What's happening to the Cards??!!

STL lost 7th in a row tonight! HOU won its 7th straight gms!

The NL Central lead for STL is down to 1.5gms.

Cardinals' bullpen has been TERRIBLE (there are no better or worse word to describe their recent performance)... Ace starter, Carpenter, who may end up winning the Cy-Young this season was left in in a tight spot in the 7th inn with 100+ pitches thrown & bases loaded with 1 out. ESPN Radio correctly pointed out that STL Manager, La Russa had no confidence in his bullpen whatsoever in this situation.

Not exactly sure what else has happened to STL lately in the past wk. At least from tonight's gm vs. SD, STL seemed like they don't have enough timely hitting besides Pujlos' production & their relief pitching is non-existent.

STL needs to find a way to stop the bleeding. 1 more gm vs. SD & 4 gms vs. MIL this weekend. Cards need some offense help from Rolen, Edmonds, Duncan & Co. There isn't much STL can do with their pitching this late into the season. They already called up young arms in Reyes &Wainwright. This is what you called, "helplessness". (STL do have one gm vs. SFG that wasn't played, very likely that gm will be played on 10/2, Mon. as a makeup to determine the final wins of STL)

HOU is playing very strong in the last month. 7th W in a row is very impressive in the NL, considering all the pitching & bench management that are involved in the game. Astros got 2gms vs. PIT & 3gms vs. ATL remaining. It shouldn't be too hard to take at least 3 Ws from the next 5 for the 'Tros. HOU has a good chance to overtake STL to win NL Central & make the playoff. The Killer B's is all you can credit the Astros. (Biggio got 3RBI tonight, he's a money B, he's a sure HOF-er) Astros got solid starting pitching lineed up for the last 5gms:

vs. PIT - Jason Hirsh: 3.57ERA, 1.15WHIP, .212 opp AVG in last 4 starts
vs. PIT - Oswalt: 3.07ERA, 1.18WHIP, 14W this season over 213+inn
vs. ATL - Clemens: a HOF-er, don't you want him in this spot with his post-season experience?
vs. ATL -Sampson: 2GS only, but 2.30ERA, .91WHIP, .222 opp AVG over 27+inn this season
vs. ATL - Pettitte: tonight's winner, although a lil' shaky vs. STL, his prior 3 starts: 2.57ERA & .232 opp AVG; one gm vs. ATL this season: 6inn, 2ER, 8K

It's be another miracle season for HOU if they could "sneak" into the post-season once again! NL is a more competitive league with the examples of scenarios like this in the last week of regular season.

P.S. LAD won, too, tonight. LAD & SD are going to battle it out for playoff spot(s). PHI lost, but only 1gm behind LAD. It's gonna be a good race all the way until this coming Sunday night.