| Judith A. Culp. 27th July, 2005 - 8:30 pm
 The Cardinals sit atop the NL Central with a record of 63-36.
They do this despite Scott Rolen, Yadier Molina, Reggie Sanders and Larry Walker all on the DL. Some argue that this year?s Cardinal team is better than last year?s ? and the bench may make that statement truer than ever.
July has been a grueling month for the club. Since the All-Star Break they have swept the hot Houston Astros, split a series with Milwaukee and lost a series to the hated Cubs.
Last night, the pop returned to Albert Pujols? bat, lifting the Cards over the weary Padres to take the first game of the series. In the meantime, Abraham Nunez, John Gall (called up on July 26), John Rodriguez (called up July 17),
So Taguchi, Hector Luna, John Mabry and Mike Mahoney (you guessed it, called up when Yadier Molina went down with a fractured hand after being hit by a pitch) have done an amazing job filling in for all of the injured Redbirds. And for the first time in years, St. Louisans are not worrying about the pitching holding up as August approaches.
Chris Carpenter has been brilliant this season ? pitching a gem of a game against the Cubs on July 22. His record is 14-4 and he has been the staff ace all year. Mark Mulder is now 12-5 and seems to have found a comfort zone after a bumpy stretch earlier in the season. Jason Isringhausen has collected an impressive 28 saves with a 1.73 ERA.
And through plantar fasciitis and a sprained shoulder, Albert Pujols snapped out of a mini-slump by blasting his 27th homerun out of Petco.
I know Derrek Lee is having a fantastic year, but Albert is having another great year like he?s consistently done since being named NL Rookie of the Year in 2001. He also is batting .333 with 79 RBI, 126 Hits and 9 stolen bases. Yeah, all of that with plantar fasciitis!
The Cardinals are the best team in baseball from top to bottom. If the bench holds up, the arms stay healthy and the starting lineup recovers strong, watch for a dominating push through October. |
