There’s not that much to worry about these days if you are a Cardinals fan. The Cards have rolled over opponents to gain a 7 game lead in the Central Division. This lead has developed quickly as the Cubs have been playing the complete opposite of the Cards. While the Cards are 7-3 in their last 10, the Cubs are 3-7 in their last 10. I’ve had a ton of fun messing with a Cubs fan at work. When I see him for the first time every morning I hold up the fingers equal to the lead the Cards have over the Cubs and watch a tiny part of him die inside. We can take it one step farther. The Cards are 13-5 in the month of August, while the Cubs are 7-13.
While I thoroughly enjoy watching the Cubs head to an early grave, part of me wishes that they would put up more of a fight. I kind of want the Cubs/Cards series in late September to mean something. How great would it be to watch the series if the Cards and Cubs were within a couple of games of each other? The two teams entering Busch Stadium like a couple of heavyweights entering the ring in round 12 of a title fight. That would be great. Two teams, 3 games battling for the Central Division title. If the Cards and Cubs continue on this pace the best the Cubs could hope for is to play spoiler to the Cards bid for home field advantage throughout the post season.
The Cardinals continue to stockpile talent as they gear up for October baseball. This week they added future Hall of Famer John Smoltz. Smoltz will serve as the 5th starter for now. When the Cards get into the September schedule (where they won’t need a 5thth inning set up man for Ryan Franklin. While Smoltz was 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA in 8 starts with Boston this year, over his last 7 starts he had an ERA of 0.67 in the first two innings of those starts. This is the reason that the Cardinals believe he can be an effective late inning guy. starter) they are hoping that Smoltz will head to the bullpen to be the 8
There is one thing that I am afraid of with this team. Chris Duncan was just released by the Boston Red Sox. That didn’t take very long at all. Duncan hit only .188 with a .255 OBP in 92 plate appearance for the Red Sox triple A affiliate in Pawtucket. Why did it take the Red Sox less than a month to realize that little Dunc sucks when TLR still hasn’t come to that conclusion. My fear is that after Chris was released yesterday TLR and big Dunc were already lobbying John Mozeliak to sign little Dunc back to the Cardinals. Could you imagine? The Cards finally get rid of him, just to bring him back. The best part would be TLR sitting Holliday to play Dunc because he liked the Dunc matchup. Could you just hear TLR now, “When Chris is effective he is every bit as good as Holliday. It’s ludicrous to think otherwise.” Oh, it would be horrendous. Please Mo, please, do not let this happen. Keep Dunc where he belongs on the free agent list. We can only hope that common sense prevails. And common sense tells you that Chris Duncan sucks at baseball, just ask the Bo Sox.