After about the 6th inning or so, I spent a while trying to figure out what the theme of tonight’s postgamer would be. First I wanted to talk about how good Ryan Vogelsong is, and say again that he’ll be getting Cy Young votes. Second I wanted to fawn over Buster Posey’s .399 OBP, and say again that he’ll be getting MVP votes. Third, I wanted to point out the offensive contributions by Hunter Pence and Marco Scutaro, and give credit where credit is due to Brian Sabean and the Front Office.

Instead, given the late hour of this post, tonight’s theme is going to be me going to bed early, and the following:

Runs Are Good, Score More Runs

The Cardinals have a good pitching staff. The Giants did not face the good pitchers tonight. The Giants scored a crapload of runs against bad/inexperienced pitchers. This is the way it should be. That is not the way it has always been. Every time I think about the Giants facing some young scrub of a pitcher that they are “sure to dominate,” I remember this start by Tim Stauffer, or plenty of others. New pitchers tend to do well against the Giants. Bad pitchers tend to do well against the Giants. Pitchers with either two arms or one arm tend to do well against the Giants. Blah blah blah bad offense. That didn’t happen tonight.

Allowing Runs is Bad, Allow Fewer Runs

The other big takeaway for me from tonight’s game is looking at it from a Cardinals fan’s perspective. Now, as someone who watches the Giants, it’s incredibly frustrating when the team doesn’t score. I get that, because with the amazing caliber of this team’s pitching, it would only take a wee bit of scoring to get a boatload of wins. But imagine from a Cardinals perspective, after a game like this. When your team is built around hitting, like the 2010 Rangers, and they suddenly fail to come through with even the tiniest bit of offensive competence, that must be even more frustrating. Like, say, watching Tim Lincecum rack up a 5.43 ERA, or Barry Zito.

Just goes to show ya that even teams that “hit well” don’t do it every time. Because baseball. Sometimes Scott Hairston homers twice against you. Sometimes Giancarlo Stanton goes 4-5 with 2 HRs and a double against the Mets. Sometimes Marco Scutaro hits a grand slam. Those things don’t happen very often, except for the Stanton thing, but they do happen. So do the 0-fers, even from good players.

Brandon Watch 2012

Crawford: Two hits, a walk, and excellent, excellent defense.

Belt: Another two-hit day, on the backs of his great play so far in this series.

Stats of the Day

1.51: Mitchell Boggs’ ERA before allowing 4 ER in 0.1 IP tonight

2.25: Mitchell Boggs’ ERA after allowing 4 ER in 0.1 IP tonight

4: Career 3+ walk games for Buster Posey

4-0: Giants record when Buster Posey walks 3+ times

Bonus Stat of the Day

40: Number of points you would get in Scrabble for “Rzepczynski”