2 1/2 · 8 1/2.....that´s a big difference

This week is without a doubt, thus far, the most important week of baseball that the Cardinals will have played all year. Tonight starts a 3 game series with the Milwaukee Brewers followed immediately by a 4 game series with the Chicago Cubs. A total of 7 games against the two teams that we are chasing. When the schedules are made before the season, we have no way of knowing which teams will still be in the hunt in August, so we have no way of knowing which games will really matter. But, now that it's here, it's clear that most of the Cardinals postseason hopes hang on this upcoming road trip. The road trip is not a long one. It only consists of these 7 games, before the Cardinals come back for another homestand.

Whenever I listen or watch various MLB podcasts or or read baseball articles, I hear very little about the Cardinals and the postseason. Now, I wll be the first to admit that it is partly valid. After all, the Cardinals have played pretty horrible for most of the year. But, the good news for Cardinal fans is that, as of late, so have the Brewers and the Cubs. The Brewers have had a horrible July and August going 15-23. And while the Cubs had a pretty good July, they are 4-8 thus far in August.

And that means that even though they should not be, the Cardinals are right in the thick of this three team race. And that is also why, as I said at the beginning of this post......this is the most important week of baseball for the Cardinals so far this year.

I'll take a look at the Brewer series first because we play it first and it may be the most important. The Cardinals are 5 1/2 games behind the Crew in the standings, which means these 3 games are very pivotal for both teams.

Best case scenario = We sweep them and pull to 2 1/2 games behind them in the standings. This would certainly make the Cardinals presence felt in the Central as a major contender and give a renewed hope to Redbirds fans that we really haven't had in awhile.

Worst case scenario = They sweep us and we drop to 8 1/2 games back in the standings. This would virtually all but kill any postseason hopes the Cardinals might have. The games are dwindling and 8 1/2 would be a lot of games to make up, especially if the Brewers break out of their slump and go on a tear for the last month of the season.

It is really hard to predict how this series will turn out. The Brewers have clearly played better ball than the Redbirds for the majority of the season. However, we face them when they are playing their worst ball of the year. The 2nd half hasn't been kind to them and just a couple of weeks ago we managed to take 3 of 4 from them.  The Cardinals will be sending Kip Wells, Joel Piñeiro and Adam Wainwright to the hill for the 3 game set and will be opposed by Chris Capuano, Yovani Gallardo and Dave Bush.

Not too long ago I would have been dismayed at a Wells·Capuano match up.  To be honest, I would have been dismayed at a Wells·anybody else, including high school pitchers match up.  But Wells seems to have gotten new life and is riding a decent streak.  Capuano´s a good pitcher, but hasn´t acted like it lately.  In fact, I read that the Brewers have dropped all of his last 14 starts.  Ouch.  I knew it was bad, but didn´t realize how bad it´s been for him.

Hopefully, the young guys who got it going for the Redbirds the other night will keep it going tonight.  There´s almost no telling who will be in this lineup.  Some guys are on the DL, while others have just had scheduled off days, but sometimes LaRussa likes to go with who´s been hot, so it will be interesting to see who starts.

But, mostly, we just need a HUGE start for Wells to win this game.  Hope he´s up for the challenge.

Needing a good road trip,

Tiffany