First of all, apologizing is a little too much to ask for. If you are still reading this, and are one of my two loyal fans, thank you, I really appreciate your time. I'm looking to write more about the Cardinals and the Major League this off-season. I know we are still in the playoffs, but for me the season is over (does not mean I'm still not following the remaining games).

This weekend was fall break for my university and my grandparents came to visit. As extreme baseball fans as they are, we had to visit Busch Stadium. I have to say, that even for fans that frequently go to games, like myself, the $10.00 per person tour is definitely worth the money. I always seat in the cheapest seats I find in the bleacher sections behind our bullpen (yep, I'm a college student). Discovering and learning about the stadium as much as possible was awesome. Seeing the field from the radio room, and the TV room motivates me to become a sports broadcaster. Standing on the field, and looking around, imagining being Albert Pujols or Yadier Molina or Jim Edmonds or Matt Holliday or Brendan Ryan or any Cardinal,  getting up the plate under the cheers and shouts of about 46,000 fans. The experience rocked my world. I still left with the hope of running the bases and entering the locker room, but its off limits during these tours. Even though I couldn't try to imagine myself running the bases for a triple (which is hard given that I'm probably as slow or slower then Yadier Molina), the Busch Stadium was worth every penny.

Our tour guide was perfect. He kept on talking and talking about the Cardinals, which was music to my ears. He mentioned the greats and all the facts about the great Redbirds. I now know the story of how they became the Cardinals and the St Louis Browns and everything that has happened in this city regarding baseball. I also saw the luxury boxes and the party rooms, the press box and the radio room, and the restaurant for those humble fans that purchase the annual $14,000 tickets; after seeing the stadium from their seats, and knowing they have valet parking and a restaurant better then many in St Louis for every game, these people get a lot of bang for their buck. Only thing I regret is, that since I was in awe, I forgot to take pictures. I only took some pictures with my phone on the field, and I wanted to share them with you.

The feeling... you know what I'm talking about? That feeling that's in the air as you leave the stadium, turn of the T.V., log off MLB.TV, and your team is getting away from the series sweep. Everyone is smiling, funny jokes are heard on the parking lot, everyone is a gentleman in the subway, and it's all because their team won three games in an exciting sweep. Yeah, I don't have that feeling. Last night was a heart-breaking, soul-crushing, moral-killer loss against the Houston Astros. My feelings of revenge for the Astros reach an intensity strong enough that I ended up boycotting my Minute Maid juice this morning and go with a Budweiser (actually I just had a glass of water, but the Budweiser would be nice).

Tuesday's game didn't hurt as last night's game did, we lost and had no chance of getting back those runs we trailed, finishing the night in a 11-6 loss. Last night we lost 4-3 in a nail biter ending in a walk of RBI for Miguel Tejada. If it came down to pitching alone, the Cards won the game. Chris Carpenter threw an amazing game, going eight strong innings allowing only two runs on eight hits and two walks. He struck out five and said: "These guys over here can play." He added later on that it was going to be a tough battle the rest of the season. I strongly agree with him.

Mark DeRosa put up the first run of the game with a solo homer off Roy Oswald in the fifth; that was his third home run in two nights. Two innings later with the game tied 1-1, Molina hit an RBI double bringing in Ryan Ludwick that scored when Iván Rodriguez couldn't hang on to the ball. As the game went on the ninth inning, the Cards had a one run lead; which Chris Coste quickly tied when Rodriguez came in on his RBI double. Then with Coste on third and Jeff Kepinger on first, came Kaz Matsui to the plate. He hit a grounder to second base, where Joe Thurston was playing as a defensive substitution. What came up next was the decision that produced the outcome of the game. If you see the play, when Thurston gets the ball you notice that Brendan Ryan moved up to second base, waiting for the double play, Kepinger stopped mid way afraid of being tagged, and Matsui was starting to run towards first. In my opinion Thurston had the double play in the bag. Instead he threw towards home to get the sure out; however, that brought Miguel Tejada to the plate that went on to hit a walk off RBI to end the game.

Molina hits an RBI double to take the lead 2-1 in the 7th

After the game Thurston said "it looks like we might have had a chance at two." He went on to add to his explanation of his decision, "but when I got it I kind of bobbled it a little bit. And I wanted to make sure. If we don't turn it, game over. I just wanted to make sure I got the sure out." Thurston was in the best position to make that decision, and one of the reasons we can't criticize him is, if baseball where so easy, why aren't you out there in the Majors. He did get the out, in a moment of doubt he made the decision that surely kept the game going and giving his team a chance in extra innings.

Coming into the series everything was A.O.K. perfect. We had a 'strong' two game lead and little to no fear of seeing that lead wiggle away. Currently with 51-46 record, we have a one run lead on the Chicago Cubs (48-45) and the Houston Astros (49-46). The only positive thing I can think of right now, is that we are playing one game tonight against the Nationals (28-66). After that it scares me heading into Philadelphia for an away series against the defending champs. Adam Wainwright (10-6, E.R.A. 3.01) faces rookie pitcher Collin Balester (3-7, E.R.A. 5.51) tonight at 6:10 CT. The Nationals have lost seven of their last ten; I'm hoping it is rather easy to win the game. Like Carpenter said, it will be a tough battle to win the division. The Redbirds have a good team, and if we could afford to get swept and still be in the lead we must be doing something right, that's why,

With these Cards, I'll go all in.

- Andy

Mark DeRosa for Chriz Perez & PTBAL

This trade sounded good since the beginning. Mark DeRosa is a good player, and we can afford to loosen up our bullpen and trade away some pitchers. In the past two nights, DeRosa has hit three home runs; you won't see me complaining. Comparing their numbers,

DeRosa                                                           Perez       

BA: .263                                                          W-L: 1-1

HR: 16                                                             E.R.A: 5.10                

RBI: 53                                                            SO: 36

OBP: .336

SLG: .464

Julio Lugo & Cash for Chris Duncan & PTBAL or Cash

As much as I like Chris Duncan, we knew he was in a big slump. Tony La Russa said, and I quote, 'this fans make me want to vomit' referring to how we were treating Chris Duncan after he hit a ground ball for a double play in Monday's loss against the Astros. However, dear Tony La Russa, Chris Duncan was 1 for 31 since June 29^th, and yes we know he isn't the only Card having not-sucha-good-year this season, but 1-31?! Seriously?! I mean I'm not saying if baseball were that easy, if not we would all be Major Leaguers, but if you are in the Big Leagues, you can't produce like that. What worries me about this is Brendan Ryan who was doing a good job in Short Stop and why did we trade for Khalil Greene? Comparing their numbers,

Julio Lugo                                                      Chris Duncan

BA: .284                                                        BA: .227

HR: 1                                                             HR: 5

RBI: 8                                                            RBI: 32

OBP: .352                                                      OBP: .329

SLG: .367                                                      SLG: .358

I've heard and read about some rumors about players the Cards might be interested in and are willing to negotiate a trade. The Cards GM is interested in making the pitching stronger and Tony La Russa has recently said that their number one priority should be acquiring a good bat player to protect Albert Pujols and bat right after the HR leader. According to the St. Louis Post's Joe Strauss, the Cardinals interest in Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is strong. He tweeted: "Asked about the price tag for Halladay, a club source said: "Give Ricciardi all our minor-league rosters and let him circle any 5 names." If this would go down, the Cards are looking at loosing Brett Wallace, Pete Kozma, Bryan Anderson, Daryl Jones, and Clay Mortensen. Tony La Russa has said since the rumors have been around that he would like Halladay on the team but is not willing to trade an entire organization for him.

The other player there's been a rumor about is, ironically enough, Athletics' Matt Holliday. The trade talk is a little more real then the one about Roy Halladay, the word is that it would be a swap between Holliday and Cards top prospect Brett Wallace. Some say the odds of the deal happening is still 50-50, but there is a possibility. The Redbirds are fifth overall in the MLB with a team E.R.A. of 3.76, and currently have the leader in HRs and RBIs, yet they still want to make the team a better contender, that's why,

With these Cards, I'll go all in.

- Andy

One likes to think that my team is better then yours and that there is no way you can beat me with that talent on your team. Sometimes I make this mistake. But the thing is, a team's victory-winning streak-loosing streak does not really come from great players. Look at the Yankees this past couple of years, I'm not saying their a bad team, just that with the kind of names on that roster, they should have at least won once, maybe this year is their year. Still, a team with heart and that's hungry for the title will get it. Just like the Astros are doing moving up the standings and threatening the first place Cards. I want to present to you a video, made by the writers of Red State Blue State, an awesome blog you should all check out. They did this video called JESUS HATES THE CUBS which is pretty funny, you should watch it when you want a good laugh.

Carpenter doing work

Before I speak about last night's game, I'll give a brief summary of the games I haven't written about. I apologize to my four loyal fans, but I'm getting better at what I do, at least trying. I'm reading a book about Tony La Russa, and another about Roger Angell's work. Hopefully I will be done by the end of this week and there is some improvement to be seen in my writing. It all takes time, I'm new at this and I'm no expert, just a humble amateur baseball enthusiast.

Since the All Star game the Redbirds have won and lost two games. We started the series against Arizona with a great victory, Pujol's hitting two home runs and Carpenter pitched eight shutout innings ending in a 6-1 victory. Saturday's game did not go as planned, with the Diamondback's ace pitcher Dan Haren on the mound, there was little offense the Cards could produce. They fell 4-2 to Arizona and lost the second game of the second half of the baseball season. Sunday's game was an incredible performance for the Puerto Rican pitcher (nice!) Joel Piñeiro, who helped his own cause by hitting a 2 RBI double to get some runs on the scoreboard. On the mound he was nothing but heat, allowing one run on five hits and striking out three in seven innings.

Last night was bad luck for the Redbirds, as all their chances of getting back that one run lead failed. But they did not fail horribly or it wasn't the case that they had no chance. They were close; it's just that the Astros played a better game. The Cards lost 2-3 in a heartbreaking failed attempt to score in the eight, and the last inning ending in a double play. Kyle Lohse couldn't keep the runs down allowing three of them on five hits. The Cardinal's attempts to get the offense running weren't strong enough and came short. The good thing is that the Astros were four games behind, and the Phillies, allowing the Cards some wiggle room with their loss, pulverized the Cubs.

Mark DeRosa is back from the DL and the Cards are still leading the NL Central followed closely by the Chicago Cubs with a two game deficit and the Astros and Brewers with a three game deficit. With so many games left, the division is still up for grabs with four teams so close to each other. I would say this is what we want to see in baseball, obviously with your team the one who comes out number one, but it is still great to see a race for winning the division.

Tonight we face the Astros again with pitcher Todd Wellemeyer (7-7, E.R.A. 5.56) facing Wandy Rodriguez (9-6, E.R.A. 2.81). Pujols is still the leader in home runs and RBIs and the Cards still have an amazing lineup. Mark DeRosa was a great addition and with Troy Glaus recovering in the minors I am interested to see how Tony La Russa handles having both players on the team. We have a great manager being one of three that have 2,500 victories under their belt, and the leader in the Bigs with 34 HRs and 90 RBIs, that's why,

With these Cards, I'll go all in.

- Andy

There are a few things that tingle me up and make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Two of them are the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game. I don't mean it as if I get warm and fuzzy watching all the players, not that there's anything wrong with that; but I like sitting back, opening a beer, and watching the best ball bombers hit the balls like the ball was Jimmy who stole their lunch money in the fourth grade. It was obvious who the crowd was rooting for. When Pujols was introduced Busch Stadium was going nuts! It's awesome to see your number one guy representing your team as one of seven players in the whole league chosen to participate. The players on tonight's home run derby were:

Yesterday was one of the rare beauties baseball has, double headers. Do you know that feeling of not getting enough baseball for one day, then God blesses you with a second game to watch. Today was one of those days, with the two final games of this Cubs Cards series. The series ended in a tie, the first game won by the Cubs 7-3, and the second by the Cards 4-2.

Last night the Cards fell into a hole in the first inning and could not climb out of it in a 5-2 lost against the Cubs. Brad Thompson (2-6 E.R.A. 5.31) loaded the bases the first inning on two walks and a single. On the plate for the Cubs was Milton Bradley (.238) with two outs and down 0-2 in the count when Thompson went in and hit him getting the the first run of the game for the Cubs. The Cubs scored twice after that in the first inning, creating a lead that the Redbirds could not catch up with Cub's All Star pitcher Ted Lilly (9-6, E.R.A. 3.18) pitched a very well game giving the Cards little to no chance of actually winning. The lefty pitcher also achieved his 100th win of his career.

There are only a few rivalries in sports that can bring so much joy to someone when you see your team run circles around the the rival team. That is exactly what the Cardinals did yesterday. Heading into today's game, our beloved Redbirds from St. Louis had a record of 47-40 leading the National Central Division by two games to the Brewers. Today was no exception in the Cards journey in ending the season first place and getting to the playoffs. On the defensive side of the game, Chris Carpenter (7-3, E.R.A. 2.47) pitched an excellent six innings. He struck out six, allowed three runs on seven hits. The runs came in the third inning when he allowed Harden and Theriot to get on base on singles. Next came Derek Lee to the plate who crushed a cutter that was up and out over the plate. After that the Cubs left two on base the next two innings.