Well we know where we're goin'/But we don't know where we've been/And we know what we're knowin'/But we can't say what we've seen/And we're not little children/And we know what want/And the future is certain/Give us time to work it out

-- Talking Heads, "Road to Nowhere"

HOUSTON -- In this morning's paper, the St. Louis Cardinals' three-city, three-series road trip was called "humongous." Before they left members of the team threw around words like "important" and "essential" and "an opportunity."

A handful of different words now define the journey.

It's been difficult, disastrous, defining and a mess.

The Cardinals arrive in Houston, the final stop on their road to nowhere, and open a three-game series tonight at Minute Maid Park. They are in the wonderful position of having to sweep this series against the surging Astros in order to salvage a .500 record on this tour of losing-team locales.

The Houston Astros are also returning from a road trip, having swept a four-game series in Philadelphia and gone 6-4 away from the Juice Box. The Astros, long since out of contention and a seller at the deadline, are playing some of their best baseball of the year. They've already clinched a .500 record for this month, giving three consecutive months with at least a .500 record for the first time since the 2003 season.

As the two division rivals converge in downtown Houston, consider what they've done on their journeys:

Houston (10) ... 6-4 ... .244 BA ... .327 SLG ... 2.6 RPG

2.53 starters ERA ... 2.61 overall ERA ... 2.76 bullpen ERA

Cardinals (7) ... 2-5 ... .270 BA ... .412 SLG ... 5.1 RPG

5.67 starters ERA ... 5.63 overall ERA ... 5.56 bullpen ERA

Which team, again, is the one that's supposed to be contending?

That 5.56 bullpen ERA is misleading when you count that 11 of the 14 earned runs the Cardinals' relievers have allowed on this road trip came in two games -- the extra-inning loss to Washington and the late-game shellacking in D.C. on Saturday. What's not misleading is the performance of the starting staff. The bedrock of the Cardinals' success this season has faltered on this trip. That ERA includes 5 1/3 shutout innings from rookie Jaime Garcia in his win, but also shows the losses tagged on Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

In three consecutive shots at his 18th victory, Wainwright has whiffed. In two starts on this trip, Wainwright has allowed eight runs on 13 hits in 12 innings. He's lost his last three games to Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Washington -- all losing teams.

Yet ...

-- In those starts by Wainwright, the Cardinals have scored a grand total of seven runs. How many have been scored when Wainwright was actually in the game, you know, pitching? Two. The Cardinals have backed their co-ace with zero runs during his innings against the Milwaukee Brewers last week and, most recently, the Washington Nationals on Sunday. The innings are mounting, the top-spot starting pitching is having its first real hiccups of the year, and the offense isn't in any position to help. Still.

But, hey, barring a last-minute alteration to the lineup because of the umpire or the focus of his swings during BP, center fielder Colby Rasmus is expected to return to the lineup tonight.

-- The Post-Dispatch reported yesterday afternoon that Rasmus was removed from the game because of a poor matchup with home plate umpire Rob Drake. That's a new one. After the game, manager Tony La Russa dismissed that notion, instead preferring to hang it on Rasmus' readiness to play and an unusually pointed comparison with Jon Jay. A quote from La Russa's post-game meeting with the media, as relayed by MLB.com:

Rasmus has "never backed off the work, taking batting practice. I think it all has to do with what his concentration is, and what his focus is. I do believe that -- you just watch his swings in batting practice and in the game -- I think he is convinced that he helps us more if he just yanks the ball out of the park. That normally is not the case, because you're limiting yourself to a side of the park and you're vulnerable to too many pitches. We really push, 'Just play the game.' That's what Jon [Jay] does. He plays the game. take a single, take a walk, let the home runs come."

Ignore, for the moment, that there's room in the lineup for both play-the-game Jay and yank-the-ball Rasmus, and consider that even when Rasmus has been in his occassional funks he's still offered a presence -- yes, a power presence -- in the lineup that the Cardinals have desperately needed.

-- Rasmus' expected return to the lineup today comes 15 days after his previous starts. Yes, he's spent that entire 15 days on the active roster, and he's received four plate appearances during that time. One wonders if in hindsight the Cardinals should have placed him on the disabled list and added a bat to the bench. But, it's no wonder why the Cardinals hung on to the hope that Rasmus might return sooner. They needed him to.

The Cardinals are 4-8 since Rasmus' left in the sixth inning of his last start. When Rasmus was lost to the calf injury, several Cardinals mentioned that an inconsistent offense suddenly became an isolated-power offense, built around the island of production in the middle with Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. The lineup the Cardinals started Friday in Washington included four starters who have spent time in Class AAA this season and only two -- Holliday and Pujols -- who have had a 15-homer season since 2007.

 -- The stat isn't perfect because it does take into account pinch-hit appearances and late-game defensive replacements, but sample size helps reduce those variables for everyday starters. Check out the Cardinals' regular position players* with the best winning precentage since Rasmus arrived at the start of the 2009 season:

1. Brendan Ryan ... 138-99 (.582)

2. Yadier Molina ... 148-107 (.580)

3. Colby Rasmus ... 145-114 (.560)

4. Matt Holliday ... 105-83 (.559)

5. Albert Pujols ... 158-129 (.551)

* "regular position players ... " that are still on the team.

Pujols' winning percentage is, of course, going to look a lot like the team's winning percentage during that span because he plays rarely misses the day. Holliday is helped by the surge he helped power through August of last season. This season? Well, as you would imagine, the winning percentage's are pretty similar to the above. The Cardinals are playing .539 ball after this stumble on the road, and here are the top winning percentages by individual players for this season:

1. Brendan Ryan ... 63-43 (.583)

2. Yadier Molina ... 67-48 (.583)

3. Colby Rasmus ... 63-49 (.562)

4. Ryan Ludwick ... 42-35 (.545)

5. Albert Pujols ... 68-59 (.535)

-- It's not unusual for a player to have a "matchup" issue with an umpire, even if it seems to be an odd way to make a lineup call. Former Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen once explained how there is an umpire that he knows will cost him an at-bat when he's behind the plate. Going into the game with that ump behind the plate, Rolen said he's ready to lose one at-bat to a call -- and he just hopes that it's not the at-bat that decides the game.

Rasmus wouldn't appear to have that kind of history with an umpire. Drake was behind the plate earlier this season for a game in Cincinnati. Rasmus, batting leadoff in that game, homered in his second at-bat. He also struck out twice, once looking.

Baseball-Reference.com allows you a peek at how pitchers do with specific umpires behind the plate. And each of the Cardinals' veterans have inflated ERAs with a handful of umps. Could be coincidence. Could be style. Could be any of a thousand reasons. Carpenter was 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA in four games with Bruce Froemming behind the plate. Kyle Lohse was 0-3 with a 17.55 ERA in four starts with Andy Fletcher behind the plate, and the righty is 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in five starts with Lance Barksdale behind the plate. Jeff Suppan is 1-4 with a 8.81 in six games with Ed Rapuano back there, and he's 1-1 with a 7.18 ERA in seven starts with the now-famous Jim Joyce behind the plate. (On the opposite side, Suppan is 7-1 with a 2.25 ERA in nine starts with Jeff Kellogg behind the plate.)

Most of that is just for entertainment purposes only. But a look at the umpire splits shows that if La Russa were in the mood for last-minute matchup moves, he might have considered pushing Wainwright back a day.

He's 1-3 with a 4.88 ERA with Drake behind the plate.

This season? He's now 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA with Drake back there.

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