Five opinions on the Cardinals following Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Brewers:

1. RYAN FRANKLIN HAS SURPRISED: I didn’t think he was a closer. I said that a bunch of times. Little in his past suggested that Franklin could be an elite closer. But everything has fallen into place for him. He has a four-pitch arsenal. He’s confident in the role. Unlike last year, he doesn’t feel weird and uncomfortable about displacing his buddy, Jason Isringhausen. Since becoming the closer on April 13, Franklin has converted 12 out of 13 save opps. That ties him for 6th in the big leagues among closers who have at least 10 save opportunities. He’s allowed runs in two of 17 appearances. His rate of baserunners per nine innings ranks him 8th among major-league relievers.

Here’s an important key: Franklin is equally strong against LH and RH hitters. That was a problem for Cardinals closers in 2008. Izzy was tough on LH (.186) but RH batters raked him for a .327 average and .504 slugging pct. Chris Perez was smoked for too many extra-base hits against LH and RH bats. This season, as a closer, Franklin is allowing a .214 batting average and a .250 slug to LH, and RH bats have touched him for only a .143 average and .314 slug. So it doesn’t matter, really, whether the opposing manager shops for matchups in the ninth inning against Franklin. He’s got the stuff to retire hitters from both sides of the plate.

As a bonus, Franklin is a great guy in the clubhouse, and with his teammates. Did you notice the way that Franklin turned to offer a comforting, reassuring gesture to shortstop Brendan Ryan after Ryan botched the game-ending DP grounder in Wednesday’s game? That’s Franklin. And after keeping Ryan from getting down, Franklin got the next batter out to end the game on a ground ball to (you got it) … B. Ryan. Franklin has taken over for Izzy and Russ Springer as the leader and touchstone of this bullpen. And he’s a better closer than I thought he’d be. Time to ‘fess up.

2. DISABLE KHALIL GREENE, ALREADY: The Cardinals are doing Greene no favors by keeping him on the active roster. And they’re not doing themselves any favors by keeping him on the active roster. This is a sad story. Greene, struggling with anxiety issues, is trying to hold himself together. But the latest attempt to play him resulted in another bad night, and manager Tony La Russa backed off again, returning Greene on the bench. Continuing down this path would be foolish. It makes no sense. If Greene needs time away from the game to deal with his troubles, then give him time away from the game. Shut him down. Since the start of last season, Greene has the lowest batting average (.211) and lowest onbase percentage (.267) among all major-league players. Whatever the Cardinals have tried to do, it isn’t working. So try another way.

3. CHRIS DUNCAN WILL BENEFIT FROM RYAN LUDWICK’S RETURN: No. 3 hitter Albert Pujols will be the No. 1 beneficiary when Ludwick is activated from the disabled list, presumably to bat cleanup, before Friday’s game at San Francisco. But Duncan filled in most of the time as the No. 4 hitter and the pressure of hitting behind Pujols clearly got to him. Duncan had much better swings and ABs in Milwaukee after being taken out of the four slot by La Russa.

Here are Duncan’s stats as the No. 4 hitter this season:

12 for 63, .190 BA, .303 OBP,  .333 SLG,  5 XBH  and  7 RBIs.

Here are Duncan’s stats when he’s batted elsewhere in the lineup:

25 for 85, .294 BA,  .381 OBP,  .517 SLG, 13 XBH and 19 RBIs.

That said, with Ludwick coming back, and Rick Ankiel (we think) coming back, and Nick Stavinoha cranking out some tough at-bats to produce RBIs as of late, La Russa will have more lineup choices for the outfield, and Duncan will have to produce to warrant regular ABs. La Russa had little choice but to play Duncan over the last three, four weeks. But there are more options now. La Russa will likely go back to finding good matchups for Duncan; that’s when Duncan is at his best.

4. WHAT AN UNUSUAL STRETCH OF BASEBALL: The Cardinals have won seven of their last nine to zoom back into first place despite averaging only 3.4 runs and batting .228 with a .314 OBP and .395 SLG during the nine-game stretch. I’m sure it’s happened many times, but I don’t recall a Cardinals team winning so many games while laboring through an extreme struggle on offense. Of course, the 7-2 mark is a testament to the unbelievable pitching. Over the last nine games the Cardinals have allowed 8 earned runs in 81.2 IP for an ERA of 0.88. The starters have an 0.98 ERA over the last nine. The bullpen ERA is 0.51 over the last nine.  The batting average against the Cardinals over this nine-game run is .170.

5. IT’S ALMOST COMICAL TO WATCH ALBERT PUJOLS STRUGGLE: Before you get mad at me for saying that, please understand where I’m coming from. Pujols is so extraordinarily consistent, and has been this way since arriving in the majors in 2001, that when he has a bad day we almost shake our heads in disbelief, as if we have seen an extremely rare occurence — something that takes us completely by surprise. So when Pujols struck out twice and committed an error at Milwaukee on Wednesday — in other words, he looked like an average player having one of those days — I found myself smiling as I watched it. Not laughing at Pujols, mind you. Not at all. But the guy is so great, and the standards he’s established are so high, that I am surprised by my own reaction when he has a rough go.  Watching it, I was thinking “Albert is frustrated,” or “Albert is tired” or “Something is wrong with Albert” or “What’s going on here with Albert, this is crazy.”

How many big-league players would I say that about, after the player has a subpar performance?

Only one: Pujols.

And that’s why it’s comical. We expect the man to be perfect, and when he’s not — when he’s merely human — we are almost shocked. That’s an amazing commentary on just how remarkable Pujols is. And even on a day when he wasn’t sharp, the Brewers thought so highly of him that they intentionally walked Pujols twice in Wednesday’s game.

* BONUS, SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST:

A footnote on Pujols’ consistency…

In his career, including the postseason, Pujols has played in 1,338 games.

- He has struck out once in a game 387 times.  Team record: 207-180,  .519

- He has two Ks in a game only 69 times, including Wed. in Milwaukee.  Team record: 40-29,  .579

- He has three Ks in a game only 8 times.  Team record:  4-4,  .500

- He has never struck out four (or more) times in a game.

- He has avoided striking out in 874 games. Team record: 503-371,  .575

No strikeouts by Pujols in 65.3 percent of the games he’s played in; amazing stuff…

Thanks for reading…

-Bernie