Hey, it's not like they let you carry on much anyway...

Leave home without it. At least that was Albert’s moto Sunday. According to reports, Albert addressed his team on Saturday, and said he better not see anyone bring luggage to the park on Sunday. No way they would need to go to San Diego.

In a game where neither team hit the ball especially hard, where a few breaks led to all the runs, perhaps the sheer will of Albert made the differece.

There’s nothing like celebrating a series clincher at home. And what a clincher it was.

The funny thing about five game series, is no one is ever out of them. As of noon yesterday, the Cards had a commanding lead. As of 4:00 pm yestereday, we were facing a must win. The prospect of Weaver on three days rest on the road tomorrow wasn’t pleasant.

With Carpenter, we had to feel confident. Two bloops and three (THREE?) first inning walks led to two runs, things suddenly looked bleak. The ump obviously had a floating zone. I think it was the third inning before he called a curveball a strike. It was clear a disciplined lineup would be able to have some success tonight.

Now if only we had one of those disciplined lineups.

What we lack in discipline, they make up for in what the French call a certain “I don’t know what.” The first inning Cards rally featured a single by Wilson, a walk by Encarnacion (he walked a whole 30 times this season), and a broken bat single by Belliard that tied it.

Carpenter responded with a seven pitch second, and the ace was rolling. What makes Carpenter so tough is he has four legitimate pitches. In Game 1, he baffled the Padres with his curve. Game 4 was all about the number 1. Carp threw about 40% four-seamers. Normally he throws about four total. They were good enough. The Padres had to be wondering where the curve was. Hey, if the ump couldn’t see it, you knew the Padres wouldn’t see it.

The four run sixth was incredible. The Padres finally decide to pitch around Albert, walking him. Encarnacion comes through again with a triple…on a curveball….to right field. Normally Encarnacion waves at outside curveballs. This one he took the other way. Must have been the fear of wearing his uniform on the plane.

After a Belliard walk, Spezio had one of the guttiest at-bats you’ll ever see. With a one run lead, one out, a man on third, and two strikes, and after several foul balls, Spezio grounded a sharp single to center to make it 4-2. That was huge.

It was those sorts of little things that made the differece in all the runs tonight. The bloops for the Padres; and the seeing eye singles, and triple, for the Cards. There were no homers tonight. The hardest hit ball was probably Klesko’s double in the ninth.

The Padres couldn’t come up with the big hit. You can thank Carpenter for that.The Cards always seemed to have the answer. Perhaps that’s the fear of explaining to Albert how you got a change of clothes.