Holliday and Lynn Lead Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals got off to a promising start to the second half with a 3-2 victory over the National League west leading Los Angeless Dodgers. The Cardinals received another high-quality start from Lance Lynn and Matt Holliday drove in all three runs with an RBI double in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth, both times scoring Kolten Wong. Hollidays double in the first was the 400th of his career and the homerun in the fifth gave him 1000 runs scored in his career.
After struggling for a large portion of the season and seeing his power number deminish, Holliday has hit .279 with 2 homeruns and 13 RBI's in the last month. The 13 RBI's give Holliday a team leading 48 RBI's.
Lynn was also very good on Friday night, giving up two earned runs over six innings, while striking out nine. The performance lowered Lynn's ERA to 3.13, and while he struggled with control and walked four, he was able to strand seven on the night, including the bases loaded in the 3rd when he struck out Matt Kemp. Lynn won his third straight game and improved his record to 11-6.
Despite struggling mightily on offense, the Cardinals now boast a 53-44 record, leaving them just one game out of first behind the struggling Brewers. If Holliday is able to return to form of years past, and the pitching keeps up, the Cardinals will again have a chance to play in the world series.
