MLB: Why the St. Louis Cardinals Should Be Nervous

Your best pitcher is out following Tommy John Surgery.

Your best position player is still not quite himself following a broken wrist.

Yet, the St. Louis Cardinals are a mere half a game out of first place just behind the Brewers and Pirates. Yes, you read that right. The Pittsburgh Pirates are ahead of the St.Louis Cardinals this late in the season. 

You might think that with everything that apparently seems bad about the Cardinals happening, they are still in the midst of what's shaping up to be a very good pennant race. 

But there is something a little off about the Cardinals right now. And it's hard to tell you what it is, but having followed the Cardinals for many years, I can tell.

Maybe it's the fact that hitting doesn't seem to come up big when it's needed. For instance, Sunday versus the Reds. Garcia is pitching a gem of a game. But the Cardinals could only get one run on the board. And four hits. They left only four people on base. And looking at their lineup, it doesn't seem this should ever happen. 

Granted, it was a heck of a game pitched by Homer Bailey but most Cardinal fans know this has been a rule more than exception. Starting pitcher Chris Carpenter can testify to this. His 5-7 record isn't indicative to how well he has pitched in most of those seven losses. 

His frustration became apparent Saturday night, when Nick Punto threw a routine ground ball about 10 feet over the head of Albert Pujols. Carpenter let out a scream. A scream that any Cardinals fan can easily identify. 

A scream of pure frustration. 

That's not quite par for the course for these St. Louis Cardinals, though. These Cardinals can hit. They are third in the Majors in hitting and first in the National League. They don't strike out much with only the Phillies striking out less in the National League.

The Cardinals lead the National League in on base percentage with a whopping .339.

But when it counts, they tend to come up short. They couldn't close the deals against the Brewers and the Reds which ultimately could lead to their second place position sliding quick if they don't right the ship.

This weekend holds a big series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, I did just write that. The Pittsburgh Pirates are involved in a big series. The Cardinals travel there for a weekend series that is crucial to the Cardinals momentum down the stretch. They only have one more series with the Reds in September at home, and they trail the Reds 7-5 in the season series. 

They trail the season series with Milwaukee 2-4 but have plenty of opportunities to fix that. They are 1-2 versus the Pirates this year only scoring 7 runs total against them in three games.

So, to recap they don't have a winning record against anybody of substance in the NL Central. That's not a way to invoke fear in anybody. And that may be the real issue. 

As you watch the Cardinals play the Reds and Brewers, you can see that those teams are up for it. Their batters look ready to tee off on every pitch no matter who is serving it up. They expect to beat the Cardinals.

You don't see that in the Cardinals yet. They play tentative. They play unsure, and the other NL Central teams sense that, especially the Reds. The Reds want to murder the Cardinals every time they see them. They share a hatred of the team and that translates to hits, runs and victories. 

The Brewers seem to have the same attitude when they see the Cardinals come to play. They don't just want to beat them, but they want to bury them. Almost as if to say that the Cardinals don't deserve to be in the same ball park with them.  

And maybe they don't. At least, not now.

For the Cardinals to be competitive in what is shaping up to be Gladiator type Pennant race, they are gonna have to start looking for that lost swagger.

Their pitchers have to go out and let the opposition know this will be a duel, not a Words with Friends game. The Cardinals should look to the game Angry Birds for inspiration. They can look at the Brewers, Reds and Pirates as those pesky monkeys hanging from the tree of first place. 

They're smiling and laughing at you until you start firing on them. Take a lesson from that Red Bird and just attack and destroy everything around you. You are bound to take down a monkey with you even more so a rival team. 

Imagine when Pujols, Holliday and Berkman start finding their stride on the same night. It's going to be hard to beat them.

They will roll through the division like most roll through a level of Angry Birds. 

Sure, they won't win every night, just like you don't win every time against those pesky monkeys, but you will invoke the fear that they have been lacking. 

That fear translates into victories on the field and that's what the Cardinals have to get to be in this pennant race in September.