FanNation - The Republic of Sport

"For the first time since 1982, St. Louis has a World Series winner."

Them are the words from Jack Buck on the last out of the 2006 World Series about 10 months ago. The Cardinals won there 10th World Series in club history making them the Yankees of the NL. Well then came 2007. The Cards first series, they were dominated 20-2.  It was just because we played the Mets, right? Wrong. They went on and finished April with a 10-16 record. Then it got worse. There was a point in time where they were the WORST NL team out there. This only a short time after their WS winner.

Time passed and it looked as if they had gotten better and the great city of St. Louis was excited about the race ahead. It was looking great after the Cards took 3 of 4 from the Brewers in late July because the couple series ahead featured the Pirates and the Nationals. Well, we lost 5 of them 6 games and STL was getting ready for next year.

We'Re BaCk..... After that dreadfull week of Pittsburgh and DC, we have taken 13 of 19 against teams like San Diego, LA, Millwaukee, Chicago, Florida, and Atlanta. All but one were above 500 teams when they played St. Louis. And If you judged us by our performance before now then, boy were you wrong. We are now 2.5 games out of first, .5 games behind Milwaukee in 2nd place, and 1 game under 500. In August, we have 8 players batting above .270 and 5 above .315. Pujols has banged 7 HRs, followed by Ankiel and Ludwick with 4. The all-of-a-sudden star in Molina has batted .378 with 3 HRs, 13 RBIs, and has lead the team in awesomeness so far this August by getting late inning/go ahead runs or RBIs.

Now to pitching. (all stats are of August totals so far) All of our starters have a ERA below 4 except for Looper who only had one off game and the rest were gems. Peneiro is 3-1 with a 3.80 ERA and has only allowed 4 walks in 5 starts. Wainwright is 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA, one complete game, leads the team in SO with 32, he has let up the least amount of HR, ER, and leads the team in innings pitched with 36. Izzy has converted 6 of 6 SV opportunities with a 1.80 ERA. Again, with all of the starters bringing it and pitching well I dont see how this team cannot stay or win this. Early in the season, pitching killed us and I determined the only way that this was possible is if the pitching came together. With average pitchers pitching great, the impossible is near to becoming very possible.

With Mulder coming back and looking strong in rehab starts and the team's outstanding play here lately, St. Louis is growing with anticipation for late September and hopefully October. If the Cubbies and Brew-Crew continue to slump, the the Cardinals continue to surge.... well.... Jack Buck might just be calling some more games for us this Actober.