Maybe there is a little crying in baseball!

After another disappointing loss by my Redbirds it makes me really think and analyze what is going on with them. I went to the game last night and had awesome seats! (Craigslist rocks!) While watching the game from my awesomely close 15 rows from the field behind home plate seats I found myself in disgust with the way things were panning out during the game.


First - LaRussa, what are you doing?! I mean - I love Yadi like the every other Cardinal fan but batting 5th - REALLY?! He is not a power hitter and pardon my lack of a better phrase, but gets around the bases slower than my 90 year old grandma!

Second - what happened to everyone? Where is the team that just less than a month ago swept the Reds and staked our claim toward the NL Central division title? Firing on all cylinders - excited to be on the field - playing both offense and defense with desire, fun and flair? I mean - the errors Skip had last night are unexcusable... the lack of hustle by Colby Rasmus to save 2 runs - ridiculous... and the fact that we have the best player in baseball in Albert Pujols and a backup man for him with Matt Holliday and neither can seem to do anything with the ball just kills me! They don't look like the team they did just one month ago... now they are just a ho hum lackluster team with an over 500 average that probably shouldn't even be close to a chance at playoffs.

I mean seriously - we have won 2 of the last 10! There were quite a few Cardinal fans at the stadium (not to be confused - the stadium was bear but out of the few of us there - we had a good turnout) and we stayed til the end - the last out when Skip and Ryan both didn't do anything to help us continue that game any longer. We stayed, we cheered, we clapped, we left disappointed and angry for the 8th time in 10 games. We were picked the team to beat at the beginning of the season and I guess we are officially the team to beat in every literal way possible.

I don't want to only put down the hitting and fielding aspect of the Cardinal game either though.  Our top three pitchers have gone from unstoppable to average.  Giving up runs left and right, while I realize not all of the runs are earned to affect their ERA but complete games, shut outs and wins seem to be a thing of the past for Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia.  And personally if LaRussa doesn't pull Kyle Lohse out of that starting rotation I will lose it!  Westbrook is doing alright and we will see how Suppan does today now that he is back, but I am not keeping my fingers crossed for a lights out type of game.  Hope for one, but not exactly confident in it.

Here is an interesting article I read today and while it pains me to think about it - I agree with a lot of things said:

http://www.bnd.com/2010/09/01/1383625/with-few-exceptions-cardinals.html


Ugh - so like I said in the title - there may be a little crying in baseball at least from the fan base and I would be rudely awakened if I found out this string of losses doesn't hurt those guys out there too. However, I do love my Cardinals and I will keep cheering and watching and hoping to see my boys of summer become the boys of Fall too in the playoffs. Until next time!