The St. Louis Cardinals are still getting crushed in their own home opener, with the Chicago Cubs having put nine runs on Adam Wainwright and Memphis refugee Victor Marte. But one crisis was averted in the fifth inning: Jon Jay drove in Shane Robinson on a base hit, ending Jeff Samardzija's shutout, then Matt Carpenter chased the Cubs' young starter with a booming triple over the center fielder's head, scoring two and probably finishing off Samardzija—and right after I memorized how to spell his name, too.
↵Samardzija, who's been a high-dollar bust since getting drafted away from football in the fifth round back in 2006, was outstanding last week, striking out eight and walking nobody on another near-miss shutout. But the fifth inning saw the Cardinals' base-hit-machine spinning into motion; singles from Robinson, Jay, Carlos Beltran, David Freese, and Yadier Molina all jumped on pitches early in the count for line drives and ground balls. Which was good, because a bomb from Matt Holliday that same inning died on the warning track.
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