This was the Cardinals 8th series of the year and they won 7 of them losing only to the Giants. They continue on like this and the other teams in the Central are going to be positioning themselves for the wild card very early. I only hope that Tony does a better job this year of keeping the team in top form going into the playoffs. I'm all for giving a guy a day of rest to get better, but when you go to that well too often and your team is out of synch, better they just keep going.

Cards open up in Philly against Blanton who has yet to pitch this year because of a strained oblique from spring training. Then we face two struggling pitchers in Hamels and Kendrick before facing Halladay in the last game. If our pitching holds I can see them taking 3 of 4.

With our starting pitching we can stack up against anyone. This will be a good test for us.

Fron STLtoday.com. The more base runners that get on in front of him, Pujols gets better .


here’s how Pujols does with the bases in various states of occupancy:
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Bases empty: 2795 AB, 217 2B, 199 HR, 199 RBIs, .331 BA, .626 SLG
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One on: 1689 AB, 109 2B, 112 HR, 395 RBIs, .332 BA, .601 SLG
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Two on: 647 AB, 59 2B, 51 HR, 391 RBIs, .337 BA, .671 SLG
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Bases loaded: 109 AB, 13 2B, 11 HR, 151 RBIs, .413 BA, .835 SLG
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If Garcia can keep pitching the way he has been we have the best 1-4 in the NL. Lohse could be a 3 on most teams too.

LOhSE had one good outing - let's not get crazy here.

He hasn't managed to stick around this long by having one good outing.

I meant this year.

I know, I was just being a dick, he went in the shitter at the end of last year and is starting to pull out of it. But he eats innings and that's valuable, he'll give you a chance to win most nights.

He's up against Halladay Thursday. There's a matchup I don't like.

Put that one in the L column

If we can get out of that pisshole with a split I'll be happy.

You want to be the best, you have to beat the best. The Dodger series last year proved that regular season wins or losses don;t mean chit but still..... its nice to see how you stack up.

For sure, but if you win enough ballgames in the regular season, you don't have to win a single game in Philly to move on.

Even if you don't, splitting the games you play against them in their own barn is a great recipe for post-season success.

A split at Philly would be a definite win.

Meanwhile, the umpires just iced our starting pitcher. I say we drill Joe Blanton in retaliation for this bullshit review.

Kid's looking great so far (knock on wood).