Lost in the Ivy: NL Central Preview

Saw this posted in a diary over at Red Reporter. Which, incidentally, is quickly becoming my one of my favorite non-Birds blogs, along with USS Mariner. Anyhow, thought I'd post a similar diary here on the subject.

This is an excerpt from a Cub centered NL Central Preview piece. It gets worse than the Cards preview, much worse in fact, but here is the Cards part:

Cardinals:

Star Players: Albert Pujols, Albert Pujols, Albert Pujols
Analysis: I don't, in all honesty, remember a team that one year after winning the world series, is so much worse than the team they beat. They are the Bulls of the late eighties. They have one legend (Pujols), two fading stars (Preston Wilson, Scott Rolen), and a couple role players (David Eckstein, Chris Duncan). How does a pitching staff get worse when they successfully rid themselves of Jason Marquis? They replace him with Kip Wells. This team is worse than last year, for if no other reason, than the fact that they are a year older. Everyone has driven a car that has gone way farther than they expected to, even though they neglected the car, and then decided to drive it cross country. But, even through that, the car came through like a champ. Then, all of a sudden, driving to the mall, the car completely craps out. That, my friends, is the Cardinals in a nutshell.

Where they will finish: 2nd

http://sweethomesports.com/cubs/?p=5

I know, Spring Training is almost here.