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[Zephon]

Cardinals are rollin' along.  17 games over .500, 7 game lead over the Cubs, biggest lead in any division.  Things look soooo good.  Can you image what our record would be if we had picked up Matt Holliday during the last off season?  Not that DeRo and Lugo haven't helped also.  But I bet we would easily have the best record in baseball.  It will be interesting to see what Smoltz is able to do for us.  Glaus may be back up in a couple of weeks, so there's another bat for the post season.

[sdcforever]

^We do look good, and it's nice to know that 'Mo is still looking for bullpen/rotation help.  Both Pujols and Holliday look tired, though; I think they'll both get a day off in this Padres series (but I don't think it'll be the same game .

[Swoosh]

I think if the Cardinals can stretch the lead to 8 games over the Cubs, then they'll pretty much be a lock for winning the Division.  We're getting pretty close to the point where the "magic number" comes into play. 

[Zephon]

Boy, that Padre pitcher, Clayton Richard, really quieted the Cardinals bats last night.  Luckily, we didn't lose ground though...the Cubs are having their own troubles with the Dodgers.  Lohse strained a groin so he's out for awhile, don't know if he's gone on the DL yet.  Maybe they'll let Hawksworth start one.  Carpenter goes tonight so we've got a good chance for a win.

^They keep track of the "magic number" on the Card's MB.  They say it's down to 35 after last night's game.

[sdcforever]

Well, Richard's a lefty with good movement; we don't hit lefties well.

I heard Lohse will probably only miss one turn in the rotation, and that Boggs will probably be called back up to take his spot in the rotation.  They're also thinking about giving Hawksworth the start.  Either way, a roster move is likely.

Look at these numbers on the road trip from our "big bats":  Pujols, 2-17; Ludwick, 1-16; Holliday, 2-17; DeRosa, 2-14. Adds up to 7-64. (.109) Amazing we're 3-2, isn't it?

[Zephon]

Yah, they were talking about the lack of hitting during the game tonight.  But some of the bats came alive tonight.  7-0 win, with HRs by Holliday, Rasmus, and Ankiel.  But, get this, Albert struck out 3 times in a row.  That's only happened a couple of other times in his career.  Cards are up by 8 games now, with the elimination # at 32.



On a side note, Chase Daniel, wearing the familiar #10, had a great night in the second half of the Redskin vrs. Steelers game tonight.  From the Redskins site: 

"Fourth-string quarterback Chase Daniel threw two second-half touchdown passes as the Redskins came from behind to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-13 at FedExField.  The win evened the Redskins’ preseason record at 1-1.  Daniel, who finished the game 6-of-8 for 58 yards, tossed a 3-yarder to Marko Mitchell and an 18-yarder to Fred Davis, to provide the winning points."

I sure hope he makes the team rather than the practice squad.  I loved him at MU.

[Swoosh]

10,000th win for the Cardinals franchise tonight.

on a similar note it was the 10,000th loss for the Cubs franchise tonight as well... I kid, I kid 

[U Smell Smoke]

It got a little dicey there in the bottom of the 9th but the Birds held on.  Smoltz pitched very, very well.  That was great to see. Hopefully he can keep that up. Great way to end a great road trip. Keep it going Cardinals!!

[sdcforever]

Yeah, it was nice to see Smoltz pitch so well.  Judging by how well Holliday and now Smoltz have performed after joining teams in the NL, I'm beginning to believe that there really is an overall talent discrepancy between the AL and NL.  It was also great to see Pujols hit with power to the opposite field.

[Swoosh]

Well we're getting closer to the point where we can safely say that the CARDs will win the NL Central.  Ready for the playoffs and the WS.

[sdcforever]

Good win today, which kind of hearkened back to the first half of the season, as Pujols provided our only run with a RBI double.   This was actually our first 1-0 win of the entire season.  Our lead in the Central swells to 9 games as the Cubs are getting hammered at home by the Nationals.

[Swoosh]

Ouch!  Have the baby bears just given up?
9 games out now.  I would say that their season is over.

[themeparkguy]

We are clearly playing like a team that has no business in the playoffs or a 2nd place team in a division.

[sdcforever]

^To be fair, the Nationals are one of the hottest teams right now.

I'm still impressed by Wainwright last night.  Going in the Astros had a team BA of .288, which I think was tops in the NL.

[sdcforever]

Well, our magic number is down to 26!   That was a good win last night.  It was nice to see Khalil come through and get a curtain call.  And what more can you say about Albert?  The best player in the game.  That HR was absolutely crushed.  Wow!   And Smoltz was impressive again in his six innings of work.  In two starts he's struck out 15, walked one, and only given up one run.  The first start was against the Padres, who have the worst team BA in MLB.  This start was against the Nationals, but they have the 12th best team BA in MLB (for comparison, the Cards are 16th in MLB in team BA).

Sportswriters are starting to talk about who should win the NL MVP, and of course Albert is the clear favorite.  One ESPN writer even said that Pujols could leave the country for the rest of the season and he'd probably still win the MVP!