The final day of August came and went yesterday and the month closed fittingly with the Cubs losing once more and dropping to an incomprehensible 10 ½ games behind the first place Cardinals.
What’s more remarkable, the size of the Cards lead in the division or the fact it took the team just over three weeks to blow this race wide open?
The Cards have five more weeks to take a college swing at the league’s best record, they’ll have plenty of time to rest DeRosa’s wrist, Yadi’s knees and Albert’s various ailments. The
team can toy around with the rotation by letting Smoltz get his mechanics back. They can send Mitchell Boggs out there a few more times and help build up his confidence. We’ll even see plenty more of Jason Motte though I’m convinced there is no room for him on our playoff roster.
It’ll be a nice, mellow few weeks for Cards fans to enjoy before gearing up for the daily dementia that is October baseball.
Again, let it be known, this respite from a nail-biting September pennant race is thanks to the most formidable August that any of us have ever witnessed.
For those that missed it, here are the Cardinals top-ten moments of a month that saw the team go 20-6.
10. Aug. 1 Carp goes the distance vs. Houston. In route to his then fifth straight victory, Carp provided a Saturday night crowd exactly what it came to see: a masterpiece. Carp delivered two huge performances during what became the season’s most crucial homestand.
9. Aug. 30 Cards Sweep Nats. Yeah, so Sunday’s game wont re air on ESPN Classic anytime soon, but we know how hard it is to sweep teams and we’ve also grown accustomed to the Cards playing rather ‘flat’ on most Sundays. Even with limited offense (four hits) the Cards had enough behind Wainwright whose ERA now stands at a season-low 2.47.
8. Aug. 10 Lohse Wins a Game. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Kyle Lohse will serve a big role for this team down the stretch, but it warrants mentioning that he’s won just as many games since May 24 as John Smoltz. Still, that Monday night against the Reds, the old Lohse showed up. I hope he returns again.
7. Aug 25 Wainwright and Wandy Tangle. If you blinked last Tuesday night, you may have missed that gem between Wainwright and Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez. If you love baseball, you were glued. With minimal run support again, Wainwright scattered three hits over eight innings and walked none and got the 1-0 win.
6. Aug 19 Franklin Saves the Day in LA. An entertaining and potential playoff preview series with the Dodgers was capped by an irresistibly entertaining rubber game. The Cards responded to two solo home runs by LA by scraping together a go-ahead run in the ninth thanks to opportunistic base running by Albert. In the ninth, Ryan Franklin entered the game after Dennys Reyes plunked Andre Either to lead off the inning. With the tying run aboard, the All-Star closer only had to retire Manny, Casey Blake and James Loney in order…and did.
5. Aug 23. Smoltz is scintillating! Smoltz’ debut with the Cards gave us as all as fans that ‘No way!?’ moment. In striking out nine (including seven in a row at one point) he proved that the Mozeliak did the unthinkable this year with FOUR huge mid-season trades/acquisitions.
4. Aug 28. Pujols’ Walk off Hits Saturn. Albert’s walk-off home run Friday night was…well, priceless. In delivering the game winner, El Hombre officially gave this fanbase its first ‘it’s really happening!’ moment of the season. It feels like 2004 again, doesn’t it?
3. Aug 9 Skip! Schumaker’s eighth inning pinch hit bomb against Pittsburgh not only cemented the win and the series sweep, but also kept this team above the infamous ten games 
over .500 mark. The Cards took three full months getting back to this mark after reaching it on April 30. Just 19 days later, they were 20 games above .500.
2. Aug 16 Colby Does it Again! Until Albert’s heroics last Friday, the Cards had only won two times via walk-off home run this year and both hits belonged to our rookie non-everyday center fielder. Rasmus’ home run off Heath Bell capped an amazing ninth inning rally that followed nearly four hours of rain delays.
1. Aug 4 Pujols Takes Gotham. Without a doubt, the signature win of this season for this team will be the series opening win against the Mets. The Cards score twice off K Rod in the ninth to tie the game, go ahead by a run in the 10th and then Albert hits his fifth grand slam of the season to cement a 12-7 win. When you’re the Cardinals, you win games like this in 2009, when you’re the Mets, you don’t.