Jon Jay

If one good quality has stuck from the 2011 World Champion Cardinals, it’s that this team … plays like a team.

If one person was down, someone always steps up. The whole team stepped up Monday.

By showing how they scored their runs, you can instantly tell this was a team effort.

Things got started in the second inning as Carlos Beltran blasted his 26th homer of the season. Rafael Furcal singled to center and allowed David Freese to score. In the sixth inning, Freese hits a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Matt Holliday to score. Matt Carpenter pinch hits for Jake Westbrook. Matt Carpenter singled to left. Yadier Molina and Jon Jay score. And in the seventh inning, Freese singles to third, allowing Allen Craig to score. Jay then singled allowing Beltran and Freese to score.

There were plenty more good things to discuss from this game. Let’s go!

*Jake Westbrook Isn’t THAT Bad: OK, so giving up that first batter up homer to Angel Pagan wasn’t pretty. At all. But, in true Jake Westbrook fashion, he had one blow up and then turned it completely around and was the pitcher the Cardinals needed him to be. He pitched six innings. He gave up seven hits, including two homers – one to Pagan and the other to Buster Posey. Westbrook did strike out four.

*The Bullpen: Edward Mujica pitched the seventh inning. He gave up one hit but also struck out one. Fernando Salas pitched the eighth. He struck out one. And, Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth inning. He struck out two.

*This Time Last Year? Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch posted this little tidbit of information after the game Monday on his Twitter account.  Here’s what he said: For whatever it’s worth (probably not much) Cardinals were 57-52 after 109 games last season. They are 60-49 now.

Other Interestings:

* Jon Jay was 4 for 4 for the Cardinals with one run and two RBI.

* Carlos Beltran hit his 26th homer of the season. Beltran was 1 for 3 for the Cardinals Monday. He scored one run and one RBI.

* David Freese was one for two for the Cardinals. He scored two runs and two RBI.

* Ryan World Series Champion Ryan Theriot returned to Busch Stadium for the first time Monday since he wasn’t re-signed by the Cardinals. He went 0-for-4 and struck out once.

* Lance Lynn takes the mound against Barry Zito and the Giants tonight. Gametime is 7:15 p.m. CT at Busch.

Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor to Aaron Miles’ Fastball. She’s also lead writer for Aerys Offsides. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda.