardinals reporter for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @CColeman802, or email aaronmilesfastball@gmail.com. Also follow @AMilesFastball for the latest updates.
Aaron Miles' Fastball 
If you go by Bill James’ Pythagorean formula to predict a team’s wins and losses based on the runs they score and give up, the Cardinals should have five more wins than they do.
That’s the biggest discrepancy in baseball.
Seeing their Pythagorean record ticks me off every time I looks at the Cards Baseball Reference page.
If you go by Bill James’ Pythagorean formula to predict a team’s wins and losses based on the runs they score and give up, the Cardinals should have five more wins than they do.
That’s the biggest discrepancy in baseball.
Seeing their Pythagorean record ticks me off every time I looks at the Cards Baseball Reference page.