The Cardinals likely will miss the postseason for the third time in four years despite having the third-highest team batting average in the league and fourth-best earned-run average.
But more unusual is that the Cardinals are the only team in the league with two 100-RBI men in Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday and the only team with two pitchers with 15 or more wins in Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. Also their closer, Ryan Franklin, has blown only two saves.
And even more remarkable perhaps is the fact that Pujols and Holliday, the Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, have knocked in 210 or so runs with very little help from the Cardinals' leadoff spot.
Cardinals leadoff men are 12th out of 16 teams in batting average at .244, 13th in on-base percentage at .307 and 12th in runs scored at 89.
In the first innings of the Cardinals' first 152 games, the leadoff man reached base by hit or walk just 50 times, or less than one-third of the plate appearances. When the Cardinals' season went south after they were a season-high 16 games over .500 at 65-49, their leadoff men reached first base by hit or walk only 10 times in 38 games, or 26 percent of the time.
Before the weekend, both Skip Schumacher and the recently released Felipe Lopez had batted leadoff 65 times apiece. Schumaker actually hit a bit higher than his season average at .273 while batting first with a modest on-base percentage of .333. Lopez batted three points higher than his season average, but the bad news was that his season average was only .231, meaning he was .234 as a leadoff man with a poor .307 on-base percentage.
The production in the 22 other games was even worse by Cardinals leadoff hitters. The amalgam of Tyler Greene, Joe Mather, Colby Rasmus, Brendan Ryan, David Freese (once), Aaron Miles, Allen Craig and Jon Jay were 16 for 87 (.183) with just two walks. So that on-base percentage then would be a dismal .202.
So the question is how many RBIs could Pujols and/or Holliday actually have if there had been a few more runners on in front of them?
NEWS ITEM: Cardinals outfielder Randy Winn played in his 1,710th game Thursday.
HUMMEL'S TAKE: But, again, there will be no playoffs for Winn, who has played more regular-season games without appearing in the postseason than any other active player.
It would seem that he had his best shot this year, starting the season with the New York Yankees, who are sure to be in the American League playoffs, and then finishing it with the Cardinals, who also seemed sure to be in and were in first place when Winn got here in June.
"I think every year is a real good shot," Winn said.
"I was with the Yankees, but nothing is guaranteed. I didn't play well and now I'm not there anymore.
"Here we hit a stretch where we didn't play well."
The next three players behind Winn in the standings of active players bereft of playoff appearances are Michael Young of Texas (1,499 games), Aubrey Huff of San Francisco (1,469) and Mike Sweeney (1,450) of Philadelphia. Young and Sweeney are locks to make it this year, and Huff has an excellent chance.
"That's really not something that I absolutely think about," Winn said. "I'm forced to because a lot of people have asked me these questions the last couple of years."
Winn's big-league career began with Tampa Bay in 1998. In 2003, he went to Seattle and from the second half of 2005 through last season, he was with San Francisco. The closest he has come to a playoff berth was in 2003 when Seattle was 93-69 but finished two games behind Boston for the American League wild-card berth.
Will there be another chance?
"I'd like to play next year," he said. "I don't know where that's going to be."
When the Yankees let Winn go after he hit .213 in 61 at-bats, the Cardinals signed him as insurance. Soon, the switch-hitter was playing quite a bit because Ryan Ludwick was out nearly a month with a calf injury before he was traded to San Diego.
"I didn't know what to expect," Winn said. "I came in as a backup at all three outfield positions and to hit off the bench. It's actually worked out the way they said.
"I feel like I've been used in good situations here. Tony (La Russa) is real good about getting guys in there.
"I'm still learning the 'ins' and 'outs' of pinch hitting (he is seven for 40 for a .175 average in that role). Pinch hitting is different when you've been playing all the time. There's a big difference if you've just been pinch hitting."
La Russa had high praise for the work of Winn, who hit .261 through 138 at-bats with the Cardinals.
"I think he's done a really good job for us. He's a smart veteran," La Russa said.
Hall of Famer Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs holds the all-time record for games played outside the postseason at 2,528, and longtime teammate Ron Santo is fifth at 2,243. Joe Torre is sixth at 2,209, and St. Louisan Roy Sievers is down the line at 1,807.
Sadly, infielder "Silent John" Hummel never made it to the playoffs either, finishing a 14-season career, 1,105 games worth, and never playing meaningful games in October.
NEWS ITEM: The American League playoff field is all determined more than a week ahead of the end of the season. The only item up in the air is whether the Yankees or Tampa Bay will wind up being the wild card, joining Minnesota and Texas in the AL postseason foursome.
HUMMEL'S TAKE: What happened to the races? Seven weeks ago to the day, only one race, the American League Western Division, had more than a 2½-game difference between first and second place. Before this weekend, only two races (American League East, National League West) had anything less than a six-game spread.
The only spots up for grabs in the NL are the winner of the Western Division and the wild card.
In the National League East, Atlanta went 22-20 from Aug. 8 while Philadelphia went 30-12 and the Braves went from division leaders to wild-card leaders. In the Central, Cincinnati, which was two games ahead of the Cardinals, went a modest 22-19 but the Cardinals flamed out at 17-25.
But this was nothing compared to the American League Central, where the Chicago White Sox were half a game ahead of the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 8.
From that day through Thursday, the White Sox were 17-24 while the Twins were 29-11.
The Phillies will win their fourth consecutive National League East title, which isn't exactly like the Braves winning 14 straight from 1991-2005. But the Phils had won 10 games in a row before the weekend and 22 of 26.
"This is the kind of ball we've been accustomed to playing (down the stretch) the last few years," outfielder Jayson Werth told Philadelphia reporters. "That's how we're supposed to play. We've got a bunch of guys who rise to the occasion.
"Make no mistake about it. We feel like we're the best team in baseball, and now we're going to go out and try to prove it."
The Phillies didn't have a .300 hitter in their lineup when they swept the Braves last week in Philadelphia to blow open the NL East race. They did, however, have Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt in their rotation.
Before the weekend, Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt, known as "H20," were 12-0 in September with an ERA of 2.06.
