1st Carpenter and Mulder never came back…I think the Cardinals would haved made moves to improve last years team if the Wainwright doesn’t go down and they get a healthy Carp and or Mulder.
2Nd Izzy implodes and take everybody with him… I was bad enough that Izzy was hurt but rather than letting someone else assume the role Izzy hangs around letting it be known he wants his Job back this in turn inhibits Franklin from assuming the role with confidence as he has this year.
3RD Kerry Wood… he would have the occasional hiccup last ear but he avoided any Gregsian implosion
4th Derosa and Edmonds far out performed Bradley and Miles
5th Injury to Rameriz and pitching staff ahs just sucked any momentum Cubs have been able to get at any point this year

Last season the Cards played 162 games and the Cubs played 165….did they really do that much better than the Cards?

Being swept in the first round is not what I would call a banner season. The difference between the Cards & Cubs is simple….we win consistently, they don’t.

When the Cards make the post-season, most often we are heading to the NLCS and beyond…so please stop comparing a Mercedes Franchise to a Yugo Franchise.

Yeah, injuries have been on our side so far this year while the Cards filled last year’s hole at closer and the Cubs successfully snatched failure from the jaws of success by going after Bradley in the off season.

But I still think one of the Cubs biggest problems that leads to the yearly implosions we enjoy so much here in St. Louis is the pressure their players and coaches are under day in and day out by excessive, if not unrealistic, fan expectations and a much harsher and larger Chicago media.

The Cardinals just have to live up to team history. Even in a bad year the yardstick they have to measure up to is a friendly one.

The Cubs, on the other hand, come in every year with fans expecting them to erase 100+ years of futility and mistakes, out perform a crosstown White Sox team and a rival St Louis team that has been their daddy for a century.

With Boston ending their curse and both St. Louis and the White Sox winning World Series in recent years, I think the fan and media pressure for the Cubs to win it all has only intensified. Any success by one of those other teams only has the Chicago media and Cubs fan base riding players and coaches even harder.

… so this also answers the question why the front office was willing to pony up big money and big prospects this year and not last. Similar records but significantly different opportunities to get into post season. Is this a formula we can expect to continue in the future?

I blame Obama for the Cubs’ problems. Everyone knows that nothing good ever comes out of Chicago. Go Cards!!!

P.S. DeRosa was money on Jim Rome today. I love that guy.

In no particular order, a healthy Chris Carpenter & Adam Wainright and and effective closer in Ryan Franklin are the biggest differences this year for the Cards, while the Cubs’ starting pitching (Dempster, Harden, and Zambrano) has collapsed.

Anyone who thinks FO just ..decided to take the yr off last yr and did not try is smoking something. Glaring needs last yr every MLB team knew it - . The questions were Who ya going to trade? What were you going to get? Mo said it best - ‘keep your powder dry’ No way was last yr fixable!

The biggest problem with the Cubs this season aside from the failures of Gregg and the trade of DeRosa is simply that they bought their own hype in the offseason. They came to the table already stuffed and had no hunger.

Cardinals fans are as delusional as ever!! The Cubs are still the class of the division and will be back in first before the Cubs come to St. Louis. Chicago will win the division by 5 games or more. And what is this obsession over Pujols? Pujols is a somewhat better than average player, 3rd best first baseman in the NL, and the rest is just more Cardinal spin.

… so this also answers the question why the front office was willing to pony up big money and big prospects this year and not last. Similar records but significantly different opportunities to get into post season. Is this a formula we can expect to continue in the future?
— Joepa
3:49 pm August 19th, 2009

Do you think? Maybe it is better to go for it when you have a good chance? Your a Cub fan!

Cardinals fans are as delusional as ever!! The Cubs are still the class of the division and will be back in first before the Cubs come to St. Louis. Chicago will win the division by 5 games or more. And what is this obsession over Pujols? Pujols is a somewhat better than average player, 3rd best first baseman in the NL, and the rest is just more Cardinal spin.
— Brian Clarke
5:09 pm August 19th, 2009

Keep telling yourself that enough times and maybe you will even start to believe it. It works for Berry Obama. He is from Chicago too.

Good to see Mr. O’Neill put in 2 minutes on the response. Any more time, and there would have been 5 jokes that should have stayed down after the 50s made way for the 60s. Nice restraint Dan-O.

Brian Clarke, can you share what ever it is your smoking? It must be fantastic…

In the bizaro universe where the Chicago Cubs come from 6 games behind in late August to take 1st place, the economy is humming on all cylinders, Elvis is alive and aliens conspired to kill JFK.

And say what you want about Pujols, he’s won more World Series wearing a Cardinals uniform than any 1st baseman alive has while wearing a Cubs uniform.

brian clarke..Lee isn’t fit to wear Alberts jock strap. For that matter Soto is a one year wonder. Molina puts him to shame. Milton Bradley?…he he he he he. Rameriz is way to delicate. A real team leader doesn’t miss all the games he does year after year after year. A franchise that has not won a world series in over a CENTURY is a complete joke. Is that why Chicago stuck us with Barry Obama? Revenge

Mr. Clarke,
Dude put the crack pipe down and listen. Position for position the Cubs are lucky to be better than Milwaukee, this is a sad team that plays with no heart or passion. It’s like they are there to pickup a paycheck and go party somewhere. Lee is gone, Soto is second class, Ramirez is inconsistent at best, Pitching sucks, Soriano is hopeless. Now let’s talk about the Birds. Two Cy young candidates, the best 1st baseman, catcher, left fielder, manager, closer and fans in the game. WE ARE, AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE CLASS OF THE CENTRAL. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!

I love it when the cubs fans are in pain, which is all of the time. How many people alive today witnessed the cubs winning the WS in 08? How many of those people were cub fans? Love it, love it, love it!!!!!!

The Cardinals were not 11.5 games back last August 19th. Do your homework.

As a Cubs fan, it is very true that the cardinals outclassed and out smarted the Cubs in 2009.

That being said, there is one big thing Cubs fans will always have over Cardinal fans. Chicago is one of this nations great cities, while St. Louis is a dull, redneck ghetto. Only Detroit is worse in the midwest. The truth hurts, Cards fans. Good luck in the playoffs!

Brian Clarke: World Champion Chain Puller.

Y’all didn’t really buy that insanity as real now, did you?

The Cubs have been and will always be the quick fix team of the National league until they wake up and start getting players that play well with others. And when the Cubs get a player that plays it right, they toss him. DeRosa is in a long line of former players they let go to get that quick fix.

The long standing tradition of the Cardinals has been to play the “cardinal way” and get players that put winning ahead of everything else. Play the game the right way or your gone. The biggest assest the Cardinals have had over any other team in the National league is the return of former players to pass on that winning tradition to the next generation.

You can laugh all you want at the Cubs but that organization just never gets it, to win in the future you have to tap the resources of the past.

Twelve months is a long time in any sport. The big difference is Mo went and got what was required to improve the team. Carpenter is basically a new player and the additions in Holliday, DeRosa, Lugo and now Smoltz with the resurgenve of Ludwick and Ankiel with Franklin cleaning up this better than 2006. The Cubs are suffering what the Birds suffered last year. Injuries and form, it’s a killer.

Let me start out by saying I am NOT a Tony hater, in fact just the opposite. But I think Tony’s insistance on sending Izzy out there to save games in the 9th when it was obvious he was toast physically and mentally contributed to our demise last year.

Attribute this to pitching:
First, The Cardinals got a gift in Ryan Franklin’s transformation into a solid closer. If Franklin had only done so last season, there wouldn’t have been waisted time and angst looking for one.

Second, The Cardinals got a return of a healthy Chris Carpenter. After the organization’s stances on damaged arms like Mark Mulder and Matt Clement, fans had every right to be skeptical of getting a healthy Carp back.

Third, The Cardinals shrewdly are shuttling Memphis starters back and forth to save the core of a bullpen that wore down by the month of September.

As a cardinals fan living in Chicago I listen to it everyday. I dont understand why Chicago thinks the cubs are that good. A little above 500 at best and i want to hear the argument of why they are better than that.

They have no closer, you dont even need a bat at the plate when marmol is pitching because you are guaranteed a walk or HBP, the lineup only produces at wrigley, and the starting pitching is decent at best and they cant beat a team with a record above 500.

As far as comparing the two cities as cities to live in, there is no comparison or should there be. Culturally, diversity in the neighborhoods and global hierarchy Chicago blows St. Louis away. When it comes to living cost, traffic and for sure weather St. Louis has it hands down.

For the sake of baseball and the rivalry between the Cubs and Cards I hope they both make the playoffs. I dont see this happening but it would make for great fun come October when it is 39 degrees at wrigley and 67 degrees at Busch.