Brewers vs. Cardinals: Shaun Marcum Gets Pounded In First, St. Louis Leads 4-1

That's the thing about the playoffs -- everything gets so skewed and distorted. The first paragraph is supposed to be a Shaun Marcum joke. But he's a good pitcher. Or he was.

Then again, I started typing this during Albert Pujols' at-bat. There was one out, a runner on second, and Marcum pitching. Figured, "Welp, better get the 'Marcum-gives-up-a-run' post ready." Why, because he's been bad for three starts after being good for most of his 30+ starts this year? That doesn't make a lot of sense.

But then the playoffs don't often make a lot of sense. And in the span of ten minutes, Marcum was just as bad as he's been all month, and the Cardinals jumped all over him.

Jon Jay singled with one out, and then Albert Pujols walked. He wasn't happy about the walk. Dude wanted to hit.

Lance Berkman singled to drive home Jay for a 1-0 lead, bringing up Matt Holliday. It looked like the Brewers got two huge breaks -- one on Holliday hitting a six-foot tapper, and two when Pujols was called out at home on Marcum's shovel toss -- and they were just one out away from getting out of the jam.

David Freese was sitting changeup. Marcum tends to throw those a lot. And when the ball landed, it was 4-0 Cardinals. And with that, the Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 in the first inning for the second time in the NLCS. That's a pretty good way to win a playoff series.