ROTATION

What started out the season as a question mark briefly became a team strength and has now plunged into it's biggest weakness. Matt Morris and Woody Williams were two of the best five starters in the NL during the seasons first quarter. As a result of their great pitching and the bullpen's terrible performance, LaRussa rode them into the ground, much to the dismay of people who knew anything about baseball. Why a smart person such as Tony had such trouble comprehending this is beyond me. The big one for Morris was when he was left into to finish a shutout against the Pirates coming off of several high pitch outings in a row. Basically he has pitched poorly ever since then. Now, even Woody is feeling the effects. He has been hit hard two outings in a row at Busch Stadium. Brett Tomko was supposed to be a reliable third starter and he almost got sent to the bullpen after going from April 25 until mid-June without a win. Tomko pitched quite well at the beginning of the season but then went into a horrible funk where he was a total headcase. He seem to have righted himself somewhat, but the Cards need more from him if they are going to make the playoffs. Hopefully, tomorrow is Jason Simontacchi's last start. He has stunk it up for most of the season, with only a couple of good starts. The Cards called up Dan Haren way before they expected they would, and he pitched well against the Giants, so don't be surprised if Simontacchi, who is basically taking over for Morris this time in the rotation, gets sent to the pen, or even back to Memphis now that Russ Springer is almost ready to be activated. If Simo struggles Thursday and the Cards end up sending Haren back down, TLR is a liar, because his company line is that the five best pitchers will start. Anyone with half a brain can make a choice between Simo and Dan Haren. Meanwhile, Garret Stephenson has been very average. He has some good starts, some bad tarts, and some mediocre ones. It would be a real lift to this team if Stephenson could be counted on in the least, but he seems to be a totally different pitcher from start to start.

So where does leave the Cards? Well for starters, it leaves them unable to put together a long winning streak. They failed once again to get to a high-water mark above .500 on the season with their loss Monday night, and they lost again last night, dropping back down to four games over even. Basically, if the Cards aren't having one of their nights where they pound the ball all over the ballpark, they're going to lose. Starters routinely are giving up four or more runs. What can be done? Well, there's not enough cash for Chuck Finley and there are few pitchers worth trading for. Scott Schoeneweis is a name that's been making the rounds and he'd certainly be an improvement over Simontacchi. Chris Carpenter, originally penned for long relief, may end up being a starter now when he comes back, but if that's the case, he'll need at least a couple weeks, probably more, to be ready to that at the major league level. Until the Cards can get consistent starting pitching, don't expect them to be making any big moves in the standings. Stephenson starts tonight againt Frisco rookie Jerome Williams. Garrett actually pitched pretty well, the last time out but his defense killed him allowing three unearned runs.

MANAGING/FRONT OFFICE

I don't want to get into too much talk about this, but I think that it's clear that TLR has/is made/making two big mistakes right now. He has pushed Matt Morris way too hard, including back-to-back complete games earlier this season, and it has shown up in Morris' pithing before we even made it to the All-Star Break. He had an ERA near 2 at one point, now it is close to 4. Woody Williams has been overused as well but hasn't shown as much damaged effect as Matty Mo. The other mistake is an improper use of the bench. Letting a guy like Wilson Delgado be on the team is just a joke. Bring Bill Selby up, who cares if he isn't any good at second, at least he is a viable option as a pinch-hitter. Even if Bo Hart loses his starting spot one he cools off and Cairo and Vina return, hopefully at the least the pet rock named Wilson Delgado will be expunged then. Having Kerry Robinson and So taguchi on the club at any point in the season is a mistake too. Does anyone look at the minor-league numbers? Hello, for the last fricking time, Jon Nunnally???

Walt gambled and lost with the pen. The Tino signing and the huge money doled out to Woody and Rolen have choked the team off financially, though the two of them have performed very well. It will be interesting to see what Walt pulls off this year at the deadline. It could be his finest hour or his biggest failure. He has said publicly that the Cards want to acquire another starter and possibly another reliever.

IT"S THE DAILY REDBIRD MID-SEASON REPORT!!

Okay, the Cards are halfway home, with a 43-38 loss after last night's 5-1 loss to Jason Schmidt. They are in first place by a game, despite being on pace for only an 86-76 record. Would 85 or 86 wins take this division?? Probably not, because better teams tend to do better now in the late season, since they are playing teams that may have dumped several of their better players. But it should be a great race for a couple reasons.

1. It doesn't look like the second place finisher will get the wild-card, meaning it's winner-take-all in the division.

2. Every team in the race has a major flaw. The Cubs have a weak hitting team, the cardinals have poor pitching, and the Astros have weak starting pitching past Miller and Oswalt. If you want to include the Reds in this, well they don't really do anything well escept hit homers and make comebacks. Each team has their strength too. The Cubs starters, the Cards hitters, and the Astros pen. All in all, it should make for a fun August and September.

If I had to pick a winner right now I'd have to pick the Cards. You can't ignore what they've done in the second half the last three years. Also, their team strength is the one that is least likely to wear down. The Cubs starters will assuredly tire under their heavy workloads, and the Astros pen is pitching an incredible number of innings. Meanwhile, the Cards will continue to get more and more healthy as the season progresses. Izzy's return has alreay made a difference. Walt's just going to have to make another trade to get some more pitching help in here.

TOMORROW'S STARTER----DAN HAREN!!!!!

THE MAD DOG IS BACK!!!! (AND THE CARDS ARE SOMEHOW IN FIRST PLACE!)


That's right baby, I am back from my most recent stint on the DL (I am the JD Drew of the Blogosphere) and the Cards are where they belong, in sole posession of first place as the season hits the halfway point.

What has happened since I left you? A whole hell of a lot. The Cards dropped two of three at home against KC, then lost a 14-inning marathon that was as confounding of a loss as the club has had all season to the stupid Reds. But then the Bats got freak nasty, winning a pair against Cincy and then taking two of three in KC. While the St. Louis pitching continues to be quite awful, the offense is simply out of this galaxy. In winning 4 of the last 5, the Birdos have crossed home 49 times. They currently reside one game ahead of the Cubs and a game and a half over the Astros, both of whom are bumbling somewhat. 43-37 is the record, and tomorrow the Cards will try to make it to seven games over .500 for the first time this season against the Frisco G-Men, who are in town for a four-game set.

This season has been just about as weird as any year I can remember. The team has been ravaged by injuries. They had another casualty last night when Kiko Calero tore his patellar tendon and was lost for the season. J.D. Drew and Joe Girardi both left today's game with injuries, though they don't appear to be serious. Meanwhile, Vina, Cairo, Marrero, will all be back later this summer, and Chris Carpenter and Russ Springer are currently rehabbing, while Jimmy Journell made his major-league debut today. Izzy is finally back and as nasty as ever, and the Cards are still sniffing for another starter and reliever. The pitching has been crap but the offense has been incredible. Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, and Scott Rolen form the most potent slugging quartet on the planet. Drew has been awesome when he's been able to play, and even Tino has picked it up lately. But let's not forget about the Magic Man, BO HART! He's only batting about .450 thru his first dozen big league games. How are we going to send this kid back down?? Yo Fernando, Miguel, are you guys taking notes? This is all I'm going to say tonight, but tomorrow, get ready for the mid-season "State of the Cardinals" extravaganza, as I will run down the performance of every player to don the red and white in 2003, with a look at the minors as well. It's going to be HUGE.

By the way, did you catch Mike Shannon today saying that there may be a surprise starter tomorrow? What's that all about? How about a clone of Bob Gibson from 1968?