Game 156 postgame

So, Thursday vs. Milwaukee?  We'll win and hold on to that 1/2 game lead, however tenuously...

Count on it.

This team is fucked in the head. They've all morphed into Jason Marquis. I think they all expect to lose and it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. And with each loss, they slide a little further down the slope...

Tonight, for the first time, I really expect them to lose the division...

Think I can stay drunk until April?  :-D

On the other hand, this team is still somehow in first place!  I don't know about the rest of you, but I would find it incredibly hilarious if the team managed to have three eight game losing streaks and still win the division.

*In a matter of a week, not only have they jeopardized the security of their play-off berth, but Chris Carpenter has all but taken himself out of the Cy Young debate and Albert Pujols has seriously diminished his MVP chances.  (If Houston wins, Berkamn is hands-down the MVP.)

* There is hardly a precedent for a Cardinal collapse during the regular season.  While Cardinal fans have watched more post-season catastrophes than any other team in recent memory ('85, '96, and `04), most fans, like me, can't remember the Cardinals losing an even somewhat close divisional race, much less utterly falling apart.  The closest things we can recall are '89 when the Cards really faded by early September (after getting as close as 1.5 games on September 4th) and 2001 when the Astros tied them on the last day of the season and the Cardinals were awarded the wild-card seed in the play-offs.  One must go all the way back to 1974 when, as Larry Boros recalls, "[the Cardinals] came to the last day of the season tied for 1st place, took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th vs. a weak expos team, and lost on a 2-run homerun --- off bob gibson. the pirates won the division."

Carp got a gift third strike in the Branyan AB, the place got noisy, and then he got Cameron to 0-2.  Place got real noisy, Carp got one up, the lead was gone...and then Carp didn't even have time to throw two pitches to the next batter before the Houston/Pittsburgh game went final.  

Some time after running into that iceberg, the engineers on the Titanic sat down and did the math.  Once water crept to, and filled, a certain compartment in her hull there was no turning back: the damage was done, her demise mere formality.  Passengers, cradled comfortably by the notion that the boat was truly unsinkable, felt that the worst-case scenario was that help would be on the way before real danger threatened their well-being.  

I couldn't escape the feeling tonight: the deed is done.  And that moment was the tipping point.

Need I remind you that Keith Hernandez wore #37.

And that this is the 37th aneversary of 1969, when the Cardinals failed to win a pennant after two successive first place finishes.

And that our best pitcher in the second half, who just went belly-up in his last start also wears #37.

Need I remind you that this is the 42nd anneversary of the '64 Phillies historic collapse?

And who was on the mound when the Cardinals last won the World Series and with #37 at first base?  Yes, #42 Bruce Sutter.

And what team is widely regarded as the best in franchise history?  Yes, the '42 St Louis Swifties.

The baseball gods giveth and they taketh away.

Rage, rage aginst the dying of the light.

Webb pitched last night and got a ND (thanks to shoddy DBack defense) but allowed only 3 hits in 8 innings and lowered his league-leading ERA to 2.88. Carpenter was torched for 12 hits in 7 innings ... the most he's ever given up. And now it looks like he'll have to take his tired arm and pitch one more time to save the sinking ship.

I'm not good with specifics, numbers and such, so mine are more impressions. But these are the moments that made my grown sons pick up the phone and call me.

1. Pujols v. Lidge, Act II
   
2. Rolen's game-winning RBI against Cincinnati
   
3. Carpenter's game face
   
4. Molina picking off runners
   
5. The surprise of Duncan

I wasn't at my computer posting while watching the game last night, too worrried then depressed to go upstairs to sign on.  But, really now, does anyone believe that an obviously utterly and completely gassed Carpenter was our best chance there?  Did no one learn a lesson in Houston?

Al noted (before he made the completely idiotic statement that "this is fun"), that Carp has exceeded 100 pitches in his last NINE (9) games.  When did Tony turn into Dusty Baker or Grady Little?  No wonder he's not done so well his last three starts.  Even if, and every day it appears less likely, we do win, those two victories we've all been counting on from Carp in the 1st round are likely to not be there 'cause he's worn out.

When do pitchers and catchers report again??