Cardinals Silence Critics: First Week Recap

In Spring Training, the St. Louis Cardinals were written off as any real threat to the NL Central.

After one week into the regular season, they're looking like the ultimate underdogs. Despite a lot of huge key losses in the offseason, the Cardinals look more dangerous than in recent memory.

Albert Pujols "Hulks" Up

Neither Hulk Hogan nor Eric Bana was believed to be in attendance, but that didn't stop Albert Pujols from showing why he is still as dangerous with one arm as with two.

Pujols stacked up an RBI single and not one, but two homers as the Cardinals took two of three in their series against the Houston Astros with a 6-4 win.

Entering the day with a .320 batting average and .485 on-base percentage, the mild-mannered slugger resurrected the reason of why he was as dangerous in his first season as is this season. How quickly he leads the charge in the defense of the Cardinals' chances of stepping back into the NL Central race early.

Unknowns Becoming Well Noticed

After losing David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals had to find new firepower in the offseason. They found it in the form of several young guns and couple of pocket rockets to trump the "firepower" of the Astros. But the aces in Astros camp must have been out of gas even before it started.

Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel showed why they are in the Cards’ lineup with a pair of RBIs that extended the Cards’ lead to 4-0. Following that, Braden Looper took it from there, but he slowly got rattled and the Cards' lead was cut to 4-3. Enter Kyle McClellan who picked up where Looper left off. 

How Real is this Cardinals Team?

The St. Louis Cardinals look like they're having fun again...and that's good news for any Cardinals fan.

Chris Sampson didn't seem to think this was fun as he was beaten like a proverbial government mule through 5 1/2 innings. The Cardinals were not taking any chances, even after the Astros brought in Dave Borkowski in the sixth. 

Pujols showed just why you don't want to make him angry as he sent Borkowski's pitch 417 feet to left field to give the Redbirds a 5-3 lead. The Cards brought in Ryan Flores, who gave up one more run to Houston to make it 5-4, but Houston didn't see what was coming next.

The Astros didn't get a single run after the Cards’ bullpen tagged up.

Ryan Franklin took out the heart of the Astros’ lineup (Berkman, Lee, and Tejada) in the eighth. But it was once again Pujols that gave closer Jason Isringhausen a little more breathing room with his second jack, this time over the right field wall off of Houston's last hope, Oscar Villarreal, in the ninth.

So are these Cardinals for real?

So far, the Cards have won three straight series, including the season opener against the defending NL Champion Colorado Rockies. Now they are sitting slightly pretty at 7-2 and a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the lead in the NL Central.

This is the beginning of the season, but as it has been proven with past champions, every game matters.

By the way, the Cardinals are a season-best five games above .500.

Up Next: A Four Game Series against the Bonds-less San Francisco Giants