Spoilage Is Not Always Bad

I know the Cardinals continue to feel that they are in it.  TLR says this is meaningful September baseball.  And, after the slide this team had at the end of 2006, maybe they have a point.  I mean, I guess it's theoretically possible that the Cards could sneak in as the wild card, it's not real likely.  It'd have been stronger with a couple of more wins recently, since the Cubs are 1-7 and the Brewers 2-6 in their last eight games.  The Cardinals?  3-5.  Win those two blown Chris Perez save games and the Cardinals would be sitting 3 out of the WC and 7 off the divisional title, enough to make things even more interesting this week.

However, what ifs only work in alternate history, so we have to deal with the fact that the Cardinals, barring a run that they've not shown they have in them, will be sitting home in three weeks.

One thing, though, could help soothe that indignity--if the Cubs were sitting at home with us.  While that may not be likely, it's still within the realm of possibility and the Cardinals owe it to baseball to do their part to keep the World Series away from the North Side.  The Cardinals won't have it easy this series, facing Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Ted Lilly in consecutive games, but if they are able to pull out a series win, well, that'll cause some Cubbie fans a bit more panic.

Tonight's game has Dempster going up against Kyle Lohse.  Dempster's had a remarkably good year, one that most people didn't see coming when they moved him back to the rotation.  He's only gone once against the Cardinals this year, giving up two runs in 6.2 innings and getting the win.  Historically, the Cardinals have been a mixed bag against him.

Lohse has righted himself somewhat, having four straight quality starts as he pitches for his next contract.  His numbers against the Cubs are ugly--6.92 ERA, 15 hits in 13 innings--but most of that was from the UCB Game Blog game on May 3.  His other start, in early July, he allowed two runs in seven innings.  He'll need to be more like that tonight for the Cards to have a chance.  However, the career numbers don't look good.

Bernie takes a look at what's up with the Cubs, plus some of the permutations for the Cards to get into the postseason, if you are interested.

A couple of bigger items from off the field.  One, the Cardinals may use Chris Carpenter as a closer occasionally for the rest of the year.  I'd guess the instances of this happening will be able to be counted on one hand with a few fingers left over.  The Cards would have to have a savable lead in about the seventh inning or so, because that's when he'd start warming up so he could start the ninth.  The Cards rally late, they can't really use Carp because they don't want to rush his warmups, I wouldn't think.  Other than that, it's not a huge deal to me.  I'd rather just leave Chris Perez in that slot for the rest of the year and help him learn and grow so he'll be ready for the job next year, but if you are going to put someone else out there in the ninth, you can't go wrong with Carp, I don't think.

And Pujols now is talking about elbow surgery. Which probably means his elbow is about to fall off, because otherwise he'd blow the whole thing off and focus on the game.  The fact that he's still leading the NL in hitting with that elbow is pretty darn amazing, when you think about it.  The PD story says that Pujols would probably miss April if he had the surgery done in October.  Normal people, yes.  But every time Pujols has gone on the disabled list, he's been back much sooner than anyone thought, just taking the 15 days.  It wouldn't surprise me if he had the surgery September 29 and was ready to go by Opening Day.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the UCB project yesterday.  It was a lot of fun looking through the prospect lists and seeing what we agreed and disagreed on.  For your convenience, check after the jump for a chart of everyone's list for comparison's sake.


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Also on the Network: √ Doing It The Hard Way [C70 At The Bat] √ Bobby Jenks Saves Sox's Win Over Seattle [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Deadline moves [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Manny's impact [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Shea Stadium Plays Citi Field [Loge 13] √ Frustration Revisted [C70 At The Bat] √ Not So Fast, T-Mac [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Payroll breakdown [Feeling Dodger Blue]

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