Week 2 And Late September Baseball

The Arizona Cardinals didn't fare as well last weekend, losing to the Redskins 22-21. It's a fairly typical loss for them. They had the lead then failed to add to it, or at least run off clock, and the other team came back and won. A bit like the loss to Minnesota last year. I'm not sure whether losing to Rex Grossman is more or less embarrassing than losing to what was left of Favre last season.

What's odd is, unlike that Vikings' game, the Cardinals ran the ball fairly effectively. Beanie Wells had 93 yards of 14 carries, so basically 7 yards per carry. Despite that, when having the ball at the 5 minutes remaining mark, the Cardinals eschewed the run and only managed to burn 40 seconds. Whisenhunt really confuses me some times. He talks about wanting to establish the run, but when they're actually having success, he abandons it at the most critical moments. Even if they ran on only first and second down, either the Redskins burn two timeouts, or the Cardinals run off close to a minute and a half. That's without taking into account a possible third down run, if it seems likely to make the first. Or there's always a chance Wells gets a first down on one of those two carries, which keeps the drive going, and eats more clock.

In other news, the St. Louis Cardinals have won 5 out of 6 since I chastised them for losing to the Pirates last week. Combined with the Brewers scuffling a bit, and the Braves disintegrating, the Cardinals are still in the running for both the division and the Wild Card. Admittedly, the Brewers lead over the Cards is larger than their magic number (5.5 vs. 4), so the odds of claiming the Central crown are pretty narrow. But it's only 2.5 game lead for the Braves in the Wild Card. Which means they still have the advantage obviously, but it gives the Cardinals some reason to hope.

Of course, while the Cardinals get to play the mediocre-to-lousy Mets and Cubs in StL, before finishing up on the road against abysmal Houston, the Braves continue a series against Florida, to be followed by 3 against the Nationals, and close the season against the Phillies. Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel said he wouldn't be trotting out the B-team (excepting injuries) against Atlanta or St. Louis, since they're both in a playoff race, and he thinks it would go against the competitive nature of things. Which is pretty cool, though I wouldn't fault Phils' fans for preferring Manuel worry about keeping his team rested and ready. Of course, it may be in the Phillies' best interests to play the starters regularly right to the end, so they don't lose their rhythm. That seems to be one of those debates that comes up every year, with the postseason results being the referendum, and those varying from one team to the next.

There's also the Giants to contend with, as they're on an even better tear lately than the Cardinals. They do still have some games left against the division leading Diamondbacks, but the D'Backs may have clinched by then, so who knows what their concern will be. The Giants also contend with the Dodgers, who aren't very good, but are a rival franchise, and will be sending out Clayton Kershaw, who is meriting serious Cy Young consideration.

Who knows how things are gonna go. The Cards are 1-2 against the Mets this year, but there's been talk the Mets' players have thrown in the towel recently. Which didn't stop them from giving Atlanta trouble, so take it for what it's worth. StL is 8-4 against both Houston and Chicago North this season, which is encouraging. The Cardinals inability to beat the weaker teams in the Central last year was their undoing (the Cards went 18-27 against MIL, HOU, and CHC, the 3-5 teams in the division, while the Reds went 33-12 against those same teams). While the Cardinals are 6-9 against the Reds this year (after going 12-6 against them last year, go figure), they have managed a 25-15 record thus far against the Cubs, Astros, and Pirates. Of course, anything can happen in a 3-game series, so there's no telling if any of that means anything.