Boiling Down To Spoilers

The Cardinals lost to The Cubs again last night. That's two in a row. My nose is being rubbed in it by friends, coworkers, and neighbors alike. The plight of a Cardinals fan living on Chicago's north side.

I wish I was more surprised but in the off season the team did nothing to make itself better. If anything they got worse, especially their starting pitching. The Cardinals resigned Chris Carpenter but he was injurred and just underwent Tommy John surgery. We knew Mark Mulder was going to be gone for at least the first half of the year after shoulder surgery. And they let Jason Marquis, Jeff Suppan, and Jeff Weaver go elsewhere because The Cardinals wouldn't sign a pitcher (other than Carpenter) for more than 3 years. Although I technically understand that concept the market price for pitchers requires longer contracts than that. By not ponying up the Cardinals let good pitchers slip through their grasp.

Our starting rotation is our biggest problem. Adam Wainright and Banden Looper are doing their best but it is just not good enough. On top of that our hitting is lackluster. Big Al is doing his thing after a slow start but Rolen and Edmonds are not producing. Eckstein has struggled between stints on the DL. We got a couple of young guys up that are contributing (I really like Brendan Ryan. Our new SS?) but the big bats are mostly silent.

I still think The Cardinals might make a bit of a run but I don't think there's enough gas in the tank to do much than play spoiler.