Look no reason to panic I remember a few years ago, St.Louis come out of the all-star break and swept the Astros and their best arms, and guess who beat them in the playoffs lets not panic yet.

The way the Cardinals are playing, they will be the Cubs of the 60s or the Mets of 2007 where they choke in September. Even if they get in the playoffs, the starting pitching has to dazzle, Franklin has be in prime form and the offense has to show up even against lefties. I don’t think that will happen. This will be the biggest choke of all LaRussa teams.

I find it incredible that the writers are already talking as if we were in the post season. After today’s potential drubbing by Florida, the Cubs are coming in for three on the weekend and we could be only four ahead on the lost side by Monday-with two weeks to play. Either we are blind, arrogant or over confident. I remember the Phillies in 1964. I hope I eat my words on this one, but I watch every out of the games and our hitters have too many bad habits. Only one outfielder that can hit his way out of a paper bag is a bad formula. Ludwig’s hot streak is over & Ankiel does not know the strike zone. Rasmus will come along. Light hitting infield except for one. PS Gerry Frailey, Florida and Atlanta will not be in the playoffs. Even BETTER teams will be there.

I wonder if similar “sky is falling” fan support is occuring in both leagues and all divisions where the second place teams are closer than the small bears? I am not talking about overconfidence but a realistic assessment of the last three weeks of the season. We lost a 1-0 and a 2-1 game. Slips happen. Would anyone out there trade this cardinal team for the dodgers, Cubs, Braves, Rockies, Giants? Maybe for the Phillies depending upon the day and rotation but it is good to be the King. When you are 8.5 games up at this point you are the King. If Albert or Matt or Carp go down…then we can wring our hands but now is not the time to pitching TLR (or even Dave duncan) under the bus. Enjoy these birs…they are for real (warts and all).

After you explain the Cardinals, go across the state and explain why the Royals are playing so well. (after 9/10 of the season is gone)

Why do people who call themselves Cardinals fans continually spell Ludwick’s name, Ludwig? Seriously? Do you trust spell check THAT much?

To cardsfan112056: Gee, big fella, how is the weather at your condo in Chicago? Only the bitterest of Cub fans would post something like that–even if you are a LaRussa hater. The last 13 years must have been pure misery for someone who hates the Cards that much! Wait ’til next year!

Yes. It’s time to worry.

IF THE CUBS WIN TONIGHT THEY WILL BE ONLY 6 GAMES BEHIND ON THE LOSS SIDE COMING INTO BUSCH FOR 3 GAMES. WHERE DO YOU THINK THE MOMENTUM WILL BE?
THEN THE BIRDS COULD LIMP INTO HOUSTON, COLORADO & CINCINNATI FOR 3 EACH BEFORE COMING BACK FOR 3 AGAINST THE BREWERS. NO EASY TASK. DON’T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED. REMEMBER THE ‘64 PHILS.

Hey knee-jerkers, get real, its a new season in October. I’m trusting that LaRussa and the team leaders in the club house have the experience to lead this team through the playoffs and I would take 09 Cards over 06 ANY day. Wake me up in October

badgerboy23 just to clue you in, I am a DIE HARD CARDINAL FAN but also a realist. Its the complacency and arrogance that fans like you exhibit that is similar to what is going on field these days. In fact, you are comparable to the overconfidence of a CUB FAN. If you keep turning a blind eye to what is going on with the Redbirds, you might be dissappointed when they don’t make the playoffs. We are not there yet and if they keep playing like they did in the last 5 of 6 games, they won’t make it to the finish line.

Our only hope is for the Cards to get “hot” at the right time.

For some reason, they have trouble hitting with men in scoring position (20th).

Remember how “hot” they were in April, we need that type of play.

Notice: Holiday has cooled, DeRosa is hurt, Ludwick is only ok, Ankiel is flat-lined at .233 and Yadi has been a DP machine with men in scoring position.

They need the Big Three Starters to pitch shutouts for them, to have a chance at this point.

How in the world did anybody ever get a hit before video was used? They did it by competing with the pitcher, not relying on guess-hitting. Bat speed, shorter swings when needed, timing, see the ball hit the ball?!!

No one can play 800 for the rest of the season. I just hope the team doesn’t get over rested… The years the cards were winning around 100 games, and resting before the playoffs were the years they lost.

Getting hot at the end of the month, and re-focused and they’ll make it all the way!

Go Cards

Bernie:
You forgot Molina. He is hitting .245 against left handers.

Hopefully the last two series represents only a pothole in the road along the way to October play. Funny but not funny the lone win in the last six games came on the night Wellemeyer pitched his usual poor performance. Still, the long-standing record against LH pitchers HAS to be in the team’s head. Gotta pray October baseball and the electric atmosphere that goes with it is the cure.

You cant be HOT every week or even month- its ok to worry but no sense in jumping ship yet-offensively it will always be up and down, but we have proven players that will perform more times than not in BIG games and we catch the ball pretty well-the bad part is franklin (great year) who doesnt have not one dominating pitch, sadly he appears tired-best case would be the cards run a 3 man rotation in the playoffs and hope smoltz is healthy and can close games-providing we hold on and im sure we will

You can’t stay hot all season. We were do for a slump. Hopefully it’s a short lived one. But it definitely doesn’t mean it’s time to cash in your chips. Have some faith people.

The writers do a good job of honing in on some major problem areas the Cardinals have that could mean for a quick exit in the playoffs, assuming they get there. 1) Can’t hit left handed pitching, 2) offense takes too many nights off with little or no production, 3) Not very good against the better teams in the league. I hope the team can correct these problems in the last two weeks of the season, as it would be a shame to waste a year with some of the best starting pitching in recent memory.

I would only be worried if the Cards were worried. But I don’t think they are. They know the last 15 games all count. Stay focused, stay loose, keep fighting ’til the end of the marathon regular season, and I’m confident (not OVER-confident) we’ll get to the playoffs. Then take a breath and get ready for the REAL fun to start!…

Unable to hit left handed pitchers will be our undoing against the Phils in either the NLDS or NLCS. Phils by the way, will win it all and become the 1st NL team to win back to back World Series in god knows how long. No, I’m not a Phils fan, but yes, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!! LOL

When you look of the month of August and remember that the Cardinals only played 1 or 2 teams with a winning record, you have to feel that, yes we should have played 800 ball. With that said, when the heat was on about our hitting back in late May, early June and fingers began to point toward our hitting coach, the team semed to rally behind him for a few days, and the bats came alive. The Cardinals should realistically expect three to four bats a night to be hot. Maybe not all bats, but three or four is fair. Our additions honemoon is over. They brought their bats with them, and have know been around long enough to be affected by a batting system. The Cardnials have the players, better than most. They deserve a better hitting philosophy.

I think the recent losses are a good thing for the Cards. It shows them that they just can’t coast into the playoffs and expect to be sharp after that. I’d rather they find out their shortcomings now and be able to work on them rather than hit a brick wall in the playoffs. Having some fight in them at the end wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The playoff talk started way to soon. The little bears this weekend scare me.

Shut up and let them play the game. Most of you people write like you know something and that others care what you think. PLAY BALL!!!

Without having read all the comments here yet, I think the Cards are trying to play in high gear, but the gear just won’t shift because their psyche tells them they can coast a bit and save some gas. Then you have quality teams like Atlanta and Florida coming into a packed house at Busch and they shifted their gear before they arrived because they knew it was going to be a tough task to take the eggs out of the Cardinal nest. The Cub series should get the Cardinals attention a little bit better. We’ll see what kind of gear they get in this week end. The Cards just need to sharpen their edge a bit. I think the Cubby’s will be just the right tool to do that.