They've Made a Beliver Out of Me. The Young and Talented St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals may not have the most talent on the field, not the most experience but they do have one of the best managers and one of the best pitching coach in the game.   The Cardinals, who were picked to finish no where above third and as low as fifth in the division.  It was to be expected, the Cardinals coming off of their worst season in years, the season after winning the World Series.  People may not have known some of the names Tony LaRussa has in his lineup such as Brian Barton, Kyle Lohse, or even Ryan Ludwick.  The so called, "Experts" may have laughed at a starting lineup that looks like this:

1. RF Skip Schumaker
   
2. LF Chris Duncan
3. 1B Albert Pujols
4. CF Rick Ankiel
5. 3B Troy Glaus
6. C Yadier Molina
7. 2B Adam Kennedy
8. P Kyle Lohse
9. SS Cesar Izturis

The so called, "experts" might as asked how do you expect to win with a team like this?  Skip Schumaker, having never playing a full season in the majors, batting lead off and why the heck is the pitcher batting eighth instead of ninth.  Tony LaRussa knew what he was doing. 

The Cardinals started the season hosting the defending national league champions, the Colorado Rockies.  After loosing a close one on opening day part two, (having part one rained out the day before), people may have thought that this is too be expected.  The Cardinals finished by taking the next two against the Colorado Rockies then sweeping the Washington Nationals.  The season gets better, the Cardinals, having to rely mostly on their farm system, just kept getting better.  Albert Pujols was named to the All-Star team, but that isn't anything new, but OF Ryan Ludwick was well makes it.  Ludwick one of the biggest surprises of this season, has been crushing the ball.  Then there was also Kyle Lohse who many thought would make the All-Star team by finishing 11-2 with an E.R.A below 4.00 heading into the break. 

As the trade deadline nears us, the Cardinals have shown some weaknesses that needs to be addressed.  The bullpen needs help, but with Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter coming off of the DL in August, that should be better than any trade they can make.  The bullpen is the biggest concern.  The Cardinals have plenty of power, 4 players with 18 or more home runs and 56 or more RBI's (Pujols, Ankiel, Ludwick, and Glaus), their starting pitching has been phenomenal for the most part, but they just can't seem to close out game.  The Cardinals need to go after one or two pitchers especially after Mark Mulder re-injuring himself.  If they are good enough to start, then put one of the current starters in the pen or just place the guy in the pen.  A closer is the main priority because Jason Isringhausin and Ryan Franklin have struggled.  Though the team could use another batter, it certainly won't hurt since their top prospect Colby Rasmus has just recently injured himself, and it doesn't look as if he'll be called up anything this season.  One of the top moments during the first half was seeing Skip Shumaker hit a walk off home run against the Cubs.  One of the downturns was seeing Mark Mulder re-injure himself after many months of rehab. 

So what to expect from the Cardinals this second half?  The Cardinals should compete for the division title with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers as well as the wild card.   With the power behind these two through five hitters, there ought to be a good show to come see.  With Chris Carpenter coming back and Adam Wainwright coming back the pitching out to improve.  Even if the Cardinals don't make the playoffs this season, it is still better than most would have imagined.  An injury plagued team that has seen their best pitchers and hitters on the DL at different times and still managed to stay in contention.  So take me out to the ballgame because these Cardinals are going to be a fun team to watch as we near October.