Marking Time

That seems to be all the Cardinals are doing right now.  Going to the calendar and marking off one day closer to the end of the season.  Obviously, you can't know what they are thinking or feeling now, but looking at the results and how things are going, it's like they are just going through the motions.  Not much excitement in Cardinal Nation right now.

Where do you look for a Hero?  I guess you'd have to say Felipe Lopez, because he got two hits, which was a solid third of the offensive output.  Goat?  Tough to say Todd Wellemeyer because, despite the rough inning, he did only give up four hits and three runs.  I think we have to go back to Albert Pujols.  He left three on, grounded into the first-inning double play that quickly killed momentum, and really seems to be trying to do too much in the last few days.  The at-bats I've seen from him, he looks like he is lunging for pitches, not being patient and letting them come to him.  I'm thinking he's stepped out of the zone and it's going to be very difficult for him to win a batting title now.  Hopefully it won't affect his MVP standing.

So now what?  The Cardinals are 0-5 on a road trip against the cellar dwellars of the NL Central.  One more game against the Reds tonight, then they have to go to Wrigley for what could be the most agonizing series of all.

If I'm right, the Cubs magic number right now is 4.  Four wins by them, four losses by the Brewers, or some combination thereof and they win the NL Central.  They play the Brewers again tonight.  If they win, the number will be 2.  You do realize what this means, don't you?

It's extremely possible that this weekend the Cubs could win the Central on their home field against the Cardinals.  Exactly how painful would that be to watch?  It's bad enough when the Cubs win, but to be able to do it at St. Louis's expense?  It's enough to avoid the TV this weekend.

Before that, though, the Cards have to see if they can actually hit on the road.  This road trip, they've scored a total of 12 runs, six of which came in the extra-inning loss to Pittsburgh.  No matter how good the pitching is, you do have to have some offense to win a game.

The Reds aren't going to make it easy, as they run out this year's ace, Edinson Volquez.  Volquez, who made the All-Star team this year, has had a superb season, which has meant that the Josh Hamilton trade has had no clear winner, surprisingly.  A hope for the Cardinals, though: unlike Harang, Volquez has struggled lately, posting a 5.70 ERA over his last five starts, which may be a sign of a long season catching up to him.  He shut out the Cards over seven innings (with three hits) in his only appearance against them back in August, his last strong outing.

The Cardinals throw former Red Kyle Lohse into the fire tonight, hoping his career numbers in Great American Ballpark are accurate.  Lohse has a career 3.49 ERA in the ballpark, though only a 6-6 record to show for it.  He was on the other side of Vazquez's game (and pitches--that was the game that got him suspended after some chin music from both sides), allowing three runs in six innings in his only start against the Reds this year.

As many of you probably know by now, the Cardinals have broken with their recent tradition of not announcing their schedule until mid-winter and have it up on their official site. The PD breaks it down.  I can't say I'm all that excited about playing the AL Central next year.  Probably because we always play the Royals and this will be the fourth year in a row for the Tigers.  Not a lot of variety there.  Just another reason interleague play has lost its luster.

It's been a while since we've had an Around the Blogs entry, so I'll probably try working that up for this afternoon.


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