Cardinals vs. Brewers: Matt Holliday Drives In Unnecessary Nail

Let's be real: when the Cardinals protected their 5-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers were pretty much doomed. Four runs? Three outs? Unlikely. The Cardinals didn't really need to score more runs of their own.

But the Cardinals went ahead and scored more runs, anyway. Two of them, off Marco Estrada. There was one on and two out when Estrada threw away a pickoff attempt, and Jon Jay moved from first to second. Then Lance Berkman drew a walk. That brought up Matt Holliday, and in a 2-2 count, Holliday turned on a low fastball out of the zone and ripped it into left field for a double. Jay scored, and pinch-runner Adron Chambers came all the way around from first to score as well, extending the Cardinals' lead to 7-1.

That was all they'd do, but two runs were plenty, and probably unnecessary. Neat fact: Albert Pujols got a standing ovation before what could have conceivably been his final home at bat as a Cardinal. He struck out.