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A Helpless Feeling

Back in 1997, the Cardinals were in a pennant race with the Houston Astros.  At least from my memory, it seemed like the Cards kept hanging around and couldn't make a move.  All the talk was about getting McGwire.  Then the Cardinals played a series against the Astros right before the deadline and lost, pushing them 7 or so games out.  On the trading deadline, the Cards got McGwire, but it really was too little too late then.  (Though, obviously, it worked out in different ways over the long-term.)

That's the feeling I get with the Cardinals saying wait for Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright to get back.  Sure, Carp goes this week it now appears, but I still get the feeling that if you expect this to be that boost that puts the Cards over the top, it may come too late for them really to make a run.

Honestly, I'm thinking after this weekend, even though the Cards are still about where they were going into it, it's not likely to really matter without some sort of injection.  The bullpen is killing the team, but the starters aren't helping by forcing the pen into action much earlier.  And the offense--save the extra inning blowup, and even then there were some of the same questions--needs to kick into gear.

Let's recap in our own special way, starting with the last game of the Brewers series:

Thursday
Hero: Skip Schumaker.  2-4 on a night when the hits weren't plentiful.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.  Taking you from victory to defeat with one swing.

Friday
Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  2-4 with a run and a RBI.
Goat: Mitchell Boggs.  The Mets may have your number, but you've got to last longer than that.

Saturday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  Hitting the GW HR on a five-hit night will do that.  Honorable mention to Skip Schumaker for six hits, including getting AP to the plate.
Goat: Joel Pineiro.  Staked to a four run lead before taking the field, he immediately tried to give it back.  Plus he didn't even make it to the fifth either.

Sunday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  2-4 and kept Santana from getting the shutout.
Goat: Kyle Lohse.  That second home run in the sixth was on a "I don't care" pitch, it looked like.

So, as it stands right now, the Cards are four back of the Cubs, three back of the Brewers for the wild card.  It's hard to say mail it in, but what if this latest run of six losses in seven games is more of a testament to the Cards finally coming back to earth than just a bump in the road?

Being that I think the front office isn't going to panic and do something short-sighted to make a run this year, I don't think it matters too much here at the deadline which it is save for one thing: Kyle Lohse.  His value probably won't ever be higher.  If he could fetch two top prospects, wouldn't you have to do it if you think things aren't going to get better?

I'm not necessarily advocating such a move, I'm just saying that it'd be understandable if it came down.  I know a lot of people would be screaming about the Cards giving up on the season, but remember the white-flag trades of the White Sox had them celebrating in October just a couple of years later.

On the more realistic front, at least depending on your point of view, there are reports that the Cardinals are the front-runners for Brian Fuentes of the Rockies.  There's still talk about the Cardinals wanting Matt Holliday in that deal as well, but I really can't see that coming down.  Getting any arm into the bullpen may have a stabilizing effect on the rest of the corp.  I'm sure that's the hope, at least.

I've not heard any more on Roy Halladay than the initial report that the Jays had talked to St. Louis about him, but I would really like to see that one come down.  Getting a pitcher that could reliably go 7 innings would do wonders for the 'pen as well.

Off the field, as noted above, Carpenter comes back to the flock on Wednesday.  I'm actually a little disappointed, because his next rehab start was supposed to be with Springfield in Little Rock and I was starting to make plans to go.  That said, after his strong start on Friday at Memphis, there was little chance he wasn't going to make the next turn in the majors, especially with the team starting to crumble.  It'd be great if he could get into the sixth and be the real Chris Carpenter, but we'll just have to wait and see.

And, finally, the Anthony Reyes saga ended.  I don't know much about the guy coming back--I've not had a chance to read Erik's take at Future Redbirds yet--but to me, it seems to be a case of an organization just destroying a prospect.  Whomever was to blame and whatever the problems were, for his value to drop so drastically in just a couple of years is hard to fathom.  If nothing else, he should have been given a few more chances this year to build up his value a little bit.  I hope Reyes has a lot of success with the Indians.

That's enough for now.  We'll take a look at the starters sometime tomorrow.  Before I go, though, a note to the United Cardinal Bloggers.  Any of you that aren't on Facebook, you might want to consider joining up.  I've set up a group for us to use as a sounding board/discussion area for future projects.  Instead of sending roundtable e-mails around, we might just put up a discussion thread and then use that for the transcripts to blog.  So check it out when you can.

The Second Half Begins

Before we get to tonight's game, let's take a look at a few of the stories floating around about the Cards.

First off, there's the rumor that the Cardinals might part with Colby Rasmus.  Here's the relevant part of that link (took me a minute to actually find it):

Overheard at the pre-All-Star Game bash out on Randall's Island. The contending Cardinals might even consider parting with top outfield prospect Colby Rasmus, a major surprise. If so, it may put them in line to land Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady, or even Jason Bay.

OK, one, I don't believe the Cards would move Rasmus, that this is more of someone's either wishful or uninformed thinking.  Second, if they did move Rasmus, they darn well better do it for someone better than Nady and probably for someone better than Bay as well.

Speaking of rumors, apparently there was one on XM that had Rasmus, Bryan Anderson and Mitchell Boggs going to Colorado for Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes.  I'm not fond of this one either.  With Holliday not completely proving he's not a Coors Field creation and the fact that Rasmus should be able to do what he does soon and for much cheaper, it just doesn't make sense to trade two top prospects for that package.

I really don't think Mozeliak will trade off Rasmus.  It just doesn't make any sense from the Cardinal perspective.

In fact, that was emphaised in an interview with Bill DeWitt on the Post-Dispatch site.  To quote:

P-D: Back to the club. Much speculation has sprouted about how far the organization will go to acquire help for this year's team if it remains in contention. What does that say about the availability of premium prospects such as Colby Rasmus?

BDJ: They're must-haves for any organization. I don't think you can trade potential premium prospects unless you get premium players back. I think what a lot of clubs have done historically is trade premium prospects for less-than-premium return. I don't agree with a short-term fix. A lot of quick fixes don't work. Time goes on, you're down the road, and your former prospect is out there putting up All-Star numbers for someone else.

P-D: Is there a chance that Rasmus could play his first major-league game in another uniform?

BDJ: I don't anticipate that. No.

The rest of the interview is pretty good as well.  I think DeWitt has taken a lot of unnecessary criticism over the years, so it is good to see him out in the press taking on some of the questions.

Closer to the field, it looks like the injured pitchers are getting better.  Adam Wainwright is looking to return in the next three weeks or so, it appears, and Chris Carpenter really liked how his simulated game went.  I would expect a solid return from Wainwright, maybe in time for the Cubs series August 8-10, but I still don't think we'll see Carpenter on the mound until the end of August and even then, I'm not sure how effective he will be.  But it's good to know things are getting better.

The Cards are the wild-card leader at the moment and they try to stay that way when they take on the Padres in Busch tonight.  It's a matchup of current aces, as Kyle Lohse and Jake Peavy take to the hill.  Not many of the Padres have seen a lot of Lohse, though outfielder Jody Gerut seems to have his number. The Cardinals have actually been able to put up some good numbers on Peavy, which really surprised me knowing the kind of pitcher he is.  Both Albert Pujols and Troy Glaus have two home runs against him.

Even so, I'd expect this to be a low-scoring game.  It's a good thing the Padres offense has been so weak--the Cards may not have to score much to win.

Series preview is up at the Clubhouse and the YNOT is active as well.  Ready to get it started!

Big Win in Philly

The Cardinals showed last night that the road doesn't intimidate them this year.  They've struggled away from Busch the last couple of years, but this year they can beat people anywhere.  In fact, they have the best road record in the National League, one of only two NL teams (Philadelphia is the other) with a winning record on the road.

You can't say enough about the job Joel Pineiro did last night.  He had a tough draw, going up against Cole Hamels in a launching pad, but he kept the powerful Phils off the board.  The Cards really needed a win after the weekend and all the trading activity in the division and he provided.

Tough to give anyone a Goat tag when they go up against someone like Hamels, but Troy Glaus gets it not only for his 0-4 but his double play he hit into in the ninth against Lidge.  An insurance run there would have made me feel a lot better about Ryan Franklin facing Utley, Howard and Burrell in the ninth, though it turns out it wasn't necessary.

The Cubs called the Brewers' raise in the pitching department, getting Rich Harden to add to their stable.  We all know the caveats on Harden, but if he is healthy, that gives the Cubs the 1-2 punch they've been lacking.  I've always thought that Zambrano was basically the only pitcher on that staff and they were getting by with the rest of them.  Adding Harden makes me a lot more concerned about their postseason life--they may have enough to go deeper in October, if they get there.

So what do the Cardinals do now?  Both of the top competitors have added aces.  I know Mozeliak is going to say things like "no need to do anything," "nothing on the burners", "the calvery will be like a trade," but is that really true?  I know that Wainwright will be back sometime in August, which does give a boost, but that's just getting the team back to health.  If Carpenter does make it back this year, he's not going to be able to provide significant innings, so as nice as it'll be to see him on the mound, will he really be the difference maker if he's going two times a week out of the pen?

I'd like to see the Cards make a run at Erik Bedard, if they can get him at a reasonable price.  These last couple of trades may make that unlikely, since both the Brewers and the Cubs gave up some good talent and, more notably, a good number of bodies, but the flip side of that is that two of the teams most likely to be in any Bedard derby are now out.  I'm not sure any AL team will be that excited to get him after his Seattle showing, which may mean the Cards just need to compete with Philadelphia, the Mets, or teams like that to get him if Seattle puts him on the market (and they'd probably be crazy not to.)

If a package that didn't really damage the farm system (i.e., no Colby Rasmus, Jamie Garcia, Jess Todd) was put together, I'd be in favor of it.  A couple of days ago Larry at VEB mentioned moving Mitchell Boggs or Clayton Mortenson would not be a bad thing if they could get value.  If Anthony Reyes or Chris Duncan had value, I'd suggest some sort of modification on the Santana deal I proposed last winter, but that's wishful thinking.  If the price is dropped because of the reduction of teams, I'd think the Cardinals might be able to be in contention for someone like Bedard.  If it hasn't, though, then they should go ahead and pass.  Anything that happens this year is gravy, since this team is really designed for 2009 and beyond.

Of course, tonight's game might go a long way toward showing whether any kind of deal is really necessary.  Mark Mulder takes the mound against rookie J.A. Happ.  If Mulder can be somewhat effective, it might lead to hope that he can be a part of a second half surge.  I don't expect he'll get past the fifth, just because he's not thrown that much lately, but if he could give five innings and just a couple of runs, there'd be a lot more optimism in Cardinal Nation.  Whether that'll happen or not is a different story.

And, before I forget, it's XM Radio ad time!  XM will be all over the All-Star stuff.  Shows will be hosted from New York, the Futures Game (featuring four Cardinals, don't forget!) will be on XM 175 on Sunday, then the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game itself will be on XM 176 on their respective days.  If you want to stay up on what's going on with the All-Stars, tune in to your XM!

Speaking of the All-Stars, I see where AP is saying he'll do the Home Run Derby if asked.  Last time it didn't affect his swing (I think he hit more homers after the break!) so I'm all for that.  I love seeing Cardinals do anything during the All-Star festivities.  Seeing all the different jerseys (well, that's only in the game now, so they can make more money on All-Star sales) on the same field is really neat.

Just keep an eye on Philadelphia tonight.  A big part of the rest of the season could be riding on it.

Holiday Happenings

I really did mean to get to the computer this holiday weekend, but it didn't happen.  Let's take a look at the games in our own special way and then hit some of the other happenings.

Thursday
Hero: Yadier Molina.  Two hits, including a double.  There wasn't much to choose from in this game.
Goat: Mitchell Boggs.  Give up 10 runs, you probably are going to get the goat.

Friday
Hero: Albert Pujols.  #300 and the only run the Cardinals scored.
Goat: Troy Glaus.  Popping out with two on and one out and striking out (even if umpire-aided) to start the ninth.

Saturday:
Hero: Rick Ankiel.  Home run and game winning hit.
Goat: Troy Glaus.  0-4 with 3 K.

Sunday:
Hero: Adam Kennedy.  Two hits are pretty nice for a guy that didn't even start.
Goat: Russ Springer.  Could have chosen any of the pitchers, but two runs in an inning pretty much put the game out of reach.

Some big shifts in the roster on Sunday.  Brian Barton goes on the DL with a hand injury.  How realistic this injury is remains debatable, since it allows the Cards to put the Rule V player on the DL and not lose him.  We'll see if he's back before September.  Joe Mather comes up to take his slot.  Cesar Izturis is back, as Boggs takes that beating and works on it in Memphis.

And, of course, the big news is that Mark Mulder is going to start.  Which is not all that bad of an idea, but the execution leaves a little something to be desired.  I mean, to start him against that offense in that park?  I know that there is a day off today and the All-Star Break is coming (congrats to AP and Ludwick for their nods) but it seems like the bullpen is going to get a lot of work this week.  Even in a best-case scenario, he can't go past five innings, can he?

And what to do with Wellemeyer?  It is starting to look like he's coming back to earth.

Gotta run, unfortunately.  Try to do better tomorrow.

A Little Early On the Fireworks

Stop me if you've heard this before.  The Cards jump out to an early lead, posting a crooked number in the first.  However, they don't score again and the other team comes back to take the lead.

Last night's game matched that script again, but it was the later innings that deviated from the norm and made for an exciting win for the Cardinals.

I know Troy Glaus had two home runs, including the walkoff winner.  You have to like how he's heated up in the last month or so.  I checked the stats back in May and he and Rolen were almost in a statistical dead heat.  Not so much any more.

But the Hero isn't always about the best player in the game.  Chris Duncan pinch-hits the two-run, game-tying home run off of a lefty.  For everything that Duncan's been through, this Hero's for you.

If I didn't have a firm rule about keeping the Goat tag on a player, Tony LaRussa would probably get the tag for last night's game.  What was he thinking bringing Mark Mulder into that situation?  I know Mulder had thrown a good inning last time out.  But it was just one inning.  Let's not just dump him straight into a high-leverage situation, OK?  Especially when the guys coming up had good career numbers against him.

Kyle McClellan was looking sharp.  He'd faced five batters and retired four of them.  Granted, his splits show that righties have done pretty well against him this year, but he owns lefties.  Church (L), Delgado (L) and Easley (R) are coming up.  Is it really worth playing the percentages and bringing in a untested lefty in that situation?

Mulder actually didn't look quite as bad as you'd think.  It seemed to be watching that he had little control of his pitches.  The movement was great, but he didn't know exactly where he was going with it.  The first pitch to Church was a nasty one and Mulder got burned on that AB with a bloop single.  The hit by Delgado, though, was as solid as they come.  A sac fly and then, representative of his control problem, a HBP and he was done.  It's not a huge setback, but it's not exactly what you want to see out of the bullpen either.

Albert Pujols almost got the Goat tag, not only for his 0-5, but his anxiousness in the ninth.  Everyone hitting in that inning seemed to want to end the ballgame with one swing.  I'm sure AP thought the first pitch would be his best chance of doing that, but I'd have rather seen him draw the walk and have something going than popping out like that.

Tonight the Cards could get the series win.  A couple of young pitchers head to the mound as Mitchell Boggs, who of course hasn't ever faced the Mets, goes up against former top prospect Mike Pelfrey.  The only Cardinal Pelfrey has faced is Jason LaRue (twice).  He's got a 4.47 ERA but has been pitching pretty well of late.  Could be a low-scoring affair, or it could be a wild one.  As the philosopher said, "Youneverknow."

Always Good To Be Back

Before I do anything, I've got to give major thanks/props/kudos/whatever the kids are saying these days to Mike for filling in for me.  I really appreciate him filling in and keeping things running while I was up in Reds country.  It was great yesterday to get into Arkansas and be able to easily find Mike and John on the radio.  I listened to the last couple of innings and knew I was home again.

I'll catch up the Hero/Goat leaderboard soon with Mike's selections, but let's take a look at the last two wins by the Cardinals, insuring a winning homestand.

Saturday, looks like the hero was Rick Ankiel with a two-run homer.  Mitchell Boggs was in the discussion, though four walks was a little on the high side.  Good to see him get a solid game in, though, especially with the state of the pitching staff.  Goatishly, you'd probably look at Brendon Ryan, who went 0-4 and left four on base.

Sunday, it's a surprise hero in Jason LaRue.  A home run, a triple, and four RBI, plus getting the best of a collision at the plate?  Gotta give him the award (wind-aided), even with an AP two-for-five, HR day.  (Sounds like he would have had two homers on a different day, with the wind holding one up at the track.)  In my mind, the goat has to go to Braden Looper, because when you know the bullpen needs some rest, to go out there and not get through the fourth is a terrible thing.

Last year it was a little busy during my Ohio trip.  Sorting through, it looks like there were a few things that happened the last 10 days as well:

• Jason Isringhausen looks like he's going on the DL, then doesn't.  Pretty decent outing yesterday against the Royals, save the back-to-back doubles.
• Yadier Molina returned from his concussion.
  
• Cesar Izturis goes on the DL, exposing the weakness of the middle infield.
  
• Mark Mulder gets activated and put in the bullpen, but doesn't pitch.  And, apparently, there's not a lot of confidence in him since apparently Brad Thompson is returning because "we need innings."
  
• To make room for Thompson, Nick Stavinoha goes back down after being promoted during the week.  Wish I could have seen him play.
• And, last but not least, El Hombre returns, with Randy Flores going on the DL.  And obviously Pujols didn't forget how to hit in his time off.

The Cards return to Busch today (their road trip just perfectly coincided with mine) and take on the so-far disappointing New York Mets for the first time this year.  The Mets sit a game under .500 and in third place in the NL East, though that's only 3 games out of the top spot.  The Cards continue their run of missing ace pitchers as they won't see Santana in this four game series. 

Kyle Lohse goes for the Redbirds, looking for his tenth win of the season.  There are a couple of Mets that are excited about renewing acquaintances.  Walk Beltran every time up, Kyle.  And as hot as Delgado has been, think about it with him as well.

John Maine goes for the Metropolitians.  The Cards haven't seen a lot of him, though Pujols has liked what he has seen.  (Both of those home runs were in a game in 2006, though.)  Maine's most famous game against St. Louis was probably Game 6 of the 2006 NLCS, where he kept the Mets alive and set the stage for a classic.

This is a big series for the Cards.  Winning this one against a quality (if scuffling) opponent would give them a lot of momentum for the weekend series against the Cubs. 

Another Heartbreaker

For the second day in a row the bullpen couldn't protect a lead.  Albert Pujols capped a superior effort in his first game off the DL with an RBI single in the ninth to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead; but Ryan Franklin allowed a game-tying HR to Gary Sheffield in the home half of the inning, and Mike Parisi walked in the winning run in the tenth.  3-2 Tigers.

Lots of things to be frustrated about.  Can't hold a late lead.  2-11 with runners in scoring position.  Our #4 and #5 hitters, Glaus and Ludwick, went 0 for 6 and stranded 13 runners (I recognize that's a little misleading; some of those runners are double-counted).  Not to mention that they led the last 2 games in the eighth or later and lost them both.  So, instead of potentially being 5-1 on the road trip headed to KC, they're 3-3.  At least Chicago got blown off the field by Baltimore; the Cardinals remain 4.5 games out of first in the Central.

Heroes and Goats?  Pretty simple for this game.  Hero is Albert Pujols.  Welcome back, AP, we missed you.  4-4 with a walk; did he really sit for 2 weeks?  I couldn't tell based on how he hit the ball.   He missed a HR in his third at bat by about 15 feet, lining the ball off the wall in left.  Goats are Ron Villone and Mike Parisi, for each walking in a run.  Dishonorable mention goes to the Cardinal offense other than AP, for that 2 for 11 RISP stinker.

So on to KC.  Cardinals announced yesterday that Mitchell Boggs will start Saturday, not Mark Mulder.  This is a good thing, as I mentioned earlier in the week.  Your complete match-ups:  Piniero vs Gil Meche tonight.  Boggs vs Kyle Davies tomorrow.  Looper vs Brian Bannister Sunday, in a rematch of the 18 June game in St Louis; Braden outpitched Bannister, but the Royals won 3-2.  The good news is we miss the Royals best pitcher, in Zach Greinke; however Meche won 15 games last year, and Davies is unbeaten in 3 starts this, so the series won't be a picnic.  Not to mention the Royals are tied with Minnesota for the best interleague record in the Majors (12-3).  Should be fun.

Two closing notes:  Cardinals put Randy Flores on the 15-day DL when they activated AP.  Tendinitis in the right ankle was cited as the reason.  Finally, Dan should be back posting starting on Monday.  I may have one more post this weekend, but that will be it for me.  It's been fun; hopefully you've enjoyed reading what I've written, and will consider stopping by the old homestead in the future.

Cheers, God Bless, and Go Cardinals.

Sometimes, Being Wrong Is OK

Man it's hot.  It's like Africa hot.  Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot.  Little bit of a heat wave on the west coast.  So naturally I spent my Friday playing in a work softball tournament; 4 games in 6 hours, during the hottest part of the day.  The good news:  We won.  The bad news:  I've spent the last 24 hours re-hydrating (beer is not an adequate hydrant, by the way) and taking 600 mg of Advil every 6 hours.

That, coupled with my belief (reinforced by my wife, a life-long Red Sox fan) that the Cardinals' offensive outage would make for a long weekend, meant I've paid very little attention to the last 2 games.

So what do my wondering eyes discover tonight?  They've won the first two in Fenway. 5-4 Friday, 9-3 today.  Not a bad recovery from that lead balloon they left over Busch after the KC series, eh?  I was wrong, and I'm glad to have been.

Heroes and Goats from these 2 games:

Friday, the hero will be a 2 for 1 special:  Kyle Lohse for winning his ninth game, and Skip Schumaker for his 2 run HR that provided the lead St Louis wouldn't surrender.  Goat:  Randy Flores.  You really don't want to load the bases by walking 2 of the first 3 hitters in this lineup.  No seriously.

Saturday, I'm giving the hero nod to Aaron Miles.  Yes, Troy Glaus and Mitchell Boggs (and wasn't there an Oakland A in the 70s with the same name?) are both deserving, but anytime you hit a completely unexpected 2-R HR to quiet the Fenway Faithful, you get hero status from me.  Goat?  Hard to find one; I'll have to reach and award it to Schumaker for being the only starter without a hit today.  It also means Skip becomes a winner of the highly sought 'Hero today, Goat tomorrow' award; it's like a Golden Sombrero, only cooler.

Tomorrow they will try for the sweep.  John Lester (6-3) has been tough this year, especially at home; he's already no-hit the Royals at Fenway.  Joel Piniero (2-3) has pitched well, better than his record indicates.  He's been especially good since returning from the DL (12 innings pitched, 10K, 2.25 ERA).  Either we'll have a good one, or Piniero's due for a clunker.  Hopefully the former.

First the Ace, Then the King

The Cards won a game last night.  But they lost so much more.

This rag-tag group has been surprising people, sticking around in a race people said they had no business being in.  2.5 games made them better than preseason favorite Milwaukee and, if the Cubs weren't playing out of their mind at home, they could easily be on top of the NL Central.

That all got a lot more difficult last night when Number Five crashed to the ground, screaming in pain.  Knowing that he had to sit out a couple of days when he just tweaked it, it was immediately obvious this was going to be a DL trip.  How long, we don't know.  Dr. Paletta is seeing Pujols today, which of course brings trepidation to the hearts of many a Cardinal fan.  We know it'll be at least two weeks.  Hopefully it won't extend past that.

Chris Duncan has been recalled from Memphis, touching off a lot of the kind of angst only he can provide.  It's true he's not shown the Memphis trip was a success, hitting .160 in his time down there.  I'm not sure what he's shown to get the recall.  Maybe he's getting good swings down there, I don't know.  I would expect, however, that the fact he is on the 40-man roster played a large part in his selection.  Most of the other options, including Josh Phelps, would have to be added, which means someone would have to be taken off.  That's going to be a tough enough call once Colby Rasmus is ready to come up, something that is getting closer to being an option with his rebound from his slow start.  The only thing that troubles me about Duncan was the statement I read at CCH where Al Hrbrosky said Duncan would have come back up this week anyway.  I'd love to know the reasoning behind that.

If this is a short-term thing, the Cards should be able to weather the storm.  They are well ahead of the third place team in the division and have a three game lead in the wild-card standings over Florida.  Even without Pujols, they could probably tread water for the next couple of weeks if the pitching can stay strong.  They have two more with Cincy, a three game set with the Phillies, then series with KC, Boston, and Detroit.  Philly and Boston would be the toughest of the matchups.  At least Philadelphia would be at home.

If he's out until, say, the All-Star Break, things get a lot more uncertain.  The beginning of July sees the Cards host the Mets and Cubs, two series that they really need to be able to compete in.  There's only so long Ludwick and Ankiel can hold the offense together, especially since they'll be pitched to a lot differently now with the big thumper out of the lineup.

Losing Pujols and Wainwright on back to back days is a tough thing to deal with.  How the Cardinals respond will be interesting to watch.  Imagine taking Santana and Wright off the Mets or Ramirez and Beckett off the Red Sox.  Of course, those teams have a deeper supporting cast, but they'd still feel the impact.  What will happen when the supporting cast is a little less proven?

The only positives are that Joel Pineiro will be back, taking the hill on Thursday, and Todd Wellemeyer will be able to make his start against the Phillies.  Pitching will be even more important while Pujols is on the DL.

Speaking of, Braden Looper and Johnny Cueto tangle tonight.  Looper had a good start against the Reds in April, throwing six innings and allowing two runs.   He's got good career numbers against the Red hitters as well.  Cueto was bombed in the first series between these two teams, not making it out of the second.  He's struggled since then, the hype that surrounded him in the spring fairly dissipated by now.

Cards need to shake off having a different first baseman and continue this improbable run.  Of course, that's easier said than done.

Oh, and before I forget, let's give Ryan Ludwick the Hero title for his 4-5 outing, including a home run and four RBI.  I'd give Mitchell Boggs runner-up status, because that was a pretty solid first start, especially in that bandbox.  Goat would be Cesar Izturis, just because he was the only one with a hitless night.  It was a good game all around, save the injury to Pujols, which meant it was a terrible night.

Removing The Ace From the House of Cards

I was off the Net, as it were, yesterday, so I had to do a double take when I saw the thread title at CCH last night.

Wainwright to the DL?  Say it ain't so!

"Surgery is not looking like something that is going to be needed," Wainwright said. He added that the finger felt Monday as it did Saturday: "I can't bend it like I should be able to. It's like a bad jammed finger. The weird thing is there's no swelling. It needs time."

This does not inspire Cardinal fans with confidence.  How many times have we been told that a pitcher or player just "needs rest" and then, three months later, goes under season-ending surgery?  With the Cardinals recent track record with injuries, is there anyone that thinks this is just going to be a 15-day thing?

I recently jammed my finger playing softball, so I get some idea what he's talking about.  Not having swelling to go with it, though, seems concerning.  There's some talk about it being a ruptured tendon, which would mean the season would be over for the Wagonmaker.

So what does this mean for the Cardinal season?  Pitchers are dropping like flies, though it looks like Todd Wellemeyer isn't as bad off as we thought (again, if you believe what you read) and Joel Pineiro could be coming back soon.  Matt Clement's second minor league start wasn't as dazzling as the first, but he's still making progress and will pitch in Springfield again Friday.

Short-term, the Cardinals have to fill holes.  Mitchell Boggs will make his first major league start tonight and there is talk of moving Kyle McClellan into the starter role.  VEB lays out the problems with that and the only real solution out there.  Since Anthony Reyes is sporting a 3.14 ERA in Memphis, skewed by a bad outing two times ago (without that, it's a 2.38 mark) and is striking out a batter an inning, if he doesn't come up during this troubling time, I hope he's traded soon to an organization that will actually use him.

Long-term, catching up with the Cubs without Wainwright might be a tough task, especially if the little bears improve their pitching at the deadline.  I like what Bernie is saying about having the numbers to fill in for injured pitchers, but losing the one guy you could pretty much count on to give you a win is a chore to overcome.  The Cards have to do it, though.  They sit 2.5 back and right now may be the only serious challenger to the Cubs for the NL Central title.  For the good of mankind, they must keep Chicago out of the playoffs!

Cards and Reds square off today with a couple of young pitchers and fresh slates.  Obviously, Boggs hasn't faced the Reds before.  Homer Bailey, just recalled from AAA (the Reds' version of Anthony Reyes, basically) hasn't seen the Redbirds this year, but had a disastrous outing last year against St. Louis, allowing 7 runs in just 3.2 innings last July. Ryan Ludwick hit two home runs off of him, so he'll be ready to go for this evening.

Congrats to Ken Griffey Jr. on hitting #600.  I didn't realize that the Reds played last night until right before ESPN cut in to his AB.  I thought the Cards were going to get a chance to be on the end of both #500 and #600, which would have been neat.  The last game I saw in person was Griffey's #500th in Busch and it couldn't happen to a better player.

Also on the Network: √ Kevin Curtis Out With Sports Hernia [Depressed Fan] √ Trying to Find the Bright Spots [Arin It Out] √ You Have GOT To Be Kidding [C70 At The Bat] √ Fantasy Football Anyone? [Depressed Fan] √ Damon's Miscue Sinks Yankees [Green Pinstripes] √ Two F'ing Hands. [Depressed Fan] √ More Newbies, Please [El Lefty Malo] √ Shea Stadium Seats: This Explains Everything! [Loge 13]